Geological Setting

The Adriatic Sea (Fig.7) is an epicontinental sea showing two margin configurations, north and south of the Gargano Promontory ([Ridente & Trincardi(2005)] and references therein).

The northern Adriatic (NA) Sea is bounded by the Italian peninsula to the west and by the Balkans to the east (Fig. 7) and is the northernmost part of the Mediterranean Sea. It is characterized by very shallow environment, with an average depth of $\sim$35 m, and regularly and gently slopes toward the south until the 120 m isobath, taken as its southern open boundary, approximately north of 43:20 ARTEGIANI1997-I, RUSSO1996, POULAIN2001-NAS. Other authors consider Ancona or Rimini to be the southern limit of the NA.

The Central area is characterized by the Mid Adriatic Deep (MAD), a remnant basin, 260 m deep, separated in 2 depocenters by the Central Adriatic deformation belt ARGNANI1997, and bordered by the Gallignani and Pelagosa (Palagruza) ridges to the south and by the structural high of the Tremiti Islands. The two depressions of the MAD are likely to be filled by the NadDW.

The southern area ARGNANI2006A is characterized by a sub-circular depression, more than 1200 m deep (Southern Adriatic Deep, SAD), located between the coasts of Puglia, to the west, and Albania, Montenegro and Croatia to the east, considered the current foredeep of the Dinaride and Albanide fold-and-thrust belt DEALTERIIS1995, ARGNANI1996, BERTOTTI2001.

The Montenegrinian and Northern Albanian margins and coastal areas are part of the seismically active W-verging Dinaride/Albanide fold-and-thrust belt along the eastern Adriatic basin boundary (see Fig.7). The margins have relict shelf edge, with sediment stored on the albanian coastline, and evidence of large-scale mass wasting ARGNANI2006B, ROURE2004. The continental shelf is very narrow from N in Croatia to C. Patamuni S of the Bay of Kotor, near Budva, where it develops offshore down to C. Rodonit. The seismic activity is present in the study area as moderate to strong intensity events. In particular, it must be cited the M6.9 destructive event of 1979-04-15 and aftershocks in the Bar region CONSOLE1981, BOORE1981, whose epicenter was located offshore 5-10 NM, at the most external thrust. The area south of the mouth of Bojana River to W and SW of Cape Rodonit is also seismically active, being interested by a WNE pure-compression thrust and by ENE trending strikeslip faults ALIAJ2004, ALIAJ2008. According to TIBERTI2008 and therein cited authors, the events have large potential for generating tsunamis.

Because of karst environment in the Dinaric range, especially in N Montenegro, coastal aquifers may also develop at sea with submarine siphons, springs and resurgences, within a geological and hydrogeological setting strongly related to tectonics and to past (and future) climate and sea level fluctuations FLEURY2007

Figure 9: Cruise ENVADRI2011. EMMA-ROMS Model, UNIVPM, Salinity (14/38 PSU). Left to right: 2011-04-07,09,12