In order to monitor the Strombo
li submarine s
lope a
fter the 30 December 2002
lands
lide and tsunami, repeated marine surveys were carried out o
ffshore o
f Sciara de
l Fuoco. The morpho
logica
l changes and depositiona
l processes that brought to the gradua
l fi
lling o
f the s
lide scar have been studied in detai
l. Thirteen surveys in a period o
f litt
le more than 4 years provided a unique opportunity to reconstruct the morpho-sedimentary evo
lution o
f the submarine s
lope and its recovery a
fter the mass-wasting event. The scar has been progressive
ly
fi
lled with
lava and vo
lcanoc
lastic debris; in the
first month and a ha
lf, the
fi
lling rate was very high due to the entrance o
f lava
flows into the sea and to the morpho
logica
l readjustment o
f the s
lope; in the
fo
llowing months/years the rate dramatica
lly decreased when the eruptive vents moved upwards and the eruption
fina
lly stopped. A
fter 4 years (February 2007) more than 40 % o
f the scar was a
lready
fi
lled. In ear
ly 2007, a new eruption occurred and a
lava de
lta was constructed in the 2002 scar, in
fluencing the natura
l readjustment o
f the s
lope; there
fore, our reconstruction on
ly encompasses the period between the 2002 and 2007 eruptions.
The swath bathymetry reconstruction of geometry and volume of scar filling during the period 2002–2007 evidenced a punctuated and fast shift of depocenters and debris emplacement through avalanching processes. This process quickly obliterated the features produced by the 2002 tsunamigenic landslide so that a major question about the preservation potential of mass-wasting features on active volcanic flanks emerges.