The study and comprehension of mass transport processes in marine environments are representing a challenging field of investigation for the scientific community. In fact, they are important sources of sediments from the shallow areas of the sea to the deeper basins, but also they can represent possible marine geohazards, thus posing a serious risk for offshore human activities and coastal populations. This is the case of the Crotone-Spartivento forearc basin, an area that lies offshore the Calabrian Ionian margin, in southern Italy, that is known to be prone to mass transport processes (Ceramicola et al., 2015, 2014a, 2014c, 2014b; Morelli et al., 2011). Open questions regarding the nature and occurrence of these processes are still unanswered and more research is needed.

The objective of my PhD thesis is the characterization of mass transport processes occurring in the Crotone-Spartivento basin through different steps: a first a detailed thematic mapping of the spatial and temporal distribution to discriminate and differentiate different mass transport complexes, and thus study their interaction with the geological evolution of the margin and the possible triggering and preconditioning factors. This study is based on geological and geophysical data integration of previous and recently acquired swath bathymetric multibeam data, sub-bottom and multichannel seismic profiles.