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The Italian National Research Council (CNR) is a governmental organisation, which promotes and coordinates research for the benefit of the scientific and technological progress of Italy. The CNR research activities spread in several fields including physics, mathematics, medical sciences and all the natural sciences including earth sciences.

The Marine Geology Institute is a multidisciplinary research institute that carries out geological and oceanographic research in the Mediterranean and in other areas of the world (Antarctica, Atlantic Ocean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean). The main research fields at IGM are Geodynamics, Neogene Stratigraphy and Paleoclimate, Oceanography, Marine and Coastal Environmental Geology. IGM has a permanent staff of 43 among scientists, technicians and administrative; additional personnel (about 35 people) are funded on the grants of specific projects. IGM activities are supported through funding from government agencies, industries, environmental agencies and EU. Examples of projects founded by the EU are PALICLAS (EU-Environment); Testreef, Euromarge, STEP, EROS 2000, GEOSTAR, BIGSETS, MATER, QUASH and EUROCORE (EU-MAST).

The group working on Quaternary Marine Geology at IGM is involved in high-resolution seismic stratigraphic studies and sequence stratigraphic modelling accompanied by biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The group addresses both basic science and applied research. The main research fields of the group are:

  1. the analysis of the architecture of modern continental margins as a function of supply, subsidence and Quaternary eustasy;

  2. the study of the impact of changing sediment fluxes to continental margins as a function of short-term past climate change;

  3. the geological mapping of Central Mediterranean region to better define geohazards on Italian coastal zone, shelves and slopes;

  4. the reconstruction of the impact of global climate change on oceanographic processes with emphasis on on short-term events during the last glacial, the late glacial transition and the Holocene.

The group working on Quaternary Marine Geology at IGM has access to the CNR research vessel Urania to conduct campaigns to gather bathymetric, high-resolution seismic, side-scan sonar and sampling data. The group uses standard sedimentological and stratigraphic techniques, including access to large-scale facilities and powerful computation tools.

Our website: www.igm.bo.cnr.it