Coralligenous morphotypes on subhorizontal substrate: A new categorization

Coralligenous has a relevant role in submarine landscape formation and demise through geological times, producing various morphotypes on the seafloor. Several terms are used to define coralligenous morphotypes, but their application through different geological and environmental settings still remains inconsistent. Through a systematic analysis of seafloor acoustic remote data (multibeam, side scan sonar and subbottom profiler) along Apulia continental shelf, ground-truthed by video observations and direct sampling, we detected a number of coralligenous morpho-acoustic facies as 0.2 up to 4 m topographic reliefs with steep flanks and a rigid inhomogeneous biogenic framework, characterized by medium to strong SSS backscatter and a variable plan-view geometry. The observed pattern led to the identification of coralligenous meso- and macrohabitat in which the biogenic frameworks (i.e. coralligenous) prevail as sole biocommunity on the seafloor or are associated with other type of habitats: (i) coralligenous sensu stricto, (ii) coralligenous and detritic bottom, (iii) coralligenous and muddy bottom, (iv) coralligenous and Posidonia meadow. Finally we improve the geomorphological definition of bank, proposing this new descriptive rigorous categorization for coralligenous morphotypes on sub-horizontal substrate: 1) tabular bank, 2) discrete relief, and 3) hybrid bank.