MAGIC Project is funded by the Italian Civil Protection Department for producing a bathymetric database as reference for compiling maps (scale 1:50.000) of geohazardsat the seafloor.

During its 5-year life span (2007-2012), MaGIC will allow the acquisition of high-resolution multibeam bathymetry along the Italian continental margins and will involve the entire scientific community currently active in the field of Marine Geology within the main Italian Research Centres and Universities. More than 70.000 nautical miles of multibeam data will be analysed (of which ca. 60.000 will be acquired during the project), allowing comparison of geological features produced by sedimentary and tectonic processes (volcanic vents, active faulting, subamarine canyon activity, bedform migration, gas seepage, fluid escape, slope erosion and failure).

The main objective of MaGIC is to furnish the National Civil Protection Department accurate depiction of surficial geology and related geohazards on the most sensitive and hazard-prone areas. This issue will be accomplished by the extensive acquisition of multibeam data and by producing interpretative maps of the continental margins between –50 and –600 m water depth. These maps will form the “Map of the elements of geohazards of the Itralian Seas”, consisting of 72 Map Sheets at scale 1:50.000. A long-term goal of MaGIC is to produce data that can be used for a wide range of research and management issues