We assembled a multidisciplinary international team in which the areas of expertise of project partners are highly complementary. All participating organizations have a track record of research in marine geology of the Gulf of Trieste, and have a history of past collaboration through joint research projects and joint publications. The research group is in possession of the majority of research equipment needed for the project, with the exception of certain specialized analytical methods such as high‐resolution absolute dating, which will be outsourced. The participating institutions also own extensive repositories of scientific data from the Gulf collected in past research activities, including 900 km of high‐resolution sub‐bottom sonar profiles and 130 km of multichannel reflection seismic profiles (Figure 6). The research consortium comprises the following partners:
ULNTF ‐ University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering (1414 hrs/yr – 50%)
- Leading and coordinating project partner
- Expertise in marine geology and geobiology, high‐resolution recent sedimentology and stratigraphy, processing and interpretation of geophysical data, 3D modeling, applied and environmental geochemistry, active tectonics and tectonic geomorphology, paleontology, hydrogeology, geological and geochemical mapping
IJS – Jožef Stefan Institute (678 hrs/yr – 24%)
- Instrumentation and expertise in environmental, applied and isotope geochemistry of sediments and fluids, including studies of sources of nutrients and contaminants in aquatic environments, sources and diagenesis of sedimentary organic matter, sources of carbonate mineral phases in recent and subrecent marine and non‐marine sediments, and paleoclimatic studies
Sirio – Sirio d.o.o. (368 hrs/yr – 13%)
- Private company with expertise and instrumentation for acquisition and processing of high‐resolution sonar data (multibeam seabottom topography and subbottom profiling)
MBP – National Institute of Biology, Marine Biological Station Piran (368 hrs/yr – 13%)
- Expertise in marine geology and sedimentology, marine biology, geochemistry, coastal oceanography
Participating foreign partners in the project:
OGS – Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Trieste, Italy
- National institute with a strong research program and a long history of research in the Gulf of Trieste, including geophysical, environmental, oceanographic, and natural hazards investigations, which will primarily contribute expertise and instrumentation for acquisition and processing of high‐resolution single‐ channel and multi‐channel reflection seismic data
HGI ‐ Croatian Geological Survey, Zagreb, Croatia
- Equipment and expertise for piston coring of marine Expertise in marine geology and sedimentology.
EDYTEM ‐ Environment Dynamics and Territories of Mountains, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, France
- Instrumentation and expertise for detailed geochemical analysis and interpretation of parameters specifically related to antropogenic influence on natural systems thorough the Holocene