Submarine landslides: advances and challenges

TLDR

Recent advances in integrated seabed surveying have greatly improved mapping of submarine mass movements, revealing that these events can travel over 100 km and their mobility is poorly understood, especially for large debris flows and rock avalanches. The study aims to integrate mass‑movement mechanics into hazard evaluation to develop and implement risk‑assessment methods for offshore activities such as resource development and communication corridor establishment. Key words: submarine slides, hazards, risk assessment, morphology, mobility, tsunami.

Abstract

Due to the recent development of well-integrated surveying techniques of the sea floor, significant improvements were achieved in mapping and describing the morphology and architecture of submarine mass movements. Except for the occurrence of turbidity currents, the aquatic environment (marine and fresh water) experiences the same type of mass failure as that found on land. Submarine mass movements, however, can have run-out distances in excess of 100 km, so their impact on any offshore activity needs to be integrated over a wide area. This great mobility of submarine mass movements is still not very well understood, particularly for cases like the far-reaching debris flows mapped on the Mississippi Fan and the large submarine rock avalanches found around many volcanic islands. A major challenge ahead is the integration of mass movement mechanics in an appropriate evaluation of the hazard so that proper risk assessment methodologies can be developed and implemented for various human activities offshore, including the development of natural resources and the establishment of reliable communication corridors.Key words: submarine slides, hazards, risk assessment, morphology, mobility, tsunami.