Sea-level –and gas-hydrate–controlled catastrophic sediment failures of the Amazon Fan

Maslin, Mark; Mikkelsen, Naja; Vilela, Claudia Gutterres; Haq, Bilal U.

doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1998)026<1107:slaghc>2.3.co;2

Cited by 155 publications

(108 citation statements)

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“…It has been proposed that future climatic change and ocean warming may 24 increase the frequency of large submarine landslides, such as through triggering 25 by gas hydrate dissociation (Maslin et al, 1998;Tappin, 2010). It is there-26 fore important to know if past large landslides coincided with major climatic 27 events, or were more frequent during periods of rising sea level.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Timing and frequency of large submarine landslides: implications for understanding triggers and future geohazard

Urlaub¹,

Talling²,

Masson³

2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

172

164

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Large submarine landslides can have serious socioeconomic consequences as they have the potential to cause tsunamis and damage seabed infrastructure. It is important to understand the frequency of these landslides, and how that frequency is related to climate-driven factors such as sea level or sedimentation rate, in order to assess their occurrence in the future. Recent studies have proposed that more landslides occur during periods of sea level rise and lowstand, or during periods of rapid sedimentation. In this contribution we test these hypotheses by analysing the most comprehensive global data set of ages for large (> 1km 3 ) late Quaternary submarine landslides that has been compiled to date. We include the uncertainties in each landslide age that arise from both the dating technique, and the typically larger uncertainties that result from the position of the samples used for dating. Contrary to the hypothesis that continental slope stability is linked to sea level change, the data set does not show statistically significant patterns, trends or clusters in landslide abundance. If such a link between sea level and landslide frequency exists it is too weak to be detected using the available global data base. It is possible that controlling factors vary between different geographical areas, and their role is therefore hidden * Corresponding author Email address: m.urlaub@noc.soton.ac.uk (Morelia Urlaub)Preprint submitted to Elsevier March 1, 2013in a global data set, or that the uncertainties within the dates is too great to see an underlying correlation. Our analysis also shows that there is no evidence for an immediate influence of rapid sedimentation on slope stability as failures tend to occur several thousand years after periods of increased sedimentation rates. The results imply that there is not a strong global correlation of landslide frequency with sea level changes or increases in local sedimentation rate, based on the currently available ages for large submarine landslides.

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confidence: 99%

“…As rivers effectively trans-593 port terrestrial sediment (Milliman and Syvitski, 1992) In some cases scientific drill cores provide information about old buried land-615 slides (e.g. Maslin et al, 1998), although only few landslides haven been drilled.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing and frequency of large submarine landslides: implications for understanding triggers and future geohazard

Urlaub¹,

Talling²,

Masson³

2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

172

164

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“…Off of North Africa there are five or six large submarine landslides, including the giant Saharan debris flow. In the south Atlantic, submarine landslides lie off the Amazon Delta, with volumes of 2,500 km 3 (Maslin et al 1998); off of southern Africa is the Agulhas Slump with a proposed volume of 20,000 3 km (Dingle 1977) although this figure is based on pre-swath bathymetry data. Yet, of all these landslides on the margins of the Atlantic, that must be several hundred in number, the only direct evidence of any tsunamis associated with their failure, is from Storrega where there sedimentary deposits (Bondevik et al 2005)and the Grand Banks, where there are survivors accounts an sediments (e.g.…”

Section: Open Continental Slope and Risementioning

confidence: 99%

Mass Transport Events and Their Tsunami Hazard

Tappin

2010

Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences

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Mass transport events, such as those from submarine landslides, volcanic flank collapse at convergent margins and on oceanic islands, and subaerial failure are reviewed and found to be all potential tsunami sources. The intensity and frequency of the tsunamis resulting is dependent upon the source. Most historical records are of devastating tsunamis from volcanic collapse at convergent margins. Although the database is limited, tsunamis sourced from submarine landslides and from collapse on oceanic volcanoes have a climate influence and may not be as hazardous as their frequency suggests. Conversely, tsunamis sourced from submarine landslides at convergent margins may be more frequent historically than previously recognized and more hazardous.

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“…Failure is attributed to (i) rapid sea-level fall, which resulted in destabilization of gas hydrate, and/or (ii) deglaciation in the Andes leading to the large-scale flushing of Amazon River sediment onto the continental slope, resulting in excessive loading of fan sediment laid down previously during glacially induced sea-level lows. Youngest failures are 14-17 kyr (Maslin et al 1998), with older events at 35 kyr and 42-45 kyr. Hydrate dissociation is mainly associated with the younger events.…”

Section: (Iii) Non-glaciated Marginsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Off the Amazon Delta, there are large-volume (up to 2500 km 3 ) catastrophic failures of the continental slope. These failures are sourced from rapidly deposited, under consolidated sediment laid down on upper-fan levees (Piper et al 1997;Maslin et al 1998). The dating is poor, but suggests a late glacial to early Holocene age.…”

Section: (Iii) Non-glaciated Marginsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Submarine mass failures as tsunami sources: their climate control

Tappin

2010

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Recent research on submarine mass failures (SMFs) shows that they are a source of hazardous tsunamis, with the tsunami magnitude mainly dependent on water depth of failure, SMF volume and failure mechanism, cohesive slump or fragmental landslide. A major control on the mechanism of SMFs is the sediment type, together with its post-depositional alteration. The type of sediment, fine- or coarse-grained, its rate of deposition together with post-depositional processes may all be influenced by climate. Post-depositional processes, termed sediment ‘preconditioning’, are known to promote instability and failure. Climate may also control the triggering of SMFs, for example through earthquake loading or cyclic loading from storm waves or tides. Instantaneous triggering by other mechanisms such as fluid overpressuring and hydrate instability is controversial, but is here considered unlikely. However, these mechanisms are known to promote sediment instability. SMFs occur in numerous environments, including the open continental shelf, submarine canyon/fan systems, fjords, active river deltas and convergent margins. In all these environments there is a latitudinal variation in the scale of SMFs. The database is limited, but the greatest climate influence appears to be in high latitudes where glacial/interglacial cyclicity has considerable control on sedimentation, preconditioning and triggering. Consideration of the different types of SMFs in the context of their climate controls provides additional insight into their potential hazard in sourcing tsunamis. For example, in the Atlantic, where SMFs are common, the tsunami hazard under the present-day climate may not be as great as their common occurrence suggests.

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Sea-level –and gas-hydrate–controlled catastrophic sediment failures of the Amazon Fan

Cited by 155 publications

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Timing and frequency of large submarine landslides: implications for understanding triggers and future geohazard

Timing and frequency of large submarine landslides: implications for understanding triggers and future geohazard

Mass Transport Events and Their Tsunami Hazard

Submarine mass failures as tsunami sources: their climate control

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