Submarine Landslides

An examination of ancient and contemporary submarine landslides and their impact

Landslides are common in every subaqueous geodynamic context, from passive and active continental margins to oceanic and continental intraplate settings. They pose significant threats to both offshore and coastal areas due to their frequency, dimensions, and terminal velocity, capacity to travel great distances, and ability to generate potentially destructive tsunamis.

Submarine Landslides: Subaqueous Mass Transport Deposits from Outcrops to Seismic Profiles examines the mechanisms, characteristics, and impacts of submarine landslides.

Volume highlights include:

• Use of different methodological approaches, from geophysics to field-based geology
• Data on submarine landslide deposits at various scales
• Worldwide collection of case studies from on- and off-shore
• Potential risks to human society and infrastructure
• Impacts on the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere

List of Contributors ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Part I: Submarine Landslide Deposits in Orogenic Belts

1. Submarine Landslide Deposits in Orogenic Belts: Olistostromes and Sedimentary Melanges 3
Kei Ogata, Andrea Festa, Gian Andrea Pini, and Juan Luis Alonso

2. Mass-Transport Deposits in the Foredeep Basin of the Miocene Cervarola Sandstones Formation (Northern Apennines, Italy) 27
Alberto Piazza and Roberto Tinterri

3. Late Miocene Olistostrome in the Makran Accretionary Wedge (Baluchistan, SE Iran): A Short Review 45
Jean‐Pierre Burg

4. Spatial Distribution of Mass-Transport Deposits Deduced From High‐Resolution Stratigraphy: The Pleistocene Forearc Basin (Boso Peninsula, Central Japan) 57
Masayuki Utsunomiya and Yuzuru Yamamoto

5. Mass‐Transport Deposits as Markers of Local Tectonism in Extensional Basins 71
Tiago M. Alves and Davide Gamboa

6. Block Generation, Deformation, and Interaction of Mass-Transport Deposits with the Seafloor: An Outcrop‐Based Study of the Carboniferous Paganzo Basin (Cerro Bola, NW Argentina) 91
Matheus S. Sobiesiak, Victoria Valdez Buso, Ben Kneller, G. Ian Alsop, and Juan Pablo Milana

7. The Carboniferous MTD Complex at La Pena Canyon, Paganzo Basin (San Juan, Argentina) 105
Victoria Valdez Buso, Juan Pablo Milana, Matheus S. Sobiesiak, and Ben Kneller

8. Mass-Transport Complexes of the Marnoso‐arenacea Foredeep Turbidite System (Northern Apennines, Italy): A Reappraisal After Twenty‐Years 117
Gian Andrea Pini, Claudio Corrado Lucente, Sonia Venturi, and Kei Ogata

9. Fold and Thrust Systems in Mass‐Transport Deposits Around the Dead Sea Basin 139
G.Ian Alsop, Rami Weinberger, Shmuel Marco, and Tsafrir Levi

10. Eocene Mass-Transport Deposits in the Basque Basin (Western Pyrenees, Spain): Insights Into Mass‐Flow Transformation and Bulldozing Processes 155
Aitor Payros and Victoriano Pujalte

11. Neogene and Quaternary Mass-Transport Deposits From the Northern Taranaki Basin (North Island, New Zealand): Morphologies, Transportation Processes, and Depositional Controls 171
Suzanne Bull, Malcolm Arnot, Greg Browne, Martin Crundwell, Andy Nicol, and Lorna Strachan

Part II: Submarine Landslide Deposits in Current Active and Passive Margins

12. Modern Submarine Landslide Complexes: A Short Review 183
Katrin Huhn, Marcos Arroyo, Antonio Cattaneo, Mike A. Clare, Eulàlia Gràcia, Carl B. Harbitz, Sebastian Krastel, Achim Kopf, Finn Løvholt, Marzia Rovere, Michael Strasser, Peter J. Talling, and Roger Urgeles

13. An Atlas of Mass‐Transport Deposits in Lakes 201
Maddalena Sammartini, Jasper Moernaut, Flavio S. Anselmetti, Michael Hilbe, Katja Lindhorst, Nore Praet, and Michael Strasser

14. Style and Morphometry of Mass-Transport Deposits Across the Espirito Santo Basin (Offshore SE Brazil) 227
Davide Gamboa, Tiago M. Alves, and Kamaldeen Olakunle Omosanya

15. Submarine Landslides on the Nankai Trough Accretionary Prism (Offshore Central Japan) 247
Gregory F. Moore, Jason K. Lackey, Michael Strasser, and Mikiya Yamashita

16. Seismic Examples of Composite Slope Failures (Offshore North West Shelf, Australia) 261
Nicola Scarselli, Ken McClay, and Chris Elders

17. Submarine Landslides Around Volcanic Islands: A Review of What Can Be Learned From the Lesser Antilles Arc 277
Anne Le Friant, Elodie Lebas, Morgane Brunet, Sara Lafuerza, Matt Hornbach, Maya Coussens, Sebastian Watt, Michael Cassidy, Peter J. Talling, and IODP 340 Expedition Science Party

18. Submarine Landslides in an Upwelling System: Climatically Controlled Preconditioning of the Cap Blanc Slide Complex (Offshore NW Africa) 299
Morelia Urlaub, Sebastian Krastel, and Tilmann Schwenk

19. Submarine Landslides Along the Mixed Siliciclastic-Carbonate Margin of the Great Barrier Reef (Offshore Australia) 313
Ángel Puga‐Bernabéu, Jody Michael Webster, Robin Jordan Beaman, Amanda Thran, Javier Lopez‐Cabrera, Gustavo Hinestrosa, and James Daniell

20. Submarine Landslides on the Seafloor: Hints on Subaqueous Mass‐Transport Processes From the Italian Continental Margins (Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas, Offshore Italy) 339
Fabiano Gamberi, Giacomo Dalla Valle, Federica Foglini, Marzia Rovere, and Fabio Trincardi

Index 357

Kei Ogata, Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Andrea Festa, University of Turin, Italy

Gian Andrea Pini, University of Trieste, Italy

Submarine Landslides Subaqueous Mass Transport Deposits from Outcrops to Seismic Profiles

Landslides are common in every subaqueous geodynamic context, from passive and active continental margins to oceanic and continental intraplate settings. They pose significant threats to both offshore and coastal areas due to their frequency, dimensions, and terminal velocity, capacity to travel great distances, and ability to generate potentially destructive tsunamis.

Submarine Landslides: Subaqueous Mass Transport Deposits from Outcrops to Seismic Profiles examines the mechanisms, characteristics, and impacts of submarine landslides.

Volume highlights include:

• Use of different methodological approaches, from geophysics to field-based geology
• Data on submarine landslide deposits at various scales
• Worldwide collection of case studies from on- and off-shore
• Impacts on the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere
• Potential risks to human society and infrastructure

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