The challenges facing submarine mass movement researchers and engineers are plentiful and exciting. This book follows several high-profile submarine landslide disasters that have reached the world’s attention over the past few years. For decades, researchers have been mapping the world’s mass movements. Their significant impacts on the Earth by distributing sediment on phenomenal scales is undeniable. Their importance in the origins of buried resources has long been understood. Their hazard potential ranges from damaging to apocalyptic, frequently damaging local infrastructure and sometimes devastating whole coastlines. Moving beyond mapping advances, the subaqueous mass movement scientists and practitioners are now also focussed on assessing the consequences of mass movements, and the measurement and modelling of events, hazard analysis and mitigation. Many state-of-the-art examples are provided in this book, which is produced under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Program S4SLIDE (Significance of Modern and Ancient Submarine Slope LandSLIDEs).

This GSL volume focuses on underwater or subaqueous landslides with the overarching goal of understanding how they affect society and the environment. The new research presented here is the result of significant advances made over recent years in directly monitoring submarine landslides, in standardising global datasets for quantitative analysis, constructing a global database, and leading international research projects. This volume demonstrates the breadth of investigation taking place into subaqueous landslides, and shows that while events like the recent ones in the Indonesian archipelago can be devastating they are at the smaller end of what the Earth has experienced in the past. Understanding the spectrum of subaqueous landslide processes, and therefore the potential societal impact, requires research across all spatial and temporal scales. This volume delivers a compilation of state-of-the-art papers covering topics from regional landslide databases to advanced techniques for in situ measurements, to numerical modelling of processes and hazards.

This book is a comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art studies of seafloor slope instability and their societal implications. The volume captures the most recent and exciting scientific progress made in this research field. As the world’s climate and energy needs change, the conditions under which slope instability occurs and needs to be considered, are also changing. The science and engineering of submarine – or more widely subaqueous – mass movements is greatly benefiting from advances in seafloor and sub-seafloor surveying technologies. Ultra-high-resolution seafloor mapping and 3D seismic reflection cubes are becoming commonly available datasets that are dramatically increasing our knowledge of the mechanisms and controls of subaqueous slope failure. Monitoring of slope deformation, repeat surveying and deep drilling, on the other hand, are emerging as important new techniques for understanding the temporal scales of slope instability. In essence, rapid advances in technology are being readily incorporated into scientific research and as a result, our understanding of submarine mass movements is increasing at a very fast rate. The volume also marks the beginning of the third IGCP project for the submarine mass movement research community, IGCP-640 S4SLIDE (Significance of Modern and Ancient Submarine Slope LandSLIDEs). The Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences symposium is the biannual meeting under the IGCP umbrella.

With contributions from leading researchers in science and engineering, this book provides a global perspective on submarine mass movements and their consequences. Authors report on new findings from fundamental as well as site-specific studies from around the world. All studies relied on the most recent technologies, including multi-beam sonar imaging techniques, 3D seismic analysis, slope stability analysis, debris flow, and tsunami modeling.

Recent global events such as the devastating 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami, the 2004 Sumatran tsunami and the 2006 SE Asia undersea network cable failure underscore the societal and economic effects of submarine mass movements. These events call upon the scientific community to understand submarine mass movement processes and consequences to assist in hazard assessment, mitigation and planning. Additionally, submarine mass movements are beginning to be recognized as prevalent in continental margin geologic sections. As such, they represent a significant if not dominant role in margin sedimentary processes. They also represent a potential hazard to hydrocarbon exploration and development, but also represent exploration indicators and targets. This volume consists of a collection of the latest scientific research by international experts in geological, geophysical, engineering and environment aspects of submarine mass failures, focussed on understanding the full spectrum of challenges presented by submarine mass movements and their consequences.

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

With contributions from leading researchers in science and engineering, this book provides a global perspective on submarine mass movements and their consequences. Authors report on new findings from fundamental as well as site-specific studies from around the world. All studies relied on the most recent technologies, including multi-beam sonar imaging techniques, 3D seismic analysis, slope stability analysis, debris flow, and tsunami modeling.