Submarine mass movements and their consequences: An overview

Abstract

Submarine mass movements pose a threat to coastal communities and infrastructures, both onshore and offshore. They can be found from the coastal zone down onto the abyssal plain and can take place on slope angles as low as 0.5°. They can move at velocities up to 50 km/h and reach distances over 1000 km. Their volume can be enormous, as illustrated by the 2.5 × 103 km3 Storegga slide. Similar to their sub-aerial counterparts, submarine mass movements can consist of soil or rock and can take the form of slides, spreads, flows, topples or falls, but in addition they can develop into turbidity currents. Their main consequences are linked either to the direct loss of material at the site where the mass movement is initiated or along its path and to the generation of tsunamis. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.