A REVIEW OF SUBMARINE LANDSLIDES

Uday K V,
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, VNR VJIET, Hyderabad.

ABSTRACT
The instability of the slopes is phenomenon not only in the land but also most common for
offshore or in continental shelf. Though the mechanics involved in the analysis of the
submarine slides are same that of the landslides, there are additional conditions to analyse the
submarine mass movements. In the present review, various features, phenomena and some
cases studies has been presented. Also, various techniques and instrumentations to determine
such slides also have been presented in the review.
Keywords: sediment movement, instrumentation, slope stability, Tsunami generation.
INTRODUCTION
Slope stability issues are not only confined to the land but also occur offshore (Monty et al.
1996). Studies show that such failures are abundant and mostly insignificant due to their
occurrence at deep inside the oceans and cause very little or no loss of life and properties.
However, several case studies show the major slides and the quantity is so huge that the
material slide has been more than 20,000 km3, and movement/slides running to more than
140km inside the ocean (Masson et al. 2006).

Most submarine landslides occur in the deep ocean, far from land, the role in the evolution of
the submarine landscape. Several cases near shore, when the slide has cut back across the
shore-line in a populated area and destabilized the foundation of a marine structure (Sterling
and Strohbeck, 1973). After such studies, submarine landslides are being given increasing
attention as a cause of tsunamis, which can ravage coastal areas (Harbitz, 1992). After the
tsunami in Indian Ocean in 2004, the importance of the study of the Submarine landslides has
gained the prominence and has been interest in the studies of Marine geotechnical
engineering. So, with an intension to introduce, the present review is based on the
understanding of various studies based on the case studies and the variation of the landslides
inshore and offshore due to various reasons, included in the present review. The review also
brings out some failures in the offshore from historic times, revealed by several studies
(Monty et al. 1996, Bryn et al., 2005, Harbitz et al. 2006, Lovholt et al. 2006).

Features of Submarine Landslide

Landslides possess two essential features, a rupture surface (failure surface, slide surface) and
displaced mass of sediment or rock. The rupture surface is where failure takes place and
downslope movement originated, more of such surfaces may be present in a complex
landslide. The displaced mass is the material that travels downslope. In some slides, all or
part of the mass completely disintegrates, producing a flow (Varnes, 1978). The rupture
surface, particularly in mechanically homogenous material, is commonly concaved upward
and scoop-shaped. Accordingly, motion of the displaced mass is rotational, whereas the
original seafloor is back-tilted. Such slides are formally termed "rotational slides," or
"slumps". However, if mechanical inhomogeneity such as bedding planes controls the failure,
the rupture surface is almost planar and movement is translational. Such landslide is called a
"translational slide". Sliding that occurs serially as numerous adjacent failures that progress
upslope is termed "retrogressive". As understood from above, the terminology and the
mechanics of such slides are same to that of landslide. But, the major difference between a
landslide and a submarine slide is the enormous mass movement as enumerated earlier.
Coussot and Piau [1994] described a 26-km3 Mount Shasta slide as the largest known
Quaternary landslide on Earth, and also reported a slide of about 20-km3 volume in southwestern Iran. By comparison, the largest submarine slide is the Agulhas slide off South
Africa, has a volume of 20,000km3 and is reported to have occurred as a single slope failure
event. Slides on the rocky flanks of the Hawaiian Islands (Moore et al., 1989) and the
Storegga slide on the continental slope of Norway (Bryn et al., 2005) have volume that
exceeds 5000 km3. The Storegga slide comprises three separate events, the largest of which is
3880km3, whereas some of the Hawaiian slides probably were single events. The Indian
ocean is no less safe with the presence of Indus and Bangal fan areas, where the slides are
more frequently reported. An earthquake in this area in 2004 has been the major region for
Tsunami generation (Lovholt et al., 2006).

From all the above historic slides, it has been observed that apart from the mechanics of the
slope failure, several other factors enhance the slides underwater. These include tidal actions,
storm waves, earthquakes, tectonic plate movements, sediment material, stability gas
hydrates, temperature changes of the bed, erosion of the sediments and also the construction
disturbances from offshore structures. Several offshore structures have triggered submarine
failures, which not only resulted in loss of such structures but also have resulted in the

creationn of weak zones awaaiting the failures. Literature allso presentss cases wh
here the
engineeered extracttion of ressources succh as petro
oleum, min
nes and othher resourcces also
triggereed the slidess.
Tablee 01. Summa
ary of variou
us Submariine slides (M
Masson et al. 2006)

Massonn et al. (20006) also dem

monstrated the importaance of poree water preessures in th
he slides
and alsoo with the present
p
of weak
w
layers oriented paarallel to the sedimentaary bedding
g planes.
These pplanes with clayey sed
dimentary ddeposits duee to ocean currents
c
havve higher plasticity
p
and watter contentss. Thus, due to the overr deposition
n of such lay
yers and glaacial sedimeents over
time leaads to the development
d
t of excess ppore water pressure wiithin these ssediments, which
w
is
a majorr factor for sliding. A history
h
of suuch failuress have been reported byy (Bryn et al.
a 2005)
along w
with their long
l
term stability
s
annalysis. Th
heoretical an
nd experim
mental studiies have
shown tthat landsliddes on slopes as low aas 0.5o are only
o
possiblle where exxcess pore pressures
p
at the leevel of the detachmentt surface suupport a large fraction of the weigght of the landslide
mass, tthus decreaasing the efffective strress and the friction with
w
the unnderlying substrate
s
(Massonn et al. 20006). High po
ore pressurees can be created
c
throu
ugh rapid ssediment deeposition
(especiaally in finee-grained sediments
s
w
with low permeability
p
y), collapsee of the sediment
s
structurre (so-calledd sensitive clays) duee to earthquaake shaking
g, or possiblly due to meelting of
gas hyddrates contaiined within the sedimeent.

Fig. 1 Classific
cation of sub
bmarine lands
slide types (m
modified afterr Mulder & Co
ochonat, 1996
6).

Debris avalanchess occur wheen a mass of cohesionless materrial, usuallyy fragmenteed rock,
moves downslope.. In the sub
baerial realm
m, debris avalanches
a
typically
t
occcur on slo
opes that
from 258 too near verticcal; in this situation th
hey can attaain speeds aas high as 100 m/s
range fr
(360 km
m/h). The most
m widely known debbris avalancches in the submarine
s
rrealm are th
hose that
occur oon the flankks of volcaanic islands (Masson et
e al. 2006)), although they also occur
o
in
consoliddated sedim
mentary rocks on activve continenttal margins due to faillure of steep
p slopes
generated by tectonic processses (Kruger and Ohrnb
berger, 2005
5). On the ssubmarine flanks
f
of
volcanic islands suuch as the Canary
C
Islannds, debris avalanche
a
faailure planees dip ocean
n ward at
108 orr less, sugggesting thaat these avvalanches are
a less en
nergetic thaan their su
ub-aerial
counterrparts. The blocky
b
charracter of suubmarine deebris avalan
nche depositts probably
y reflects
the friabble nature of
o the volcaanic materiaal and the distance
d
of transport
t
(tyypically an order of
magnituude greaterr than the biggest suubaerial avaalanches) rather
r
than the speed
d of the
emplaceement proceess.

mi Generattion
Tsunam

O
tsunam
mi was a reeminder of the
t power of this naturaal phenomeenon and
The 20004 Indian Ocean
that succh events, created by laandslides ass well as earthquakes, have
h
a worlldwide distrribution.

Early warning systems for tsunamis are useful on a short time scale. On a longer time scale,
we can only attempt to manage the consequences. In such situations, a probabilistic analysis
of tsunami hazard is essential for estimating the potential losses and risk to human life and
infrastructure along the coastline. The development of a Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard
Analysis (PTHA) tool should follow the same lines as the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard
Analysis (PSHA), which has become standard practice in the evaluation and mitigation of
seismic hazards to structures, infrastructure and lifelines. The ability of PSHA to condense
the complexities and variability of seismic activity into a manageable set of parameters
greatly facilitates the design of effective seismic resistant buildings and infrastructure. This
tool should be designed to provide a synopsis of the tsunami hazard along entire coastlines
and identify the specific tsunami source regions that most strongly influence the tsunami
hazard at each site on the coastline. Most submarine landslides are rare on a human timescale,
unpredictable, and almost impossible to observe and instrument, there has been attempts to
check the vulnerability prediction and post-Tsunami analysis by resorting to numerical
modelling.
The difference in tsunami generation from submarine landslides and earthquakes is illustrated
by the Storegga Slide tsunami and the Indian Ocean tsunami. The Indian Ocean tsunami on
the 26th December 2004 was generated by a magnitude 9.3 earthquake, causing a rupture
more than 1200 km long extending from Sumatra to the Andaman Islands (Kruger et al.
2005). Calculations reveal that the wave energy for the Storegga Slide tsunami as simulated
by Bryn et al. 2005, is about ten times higher than the wave energy of the Indian Ocean
tsunami as simulated by Lovholt et al. 2006. The fraction of energy transferred from the
source to the tsunami is of the order of 0.1 % for the Storegga Slide tsunami (Lovholt et al.
2006), and 0.3% for the Indian Ocean tsunami (Lay et al. 2005). The tsunami generated by
the Storegga Slide displays an initial dipole structure (time = 30 min), whilst the Indian
Ocean Tsunami displays a source that is initially more similar to a line source, Fig. 02 (time =
20 min). Therefore, the propagation of the Storegga Slide tsunami is affected by radial
spreading in all directions, while the Indian Ocean tsunami is only affected by radial
spreading in the north-south directions, again as long as the propagation distance is of the
same order as the fault length or smaller. The lack of radial spreading in the east-west
direction is also one reason for the devastating effects in the far-field of the Indian Ocean
tsunami, for instance in Thailand, Sri Lanka and India (Glimsdal et al. 2006).

Fig.022 Perspectiive of the In

ndian Oceaan Tsunam
mi surface ellevation aftter 20 minu
utes of
simu
ulation. (Th
he colour b
bar shows the
t surface elevation iin m)
The deppth at whicch submarin
ne landslidees and eartthquakes occcur also innfluences th
he wave
generation differenntly. For a landslide occcurring in shallow
s
watter, effects oof critical landslide
motion give largee localized waves, ressulting in more
m
hazard
dous wavess than if th
he same
o
in deeep water. IIn contrast,, tsunamis generated bby earthquaakes are
landslidde should occur
more haazardous when
w
the seaabed displaacement occcurs in deep
per waters, as the initiial wave
(which in this casee depends much
m
less onn the water depth) willl become shhorter and higher
h
as
a result of shallowiing when prropagating ffrom deeper to shallow
wer waters.

usions
Conclu
The seaafloor is nott stable and
d even moree prone to slides
s
than a land. Studdies show th
he cases
where eeven a flat slope of 0..5 is also ssusceptible to sliding at midst off various prrevailing
conditioons. Excesss pore waterr pressure aand earthquaakes have been
b
found tto be the triggering
factors for submarrine sliding
g followed by other conditions such
s
as weaak bedding
g planes,
waves, dissoolving gas hydrate,
h
pettroleum extrraction, load from offsshore constrructions.
storm w
Unlike landslides, submarine slides cauuse huge vo
olume mobilisation of material to
o greater
distancees. Such mobilisation
m
n can causee disasters like Tsunami and/orr earthquak
kes. The
predictiion of suchh disasters is not effecttive by sim
mple instrum
mentation buut require high
h
end
modernn seafloor survey tecchnology suuch as sw
wath bathym
metric mappping, 3D seismic
refractioon in connnection witth numericcal modelling. Though
h the timee of respon
nse and
predictiion of suchh movemen
nts are veryy less, the loss of hu
uman and aanimal loss can be
restricteed by adapting to above methods. Nevertheleess, the inten
nsity of the 2004 Indian Ocean

tsunami is far less than the average submarine slides, which often occur deep and far away
from the shore.

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