Subaqueous Mass Movements and their Consequences: Assessing Geohazards, Environmental Implications and Economic Significance of Subaqueous Landslides
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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).
Shear margin moraine, mass transport deposits and soft beds revealed by high-resolution P-Cable three-dimensional seismic data in the Hoop area, Barents Sea
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Published:September 30, 2019
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CiteCitation
Benjamin Bellwald, Sverre Planke, 2019. "Shear margin moraine, mass transport deposits and soft beds revealed by high-resolution P-Cable three-dimensional seismic data in the Hoop area, Barents Sea", Subaqueous Mass Movements and their Consequences: Assessing Geohazards, Environmental Implications and Economic Significance of Subaqueous Landslides, D.G. Lintern, D.C. Mosher, L.G. Moscardelli, P.T. Bobrowsky, C. Campbell, J. Chaytor, J. Clague, A. Georgiopoulou, P. Lajeunesse, A. Normandeau, D. Piper, M. Scherwath, C. Stacey, D. Turmel
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Abstract
High-resolution seismic data are powerful tools that can help the offshore industries to better understand the nature of the shallow subsurface and plan the development of vulnerable infrastructure. Submarine mass movements and shallow gas are among the most significant geohazards in petroleum prospecting areas. A variety of high-resolution geophysical datasets collected in the Barents Sea have significantly improved our knowledge of the shallow subsurface in recent decades. Here we use a c. 200 km2 high-resolution P-Cable 3D seismic cube from the Hoop area, SW Barents Sea, to study a 20–65 m thick glacial package between the seabed and the Upper Regional Unconformity (URU) horizons. Intra-glacial reflections, not visible in conventional seismic reflection data, are well imaged. These reflections have been mapped in detail to better understand the glacial deposits and to assess their impact on seabed installations. A shear margin moraine, mass transport deposits and thin soft beds are examples of distinct units only resolvable in the P-Cable 3D seismic data. The top of the shear margin moraine is characterized by a positive amplitude reflection incised by glacial ploughmarks. Sedimentary slide wedges and shear bands are characteristic sedimentary features of the moraine. A soft reflection locally draping the URU is interpreted as a coarser grained turbidite bed related to slope failure along the moraine. The bed is possibly filled with gas. Alternatively, this negative amplitude reflection represents a thin, soft bed above the URU. This study shows that P-Cable 3D data can be used successfully to identify and map the external and internal structures of ice stream shear margin moraines and that this knowledge is useful for site-survey investigations.
- Arctic Ocean
- Barents Sea
- bathymetry
- bedding
- depth
- erosion
- facies
- failures
- geologic hazards
- geomorphology
- geophysical methods
- geophysical profiles
- geophysical surveys
- glacial erosion
- glacial features
- high-resolution methods
- ice streams
- imagery
- mass movements
- moraines
- natural hazards
- Norwegian Sea
- ocean floors
- petroleum
- petroleum exploration
- planar bedding structures
- reflection methods
- sedimentary structures
- seismic methods
- seismic profiles
- slope stability
- slumping
- surveys
- three-dimensional models
- transport
- turbidite
- unconformities
- Hoop Basin