Seismic Geomorphology: Subsurface Analyses, Data Integration and Palaeoenvironment Reconstructions

The spatial extent and quality of seismic and subsurface datasets have substantially improved in recent years due to traditional hydrocarbon activities and the emergence of green technologies like offshore wind. This Special Publication investigates the opportunities for (re)investigating past environments using seismic geomorphology and its integration with other datasets.
Seismic geomorphology of the Chandeleur submarine landslide in the northern Gulf of Mexico Available to Purchase
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Published:March 15, 2024
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CiteCitation
Gabriel O. Martinez, Derek E. Sawyer, Alexey Portnov, 2024. "Seismic geomorphology of the Chandeleur submarine landslide in the northern Gulf of Mexico", Seismic Geomorphology: Subsurface Analyses, Data Integration and Palaeoenvironment Reconstructions, A. M. W. Newton, K. J. Andresen, K. J. Blacker, R. Harding, E. Lebas
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Abstract
The Chandeleur Submarine Landslide Complex occurs on the upper Mississippi Fan of the Gulf of Mexico in approximately 1100 m of water, 200 km SE of New Orleans, Louisiana. This part of the Mississippi Fan received high sedimentation throughout the Pleistocene, causing high pore fluid pressure and abundant slope failures, though few as large as the Chandeleur. Given its large size, proximity to major coastal cities and seafloor infrastructures, we examine the Chandeleur Slide to understand what led to the initial slope failure and decipher its post-failure transport behaviour using 2D and 3D multichannel seismic surveys, high-resolution bathymetric data, and well logs. We find a large sediment mass with a translational-rotational behaviour that was displaced to the south/SE up to 40 km from the source area. The Chandeleur Slide includes extensional faulting in the headscarp area and compressional structures in the toe where confined by a natural ramp-like structure. Beneath the Chandeleur Slide, we identify a regional sand-rich unit (called the Blue Unit) that is known to be overpressured. Beneath the Blue Unit we observe an upward-migrating salt diapir. We suggest one possible scenario for the origin of the Chandeleur Slide is the combined effects of an upward-migrating salt diapir impinging on an already overpressured Blue Unit, leading to the initial failure. The initial failure was followed by retrogressive headwall retreat northward, which created the prominent scarp on the seafloor. In total, the Chandeleur Slide complex covers an area of about 1000 km2 and contains about 300 km3 of sediment.
- Atlantic Ocean
- bathymetry
- bottom features
- earthquakes
- failures
- genesis
- geologic hazards
- geophysical methods
- geophysical profiles
- geophysical surveys
- Gulf of Mexico
- landform evolution
- Louisiana
- mass movements
- Mississippi Fan
- multichannel methods
- natural hazards
- North Atlantic
- ocean floors
- sediment transport
- sedimentary structures
- seismic methods
- seismic profiles
- slope stability
- slump structures
- slumping
- soft sediment deformation
- surveys
- transport
- United States
- well logs
- Blue Unit
- mass transport deposits
- Chandeleur Slide
- Chandeleur Submarine Landslide Complex