Abstract
High-resolution bathymetric maps from offshore SE Australia have shown that the continental margin is characterised by numerous landslides of all sizes and shapes. We have studied two of the larger slides, Shovel Slide and Bulli Slide, located in the upper to mid continental margin offshore New South Wales (NSW), in detail. Morphometric analyses suggest that the slides had the potential to create tsunamis. We have calculated the initial wavelength and maximum amplitudes of those hypothetical tsunamis using the equations of Watts et al. (Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 3:391–402, 2003). The calculated initial wave heights above the mass centroid are in the same range of magnitude on the order of 10–25 m for both slides. The initial wavelengths vary between 75 and 104 km. If, on the other hand, the slides represent multiple (e.g. retrogressive) events, the tsunamigenic potentials were lower. Sizes, shapes, frequencies and the tsunami potentials of the submarine landslides from offshore NSW suggest that submarine landslides may well provide sources for local tsunamis. Precise dating of the landslide events and modelling of the calculated tsunami run up along the coast are yet to be performed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boyd R, Ruming K, Roberts JJ (2004) Geomorphology and surficial sediments of the southeast Australian continental margin. Aust J Earth Sci 51:743–764
Boyd R, Keene J, Ruming K, Exon N, Shipboard Party SS12/2008 (2009) Voyage summary: marine geology and geohazard survey of the SE Australian margin off Northern NSW and Southern Queensland. CSIRO, Kensington, 23 pp
Boyd R, Keene J, Hubble T, Gardner J, Glenn K, Rumming K, Exon N, The crews of Southern Surveyor 10/2006 and 12/2008 (2010) Southeast Australia: a Cenozoic continental margin dominated by mass transport. In: Mosher DC, Shipp RC, Moscardelli L et al (eds) Submarine mass movements and their consequences, vol 28, Advances in natural and technological hazards research. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 491–502
Bryant EA, Nott J (2001) Geological indicators of large tsunami in Australia. Nat Hazards 24:231–249
Clarke S, Hubble T, Airey D, Yu P, Boyd R, Keene JB, Exon N, Gardner J, Shipboard Party SS12/2008 (2012) Submarine landslides on the upper southeast Australian passive continental margin – preliminary findings. In: Yamada Y et al (eds) Submarine mass movements and their consequences, vol 31, Advances in natural and technological hazards research. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 55–65
Colwell JB, Coffin MF, Spencer RA (1993) Structure of the southern New South Wales continental margin, Southeastern Australia. BMR J Aust Geol Geophys 13(4):333–343
Courtney C, Dominey-Howes D, Goff J, Chague-Goff C, Switzer AD, McFadgen B (2012) A synthesis and review of the geological evidence for palaeotsunamis along the coast of southeast Australia: the evidence, issues and potential ways forward. Quat Sci Rev 54:99–125
Dominey-Howes D (2007) Geological and historical records of tsunami in Australia. Mar Geol 239:99–123
Dominey-Howes D, Humphreys GS, Hesse PP (2006) Tsunami and palaeotsunami depositional signatures and their potential value in understanding the late-Holocene tsunami record. The Holocene 16(8):1095–1107
Gaina C, Mueller DR, Royer JY, Stock J, Hardebeck J, Symonds P (1998) The tectonic history of the Tasman Sea: a puzzle with 13 pieces. J Geophys Res 103(B6):12413–12433
Glenn K, Post A, Keene J, Boyd R, Fountain L, Potter A, Osuchowski M, Dando N (2008) NSW continental slope survey – post cruise report. Geoscience Australia Record 2008/14, 160 pp
Goff J, Dominey-Howes D (2009) Australasian palaeotsunamis — do Australia and New Zealand have a shared trans-Tasman prehistory? Earth-Sci Rev 97:159–166
Goff J, Dominey-Howes D (2010) Does the Eltanin asteroid tsunami provide an alternative explanation for the Australian megatsunami hypothesis? Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 10:713–715
Gusiakov VK (2003) Identification of slide generated tsunamis in the historical catalogues. In: Yalciner AC, Pelinovsky E, Okal E, Synolakis CE (eds) Submarine landslides and tsunamis, NATO science series: IV earth and environmental science. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/London, pp 17–32
Hillis RR, Sandiford M, Reynolds SD, Quigley MC (2008) Present-day stresses, seismicity and Neogene-to-Recent tectonics of Australia’s ‘passive’ margins: intraplate deformation controlled by plate boundary forces. In: Johnson H, Dore´ AG, Gatlife RW et al (eds) The nature and origin of compressive margins, Geological Society Special Publication. Geological Society Publishing House, London, pp 71–89
Hubble T, Yu P, Airey D, Clarke S, Boyd R, Keene JB, Exon N, Gardner J, Shipboard Party SS12/2008 (2012) Physical properties and age of continental slope sediments dredged from the eastern Australian continental margin – implications for timing of slope failure. In: Yamada Y et al (eds) Submarine mass movements and their consequences, vol 31, Advances in natural and technological hazards research. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 43–54
Jenkins CJ, Keene JB (1992) Submarine slope failures of the Southeast Australian continental slope: a thinly sedimented margin. Deep-Sea Res Part A Oceanogr Res Pap 39(2):121–136
Johnson AC (1994) Seismic tectonic interpretations and conclusions from the stable continental region seismicity database. Report TR-102261-1, 4-1-4-102. The Earthquakes of Stable Continental Regions, Electric Power Research Institute
Masson DG, Harbitz CB, Wynn RB, Pedersen G, Løvholt F (2006) Submarine landslides: processes, triggers and hazard prediction. Philos Trans R Soc A 364:2009–2039
Völker DJ (2010) A simple and efficient GIS tool for volume calculations of submarine landslides. Geo-Mar Lett 30:541–547
Watts P, Grilli ST, Kirby JT, Fryer GJ, Tappin DR (2003) Landslide tsunami case studies using a Boussinesq model and a fully nonlinear tsunami generation model. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 3:391–402
Young RW, Bryant EA (1992) Catastroohic wave erosion on the southeastern coast of Australia: impact of the Lanai tsunami ca. 105 ka? Geology 20:199–202
Young RW, Bryant EA, Price DM, Dilek SY, Wheeler DJ (1997) Chronology of Holocene tsunamis on the Southeastern coast of Australia. Trans Jpn Geomorphol Union 18(1):1–19
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank GA for the bathymetric and seismic data used in this work. We explicitly thank the reviewers James Goff and Tom Hubble for their efforts to improve the manuscript. We also thank Dr. Cedric Griffiths for his careful and detailed linguistic revision of the manuscript and Carl Bonnevie Harbitz for the final review.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Talukder, A.R., Völker, D. (2014). The Tsunami Generation Potential of Shovel and Bulli Slides in the Continental Margin SE Australia. In: Krastel, S., et al. Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00972-8_48
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00972-8_48
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00971-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00972-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)