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Large-scale submarine landslide in the Cochin offshore region, southwestern continental margin of India: a preliminary geophysical understanding

Landslides volume 20, pages 177–187 (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

Analysis of high-resolution multibeam bathymetry, sub-bottom profiles, and multichannel seismic reflection data provides a novel understanding of a large-scale submarine landslide in the Cochin offshore region, southwestern continental margin of India. This massive submarine landslide is referred to name as the “Cochin slide”. The Cochin slide exhibits a U-shaped slide scar with an average gradient of ~ 2°, which opens in the NNE-SSW trend in the lower slope and Laccadive Basin. The slide scar has a width of ~ 46 km and a total perimeter length of ~ 60 km, estimated with a volume of ~ 240 km3 excavated from this region. A non-sinuous channel with a length of ~ 36 km and having incisions varying from ~ 140 to 40 m from head to toe has developed within the slide scar. The submarine channel might have formed after the slide event facilitating channel incisions in the upper slope. The mass transport deposits associated with the slide have distributed over a wide area (~ 5700 sq. km.) in the lower slope and Laccadive Basin, with a maximum run-out length of ~ 138 km. The preconditioning factors or trigger mechanisms for the Cochin slide could not be precisely established yet. However, sedimentation during different geological times and the occurrence of weak layers might have contributed to the slope instability. The morphology of the Cochin slide, its correlation with the extensive faulting in the continental shelf-slope province, the presence of structural elements, and records of previous earthquakes suggest that the tectonic/geological processes strongly influence the triggering of the slide.

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Data availability

Datasets generated during the current study are confidential and archived at the Marine Geoscientific database managed by NCPOR. The corresponding author can be contacted for the availability of the dataset.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Director, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, India, for the encouragement and support to carry out this work. We sincerely thank the shipboard scientific party, officers, and crew members of R/V MGS Sagar and R/V Akademik Boris Petrov for their assistance in collecting the data. We are indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for their careful review of the manuscript and valuable comments. We are grateful to the Editor, for editorial handling of the manuscript. We thank Mr. Abhishek Tyagi (Scientist, NCPOR) for his help. This is NCPOR contribution number 37/2022-23.

Funding

Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, provided the financial support to carry out the work through the “Geoscientific Studies of Exclusive Economic Zone of India” Programme under grant no. MoES/EFC/28/2018-PC-II.

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  1. National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa, 403 804, India

    C. M. Bijesh, D. Twinkle, S. Susanth & P. John Kurian

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  1. C. M. Bijesh
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  2. D. Twinkle
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Correspondence to P. John Kurian.

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Bijesh, C.M., Twinkle, D., Susanth, S. et al. Large-scale submarine landslide in the Cochin offshore region, southwestern continental margin of India: a preliminary geophysical understanding. Landslides 20, 177–187 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-022-01969-6

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