Abstract
The Holocene Twin Slides form the most recent of recurrent mass wasting events along the NE portion of Gela Basin within the Sicily Channel, central Mediterranean Sea. Here, we present new evidence on the morphological evolution and stratigraphic context of this coeval slide complex based on deep-drilled sediment sequences providing a >100 ka paleo-oceanographic record. Both Northern (NTS) and Southern Twin Slide (STS) involve two failure stages, a debris avalanche and a translational slide, but are strongly affected by distinct preconditioning factors linked to the older and buried Father Slide. Core-acoustic correlations suggest that sliding occurred along sub-horizontal weak layers reflecting abrupt physical changes in lithology or mechanical properties. Our results show further that headwall failure predominantly took place along sub-vertical normal faults, partly through reactivation of buried Father Slide headscarps.
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Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the constructive reviews by Yasuhiro Yamada and Frank Strozyk. δ13C/δ18O analyses, MSCL and XRF core scanning were carried out at the lab facilities of MARUM. This study is funded through DFG-Research Center/Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean in the Earth System”.
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Kuhlmann, J., Asioli, A., Strasser, M., Trincardi, F., Huhn, K. (2014). Integrated Stratigraphic and Morphological Investigation of the Twin Slide Complex Offshore Southern Sicily. 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_52
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00972-8_52
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