Abstract
The continental slope offshore Nice is a natural laboratory to investigate submarine landslides and gravity-flow processes. Using EM300 bathymetry data (spatial resolution of 25 m), about 250 scars with volume less than 8 × 108 m3 were identified. The AUV bathymetric data (spatial resolution of 2 m) revealed a greater number of scar-related failures with two main morphologies: some scars are affected by retrogressive processes of erosion, suggesting failures were triggered a long time ago, while other scars exhibit no evidence of post-failure erosion, suggesting they could have been triggered recently. Downslope from the scars, there are scattered blocks, on average 5-m high and 40-m wide, and well-developed asymmetrical waves, on average 2-m high and 20-m in wavelength. Such evolution could be evidence for the transformation of the remobilized deposits into cohesive flows then turbulent flows. Such transformation took place over a distance of less than 6–8 km.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the captains and crew of the RV Le Suroît and l’Europe (Ifremer-Genavir) and all our colleagues who participated in the cruises. This work was funded by the French program (INSU-CNRS) “Action Marges”. We are grateful to Silvia Ceramicola, Thierry Mulder and Jason Chaytor for their constructive comments and suggestions that improved the manuscript.
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Migeon, S., Cattaneo, A., Hassoun, V., Dano, A., Casedevant, A., Ruellan, E. (2012). Failure Processes and Gravity-Flow Transformation Revealed by High-Resolution AUV Swath Bathymetry on the Nice Continental Slope (Ligurian Sea). In: Yamada, Y., et al. Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 31. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2162-3_40
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2162-3_40
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