01922nas a2200265   4500000000100000008004100001653002800042653001200070653001400082653002300096653002000119653002200139100001900161700001900180700001800199700001900217700001800236700001300254245018500267856005500452300002000507490000700527520110000534020002201634       2014                            d10adiscrete element method10afailure10amechanism10apore volume change10asediment fabric10asediment strength1 aMorelia Urlaub1 aAntonis Zervos1 aPeter Talling1 aDouglas Masson1 aChris Clayton1 aY Yamada00aChapter 25: How do ~2\textdegree Slopes fail in areas of slow sedimentation? A sensitivity study on the influence of accumulation rate and permeability on submarine slope stability  uhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-00972-8  a85\textendash940 v373 a<p>Overpressure generation due to rapid sediment deposition can result in low effective stresses within the sediment column. It has been proposed that these large overpressures are the main preconditioning factor for causing large-scale sub- marine slope failure on passive continental margins, such as those in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Norway. The rate of overpressure generation depends on the sedimentation rate, sediment compressibility and permeability. The Gulf of Mexico and the Norwegian continental slope have experienced comparatively high sediment input, but large-scale slope failure also occurs in locations with very low sedimen- tation rates such as the Northwest African continental margin. Here we show results from 2D numerical modelling of a 2\textdegree continental slope subjected to deposi- tion rates of 0.15 m/ka. These results do not indicate any evidence for significant overpressure or slope instability. We conclude that factors other than overpressure must be fundamental for initiating slope failure, at least in locations with low sedi- mentation rates.</p>  a978-3-319-00971-1