Title | Large-Scale Mass Wasting on the Northwest African Continental Margin: Some General Implications for Mass Wasting on Passive Continental Margins |
Publication Type | Book Chapter |
Year of Publication | 2012 |
Authors | Krastel, S, Wynn, RB, Georgiopoulou, A, Geersen, J, Henrich, R, Meyer, M, Schwenk, T, Yamada, Y, Kawamura, K, Ikehara, K, Ogawa, Y, Urgeles, R, Mosher, D, Chaytor, J, Strasser, M |
Editor | Yamada, Y, Kawamura, K, Ikehara, K, Ogawa, Y, Urgeles, R, Mosher, D, Chaytor, J, Strasser, M |
Book Title | Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences |
Series Title | Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research |
Volume | 31 |
Pagination | 189-199 |
Publisher | Springer Netherlands |
ISBN Number | 978-94-007-2162-3 |
Keywords | Earth and Environmental Science |
Abstract | The continental margin off Northwest Africa is shaped by a complex interplay of sediment transport processes, directed both downslope and alongslope. During several recent cruises, sediment transport processes between 12°N and 29°N off Senegal, Mauritania, and Western Sahara were investigated by means of geophysical and sedimentological methods. Sediment transport on the Northwest African continental margin operates with different rates and styles: some sections of the margin show a large concentration of upper slope canyons but no indication for significant mass wasting, whereas other sections are characterized by large-scale mass wasting with no canyons or gullies. Four mega-slides, each affecting over 20,000 km 2 of seafloor, have been identified along the continental slope off Northwest Africa. All slides are complex in morphology and show a stepped headwall pattern typical for retrogressive failure. Several buried mass transport deposits are seismically imaged beneath all near-surface slides indicating a long history of mass wasting for some sections of the margin. Two of the mega-slides show headwalls at atypically large water depths, deeper than 3,000 m. |
URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2162-3_17 |
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