ESR-10-01

How complete is the record of major earthquakes from submarine and sublacustrine mass flow deposits, and which settings provide the most complete earthquake record?

Maarten Heijnen | NOC Southampton

Research

Submarine landslides can initiate several different types of downslope run-out mass flows. One of the most important type is turbidity currents. These turbulent flows of suspended sediment have shown to pose a hazard to seafloor infrastructure (such as offshore oil and gas, and telecommunication links) and can reveal information about the initiating landslides and its triggering mechanism. The deposits of these flows have been proposed to be a valuable record of these initial triggers, especially earthquakes, since some of the largest mass flows have been triggered by earthquakes.

A better understanding of how and where these deposits are formed, what locations are the most reliable and complete recorders of events, and how a trigger can be distinguished from a deposit is critical to be able to correctly interpret records of submarine mass flows. There have always been remarkably few direct measurements of these turbidity current events, however, new efforts have resulted in some high quality timelapse bathymetry data and direct flow measurements. I will analyse several of these scarce and novel datasets and I will be involved in new expeditions to monitor active turbidity current systems. This project will provide one of the first opportunities to understand how these flows behave, modify the seafloor, and thus, how we can interpret their resultant deposits. This project aims to address three main research aims:

  • Understand how submarine channel morphology evolves in response to recurrent turbidity currents that are triggered by submarine landslides. What locations in a turbidity current system can potentially form long-term records of past events?
  • How strongly is flow mode controlled by initial trigger? Can we reliably diagnose an earthquake trigger from other triggers?
  • To what extent do environmental controls (other than the original trigger) affect flow behaviour and how do flows evolve from proximal to distal?
Hosting institute
 
       
Working Group
Supervisor
PDP Committee members:
Detailed bathymetric survey of the turbidity current system in Bute Inlet, a fjord in British Columbia

TEAM

Maarten Heijnen
PhD student – ESR 10
maarten.heijnen@noc.ac.uk
Michael Clare
Principal Investigator – ESR 10
michael.clare@noc.ac.uk

NEWS

2020 | 2019 | 2018 |

2020

21/09/20
Research Expedition JC187 to the Congo Canyon
ESR 10, ESR 5, News
 

Kate and Maarten (ESRs 5 & 10) participated on research expedition JC187 to study submarine mass movements in this submarine canyon.
18/05/20
The EGU GA 2020 – a little different
@ Sharing Geoscience Online (4-8 May)
ESR 10, ESR 2, ESR 4, ESR 5, ESR 6, ESR 9, News
 

The biggest geoscience conference in Europe went online this year – but did it work? Read what our ESRs thought about this year’s EGU General Assembly, as conveners, authors/presenters and visitors.

2019

04/12/19
Maarten’s secondment at the University of Innsbruck, Austria
ESR 10, General, News, Secondments
 

Maarten went on secondment at the University of Innsbruck during the summer of 2019. Read about his experience here!
16/02/19
Maarten’s experience of the AGU 2018
@Washington, D.C., USA
Conferences, ESR 10, News
 

Maarten (ESR 10) attended the biggest geosciences conference in the world: the AGU Fall Meeting. The conference was held from 10 to 14 December 2018 in Washington, D.C., USA. Maarten presented a poster and attended a wide variety of other sessions. Read about his experiences here!
24/01/19
ESRs’ experiences of the BSRG2018
@ Edinburgh, Scotland (18-19 Dec 2018)
Conferences, ESR 10, ESR 5, ESR 9, News
 

Kate (ESR5), Ricarda (ESR9) and Maarten (ESR10) participated at the British Sedimentological Research Group Annual Group Meeting (BSRG AGM 2018), which was held the 19th and 20th of December 2018 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Read about their experiences of this conference here!
16/01/19
Expedition to Bute Inlet, PART II
@ CCGS Vector
ESR 10, News
 

Maarten participated on the second part of a set of two research cruises to Bute Inlet, British Columbia, Canada on the CCGS Vector. Maarten studies real-time turbidity currents, a type of submarine flow that can be the result of landslides, that occur on the bottom of this fjord.

2018

05/09/18
ESRs’ experiences of the ISC2018
@ Québec, Canada (12-17 August 2018)
Conferences, ESR 10, ESR 4, ESR 6, News
 

Shray (ESR4), Davide (ESR6) and Maarten (ESR10) participated at the International Sedimentological Congress (ISC) 2018, which was held from 13-17 August in Québec, Canada. Organised every four years by the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS), they took the chance to present their projects to a large audience. Read more about their experience…
07/08/18
Maarten’s participation in BSRG workshop
@ University of Liverpool, UK
ESR 10, News
 

In order to broaden his sedimentological skillset outside of his own PhD project, Maarten took the opportunity to attend the “Sandstone Petrography and Diagenesis” workshop offered by the British Sedimentological Research Group (BSRG) at the University of Liverpool. Read more about his experience in microscopically analysing sandstones.
18/06/18
Expedition to Bute Inlet and Knight Inlet
@ CCGS Vector
ESR 10, ESR 5, News
 

Kate and Maarten were fortunate enough to be part of a major coordination effort to explore turbidity currents in two fjords in British Columbia, Canada. They share their experience on board of CCGS Vector exploring these fascinating submarine mass flows in an equally fascinating landscape.
28/05/18
Review of the 8th ISSMMTC conference
@ Victoria, Canada (7-9 May 2018)
ESR 1, ESR 10, ESR 15, ESR 3, ESR 5, News
 

Rachel, Tugdual and Maddalena share their experience of the 8th International Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences (ISSMMTC) hosted in Victoria, Canada! This bi-/triannual conference supported by UNESCO’s International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) was a great opportunity for our young scientists to come together and discuss the latest in the growing field of submarine landslide research.