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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SLATE (Submarine LAndslides and Their impact on European continental margins)

Teaser

Summary

Submarine landslides occur on all sediment-bearing margin worldwide. The largest landslides can affect 1000s km2 of seafloor. Accordingly, they can pose a significant hazard because they may trigger dangerous tsunamis, and can damage critical seafloor infrastructure. As we need to understand the risks, the main objectives of the ITN SLATE are a better understanding of the processes acting prior to and during submarine landslides as well as their governing parameters relying on multi-disciplinary research and datasets. Although submarine landslides were in the focus of research since decades, the causes of such deformation and failure, both for past and on-going events, were still poorly understood. Improved knowledge gained through the research-through-training in SLATE helps to identify areas of unstable seafloor for critical development purposes in a generic way; to close the lack in knowledge on why a specific submarine slope destabilizes whereas closely neighbouring slopes remain stable.

With a broad range of disciplines, methods, and technologies, some SLATE ESR projects investigate specific slopes while others base their research on a wider scale to gain general conceptual models. By bringing these two approaches together, SLATE provides both process-oriented knowledge and new expertise for hazard assessment particularly what controls the timing and hazard, which has clear societal and economic implications. SLATE enables to attain this research by way of research-through-training embedded in the 15 ESR projects. Data sets acquired for the individual SLATE ESR projects include unusually comprehensive high-resolution as well as repeated seafloor surveys, novel direct monitoring, cutting-edge lab and in-situ measurements as well as newest modelling and process simulation approaches.

Work performed

Within the reporting period, the 15 ESRs active within SLATE have successfully commenced state-of-the-art research projects on submarine landslides, their triggering factors, subsequent motion and evolution of failed material as well as ensuing geohazards such as tsunamis. Two joint theme-focussed workshops have already been arranged to provide comprehensive training-through-research, by both academics and non-academics, and to foster collaborations across the network as well as direct contact with industrial partners. In addition, two technical workshops were offered which focused on geophysical mapping of submarine landslides as well as coring techniques and core analysis. Complementary training concentrated on outreach and communication activities as well as transferable skills, which were tailored to the ESRs individual requirements. Furthermore, each ESR received an individual training-trough-research in the frame of Personal Development Plan Committee meetings and secondments at academic and non-academic institutions.

A vast amount of significant data has already been acquired to tackle the projects objectives and scientific manuscripts illustrating initial findings are currently advanced, with active collaborations across the network. To name a few, new techniques are developed within SLATE, e.g. the semi-automatic detection of submarine landslides from bathymetric data, the implementation of new inversion techniques for geo-statistical analyses of seismic reflection images and borehole logs, as well as the development of geotechnical test procedures to assess the effect of seismic strengthening â€“ all of which enable improved analyses of various geoscientific data.

SLATE serves as a platform to develop large databases compiling field data, lab measurement as well as literature data. Synthesising studies within SLATE have already revealed a better understanding of fundamental landslide processes across scales and settings. However, these overarching syntheses are based on extensive multidisciplinary case studies partly done in SLATE. With this approach, bringing together studies on specific slopes with others focussing on a wider scale, SLATE enables to gain and test general conceptual hypotheses and provides comprehensive large datasets, which in turn offer new possibilities for cooperation.

SLATE also places a strong emphasis on both the development and the application of newest numerical simulation techniques, which enable implementation of various multidisciplinary datasets to gain a broader comprehensive description of landslide processes. Current studies reveal e.g. key role of free gas accumulations as trigger of initiating slope failure, or the effect of slump source dynamics on tsunami generation using viscoplastic models. The diverse modelling approaches also benefit and will benefit in the next phase of SLATE from the further development of comprehensive and diverse databases.

Final results

In SLATE, many excellent studies and data are currently being conducted to gain a deeper insight into the dynamics of submarine landslides. In order to fill key knowledge gaps, individual ESR projects become more interdisciplinary through collaborations within the ITN, bringing more expertise together, and utilising various new technologies. Although ESR projects are investigating individual landslides, they examine them from different perspectives in closed collaboration. Hence, significant progress beyond the state-of-the-art has been made in SLATE in terms of combining various expertise and synthesising scientific findings. First steps have been taken in SLATE towards the integration of field observation, lab measurements and modelling approaches on individual landslides into general conceptual models explaining the role of various triggers and pre-conditioning factors of submarine landslides. Obviously, these results are of significant direct socio-economic impotance and of public interest; and hence are (and will be) frequently communicated not only to the scientific community through international peer-reviewed publications but also to the public via e.g. numerous webpage presentations and public talks.

As SLATE is designed to make significant advances through the exploitation of synergies, the annual joint workshops have proven to be an excellent platform to bring ESRs, project leaders, associated scientists as well as stakeholders from both academia and non-academic sectors together. In this framework, the young researchers receive input from a wide variety of interest groups, which would otherwise not be possible.
The scientific results in SLATE also confirm that we already have very good and comprehensive data sets, which have to be further synthesized until the end of the ITN to generate an excellent platform for the development of new prediction and mitigation strategies to avoid damage caused by submarine landslides to offshore infrastructures and coastal population; which is an important part of European-wide maritime spatial planning and will ensure that the objectives of European policies can be fulfilled.

With the strategy of joint training-through-research by an international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium, SLATE trains a new generation of highly skilled submarine geohazard professionals. The 15 ESRs are provided with both a broad and well-funded expert knowledge and strong technical skills, but also various transferable and complementary soft-skill courses that are designed to reflect end-user industry needs, and provide new career perspectives.