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Anatomy of Some Atlantic Margin Sediment Slides and Some Comments on Ages and Mechanisms

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Marine Slides and Other Mass Movements

Part of the book series: NATO Conference Series ((NATOCS,volume 6))

Abstract

Two areas of submarine slides are described; one off North-west Africa and another off of eastern North America. The North-west African slide consists of a 18,000 km2 slide scar with a 30,000 km2 area of slide deposits. The total displaced volume is of the order of 1100 km3. The scar is bounded on its eastern and southern sides by 10 to 100 m scarps. The failure occurred over a slope of about 1° to 1.5° and the mass flows moved over slopes as gentle as 0.1°. The available evidence suggests that the slide zone represents an area of long term instability and that individual failures are related to tectonics associated with a fracture zone. In contrast, the slides off Maryland occurred around the flanks of a series of old submarine channels. Distinct glide planes are correlated with subbottom reflectors. Possible triggering mechanisms include earthquakes and undercutting by turbidity currents.

Available age dates for submarine slides on the North Atlantic margin suggest that they have occurred randomly during the past 25,000 years.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Ocean Survey/NOAA, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, USA

    Robert W. Embley

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  1. Robert W. Embley
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Geophysics, Aarhus University, Finlandsgade 6, DK-8200, Aarhus, Denmark

    Svend Saxov

  2. Ministry of Transport and Public Works, Rijkswaterstaat, Deltadienst, Van Alkemadelaan 400, 2597 AT, The Hague, The Netherlands

    J. K. Nieuwenhuis

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© 1982 Plenum Press, New York

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Embley, R.W. (1982). Anatomy of Some Atlantic Margin Sediment Slides and Some Comments on Ages and Mechanisms. In: Saxov, S., Nieuwenhuis, J.K. (eds) Marine Slides and Other Mass Movements. NATO Conference Series, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3362-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3362-3_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-3364-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-3362-3

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