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Flow Behaviour of a Giant Landslide and Debris Flow Entering Agadir Canyon, NW Africa

Krastel, Sebastian; Wynn, Russell B.; Feldens, Peter; Schuerer, Anke; Boettner, Christoph; Stevenson, C.; Cartigny, Matthieu J.B.; Huehnerbach, Veit; Unverricht, Daniel

Authors

Sebastian Krastel

Russell B. Wynn

Peter Feldens

Anke Schuerer

Christoph Boettner

C. Stevenson

Veit Huehnerbach

Daniel Unverricht



Contributors

G. Lamarche
Editor

J. Mountjoy
Editor

S. Bull
Editor

T. Hubble
Editor

S. Krastel
Editor

E. Lane
Editor

A. Micallef
Editor

L. Moscardelli
Editor

C. Mueller
Editor

I. Pecher
Editor

S. Woelz
Editor

Abstract

Agadir Canyon is one of the largest submarine canyons in the World, supplying giant submarine sediment gravity flows to the Agadir Basin and the wider Moroccan Turbidite System. While the Moroccan Turbidite System is extremely well investigated, almost no data from the source region, i.e. the Agadir Canyon, are available. New acoustic and sedimentological data of the Agadir Canyon area were collected during RV Maria S. Merian Cruise 32 in autumn 2013. The data show a prominent headwall area around 200 km south of the head of Agadir Canyon. The failure occurred along a pronounced weak layer in a sediment wave field. The slab-type failure rapidly disintegrated and transformed into a debris flow, which entered Agadir Canyon at 2500 m water depth. Interestingly, the debris flow did not disintegrate into a turbidity current when it entered the canyon despite a significant increase in slope angle. Instead, the material was transported as debrite for at least another 200 km down the canyon. It is unlikely that this giant debris flow significantly contributed to the deposits in the wider Moroccan Turbidite System.

Citation

Krastel, S., Wynn, R. B., Feldens, P., Schuerer, A., Boettner, C., Stevenson, C., …Unverricht, D. (2016). Flow Behaviour of a Giant Landslide and Debris Flow Entering Agadir Canyon, NW Africa. In G. Lamarche, J. Mountjoy, S. Bull, T. Hubble, S. Krastel, E. Lane, …S. Woelz (Eds.), Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences: 7th International Symposium (145-154). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20979-1_14

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (Published)
Conference Name Submarine Mass Movements And Their Consequences
Acceptance Date Oct 20, 2016
Publication Date 2016
Deposit Date Nov 8, 2016
Publisher Springer Verlag
Volume 41
Pages 145-154
Series Title Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, 41
Book Title Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences: 7th International Symposium
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20979-1_14
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1149577