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Seismic and Acoustic Monitoring of Submarine Landslides: Ongoing Challenges, Recent Successes, and Future Opportunities

Clare, Michael A.; Lintern, Gwyn; Pope, Edward; Baker, Megan; Ruffell, Sean; Zulkifli, Mohammad Zaki; Simmons, Steven; Urlaub, Morelia; Belal, Mohammed; Talling, Peter J.

Authors

Michael A. Clare

Gwyn Lintern

Profile image of Sean Ruffell

Sean Ruffell sean.ruffell@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

Mohammad Zaki Zulkifli

Steven Simmons

Morelia Urlaub

Mohammed Belal



Contributors

Gaye Bayrakci
Editor

Frauke Klingelhoefer
Editor

Abstract

Submarine landslides pose a hazard to coastal communities and critical seafloor infrastructure, occurring on all of the world's continental margins, from coastal zones to hadal trenches. Offshore monitoring has been limited by the largely unpredictable occurrence of submarine landslides and the need to cover large regions. Recent subsea monitoring has provided new insights into the preconditioning and run-out of submarine landslides using active geophysical techniques. However, these tools measure a small spatial footprint and are power- and memory-intensive, thus limiting long-duration monitoring. Most landslide events remain unrecorded. In this chapter, we first show how passive acoustic and seismologic techniques can record acoustic emissions and ground motions created by terrestrial landslides. This terrestrial-focused research has catalyzed advances in characterizing submarine landslides using onshore and offshore networks of broadband seismometers, hydrophones, and geophones. We discuss new insights into submarine landslide preconditioning, timing, location, velocity, and down-slope evolution arising from these advances. Finally, we outline challenges, emphasizing the need to calibrate seismic and acoustic signals generated by submarine landslides. Passive seismic and acoustic sensing has a strong potential to enable more complete hazard catalogs to be built and open the door to emerging techniques (such as fiber-optic sensing) to fill key knowledge gaps.

Citation

Clare, M. A., Lintern, G., Pope, E., Baker, M., Ruffell, S., Zulkifli, M. Z., …Talling, P. J. (2024). Seismic and Acoustic Monitoring of Submarine Landslides: Ongoing Challenges, Recent Successes, and Future Opportunities. In G. Bayrakci, & F. Klingelhoefer (Eds.), Noisy Oceans: Monitoring Seismic and Acoustic Signals in the Marine Environment (59-82). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119750925.ch5

Online Publication Date Dec 8, 2023
Publication Date Feb 28, 2024
Deposit Date Apr 3, 2024
Publisher Wiley
Pages 59-82
Series Title Geophysical Monograph Series
Book Title Noisy Oceans: Monitoring Seismic and Acoustic Signals in the Marine Environment
Chapter Number 5
ISBN 9781119750895
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119750925.ch5
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2286679