201. Permeability and pressure measurements in Lesser Antilles submarine slides: Evidence for pressure-driven slow-slip failure
- Author
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Nicole A Stroncik, Peter Kent Miller, Michael Martínez-Colón, Michael Genecov, Sally Morgan, Anne Le Friant, Kyoko S. Kataoka, Osamu Ishizuka, Yoshihiko Tamura, Robert G. Hatfield, Deborah Wall-Palmer, Esther Adelstein, Akihiko Fujinawa, Benoît Villemant, Georges Boudon, Sara Lafuerza, Michael Manga, Fukashi Maeno, Robert Valdez, K.S.V. Subramanyam, Andrew J. Fraass, Matthew J. Hornbach, Martin Jutzeler, Demian M. Saffer, Mohammed Aljahdali, A. Stinton, T. Adachi, Molly C. McCanta, Fei Wang, Angela L. Slagle, Martin R. Palmer, Christoph Breitkreuz, Peter J. Talling, Sebastian F. L. Watt, Huffington Department of Earth Sciences [SMU Dallas], Southern Methodist University (SMU), Department of Earth and Planetary Science [UC Berkeley] (EPS), University of California [Berkeley], University of California-University of California, Department of Geosciences [Pennsylvania], Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), Penn State System-Penn State System, Institut des Sciences de la Terre de Paris (iSTeP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Graduate School of Science and Engineering [Yamagata], Yamagata University, Department of Palaeontology - Institute for Geology, Technishe Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (TU Bergakademie Freiberg), National Oceanography Centre [Southampton] (NOC), University of Southampton, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-IPG PARIS-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Department of Geology [Leicester], University of Leicester, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University [New York], Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts [Amherst] (UMass Amherst), University of Massachusetts System (UMASS)-University of Massachusetts System (UMASS), School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences [Birmingham], University of Birmingham [Birmingham], Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University [College Station], Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science [Tallahassee] (FSU | EOAS), Florida State University [Tallahassee] (FSU), Department of Environmental Sciences [Ibaraki], Ibaraki University, College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences [Corvallis] (CEOAS), Oregon State University (OSU), Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery [Niigata], Niigata University, Volcano Research Center [Tokyo], The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), College of Marine Science [Florida], University of South Florida [Tampa] (USF), Geology Department, Tufts University [Medford], Ocean and Earth Science [Southampton], University of Southampton-National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO), Geochemistry Division, National Geophysical Research Institute [India], Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences [Plymouth] (SoGEES), Plymouth University, Institute of Geology and Geophysics [Beijing] (IGG), Chinese Academy of Sciences [Beijing] (CAS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC), Department of Geology and Paleontology [Freiberg], Technishe Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-IPG PARIS-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS), Geological Survey of Japan, Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science [Tallahassee] (EOAS), CEOAS, The University of Tokyo, University of South Florida (USF), University of California [Berkeley] (UC Berkeley), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), and Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
Consolidation (soil) ,Sediment ,Drilling ,Geology ,[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph] ,law.invention ,Pore water pressure ,Pressure measurement ,Geochemistry ,Geophysics ,Space and Planetary Science ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,law ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Fluid dynamics ,Geotechnical engineering ,Submarine pipeline ,14. Life underwater ,Martinique - Abstract
Recent studies hypothesize that some submarine slides fail via pressure-driven slow-slip deformation. To test this hypothesis, this study derives pore pressures in failed and adjacent unfailed deep marine sediments by integrating rock physics models, physical property measurements on recovered sediment core, and wireline logs. Two drill sites (U1394 and U1399) drilled through interpreted slide debris; a third (U1395) drilled into normal marine sediment. Near-hydrostatic fluid pressure exists in sediments at site U1395. In contrast, results at both sites U1394 and U1399 indicate elevated pore fluid pressures in some sediment. We suggest that high pore pressure at the base of a submarine slide deposit at site U1394 results from slide shearing. High pore pressure exists throughout much of site U1399, and Mohr circle analysis suggests that only slight changes in the stress regime will trigger motion. Consolidation tests and permeability measurements indicate moderately low (~10-16–10-17 m2) permeability and overconsolidation in fine-grained slide debris, implying that these sediments act as seals. Three mechanisms, in isolation or in combination, may produce the observed elevated pore fluid pressures at site U1399: (1) rapid sedimentation, (2) lateral fluid flow, and (3) shearing that causes sediments to contract, increasing pore pressure. Our preferred hypothesis is this third mechanism because it explains both elevated fluid pressure and sediment overconsolidation without requiring high sedimentation rates. Our combined analysis of subsurface pore pressures, drilling data, and regional seismic images indicates that slope failure offshore Martinique is perhaps an ongoing, creep-like process where small stress changes trigger motion.
- Published
- 2015