Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-622
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-622
18 Apr 2024
 | 18 Apr 2024

Improving Risk Assessment of Subaqueous Landslides and Tsunami Generation by Understanding the Roles of Pore Pressure and Sediment Cohesion

Maxwell M. W. Silver, Elizabeth Reddy, and Brandon Dugan

Abstract. Subaqueous landslides present a hazard to communities through their ability to damage infrastructure and generate tsunamis. Efforts to assess tsunami risk often depend on observations from prior events, such as volume of sediment remobilized, velocity of remobilized sediments, slope angle, and/or recurrence intervals. However, geology and hydrology are important factors in slope failure likelihood and tsunamigenic potential. Here physical experiments and natural observations demonstrate the importance of excess pore pressures and sedimentology (i.e., clay content) for assessing failure likelihood and tsunamigenic potential. The implications of excess pore pressure and clay concentration in future risk assessments are characterized. Excess pore pressure is identified as capable of lowering slope resistance to failure, triggering non-tsunamigenic slope failure, and preconditioning a slope for tsunamigenic failure. Excess pore pressures within slopes reduce slope stability and thus areas with excess pore pressures should be considered at increased risk. Bathymetric features such as pockmarks/craters and surface eruptions/mud volcanism are identified as past or present indicators of excess pore pressures. Clay concentration is identified as determining slope failure’s potential for generation of intact blocks, a requisite for tsunamigenic land sliding. Measurement of slope clay concentrations are shown to provide a first-order estimation of failure behaviour to be tsunamigenic. Overall, this work notes that understanding how a slope might be preconditioned for failure is a necessary input for a more holistic risk assessment.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
Maxwell M. W. Silver, Elizabeth Reddy, and Brandon Dugan

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Anonymous Referee #1, 02 Jun 2024
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Maxwell Silver, 18 Jun 2024
    • AC3: 'Reply on RC1', Maxwell Silver, 18 Jun 2024
  • CC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Wengang Zhang, 03 Jun 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Ramtin Sabeti, 18 Jun 2024
    • AC5: 'Reply on RC2', Maxwell Silver, 23 Aug 2024
  • RC3: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Anonymous Referee #2, 16 Jul 2024
    • AC4: 'Reply on RC3', Maxwell Silver, 19 Jul 2024

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Anonymous Referee #1, 02 Jun 2024
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Maxwell Silver, 18 Jun 2024
    • AC3: 'Reply on RC1', Maxwell Silver, 18 Jun 2024
  • CC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Wengang Zhang, 03 Jun 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Ramtin Sabeti, 18 Jun 2024
    • AC5: 'Reply on RC2', Maxwell Silver, 23 Aug 2024
  • RC3: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-622', Anonymous Referee #2, 16 Jul 2024
    • AC4: 'Reply on RC3', Maxwell Silver, 19 Jul 2024
Maxwell M. W. Silver, Elizabeth Reddy, and Brandon Dugan
Maxwell M. W. Silver, Elizabeth Reddy, and Brandon Dugan

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Short summary
This work demonstrates the impacts of pore water pressures and cohesion of sediments on slope resistance to failure, implications for hazard assessment, and seafloor indicators of increased hazard of seafloor land sliding and tsunami generation.