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Undulating Sediments of the Cape Fear Submarine Landslide system, offshore U.S. Atlantic Margin: Sediment Waves versus Creep Deformation

Fillingham, Jacob Nelson
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2169-3200
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638442629236253

Abstract Details

2021, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Earth Sciences.
We interpret a region of undulatory sediments adjacent to a major headwall of the Cape Fear submarine landslide system offshore of North Carolina, USA, as sediment waves rather than creep or fault-related deformation. The wave package extends 19 kilometers upslope from the S4 landslide headwall and thickens upslope from approximately 250-450 m. Examination of the undulating sediments with seismic and bathymetry data reveals the undulations feature continuity of seismic horizons, upslope-migrating crests, downslope thinning, and wave heights and lengths of ~26 m and ~1 km, respectively, which are consistent with sediment wave fields. These waves may be related to the contourites of nearby Blake Ridge, formed by the Western Boundary Undercurrent. Nearby Ocean Drilling Program cores suggests that turbidity currents may have also played a role in wave formation. While most of the 19-km long field comprises unaltered sediment waves, we observe a ~5-km long zone adjacent to the landslide scarp containing evidence of faults that offset and deform the sediment wave strata. We interpret this deformation as the result of reduction in stress following the removal of the landslide mass. Given that the Cape Fear system has generated several episodes of potentially tsunamigenic slope failure, the future stability of the system is of interest. Redefining these undulatory sediments as sediment waves eliminates a major slope instability mechanism of the system and is important for understanding future slope stability hazards of Cape Fear. Our analysis highlights the importance of understanding sediment waves in hybrid submarine landslide-sediment wave systems.
Derek Sawyer (Advisor)
Matthew Saltzman (Committee Member)
W. Berry Lyons (Committee Member)
Lawrence Krissek (Committee Member)
43 p.
Geology; Geophysics; Marine Geology
Cape Fear, submarine landslides, sediment waves, multichannel seismic, geohazards, US Atlantic margin

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fillingham, J. N. (2021). Undulating Sediments of the Cape Fear Submarine Landslide system, offshore U.S. Atlantic Margin: Sediment Waves versus Creep Deformation [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638442629236253

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fillingham, Jacob. Undulating Sediments of the Cape Fear Submarine Landslide system, offshore U.S. Atlantic Margin: Sediment Waves versus Creep Deformation. 2021. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638442629236253.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fillingham, Jacob. "Undulating Sediments of the Cape Fear Submarine Landslide system, offshore U.S. Atlantic Margin: Sediment Waves versus Creep Deformation." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638442629236253

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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