FOREWORD
With the development of marine natural resources, seafloor communication corridors,
major ports and airports in the coastal zones, and environmental concerns about global
changes, there has been a growing need for a better understanding of marine
geohazards. Amongst the marine geohazards, submarine mass movements are very
significant in their extent, frequency and consequences. Major technical advances have
been made over the last ten years in mapping the Water World realm. These include
multibeam and 3D seismic techniques which are, amongst others, providing unique
exploration tools furthering our vision and understanding of the seafloor features. With
these advances came significant discoveries about seafloor mass wasting processes such
as diapirism and volcanic edifice building as major triggers of submarine mass
movements. Over the same period, tsunami generation has been more and more often
linked to submarine mass movement initiation.
Since the early eighties, major national and international projects have been directly
related to the study of submarine mass movements. These projects have various
acronyms: ADFEX (Arctic Delta Failure Experiment, 1989-1992), GLORIA (19841991, a sidescan survey of US Exclusive Economic Zone), STEAM (Sediment
Transport on European Atlantic Margins, 1993-1996), ENAM II (1996-1999, European
North Atlantic Margin), STRATAFORM (1995-2001), Seabed Slope Process in Deep
Water Continental Margin (Northwest Gulf of Mexico, 1996-2004), and COSTA
(Continental Slope Stability, 2000-2004). These advances were made possible by the
financial support and contributions from the industry, government organizations and
granting agencies including the European Union 5th Program and the National Science
and Engineering Research Council of Canada, both major sponsors of COSTA project.
As part of the joint effort between COSTA-Europe and COSTA-Canada, we created this
opportunity to bring together our current knowledge on submarine mass movements and
their consequences into this dedicated book. We also believed that the best way to
achieve this was to do it as part of an international meeting and we would like to take
this opportunity to thank the 1st EGS-AGU-EUG Joint Assembly organizers for
providing us with such a unique opportunity to meet in Nice.
The book is organized in five sections reflecting on fundamental aspects and on
particular environmental settings such as the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Inland
Seas, and Fjords. Inside each of the section, the papers are presented in alphabetical
order. The diversity and extent of the coverage give all of us a unique snapshot of our
current knowledge. We thank all the contributors for their efforts in sharing with us their
scientific achievements. We want to offer a special thanks to Luc Boisvert, our
Symposium Secretary, for all his efforts in communicating with all of us and making
sure that everything was provided timely and nicely. We also thank Petra van
Steenbergen of Kluwer for her cooperation in preparing this book.
Let us hope that this 1st Symposium on Submarine Mass Movements and their
Consequences is only the first of a series. Moreover, we hope that this gathering of
people and ideas will bring about enthusiastic discussions amongst friends, strong
networking, and generate the will to repeat it in a near future.
Jacques Locat and Jürgen Mienert
January 15th 2003.