Nabil Sultan
Associate Professor
EDUCATION
January 2013
: HDR (accreditation to supervise research), Université de Perpignan (France)
1994-1997
: Ph.D., Soil Mechanics: Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées ENPC (France).
1993-1994
: D.E.A. degree (master's degree equivalent), Solid and structure mechanics: ENPC
(France).
1988-1993
: B.Sc in Civil engineering: Lebanese University – Faculty of Engineering (Lebanon)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1- Geotechnics: site characterization and foundation design.
2- Constitutive modelling for soils
3- Geohazards and submarine landslides.
4- Gas hydrate and fluid flow in porous media.
5- Mechanical behaviour and acoustic properties of marine soils partially saturated by gas.
COURSES
CVLE 333 - Soil Mechanics and Laboratory
CVLE 212 - Elementary Structural Analysis
CVEE 716 - Advanced Soil Mechanics
CVEE 331 - Soil Mechanics and Foundations, and Material Properties and Testing
CVEE 231 - Theory of Structures for Architects
PUBLICATIONS
Peer Reviewed Journals (SCI)
[1] Delage P., N. Sultan, and Y. J. Cui, 2000. On the thermal consolidation of Boom clay. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal, Volume 37, Number 2, Pages 343-354.
[2] Cui YJ, N. Sultan and P. Delage, 2000. A thermomechanical model for clays. Canadian Geotechnical
Journal, Volume 37, Number 3, Pages 607-620.
[3] Sultan N., Cochonat P., Dennielou B., Bourillet J.F., Savoye B., Colliat J.L. 2000. Surconsolidation
apparente et pression osmotique dans un sédiment marin. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences,
T331, série II A, 379-386.
[4] Sultan N., Delage P. and Cui Y.J, 2000. Comportement thermomécanique de l'argile de Boom, Comptes
Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIB - Mechanics, Volume 328, Issue 6, Pages 457-463.
[5] Sultan N., Cochonat P., Bourillet J.F., Cayocca F., 2001. Evaluation of the risk of marine slope instability:
a pseudo- 3D approach for application to large areas. Marine Georesources and geotechnology, 19, 107133.
[6] Sultan N., Delage P., Cui Y.J., 2002. Temperature effects on the volume change behaviour of Boom
clay. Engineering Geology, 64, 135-145.
[7] Gay, A., M. Lopez, P. Cochonat, N. Sultan, E. Cauquil, and F. Brigaud, 2003. Sinuous pockmark belt
as indicator of a shallow buried turbiditic channel on the lower slope of the Congo Basin, West African
Margin, in P. Van Rensbergen, R. R. Hillis, A. J. Maltman, and C. K. Morley, eds., Subsurface Sediment
Mobilization, Special Publication 216, Geological Society of London, p. 173-189.
[8] Canals, M., Lastras, G., Urgeles, R., Casamor, J.L., Mienert, J., Cattaneo, A., De Batist, M., Haflidason,
H., Imbo, Y., Laberg, J.S., Locat, J., Long, D., Longva, O., Masson, D.G., Sultan, N., Trincardi, F. & Bryn,
P., 2004. Slope failure dynamics and impacts from seafloor and shallow sub-seafloor geophysical data:
Case studies from the COSTA project. Marine Geology, 213(1-4), 9-72
[9] Sultan N., Cochonat P., Cayocca F, Bourillet J.F., Colliat J.L., 2004. Analysis of submarine slumping in
the Gabon continental slope. In High-Resolution Geophysical Studies of Continental Margins Geohazards,
Special issue of AAPG Bulletin, 88 (6), 781-799.
[10] Sultan N., Foucher J.P., Cochonat P., Tonnere, T., Bourillet, JF, Ondreas, H., Cauquil, E., Grauls, D.,
2004. Dynamics of gas hydrate: case of the Congo continental slope, Marine Geology, 206, 1-18.
[11] Sultan N., Cochonat P., Foucher J.P., Mienert J., 2004. Effect of gas hydrates melting on seafloor
slope instability, Marine geology, 213, 379-401.
[12] Sultan N., P. Cochonat, M. Canals, A. Cattaneo, B. Dennielou, H. Haflidason, J. S. Laberg, D. Long,
J. Mienert, F. Trincardi, R. Urgeles, T. O. Vorren, C. Wilson, 2004. Triggering mechanisms of slope
instability processes and sediment failures on continental margins: A geotechnical approach. Marine
Geology, 213, 291-321.
[13] Vanoudheusden E., N. Sultan, P. Cochonat, 2004. Mechanical behaviour of unsaturated marine
sediments: Experimental and theoretical approaches. Marine Geology, 213, 323-342.
[14] Sultan N., M. Gaudin, S. Berné, M. Canals, R. Urgeles, 2007. Analysis of slope failures in submarine
canyon heads: An example from the Gulf of Lions. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-EARTH
SURFACE 112 (F1): Art. No. F01009 MAR 13 2007.
[15] Sultan, N., 2007. Comment on "Excess pore pressure resulting from methane hydrate dissociation in
marine sediments: A theoretical approach" by Wenyue Xu and Leonid N. Germanovich, JOURNAL OF
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH 112 (B2): Art. No. B02103 FEB 15 2007.
[16] Sultan N., M. Voisset, B. Marsset, T. Marsset, E. Cauquil, J.L. Colliat , 2007. Potential role of
compressional structures in generating submarine slope failures in the Niger delta, Marine Geology 237,
169–190.
[17] Sultan N., M. Voisset, T. Marsset, A. Vernant, E. Cauquil, J.L. Colliat, V. Curinier, 2007. Detection of
free gas and gas hydrate based on 3D seismic data and cone penetration testing: An example from the
Nigerian Continental Slope, Marine Geology, doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2007.02.012.
[18] Leynaud, D, Sultan N., Mienert, J., 2007. The role of sedimentation rate and permeability in the slope
stability of the formerly glaciated Norwegian continental margin: the Storegga slide model, LANDSLIDES
(2008020002513722-0001).
[19] Lu, ZQ, Sultan N., Jin, CS., et al. 2008. Semi-quantitative analysis of factors affecting gas hydrate
formation conditions and its fractions. CHINESE JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICS, 51, 125-132.
[20] Sibuet J.C., Rangin C., Le Pichon X., Singh S., Cattaneo A., Graindorge D., Klingelhoefer F., Lin J.Y.,
Malod J., Maury T., Schneider J.L., Sultan N., Umber M., Yamaguchi H., 2007. 26th December 2004 great
Sumatra–Andaman earthquake: Co-seismic and post-seismic motions in northern Sumatra. EPSL, 263,
88-103.
[21] Sultan, N., A. Cattaneo, R. Urgeles, H. Lee, J. Locat, F. Trincardi, S. Berne, M. Canals, and S. Lafuerza
(2008), A geomechanical approach for the genesis of sediment undulations on the Adriatic shelf, Geochem.
Geophys. Geosyst., doi:10.1029/2007GC001822.
[22] Sultan, N., Cattaneo, A., Schneider J.L., and Sibuet, JC., 2008. Deep sea in situ excess pore pressure
and sediment deformation off NW Sumatra and its relation with the December 26, 2004 Great SumatraAndaman Earthquake, International Journal of Earth Sciences.
[23] Lafuerza, S., J. Frigola, M. Canals, G. Jouet, M. Bassetti, N. Sultan & S. Berne, 2008. Subseafloor
stratigraphic profiling and soil classification from piezocone tests: A case study in the Gulf of Lion (NW
Mediterranean Sea). Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 9.
[24] Bassetti, M. A., S. Berne, G. Jouet, M. Taviani, B. Dennielou, J. A. Flores, A. Gaillot, R. Gelfort, S.
Lafuerza & N. Sultan, 2008. The 100-ka and rapid sea level changes recorded by prograding shelf sand
bodies in the Gulf of Lions (western Mediterranean Sea). Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 9.
[25] Lu, Z. Q. & N. Sultan, 2008. Empirical expressions for gas hydrate stability law, its volume fraction and
mass-density at temperatures 273.15 K to 290.15 K. Geochemical Journal, 42, 163-175.
[26] Sultan, N., Cattaneo, A., Schneider J.L., and Sibuet, JC., 2009. Deep sea in situ excess pore pressure
and sediment deformation off NW Sumatra and its relation with the December 26, 2004 Great SumatraAndaman Earthquake, International Journal of Earth Sciences, doi: 10.1007/s00531-008-0334-z.
[27] Dan, G., N. Sultan, B. Savoye, J. Deverchere & K. Yelles, 2009. Quantifying the role of sandy-silty
sediments in generating slope failures during earthquakes: example from the Algerian margin. International
Journal of Earth Sciences, 98, 769-789.
[28] Lafuerza, S., N. Sultan, M. Canals, J. Frigola, S. Berne, G. Jouet, M. Galavazi & F. J. Sierro, 2009.
Overpressure within upper continental slope sediments from CPTU data, Gulf of Lion, NW Mediterranean
Sea. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 98, 751-768.
[29] Leynaud, D. and Sultan, N, 2010. 3D Slope Stability analysis: a probabilistic approach applied to the
Nice slope, Marine Geology, 269, 89-106.
[30] Sultan, N., Savoye, B., Jouet, G., Leynaud, D., Cochonat, P., Henry, P., Stegmann, S. and Kopf, A.,
2010. Investigation of a possible submarine landslide at the Var delta front (Nice continental slope,
southeast France), Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 47 (4), 486-496.
[31] Sultan, N., Cui, Y.J., Delage, P., 2010. Yielding and plastic behaviour of boom clay, Geotechnique doi:
10.1680/geot.7.00142.
[32] Sultan, N., Marsset, B., Ker, S., Marsset, T., Voisset, M., Vernant, A. M., Bayon, G., Cauquil, E.,
Adamy, J., Colliat, J.L., Drapeau, D., 2010. Hydrate dissolution as a potential mechanism for pockmark
formation in the Niger delta, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2010JB007453.
[33] Stegmann, S., Sultan, N., Kopf, A., Apprioual, R., Pelleau, P., 2011. Hydrogeology and its effect on
slope stability along the coastal acquifer of Nice, france, Marine Geology, doi:
10.1016/j.margeo.2010.12.009.
[34] Urgeles, R., Cattaneo, A., Puig, P., Liquete, C., De Mol, B., Sultan, N., Trincardi, F, 2011. A review of
undulated sediment features on Mediterranean prodeltas: distinguishing sediment transport structures from
sediment deformation, Marine Geophysical Researches, 32, 1-2, 49-69, DOI: 10.1007/s11001-011-91251.
[35] Sultan, N., V. Riboulot, S. Ker, B. Marsset, L. Géli, J.B. Tary, F. Klingelhoefer, M. Voisset, V. Lanfumey,
J.L. Colliat, J. Adamy, S. Grimaud, 2011. Dynamics of fault-fluid-hydrate system around a shale-cored
anticline in deepwater Nigeria. J. Geophys. Res – Solid Earth, DOI: 10.1029/2011JB008218.
[36] Lafuerza, S., Sultan, N., Canals, M., Lastras, G. et al. 2012. Failure mechanisms of Ana Slide from
geotechnical evidence, Eivissa Channel, Western Mediterranean Sea. Marine Geology, vol. 307-310, 1-21.
[37] Tary, J.-B., Géli, L., Guennou, C., Henry, P., Sultan, N., Cagatay, N., Vidal V., 2012. Micro-events
produced by gas migration and expulsion at the seabed: a study based on sea bottom recordings from the
Sea of Marmara. Geophysical Journal International, 190 (2), 993-1007 (2012).
[38] Sultan, N., De Gennaro, V., Puech, A., 2012. Mechanical behaviour of gas-charged marine plastic
sediments. Geotechnique, 62 (9), 751-766.
[39] Riboulot, V., Cattaneo, A., Sultan, N., Garziglia, S., Ker, S., Imbert, P. 2013. Gas seeps controlled by
a buried submarine landslide and sea-level changes, EPSL, 375, 78-91.
[40] Sultan, N. Lafuerza, S., in press. In situ equilibrium pore water pressures derived from partial
piezoprobe dissipation tests in marine sediments, Canadian Geotechnical Journal.
International Conferences with Proceedings
[41] Sultan N., Cochonat P., Bourillet J.F., Colliat J.L., 2001. Back-analysis of submarine slumping in the
Gabon Continental Slope: A pseudo-3D approach. 2001 Offshore Technology Conference, 30 avril-3mai
2001, Houston. OTC 13159.
[42] Sultan, N., P Cochonat, JP Foucher, J Mienert, H Haflidason, HP Sejrup, 2003. Effect of gas hydrates
dissociation on seafloor slope stability, Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences, 103-111.
[43] Vanoudheusden, E., N Sultan, P Cochonat, 2003. Hydro-Mechanical Rehaviour of Gassy Soils.
Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences, 145-153
[44] Gay, A., M. Lopez, P. Cochonat, N. Sultan, E. Cauquil, and F. Brigaud, 2003. Sinuous pockmark belt
as indicator of a shallow buried turbiditic channel on the lower slope of the Congo Basin, West African
Margin, in P. Van Rensbergen, R. R. Hillis, A. J. Maltman, and C. K. Morley, eds., Subsurface Sediment
Mobilization, Special Publication 216, Geological Society of London, p. 173-189.
[45] Meunier, J., N Sultan, P Jegou, F Harmegnies, 2004. First tests of Penfeld: a new seabed
penetrometer. Proceedings of the 14th International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, Toulon,
France, 23-28.
[46] Sultan, N. 2007. Excess pore pressure and slope failures resulting from gas-hydrates dissociation and
dissolution, OTC, paper 18532.
[47] Bourillet J.F., Damy G., Dussud L., Sultan N., Woerther P., Migeon S., 2007. Behaviour of a piston
corer from accelerometers and new insights on quality of the recovery. 6th International offshore Site
Investigation and Geotechnique Conference, 11-13 september 2007, London. in Proceeding, 57-62.
[48] Haghighi A., Gatmiri B., De Gennaro V., Sultan, N., 2008. Numerical analysis of piezocone
penetrometer testing in partially saturated marine sediments, in UNSATURATED SOILS: ADVANCES IN
GEO-ENGINEERING, p. 841-846.
[49] Garziglia, S., N. Sultan, A. Cattaneo, S. Ker, B. Marsset, V. Riboulot, M. Voisset, J. Adamy and S.
Unterseh, 2010. Identification of Shear Zones and Their Causal Mechanisms Using a Combination of Cone
Penetration Tests and Seismic Data in the Eastern Niger Delta, In: D. Mosher et al. (eds.), Submarine Mass
Movements and Their Consequences - Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research,
Springer, 28, I, 55-65.
[50] Cattaneo, A. Babonneau, N., Dan, G., Déverchère, J., Domzig, A., Gaullier, V., Lepillier, B., Mercier de
Lépinay, B., Nouguès, A., Strzerzynski, P., Sultan, N., Yelles, K., 2010. Submarine landslides along the
Algerian margin: a review of their occurrence and potential link with tectonic structures. In: D. Mosher et al.
(eds.), Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences - Advances in Natural and Technological
Hazards Research, Springer, 28, 515-525.
[51] Dan, G., Sultan, N., Cattaneo, A., Déverchère, J., Yelles, K., 2010. Mass-transport deposits on the
Algerian Margin (Algiers Area): Morphology, Lithology and Sedimentary Processes. In: D. Mosher et al.
(eds.), Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences - Advances in Natural and Technological
Hazards Research, Springer, 28, 527-539.
[52] Nouguès, A., Sultan, N., Cattaneo, A., Dan, G., Yelles, K., and PRISME team, 2010. Detailed analysis
of a submarine landslide (SAR-27) in the deep basin offshore Algiers (Western Mediterranean). In: D.
Mosher et al. (eds.), Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences - Advances in Natural and
Technological Hazards Research, Springer, 28, 541-552.
[53] Sultan, N., Garziglia, S., Colliat, J.L., 2011. Gas hydrate occurrences and seafloor deformation:
investigation of strain-softening of gas-hydrate bearing sediments and its consequence in terms of
submarine slope instabilities. OTC21294, 18 p.
[54] Sultan, N., Garziglia, S., 2011. Geomechanical constitutive modelling of gas-hydrate-bearing
sediments, ICGH, Edinburgh, 11p.
[55] Sultan, N., S. Garziglia, S. Stegmann, 2011. Investigating submarine landslides through geotechnical
testing, in situ monitoring and numerical modelling: case of the Nice slope. CIESM, Marine Geo-Hazards
in the Mediterranean, Nicosia, 13 p.
[56] Sultan, N., V. Riboulot, S. Ker, B. Marsset, L. Géli et al., 2012. Pore Pressure Monitoring of Active
Fault-Fluid- Hydrate System in Deep Water, Nigeria, OTC23260, 10 p.
[57] Stegmann, S., Sultan, N., Pelleau, P. Apprioual, R., Garziglia, S., Kopf, A., Zabel, M., 2012. A longterm monitoring array for landslide precursors: A case study at the Ligurian Slope (Western Mediterranean
Sea), OTC23271, 10 p.