Which earthquakes trigger damaging submarine mass movements: Insights from a global record of submarine cable breaks?

摘要: Submarine landslides, debris flows and turbidity currents are significant geohazards for seafloor infrastructure in many locations around the world. Their deposits potentially provide a valuable record of major earthquakes, which extends further back time than most terrestrial earthquake records. It is therefore important to determine their frequency triggering mechanisms, what types trigger submarine slides different settings. cable breaks provided first evidence mass movements, as shown by 1929 Grand Banks earthquake. Even now global network subsea telecommunication cables provides our only means monitor globally. Here, we present analysis occurrence movements caused earthquakes using break data. Using database fibre-optic identify that triggered (and did not trigger) from 1989 2015. We note perfect may more powerful (>~ 2 m s− 1) flows. However, results show, contrast previous assertions, there no specific magnitude systematically capable breaking cable. Some with magnitudes > 7.0 Mw flows, but have failed nearby cables. also show some very small (3.0–4.0) The susceptibility slopes fail consequence large dependent on average seismicity region volume sediment supplied annually addition other preconditioning factors such slope architecture mechanical properties.