Abstract
Submarine spreading is a type of mass movement that involves the extension and fracturing of a thin surficial layer of sediment into coherent blocks and their finite displacement on a gently sloping slip surface. Its characteristic seafloor signature is a repetitive pattern of parallel ridges and troughs oriented perpendicular to the direction of mass movement. We map ~30 km2 of submarine spreads on the upper slope of the Hikurangi margin, east of Poverty Bay, North Island, New Zealand, using multibeam echosounder and 2D multichannel seismic data. These data show that spreading occurs in thin, gently-dipping, parallel-bedded clay, silt and sandy sedimentary units deposited as lowstand clinoforms. More importantly, high-amplitude and reverse polarity seismic reflectors, which we interpret as evidence of shallow gas accumulations, occur extensively in the fine sediments of the upper continental slope, but are either significantly weaker or entirely absent where the spreads are located. We use this evidence to propose that shallow gas, through the generation of pore pressure, has played a key role in establishing the failure surface above which submarine spreading occurred. Additional dynamic changes in pore pressure could have been triggered by a drop in sea level during the Last Glacial Maximum and seismic loading.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander CR, Walsh JP, Orpin AR (2010) Modern sediment dispersal and accumulation on the outer poverty continental margin. Mar Geol 270:213–226
Baeten NJ, Laberg JS, Forwick M et al (2013) Morphology and origin of smaller-scale mass movements on the continental slope off northern Norway. Geomorphology 187:122–134
Barnes PM, Nicol A, Harrison T (2002) Late Cenozoic evolution and earthquake potential of an active listric thrust complex above the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand. Geol Soc Am Bull 114:1379–1405
Barnes PM, Lamarche G, Bialas J et al (2010) Tectonic and geological framework for gas hydrates and cold seeps on the Hikurangi subduction margin, New Zealand. Mar Geol 272:26–48
Beavan J, Tregoning P, Bevis M et al (2002) Motion and rigidity of the Pacific Plate and implications for plate boundary deformation. J Geophys Res 107:2261
Carter L, Manighetti B (2006) Glacial/interglacial control of terrigenous and biogenic fluxes in the deep ocean off a high input, collisional margin: a 139kyr-record from New Zealand. Mar Geol 226:307–322
Crutchley GJ, Geiger S, Pecher I et al (2010) The potential influence of shallow gas and gas hydrates on sea floor erosion of Rock Garden, an uplifted ridge offshore of New Zealand. Geo-Mar Lett 30:283–303
Dikau R, Brunsden D, Schrott L et al (1996) Landslide recognition: identification, movement and causes. Wiley, Chichester
Field ME (1990) Submarine landslides associated with shallow seafloor gas and gas hydrates off Northern California, In: AAPG (ed) Fifth circum-pacific energy and mineral resources conference, Honolulu
Field ME, Gardner JV, Jennings AE et al (1982) Earthquake-induced sediment failures on a 0.25° slope, Klamath River delta, California. Geology 10:542–546
Gauer P, Kvalstad TJ, Forsberg CF et al (2005) The last phase of the Storegga Slide: simulation of retrogressive slide dynamics and comparison with slide-scar morphology. Mar Petrol Geol 22:171–178
Kanibir A, Ulusay R, Aydan O (2006) Assessment of liquefaction and lateral spreading on the shore of Lake Sapanca during the Kocaeli (Turkey) earthquake. Eng Geol 83:307–331
Kukowski N, Greinert J, Henrys S (2010) Morphometric and critical taper analysis of the Rock Garden region, Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand: implications for slope stability and potential tsunami generatin. Mar Geol 272:141–153
Kvalstad TJ, Andersen L, Forsberg CF et al (2005) The Storegga slide: evaluation of triggering sources and slide mechanisms. Mar Pet Geol 22:245–256
Lastras G, Canals M, Urgeles R (2003) Lessons from sea-floor and subsea-floor imagery of the BIG’95 debris flow scar and deposit. In: Locat J, Mienert J (eds) Submarine mass movements and their consequences. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 425–431
Lastras G, Canals M, Amblas D et al (2006) Eivissa slides, western Mediterranean sea: morphology and processes. Geo-Mar Lett 26:225–233
Micallef A, Masson DG, Berndt C et al (2007) Morphology and mechanics of submarine spreading: a case study from the Storegga Slide. J Geophys Res 112:F03023
Micallef A, Masson DG, Berndt C et al (2009) Development and mass movement processes of the north-eastern Storegga Slide. Quat Sci Rev 28:433–448
Micallef A, Georgiopoulou A, Le Bas T et al (2013) The Malta-Sicily escarpment: mass movement dynamics in a sediment-undersupplied margin. In: Krastel S et al (eds) Submarine mass movements and their consequences. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, pp 317–328
Mountjoy JJ, Barnes PM (2011) Active upper-plate thrust faulting in regions of low plate-interface coupling, repeated slow slip events, and coastal uplift: example from the Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 12:Q01005
Mountjoy JJ, McKean J, Barnes PM et al (2009) Terrestrial-style slow-moving earthflow kinematics in a submarine landslide complex. Mar Geol 267:114–127
Paquet F, Proust JN, Barnes PM et al (2009) Inner-forearc sequence architecture in response to climatic and tectonic forcing since 150 Ka: Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. J Sediment Res 79:97–124
Pedley KL, Barnes PM, Pettinga JR et al (2010) Seafloor structural geomorphic evolution of the accretionary frontal wedge in response to seamount subduction, poverty indentation, New Zealand. Mar Geol 270:119–138
Piper DJW, Cochonat P, Morrison ML (1999) The sequence of events around the epicentre of the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: initiation of debris flows and turbidity currents inferred from sidescan sonar. Sedimentology 46:79–97
Rohn J, Resch M, Schneider H et al (2004) Large-scale lateral spreading and related mass movements in the Northern Calcareous Alps. Bull Eng Geol Environ 63:71–75
Stirling MW, McVerry GH, Berryman KR (2002) A new seismic hazard model for New Zealand. Bull Seismol Soc Am 92:1878–1903
Vanneste M, Mienert J, Bünz S (2006) The Hinlopen Slide: a giant, submarine slope failure on the northern Svalbard margin, Arctic Ocean. Earth Planet Sci Lett 245:373–388
Varnes DJ (1978) Slope movement types and processes. In: Schuster RL, Krisek RJ (eds) Landslides, analysis and control. National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board, Special Report 176, pp 11–33
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by funding from Marie Curie Career Integration Grant PCIG13-GA-2013-618149 within the 7th European Community Framework Programme, New Zealand Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment, NIWA Core Funding under Coasts and Oceans Research Programme 1 (2013/14 SCI), DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), and the Royal Society of New Zealand International Mobility Fund contract ISATB09-37. We are indebted to the TAN1404 shipboard party, and the captain, crew and technicians of RV Tangaroa. We thank Nicole Baeten and David Amblas for their insightful reviews.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Micallef, A., Mountjoy, J.J., Krastel, S., Crutchley, G., Koch, S. (2016). Shallow Gas and the Development of a Weak Layer in Submarine Spreading, Hikurangi Margin (New Zealand). In: Lamarche, G., et al. Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 41. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20979-1_42
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20979-1_42
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20978-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20979-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)