Fabric genesis, strength and physical properties of young Sediments, Ursa and Brazos-Trinity basins, Gulf of Mexico. A follow-up laboratory study of IODP Expedition 308

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How do catastrophic submarine mass movements come about, and are sediment consolidation, fabric genesis, and texture development important controlling factors? This is the principal question of the FastSed project proposed here for funding. In an environment which has arguably the fastest finegrained sedimentation on modern Earth, IODP Expedition 308, Gulf of Mexico Hydrogeology, has created a unique and comprehensive data set of sediment petrography, physical properties, and downhole measurements of overpressure. These data serve as foundation for a study of geotechnical properties, microfabric and crystallographic preferred orientation of clays to identify and quantify fabric building mechanisms in muds sedimented by fallout and by submarine mass transport. The analytical techniques employed are triaxial testing and ring shear testing. Reference materials will be studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray texture goniometry. It is hoped that FastSed results will make a basic contribution to the assessment of stability problems of sedimented continental slopes. This is especially relevant for areas where current and future exploration for hydrocarbons require major technical installations at the seafloor, such as the Gulf of Mexico or the mid-Norwegian margin.