Slope Stability of Europe`s Passive Continental Margins; Subproject of the ESF-Euromargins project

提高对过去的认识和更好地了解目前的海底稳定性，对于了解整个欧洲大陆边缘的沉积动力学是必不可少的。海底滑动是沉积物从陆架和上斜坡向深海盆地转移的一种常见而有效的机制。在一次事件中，巨大的沉积物量可以在非常平缓的斜坡上移动超过数百公里的距离。1992年的大浅滩海底滑坡事件也引发了海啸，对邻近的沿海低地造成了破坏，这类事件通常会持续不到一个小时到几天。在这个由J. Mienert教授博士（挪威特罗姆瑟大学）协调的多学科国际项目中，我们将重点放在全球变化背景下对海底滑坡沉积物动力学的理解方面的系统进展。我们优先考虑的研究目标是：(1)上大陆斜坡的滑头壁发育，(2)河流和碳酸盐边缘的边坡稳定性，(3)冰川沉积的硅质碎屑边缘的边坡稳定性，(4)海底滑坡形成和触发机制的地球力学控制，(5)泥沙破碎、移动和枯竭的数值模拟，以及(6)与海平面变化有关的长期不稳定区域的滑坡频率。在子项目中，我们专注于斯瓦尔巴群岛北部大陆边缘/耶尔马克地区（北冰洋）沉积物岩心的地层学，沉积学和地球化学调查。研究的总体目标是确定滑坡体的沉积特征，研究其频率及其与气候变化的关系，并量化从陆架和上坡向深海盆地的沉积物转移。

Improved knowledge of the past and better understanding of the present seabed stability are essential for an understanding of the sediment dynamics of the European continental margins as a whole. Submarine slides are common and very effective mechanisms of sediment transfer from shelf and upper slope to deep-sea basins. During one single event enormous sediment volumes can be transported on very gentle slopes over distances exceeding hundreds of kilometres. Typically such events can last from less than an hour to days as documented by the 1992 Grand Banks submarine slide event that also created a tsunami, which caused devastation on adjacent coastal lowlands. In this multidisciplinary international project coordinated by Prof. Dr. J. Mienert (University of Tromso, Norway) we focus on systematic advancement in our understanding of sediment dynamics of submarine slides in the context of global change. We prioritise the research objectives (1) slide headwall development on upper continental slopes, (2) slope stability of river-fed and carbonate margins, (3) slope stability of glacier-fed siliciclastic margins, (4) geo-mechanical controls on the formation and trigger mechanisms of submarine slides, (5) numerical modelling of sediment break up, mobility and run out, and (6) slide frequencies in regions of long-term instability in relation to sea-level change. Within the subproject we concentrate on stratigraphical, sedimentological and geochemical investigations of sediment cores from the northern Svalbard continental margin / Yermac Area (Arctic Ocean). The overall interest is to identify the sediment characteristics of slides, to study their frequency and its relationship to climate change, and to quantify the sediment transfer from the shelf and upper slope to the deep-sea basin.