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

增进对过去的了解和对目前海底稳定性的更好了解，对于了解整个欧洲大陆边缘的沉积动力学至关重要。海底滑坡是沉积物从陆架和上坡向深海盆地转移的常见和非常有效的机制。在一个单独的事件中，可以在非常平缓的斜坡上运送超过数百公里的大量泥沙。这类事件通常持续不到一小时到几天，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。在这项由挪威特罗姆索大学J.Mienert教授协调的多学科国际项目中，我们重点关注在全球变化的背景下，我们对海底滑块沉积动力学的系统理解。我们优先考虑的研究目标是：(1)上大陆斜坡上滑坡壁的发展，(2)河流和碳酸盐边缘的斜坡稳定性，(3)冰川供给的硅质碎屑边缘的斜坡稳定性，(4)海底滑坡形成和触发机制的地球力学控制，(5)沉积物破裂、移动和流失的数值模拟，以及(6)与海平面变化相关的长期不稳定区域的滑动频率。在该分项目中，我们集中对斯瓦尔巴群岛北部大陆边缘/耶尔马克地区(北冰洋)的沉积物岩心进行了地层、沉积学和地球化学调查。总的兴趣是查明滑坡的沉积特征，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.