The BIG’95 Submarine Landslide–Generated Tsunami: A Numerical Simulation

Abstract: This article presents a reasonable present-day, sea-level highstand numerical simulation and scenario for a potential tsunami generated by a landslide with the characteristics of the BIG’95 debris flow, which occurred on the Ebro margin in the western Mediterranean Sea in prehistoric times (11,500 cal yr BP). The submarine landslide deposit covers an area of 2200 km2 of the slope and base of slope (200–1800-m water depth), involving a volume of 26 km3. A leapfrog finite difference model, COMCOT (Cornell multigrid coupled tsunami model), is used to simulate the propagation of the debris-flow-generated tsunami and its associated impact on the nearby Balearic Islands and Iberian coastlines. As a requisite of the model, reconstruction of the bathymetry before the landslide occurrence and seafloor variation during landsliding have been developed based on the conceptual and numerical model of Lastras et al. (2005). We have also taken into account all available multibeam bathymetry of the area and high-resolution seismic profiles of the debris flow deposit. The results of the numerical simulation are displayed using plots of snapshots at consecutive times, marigrams of synthetic stations, maximum amplitude plots, and spectral analyses. The obtained outputs show that the nearest shoreline, the Iberian coast, would not be the first one hit by the tsunami. The eastward, outgoing wave would arrive at Eivissa Island 18 min after the triggering of the slide and at Mallorca Island 9 min later, whereas the westward-spreading wave would hit the Iberian Peninsula 54 min after the slide was triggered. This noticeable delay in the arrival times at the peninsula is produced by the asymmetric bathymetry of the Catalano-Balearic Sea and the shoaling effect due to the presence of the wide Ebro continental shelf, which in addition significantly amplifies the tsunami wave (19 m). The wave amplitudes attain 8 m in Eivissa, and waves up to 3 m high would arrive to Palma Bay. Resonance effects produced in the narrow Santa Ponc¸a Bay in Mallorca Island could produce waves up to 9 m high. A similar event occurring today would have catastrophic consequences, especially in summer when human use of these tourist coasts increases significantly

Levantine basin and Cyprus arc : structural and sedimentary process along sub-marine plate boundaries

La convergence des plaques eurasienne et africaine s est réalisée, depuis le Crétacé, par une succession de subductions et de zones de pré-collision qui témoignent d un processus de fermeture de la Méditerranée. L arc de Chypre est le segment le plus oriental de ce système de convergence méditerranéen qui se complique par le mouvement vers l Ouest de la microplaque anatolienne. Ce mouvement génère en Méditerranée Orientale et particulièrement le long de l Arc de Chypre, un régime tectonique complexe. Au cours d une campagne de géophysique marine réalisée en 2003 (campagne BLAC, N/O Le Suroît), près de 20000 km2 ont été cartographiés aboutissant à une couverture quasi-complète du segment oriental de l arc de Chypre depuis les monts Hecataeus jusqu aux abords de la marge syrienne. Les données suivantes ont été acquises de façon simultanée et continue : bathymétrie multifaisceaux et imagerie acoustique grâce au sondeur multifaisceaux Simrad EM300, sismique réflexion 6-traces, sondeur de sédiments (CHIRP), gravimétrie et magnétisme. Ce travail fournit une analyse structurale et morphologique du segment le plus oriental de l arc de Chypre ainsi qu un examen détaillé des instabilités gravitaires sur la marge syrienne et les différentes activités halo/argilocinèse au sein des bassins avoisinants de l arc de Chypre.The convergence of Eurasian and African plates started since the Cretaceous by a succession of subduction and pre-collision zones that witness a closure process of the Mediterranean. The Cyprus Arc is the easternmost segment of this Mediterranean convergence system which got complicated with the westward extrusion of the Anatolian microplate. This movement generates in the Eastern Mediterranean and in particularly along the Cyprus Arc a complex tectonic regime. During the research cruise BLAC in 2003 onboard the R/V Le Suroît, 20.000 sq Km of seafloor has been mapped including the easternmost segment of Cyprus Arc and going from Hecataeus Seamount till the Syrian margins. The following data have been acquired continuously and in a simultaneous way: Multibeam bathymetry and backscatter imagery with the multibeam echousounder EM300, 6-traces seismic reflection, subbottom sediment echousounder (CHIRP), gravity and magnetic data. This manuscript gives structural and morphological analysis of the easternmost segment of the Cyprus Arc as well as a detailed study of gravity induced instabilities on the Syrian margin and the different mud and salt activities in the adjacent basins of the Cyprus Arc.PERPIGNAN-BU Sciences (661362101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Salt tectonics and mud volcanism in the Latakia and Cyprus Basins, eastern Mediterranean

Salt tectonics and mud volcanism in the Latakia and Cyprus Basin, eastern Mediterranean, is investigated by means of swath sounding, reflection seismics and side-scan data as well as by camera and video sledge observations. Both basins are located east of Cyprus and are associated with the collision front between the African and Anatolian plate. The Pliocene–Quaternary sediment succession is underlain by up to 1 km thick Messinian evaporites. Both thick-skinned plate tectonic and thin-skinned salt tectonic control fluid dynamics and associated mud volcanism in the Latakia and Cyprus Basin as well as at the Troodos Latacia Culmination, which separates both basins. An end-member model is proposed which explains the presence of elongated topographic highs and trenches along the Troodos Larnaca Culmination and south of it by gravity gliding of the Messinian evaporites and associated fluid migration. Thin-skinned extension in the Troodos Larnaca Culmination and boudinage, respectively, facilitate fluid flow through and out of the evaporites. The fluid or mud flow dissolutes the salt layer and creates elongated trenches. Mud intrudes into the Pliocene–Quaternary sediments above the trenches. Consequently, the overburden is thickened and forms morphological ridges. South of the culmination the evaporites and overburden are folded due to thin-skinned shortening of the evaporites. In one instance fluid extrusion out of the evaporites is inferred from seismic data interpretation. The outflow caused a volume reduction and collapse of the evaporites. Mud volcanoes and fold anticlines align above deep-rooted transpressional fault systems which are associated with the African–Anatolian collision zone. The faults may act as conduits for rising fluids. In the western part of the survey area, where the Cyprus Arc strikes almost West–East and the collision occurred more frontal and stress was highest, mud volcanoes emerged. Further to the east, where the Cyprus Arc runs SW–NE and sinistral strike-slip has been proposed, fold anticlines evolved. Particular mud volcanoes and folds emerged prior to the deposition of the Messinian evaporites. The undisturbed upper Pleistocene sequences as well as the absence of significant mud outflow on the seafloor strongly suggest that the main fluid dynamic ceased

La branche orientale de l'arc de Chypre. Morphostructure d'une frontière de plaques d'après les résultats de la campagne BLAC (2003)

International audienceThe eastern bend of the Cyprus Arc, at the transition between the submerged Mediterranean subduction and the onshore fault zones that underline the Eurasian, African and Arabic plates boundaries is a submarine feature undergoing a complex tectonic deformation. The BLAC marine geophysical survey helps to better assess the type of the deformation that affects the Messinian to Quaternary sediments along this plate boundary. The deformation, focussed between two tectonic corridors, displays compressive and transpressive features in the central part, becoming thrusting when moving westward in connection with the Cyprus accretionnary wedge. The northeastern end of this submarine range connects with the Latakia Ridge, which is, together with its continental extension, under a tensional tectonic regime. To cite this article: J. Benkhelil et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005)