Depositional Characteristics of Suvero Submarine Slide, Paola Slope Basin, Eastern Tyrrhenian Margin
Fabio Trincardi, William
R. Normark
The Suvero submarine slide covers an area of about 225 km2 in the Paola slope basin on the eastern Tyrrhenian margin. The shape and lateral extent of the deposit, investigated by means of 1 and 30-kJ Sparker seismic profiles, strongly reflect the topographic confinement between the steep uppermost continental slope and a morphologic barrier formed by a margin-parallel slope ridge.
The slide is small when compared with similar features on large delta-fed submarine fans or other slope-rise examples, but it constitutes a major depositional event relative to the size of the slope basin. No headwall and slide slip surface comparable in size with the slide deposit were found, suggesting that a significant part of the material flooring the slope basin became involved in the deformation and experienced some short-distance transport or internal shearing in response to a relatively small downslope-moving slide. The presence of small-relief ramps, over intervals of many kilometers, along the otherwise flat basal contact seems to indicate some strength and cohesion of the material involved. The development of a deep scour, localized where the regional gradient decreases fr m the steep upper slope to the flat basin floor, is also consistent with the occurrence of in-situ deformation of underconsolidated sediments.
The source area of the slide deposit lies in a margin sector where uplift was particularly effective during Pleistocene time (1 mm/year), causing the presence of steep upper-slope gradients and the generation of other smaller-scale creep and failure events.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.