Analysis of the Causes and Consequences of Submarine Slope Failure

The link between sedimentation/erosion, pore pressure evolution and slope stability is being explored using analytical and numerical modeling. This modeling is being done in collaboration with Ulisses Mello of IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, who is an expert in hydrologic and structural simulations. Numerical modeling is also being used to simulate the effect of turbidity current erosion and deposition on seafloor evolution. Equations are being contributed to this modeling by Jasim Imran of the University of South Carolina, as well as STRATAFORM researchers Gary Parker, James Syvitski and Marcelo Garcia. Finally, the correlation technique is being developed in collaboration with Doug Martinson of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, who is an expert in geostatistics. The technique extracts all possible correlations between any two down-core measurements of stratigraphy (e.g., lithology, physical properties or log response) based on variations in the amplitude of the measurements.