Simple criteria for ploughing and runout in post-failure evolution of submarine landslides

The paper extends the shear band propagation analysis of slope failures to investigation of the ploughing and runout phenomena in submarine landslides. Ability to predict the two different modes of the post-failure landslide evolution is critical for determining the tsunami hazard and the type of the landslide impact on the offshore structures. The proposed analysis is based on the analogy between the ploughing and spreading failures. It uses the energy balance approach to develop the criterion for progressive shear band propagation driven by accumulation of the sliding material on top of the stable slope. This criterion is then combined with the kinematic passive block mechanism to produce analytical ploughing failure criteria formulated in terms of the critical rise in the seabed level. If the minimum rise of the seabed level at which the ploughing can take place is larger than the maximum possible free standing step in the seabed surface, the first passive failure block will start crumbling over the top of the stable zone causing the landslide to runout. Application of the derived criteria to the analysis of observed geomorphological features is demonstrated using example of a paleo-landslide complex in the Caspian Sea.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author