The Storegga Slide: architecture, geometry and slide development

The detailed mapping of the Storegga Slide morphological elements and the analyses of the slide development are based on high-quality acoustic and sampling data sets acquired through a cooperation between academia and the petroleum industry. The Storegga Slide has affected an area of c. 95 000 km2 and a sediment volume of minimum 2400 km3 and maximum 3200 km3 has been displaced with c. 250 km3 deposited as turbidite sediments in the Norway Basin. This volume places the Storegga Slide event as one of the world largest exposed submarine slides. The Storegga Slide can be divided into six distinctive morphological provinces. Associated, and superimposed, on these provinces a total of 63 slide lobe phases have been identified and mapped. The morphological investigations have furthermore made it possible to generate a set of numerical values for statistical analysis of slide sediment rheology. This knowledge also makes it feasible to model the Storegga Slide. The analyses of the slide have revealed that the slide has developed through a retrogressive process starting most probably on the lower slope. The most likely location for initializing is in an area close to the Faroe–Shetland Escarpment.