Geomorphologic features related to gravitational collapse: Submarine landsliding to lateral spreading on a Late Miocene–Quaternary slope (SE Crete, eastern Mediterranean)

Detailed geological mapping, complemented by sedimentary facies analysis, photomosaics and topographic measurements (height, width) allowed the investigation of the geomorphological features related to the Late Miocene–Quaternary gravitational collapse of a palaeoslope located in SE Crete (eastern Mediterranean). In the study area, carbonate megablocks indicative of submarine landsliding during the Late Miocene alternate with collapse features more typical of subaerial settings; the latter generated after a major event of tectonic uplift initiated in Crete during the Early-mid Pliocene. Submarine features typically show basal shear zones, rather than planes, generated in near-seafloor strata deformed in ductile form during the gravitational collapse of the megablocks. The lithology of failed carbonate strata differs from that of their basal shear surfaces, a characteristic providing a reliable estimate for the degree and styles of basal deformation during submarine slope instability. Styles of submarine collapse include, by order of magnitude; (i) lateral spreading of fractured segments of fan cones and carbonate sheet flows, eventually transported 100s of metres downslope; (ii) aperture of ravines and chasms in gravitationally unstable fan cones and boulder conglomerates; (iii) gliding of megablocks over a ductile basal layer through a distance of up to several kilometres; and (iv) rolling of subcircular blocks, often within a debris-flow matrix in fan cones and deltas, or embedded in slope siliciclastic strata. This work highlights the existence of prominent 2–10 m basal shear zones in strata underneath the larger megablocks deposited on marine slope strata. Basal shear zones comprise a melange of reworked conglomerates and breccia clasts from overlying megablocks, large ripped blocks of rock and faulted near-seafloor strata, at places showing remnant beds and sand injection features. Consequently, the outcrop data show an average 5:1 ratio between the maximum observed thickness of megablocks and the thickness of basal shear zones (R), a value of similar magnitude to published examples from offshore landslides.