- Title
- Assessing the Tsunami Hazard Posed by Submarine Landslides in the Perth Canyon, Australia
- Creator
- Buller, Elise J.; Mollison, Kendall C; Power, Hannah E.
- Relation
- Australasian Coasts & Ports 2021 Conference. Proceedings of the Australasian Coasts & Ports 2021 Conference (online 30 November - 3 December, 2021) p. 200-206
- Relation
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.249949955674936
- Publisher
- New Zealand Coastal Society
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Submarine landslides (SMLS) have the capability to trigger tsunamis that can be hazardous to coastal populations and oceanic infrastructure. SMLS-generated tsunami can have more localised impacts and higher run-up distances than that of seismically triggered tsunami making them more hazardous to nearby coastlines. The Perth canyon, located on the west Australian margin roughly 50 km offshore of Perth, is one of Australia’s largest submarine canyon systems. The canyon incises the continental shelf and is ~120 km in length, reaching depths up to 4000 m. Bathymetric data were used to assess the Perth canyon for potential tsunamigenic SMLS scars. Two large SMLS scars were identified near the mouth of the canyon at depths of ~2200 m. Slide lengths ranged from 1340 m to 7253 m and average thickness ranged from 219 m to 363 m thick. A total of five potential failure scenarios were identified within the two large submarine landslide scars present, with volumes ranging from 0.94 km3 to 10.34 km3. Through conservative calculations, the tsunami hazard to the adjacent coastline from these five SMLS scenarios was estimated. The results of this analysis indicate the adjacent coastline may be vulnerable to tsunami hazard caused by the failure of future SMLS of a similar volume in the Perth canyon. Maximum estimated flow depths of up to 15 m were calculated for an assumed landslide velocity of 20ms-1. This paper identifies and maps the SMLS scars present in the Perth canyon, and assesses their tsunamigenic potential by calculating the associated hazard. With few studies on the SMLS triggered tsunami hazard for Australia, the results of this paper may be used as a first-pass study for further SMLS tsunami hazard assessment for the west Australian coastline.
- Subject
- hazard assessment; morphological assessment; Perth canyon; submarine landslide; tsunami
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1493593
- Identifier
- uon:53589
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780473647056
- Language
- eng
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