Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Debris avalanches derived from the flanks of volcanic islands are among the largest on Earth. Debris avalanches are rare, catastrophic destabilizations that still keep geologists debating about the mechanisms that initiate them and make them travel huge runout distances. To shed light on the trigger of such destabilizations, we studied the inland scar of a debris avalanche deposit cropping out at Piton des Neiges, a dormant and eroded basaltic volcano of La Réunion Island. The avalanche deposit rests on a pile of 50-70 sill intrusions with a shallow northward dip, i.e. toward the sea. We measured the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility in a transect across the uppermost sill of the pile in contact with the avalanche deposit. This transect reveals a strongly asymmetric magnetic fabric, consistent with a north-directed shear movement of the upper intrusion wall. This suggests that the upper sill induced a co-intrusive shear displacement of the volcano flank toward the sea. The upper sill margin in contact with the avalanche is striated, showing that this intrusion is older than the avalanche. Striae indicate a northward direction of avalanche runout. The upper sill margin also displays a magmatic lineation consistent with a magma flow in the intrusion toward the north. There is thus a striking kinematic consistency between the directions of intrusion propagation and avalanche runout, both oriented toward the sea. From the above results, we propose that repeated sill intrusions, such as observed on Piton des Neiges, increase the instability of a volcanic edifice. Each injection induces an incremental slip of the overlying rock mass, which may eventually end up into a landslide. Sill intrusions associated with seaward displacements of volcano flank, such as inferred for the April 2007 eruption of Piton de la Fournaise (also in La Réunion), should therefore be considered as a potential trigger of debris avalanches.
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San Francisco, United States

hal-01387002
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01387002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Piton des Neiges basaltic volcano (La Réunion) has been deeply dissected by erosion, exposing large volumes of debris avalanche deposits. To shed light on the factors that led to volcano flank destabilizations, we studied the structure, the crystallographic and magnetic fabrics of the substratum of a debris avalanche unit. This substratum is a complex of N50 seaward-dipping sills that has been exposed by the avalanche. Structural observations show that the sill plane in contact with the avalanche is one of the latest intrusions in the sill complex. In this uppermost sill, the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is correlated to the crystallographic preferred orientation of magmatic silicate minerals, allowing us to use AMS as a proxy to infer the magmatic flow. The AMS fabric across the intrusion is strongly asymmetric, which reveals that the contact sill was emplaced with a normal shear displacement of its hanging wall. The shear displacement and the magma flow in the intrusion are both directed toward the NNE, i.e. toward the sea, which is also the direction of the slope and of the debris avalanche runout. Because all the sills in the intrusion complex have a similar dip and dip direction, it is likely that several of them also underwent a cointrusive slip toward the NNE. We conclude that this cointrusive normal slip, repeated over many intrusions of the sill complex, increased the flank instability of the volcano. This incre-mental instability may have ended up into the observed debris avalanche deposit. At Piton de la Fournaise, the active volcano of La Réunion, sill intrusion and cointrusive flank displacement have been inferred from geophys-ical studies for the April 2007 eruption. By providing direct evidence of sheared sills, our study substantiates the idea that repeated sill intrusions may eventually trigger flank destabilizations in basaltic volcanoes.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01351758
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01351758
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01351758/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01351758/file/2016-Tectonopgysics-Berthod.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.02.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
We present Contact Dynamics discrete element simulations of the earthquake-triggered Jiufengershan avalanche, which mobilized a 60 m thick, 1.5 km long sedimentary layer, dipping similar to 22 degrees SE toward a valley. The dynamic behavior of the avalanche is simulated under different assumptions about rock behavior, water table height, and boundary shear strength. Additionally, seismic shaking is introduced using strong motion records from nearby stations. We assume that seismic shaking generates shearing and frictional heating along the surface of rupture, which, in turn, may induce dynamic weakening and avalanche triggering; a simple "slip-weakening'' criterion was adopted to simulate shear strength drop along the rupture surface. We investigate the mechanical processes occurring during triggering and propagation of an avalanche mobilizing shallowly dipping layers. Incipient deformation forms a pop-up structure at the toe of the dip slope. As the avalanche propagates, the pop-up deforms into an overturned fold, which overrides the surface of separation along a decollement. Simultaneously, uphill layers slide at high velocity (125 km/h) and are folded and disrupted as they reach the toe of the dip slope. The avalanche foot forms a wedge that is pushed forward as deformed rocks accrete at its rear. We simulated five cross sections across the Jiufengershan avalanche, which differ in the geometry of the surface of separation. Topographic and simulated surface profiles are similar. The friction coefficient at the surface of separation determined from back analysis is abnormally low (mu(SS) = 0.2), possibly due to lubrication by liquefied soils. The granular deposits of simulated earthquake- and rain-triggered avalanches are similar.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-00420882
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00420882
DOI : 10.1029/2008JF001075

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley-Blackwell
Résumé : International audience
Despite convergent margins being unstable systems, most reports of huge submarine slope failure have come from oceanic volcanoes and passive margins. Swath bathymetry and seismic profiles of the northern Hikurangi subduction system, New Zealand, show a tapering 65-30 km wide by 65 km deep margin indentation, with a giant, 3150+_630 km 3, blocky, debris avalanche deposit projecting 40 km out across horizontal trench fill, and a debris flow deposit projecting over 100 km. Slide blocks are well-bedded, up to 18 km across and 1.2 km high, the largest being at the avalanche deposit's leading edge. Samples dredged from them are mainly Miocene shelf calc-mudstones similar to those outcropping around the indentation. Cores from cover beds suggest that failure occurred-170 +_40 ka, possibly synchronously with a major extension collapse in the upper indentation. However, the northern part of the indentation is much older. The steep, straight northern wall is close to the direction of plate convergence and probably formed around 2.0-0.16 Ma as a large seamount subducted, leaving in its wake a deep groove obliquely across the margin and an unstable triangle of fractured rock in the 60 ø angle between groove and oversteepened margin front. The triangle collapsed as a blocky avalanche, leaving a scalloped southern wall and probably causing a large tsunami. Tentative calculations of compacted volumes suggest that the indentation is over 600 km 3 larger than the avalanche, supporting a two-stage origin that includes subduction erosion. Since failure, convergence has carried the deposits-9 km back toward the margin, causing internal compression. The eventual subduction/accretion of the Ruatoria avalanche explains the scarcity of such features on active margins and perhaps the nature of olistostromes in fold belts.
ISSN: 2169-9275

hal-01261406
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261406
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261406/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01261406/file/CollotJGR2001.pdf
DOI : 10.1029/2001JB900004

Éditeur(s) : Amer Geophysical Union
Résumé : New high-resolution multichannel seismic data (GWADASEIS-2009 and JC45/46-2010 cruises; 72 and 60 channels, respectively) combined with previous data (AGUADOMAR-1999 and CARAVAL-2002; 6 and 24 channels, respectively) allow a detailed investigation of mass-wasting processes around the volcanic island of Montserrat in the Lesser Antilles. Seven submarine deposits have sources on the flanks of Montserrat, while three are related to the nearby Kahouanne submarine volcanoes. The most voluminous deposit (similar to 20 km(3)) within the Bouillante-Montserrat half-graben has not been described previously and is probably related to a flank instability of the Centre Hills Volcano on Montserrat, while other events are related to the younger South Soufriere Hills-Soufriere Hills volcanic complex. All deposits are located to the south or southeast of the island in an area delimited by faults of the Bouillante-Montserrat half-graben. They cover a large part of the southeast quarter of the surrounding seafloor (similar to 520 km(2)), with a total volume of similar to 40 km(3). Our observations suggest that the Bouillante-Montserrat half-graben exerts a control on the extent and propagation of the most voluminous deposits. We propose an interpretation for mass-wasting processes around Montserrat similar to what has happened for the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles.
Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems (1525-2027) (Amer Geophysical Union), 2011-05 , Vol. 12 , N. 5 , P. Q05006

Droits : Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00200/31100/29510.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2010GC003451
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00200/31100/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Science Bv
Résumé : Volcaniclastic successions are well-described in volcanic arc setting but rare in hotspot environments. The present work proposes a facies model of volcaniclastic sedimentation related to basaltic hotspot volcanoes as exemplified by the Piton de la Fournaise volcano (La Réunion Island). The facies model is based on a multi-scale approach combining high-resolution multibeam and backscatter data, deep-water photographs, side scan imagery and Kullenberg piston cores. Data show that a wide range of gravity flows and erosional features develop in the active volcaniclastic sedimentary system. Coastal and submarine instabilities are the main processes shaping the volcano's submarine morphology. Meanwhile, the evolution and dynamics of the sedimentary system are strongly linked with the morpho-structural evolution of the subaerial part of the volcano. The proposed model is characterized by a cyclic succession of stages: (1) a growing stage during which sedimentary activity is mainly restricted to proximal and mid-slope areas; (2) a collapse stage that entirely reshapes the morphology of the submarine slopes; and (3) an erosional stage related to a slow down of volcanic activity, enabling the development of large deep-sea fans.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2013-03 , Vol. 337 , P. 35-52

Droits : 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00137/24798/22939.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2013.01.004
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00137/24798/