Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89

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Marine Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/margeo

Analysis of submarine landsliding in the rupture area of the 27 February 2010 Maule
earthquake, Central Chile
David Völker ⁎, Florian Scholz, Jacob Geersen
Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 574, IFM-GEOMAR Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences at the University of Kiel, Wischhofstr. 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The comparison of bathymetric datasets compiled before and after the Mw = 8.8 Maule Earthquake of the 27
Received 20 January 2011 February 2010 offshore Central Chile proves that no new submarine landslides on a size scale detectable with
Received in revised form 15 August 2011 hull-mounted bathymetric echosounders (features of a horizontal size of N 1 km) formed as a direct conse-
Accepted 16 August 2011
quence of the ground shaking. Gravity coring around a pre-existing slide feature offshore Concepción (BioBio
Available online 10 September 2011
Slide), however, documents that (1) a number of events occurred as retrogressive failures of the BioBio Slide
Communicated by D.J.W. Piper wall, the youngest of which is 700–1000 years old, and that (2) a very recent small scale slide structure
resulted from non-destructive imbricate stacking of a thin sediment layer. Pore water geochemical data
Keywords: show that this event post-dates the Maule Earthquake, suggesting that it was triggered by one of the numer-
submarine landslide ous aftershocks. The absence of larger failures and the presence of a small slide let us propose that in contrast
seismically triggered mass wasting to apparent logic, frequent violent earthquakes at convergent margins do not necessarily pose a particular
Maule Earthquake tsunami risk by landslides. The frequent shaking might even limit the slide volume and therefore their tsuna-
slope stability mi hazard, as instead of rare and large slides, frequent smaller slides are induced.
swath bathymetry
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
pore water
geochemistry
transport modelling

1. Introduction strength of the sediment. The stability of a sedimentary unit is therefore

On 27 February 2010, the Central Chilean Maule Region between the
coastal cities of Constitución and Concepción was ruptured by a mega-
thrust earthquake of magnitude (Mw) 8.8 (U.S. Geological Survey;
http://www.usgs.gov). This 6th largest ever instrumentally recorded
earthquake occurred after a phase of relative seismic quiescence since
1835 (Ruegg et al., 2009). The hypocenter of the main shock was located
at 36.122°S, 72.899°W, ~10 km offshore at a depth of 22 km according
to the USGS National Earthquake Center (NEIC), and aftershocks per-
sisted for the following months, both off- and onshore (Delouis et al.;,
2010; Lay et al., 2010; Moreno et al., 2010, Fig. 1). Close to the epicentre,
the earthquake produced horizontal ground acceleration of up to
6 ms−2 (Madariaga et al., 2010) and maximum slip was between 10
and 20 m (Delouis et al., 2010; Moreno et al., 2010). Strong earthquakes
are considered to be potential triggers for submarine landslides at con-
tinental slopes from meter scale to giant slope collapses (e.g. Hampton
et al., 1996; Masson et al., 2006).
Laminated sediments resting on inclined surfaces are subject to
gravitational shear forces that act parallel to the bedding planes. These
forces are resisted by frictional forces that depend upon the shear
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel: +49 431 6002566; fax: +49 431 6002915.
E-mail address: dvoelker@ifm-geomar.de (D. Völker).
determined by the strength of its weakest or least resistive layer. Weak
layers can be intrinsic or created dynamically e.g. by the vertical accel-
eration or cyclic loading of an earthquake (Sultan et al., 2004). In this
case, the grain framework of specific sediments (e.g. volcanic ashes,
Harders et al., 2010a, 2010b) could spontaneously collapse, releasing
pore water. The sudden release would lead to increased pore water
pressure which would reduce the shear strength and create dynamic
weak layers (liquefaction, e.g. Mulder and Cochonat, 1996; Wright
and Rathje, 2003; Sultan et al., 2004; Biscontin et al., 2004).
Submarine landslides in succession of earthquakes were noted in a
number of cases, either by their effects (submarine cable breaks, atypi-
cal tsunamis, long-lasting sediment plumes in the water column), or
more directly by shoreline retreat or by monitoring sediment or
rock displacement on submarine slopes in bathymetric data sets
(e.g. Hasegawa and Kanamori, 1987; Schafer and Smith, 1987;
Piper et al., 1988; Nakajima and Kanai, 2000; Tappin et al., 2001,
2008; Synolakis et al., 2002; Matsumoto and Tappin, 2003; Kuşçu
et al., 2005; Tinti et al., 2006; McHugh et al., 2011). In other cases, ev-
idence for large-scale sliding caused by earthquake shaking is unclear
due to the lack of good pre-earthquake bathymetric data or absent
even after large (MwN 8) earthquakes (e.g. Fisher et al., 2007; Tappin
et al., 2007; Sultan et al., 2009).
With the mentioned simple physical model in mind, it seems plausi-
ble to relate many landslides to earthquakes, as well as to relate the

0025-3227/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2011.08.003
80 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89

Estero Topocalma
a km

600
0 100

00
10
Estero Nilahue

7000
6000

0
60
180 5000

800
0
Rio Mataquillo

00
4000

0
80

16
3000

00
00
14
12
Rio MaulleConstitución
2000
1000
1000 800 0

600

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GC23 0
Rio Itata 60

BioBio Slide
GC11
GC14

Rio Biobio Concepción

1000
800
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875

b BioBio Slide
km A (Fig.3)
950
125

97
5

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11777550 16
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AA
14
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18

5
177

I
25
18

75
16

75
15
15
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1650

Fig. 1. Overview of the mapped area: a) bathymetric map of rupture area of the 27. Feb Maule Earthquake, derived from a compilation of bathymetric cruises; land topography is
from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data. The epicentre of the main shocks are indicated as stars, aftershocks with Mw N 5 as red dots (data from IRIS database); blue
dots indicate aftershocks that lie within a radius of ~100 km around BioBio Slide and occurred within 2 months before retrieval of gravity core GC11; the earthquake slip distribu-
tion model of Delouis et al. (2010) is given as isolines (slip in cm); b) detail map of BioBio Slide with coring locations of cruise SO210. The track of the Parasound profile 101006–
0300 shown in Fig. 3 is indicated.
 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89
magnitudes of earthquakes to the size of resulting landslides in a way that
large magnitude earthquakes create large landslide events. However,
other factors such as sediment supply and tectonic oversteepening
(e.g. Tappin et al., 2007), as well as mechanical properties of the slope
sediment (e.g. Strozyk et al., 2010) appear to limit the impact of seismic
triggers. A recent discussion about which combination of precondition-
ing factors are necessary to make a submarine slope prone to failure if
an earthquake occurs is given by Mosher et al. (2009).
Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and
affiliated with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at the
University of California at San Diego undertook a rapid response mis-
sion cruise with RV MELVILLE (project SIOSEARCH, cruise MV1004) to
conduct swath multibeam sonar mapping of the continental slope in
the rupture area of the Maule Earthquake. The cruise was realized
weeks after the earthquake and collected data can be compared to
pre-earthquake bathymetric data that was obtained in the same
area during a number of scientific cruises organized or co-hosted by
the IFM-GEOMAR. The combination of these data sets allows the iden-
tification of earthquake related mass displacements or other seafloor
deformations at the resolution and precision of modern bathymetric
echo sounders. As a first and surprising result it was stated that no re-
cent major submarine landslides were found (Chadwell et al., 2010;
Weinrebe et al., 2010) in spite of the presence of a number of old
slide structures and a very steep lowermost continental slope.
RV SONNE cruise 210 (September-November 2010, Linke et al.,
2011) extended the area mapped by RV MELVILLE and concentrated
on possible small scale sediment transport events connected to the
Maule Earthquake. In particular, headscarps and side walls of previ-
ously known slides and the walls of submarine canyons were scanned
in order to check for retrogressive slides.
It is the purpose of this study to investigate the area of the 2010
Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake in the search for associated submarine
landslides. We present data on a small, but very recent mass wasting
event within the evacuation area of a larger and older retrogressive
translational slide that borders the submarine BioBio Canyon offshore
Concepción in southern central Chile. We further discuss the implica-
tions of the absence of mass wasting related to the Mw 8.8 Maule
Earthquake on a scale that is detectable in swath bathymetry data
(km scale) for the concept of preconditioning and triggering of sub-
marine slides at convergent continental margins.
2. Regional setting
The South Chilean margin is formed by the subduction of the oceanic
Nazca Plate below the South American Plate at a present rate of 6.6 cm/yr
and a convergence azimuth of about 80° (Angermann et al., 1999). Con-
tinuous plate convergence results in repeated great subduction earth-
quakes (MwN 8.5) which have defined distinct seismotectonic segments
(Lomnitz, 1970, 2004). The recurrence time of megathrust earthquakes
for the individual seismotectonic segments typically lies between 150
and 200 yr (e.g. Cisternas et al., 2005; Ruegg et al., 2009).
The continental slope in the study area is characterized by a broad
and flat continental shelf of 30–40 km width with a defined shelf
break at around 170 m water depth (Fig. 1a). The continental slope
shows a relatively smooth morphology and is inclined at low angles
(2–4°) to a water depth of 2000 m. The only prominent exception is
a linear, seaward dipping slope-parallel escarpment (Figs. 1a,b, 2a)
at around 800–1000 m water depth that produces a steep (20–30°)
and high (200 m) step in the slope morphology. This feature is observ-
able over a latitudinal distance of ~60 km and represents the surface ex-
pression of a deeply rooted fault (Geersen et al., 2011). The slope
morphology below 2000 m water depth is less regular with steep
slope segments (up to 30°) alternating with roughly trench-parallel
belts of less steep and even landward verging seafloor. This irregular
morphology is caused by the continuous deformation of the 4 Ma
young accretionary prism present here (Bangs and Cande, 1997; Diaz-
81
Naveas, 1999; Contreras-Reyes et al., 2008; Geersen et al., 2011). The
flat seafloor of the sediment-filled Chile trench is found at a water
depth of around 4700 m at 37°S, increasing to the North. This general
slope morphology is modified by a number of both active and aban-
doned submarine canyons (Fig. 1a). Among those canyons, BioBio Can-
yon is the largest and apparently most active, connecting the mouth of
the BioBio River with the Chile Trench. The BioBio Canyon is incised up
to 1000 m into the shelf and continental slope, has steep walls of 30–40°
inclination and has built a sedimentary fan into the trench (Thornburg
and Kulm, 1987; Völker et al., 2006).
Around 30 individual submarine mass wasting features with areal
extensions (total affected area) ranging between 5 and 100 km 2 were
mapped within the rupture area of the 2010 Maule Earthquake, based
on swath bathymetric data (Völker, in press). The majority of these fea-
tures are related to the incision of submarine canyons and appear as
thin, translational slides that originate at the canyon walls and retro-
grade into open slopes to the sides of canyons. Direct information on
the age distribution of the slides is not available, but most of the second-
ary retrogressive features appear young, as their headscarps and side
walls are steep and little degraded. Rotational collapse structures at
the steep lowermost continental slope (Völker et al., 2009) and slides
on the open slope, related to regional tectonic uplift (Anasetti et al.,
2010) represent other types of slides present here. The largest slide
that relates to the incision of a submarine canyon is a 5 km (E–W) by
6 km (N–S) wide, steep-walled, bowl-shaped depression at around
36°37'S 73°43'W (Fig. 1b). The depression extends downslope from
the above mentioned linear escarpment at 1000 m water depth and
opens to the BioBio Canyon. We named this feature the BioBio Slide.
The shelf and slope offshore Concepción is a well known zone of
intense coastal upwelling (e.g. Djurfeldt, 1989; Figueroa and Moffat,
2000). These conditions lead to extremely high primary productivity
(Atkinson et al., 2002) and carbon fixation resulting in annual pro-
duction rates of N200 g C/m 2 which has a pronounced impact on the
slope sedimentation (Hebbeln et al., 2000). Recent sedimentation
rates on the open continental slope offshore Concepción are as high
as 0.18 cm/a, increasing to 0.25 cm/a close to the BioBio Canyon due
to sediment input by river discharge in addition to primary produc-
tion (Muñoz et al., 2004).
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Swath bathymetry
The bathymetric datasets that form the basis of the digital eleva-
tion models (DEM) discussed here were acquired during cruises of
RV SONNE (expedition SO181, Flueh and Grevemeyer, 2005), RV ME-
TEOR (expedition M67, Weinrebe and Schenk, 2006) and RRS JAMES
COOK (cruise JC23b, Flueh and Bialas, 2008) prior to the Maule Earth-
quake and RV SONNE cruise SO210 seven months after the earth-
quake (Linke et al., 2011). Hull-mounted deep water echo sounders
with a nominal frequency of 12 kHz (SIMRAD EM-120 and EM-122)
were used on the cruises. We calculated, a number of DEMs of the ba-
thymetry and derived seafloor attributes such as slope gradient, as-
pect and curvature after post-processing with the MB-System
software (Caress and Chayes, 1996), in order to compare the seafloor
morphology before and after the earthquake. The calculation of differ-
ential gradient maps has proven the most promising visual way of
monitoring seafloor deformation, as the displacement of masses re-
sults in associated gradient changes at both the evacuation area and
the deposition area. We calculated differential gradient maps for the
overlapping areas mapped on cruises SO210 (September–November,
2010, post-Maule Earthquake) and JC23b (2008). Some of the pre-
earthquake bathymetric data had to be reprocessed in order to re-
move obviously erroneous pings. The resolution at which gradient
changes can be resolved by this method is limited by a number of fac-
tors. Absolute differences in the water depth at a given position
82 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89

−73˚48' −73˚46' −73˚44' −73˚42' −73˚40'

a
D
km A

0 2 4

C
−900 −900
B
−36˚36' −36˚36' −1000 −1000
F
−1100 −1100
GC11
E −1200 −1200
A
−1300 −1300
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400
−900 D −900

H J −1000 −1000
I
−1100 −1100
−36˚38' GC14 II −36˚38'
−1200 −1200
II −1300 C −1300
G
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000
I
I
−1500 −1500
H
−1600 −1600

−1700 −1700

−1800 −1800
−36˚40' −36˚40' G
−73˚48' −73˚46' −73˚44' −73˚42' −73˚40' −1900 −1900
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000
−73˚48' −73˚46' −73˚44' −73˚42' −73˚40' −1500
−1500
2−01022
−

J
11 0
40

80
−1

−1

b
−
−8

− 12 08
−1600 −1600
00
50

−1 126040 0
−9
0

28
− 92

−1480 0
−1

D −1700 −170
−94 60
30

km A
0
−1

I
−9 98 1042000
440

−13

−
−13

−1
00 −1800 −180
0 2 4
20 −13

0
6

−−110
0

− 06
−1400

−1520
40

0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400

−1380
−14

C
20

−1460
80

−36˚36' 00 −1480
−1 −36˚36'
−11

−15 1 − −
−120060 −11112100
F −1
−1

220 140
−−1
12240
0

−1

0
36
−1
−144

−1−12 80 60
0
40

34

−130 0
320
0

0
−1

GC11 20
−1

−1
46

−1

−15
08
380
0

42

20
−1

0
0
0

44

−1500 E −1
−146

48
0
40
−15

80
−1480 −14
−1520 15
0
−154 −1500
−1520
10
0
54

−1
−1

15 60 −1700
−1720 68 −166
−1580− 0 0 −1
0 −16 −15
H J
56
0
2 40 −16
16 −1 620 80
00
−18−1
−1740
017
− −1 −
− 16664 16 5
−1

07860
560

0 −11768 00 20 −1580
00
−1

60

−13 0

−36˚38' −36˚38'
−1

GC14
−1
−1 00

034

00
82

0
−1

−1 20

−1840 −1 0
−1 0

12
18
4

280
−140

100
321
0

36
4

60
−12

−1
−
−1

72
4

−
−15

24

−1 1460
−138
−1

−11
50

0
−1 0
0

−1
20

−1
22
−1
60

520
0

48
40

14
−1

0
0
0

−1
−1

86
0

−1880 G 0
0 80
82 −1
−19
00 −1840 −1
78
0I −1
76
0
−5
0

−1760
−1
80

0
−174

86 −1780
0

−1
−1

74

− 0
−1

40 172 18700
0

−16 −16 0−6

−1

20 −1
0

0
74700
2

66

−10 −10
−18

1
−1
−172− 680
0
−1

−1760
60

56

80
−15
−1
0

−1540
−1
0
66

−15
52

−1500
−1

−1640
−162000
−16
−36˚40' −36˚40'
−73˚48' −73˚46' −73˚44' −73˚42' −73˚40' −20

Fig. 2. a) Gradient map of BioBio Slide and adjacent BioBio Canyon, b) differential gradient map, where colors indicate gradient changes between DEMs derived from data of RRS
JAMES COOK cruise 23 (2008) and from data of RV SONNE cruise SO210 (2010); red colours indicate increase, blue colours decrease in slope gradient from 2008 to 2010 (in de-
grees); c) comparative bathymetric profiles of JC23b (blue) and SO210 (red). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article.)

measured by different expeditions are mostly due to the use of differ- 1998; Mosher, 2010 for a thorough discussion). In our case, the com-
ent sound velocity profiles for the water column. These absolute dif- bination of water depth and ship speed of JC23b imposes a grid size
ferences are constant for a given water depth and have little effect between 30 × 30m and 50 × 50m, which means that changes in the
on the gradient difference maps. Much more critical are offsets in seafloor morphology with a minimum size of around 100 m by 50 m
the navigation records, as the apparent shift of seafloor features can be reliably monitored in those areas where an overlap between
shows up as pattern of gradient changes that follows the contours data of consecutive cruises exists.
of the feature and obliterates any real changes. For this reason we
had to exclude data pre-dating 2005. The horizontal resolution is re- 3.2. Sediment echo sounding
lated to the size of the acoustic footprint of the sound beams (and
so to the water depth) and the acoustic sampling density (and there- We recorded a dense net of PARASOUND subbottom echosounder
fore to ship speed and density of the survey grid, see Clarke et al., profiles across the BioBio Slide with maximum penetration of about
 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89
100 m. In this manuscript we show profile 101006–0300 that crosses
two of the sediment coring stations in order to highlight internal
deformation of the slide. Peak frequencies of the Parasound system
range around 2500 Hz thus allowing for a vertical resolution of about
0.3 m.
3.3. Sediment sampling and core description
We sampled sediment on cruise SO210 using a gravity corer (GC)
with a head weight of 2 t and a steel pipe fitted to contain PVC-liners
of 120 mm diameter. Core segments were cut into halves, one being
the work half to be sampled and one the archive half to be kept for
non-destructive analysis and description. The archive halves were
photographed digitally and joined into photo mosaics. The visual
core description (vcd) of the archive halves was produced according
to ODP standards and classifications, taking into account the grain size
composition, colour (according to MUNSELL soil colour charts), sedi-
mentary structures and major as well as minor components (Table 1).
We took sub-samples of about 3 cm3 from the work halves and stored
them in air-tight plastic cups for the determination of water content
and porosity. We calculated sediment porosity from the water content
(weighing fresh and freeze-dried samples) assuming a dry solid density
of 2.5 g cm−3.
3.4. Geochemical analyses
The work halves of the sediment cores were transferred into a
cooled laboratory in order to subsample at in-situ (i.e. seafloor) tem-
perature. Sediment sample intervals for pore water recovery are 5 to
20 cm. The pore water was extracted using a sediment squeezer oper-
ated with argon gas at pressures of 2–5 bar. Following extraction,
pore waters were filtered through 0.2 μm cellulose acetate membrane
filters.
All pore water chemical analysis reported here were performed
on board the ship shortly after recovery of the sediment cores. The
total alkalinity of the pore water was determined following the
method by Ivanenkov and Lyakhin (1978). Pore water concentrations
of sulphate were determined by ion-chromatography (Metrohm 761
Compact). The IAPSO seawater standard was used to check the reproduc-
ibility and accuracy of the chemical analyses. More detailed information
about the pore water chemical techniques applied during IFM-GEOMAR
research cruises may be obtained from [http://www.ifm-geomar.de/
index.php?id=mg_analytik&L=1].
3.5. Pore water modelling
We applied a one-dimensional, numerical model to simulate diffu-
sive transport of sulphate and alkalinity along the concentration-
depth gradients in GC11. Both advection related to compaction and
chemical reactions occurring within the sediment column can be
neglected since the time span modelled is short (order of weeks to
Table 1
List of gravity cores of RV SONNE cruise 210 that are discussed in this study.
Station # Core # Area Latitude Longitude Water Revovery
depth [m]
[m]
39-1 GC11 BioBio Slide 36°36.390S 73°43.039 W 1450 1,37
depression
96 GC23 Reference 36°21.952S 73°52.144 W 2199 5.76
Core
43 GC14 Bank within 36°38.001S 73°45.750 W 1822 5,77
BioBio
Canyon
83
months). The concentration-depth evolution of dissolved species in
pore water is therefore given by the following equation (e.g. Berner,
1980):
 
∂½C 
∂½C  ∂ φ:DS : ∂x
φ: ¼ ð1Þ
∂t ∂x
where [C] is the concentration of the dissolved species, x is depth, t is
time, φ is porosity and DS is the molecular diffusion coefficient of the
species. A uniform average porosity of 0.75 was applied in the model-
ling. The results do not change to a significant extent if the porosity is
varied over the range measured. The molecular diffusion coefficients of
sulphate and alkalinity (DM) were calculated after Boudreau (1997).
The diffusion coefficient for sediments (DS) was derived by correcting
DM for tortuosity using the following relationship (Boudreau, 1996):
DM
DS ðxÞ ¼ ð2Þ
1− logðφðxÞÞ2
The initial conditions were chosen by fitting two linear equations
through the measured data. Upper and lower boundary conditions
were selected as constant concentrations. All properties used in the
modelling are summarized in Table 2.
4. Results
4.1. Bathymetric mapping
BioBio Slide is a 5 by 6 km wide depression of 29 km2 extent that is
55–75 m deep in relation to the surrounding sea floor west of the slide
and 90–160 m in relation to the seafloor to the east (Fig. 1b). The mean
height of the side- and headwall is 65 m and its gradient ranges be-
tween 20 and 26°. The depression lies north of and opens to the deeply
incised BioBio Canyon. Within the canyon, no prominent depositional
feature is found that relates to the evacuated material but there is a
flat-topped terrace that is elevated ~30 m with respect to the canyon
thalweg and has an areal extent of 3.75 km2 (Figs. 1b and 2a). The
steep head- and sidewalls of the slide are indented by a number of smal-
ler and less deep, flat-floored depressions with arcuate walls that are
partly overlapping. At the eastern side of the slide, the seafloor steps
into the depression in two distinct levels. The floor of the depression
is inclined to the south towards the canyon and shows a subdued hum-
mocky morphology with alternating slope parallel bands of low gradi-
ent (b1°) and higher gradient (2–5°, Fig. 2a). The canyon wall is
incised by coalescing gullies where the slide opens to the canyon.
The differential gradient maps between cruises SO210 and JC23b
show the largest differences at the canyon wall where a number of
gullies enter from the BioBio Slide area (Fig. 2b). The maximum differ-
ence value was a decrease in the slope angle of the canyon wall of 20°
close to the canyon bottom. It must be noted however, that the very
steep slopes detected here during JC23 were recorded in the outermost
and least reliable beams of the acoustic swath. No distinct newly formed
indentations (retrogressions) were detected at the head and side walls
Table 2
Properties and boundary conditions applied in the numerical model.
Parameter Value
Column length 150 cm
Sediment temperature 5 °C
Porosity, ϕ 0.75
Sulphate, sediment surface 28.1 mM
Sulphate, lower boundary 12.2 mM
Alkalinity, sediment surface 3.70 meq l−1
Alkalinity, lower boundary 23.5 meq l−2
84 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89
of the slide. The floor of the slide shows some gradient changes in the
range of a few degrees but without a clear directional pattern.
4.2. Internal structure of the BioBio Slide
Parasound profile 101006–0300 (Fig. 3) gives a comprehensive in-
sight into the deformation associated with the BioBio Slide. At the
upper/northern end of the line, parallel reflections are interpreted as
undisturbed (e.g. not affected by mass wasting) part of the continental
slope. In this part of the profile, the seafloor appears smooth. At the
headwall, parallel reflectors of the undisturbed strata are truncated
and the style of the seafloor changes to a rough and blocky morphology.
This morphology is interpreted as the result of slump debris that origi-
nates from the headwall area of the BioBio Slide. Further towards the
BioBio Canyon a strong seafloor reflector that appears less blocky repre-
sents the glide plane of the slide. Within the BioBio Canyon the terrace
that is also found in the bathymetric data (Figs. 1b, 2a) is visible above
the thalweg. Within the BioBio Canyon, no reflection patterns that
could be clearly attributed to the deposits of the BioBio Slide are visible.
4.3. Core description
Three gravity cores related to the BioBio Slide were collected on cruise
SO210 (Table 1). GC11 was retrieved from the central part of the slide de-
pression. It contained 4 cm of very soft and muddy, water-rich silty clay
on top of homogeneous silty clay with increasing stiffness down core.
At 94 cm core depth, another very soft and water-rich horizon of 5 cm
thickness was found, again underlain by much stiffer silty clay (Fig. 3a).
The succession that is repetitive in GC11 is similar to the one found in ref-
erence core GC23 (Fig. 3b) which was recovered away from the BioBio
area in order to characterize typical pore water profiles of sediments on
the mid-slope of the central Chilean continental margin.
GC14 was cored on top of the flat-topped terrace above the thalweg of
the BioBio Canyon below the BioBio Slide. Here, a rather homogeneous
unit of silty clay of 170 cm thickness lies on top of separate successions
of angular clay clasts in a stiff matrix of silty clay, that are each separated
by structureless silty clay units (Fig. 3c). Within the clay-clast units, there
is no layering visible. Instead, sediment clasts of up to 20 cm size in diam-
eter are stacked chaotically. The chaotic structure of this unit is obvious as
Fig. 3. Parasound sediment-echosounder profile 101006–0300 across the BioBio Slide (profile track indicated in Fig. 1).
the clasts show different colours, thus producing a patchy appearance
with a dominance of dark grey and light grey patches. The lowermost
chaotic layers show clay clasts that are less angular and show evidence
of some shear deformation.
4.4. Pore water data
GC11 shows two almost identical pore water profiles of sulphate
and total alkalinity that are superimposed upon each other in accor-
dance with the visual core description (Fig. 4a). The sulphate concen-
trations decrease from 27.6 and 25.0 mM in the water rich, dark
brown layers to 14.3 and 17.3 mM at the bottom of each ‘subprofile’.
Total alkalinity values increase from 3.8 and 7.5 meq l −1 to 20.6 and
17.1 meq l −1 in a similar manner.
The superimposed pore water profiles of GC11 resemble those of
GC23 (Fig. 4b). Sulphate concentrations decrease from 24.2 mM at
the core top to values close to zero at about 220 cm in this reference
core. Total alkalinity increases from 8.5 at the top to 54.7 meq l −1 in
the lowermost pore water sample. The sulphate decrease and total al-
kalinity increase result from bacterial sulphate reduction coupled to
organic matter oxidation in the subsurface.
Pore water profiles of GC14 from the BioBio Canyon are similar to
those of reference core GC23 (Fig. 4c). Sulphate concentration decrease
from 24.2 mM to values close to zero at approximately 220 cm and total
alkalinity increases from 8.5 to 45.7 meq l −1 over the entire core length.
Minor irregularities in the profiles likely result from the ‘brecciated’ tex-
ture of the sediments which complicated the extraction of a homoge-
neous sample for pore water recovery. It may be anticipated that a
few cm of surface sediment were lost during core recovery, given that
the concentrations measured at the top of most cores are slightly
lower (sulphate) or higher (total alkalinity) than normal seawater
values (sulphate: 28.4 mM; total alkalinity: ~2.4 meq l −1).
5. Discussion
5.1. Regional scale observations
Apparently a sediment volume of ~1.75–2.0 km 3 (calculated after
the method described in Völker, 2009) is missing, judging from the
 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89
dimensions of the BioBio Slide evacuation area. This material presum-
ably was dumped into the canyon and either deposited there or trans-
ported further down within the canyon. The smaller depressions at
sides of the slide appear to be headwalls of secondary slides which
points to a retrogression of the BioBio Slide by periodic failure of its
walls. Three generations of secondary retrogressive failures are dis-
tinguished from their mutual overlap. These secondary failures ap-
pear to be translational and related to distinct failure surfaces that
are roughly parallel to the undisturbed seafloor. The failures are,
therefore, most probably lithologically defined weak layers at ~60
and ~100 m below the seafloor east of the depression. The system
of gullies that connect the slide evacuation area with the canyon is
an erosional feature due to the periodic failure of the headwall. The
terrace within the BioBio Canyon just below the BioBio Slide seems
to be the remnant of a depositional lobe but can only comprise a frac-
tion of the totally removed material as its volume amounts to only
~ 0.11 km 3.
5.2. Small scale observations/sediment cores
The sedimentary cover of this flat-topped bank within BioBio Can-
yon as recovered in GC14 witnesses re-deposition of previously de-
posited and compacted clay-rich material that was torn into clasts
during transport. The approximate age of the last of these events
can be derived from the thickness of the post-slide deposits and the
regional sedimentation rates calculated by Muñoz et al. (2004) to
700–1000 years BP. It is possible to distinguish at least three of such
events to the maximum core depth of 5.77 m from the sedimentary
record. It seems likely that similar events should have resulted in sim-
ilar depositional units and that more analogue units were to be found
a 36°36.390´S 73°43.039’W
Water Depth: 1450 m
SO210 GC11 Core Length: 137 cm
Center of BioBio Slide depression
Lithology Remarks
m Lithol. Structure Color
00-04cm: soft brown silty mud,
water-rich
0.25
04-94cm: homogeneous
0.5 chocolate brown silty mud, stiff
10yr-2/2
0.75
94-99cm: soft brown silty mud,
water-rich
1.0
99-137cm: homogeneous
chocolate brown silty mud, stiff
1.25
Fig. 4. Core photo mosaic, core description and geochemical gradient curves for slide core (a, GC11), reference core (b, GC23), and canyon core (c, GC14).
85
further down core. We propose that each of the clay clast units corre-
sponds to one of the failure events that are visible as morphological
indentations at the BioBio Slide head and side walls. The particular
position of GC14 ensures that each mass wasting event upslope that
is large enough to export material out of the BioBio Slide depression
should imprint on the sedimentary record here. The implication of
this presumption is that the last larger retrogressive failure happened
700–1000 years ago.
The repetitive sequence in gravity core GC11 is striking. We can
exclude a repeated penetration of the gravity corer as possible reason
for the sequence doubling on the basis of the tension log of the gravity
corer cable during core retrieval. Also, weather and sea conditions
were favourable on that particular day. Therefore, the repetitive sed-
iment sequence in GC11 documents a small-scale slide within the
slide scar of the BioBio Slide. The doubling of the sequence and in par-
ticular the covering of soft and water-rich sediment by much stiffer
sediment is result of imbricate stacking by a non-destructive slide.
The abrupt breaks in the pore water profiles of sulphate and alka-
linity at 95 cm indicate that this slide event must have occurred quite
recently. The steep concentration gradient at the interface between
the two sediment layers would be otherwise more equilibrated by
molecular diffusion. The concentrations at the top of the lower profile
are slightly different from those at the top of the upper profile and
from seawater values, i.e. higher in the case of alkalinity and lower
in the case of sulphate (Fig. 3a). This observation indicates that at
least some diffusive equilibration has occurred between the two
layers since emplacement of the slide. An example for pore water
profiles of a much older slide deposit is GC14 from the terrace within
the BioBio Canyon (Fig. 4c). The pore water profiles of this core are sim-
ilar to those of the reference core GC23 (Fig. 4b) which demonstrates that
Sulphate (mM) Alkalinity (meq l-1)
0 10 20 30 0 10 20 30
86 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89

b 36°21.95´S 73°52.144’W
Water Depth: 2199 m
SO210 GC23 Core Length: 576 cm
Reference Core

Lithology Remarks Sulphate (mM) Alkalinity (meq l-1)

m Lithol. Structure Color 0 10 20 30 0 20 40

00-60cm: silty clay, bioturbation
S
S
60-65cm & 93-96cm: clay
2.5y-3/3

96-248cm: homogeneous silty

clay

248-250cm: fine sand layer

280-364cm: siltx clay ith black

2.5y-3/1 streaks, mottles and spots
3
5y-3/2

364-367cm: lighter coloured clay

body

386 cm: fine sand layer

4 5y-3/2
387-487cm: brown silty clay with
black mottles

5y-3/1 487-490cm: well-defined clay

5 layer

490-576cm: brown silty clay with

black mottles

Fig. 4 (continued).

they had enough time to re-establish steady state since emplacement of
the most recent slide deposit at about 700 to 1000 years BP. (see above).
It is probable that the slide emerged in the close vicinity upslope
of the coring position, as the two superimposed pore water profiles
are almost identical and virtually undisturbed.
The resolution of the differential slope gradient data is insufficient to
localize the origin of the slide recorded in GC11 and the small-scale
slope gradient changes at the floor of the BioBio Slide monitored in
Fig. 2b lie within the range of imprecision. Distinct newly formed inden-
tations of the slide walls are absent. The apparent gradient changes of
the BioBio Canyon wall upslope of GC14 are considered artefacts for
two reasons. First, the differential bathymetry at this particular location
is based on acoustic beams that bear a large uncertainty in the case of
cruise JC23b. Second, mass wasting processes able to create the given
slope gradient change at this particular location in the time window be-
tween the two cruises would inevitably have imprinted on the sedi-
mentary column that was recovered in GC14, most possibly in the
form of clay-clast breccia layers. However, such or similar indications
of mass transport are absent in the uppermost part of GC14.
It is tempting to attribute the recent slide event evidenced in core
GC11 to the 27 February 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake or associated
aftershocks that could represent potential triggers for submarine mass
wasting in the entire region. We applied a simple model simulating
the diffusive transport of sulphate and alkalinity over a time span of
one year starting from two superimposed linear profiles (i.e. like
those of the reference core GC23) in order to obtain an age estimate of
the slide. Fig. 5 shows five snap shots corresponding to the non-steady
state pore water profiles immediately after the slide event and 1 week
as well as 1, 6 and 12 months afterwards. The actual data plot between
the model curves corresponding to 1 week and 1 month, respectively.
Thus, our modelling exercise demonstrates that the slide event cannot
have occurred much earlier than a few weeks prior to sampling (7
October 2010), which clearly rules out the 2010 Maule earthquake
main shock as its immediate trigger.
A series of Mw N 5 aftershocks occurred within a radius of roughly
100 km around the BioBio Slide (Fig. 1a, small black stars, Table 3).
Among these aftershocks, in the two month prior to core recovery,
the event of 9 September 2010, roughly 54 km to the southwest of
the coring site of GC11 had the largest Magnitude (Mw = 6.1). On
the 22 August another event of Mw = 5.4 happened just 8 km away
from the slide. Both events were fairly shallow (b20 km).
These aftershocks could represent triggers for the observed small
slide. Other small-scale slides that are too small to be detected with
shipborne bathymetric echosounding are likely to be present in the
area as well.
According to Wright and Rathje (2003), the accelerations of an earth-
quake alone are seldom sufficient to cause slope failure. Other mecha-
nisms such as soil liquefaction and/or earthquake-induced differential
seafloor uplift resulting in steepening of the slope in combination with
earthquake ground motion are generally required. Earthquake-induced
liquefaction is most likely to occur in water-saturated cohesionless silts
and sands. This kind of sediment is not found at the particular coring
 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89 87

c 36°38.00´S 73°45.75’W
Water Depth: 1822 m
SO210 GC14 Core Length: 577 cm
Bank within BioBio Canyon ( ) Sulphate (mM)
Lithology Remarks ( ) Alkalinity (meq l-1)
m Lithol. Structure Color 0 20 40
00-05cm: water-saturated mud
Gley1
2.5/10GY

5y-3 20-70cm: pyrite needles, lenses of

fine sand (rock fragments, glass
S 5y-3/2 cherts)
S
128-200 cm: transition fom slide to

1
post-slide sedimentation
114-119cm: fine sand bed with
zircon

170-205 cm: angular clasts of clay

2 and silty clay supported by silty
clay matrix
5y-2.5/2 silty clay-clay, homogeneous,
structureless

260-298 cm: angular, slightly

rounded clay clasts in silty clay
3 matrix, clasts internally sheared

black mottles

324-333 cm and 336-356 cm:

Gley-6N large rounded clasts of silty clay-
clay in a sheared matrix
5y-3/2
4 405-577 cm: large rounded to
angular, elongate clasts (clay to
silty clay) in homogeneous silty
clay matrix,

Fig. 4 (continued).

site of GC11. Coastal uplift related to the Maule earthquake had a

maximum at Arauco Peninsula, 60 km to the SW of the coring site
(2.5 m, Farías et al., 2010) and we might expect differential uplift at
the escarpment bordering the BioBio Slide to the north, as this struc-
ture represents the surface expression of a deeply rooted fault that
could transport parts of the rupture to the surface (Geersen et al.,
2011). Profiles across this escarpment (Fig. 2c, lines A–B, C–D) show a
systematic offset of 5–7 m between data of JC23b and SO210 as well
as an apparent change (decrease) in the height of the step of up to
25 m. We are, however, not convinced that this offset is due to a real
change in bathymetry or due to imprecisions in navigation data and
the binning of bathymetric raw data prior to gridding.

Table 3
Aftershocks with MwN 5 in the BioBio Slide area within two months prior to recovery of GC11
(data source: NEIC catalog of the USGS).

Fig. 5. Plot showing the measured depth distribution of sulphate and alkalinity (red cir- Event Date Time Longitude Latitude Source Distance Magnitude
cles) in GC11 along with modelled curves (dashed lines) illustrating the evolution of (UTC) depth to GC11 [Mw]
pore water profiles after superposition of two reference profiles by a small scale mass [km] [km]
wasting event: The dotted curve with the highest gradient (kink) represents the state im-
1 04.10.10 16:43:18 − 73,293 − 36,364 37 47 5,0
mediately after the event, while the dotted curves with continuously decreasing concen-
2 30.09.10 00:26:22 − 74,256 − 36,249 20 63 5,8
tration gradients represent the state after 1 week, 1 month, 5 months and 6 months. The
3 09.09.10 07:28:02 − 73,412 − 37,034 16 55 6,2
profile on the right-hand side shows the porosity profile applied in the modeling. See text
4 22.08.10 03:49:58 − 73,718 − 36,532 19 8 5,0
for further explanation.
88 D. Völker et al. / Marine Geology 288 (2011) 79–89
5.3. Implications for earthquake-triggering of slides at active continental
margins
On the Central Chile margin, marine sediment mass-wasting has oc-
curred on a variety of scales in the past. Recent small scale-sliding is ap-
parent in gravity core GC11. Considering some of the possibly relevant
specific conditions met here, we can state that (1) there are no localized
depocenters on the shelf and slope due to point sediment sources like riv-
ers, as the river systems directly connect to deep submarine canyon sys-
tems that are likely to funnel the river input into the Chile Trench;
(2) each of the seismically defined segments of this active margin breaks
each 150–200 years in a major megathrust earthquake. The first condi-
tion should lead to a rather uniform sedimentation on the continental
slope of Chile, while the second condition implies that the interseismic
period is long enough to accumulate a sedimentary column with a thick-
ness of 20–30 cm at most. The quasi-permanent availability of strong
triggers might even stabilize the ground on long time scales when the in-
duced collapse of the framework of potentially weak layers happens early
after deposition. This would favour the formation of frequent small-
scale slides as observed in this study at the cost of larger and rare
slope failures, as was suggested by Tappin et al. (2007) for Sumatra
and Strozyk et al.(2010) for the Hellenic Arc.
6. Conclusions
No newly formed retrogressions were found at the headwall of BioBio
Slide in spite of the 6th largest ever instrumentally recorded earthquake
(Mw 8.8), that ruptured the Central Chilean Maule Region on 27 February
2010, and, although a number of older retrogressive failures of the head-
wall are obvious in the bathymetric data as well as in the sedimentary re-
cord of the BioBio Canyon. The youngest of these larger events happened
700–1000 years ago, judged from the local sedimentation rates. These ob-
servations are in agreement with findings of Chadwell et al. (2010) and
Weinrebe et al. (2010) who did not detect any large-scale changes in ba-
thymetry after the Maule Earthquake. The absence of new bathymetrical-
ly observable retrogressions is particularly remarkable, as the BioBio Slide
area lies close to a patch of high earthquake slip (13 m, Fig. 1).
Small-scale sediment displacement is evidenced within the evacua-
tion area of the slide in the sedimentary record. The young appearance
of this imbricate stacking of sediments led us to a tentative relationship
with the Maule Earthquake. The modelling of geochemical pore water
gradients, however, show that this event is even younger and happened
months after the main shock of the Maule Earthquake. If seismically
triggered, the young slide event must have been caused by one of the af-
tershocks that occurred in the area around the BioBio Slide within
weeks prior to core recovery (Fig. 1a, small black stars, Table 3).
Among the few cases, where mass-wasting was studied as direct
consequence of an earthquake at convergent continental margins, we
find tsunamogenic landslides (like the Papua New-Guinea event of
1998), as well as the absence of any km-scale landslides, just like in
Chile. Therefore it seems plausible that the impact of a seismic source
is limited by factors such as sediment supply, distribution and rheology.
We believe in contrast to apparent plausibility, that the frequent re-
currence of large thrust earthquakes at convergent continental margins
such as Chile does not necessarily pose a particular risk for coastal com-
munities to suffer from landslide-generated tsunamis. While at seismical-
ly more stable submarine slopes such as at passive margins, landslides of
much larger volume and consequently of much larger tsunamogenic po-
tential are observed, it seems the frequent shaking at active margins
shifts the size spectrum of events towards smaller scales. The Papua
New-Guinea event, of 1998, however, showed that relatively small slides
can still result in locally restricted but disastrous tsunamis under certain
conditions. The slide documented here might serve as a good example
where it is too small to be detected by hull-mounted swath echosounders
but is seen in sediment core records. This size shift might be particularly
effective in regions where sedimentation on the slope is rather uniform
and sediment point sources are absent.
Acknowledgements
We are thankful to the crew of RV SONNE and our colleagues A.
Petersen, B. Domeyer, R. Surberg and U. Lomnitz for their support dur-
ing cruise SO210 and to the reviewers D.C. Mosher and D. R. Tappin
for their helpful remarks. FS wants to thank C. Hensen and M. Haeckel
for the stimulating discussion and for providing support with MATLAB.
Some figures were created with The Generic Mapping Tools (GMT). This
publication is contribution no. 208 of the Sonderforschungsbereich 574
“Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones” at Kiel University.
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