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Reloca Slide: an ~24 km 3 submarine mass‐wasting event in response to over‐steepening and failure of the central Chilean continental slope
Author(s) -
ContrerasReyes Eduardo,
Völker David,
Bialas Jörg,
Moscoso Eduardo,
Grevemeyer Ingo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/ter.12216
Subject(s) - geology , accretionary wedge , submarine , continental shelf , continental margin , mass wasting , accretion (finance) , geomorphology , bathymetry , submarine landslide , seismology , submarine canyon , paleontology , subduction , sediment , oceanography , tectonics , physics , astrophysics
Abstract Reloca Slide is the relict of an ~24‐km 3 submarine slope collapse at the base of the convergent continental margin of central Chile. Bathymetric and seismic data show that directly to the north and south of the slide the lower continental slope is steep (~10°), the deformation front is shifted landwards by 10–15 km, and the frontal accretionary prism is uplifted. In contrast, ~80 km to the north the lower continental margin presents a lower slope angle of about 4° and a wide frontal accretionary prism. We propose that high effective basal friction conditions at the base of the accretionary prism favoured basal accretion of sediment and over‐steepening of the continental slope, producing massive submarine mass wasting in the Reloca region. This area also spatially correlates with a zone of low coseismic slip of the 2010 Maule megathrust earthquake, which is consistent with high basal frictional coefficients.