Undersea slide set off giant flow

BBC News ^ | 22 November 2007 | Paul Rincon

[george76]

An enormous underwater landslide 60,000 years ago produced the longest flow of sand and mud yet found on Earth. The landslide off the coast of north-west Africa dumped 225 billion metric tonnes of sediment into the ocean in a matter of hours or days.

The flow travelled 1,500km (932 miles) - the distance from London to Rome - before depositing its sediment.

The work, by a British team of researchers has been published in the academic journal Nature.

The massive surge put down the same amount of sediment that comes out of all the world's rivers combined over a period of 10 years.

After blocks from the original landslide disintegrated, the sand and mud travelled hundreds of kilometres suspended in the water, without depositing any sediment on the sea floor that it had passed over.

Dr Talling likened this to avalanches in which the snow travels downslope in huge clouds.

A tiny drop in the sea-floor gradient (from 0.05 degrees to 0.01 degrees) eventually forced the flow to settle into a cohesive mass.

In places, the flow was over 150km (93 miles) wide, spread across the open sea floor.

[george76]

The landslide which triggered this flow was not itself the biggest known. Several that occurred off the coast of Hawaii involved the movement of more material.

The Storegga slip off the coast of Norway was also larger.

But the scale of the flow that resulted from the African slip amazed the scientists.

[george76]

[fanfan]

Deep.

[USNBandit]

IBIBF

In before it’s Bush’s fault.

[P.O.E.]

There’s not enough Immodium....

[Brilliant]

yes, and this undersea slide happened before it was Bush’s fault (BBF).

[tenthirteen]

I hate reading these UK reports that spell lots of things wrong (tonnes, e.g.)

[george76]

60,000 years ago ?

[ari-freedom]

I wish I had that time machine they secretly keep in the basement

[wizr]

No, it was the bushman’s fault, and, was more than it was cracked up to be.

[Moonman62]

60,000 years ago ?

It would have to be Helen Thomas's fault.

[NewJerseyJoe]

“Women, minorities most affected”

[blam]

Catastrophism ping.

Thanks for the ping. Not one mention of tsunamis?

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Ah the Storegga slip! Yes, those were the days my friend!

[JRios1968]

It wouldn’t have happened if George Bush’s ancestor had signed the Kyotostone Protocol...

[Elsie]

But the scale of the flow that resulted from the African slip amazed the scientists.

The next California slide will 'amaze' EVERYONE!

[Elsie]

60,000 years ago ?

Of course!

They used the very latest Silt Dating Software Ver 2.37!

[george76]

We, in Colorado, may yet get an ocean view ?

[george76]

Mr. Peabody and Sherman set the WABAC controls
to teleport back through time for another amazing adventure...