Direct monitoring of breaching in deltaic submarine landslides.

Direct underwater monitoring at Homathko Delta in western Canada shows fully submarine landslides retrogress slowly upslope, indicating breaching-type failure rather than instantaneous collapse.

• Why it matters: Fully submarine landslides have not been directly observed in nature, leaving failure mechanisms and dynamics unvalidated for sandy seafloor settings and for how long seabed hazards persist.
• What they did: The team conducted direct underwater monitoring of fully submarine landslides at Homathko Delta, tracking their upslope retrogression to assess whether breaching-type behavior occurred.
• The result: The prolonged landslides imply seabed structures must be designed for sustained loading and that the events can trigger sustained turbidity currents transporting sediment, carbon, and pollutants offshore.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.