Assessing slope stability in the Santa Barbara Basin, California, using seafloor geodesy and CHIRP seismic data

Seafloor slope instability in the Santa Barbara Basin, California, poses risk to the region. Two prominent landslides, the Goleta and Gaviota slides, occupy the northern flank, with a scarp-like crack extending east from the headwall of the Gaviota slide towards the Goleta complex. Downslope creep across the crack might indicate an imminent risk of failure. Sub-bottom CHIRP profiles with <1 m accuracy across the crack exhibit no evidence of internal deformation. Daily seafloor acoustic range measurements spanning the crack detected no significant motion above a 99% confidence level of +/- 7 mm/yr over two years of monitoring. These disparate data over different timescales suggest no active creep and that the crack is likely a relict feature that formed concomitantly with the Gaviota slide. Citation: Blum, J. A., C. D. Chadwell, N. Driscoll, and M. A. Zumberge (2010), Assessing slope stability in the Santa Barbara Basin, California, using seafloor geodesy and CHIRP seismic data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L13308, doi: 10.1029/2010GL043293.