The Role of Microfossils in the Compression of Marine Sediments: Implications for Submarine Slope Failure
Abstract
The influence of microfossils on engineering properties has long been recognized. However, most experimental studies have been conducted on diatomites, which are almost exclusively composed of diatom fossils. Here, instead, we analyze the impact of varying amounts of microfossils in natural marine sediments on the macro-scale mechanical behavior. We use foraminifera as an example for microfossils, which, in contrast to diatoms, have been understudied. We uniformly mix foraminifera with natural mudstone from Site C0011 in the Nankai Trough, offshore Japan, obtained during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 322, at three different microfossil concentrations: 0 wt%, 5 wt%, and 10 wt%. The foraminifera, extracted by washing and sieving, originated from IODP Site U1338 in the Equatorial Pacific. We use resedimentation to prepare the homogeneous microfossil-rich mudstone samples and uniaxially compress them to 100 kPa. Additionally, we use scanning electron microscopy to investigate microstructural changes during compression as a function of microfossil content. Microfossil-rich sediments are known to initially not consolidate to as low porosities as other marine clays owing to microfossil shells acting as structural components. But they show a delayed compressibility when the yield stress is overcome and microfossil shells collapse resulting in an increase in porosity and compressibility. Here, we investigate the 1) threshold microfossil content at which the microfabric significantly changes during compression and 2) stress at which foraminifera chambers start to break. We anticipate to observe an increase in compressibility and microstructural changes in the vicinity of the yield stress with increasing microfossil content attributed to the crushing of foraminifera and particle rearrangement. But the total axial stress of 100 kPa at the end of the resedimentation experiments may not be large enough to have a significant effect on the macroscopic mudstone properties. This study has large implications for submarine slope failure due to the possible sudden expulsion of water causing a pore pressure increase, which may destabilize continental slopes, and cause a hazard for coastal communities and offshore infrastructure.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFM.T51B2912R
- Keywords:
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- 3060 Subduction zone processes;
- MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICSDE: 5114 Permeability and porosity;
- PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ROCKSDE: 8159 Rheology: crust and lithosphere;
- TECTONOPHYSICSDE: 8164 Stresses: crust and lithosphere;
- TECTONOPHYSICS