Offshore Geological Hazards: Charting the Course of Progress and Future Directions

Abstract

Offshore geological hazards can occur in any marine domain or environment and represent a serious threat to society, the economy, and the environment. Seismicity, slope sedimentary instabilities, submarine volcanism, fluid flow processes, and bottom currents are considered here because they are the most common hazardous processes; tsunamis are also examined because they are a secondary hazard generated mostly by earthquakes, slope instabilities, or volcanic eruptions. The hazards can co-occur and interact, inducing a cascading sequence of events, especially in certain contexts, such as tectonic indentations, volcanic islands, and canyon heads close to the coast. We analyze the key characteristics and main shortcomings of offshore geological hazards to identify their present and future directions for marine geoscience investigations of their identification and characterization. This review establishes that future research will rely on studies including a high level of multidisciplinarity. This approach, which also involves scientific and technological challenges, will require effective integration and interplay between multiscale analysis, mapping, direct deep-sea observations and testing, modelling, and linking offshore observations with onshore observations.

Integration of Remote Sensing and Offshore Geophysical Data for Monitoring the Short-Term Morphological Evolution of an Active Volcanic Flank: A Case Study from Stromboli Island

“…These should be combined with the continuous monitoring of ground deformation along subaerial volcanic flanks through seismic networks, time-lapse SAR imageries, Interferometric SAR data, and other geodetic methods [65]. On submarine flanks, the bathymetric surveys can be combined with different monitoring systems for the detection of eruptive activity and/or mass-wasting processes, such as ocean bottom seismometers, hydroacoustic arrays, and smart cables [66,67].…”

Trend Analysis of Marine Construction Disaster Prevention Based on Text Mining: Evidence from China

“…Advanced construction technologies, including three-dimensional printing, modular construction, and drone and robotics, can improve construction efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure construction quality, thus enhancing the disaster resistance of offshore buildings. The integration of multiple sensing and communication technologies, such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), high precision leveling, seismic monitoring, physical datasets (including magnetometers, gravimeters, geo-electromagnetics, resistivity tomography, HPL data), and drones are highly conducive to early warning of hazards in offshore construction [50] .…”