@article {Harders2011,
	title = {{Submarine slope failures along the convergent continental margin of the Middle America Trench}},
	journal = {Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems},
	volume = {12},
	number = {6},
	year = {2011},
	month = {jun},
	pages = {n/a{\textendash}n/a},
	abstract = {We present the first comprehensive study of mass wasting processes in the continental slope of a convergent margin of a subduction zone where tectonic processes are dominated by subduction erosion. We have used multibeam bathymetry along \~{}1300 km of the Middle America Trench of the Central America Subduction Zone and deep-towed side-scan sonar data. We found abundant evidence of large-scale slope failures that were mostly previously unmapped. The features are classified into a variety of slope failure types, creating an inventory of 147 slope failure structures. Their type distribution and abundance define a segmentation of the continental slope in six sectors. The segmentation in slope stability processes does not appear to be related to slope preconditioning due to changes in physical properties of sediment, presence/absence of gas hydrates, or apparent changes in the hydrogeological system. The segmentation appears to be better explained by changes in slope preconditioning due to variations in tectonic processes. The region is an optimal setting to study how tectonic processes related to variations in intensity of subduction erosion and changes in relief of the underthrusting plate affect mass wasting processes of the continental slope. The largest slope failures occur offshore Costa Rica. There, subducting ridges and seamounts produce failures with up to hundreds of meters high headwalls, with detachment planes that penetrate deep into the continental margin, in some cases reaching the plate boundary. Offshore northern Costa Rica a smooth oceanic seafloor underthrusts the least disturbed continental slope. Offshore Nicaragua, the ocean plate is ornamented with smaller seamounts and horst and graben topography of variable intensity. Here mass wasting structures are numerous and comparatively smaller, but when combined, they affect a large part of the margin segment. Farther north, offshore El Salvador and Guatemala the downgoing plate has no large seamounts but well-defined horst and graben topography. Off El Salvador slope failure is least developed and mainly occurs in the uppermost continental slope at canyon walls. Off Guatemala mass wasting is abundant and possibly related to normal faulting across the slope. Collapse in the wake of subducting ocean plate topography is a likely failure trigger of slumps. Rapid oversteepening above subducting relief may trigger translational slides in the middle Nicaraguan upper Costa Rican slope. Earthquake shaking may be a trigger, but we interpret that slope failure rate is lower than recurrence time of large earthquakes in the region. Generally, our analysis indicates that the importance of mass wasting processes in the evolution of margins dominated by subduction erosion and its role in sediment dynamics may have been previously underestimated. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.},
	keywords = {Convergent margin, landslides, slope failure, Subduction erosion, submarine mass wasting, tectonics},
	issn = {15252027},
	doi = {10.1029/2010GC003401},
	url = {http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-79959701829\&partnerID=tZOtx3y1},
	author = {Harders, Rieka and Ranero, Cesar R. and Weinrebe, Wilhelm and Behrmann, Jan H.}
}
@article {Dannowski2010,
	title = {{Seismic structure of an oceanic core complex at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 22{\textdegree}19'N}},
	journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research},
	volume = {115},
	number = {B7},
	year = {2010},
	month = {jul},
	pages = {B07106},
	abstract = {We present results from a seismic refraction and wide-angle experiment surveying an oceanic core complex on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 2219N. Oceanic core complexes are settings where petrological sampling found exposed lower crustal and upper mantle rocks, exhumed by asymmetric crustal accretion involving detachment faulting at magmatically starved ridge sections. Tomographic inversion of our seismic data yielded lateral variations of P wave velocity within the upper 3 to 4 km of the lithosphere across the median valley. A joint modeling procedure of seismic P wave travel times and marine gravity field data was used to constrain crustal thickness variations and the structure of the uppermost mantle. A gradual increase of seismic velocities from the median valley to the east is connected to aging of the oceanic crust, while a rapid change of seismic velocities at the western ridge flank indicates profound differences in lithology between conjugated ridge flanks, caused by un-roofing lower crust rocks. Under the core complex crust is approximately 40\% thinner than in the median valley and under the conjugated eastern flank. Clear PmP reflections turning under the western ridge flank suggest the creation of a Moho boundary and hence continuous magmatic accretion during core complex formation.Copyright 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.},
	issn = {0148-0227},
	doi = {10.1029/2009JB006943},
	url = {http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-77955209693\&partnerID=tZOtx3y1},
	author = {Dannowski, Anke and Grevemeyer, Ingo and Ranero, Cesar R. and Ceuleneer, Georges and Maia, Marcia and Morgan, Jason Phipps and Gente, Pascal}
}
@book {VonHuene2009a,
	title = {{Subduction Zone Geodynamics}},
	series = {Frontiers in Earth Sciences},
	year = {2009},
	month = {oct},
	publisher = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg},
	organization = {Springer Berlin Heidelberg},
	address = {Berlin, Heidelberg},
	abstract = {21 pages, 8 figures, 1 table},
	keywords = {Accretion, Convergent margins, Subduction erosion},
	isbn = {978-3-540-87971-8},
	doi = {10.1007/978-3-540-87974-9},
	url = {http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/83778 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/83778},
	author = {von Huene, Roland and Ranero, Cesar R. and Scholl, Dave W.},
	editor = {Lallemand, Serge and Funiciello, Francesca}
}
