Storegga Slide

As Storegga (Norwegian: big edge ), the continental slope in the northern European sea called off the Norwegian coast on the southern Vøring Plateau, below which has been formed by repeatedly slipping over the millennia a huge scree slope. The Storegga landslide, also called the Storegga event, took place in several stages about 7000 years ago, with the bulk of the sliding mass was mobilized during the first slip event. This is over 800 km in length and a volume of 5608 km ³ one of the largest known landslides.

The landslides are associated with progressive destabilization of gas hydrates, especially methane hydrates, in conjunction. A larger Abrutschungsereignis with demolition of the shelf edge can lead to a tsunami. To generate tsunami deposits on the Atlantic coasts of northern Europe are today because of the Storegga landslide detected: on the Norwegian coast had the tidal wave has a height of at least 10-12 meters above sea level at that time. Also on the Shetland Islands could be detected based on deposits more than 20 meters high tsunami. Depending on the region of occurrence of such submariner Großrutschungen the resulting tidal waves can cause significant damage to coastlines.