Submarine landslide complex in the Santa Barbara Channel in the vicinity of Goleta, California

The Goleta Submarine Landslide Complex is located in the Santa Barbara Channel near Coal Oil Point near the towns of Goleta and Santa Barbara. This image was generated from is a multibeam-bathametric data. It shows large tongues of sediment created by undersea landslides that extend in some places more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) onto the seafloor in the Santa Barbara Channel from their source of failure along the margin near the break in slope of the continental shelf edge. Research shows that a record submarine landslide failures in the area began about 200,000 years ago, with two of the large landslide lobe having formed about 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. Scientists are concerned that such offshore landslides could cause tsunamis that affect the Santa Barbara coast with little advanced warning (Fisher and others, 2005; Image by Gary Greene).

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