Balancing Submarine Landslides and the Marine Economy for Sustainable Development: A Review and Future Prospects

Abstract

To proactively respond to the national fourteenth Five-Year Plan policy, we will adhere to a comprehensive land and sea planning approach, working together to promote marine ecological protection, optimize geological space, and integrate the marine economy. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the sustainable development of marine geological hazards (MGHs), with a particular focus on submarine landslides, the marine environment, as well as the marine economy. First, the novelty of this study lies in its review and summary of the temporal and spatial distribution, systematic classification, inducible factors, and realistic characteristics of submarine landslides to enrich the theoretical concept. Moreover, the costs, risks, and impacts on the marine environment and economy of submarine engineering activities such as oil and gas fields, as well as metal ores, were systematically discussed. Combined with the current marine policy, an analysis was conducted on the environmental pollution and economic losses caused by submarine landslides. Herein, the key finding is that China and Mexico are viable candidates for the future large-scale offshore exploitation of oil, gas, nickel, cobalt, cuprum, manganese, and other mineral resources. Compared to land-based mining, deep-sea mining offers superior economic and environmental advantages. Finally, it is suggested that physical model tests and numerical simulation techniques are effective means for investigating the triggering mechanism of submarine landslides, their evolutionary movement process, and the impact on the submarine infrastructure. In the future, the establishment of a multi-level and multi-dimensional monitoring chain for submarine landslide disasters, as well as joint risk assessment, prediction, and early warning systems, can effectively mitigate the occurrence of submarine landslide disasters and promote the sustainable development of the marine environment and economy.