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The distribution map of submarine landslides in the Sea of Okhotsk based on compilation of available data is presented in this work for the first time. This map is indicative of environments and trigger mechanisms of landsliding. All gravitational processes studied in this work occurred in the environments of an open continental slope and submarine canyons. The most obvious trigger mechanisms of landslides on the Eastern Sakhalin slope are seismic activity and gas seeping. The main trigger mechanism of landslides on the northern slope of the Kuril Basin and in the back-arc basin of the Kuril island arc is seismic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslide processes on the western slope of the Kuril Basin were studied using bathymetry and seismic data obtained under the international KOMEX and SSGH projects. Slope areas containing landslides, landslide blocks and mass-transport deposits were distinguished. Large-scale landslides occupying an area of more than 100 km2 are located in such areas of open continental margins as the slopes of the North Hokkaido Marginal Plateau and Terpeniya Ridge. Landslide blocks up to 2 km in size and mass-transport deposits are located in submarine canyons and fans in Terpeniya Bay. The age of landslides has been estimated as Middle Pleistocene-Holocene. Landslides are most likely triggered by seismic activity and gas saturation of sediments. Subsequent slope failure seems quite probable within the study area, and landslides capable of generating tsunamis may occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]