Introduction: Landslides in coastal and submarine environments

Lack of direct observations and restricted access limits our current knowledge about submarine and coastal landslides. Open research questions remain regarding landslide recurrence rates, trigger mechanisms, failure dynamics, their impact on coastal and seafloor infrastructure and their role in causing subsequent effects such as tsunamis. The session C8 of the 3rd World Landslide Forum addresses causes and consequences of hazardous mass movements in coastal and marine areas. The session highlights the role of innovative marine-geophysical, -geological, and –geotechnical surveys and site-investigation techniques in coastal and subaquatic landslide research, hazard assessment and mitigation. This introductory paper to the C8 section of the WLF3 volume provides a brief overview on the general topic and presents the compendium of seven papers contributed by landslide experts from different parts of the world to document detailed case studies on coastal and submarine landslides as well as landslide tsunamis.