f An integrated approach to the stability evaluation of prospective offshore sites

Offshore foundations can fail from one or a number of causes for example slope instability, reactivation of preexisting failure planes, or spontaneous liquefaction. In any seafloor site investigation for the erection of an offshore structure, the assessment of the potential failure mechanisme usually requires extensive geotechnical investigations with a close drilling programme. Such programmes are expensive and may still overlook major hazards. There is consequently a need for some other foren of site investigation, as a forerunner to and as an implementation of the traditional geotechnical reconnaissance techniques.