We are collecting a tightly spaced grid of high-resolution multichannel seismic (MCS) data, gravity and piston cores, and heat flow data inside and around the Cape Fear Slide complex offshore North Carolina. In addition to the most recent mass transport deposits (MTDs), older, buried MTD complexes have been identified in seismic data, possibly as old as the late Oligocene. The widespread occurrence of MTDs throughout geologic time makes the region an ideal place to study the role slope failures play in building a passive margin, including failure frequency, spatial relationships between younger and antecedent failures, and processes that precondition or trigger failure, particularly shallow fluid migration.