1,721,022 research outputs found
Cyclic steps along the South Taiwan Shoal and West Penghu submarine canyons on the northeastern continental slope of the South China Sea
No full textLarge-scale step-like features within the South Taiwan Shoal and West Penghu submarine canyons on the northeastern continental slope of the South China Sea are investigated by integrating high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data and multichannel seismic profiles. These step-like features, ranging from 1.2 to 10.0 km in wavelength and 5.4–80.9 m in wave height, are mostly interpreted as cyclic steps formed by turbidity currents flowing through the canyons, based on their characteristic step-like morphology, in-train alignment, large wavelengths and aspect ratios (ratio of wavelength to wave height), and typical upstream-sloping backset bedding, among others. A train of 19 continuous steps delineated along the thalweg of the South Taiwan Shoal canyon measures up to 100 km and may be the longest ever reported. Nine short trains of scours identified on a terrace of the South Taiwan Shoal canyon are oriented parallel to the distributaries draining over the terrace and roughly perpendicular to the main canyon thalweg, indicating a complicated flow pattern within the canyon valley. Two trains of scours separated by an intracanyon high in the steeper middle reach of the West Penghu canyon are interpreted as transitional bed forms between antidunes and cyclic steps, which develop downstream into a train of five net-depositional cyclic steps with typical backset bedding in the gentler-sloping lower reach of the canyon. Average slope gradients for the canyon reaches with cyclic steps range from 0.26° to 1.24°. Along each thalweg step train, a slope break is identified to separate the net-erosional cyclic steps in the steeper upstream segment from the net-depositional ones in the gentler downstream segment. Rough estimations indicate that the paleoflows are 100 to 300 m thick with maximum velocities of up to 10 m s–1. The estimated flow depths match well with those inferred from geomorphologic analysis. Estimated paleodischarges of ?7–23 × 105 m3 s–1 are equivalent to ten times the discharge of the modern Amazon River
Morphodynamics of submarine channel inception revealed by new experimental approach
Full text linkSubmarine channels are ubiquitous on the seafloor and their inception and evolution is a result of dynamic interaction between turbidity currents and the evolving seafloor. However, the morphodynamic links between channel inception and flow dynamics have not yet been monitored in experiments and only in one instance on the modern seafloor. Previous experimental flows did not show channel inception, because flow conditions were not appropriately scaled to sustain suspended sediment transport. Here we introduce and apply new scaling constraints for similarity between natural and experimental turbidity currents. The scaled currents initiate a leveed channel from an initially featureless slope. Channelization commences with deposition of levees in some slope segments and erosion of a conduit in other segments. Channel relief and flow confinement increase progressively during subsequent flows. This morphodynamic evolution determines the architecture of submarine channel deposits in the stratigraphic record and efficiency of sediment bypass to the basin floor
Supercritical-flow structures on a Late Carboniferous delta front: Sedimentologic and paleoclimatic significance
Full text linkDeposits of fluvial systems in highly seasonal tropical climates possess unique architectural and facies characters owing to a flood-prone regime alternating with lengthy periods of ineffective discharge. Distally linked deltaic successions should also feature distinctive attributes, with great potential to preserve the stratigraphic evidence of exceptional discharge events. We describe Late Carboniferous delta-front, valley-confined sandstones from the Pennine Basin (UK), originally deposited at paleoequatorial latitudes during final assembly of the Pangean megacontinent and characterized by giant sedimentary structures with repetitively sigmoidal geometry. Facies traits indicate geologically instantaneous deposition of a large sediment volume from a density current at sustained supercritical-flow conditions, leading to aggradation of cyclic steps, recently identified bedforms developing in high-energy flows and of which this is the first complete outcrop example. The lack of unconformable erosional surfaces and absence of different associated facies point to a single aggradational event during which the structures attained dimensions comparable to those indicated by seismic data sets from which they are remotely detected on modern seafloors. Cyclic-step formation in a deltaic setting suggests that Pangean megamonsoons could have triggered hydrologic events capable of imprinting sedimentologic signatures on shallow-marine deposits
Mud-clast armoring and its implications for turbidite systems
Full text linkSeafloor sediment density flows are the primary mechanism for transporting sediment to the deep sea. These flows are important because they pose a hazard to seafloor infrastructure and deposit the largest sediment accumulations on Earth. The cohesive sediment content of a flow (i.e., clay) is an important control on its rheological state (e.g., turbulent or laminar); however, how clay becomes incorporated into a flow is poorly understood. One mechanism is by the abrasion of (clay-rich) mud clasts. Such clasts are common in deep-water deposits, often thought to have traveled over large (more than tens of kilometers) distances. These long travel distances are at odds with previous experimental work that suggests that mud clasts should disintegrate rapidly through abrasion. To address this apparent contradiction, we conduct laboratory experiments using a counter rotating annular flume to simulate clast transport in sediment density flows. We find that as clay clasts roll along a sandy floor, surficial armoring develops and reduces clast abrasion and thus enhances travel distance. For the first time we show armoring to be a process of renewal and replenishment, rather than forming a permanent layer. As armoring reduces the rate of clast abrasion, it delays the release of clay into the parent flow, which can therefore delay flow transformation from turbidity current to debris flow. We conclude that armored mud clasts can form only within a sandy turbidity current; hence where armored clasts are found in debrite deposits, the parent flow must have undergone flow transformation farther up slope
Recognition of cyclic steps in sandy and gravelly turbidite sequences, and consequences for the Bouma facies model
No full textPreservation of cyclic steps contrasts markedly with that of subcritical-flow bedforms, because cyclic steps migrate upslope eroding their lee face and preserving their stoss side. Such bedforms have not been described from turbidite outcrops and cores as yet. A conceptual block diagram for recognition of cyclic steps in outcrop has been constructed and is tested by outcrop studies of deep water submarine fan deposits of the Tabernas Basin in south-eastern Spain. Experimental data indicate that depositional processes on the stoss side of a cyclic step are controlled by a hydraulic jump, which decelerates the flow and by subsequent waxing of the flow up to supercritical conditions once more. The hydraulic jump produces a large scour with soft-sediment deformation (flames) preserved in coarse-tail normal-graded structureless deposits (Bouma Ta), while near-horizontal, massive to stratified top-cut-out turbidite beds are found further down the stoss side of the bedform. The architecture of cyclic steps can best be described as large, up to hundreds of metres, lens-shaped bodies that are truncated by erosive surfaces representing the set boundaries and that consist of nearly horizontal lying stacks of top-cut-out turbidite beds. The facies that characterize these bedforms have traditionally been described as turbidite units in idealized vertical sequences of high-density turbidity currents, but have not yet been interpreted to represent bedforms produced by supercritical flow. Their large size, which is in the order of 20 m for gravelly and up to hundreds of metres for sandy steps, is likely to have hindered their recognition in outcrop so far
Large-scale sediment waves and scours on the modern seafloor and their implications for the prevalence of supercritical flows
No full textLarge-scale (20 m to 7 km wavelength) bedforms are common on the seafloor, yet there is a lack of consensus on how they form and thus what to call them. We conducted statistical analysis on a dataset of 82 seafloor bedforms that span a range of water depths and environments. The data form three distinct groups: 1) small-scale (20–300 m wavelength) sediment waves with mixed relief made of medium sand to cobble-sized sediment that form in confined settings, which we call small sediment waves; 2) large-scale (300–7000 m wavelength) sediment waves with mixed relief made of fine-grained sediment that form in relatively unconfined settings, which we call large sediment waves; and 3) large-scale fully enclosed depressions in the seafloor, which we call scours. There is a statistically significant data gap in the size of bedforms between small sediment waves and large sediment waves that does not appear to be a sampling artefact. This data gap probably results from the environments in which sediment waves form being either confined (e.g. channel or canyon) or unconfined (e.g. open slope). Bedform migration direction is available for 36% of the data and includes small and large-scale sediment waves; of these examples all are shown to migrate up-current. Up-current migration is indicative of supercritical flow; thus this data suggests that supercritical flows operate in a wide range of environments and can generate both small and large sediment waves. Therefore, we suggest that small and large sediment waves form by similar processes despite the gap in bedform wavelength and sediment size. The migration direction for scours remains unknown. Scours may form from similar processes to small and large sediment waves, or alternatively they may be a completely separate bedform type that form when erosive flows exploit pre-existing defects in the seafloor. This novel statistical analysis of a global database shows that up-current migrating bedforms associated with supercritical flow are unusually widespread, and are recognised at two distinct scales
Sediment Volume and Grain-Size Partitioning Between Submarine Channel−Levee Systems and Lobes: An Experimental Study
Full text linkThe width and depth of submarine channels change progressively as the channels evolve. This is inferred to act as an important control on the rate of sediment loss due overbank and in-channel deposition. Understanding the downstream extraction of sediment from turbidity currents is important for the prediction of grain-size trends and volume distribution in the stratigraphy. However, the partitioning of sediment by individual turbidity currents as a function of channel dimensions has not been investigated previously. We present a series of physical experiments studying the link between channel dimensions and the resulting partitioning of sediment volume and grain size between sub-environments. The experimental set-up consists of a slope (11°) with a straight pre-formed channel and a horizontal basin floor. An identical flow was released repeatedly into channels with different dimensions, resulting in various styles of overspill, erosion, and deposition under varying degrees of channel confinement. The fraction of sediment that was bypassed through the channel to the basin floor varied between 67% and 89%, depending on the amount of levee and in-channel deposition. The volume of levee deposition correlates well with channel depth. A large channel depth relative to flow thickness limits the amount of overspill. The amount of in-channel deposition correlates well with channel width/depth (W/D) ratio, where low-W/D-ratio channels have less deposition. We compare the experiments to natural system to show that the same patterns of volume and grain-size partitioning are present at different scales. The experiments provide snapshots of different phases of evolution of natural submarine channels. Natural submarine channels in an early evolution phase are inferred to be shallow and the experiments demonstrate that this results in significant sediment loss to levee deposition along the channel. The process of levee deposition preferentially extracts the fine-grained sediment fraction, which overspills from the channel. Therefore, we predict that the initial sediment pulse that reaches the basin floor is coarse grained and volumetrically small. As the channel matures and deepens, it will bypass more sediment with a mix of grain sizes to the basin floor
What controls submarine channel development and the morphology of deltas entering deep-water fjords?
No full textRiver deltas and associated turbidity current systems produce some of the largest and most rapid sediment accumulations on our planet. These systems bury globally significant volumes of organic carbon and determine the runout distance of potentially hazardous sediment flows and the shape of their deposits. Here we seek to understand the main factors that determine the morphology of turbidity current systems linked to deltas in fjords, and why some locations have well developed submarine channels while others do not. Deltas and associated turbidity current systems are analysed initially in five fjord systems from British Columbia in Canada, and then more widely. This provides the basis for a general classification of delta and turbidity current system types, where rivers enter relatively deep (>200 m) water. Fjord-delta area is found to be strongly bimodal. Avalanching of coarse-grained bedload delivered by steep mountainous rivers produces small Gilbert-type fan deltas, whose steep gradient (11°–25°) approaches the sediment's angle of repose. Bigger fjord-head deltas are associated with much larger and finer-grained rivers. These deltas have much lower gradients (1.5°–10°) that decrease offshore in a near exponential fashion. The lengths of turbidity current channels are highly variable, even in settings fed by rivers with similar discharges. This may be due to resetting of channel systems by delta-top channel avulsions or major offshore landslides, as well as the amount and rate of sediment supplied to the delta front by rivers.</p
Quantification of tsunami-induced flows on a Mediterranean carbonate ramp reveals catastrophic evolution
Full text linkCool-water carbonates are the dominant limestones in the Mediterranean Basin since the Early Pliocene. Their deposition typically resulted in ramp morphologies due to high rates of resedimentation. Several such fossil carbonate ramps are characterised by a bimodal facies stacking pattern, where background deposition of subaqueous dune and/or tempestite deposits is repeatedly interrupted by anomalously thick sedimentary units, dominated by backset-stratification formed by supercritical flows. A multitude of exceptional triggers (e.g. storms, floods, tsunamis) have been invoked to explain the origin of these supercritical flows, which, in the absence of a quantitative analysis, remains speculative as yet. Here, for the first time, the catastrophic evolution of one such Mediterranean carbonate ramp, on Favignana Island (Italy), is quantified by combining 87Sr/86Sr dating, outcrop-based palaeoflow reconstructions and hydraulic calculations. We demonstrate that rare tsunami-induced flows, occurring on average once every 14 to 35 kyr, lasting a few hours only, deposited the anomalously thick backset-bedded units that form half of the sedimentary record. In between such events, cumulative two years of storm-induced flows deposited the remaining half of the succession by the stacking of subaqueous dunes. The two to four orders of magnitude difference in average recurrence period between the two flow types, and their associated sedimentation rates, emphasises the genetic differences between the two styles of deposition. In terms of sediment transport, the studied carbonate ramp was inactive for at least 99% of the time with gradual progradation during decennial to centennial storm activity. Carbonate ramp evolution attained a catastrophic signature by the contribution of rare tsunamis, producing short-lived, high-energy sediment gravity flows
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