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1.
Sedimentologic and stratigraphic investigations on four cores collected close to the front of the Barbados accretionary prism provided information about the Quaternary depositional processes and sediment fluxes in the region. The morphology of the prism is marked by N—Soriented anticlinal ridges separated by troughs. The deposits are hemipelagic on top of the ridges and in the abyssal plain, with a mean global flux of 1.35–1.40 g cm–2 10–3 yr. The carbonate flux decreases from the prism to the abyssal plain (0.49 and 0.3 g cm–2 10–3 yr, respectively). Terrigenous material is provided by distal turbiditic plumes. It decreases slightly from the abyssal plain to the prism (1.06 and 0.9 g cm–2 10–3 yr, respectively). During cold climatic stages, it is up to 1.4 g cm–2 10–3 yr. The global flux is much higher (7.1 g cm–2 10–3 yr) in the interridge troughs, which act as sediment traps for distal turbidity currents. 相似文献
2.
Sedimentary processes in the Stromboli Canyon and in the Marsili Basin are studied on the basis of side-scan sonographs.
The basin margins are characterized by slump scars, gullies, channels, and large debrites on the Calabrian slope and by straight
chutes of fast downslope sediment transport and blocky–hummocky avalanche deposits on the flanks of the Stromboli volcano.
In the Stromboli Canyon and in minor deep-sea channels, sediment transport by turbidity currents generates sediment waves.
Between the basin margins and the abyssal plain, the outcropping volcanic basement traps part of the sediment coming from
the marginal areas. The abyssal plain is characterized by low relief lobes and ponded sediments. 相似文献
3.
Bauxitic red-mud slurry, discharged by an aluminium processing factory on the shelf of the Gulf of Corinth, Greece, is used as a tracer to examine sediment transport and dispersion processes in a tectonically active deep basin.
The Gulf of Corinth is a silled elongate basin with a maximum depth of 860 m; it is characterised by high seismicity. The red mud is discharged through a pipeline at a depth of 100 m, where it forms an extensive deposit.
Grab sampling has shown that the red mud extends over the slope and the abyssal plain up to a distance of 17 km from the mouth of the pipeline. It forms small scattered sheet-like deposits of up to 3 cm in thickness. The structures observed in the scattered patches of the red mud, which in some places are overlain by a thin veneer of grey/olive green (natural) sediments, suggest that the red mud is transported from the shelf to the abyssal plain by gravitative sediment flows. The flows are triggered by earthquakes.
Granulometric and geochemical analyses of the red-mud samples show that the red mud, during its transport from the shelf to the abyssal plain, is subjected to mixing with the surrounding sediments. A different mixing ratio is determined, however, by reference to the various trace metals (Fe, Ni, Co, Pb). 相似文献
4.
A corridor 315 km wide centered along the southeast projection of the Atlantis fracture zone between 21°W and 29°W was investigated with seismic reflection, bathymetric, gravity, and magnetic profiles. Six sub-parallel, sediment-filled troughs in acoustic basement trend about 106° across the abyssal hills and lower continental rise off northwest Africa. Where the southernmost structural lineations cross the abyssal plain, they are interrupted by a ridge trending 080° surmounted by volcanic peaks.The structural lineations become less distinct landward of the western margin of the abyssal plain coincident with a decrease in topographic relief on acoustic basement and increasing sediment thickness. This transition is coincident with a reduction in the amplitude of gravity and magnetic anomalies. 相似文献
5.
The Mediterranean Ridge is an arcuate ridge of deformed sediment caught up in the convergent plate margin between the African plate and the Aegean. An intensive campaign of SeaMARC I and SeaBeam surveys followed by piston coring has been conducted along the contact between undeformed turbidites of the Sirte Abyssal Plain and folded and faulted sediments of the Mediterranean Ridge. Along the outer edge of the Ridge, surficial sediments have been deformed into sinusoidal ridges and troughs (wavelengths 0.5–2 km, amplitude 20–150 m), which we interpret as folds. In plan view, the ridge and the trough fabric parallels the NW-SE trending regional contours, suggesting that the folds formed in response to compression orthogonal to the Mediterranean Ridge. The outermost ridge is shedding a debris apron out onto the abyssal plain, implying that uplift and deformation are ongoing. We show that the geometry of the outermost folds can be produced by elastic bending of a packet of 5–10 relatively strong layers, each 10–20 m thick, interbedded between weaker layers; we equate the strong layers with gypsum beds in the Messinian upper evaporites. Folding the seafloor from a flat layer into the observed ridge and trough topography would shorten the layer by less than 2%. Two percent shortening (equals two percent thickening) is insufficient to create the observed relief of the Mediterranean Ridge even if the entire sediment column down to basement were involved; we infer that additional shortening/thickening is accommodated by thrust faulting above a decollement at the top of the Messinian salt layer. At distances > 15 km from the deformation front and more than 500 m from the abyssal plain, sharp-edged, fine-grained side-scan lineations with very little vertical relief cut across the kilometer-scale ridge and trough topography. These fine-grained lineations fall in two groups trending N/S to NNE/SSW and ~ENE. We interpret these lineaments as traces of conjugate strike-slip faults formed in the same compressional regime which formed the NW/SE trending folds. The onset of strike-slip faulting may coincide with the cessation of imbricate thrust fan development above the initial salt-controlled decollement surface. The following characteristics of the Mediterranean Ridge are attributed to the presence of evaporites in the incoming sedimentary section: (1) initial deformation by folding rather than thrust faulting; (2) narrow taper; (3) rapid rate of outward growth; (4) karstification. 相似文献
6.
Histograms of echo peaks from three different topographic regions in the outer beams of a Sea Beam sonar show distinct variation as the topography changes from the North Cleft ridge to the Cascadia abyssal plain in the Pacific Ocean. Parameter estimation of probability density functions (pdfs) shows significant departure from Rayleigh pdf for the nonabyssal plain sites. The spectral character of the sea-floor roughness from an acoustic backscatter model suggests that the ridge area is dominated by large-scale roughness and the abyssal plain by small scale. It appears that change in roughness magnitude effects the observed histogram characteristics. 相似文献
7.
The sedimentary structures, composition, and texture of sediments from the barrier coast complex (Matarangi Beach—Omaro Spit—Whangapoua Harbour) at Whangapoua, Coromandel Peninsula, are described. Sediments are mainly fine sands, rarely muddy or silty, and most are plagioclase feldsarenites, reflecting derivation from a predominantly Tertiary volcanic hinterland. Sediments from each of the modern environments, namely nearshore, foreshore, back‐shore, frontal dunes, tidal flats, and tidal channels, are characterised by a particular combination of sedimentary structures and subtle textural parameters. Dune ridge and barrier flat paleoenvironments on Omaro Spit were successfully identified by comparing their lithologic properties with the modern sediments. ‘Surficial’ sediments of the well‐preserved dune ridge system developed immediately inland from Matarangi Beach closely resemble those in the modern frontal dunes, and the ‘in depth’ dune ridge sediments are more analogous to the present foreshore sands. The barrier flat deposits separating the dune ridge system from Whangapoua Harbour have similar characteristics to the modern tidal flat sediments in the harbour. Omaro Spit probably began as an offshore bar across the mouth of Whangapoua Harbour, an embayment formed by the post‐glacial drowning of a Late Tertiary dislocated fault‐block. Tidal flat sedimentation within the harbour formed the ancient barrier flat deposits which rise to at least 2 m above the modern harbour flats, suggesting local sea level at the time was higher than at present. During a subsequent cyclic fall in sea level, supratidal aeolian deposition led to a succession of 15 to 18 parallel dune ridges developed on high‐tide berms. Linear regression analyses of dune ridge and swale heights and the height distribution of positive (aeolian) and negative (beach foreshore) skewness values and of contrasting sedimentary structures in dune ridgL paleosediments, together with the stages in dune soil development across the barrier, suggest initial sedimentation occurred from 4000–5000 years ago when local sea level was 2–3 m above present mean high water level. Barrier progradation was interrupted by an important period of coastal erosion during a temporary rise in sea level immediately before deposition in the dune ridge system of a layer of 2000‐year‐old sea‐rafted Leigh Pumice. Sea level probably reached its modern position at Whangapoua about 1000 years ago, since when some evidence suggests the barrier spit may have experienced minor uplift. 相似文献
8.
K. Solli B. Kuvaas Y. Kristoffersen G. Leitchenkov J. Guseva V. Gandjukhin 《Marine Geophysical Researches》2007,28(1):43-57
Multichannel seismic data from the eastern parts of the Riiser-Larsen Sea have been analyzed with a sequence stratigraphic
approach. The data set covers a wide bathymetric range from the lower continental slope to the abyssal plain. Four different
sequences (termed RLS-A to RLS-D, from deepest to shallowest) are recognized within the sedimentary section. The RLS-A sequence
encompasses the inferred pre-glacial part of the deposits. Initial phases of ice sheet arrival at the eastern Riiser-Larsen
Sea margin resulted in the deposition of multiple debris flow units and/or slumps on the upper part of the continental rise
(RLS-B). The nature and distribution of these deposits indicate sediment supply from a line or a multi-point source. The subsequent
stage of downslope sediment transport activity was dominated by turbidity currents, depositing mainly as distal turbidite
sheets on the lower rise/abyssal plain (RLS-C). We attribute this to margin progradation and/or a more focussed sediment delivery
to the continental shelf edge. As the accommodation space on the lower rise/abyssal plain declined and the base level was
raised, the turbidite channels started to backstep and develop large channel–levee complexes on the upper parts of the continental
rise (RLS-D). The deposition of various drift deposits on the lower rise/abyssal plain and along the western margin of the
Gunnerus Ridge indicates that the RLS-D sequence is also associated with increased activity of contour currents. The drift
deposits overlie a distinct regional unconformity which is considered to reflect a major paleoceanographic event, probably
related to a Middle Miocene intensification of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. 相似文献
9.
Seismic reflection profiles from the northern end of Juan de Fuca Ridge reveal three axial valleys having a basement relief of as much as 2 sec (two-way travel time). A thick sequence, presumably of turbidites, mainly less than 0.7 m.y. old, covers much of the area. The oldest turbidites form the upper part of the fill of a possible Tertiary trench between the ridge and North America. The second turbidite unit extends beyond the trench and once formed an abyssal plain over most of northern Juan de Fuca Ridge and the area west to Explorer Ridge. Following formation of the plain, vertical movements began that broadly uplifted the crest of Juan de Fuca Ridge, block-faulted its northern end, produced faulting along Sovanco Fracture Zone, and upwarped the basement north of the ridge. Younger turbidites have filled the lowlands created by the vertical movements. The present sea floor topography and seismic activity show evidence of continued movements. 相似文献
10.
The petrophysical properties of sediment drill core samples recovered from the Sardinian margin and the abyssal plain of the
Southern Tyrrhenian Basin were used to estimate the downhole change in porosity and rates of deposition and mass accumulation.
We calculated how the deposited material has changed its thickness as a function of depth, and corrected the thickness for
the compaction. The corresponding porosity variation with depth for terrigenous and pelagic sediments and evaporites was modelled
according to an exponential law. The mass accumulation rate for the Plio-Quaternary is on average 4.8×104 kg m−2 my−1 on the Sardinian margin and for the Pliocene in the abyssal plain. In the latter area, the Quaternary attains its greatest
thickness and a mass accumulation rate of 11–40×104 kg m−2 my−1. The basement response to sediment loading was calculated with Airy-type backstripping. On the lower part of the Sardinian
margin, the basement subsidence rate due to sediment loading has decreased from a value of 300 m my−1 in the Tortonian and during the Messinian salinity crisis (7.0–5.33 Ma) to about 5 m my−1 in the Plio-Quaternary. In contrast, on the abyssal plain this rate has changed from 8–50 m my−1 during the period 3.6–0.46 Ma, to 95–130 m my−1 since 0.46 Ma, with the largest values in the Marsili Basin. The correlation between age and the depth to the basement corrected
for the loading of the sediment in the ocean domain of the Tyrrhenian Basin argues for a young age of basin formation. 相似文献
11.
Bobb Carson 《Marine Geology》1977,24(4):289-307
Convergent motion of the North American and Juan de Fuca plates has resulted in deformation of Cascadia Basin sediments and accretion of these deposits to the North American continental margin. The accreted deposits, which occur as anticlinal ridges and thrust blocks, constitute the lower continental slope or borderland off Washington and northern Oregon. Over the past 2.0 m.y., approximately 30 km of this deformed material has been added to the lower slope, removing undeformed deposits from Cascadia Basin at a rate of 2.3–2.9 cm/yr.Near-surface sediments involved in this accretionary process are mechanically consolidated: muds?tones dredged from the lower slope exhibit physical properties (water contents, 20–47%; void ratios, 0.4–1.2; preconsolidation pressures, 0.8–8.2 MPa) which differ significantly from properties of similar, but undeformed sediments (water contents, 50–250%; void ratios, 1.1–1.9). While some consolidation may be attributable to prior burial () or carbonate precipitation, neither mechanism can wholly account for the values observed. It appears that most of the consolidation has occurred in response to tectonically induced overpressures.Initial consolidation occurs rapidly across a narrow () front, defined by the base of the continental slope. Further consolidation and dewatering appears to take place, at a much reduced rate, over the entire width of the lower slope.Development of foliation is nearly ubiquitous in the deformed mudstones. This property limits the strength of the deposits (shear strengths, 90–416 kPa) and movement along these planes probably accommodates much of the strain after initial consolidation.The physical properties characteristic of Washington—Oregon deformed sediments may represent limiting values for mechanical consolidation of near-surface terrigenous sediments under horizontal stress. 相似文献
12.
The major and minor element compositions of a suite of abyssal sea-floor ferromanganese nodules and associated sediments from the eastern central Pacific have been used to examine inter-element relationships and the mineralogy of the nodules, the relationship between the composition of nodules and their associated sediments and regional variations in composition with respect to likely modes of formation of such deposits. Apart from Mn and Fe, significant proportions of the total Ti, Ca, Mg, K, Ba, Sr, Th and Y and almost all the P, As, Ce, Co, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, Zn and Zr are present in the oxide fractions of the nodules. The Mg, Ba, Cu, Mo, Ni and Zn contents are significantly correlated with the Mn content, while Ti, P, As, Pb, Sr, Y and Zr are similarly correlated with the total Fe content.Nodules from the northeastern tropical Pacific have Mn/Fe ratios higher than those in the oxide fractions of their associated sediments, todorokite as the principal Mn phase and relatively high concentrations of minor elements associated with Mn. Nodules from the south central Pacific have Mn/Fe ratios similar to those in the oxide fractions of the associated sediments, δ-MnO2 as the only Mn-phase, and relatively high concentrations of minor elements associated with Fe. There appears to be a smooth gradation in composition in the tropical Pacific between these two end members.The regional compositional variation is interpreted as a reflection of different sources of metals for, and different growth mechanisms of, sea-floor nodules. The oxide precipitate from sea water consists of δ-MnO2, has a relatively low Mn/Fe ratio and minor element contents related to the total Fe and Mn(δ-MnO2) content. The oxide precipitate forming in areas of very low sedimentation as a result of diagenetic remobilisation in the surface sediment consists of todorokite, and has a high Mn/Fe ratio and enhanced metal content in the Mn-(todorokite)phase. Available information on the morphology and compositional variation of individual nodules from the tropical Pacific corroborates these contrasting metal sources and suggests that they can be resolved on the scale of an individual oxide concretion. 相似文献
13.
南海东北部晚更新世以来沉积环境演变的矿物-地球化学记录 总被引：11，自引：6，他引：5
对南海东北部69柱(20°07.10'N,118°49.0'E)沉积物岩心进行碎屑矿物-地球化学特征研究,结果表明,以孔深165cm为界可划分出晚更新世末次冰期沉积和全新世冰后期沉积,这一地层划分结果与根据浮游有孔虫氧、碳同位素分析得出的结果是一致的.末次冰期时自生黄铁矿和硫元素高度富集,钠与铝、镁与铝和钠与钾的比值均较高,重矿物和SiO2含量较高,CaCO3含量较低,反映当时是一种相对闭塞的缺氧环境,气候干寒,化学风化作用较弱,以机械风化作用为主;研究区主要接受粒径较粗的硅质沉积;陆源物质的稀释作用可能是造成碳酸盐含量相对较低的主要原因.冰后期褐铁矿出现高含量,钠与铝、镁与铝和钠与钾的比值均降低,Al2O3和CaCO3含量增高,反映沉积环境渐变为开放的氧化环境,气候转变为化学风化作用较强的湿热气候;研究区以接受较细粒的铝硅酸盐沉积为主,冰消期时还出现了碳酸盐保存高峰事件. 相似文献
14.
The analysis of 2D deep-seismic-reflection profiles across the slope and abyssal plain of the Angola oceanic basin reveals the existence of a significant and formerly unknown depocentre beneath the giant Cenozoic Congo deep-sea fan, between 7000 m and 9000 m depth, deposited directly onto the Aptian oceanic crust. The unit, which is up to 2.5 km thick and extends for more than 200 km basinwards of the Continent-Ocean boundary, is probably aged Albian–Turonian. Its radial fan-shaped depocentre is centred on the present-day Congo River outlet and contains at least 0.2 Mio km3 of sediments. These observations and the results from flexural modelling indicate that (1) the location of the Congo River's outlet has remained fairly stable since the Late Cretaceous, and (2) the basal unit was indeed sourced by a palaeo-Congo River probably located nearby the present-day one. Thus, the Atlantic sedimentary system related to the exoreism of the Congo River is much older than previously thought. Thermal modelling indicates that the maturation history of this upper-Cretaceous deposits is highly influenced by the interaction between the initial high heat flow of the young oceanic crust and further increase in sediment supply due to the progradation of the overlying Tertiary deep-sea fan during the Miocene. Hence, despite low present-day heat-flow values, should the unit have source rock potential, its basal section may be currently generating hydrocarbons. 相似文献
15.
Saul B. Saila 《Marine Geology》1975,18(3):139-157
A bathymetric survey of the Gilliss Seamount, in the northwest Atlantic Basin, using a multi-beam sonar array system reveals an extremely complex morphologic character of this feature. A new chart provides the most detailed topographic presentation of an Atlantic seamount published to date and highlights the similarity of the Gilliss Seamount with terrestrial strata-volcanoes. Bottom photographs and samples reveal pillow-Iava formation. Seismic profiles show that the volcanic basement is irregularly covered by acoustically transparent deposits that are as much as 668 m thick. Volcanic debris and sediments locally are displaced down the flanks of the seamount. Bottom photographs and cores indicate that the transparent layer has accumulated slowly by deposition from suspensate-rich (mostly clay and planktonic foraminifera) water masses that flow around the mid to lower sectors of this submarine volcano. Bottom-current activity also modifies the abyssal plain turbidite-hemipelagic sequence surrounding the seamount. 相似文献
16.
Michael L. Ginger David S. M. Billett Karen L. Mackenzie Konstandinos Kiriakoulakis Renato R. Neto Daniel K. Boardman Vera L. C. S. Santos Ian M. Horsfall George A. Wolff 《Progress in Oceanography》2001,50(1-4)
The selective feeding behaviour and assimilation efficiencies of deep-sea holothurians were investigated in order to assess their impact on carbon and nitrogen remineralisation on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP; 49°N 16°W, 4850 m water depth). Unfortunately, reliable determination of organic matter in the gut contents of the organisms proved to be difficult, because of the lysis of cells associated with the death of the animals on recovery. This was expressed in high levels of free fatty acids in the gut contents of Oneirophanta mutabilis, which we ascribe to unregulated lipolysis of phospholipids and triacylglycerides. It was not possible to estimate accurately the contribution that such material made to the gut contents, but based on the distributions of sterols in the gut sediments, it is likely to have been substantial. Therefore, all assimilation efficiencies calculated for holothurians in the deep sea should be treated with caution.Fortuitously, a bloom of holothurians that feed on the sediment surface (namely Amperima rosea and Ellipinion molle) during the period of study provided an opportunity indirectly to assess the impact of megafauna on organic matter cycling at the PAP. Observations suggest that the depletion of phytosterols from the surficial sediments between July and October 1997 resulted from the selective uptake of fresh phytodetritus by the blooming species. Deep-sea holothurians do not biosynthesise sterols de novo and an estimate of the sterol required by the increased population of A. rosea and E. molle is equivalent to the sterol flux to the seafloor during the spring/summer of 1997. The implications are dramatic. Firstly, these and other megafauna apparently turned over and selectively removed phytosterols from the freshly arrived phytodetritus and the surficial sediment (0–5 mm) at the PAP in less than four months. Secondly, their action impacted the food resource available to other organisms. Finally, as phytosterols are expensive to biosynthesise and are apparently an important resource for holothurians, we speculate that the supply of these compounds to the sedimentary community may be one important control on their population in the abyssal ocean. 相似文献
17.
Seismic-reflection profile investigations of the California continental terrace and Deep Plain, between 35°N and 39°N, support the hypothesis that the continental shelf and slope consist of alternating blocks of Franciscan and granitic-metamorphic basement overlain by varying thicknesses of younger sediments. North of 37°N, the seismic profiles confirm the distribution of turbidites shown by other workers. A significant proportion of the sediments on the middle and lower continental rise, south of 37°N, appears to be unrelated to the present Monterey deep-sea canyon system.Near 39°N the ridge which forms the topographic axis of the Delgada deep-sea fan consists of a thin cover of acoustically-transparent sediment unconformably overlying a thick sequence of turbidites; the southern part of this ridge is composed of well-defined short reflectors of highly variable dip. The ridge is incised by a steep-walled, flat-floored valley which follows a nearly straight course across its eastern flank. Among possible explanations for this pattern is uplift of the sea floor beneath the ridge.Our data and investigations of others indicate that acoustic basement north of 38°40N is at least 0.5 sec (two-way travel time) shoaler than it is south of Pioneer Ridge; when present, the ridge may represent as much as 0.5 sec additional basement relief. This structural pattern probably does not extend east of 127°40W, although the magnetic expression of the ridge persists to 127°W.Disappearance of the distinctive abyssal hills topography from west to east within the area of investigation usually can be attributed to burial by turbidites. Normal pelagic sediments form a veneer, rarely more than 0.15 sec thick, which conforms with the basement topography; some localities are devoid of discernible sediment. 相似文献
18.
台湾海峡晚更新世以来的高分辨率地震地层学研究 总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1
基于4 530 km高分辨率单道地震数据和钻孔资料,采用高分辨率地震地层学的方法,对台湾海峡晚更新世以来的地层进行了划分,自上而下共识别出R0、R1、R2、R3、R4等5个主要反射界面,分别对应海底、3 ka BP前后高海平面、最大海泛面、海侵面和 Ⅰ 型层序界面,并以此划分出4个地层单元:晚全新世浅海-滨海沉积A,中全新世浅海沉积B,早全新世海侵沉积C,晚更新世陆相河流沉积D。在海平面变化的作用下,海峡地区先后发育低水位沉积D（低位体系域）,海侵沉积C （海侵体系域）、高水位沉积B和A（高位体系域）。研究了台湾海峡的典型地震相,提出了关于台中浅滩（云彰隆起）处的楔状沉积体的新观点,认为该楔状体为全新世中期以来形成的三角洲沉积受波浪和潮流作用改造而形成的潮流沙脊,其物质主要来源于台湾。识别出了晚更新世和早全新世古河道沉积,海平面变化和地势高低是其形成时间差异的主要因素。 相似文献
19.
Six manganese crusts, 13 manganese nodules, and 16 sediments were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis. Data were generated on selected major and minor elements but geochemical evaluations are based only on Fe, Sc, U, Th, and the rare earth elements (REE). Manganese crusts and manganese nodules have comparable trivalent REE contents and show a shale‐like distribution pattern. Both crusts and nodules are characterized by a positive Ce anomaly but the anomaly is higher in nodules. REE contents in manganese nodules show a linear dependence on the Fe content, and it is concluded that these elements are incorporated in the Fe‐rich (δ‐MnO2) phase. In the crusts, the REE correlate with Sc and are therefore assumed to be associated with the clay minerals. Uranium contents are significantly higher in the crusts than in nodules whereas Th is slightly higher in the nodules. There is a clear positive correlation between U and Th in nodules but there are too few data to make a similar conclusion for crusts. Compositional data suggest a division of the sediments into two groups. The carbonate sediments have much lower REE contents and a more pronounced negative Ce anomaly than the clays, while both show a lithogenous component as indicated by a slight negative Eu anomaly. 相似文献
20.
Abstract Numerous large sediment slides and slumps have been discovered and surveyed on the continental margins of Northwest Africa, Southwest Africa, Brazil (Amazon Cone), the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, and North America over the past 10 years. The mass movements are of two primary types: (1) translational slides, and (2) rotational slumps. Translational slides are characterized by a slide scar and a downslope zone of debris flows, after traveling in some areas for several hundreds of kilometers on slopes of less than 0.5°. Rotational slumps are bounded by steep scarps, but they do not involve large‐scale translation of sediments, although seismic records indicate disturbance in the down‐dropped block. Many of the slides and slumps have occurred in water depths greater than 2000 m on initial slopes of less than 1.5°. The largest slide so far discovered is off Spanish Sahara; in this case, the slide scar is 18,000 km2 in area, at least 600 km3 in volume of translated sediments. No apparent consistent relationship has yet been observed between the presence of the slides and the sedimentary environment in which they occurred. The slides off Southwest Africa and Spanish Sahara occurred in pelagic sediments rich in planktonic organic matter. In contrast, the slides off North America, Senegal‐Mauritania, and Brazil (Amazon Cone) occurred in sediments containing a high percentage of terrigenous material from nearby landmasses. Large sediment slides have also occurred in pelagic sediments on isolated oceanic rises such as the Madeira Rise (East‐Central Atlantic) and the Ontong‐Java Plateau (Pacific), where sedimentation rates are less than 2 cm/1000 years. The failure mechanism of the slides initiated near the shelf edge can probably be explained by sediment overloading during low glacio‐eustatic sea level, which allowed rivers to debouch sediments directly onto the outer shelf or upper slope. Possible mechanisms of failure of the deepwater slides and slumps include earthquakes, undercutting of the slope by bottom currents, and changes in porewater pressures induced as a direct or indirect result of glacio‐eustatic changes in sea level. 相似文献