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1.
东沙群岛西南海区泥火山的地球物理特征 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
多道反射地震和CHIRP浅地层剖面显示在南海东沙群岛西南陆坡和白云凹陷东部陆坡之间的深水(600~1 000m)陆坡上矗立着一系列高出周围海底50~100m的丘形地质体,其内部地层发生褶皱,反射波呈现杂乱和空白,海底声波屏蔽严重。浅地层剖面还显示丘状构造带有气体羽状构造,从海底进入水体高达50m。海底沉积取样分析表明,这些海丘区的表层分布着生物成因的致密碳酸盐结核。可以推断东沙西南的丘形地质体就是泥火山带,并且可能是一个重要的水合物潜在区。东沙西南海区泥火山表现出构造挤压和带状分布的特点,不同于南海北部神狐和九龙甲烷礁已发现水合物区的非泥火山,也不同于全球其他典型被动大陆边缘的泥火山特征,其构造成因和水合物潜力有待进一步研究。 相似文献
2.
Distribution and expression of gas seeps in a gas hydrate province of the northeastern Sakhalin continental slope, Sea of Okhotsk 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Young Keun Jin Young-Gyun Kim Boris Baranov Hitoshi Shoji Anatoly Obzhirov 《Marine and Petroleum Geology》2011,28(10):1844-1855
Multidisciplinary surveys were conducted to investigate gas seepage and gas hydrate accumulation on the northeastern Sakhalin continental slope (NESS), Sea of Okhotsk, during joint Korean–Russian–Japanese expeditions conducted from 2003 to 2007 (CHAOS and SSGH projects). One hundred sixty-one gas seeps were detected in a 2000 km2 area of the NESS (between 53°45′N and 54°45′N). Active gas seeps in a gas hydrate province on the NESS were evident from features in the water column, on the seafloor, and in the subsurface: well-defined hydroacoustic anomalies (gas flares), side-scan sonar structures with high backscatter intensity (seepage structures), bathymetric structures (pockmarks and mounds), gas- and gas-hydrate-related seismic features (bottom-simulating reflectors, gas chimneys, high-amplitude reflectors, and acoustic blanking), high methane concentrations in seawater, and gas hydrates in sediment near the seafloor. These expressions were generally spatially related; a gas flare would be associated with a seepage structure (mound), below which a gas chimney was present. The spatial distribution of gas seeps on the NESS is controlled by four types of geological structures: faults, the shelf break, seafloor canyons, and submarine slides. Gas chimneys that produced enhanced reflection on high-resolution seismic profiles are interpreted as active pathways for upward gas migration to the seafloor. The chimneys and gas flares are good indicators of active seepage. 相似文献
3.
Keith A. W. Crook 《Geo-Marine Letters》1986,5(4):203-209
Multichannel seismic reflection profiles recorded in the northern Red Sea show structures that we interpret to be a result of the intrusion of uppermost Miocene salt. We believe that the evaporites are underlaid by attenuated continental crust and the flow of salt is due to renewed faulting of basement in the Pliocene when sea floor spreading began between latitudes 21°N and 15°30°N. 相似文献
4.
Measurements of near-seabed currents at different carbonate mound locations have demonstrated the presence and influence of
bottom-magnified diurnal-period tidal motions. These bottom-trapped waves occur at a depth where the product of local vertical
density stratification and seabed slope is a maximum. The seabed currents are magnified significantly if the diurnal forcing
period is resonant with the combination of stratification and seabed slope. At the Belgica mounds (eastern Porcupine Sea Bight),
there is a correlation between the cross-slope alignment of individual carbonate mounds and the direction of the major axis
of the largest (diurnal) tides. The pattern suggests that the enhanced tidal currents play a major role in the shape of developing
mounds over a long time period. A similar relation appears to hold at the Logachev mounds (SE Rockall Bank), although less
clear because tides are not amplified to the same degree. At other mound locations where enhanced diurnal currents are not
present, a more irregular distribution is observed. This suggests that the diurnal currents may be important only at certain
carbonate mound locations, and that at these locations a more distinctive alignment of mound structures is produced. 相似文献
5.
Evan B. Forde Daniel J. Stanley William B. Sawyer Karen J. Slagle 《Applied Ocean Research》1981,3(2):59-62
A sediment study suggests that Washington and Norfolk canyons off the Mid-Atlantic States are not inactive, but have served periodically since the Late Pleistocene as conduits of sediment originating on the adjacent shelf and upper slope. Large quantities of sand occur in the canyon heads as thin beds and laminae, and on the continental slope as mixtures of sand (to ), silt and clay that are extensively reworked by burrowing organisms. Sandy turbidites occur in the canyons on the rise. Basinward dispersal, from the outer shelf and uppermost slope, is recorded by heavy mineral suites and bioclastic components, primarily foraminifera of shallow marine origin, in the lower slope and upper continental rise canyon cores. The down-axis movement of material, presumably episodic, in the Holocene to recent results from offshelf spillover into canyon heads, failure on the steep walls bordering canyons on the slope, and resuspension by bottom currents. 相似文献
6.
The seafloor morphology and the subsurface of the continental slope of the Olbia intraslope basin located along the eastern, passive Sardinian margin (Tyrrhenian Sea) has been mapped through the interpretation of high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data, coupled with air-gun and sparker seismic profiles. Two areas, corresponding to different physiographic domains, have been recognized along the Olbia continental slope. The upper slope domain, extending from 500 to 850 m water depth, exhibits a series of conical depressions, interpreted as pockmarks that are particularly frequent in seafloor sectors coincident with buried slope channels. In one case, they are aligned along a linear gully most likely reflecting the course of one of the abandoned channels. The location of the pockmarks thus highlights the importance of the distribution of lithologies within different sedimentary bodies in the subsurface in controlling fluid migration plumbing systems. A linear train of pockmarks is, however, present also away from the buried channels being related to a basement step, linked to a blind fault. Two bathymetric highs, interpreted as possible carbonate mounds, are found in connection with some of the pockmark fields. Although the genetic linkage of the carbonate mounds with seafloor fluid venting cannot be definitively substantiated by the lack of in situ measurements, the possibility of a close relationship is here proposed. The lower slope domain, from 850 m down to the base of the slope at 1,200 m water depth is characterized by a sudden gradient increase (from 2° to 6°) that is driven by the presence of the basin master fault that separates the continental slope from the basin plain. Here, a series of km-wide headwall scars due to mass wasting processes are evident. The landslides are characterized by rotated, relatively undeformed seismic strata, which sometimes evolve upslope into shallow-seated (less than 10 m), smaller scale failures and into headless chutes. Slope gradient may act as a major controlling factor on the seafloor instability along the Olbia continental slope; however, the association of landslides with pockmarks has been recognized in several continental slopes worldwide, thus the role of over-pressured fluids in triggering sediment failure in the Olbia slope can not be discarded. In the absence of direct ground truthing, the geological processes linked to subsurface structures and their seafloor expressions have been inferred through the comparison with similar settings where the interpretation of seafloor features from multibeam data has been substantiated with seafloor sampling and geochemical data. 相似文献
7.
P. Dewangan T. RamprasadM.V. Ramana A. MazumdarM. Desa F.K. Badesab 《Marine and Petroleum Geology》2010
Increased oil and gas exploration activity has led to a detailed investigation of the continental shelf and adjacent slope regions of Mahanadi, Krishna–Godavari (KG) and Cauvery basins, which are promising petroliferous basins along the eastern continental margin of India. In this paper, we analyze the high resolution sparker, subbottom profiler and multibeam data in KG offshore basin to understand the shallow structures and shallow deposits for gas hydrate exploration. We identified and mapped prominent positive topographic features in the bathymetry data. These mounds show fluid/gas migration features such as acoustic voids, acoustic chimneys, and acoustic turbid layers. It is interesting to note that drilling/coring onboard JOIDES in the vicinity of the mounds show the presence of thick accumulation of subsurface gas hydrate. Further, geological and geochemical study of long sediment cores collected onboard Marion Dufresne in the vicinity of the mounds and sedimentary ridges shows the imprints of paleo-expulsion of methane and sulfidic fluid from the seafloor. 相似文献
8.
Adriana Huyer Patricia A. Wheeler P. Ted Strub Robert L. Smith Ricardo Letelier P. Michael Kosro 《Progress in Oceanography》2007,75(2):126-160
The Newport Hydrographic (NH) Line along 44.65°N off central Oregon was sampled seasonally during two epochs: 1961-1971 through the TENOC program and 1997-2003 through the GLOBEC Northeast Pacific Long Term Observations Program (LTOP); some observations are available for 2004 and 2005. During TENOC, the line extended 305 km offshore to 128°W, with stations 18 km apart over the continental shelf and 36 km offshore. During LTOP, the line was shorter (to 126°W) with closer station spacing over the continental shelf (9 km apart) and slope (18 km apart). LTOP cruises included biochemical sampling and underway current measurements. During both TENOC and LTOP, the seasonal cycle is very strong (accounting for >50% of the variance in surface layer properties), with rapid transitions in spring and fall. The summer regime is subject to coastal upwelling driven by southward winds, equatorward surface currents, and advection of low-salinity waters from the Columbia River. The winter regime off Newport is subject to coastal downwelling and poleward surface currents driven by northeastward winds. Comparison between TENOC and LTOP summer regimes shows the near-surface layer (0-100 m) at most locations is significantly warmer and fresher during LTOP than TENOC, and steric heights over the continental margin are significantly higher. Comparison of LTOP and TENOC winters shows that average differences at most locations were not statistically significant, but that the variance of steric height and shelf-break temperatures was significantly higher during LTOP than TENOC. Interannual variability of climate indices is also stronger during LTOP, which included a rare Subarctic invasion in 2002 as well as the strong 1997-1998 El Niño. During both TENOC and LTOP, interannual variability of steric height is closely related to the El Niño/La Niña cycle. Nutrient concentrations and nitrate-to-phosphate ratios of upwelling-source waters vary inversely with halocline temperature. Both reflect alongshore advection by coastal currents: southward currents bring cool, nitrate-rich waters in summer (especially during the Subarctic invasion), and northward currents bring relatively warm, nitrate-poor waters to the NH line in winter (especially during El Niño). Seasonal and interannual variations in the nutrient level of upwelling-source water are reflected in time series of vertically-integrated chlorophyll over the LTOP survey region (about 150 km by 300 km). Seasonal variations in chlorophyll and currents are congruent with seasonal variations in copepod biomass and diversity. We were not successful in establishing a clear connection between chlorophyll levels and interannual variations in copepod biomass or diversity, nor in explaining the large decrease in the survival rate of coho salmon between TENOC (6%) and LTOP (3%). 相似文献
9.
Gang Li David J.W. Piper D. Calvin Campbell David Mosher 《Marine and Petroleum Geology》2012,29(1):90-103
Bonanza Canyon is a complex canyon system on the slope from the intermittently glaciated Grand Bank on the south side of Orphan Basin. A 3D seismic reflection volume, 2D high-resolution seismic reflection profiles and ten piston cores were acquired to study the evolution of this canyon system in relation to glacial processes on the continental shelf and the effects of different types of turbidity currents on the development of deep water channels. Mapped reflector surfaces from the 3D seismic volume show that the Bonanza Canyons developed in a depression created by a large submarine slide of middle Pleistocene age, coincident with the onset of glacigenic debris flows entering western Orphan Basin. Two 3–5 km wide, flat-floored channels were cut into the resulting mass-transport deposit and resemble catastrophic glacial meltwater channels elsewhere on the margin. Both channels subsequently aggraded. The eastern channel A became narrower but maintained a sandy channel floor. The western channel, B, heads at a spur on the continental slope and appears to have been rather passively draped by muds and minor sands that have built 1500-m wave length sediment waves.Muddy turbidites recorded by piston cores in the channel and on the inter-channel ridges are restricted to marine isotope stage (MIS) 2 and were deposited from thick, sheet-like, and sluggish turbidity current derived from western Orphan Basin that resulted in aggradation of the channels and inter-channel ridges. Sandy turbidites in channels and on inner levees were deposited throughout MIS 2–3 and were restricted to the channels, locally causing erosion. Some coincide with Heinrich events. Channels with well-developed distributaries on the upper slope more readily trap the sediments on Grand Bank to form sandy turbidity currents. Channel B dominated by muddy turbidity currents has wide and relatively smooth floor whereas channel A dominated by sandy turbidity currents has a sharp geometry. 相似文献
10.
Numerous elongated mounds and channels were found at the top of the middle Miocene strata using 2D/3D seismic data in the Liwan Sag of Zhujiang River Mouth Basin(ZRMB) and the Beijiao Sag of Qiongdongnan Basin(QDNB). They occur at intervals and are rarely revealed by drilling wells in the deepwater areas. Origins of the mounds and channels are controversial and poorly understood. Based on an integrated analysis of the seismic attribute, palaeotectonics and palaeogeography, and drilling well encountering a mound, research results show that these mounds are dominantly distributed on the depression centres and/or slopes of the Liwan and Beijiao sags and developed in a bathyal sedimentary environment. In the Liwan and Beijiao sags, the mounds between channels(sub) parallel to one another are 1.0–1.5 km and 1.5–2.0 km wide, 150–300 m and 150–200 m high, and extend straightly from west to east for 5–15 km and 8–20 km, respectively. Mounds and channels in the Liwan Sag are parallel with the regional slope. Mounds and channels in the Beijiao Sag, however, are at a small angle to the regional slope. According to internal geometry, texture and external morphology of mounds, the mounds in Beijiao Sag are divided into weak amplitude parallel reflections(mound type I), blank or chaotic reflections(mound type II), and internal mounded reflections(mound type Ⅲ). The mounds in Liwan Sag, however, have the sole type, i.e., mound type I. Mound type I originates from the incision of bottom currents and/or gravity flows. Mound type II results from gravity-driven sediments such as turbidite. Mound type Ⅲ is a result of deposition and incision of bottom currents simultaneously. The channels with high amplitude between mounds in the Beijiao and Liwan sags are a result of gravity-flow sediments and it is suggested they are filled by sandstone.Whereas channels with low-mediate amplitudes are filled by bottom-current sediments only in the Beijiao Sag,where they are dominantly composed of mudstone. This study provides new insights into the origins of the mounds and channels worldwide. 相似文献
11.
Peter Hamilton 《Progress in Oceanography》2009,82(1):1-31
Observations of topographic Rossby waves (TRW), using moored current meters, bottom pressure gauges, and Lagrangian RAFOS floats, are investigated for the deep basin of the Gulf of Mexico. Recent extensive measurement programs in many parts of the deep gulf, which were inspired by oil and gas industry explorations into ever deeper water, allow more comprehensive analyses of the propagation and dissipation of these deep planetary waves. The Gulf of Mexico circulation can be divided into two layers with the ∼800-1200 m upper layer being dominated by the Loop Current (LC) pulsations and shedding of large (diameters ∼300-400 km) anticyclonic eddies in the east, and the translation of these LC eddies across the basin to the west. These processes spawn smaller eddies of both signs through instabilities, and interactions with topography and other eddies to produce energetic surface layer flows that have a rich spectrum of orbit periods and diameters. In contrast, current variability below 1000 m often has the characteristics of TRWs, with periods ranging from ∼10-100 days and wavelengths of ∼50-200 km, showing almost depth-independent or slightly bottom intensified currents through the weakly stratified lower water column. These fluctuations are largely uncorrelated with simultaneous upper-layer eddy flows. TRWs must be generated through energy transfer from the upper-layer eddies to the lower layer by potential vorticity adjustments to changing depths of the bottom and the interface between the layers. Therefore, the LC and LC eddies are prime candidates as has been suggested by some model studies. Model simulations have also indicated that deep lower-layer eddies may be generated by the LC and LC eddy shedding processes.In the eastern gulf, the highest observed lower-layer kinetic energy was north of the Campeche Bank under the LC in a region that models have identified as having strong baroclinic instabilities. Part of the 60-day TRW signal propagates towards the Sigsbee Escarpment (a steep slope at the base of the northern continental slope), and the rest into the southern part of the eastern basin. Higher energy is observed along the escarpment between 89°W and 92°W than either under the northern part of the LC or further south in the deep basin, because of radiating TRWs from the western side of the LC. In the northern part of the LC, evidence was found in the observations that 20-30-day TRWs were connected with the upper layer through coherent signals of relative vorticity. The ∼90° phase lead of the lower over the upper-layer relative vorticity was consistent with baroclinic instability. Along the Sigsbee Escarpment, the TRWs are refracted and reflected so that little energy reaches the lower continental slope and a substantial mean flow is generated above the steepest part of the escarpment. RAFOS float tracks show that this mean flow continues along the escarpment to the west and into Mexican waters. This seems to be a principal pathway for deepwater parcels to be transported westward. Away from the slope RAFOS floats tend to oscillate in the same general area as if primarily responding to the deep wave field. Little evidence of westward translating lower-layer eddies was found in both the float tracks and the moored currents. In the western gulf, the highest deep energy levels are much less than in the central gulf, and are found seaward of the base of the slope. Otherwise, the situation is similar with TRWs propagating towards the slope, probably generated by the local upper-layer complex eddy field, being reflected and forcing a southward mean flow along the base of the Mexican slope. Amplitudes of the lower-layer fluctuations decay from the northwest corner towards the south. 相似文献
12.
We use a simple approach to estimate the present-day thermal regime along the northwestern part of the Western Indian Passive Margin, offshore Pakistan. A compilation of bottom borehole temperatures and geothermal gradients derived from new observations of bottom-simulating reflections (BSRs) allows us to constrain the relationship between the thermal regime and the known tectonic and sedimentary framework along this margin. Effects of basin and crustal structure on the estimation of thermal gradients and heat flow are discussed. A hydrate system is located within the sedimentary deep marine setting and compared to other provinces on other continental margins. We calculate the potential radiogenic contribution to the surface heat flow along a profile across the margin. Measurements across the continental shelf show intermediate thermal gradients of 38–44 °C/km. The onshore Indus Basin shows a lower range of values spanning 18–31 °C/km. The Indus Fan slope and continental rise show an increasing gradient from 37 to 55 °C/km, with higher values associated with the thick depocenter. The gradient drops to 33 °C/km along the Somnath Ridge, which is a syn-rift volcanic construct located in a landward position relative to the latest spreading center around the Cretaceous–Paleogene transition. 相似文献
13.
Bottom-current control on sedimentation in the western Bellingshausen Sea, West Antarctica 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
A set of single- and multi-channel seismic reflection profiles provide insights into the younger Cenozoic sedimentation history of the continental rise in the western Bellingshausen Sea, west and north of Peter I Island. This area has been strongly influenced by glacially controlled sediment supply from the continental shelf, interacting with a westward-flowing bottom current. From south to north, the seismic data show changes in the symmetry and structure of a prominent sediment depocentre. Its southernmost sector provides evidence of sediment drift whereas northwards the data show a large channel-levee complex, with a western levee oriented in the opposite direction to that of the drift in the south. This pattern indicates the northward-decreasing influence of a westward-flowing bottom contour current in the study area. Topographic data suggest the morphologic ridges at Peter I Island to be the main features responsible for variable bottom-current influence, these acting as barrier to the bottom current and entrained sedimentary material. West of Peter I Island, the east-orientated Coriolis force remains effective in deflecting the suspended load of the turbidity currents towards the west, thereby promoting growth of the western channel levee. Calculated sediment accumulation rates based on seismic data reveal Depocentre C to consist of younger Cenozoic material supplied by glacial transport and modified by contour currents in the western Bellingshausen Sea. These findings demonstrate that the shape, structure and distribution of sediment mounds and estimates of sediment accumulation rates can be associated to the influence of bottom currents and their long-term evolution in response to tectonic movements, ice-sheet dynamics and deep-water formation. 相似文献
14.
Avan N. Antia Bodo von Bodungen Rolf Peinert 《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》1999,46(12):501
Results are presented from particle flux studies using sediment trap and current meter moorings along a transect at the European continental margin at 49°N within the EU-funded Ocean Margin Exchange (OMEX) project. Two moorings were placed, at the mid- and outer slope in water depths of 1500 and 3660 m, with traps at 600 and 1050 m and at 580, 1440 and 3220 m, respectively. Residual currents at the mid-slope follow the slope contour, whereas seasonal off-slope flow was registered at the outer slope. At 600 m on the slope fluxes are similar to those in the abyssal North Atlantic. The flux of all components (bulk dry weight, particulate organic and inorganic carbon, lithogenic matter and opal) increased with water depth. Highest fluxes were recorded at 1440 m at the outer slope, where off-slope residual currents mediate particle export. The injection of biogenic and lithogenic particles below the depth of winter mixing results in the export of particles from shallower waters. Calculated lateral fluxes of particulate organic carbon exceed the primary flux by over a factor of 2 at 1440 m on the outer slope. Estimated lateral fluxes of suspended particulate matter in the water column and intermediate nepheloid layers at the outer slope are potentially large compared to sinking fluxes measured by sediment traps. A comparison is made of particle flux at three continental margin sites and two sites in the adjacent open North Atlantic, from which it is seen that bulk and organic matter flux increases exponentially with proximity to the shelf break. The percentage contribution of particulate organic carbon to biogenic fluxes increases from a mean of 5.7% in the abyssal N. Atlantic to 13.9% at the continental margins. 相似文献
15.
P. M. Kosro 《Progress in Oceanography》2002,54(1-4)
The timing and intensity of the effects of the 1997–98 El Niño on sea-surface temperature (SST) and coastal sea level along the US west coast are examined using in situ time-series measurements, and the effects on upper ocean currents on the continental shelf and slope off Oregon and northern California are examined using repeated shipborne ADCP transects, a mid-shelf mooring off Newport Oregon and an HF surface current radar. An initial transient positive anomaly was observed in both adjusted sea level and SST during May–June 1997, followed by anomalously high coastal sea levels, generally strongest during September 1997 through February 1998 and abruptly returned to normal in late February 1998, and by positive temperatures anomalies over the mid-shelf that persisted longer, into April 1998. Low-frequency coastal sea-level anomalies propagated poleward at 2.1 m/s. Poleward flow over the shelf and slope was enhanced at most depths during the El Niño, compared with following years. Northward currents in the upper 12 m over the continental shelf off Newport, Oregon averaged 13.7 cm/s stronger during August 1997 through February 1998 than during the same period the following year. Enhanced poleward flow was present at all latitudes sampled during November 1997 and February 1998, particularly over the continental slope. These transects also provided clear views of a fall/winter equatorward undercurrent, which was both strongest and had the most alongshore similarity of form, during the ENSO. Finally, subsurface-intensified anticyclonic eddies originating in the poleward undercurrent appear to be a recurrent feature of the circulation off Newport late in the upwelling season. 相似文献
16.
《Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers》2000,47(3):343-366
Deep slope currents and particulate matter concentrations were studied on the Barcelona continental margin in and around the Foix submarine canyon from May 1993 to April 1994. This year-long moored experiment revealed that near-bottom slope currents are strongly influenced by the bottom topography, being oriented along isobaths and along the canyon axis. The deep slope current fluctuations are controlled by the local inertial motion (18.3 h) and also by low-frequency oscillations at periods of 6–10 days, related to the passage of atmospheric pressure cells. Particulate matter concentrations recorded during the experiment do not show a clear seasonal variability, except outside the canyon, where significant peaks of particulate matter concentrations were recorded only during the winter-fall deployment. In addition, the temporal evolution of suspended particulate matter concentration is not linked to changes in the cross-slope or along-slope current components and did not show a clear relationship with river avenues or wave storm events. This suggests that suspended particulate matter exported from the shelf is dispersed on the slope by advective processes, which attenuate the signal of the shelf-slope sediment transfer. Mean particulate matter concentrations differed among sampling sites, but the magnitude of the mean horizontal suspended particle flux reflects a quite similar value in the whole study area, ranging from 2.53 to 4.05 mg m−2 s−1. These horizontal suspended particle fluxes are 27 (canyon head) to 360 (open slope) times higher than the settling particle fluxes measured at the same sampling sites, indicating that the suspended particulate transport on the Barcelona continental slope dominates over the settling particle fluxes, even inside the Foix submarine canyon. 相似文献
17.
Based on vector-algebraic analysis of random processes, we study the statistical structure of the synoptic variability of currents measured by an ADCP in the upper mixed layer in the central part of the continental slope of the Laptev Sea in 2006–2007. The results of statistical analysis show that in some cases the synoptic currents in the surface layer of the sea are signs of wind drift currents. This is indicated by the high correlation between the tangential friction of wind and currents, as well as the reversal of the depth of current vectors and the major axes of the ellipses of the mean-square deviation of the Ekman spiral. Due to the large variability of wind flows and stratification of water masses, the penetration depth of these currents is small and varies from 6 to 30 m, with pronounced seasonal variation. In deeper layers, no relationship between the currents and anemobaric forces is traced. It is concluded that the fluctuations of synoptic scale currents in the area of the continental slope of the Laptev Sea represent a superposition of Ekman drift currents and movements associated with free baroclinic Kelvin waves. These currents are the dominant contributor in the upper 30-m layer of the ocean, while waves play a key role in deeper waters. 相似文献
18.
Ching-Hui Tsai Shu-Kun Hsu Yi-Ching Yeh Chao-Shing Lee Kanyuan Xia 《Marine Geophysical Researches》2004,25(1-2):63-78
Magnetic data suggest that the distribution of the oceanic crust in the northern South China Sea (SCS) may extend to about 21 °N and 118.5 °E. To examine the crustal features of the corresponding continent–ocean transition zone, we have studied the crustal structures of the northern continental margin of the SCS. We have also performed gravity modeling by using a simple four-layer crustal model to understand the geometry of the Moho surface and the crustal thicknesses beneath this transition zone. In general, we can distinguish the crustal structures of the study area into the continental crust, the thinned continental crust, and the oceanic crust. However, some volcanic intrusions or extrusions exist. Our results indicate the existence of oceanic crust in the northernmost SCS as observed by magnetic data. Accordingly, we have moved the continent–ocean boundary (COB) in the northeastern SCS from about 19 °N and 119.5 °E to 21 °N and 118.5 °E. Morphologically, the new COB is located along the base of the continental slope. The southeastward thinning of the continental crust in the study area is prominent. The average value of crustal thinning factor of the thinned continental crust zone is about 1.3–1.5. In the study region, the Moho depths generally vary from ca. 28 km to ca. 12 km and the crustal thicknesses vary from ca. 24 km to ca. 6 km; a regional maximum exists around the Dongsha Island. Our gravity modeling has shown that the oceanic crust in the northern SCS is slightly thicker than normal oceanic crust. This situation could be ascribed to the post-spreading volcanism or underplating in this region. 相似文献
19.
Large craters associated with mounds of remobilised sediment have been recently mapped on the mid Norway margin in the Møre Basin. These craters and mounds may be linked to the long term migration of fluids upwards from the lower levels of the Møre Basin which exploit hydrothermal vent complexes emplaced in the late Paleocene and early Eocene. All of the craters are located on a regionally correlative seismic surface that is correlated with the basal shear plane of Slide W, a slide located at the base of the Plio-Pleistocene Naust Formation. The Craters are positioned in the western area of the Møre Basin at the foot of the continental slope on the crests and flanks of Miocene domes, where Oligocene biosiliceous ooze subcrops on the basal shear surface of Slide W. Not all of the craters are filled by Slide W. Mounds are emplaced above those craters which are filled by Slide W on the top surface of Slide W. Stratal relationships show that the mounds were emplaced on the paleo-seabed. We present and discuss two models that illustrate processes that may have been involved in the formation of craters and remobilisation of sediments. In one model, an eruption of fluid from beneath remobilises ooze into ooze mounds in a single event triggering slope failure, whereas in the other model the emplacement of Slide W and later slides loads low density ooze causing it to undergo liquefaction, a process which may have been facilitated by the trapping of continuous long term fluid migrating from beneath, causing the ooze to remobilise into ooze mounds in two or more events. 相似文献
20.
Rajasmita Goswami Neil C. Mitchell Andrea Argnani Simon H. Brocklehurst 《Geo-Marine Letters》2014,34(5):419-433
In the westernmost Ionian Sea lies a steep, tectonically active marine basin influenced by turbidity currents generated by terrigenous river input from the adjacent mountains and strong tidal currents propagating through the Strait of Messina. Like many young marine rifts, the basin is lined by steep streams draining the uplifting coasts and supplying sediment across narrow shelves. However, unlike many rifts, this basin is semi-enclosed. The present study explores the seabed morphology and sediment structures in this complex environmental setting, based on multibeam sonar, chirp profiler and seismic reflection data collected in 2006. Offshore channels include many that can be directly linked to onshore streams, suggesting that hyperpycnal flows are important for their formation. Near the Strait of Messina in depths shallower than 400 m, the channels are subdued, plausibly explained as an effect of strong tidal currents. The Messina Channel is characterised by abundant mass-wasting features along its outer bends, particularly on the Calabrian side. Coincidence of the channel course with faults suggests that the channel is structurally controlled in places. The chirp profiles generally show only shallow penetration, the evidence for coarse texture being consistent with the steep gradient of the basin that inhibits deposition from turbidity currents. By contrast, some locally discontinuous mounds exhibiting layered sub-bottom reflectors in the chirp profiles are interpreted as modern levee deposits formed from channelised turbidity current overspill. Overall, this semi-enclosed basin shows little evidence of substantial accumulations associated with modern turbidity current activity, any contemporaneous sediment supply evidently bypassing the area to be deposited in the Ionian Trench; as a consequence, this trench should be an archive of local slope failure and flood events. 相似文献