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1.
Sediment waves are commonly observed on the sea floor and often vary in morphology and geometry according to factors such as seabed slope, density and discharge of turbidity currents, and the presence of persistent contour currents. This paper documents the morphology, internal geometry and distribution of deep‐water (4000 to 5000 m) bedforms observed on the sea floor offshore eastern Canada using high‐resolution multibeam bathymetry data and seismic stratigraphy. The bedforms have wavelengths of >1 km but fundamentally vary in terms of morphology and internal stratigraphy, and are distinguished into three main types. The first type, characterized by their long‐wavelength crescentic shape, is interpreted as net‐erosional cyclic steps. These cyclic steps were formed by turbidity currents flowing through canyons and overtopping and breaching levées. The second type, characterized by their linear shape and presence on levées, is interpreted as net‐depositional cyclic steps. These upslope migrating bedforms are strongly aggradational, indicating high sediment deposition from turbidity currents. The third type, characterized by their obliqueness to canyons, is observed on an open slope and is interpreted as antidunes. These antidunes were formed by the deflection of the upper dilute, low‐density parts of turbidity currents by contour currents. The modelling of the behaviour of these different types of turbidity currents reveals that fast‐flowing flows form cyclic steps while their upper parts overspill and are entrained westward by contour currents. The interaction between turbidity currents and contour currents results in flow thickening and reduced sediment concentration, which leads to lower flow velocities. Lower velocities, in turn, allow the formation of antidunes instead of cyclic steps because the densiometric Froude number (Fr′) decreases. Therefore, this study shows that both net‐erosional and net‐depositional cyclic steps are distributed along channels where turbidity currents prevail whereas antidunes form on open slopes, in a mixed turbidite/contourite system. This study provides insights into the influence of turbidity currents versus contour currents on the morphology, geometry and distribution of bedforms in a mixed turbidite–contourite system.  相似文献   

2.
Supercritical‐flow phenomena are fairly common in modern sedimentary environments, yet their recognition and analysis remain difficult in the stratigraphic record. This fact is commonly ascribed to the poor preservation potential of deposits from high‐energy supercritical flows. However, the number of flume data sets on supercritical‐flow dynamics and sedimentary structures is very limited in comparison with available data for subcritical flows, which hampers the recognition and interpretation of such deposits. The results of systematic flume experiments spanning a broad range of supercritical‐flow bedforms (antidunes, chutes‐and‐pools and cyclic steps) developed in mobile sand beds of variable grain sizes are presented. Flow character and related bedform patterns are constrained through time‐series measurements of bed configurations, flow depths, flow velocities and Froude numbers. The results allow the refinement and extension of some widely used bedform stability diagrams in the supercritical‐flow domain, clarifying in particular the morphodynamic relations between antidunes and cyclic steps. The onset of antidunes is controlled by flows exceeding a threshold Froude number. The transition from antidunes to cyclic steps in fine to medium‐grained sand occurs at a threshold mobility parameter. Sedimentary structures associated with supercritical bedforms developed under variable aggradation rates are revealed by means of combining flume results and synthetic stratigraphy. The sedimentary structures are compared with examples from field and other flume studies. Aggradation rate is seen to exert an important control on the geometry of supercritical‐flow structures and should be considered when identifying supercritical bedforms in the sedimentary record.  相似文献   

3.
The Monterey East system is formed by large‐scale sediment waves deposited as a result of flows stripped from the deeply incised Monterey fan valley (Monterey Channel) at the apex of the Shepard Meander. The system is dissected by a linear series of steps that take the form of scour‐shaped depressions ranging from 3·5 to 4·5 km in width, 3 to 6 km in length and from 80 to 200 m in depth. These giant scours are aligned downstream from a breech in the levee on the southern side of the Shepard Meander. The floor of the breech is only 150 m above the floor of the Monterey fan valley but more than 100 m below the levee crests resulting in significant flow stripping. Numerical modeling suggests that the steps in the Monterey East system were created by Froude‐supercritical turbidity currents stripped from the main flow in the Monterey channel itself. Froude‐supercritical flow over an erodible bed can be subject to an instability that gives rise to the formation of cyclic steps, i.e. trains of upstream‐migrating steps bounded upstream and downstream by hydraulic jumps in the flow above them. The flow that creates these steps may be net‐erosional or net‐depositional. In the former case it gives rise to trains of scours such as those in the Monterey East system, and in the latter case it gives rise to the familiar trains of upstream‐migrating sediment waves commonly seen on submarine levees. The Monterey East system provides a unique opportunity to introduce the concept of cyclic steps in the submarine environment to study processes that might result in channel initiation on modern submarine fans.  相似文献   

4.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(2):540-560
Bedforms related to Froude‐supercritical flow, such as cyclic steps, are increasingly frequently observed in contemporary fluvial and marine sedimentary systems. However, the number of observations of sedimentary structures formed by supercritical‐flow bedforms remains limited. The low number of observations might be caused by poor constraints on criteria to recognize these associated deposits. This study provides a detailed quantification on the mechanics of a fluvial cyclic step system, and their depositional signature. A computational fluid‐dynamics model is employed to acquire a depth‐resolved image of a cyclic step system. New insights into the mechanics of cyclic steps shows that: (i) the hydraulic jump is, in itself, erosional; (ii) there are periods over which the flow is supercritical throughout and there is no hydraulic jump, which plays a significant role in the morphodynamic behaviour of cyclic steps; and (iii) that the depositional signature of cyclic steps varies with rate of aggradation. Previous work has shown that strongly aggradational cyclic steps, where most of the deposited sediment is not reworked, create packages of backsets, bound upstream and downstream by erosive surfaces. Here, the modelling work is focussed on less aggradational conditions and more transportational systems. The depositional signature in such systems is dominated by an amalgamation of concave‐up erosional surfaces and low‐angle foresets and backsets creating lenticular bodies. The difference between highly aggradational cyclic steps and low‐aggradation steps can be visible in outcrop both by the amount of erosional surfaces, as well as the ratio of foreset to backset, with backsets being indicative of more aggradation.  相似文献   

5.
Morris  Kenyon  Limonov  Alexander 《Sedimentology》1998,45(2):365-377
Side-scan sonar, seismic and core data are used to identify mega-flutes, transverse and ‘V’ shaped bedforms in turbidites around the Valencia channel mouth, north-west Mediterranean. Long-range side-scan sonar data reveal a broad, curved, asymmetric, channel, that widens and terminates downfan. The western channel bank near the channel mouth has been partly eroded by turbidity currents that spilled out of the channel. Transverse bedforms on the east of the channel floor are interpreted as antidunes and, if this interpretation is correct, they indicate that the flow was probably supercritical at least locally within the channel. Trains of mega-flutes, are incised into coarse-grained sediments of the channel floor near the channel mouth. The association of mega-flutes and antidunes is thought to be diagnostic of channel–lobe transitions on deep-sea fans. The mega-flutes pass downfan into an area of streaks that diverge at up to 45° and indicates flow expansion from the channel mouth. About 75 km downfan from the channel mouth, deep-towed side-scan data record transverse bedforms (interpreted as antidunes) passing downfan into an area covered by ‘V’ shaped bedforms with upflow pointing apices (named chevrons here). The chevrons are commonly c. 200 m from limb to limb and c. 2 m in amplitude with flow-parallel wavelengths of c. 400 m. We propose that chevrons were formed by a strong, probably supercritical (or near critical) turbidity current spreading from the channel mouth and flowing towards the Balearic Abyssal Plain. Thinning of the turbidity current, resulting from flow spreading would allow the Froude number to remain high up to 100 km from the channel mouth and could explain the observed reduction in antidune wavelength.  相似文献   

6.
Since turbidity current was reported in the 19th century, its flow dynamics, depositional processes and products have drawn much attention of geoscience community. In the last decades, with the help of rapid development of geophysical technology in deep-water areas, superficial bedforms formed by turbidity currents like cyclic steps have been widely documented on the seafloor, and they have been interpreted to be closely related to turbidite facies defined by the Bouma sequence. However, there is still a lack of direct observation on turbidity currents due to difficulties in the design and deployment of flow-measuring instruments under the sea. Such difficulties also result in much uncertainties in the explanations for the formation of bedforms and related flow processes. This paper summarized and discussed current research status of turbidity-currents classification, the formation and evolution of bedforms. Examples of supercritical-bedform studies using various methods such as experiments, numerical simulation, bathymetric data and seismic data, were shown in this paper. As one of main supercritical flow bedforms, cyclic steps were described in detail in this paper, including its formation, evolution and relationship with Bouma sequence. The variations in initial bed morphology and hydrodynamic parameters are responsible for the changes in the shapes of bedforms. Turbidites formed under different hydrodynamic conditions correspond to different units of Bouma sequence. Not all turbidity events can form a complete Bouma sequence. Therefore, traditional Bouma sequence cannot be applied to all turbidite studies. A more complete turbidite facies model must be established through studies from modern deep-sea sediments, outcrops, physical and numerical simulations. Additionally, turbidity currents and related supercritical bedforms are receiving more and more attention. They are important components of understanding the dynamic evolution of deep-water continental slope. The study of cyclic steps and other bedforms related to turbidity currents not only helps to characterize flow dynamics, but also provides a theoretical basis for the research of turbidite reservoirs. Finally, we proposed future research directions of turbidity currents and their related supercritical bedforms.  相似文献   

7.
The sea floor of intraslope minibasins on passive continental margins plays a significant role in controlling turbidity current pathways and the resulting sediment distribution. To address this, laboratory analogue modelling of intraslope minibasin formation is combined with numerical flow simulations of multi‐event turbidity currents. This approach permits an improved understanding of evolving flow–bathymetry–deposit interactions and the resulting internal stacking patterns of the infills of such minibasins. The bathymetry includes a shelf to slope channel followed by an upper minibasin, which are separated by a confining ridge from two lower minibasins that compares well with analogous bathymetries reported from natural settings. From a wider range of numerical flow experiments, a series of 100 consecutive flows is reported in detail. The turbidity currents are released into the channel and upon reaching the upper minibasin follow a series of stages from short initial ponding, ‘filling and spilling’ and an extended transition to long retrogradational ponding. Upon reaching the upper minibasin floor, the currents undergo a hydraulic jump and therefore much sediment is deposited in the central part of the minibasin and the counterslope. This modifies the bathymetry such that in the fill and spill stage, flow stripping and grain‐size partitioning cause some finer sediment to be transported across the confining ridge into the lower minibasins. Throughout the basin infill process, the sequences retrograde upstream, accompanied by lateral switching into locally formed depressions in the upper minibasin. After the fill and spill stage, significant deposition occurs in the channel where retrograding cyclic steps with wavelengths of 1 to 2 km develop as a function of pulsating flow criticality. These results are at variance with conventional schemes that emphasize sequential downstream minibasin filling through ponding dominated by vertical aggradation. Comparison of these results with published field and experimental examples provides support for the main conclusions.  相似文献   

8.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(3):931-951
Submarine leveed channels are sculpted by turbidity currents that are commonly highly stratified. Both the concentration and the grain size decrease upward in the flow, and this is a fundamental factor that affects the location and grain size of deposits around a channel. This study presents laboratory experiments that link the morphological evolution of a progressively developing leveed channel to the suspended sediment structure of the turbidity currents. Previously, it was difficult to link turbidity current structure to channel–levee development because observations from natural systems were limited to the depositional products while experiments did not show realistic morphodynamics due to scaling issues related to the sediment transport. This study uses a novel experimental approach to overcome scaling issues, which results in channel inception and evolution on an initially featureless slope. Depth of the channel increased continuously as a result of levee aggradation combined with varying rates of channel floor aggradation and degradation. The resulting levees are fining upward and the grain‐size trend in the levee matches the upward decrease in grain size in the flow. It is shown that such deposit trends can result from internal channel dynamics and do not have to reflect upstream forcing. The suspended sediment structure can also be linked to the lateral transition from sediment bypass in the channel thalweg to sediment deposition on the levees. The transition occurs because the sediment concentration is below the flow capacity in the channel thalweg, while higher up on the channel walls the concentration exceeds capacity resulting in deposition of the inner levee. Thus, a framework is provided to predict the growth pattern and facies of a levee from the suspended sediment structure in a turbidity current.  相似文献   

9.
钟广法 《沉积学报》2023,41(1):52-72
超临界流在现代沉积环境中几乎无处不在,但相关沉积物却极少从地层记录中被辨识出来,这是当前沉积学研究所面临的一个困境,文中称之为“超临界流沉积问题”。按弗劳德数增大顺序,超临界流可依次形成稳定逆行沙丘、不稳定逆行沙丘、急滩—深潭及周期阶坎等底形,相应的地貌动力学也从同相位体制(逆行沙丘)逐渐过渡为水跃体制(急滩—深潭和周期阶坎)。相对于明渠流,浊流因折算密度低而更易成为超临界流。超临界浊流底形的长波长、低幅度、逆流(坡)迁移特性,决定了其沉积物发育特征的后积层理、近平行—低角度交错层理、与水跃有关的快速堆积及冲刷—充填和建造—充填构造。超临界浊流沉积可以通过沉积体的几何形态(包括波长/波高比、平面和剖面形态等)和内部沉积特征(包括波脊逆坡迁移、沉积构造、粒度变化趋势及沉积相组合等)的综合分析加以鉴别。露头、岩心分析与高分辨率地震、浅剖、多波束测深等地球物理资料的综合,是准确鉴别超临界浊流沉积单元的重要途径。本文对超临界浊流地貌动力学研究进展进行综述,并对地层记录中超临界浊流沉积的鉴别标志及相关问题进行探讨。  相似文献   

10.
Preservation 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.  相似文献   

11.
The late Quaternary stratigraphy and geochronology of San Mateo and Las Flores Creeks indicates that both streams, which drain into the Pacific Ocean along the southern California coast, had a synchronous landscape history. Both San Mateo and Las Flores Creeks cut deep valleys during the late Pleistocene in response to the worldwide drop in sea level. A long period of aggradation followed as sea level rose to its present position during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Around 500 years ago, the channels of both streams downcut into their respective floodplains creating a prominent terrace (T-2). This was followed by renewed deposition and later channel incision which created a second terrace (T-1). These channel changes are probably the result of a complex response of the fluvial system to major flooding during the late Holocene. The geologic history of these drainages provides a framework that can be used to assess the buried archaeological record along the coast and evaluate regional prehistoric settlement patterns. Based on this study, the post-4000 B.P. valley floor archaeological record along the southern California coast will be more complete and accessible, resulting in a better understanding of the spatial distribution of sites. On the other hand, the pre-4000 B.P. valley floor record lies deeply buried and inaccessible to researchers, which results in a distortion of settlement patterns before 4000 B.P. Finally, examination of post-4000 B.P. sites in the alluvium of San Mateo and Las Flores creeks yielded a pattern of large sites that were occupied extensively for multiple seasons and had considerable evidence of marine exploitation. These findings are contrary to models of cultural development along this portion of the southern California coast. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  相似文献   

12.
The Grès de Champsaur turbidite system, deposited in a distal setting in the Alpine Foreland Basin of south‐eastern France, exhibits a repeated upsection alternation in sand body geometry between incised channels and sheet sands. The channels form symmetric lenticular erosional features, of width 900–1000 m (measured between the lateral limits of incision) and depth 65–115 m, and can be traced axially for up to 5 km. In each case, the channel fill is capped by a laterally persistent sandy sheet‐form interval, which lies upon a fine‐grained substrate beyond the channel margins. No intrachannel elements have been traced into the substrate sequence, suggesting that, before infill, the channels acted as open sea‐floor conduits of essentially the same dimensions as the preserved channel deposits. The channels are vertically stacked, although axial erosion juxtaposes younger channel axis deposits against the fill of older channels and their channel‐capping sheet sandstones to produce an apparently well‐connected composite sandstone body geometry. The predominant channel‐fill facies comprises coarse‐grained, amalgamated sandstones, which are commonly parallel‐ or cross‐stratified. Subsidiary facies of finer grained sandstone–mudstone couplets and clast‐bearing muddy debrites are commonly preserved as erosional remnants, suggesting a complex channel history of aggradation and erosion. The repeated cycles of channel incision, infill and transition to sheet sandstone development indicate repetitive incision and healing of the palaeo‐sea floor. A model is proposed that links incision to the development of relatively steep axial gradients (parallel to the mean dispersal direction) and the return to sheet‐form deposition to the re‐establishment of lower axial gradients, with the repetitive switch between incisional channels and sheet sandstones driven by changes in sediment input rate against a background of ongoing sea‐floor tilting.  相似文献   

13.
This study analyses the three‐dimensional geometry of sedimentary features recorded on the modern sea floor and in the shallow subsurface of a shelf to upper slope region offshore Australia that is characterized by a pronounced internal wave regime. The data interpreted comprise an extensive, >12 500 km2 industrial three‐dimensional seismic‐reflection survey that images the northern part of the Browse Basin, Australian North West Shelf. The most prominent seismic–morphological features on the modern sea floor are submarine terrace escarpments, fault‐scarps and incised channels, as well as restricted areas of seismic distortion interpreted as mass wasting deposits. Besides these kilometre‐scale sea floor irregularities, smaller bedforms were discovered also, including a multitude of sediment waves with a lateral extent of several kilometres and heights up to 10 m. These sedimentological features generally occur in extensive fields in water depths below 250 m mostly at the foot of submerged terraces, along the scarps of modern faults and along the shelf break between the outer shelf and the upper continental rise. Additional bedforms that characterize the more planar regions of the outer shelf are elongate, north‐west/south‐east oriented furrows and ridges. The formation of both sediment waves and furrow‐ridge systems requires flow velocities between 0·3 m sec?1 and 1·5 m sec?1, which could be generated by oceanic currents, gravity currents or internal waves. In the studied setting, these velocities can be best explained as being generated by bottom currents induced by internal waves, an interpretation that is discussed against oceanographic background data and modelling results. In addition to the documentation of three‐dimensional seismic–geomorphological features of the modern sea floor, it was also possible to map kilometre‐scale buried sediment wave fields in the seismic volume down to ca 500 ms two‐way‐time below the present sea floor, indicating the general potential for the preservation of such bedforms in the sedimentary record.  相似文献   

14.
Cyclic steps structure derived from the supercritical flows is one of the common bedforms， which is commonly found in sedimentary systems such as delta systems， deep-water canyon-channel systems， and carbonate platforms. In this paper， the research progresses of cyclic steps were introduced from the aspects of sedimentary environment， the features of bedforms， sedimentary structure， formation mechanism， and numerical simulation. The Research scale differences associated with the survey techniques or study methods， such as the ship survey and AUV-based multi-beams， sub-bottom profiles， multichannel seismic， the field outcrop， and numerical simulation were discussed. Finally， the breakthrough directions of the cyclic steps research were given. The combining method of ground penetrating radar， multichannel seismic， drilling and well logging were used to accurately detect the location of field outcrop thalweg. Within the area with water depth greater than 500 meters， the blending of multi-data for the cyclic steps research involved the AUV-based and the ship multi-beams， sub-bottom profiles， and multichannel seismic data. With the in situ samples and observation data obtained by human occupied vehicles， three-dimensional numerical simulation was developed to establish a set of dynamic simulation equations suitable for the real cyclic steps. Therefore， the high resolution three dimensional mode of the deep-water cyclic steps could be obtained more accurately.  相似文献   

15.
The present study aims to improve current understanding of the sedimentation of subtidal point bars, analyzing interaction between tidal currents and waves in shaping a submerged meander bend of the microtidal Venice Lagoon (Italy), and it is based on coupling of sedimentological studies, geophysical analyses and numerical modelling. The Venice Lagoon is characterized by an average depth of about 1·5 m over subtidal platforms and a mean tidal range of about 1·0 m. The morphodynamic evolution of the lagoon is strongly affected by intense seasonal windstorms, which promote the formation of wind waves triggering sediment resuspension and bottom erosion. The study channel is 70 to 100 m wide, it has a radius of curvature of about 260 m and cuts through a permanently submerged subtidal platform. Water depth ranges from 1·0 to 5·0 m below mean sea level on the subtidal platform and channel thalweg, respectively. Different from classical architectural models, the study point‐bar beds do not show sigmoidal geometries, but consist of horizontally‐bedded deposits abruptly overlying clinostratified beds. Sedimentation in the study bar is hypothesized to stem from the interaction between the in‐channel secondary helical flow, as for most meander bends, and wave winnowing of the subaqueous overbank areas. Laterally accreting point‐bar deposits point out that the curvature‐induced helical flow redistributed sediment from the channel thalweg to the bar top and contributed to the development of the ‘classical’ fining‐upward grain size trend. The marked truncation surface, separating clinostratified bar deposits from overlying horizontally‐bedded platform sediments is interpreted here as due to bar top wave‐winnowing, which also possibly promoted bank collapses. In the proposed model, sediments remobilized from bar top and subaqueous overbank areas were transported into the channel, forming peculiar ‘apron‐like’ accumulations, where sand accumulated through avalanching processes and mud settled down from suspension.  相似文献   

16.
DONALD R. LOWE 《Sedimentology》2012,59(7):2042-2070
Deposits of submarine debris flows can build up substantial topography on the sea floor. The resulting sea floor morphology can strongly influence the pathways of and deposition from subsequent turbidity currents. Map views of sea floor morphology are available for parts of the modern sea floor and from high‐resolution seismic‐reflection data. However, these data sets usually lack lithological information. In contrast, outcrops provide cross‐sectional and lateral stratigraphic details of deep‐water strata with superb lithological control but provide little information on sea floor morphology. Here, a methodology is presented that extracts fundamental lithological information from sediment core and well logs with a novel calibration between core, well‐logs and seismic attributes within a large submarine axial channel belt in the Tertiary Molasse foreland basin, Austria. This channel belt was the course of multiple debris‐flow and turbidity current events, and the fill consists of interbedded layers deposited by both of these processes. Using the core‐well‐seismic calibration, three‐dimensional lithofacies proportion volumes were created. These volumes enable the interpretation of the three‐dimensional distribution of the important lithofacies and thus the investigation of sea floor morphology produced by debris‐flow events and its impact on succeeding turbidite deposition. These results show that the distribution of debris‐flow deposits follows a relatively regular pattern of levées and lobes. When subsequent high‐density turbidity currents encountered this mounded debris‐flow topography, they slowed and deposited a portion of their sandy high‐density loads just upstream of morphological highs. Understanding the depositional patterns of debris flows is key to understanding and predicting the location and character of associated sandstone accumulations. This detailed model of the filling style and the resulting stratigraphic architecture of a debris‐flow dominated deep‐marine depositional system can be used as an analogue for similar modern and ancient systems.  相似文献   

17.
Erosional and depositional bedforms have been imaged at outcrop scale in the upper Redondo Fan, in the San Pedro Basin of offshore Southern California in ≥600 m water depths, using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle developed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is equipped with multibeam and chirp sub-bottom sonars. Sampling and photographic images using the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Remotely Operated Vehicle Tiburon provide groundtruth for the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle survey. The 0·3 m vertical and 1·5 m lateral bathymetric resolution and 0·1 m sub-bottom profile resolution provide unprecedented detail of bedform morphology and structure. Multiple channels within the Redondo Fan have been active at different times during the Late Holocene (0 to 3000 yr bp ). The currently active channel extending from Redondo Canyon makes an abrupt 90° turn at the canyon mouth before resuming a south-easterly course along the east side of the Redondo Fan. This channel is floored by sand and characterized by small steps generally <1 m in relief, spaced 10 to 80 m in the down-channel direction. A broader channel complex lies along the western side of the fan valley that was last active more than 850 years ago. Two distinct trains of large scours, with widths ranging from tens to a few hundred metres and depths of 20 m, occur on the floor of the western channel complex, which has a thin mud drape. If observed in cross-section only, these large scours would probably be misidentified as the thalweg of an active channel.  相似文献   

18.
Seafloor images of coarse‐grained submarine channel–levée systems commonly reveal complex braid‐plain patterns of low‐amplitude bedforms and zones of apparent bypass; however, mechanisms of channel evolution and the resultant channel‐fill architecture are poorly understood. At Playa Esqueleto the lateral relationships between various elements of a deep‐marine slope channel system are well‐exposed. Specifically, the transition from gravel‐dominated axial thalwegs to laterally persistent marginal sandstones and isolated gravel‐filled scours is revealed. Marginal sandstones pass into a monotonous thin‐bedded succession which built to form relatively low‐relief levées bounding the channel belt; in turn, the levées onlap the canyon walls. Three orders of confinement were important during the evolution of the channel system: (i) first‐order confinement was provided by the erosional canyon which confined the entire system; (ii) confined levées built of turbidite sandstones and mudstones formed the second‐order confinement, and it is demonstrated that these built from overspill at thalweg margins; and (iii) third‐order confinement describes the erosional confinement of coarse‐grained thalwegs and scours. Finer‐grained sediment was transported in suspension and largely was unaffected by topography at the scale of individual thalwegs. Facies and clast analyses of conglomerate overlying channel‐marginal scours reveal that they were deposited by composite gravity flows, which were non‐cohesive, grain‐dominant debris flows with more fluidal cores. These flows were capable of basal erosion but were strongly depositional; frictional freezing at flow margins built gravel levées, while the core maintained a more fluidal transport regime. The resultant architecture consists of matrix‐rich, poorly sorted levées bounding better‐sorted, traction‐dominated cores. The planform geometry is interpreted to have consisted of a low‐sinuosity gravel braid‐plain built by accretion around mid‐channel and bank‐attached bars. This part of the system may be analogous to fluvial systems; however, the finer‐grained sediment load formed thick suspension clouds, probably several orders of magnitude thicker than the relief of braid‐plain topography and therefore controlled by the levées and canyon wall confinement.  相似文献   

19.
Deep‐water sediments in the Molasse Basin, Austria, were deposited in a narrow foreland basin dominated by a large channel belt located between the steep Alpine fold and thrust belt to the south and the gentler northern slope off the Bohemian Massif. Several gas fields occur outside the channel belt, along the outer bend of a large meander. Accumulation of these overbank sediments reflects a complicated interplay between slope accommodation and debris‐flow and turbidity‐flow interaction within the channel. The tectonically oversteepened northern slope of the basin (ca 2 to 3°) developed a regionally important erosional surface, the Northern Slope Unconformity, which can be traced seismically for >100 km in an east–west direction and >20 km from the channel to the north. The slope preserves numerous gullies sourced from the north that eroded into the channel belt. These gullies were ca 20 km long, <1 km wide and ca 200 m deep. As the channel aggraded, largely inactive and empty gullies served as entry points into the overbank area for turbidity currents within the axial channel. Subsequently, debris‐flow mounds, 7 km wide and >15 km long, plugged and forced the main channel to step abruptly ca 7 km to the south. This resulted in development of an abrupt turn in the channel pathway that propagated to the east and probably played a role in forming a sinuous channel later. As debris‐flow topography was healed, flows spread out onto narrow area between the main channel and northern slope forming a broad fine‐grained apron that serves as the main gas reservoir in this area. This model of the overbank splay formation and the resulting stratigraphic architecture within the confined basin could be applied in modern and ancient systems or for subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs where three‐dimensional seismic‐reflection data is limited. This study elucidates the geomorphology of the oversteepened slope of the under‐riding plate and its effects on the sedimentation.  相似文献   

20.
Turbidity currents in the ocean are driven by suspended sediment. Yet results from surveys of the modern sea floor and turbidite outcrops indicate that they are capable of transporting as bedload and depositing particles as coarse as cobble sizes. While bedload cannot drive turbidity currents, it can strongly influence the nature of the deposits they emplace. This paper reports on the first set of experiments which focus on bedload transport of granular material by density underflows. These underflows include saline density flows, hybrid saline/turbidity currents and a pure turbidity current. The use of dissolved salt is a surrogate for suspended mud which is so fine that it does not settle out readily. Thus, all the currents can be considered to be model turbidity currents. The data cover four bed conditions: plane bed, dunes, upstream‐migrating antidunes and downstream‐migrating antidunes. The bedload transport relation obtained from the data is very similar to those obtained for open‐channel flows and, in fact, is fitted well by an existing relation determined for open‐channel flows. In the case of dunes and downstream‐migrating antidunes, for which flow separation on the lee sides was observed, form drag falls in a range that is similar to that due to dunes in sand‐bed rivers. This form drag can be removed from the total bed shear stress using an existing relation developed for rivers. Once this form drag is subtracted, the bedload data for these cases collapse to follow the same relation as for plane beds and upstream‐migrating antidunes, for which no flow separation was observed. A relation for flow resistance developed for open‐channel flows agrees well with the data when adapted to density underflows. Comparison of the data with a regime diagram for field‐scale sand‐bed rivers at bankfull flow and field‐scale measurements of turbidity currents at Monterey Submarine Canyon, together with Shields number and densimetric Froude number similarity analyses, provide strong evidence that the experimental relations apply at field scale as well.  相似文献   

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