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This note analyzes for the first time the geomorphology and sedimentary features of the Simpson Submarine Canyon (SSC), located between Chiloé Island and the Taitao Peninsula. For that purpose, multibeam bathymetric data were obtained in 2018. The SSC has a unique orientation compared to most canyons on the Chilean margin. Slope escarpments, topographic irregularities, and sinuosity of the canyon could be associated with regional tectonics. Sediment transport and deposition along the axis define the transversal morphology. On the canyon walls, erosion and transport processes dominate, evidenced by gullies, channels, and mass removals, which leave debris on the axis. We report a large landslide from a canyon wall, which could be due to a highenergy event such as an earthquake; and the generation of a large sediment wave field outside the canyon mouth, indicating a great activity by sedimentary processes. All the above could indicate that the canyon is continuously evolving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submarine canyons are primary conduits for turbidity currents transporting terrestrial sediments, nutrients, pollutants and organic carbon to the deep sea. The concavity in the longitudinal profile of these canyons (i.e. the downstream flattening rate along the profiles) influences the transport processes and results in variations in turbidite thickness, impacting the transfer and burial of particles. To better understand the controlling mechanisms of canyon concavity on the distribution of turbidite deposits, here we investigate the variation in sediment accumulation as a function of canyon concavity of 20 different modern submarine canyons, distributed on global continental margins. In order to effectively assess the isolated impact of the concavity of 20 different canyons, a series of two-dimensional, depth-resolved numerical simulations are conducted. Simulation results show that the highly concave profile (e.g. Surveyor and Horizon) tends to concentrate the turbidite deposits mainly at the slope break, while nearly straight profiles (e.g. Amazon and Congo) result in deposition focused at the canyon head. Moderately concave profiles with a smoother canyon floor (e.g. Norfolk-Washington and Mukluk) effectively facilitate the downstream transport of suspended sediments in turbidity currents. Furthermore, smooth and steep upper reaches of canyons commonly contribute to sediment bypass (i.e. Mukluk and Chirikof), while low slope angles lead to deposition at upper reaches (i.e. Bounty and Valencia). At lower reaches, the distribution of turbidite deposits is consistent with the occurrence of hydraulic jumps. Under the influence of different canyon concavities, three types of deposition patterns are inferred in this study, and verified by comparison with observed turbidite deposits on the modern or paleo-canyon floor. This study demonstrates a potential difference in sediment transport efficiency of submarine canyons with different concavities, which has potential consequences for sediment and organic carbon transport through submarine canyons. • The impact of submarine canyon concavity on turbidite deposition was assessed. • Distribution of turbidite deposits varies with changes in canyon concavity. • Three distinct deposition patterns were identified. • The recognized deposition patterns align well with the observed turbidite deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submarine canyons are important conduits of sediment and organic matter to deep-sea environments, mainly during high-energy natural events such as storms, river floods, or dense shelf water cascading, but also due to human activities such as bottom trawling. The contributions of natural and trawling-induced sediment and organic matter inputs into Palamós Canyon (NW Mediterranean) were assessed from three instrumented moorings deployed in the axis and northern flank of the canyon covering the trawling closure (February) and the trawling season (March-December) of 2017. During the trawling closure, large sediment fluxes with high contents of labile marine organic matter content were registered in the canyon axis, associated to storm resuspension on the shelf that coincided with dense shelf water cascading and high surface water productivity. Although no major natural sediment transport events occurred during the following spring and summer months, near-daily trawling-induced sediment gravity flows were recorded in the northern flank mooring, placed directly below a fishing ground, which sometimes reached the canyon axis. Compositionally, the organic matter transferred by trawling resuspension was impoverished in the most labile biomarkers (fatty acids, amino acids, and dicarboxylic acids) and had a high degree of degradation, which was similar to surficial sediment from the adjacent fishing ground. Trawling resuspended particles masked the transfer of organic matter enriched in labile biomarkers that naturally occur during the quiescent summer months. Overall, bottom trawling enhances the magnitude of particle fluxes while modifying its organic carbon composition, increasing the re-exposure and transfer of degraded organic carbon and potentially affecting benthic communities that rely on the arrival of fresh organic matter.

Sedimentation regimes on the Great Barrier Reef margin often do not conform to more conventional sequence stratigraphic models, presenting difficulties when attempting to identify key processes that control the margin's geomorphological evolution. By obstructing and modifying down‐shelf and down‐slope flows, carbonate platforms are thought to play a central role in altering the distribution and morphological presentation of common margin features. Using numerical simulations, we test the role of the carbonate platforms in reproducing several features (i.e., paleochannels, shelf‐confined fluvial sediment mounds, shelf‐edge deltas, canyons, and surface gravity flows) that have been described from observational data (seismic sections, multibeam bathymetry, sediment cores, and backscatter imagery). When carbonate platforms are present in model simulations, several notable geomorphological features appear, especially during lowstand. Upon exposure of the shelf, platforms reduce stream power, promoting mounding of fluvial sediments around platforms. On the outer shelf, rivers and streams are re‐routed and coalesce between platforms, depositing shelf‐edge deltas and incising paleochannels through knickpoint retreat. Additionally, steep platform topography triggers incision of slope canyons through turbidity currents, and platforms act as conduits for the localized delivery of land and shelf‐derived sediments to the continental slope and basin. When platforms are absent from the topographic surface, the model is unable to reproduce many of these features. Instead, a more typical "reciprocal‐type" sedimentation regime arises. Our results demonstrate the essential role of carbonate platform topography in modulating key bedload processes. Therefore, they exert direct control on the development of various geomorphological features within the shelf, slope, and basin environments. Plain Language Summary: The modern Great Barrier Reef sits atop the skeletal remains of its ancestors. These remains form large (50–200 km2) columns of chalk (or carbonate platforms) that rest on the northeast Australian continental shelf. By comparing observational data with computer simulations, we find that these platforms majorly disrupt and modify the flow of rivers and deep‐sea density currents during periods of lower sea level. When platforms are exposed, they become hills, forming steep topographic high points that are large enough to re‐route rivers and promote incision on the continental slope. On the modern seafloor, evidence of this activity is preserved in the form of ancient deltas, paleochannels, submarine canyons, and sediment flows that stretch across the abyssal plain. The morphology and distribution of these seafloor features are more robustly accounted for when carbonate platforms are present, and many of them do not appear in computer simulations where carbonate platforms are absent. Our work shows that carbonate platforms can alter seascapes in ways that are traditionally less understood. Key Points: Platforms exert fundamental control on the development of paleochannels, fluvial mounds, shelf‐edge deltas, submarine canyons, and basin flowsCarbonate platforms obstruct/re‐route lowstand rivers and promote turbidity current‐driven incision of submarine canyonsSimulations indicate that when platforms are absent, many features are not reproduced, and a "reciprocal" model of sedimentation dominates [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporal evolution of water column turbidity was studied on a submarine canyon on the Barcelona continental margin. From April to June 2014, an instrumented mooring array equipped with an autonomous hydrographic profiler with a CTD and a turbidimeter was deployed in the Foix canyon axis at 870 m depth. The instruments were programmed to collect hydrographic profiles once per day to provide a view of the temporal evolution of water column characteristics from 200 to 800 m water depth. The results illustrate a well-defined water turbidity structure of particulate matter distributed in intermediate nepheloid layers (INLs) developed between 300 and 500 m water depth and above the canyon rims, and INLs and near-bottom nepheloid layers (BNLs) confined inside the canyon between 650 and 800 m water depth. Data from fishing vessels activity at the time of the deployment was obtained from Vessel Monitoring System (VMS). The presence and location of the fishing vessels in the study area suggested a relationship between trawling activity and the generation of such layers. Nepheloid layers were absent during the first part of the deployment, when there was no fishing activity within the Foix Canyon axis or at the adjacent continental slope. Later, with the beginning of trawling activity on the fishing grounds close to the canyon, both INLs and BNLs were observed in the profiling casts, suggesting a causative relationship with fishing activities. Additionally, the hydrodynamic conditions within the canyon also seem to favour particle retention and to increase water turbidity in thick BNLs when water circulation is directed up-canyon. Bottom trawling appears to act as a main sediment resuspension mechanism in the Barcelona continental slope regions, increasing suspended sediment concentration at specific water depths where fishing grounds are located. Suspended particles are then advected and propagate along and across-margin by ambient currents via nepheloid layers. • Particulate matter in the Foix Canyon was mainly distributed in INLs and near-BNLs. • INLs and BNLs were observed when fishing activity was detected close to the canyon. • Hydrodynamic conditions seem to favour particle retention and to increase turbidity. • Bottom trawling acts as a main sediment resuspension mechanism in the Barcelona margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sediment delivery to the abyssal regions of the oceans is an integral process in the source to sink cycle of material derived from adjacent continents and islands. The Zambezi River, the largest in southern Africa, delivers vast amounts of material to the inner continental shelf of central Mozambique. The aim of this contribution is to better constrain sediment transport pathways to the abyssal plains using the latest, regional, high-resolution multibeam bathymetry data available, taking into account the effects of bottom water circulation, antecedent basin morphology and sea-level change. Results show that sediment transport and delivery to the abyssal plains is partitioned into three distinct domains; southern, central and northern. Sediment partitioning is primarily controlled by changes in continental shelf and shelf-break morphology under the influence of a clockwise rotating shelf circulation system. However, changes in sea-level have an overarching control on sediment delivery to particular domains. During highstand conditions, such as today, limited sediment delivery to the submarine Zambezi Valley and Channel is proposed, with increased sediment delivery to the deepwater basin being envisaged during regression and lowstand conditions. However, there is a pronounced along-strike variation in sediment transport during the sea-level cycle due to changes in the width, depth and orientation of the shelf. This combination of features outlines a sequence stratigraphic concept not generally considered in the strike-aligned shelf-slope-abyssal continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bottom trawling leads to recurrent sediment resuspension events over fishing grounds. Recent studies have shown how bottom trawling can drive seascape reshaping at large spatial scales and enhance sediment transport in submarine canyons, which subsequently impacts deep-sea ecosystems. Present knowledge on the transfer and accumulation of sediment flows triggered by bottom trawling is based on localized and infrequent measurements whilst a more complete picture of the process is needed. The present work focuses on the modeling of sediment transport and accumulation resulting from trawling activities in La Fonera submarine canyon, northwestern Mediterranean Sea, thus contributing to an improved assessment of trawling impacts. Based on mooring data within a canyon gully, we use an inverse model to retrieve the unknown time series of resuspension due to trawling over the fishing grounds. This resuspension is later used as forcing for the direct problem: we simulate trawling-induced flows through the canyon and provide a 3D visualization of potential trawling impacts on sediment dynamics, including the identification of the propagation patterns of sediments resuspended by trawling. Flows coming from shallower fishing grounds are funneled through canyon flank gullies towards the canyon axis, with part of the resuspended sediment reaching the continental rise out of the canyon across the open continental slope. Trawling-induced sediment flows promote sediment accumulation beyond the canyon mouth. Given the wide geographical distribution of bottom trawling, our results have far-reaching implications that go much beyond La Fonera submarine canyon. Our study represents a starting point for the assessment of the sedimentary impact of bottom trawling in deep continental margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to date, most in-situ studies and observations of turbidity currents were conducted in submarine canyons that are either, large, shelf incising or adjacent to big perennial rivers, or a combination of these features. Little if any observations have been made in the numerous, small submarine canyons (<20 km) that are confined to the continental slope and located far offshore smaller and often ephemeral streams, which are far more common globally. In this study, measurements were collected from October 2019 until June 2020 in Bat-Galim Canyon, a small (5 km long) submarine canyon located offshore Haifa, Israel, in the Eastern Levantine Basin (southeastern Mediterranean) where only minor, ephemeral streams reach the sea. This was performed using two similar mooring stations, positioned at depths of 350 and 710-meter along the canyon, which carried an array of measuring instruments, set between 2 and 50 meters above the canyon thalweg. Our data shows that the small Bat-Galim canyon is an active conduit for significant sediment transport to the deep-sea, much of it via turbidity currents that flow down the canyon during winter storms. The characteristic values of the turbidity currents in the Bat-Galim canyon were similar to those reported in much bigger submarine canyons. In addition, we observed temperature inversions during these events, wherein the sediment-laden warm surface water plunged and flowed underneath the colder, and otherwise denser, canyon water. This temperature inversion may lead to sediment lofting and upward convection through the water column for hundreds of meters, once sediment settling relieves the warm water of some of its ballast. These unique findings highlight the need to investigate the importance of small submarine canyons on continental slopes worldwide as water and sediment conduits to the deep-sea, even in dryer regions, and the impact of temperature inversions by turbidity currents on various water column processes. • First time-series measurements within a submarine canyon in the Levantine Basin. • Turbidity currents observed in the small (5km long) and confined to the slope canyon. • Similar traits of turbidity currents and sediment transport in this and much larger, shelf-incising canyons. • These winter events caused temperature inversions in the water column. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small mountainous rivers (SMRs) play a crucial role in the global sediment and carbon cycle by rapid transfer of huge particulate and dissolved loads into the sea. Gaoping river-sea system is a good representative of SMRs in Oceania, having an extreme high denudation rate (15,000 t km − 2 yr − 1 ) and a high burial efficiency of terrestrial particulate organic carbon (POC) in the Gaoping submarine canyon (GPSC). However, it is contentious whether silicate weathering or POC burial plays more important role in long-term carbon cycling in such a high active orogen. Clay minerals of fluvial sediments not only act as an important carrier of POC, but also encode valuable information of weathering regimes on land and dispersal routes in the seas. To uncover these informations, surface and core sediments are systematically collected from the Gaoping river-sea system for clay-mineral analysis. Comparative studies are carried out on the basis of new results and vast published data to better understand weathering processes and products in Oceanian islands and Southeast Asian continent. We find that clay-mineral compositions in the Gaoping River (GPR) and other Taiwan rivers are a legacy from provenance rocks in the alpine reach, characterized by predominant illite and chlorite and limited compositional change throughout the river courses. These sharply contradict the downstream increase in compositional complexity (rich in kaolinite and smectite) and chemical weathering intensity in Southeast Asian large rivers because of strong hydrolysis and active sediment recycling at the lowland reach with extensive floodplains. High consistency of clay-mineral compositions is also observed in the interior and exterior of GPSC. Careful examination shows that a slight offshore decrease in cumulative illite and chlorite content is accompanied by a slight increase in exotic clay-mineral inputs by ocean circulations. The combination of this finding with previously reported data on the offshore change in δ 13 C org and Δ 14 C org values suggests that petrogenic POC predominates in the river-dominated Gaoping continental margin with high preservation efficiency due to its tight bandage with clay minerals. Moreover, a tardy response of chemical weathering fluxes to high elevated physical erosion rates is remarkably examined in the Oceanian and global river gauging data. We therefore postulate that rapid transfer and high burial efficiency of terrestrial POC in the tectonically active high-standing islands and their adjacent continental margins play much more important role in the long-term carbon cycle than silicate weathering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep sea channel systems are recognized in most submarine fans worldwide as well as in the geological record. The Indus Fan is the second largest modern submarine fan, having a well-developed active canyon and deep sea channel system. Previous studies from the upper Indus Fan have reported several active channel systems. In the present study, deep sea channel systems were identified within the middle Indus Fan using high resolution multibeam bathymetric data. Prominent morphological features within the survey block include the Raman Seamount and Laxmi Ridge. The origin of the newly discovered channels in the middle fan has been inferred using medium resolution satellite bathymetry data. Interpretation of new data shows that the highly sinuous deep sea channel systems also extend to the east of Laxmi Ridge, as well as to the west of Laxmi Ridge, as previously reported. A decrease in sinuosity southward can be attributed to the morphological constraints imposed by the elevated features. These findings have significance in determining the pathways for active sediment transport systems, as well as their source characterization. The geometry suggests a series of punctuated avulsion events leading to the present array of disconnected channels. Such channels have affected the Laxmi Basin since the Pliocene and are responsible for reworking older fan sediments, resulting in loss of the original erosional signature supplied from the river mouth. This implies that distal fan sediments have experienced significant signal shredding and may not represent the erosion and weathering conditions within the onshore basin at the time of sedimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many different source-to-sink dispersal systems around the world, and the Gaoping River (GPR)–Gaoping Submarine Canyon (GPSC) provides an example especially as a canyon-captured system. The GPR, a small mountainous river having an average gradient of 1:150, and the GPSC, which links the river catchment to the deep-sea basin, represent two major topographic features around SW Taiwan. Together, they constitute a terrestrial-to-marine dispersal system that has an overriding impact on the source-to-sink transport of sediment in this region. The GPSC extents from the mouth of the GPR through the shelf and slope and into the northeastern Manila Trench, a distance of about 260 km. It is a major conduit for the transport of terrestrial sediment and carbon to the South China Sea and the landward transport of particles of marine and biological origin. In the GPSC the dominant mode of suspended-sediment transport is tidal oscillations and the net direction is up-canyon. In contrast, sediment transport associated with episodic gravity-driven events is down-canyon. The steady sedimentation of the tidal regime results in hemipelagic mud across the canyon floor, whereas the gravity-driven (hyperpycnal) regime causes turbidite erosion and deposition along the canyon thalweg. Typhoon-induced river floods often lead to hyperpycnal plumes at the river mouth, which directly and indirectly ignite hyperpycnal turbidity currents in the canyon forming an effective agent for transporting large amounts of terrestrial organic material (modern and fossil carbon) to the South China Sea basin. Therefore, the GPR–GPSC represents a source-to-sink system in which terrestrial sediment in a mountainous catchment is promptly removed and transported to the deep sea by episodic gravity flows. This is also a pathway by which modern terrestrial organic carbon is quickly and effectively delivered to the deep sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, the Capbreton canyon head, just off the coast, is investigated using high-resolution multibeam bathymetry datasets, sediment samples and numerical modeling. The HR bathymetry analysis reveals a morphological connection between the longshore trough and the head of the canyon. The analysis of recent sediment samples shows a clear correlation between the sediment of the canyon head and that of the nearshore. Hydrodynamic modeling (a coupled wave-flow model) shows that for high-energy waves, the rotational nature of surf-zone circulation reverses and wave-induced currents have the potential to transport large quantities of nearshore sands toward the canyon head. All these arguments support the assumption that the canyon head captures a part of the sand transported by longshore drift. Over the 15years of observation (1998–2013), time-lapse bathymetry shows that the floor of the canyon head and one lateral gully network experienced significant morphological reworking. In terms of hazards, despite this strong activity, the position of the canyon head and the profile of its longitudinal slope remained stable and appear as a comforting factor. However, the activity of unusual lateral erosions needs to be monitored. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Submarine canyon heads are key areas for understanding the triggering factors of gravity currents responsible for the transfer of detrital sediment to the deep basins. This contribution offers a detailed picture of canyon heads off La Réunion Island, with high-resolution multibeam bathymetry in the water depth range of 4–220m. The present feeding of the Cilaos turbidite system, one of the largest modern volcaniclastic systems in the world, is deduced from morphological and sedimentological interpretations of newly acquired data. The study highlights small-scale sedimentary features indicating hydrodynamic and sedimentary processes. A direct connexion between the Saint-Etienne river mouth and submarine canyons is evidenced by the complete incision of the shelf and the presence of canyon heads connected to the modern deltaic bar. This direct connection, supplied by river torrential floods (cyclonic floods every two or three years), suggests the continuity of high-density fluvial flows to submarine gravity flows, forming hyperpycnal flows in the canyon. The initiation of secondary submarine gravity flows by storm waves (large austral waves and cyclonic waves) is also proposed for submarine canyons with large canyon heads developed in the surf zone from a sandy coastal bar. Bedforms in active canyon axis are considered as an indicator of the frequent activity of high-density turbidity currents. Moreover, a morphological record of last glacial and deglacial sea level variations is preserved, and particularly the Last Glacial Maximum sea level with the presence of small vertical cliffs, observed in this bathymetric data, which likely corresponds to a paleo-shoreline or paleo-reefs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To investigate the processes by which sediment is transported through a submarine canyon incised in a glaciated margin, the bottom boundary layer quadrapod RALPH was deployed at 276-m depth in the West Halibut Canyon (off Newfoundland) during winter 2008–2009. Two main sediment transport processes were identified throughout the deployment. Firstly, periodic increases of near-bottom suspended-sediment concentrations (SSC) were recorded associated with the up-canyon propagation of the semidiurnal internal tidal bore along the canyon axis, carrying fine sediment particles resuspended from deeper canyon regions. The recorded SSC peaks, lasting less than 1h, were observed sporadically and were linked to bottom intensified up-canyon flows (~40cms−1) concomitant with sharp drops in temperature. Secondly, sediment transport was also observed during events of intensified down-canyon current velocities that occurred during periods of sustained heat loss from surface waters, but were not associated with large storm waves. High-resolution velocity profiles throughout the water column during these events revealed that the highest current speeds (~1ms−1) were centered several meters above the sea floor and corresponded to the region of maximum velocities of a gravity flow. Such flows had associated low SSC and cold water temperatures and are interpreted as dense shelf water cascading events channelized along the canyon axis. Sediment transport during these events was largely restricted to bedload and saltation, producing winnowing of sands and fine sediments around larger gravel particles. Analysis of historical hydrographic data suggests that such gravity flows are not related to the formation of coastal dense waters advected towards the outer shelf that reached the canyon head. Rather, the dense shelf waters appear to be generated around the outer shelf, where convection during winter is able to reach the sea floor and generate a pool of near-bottom dense water that cascades into the canyon during one or two tidal cycles. A similar transport mechanism is likely to occur in other submarine canyons along the eastern Canadian margin, as well in other canyoned margins where winter convection can reach the shelf-edge. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Fangliao submarine canyon cuts across the shelf and slope of southwest Taiwan. Unlike other canyons along this margin, there is no obvious connection to an individual fluvial sediment source on land. Two recent cruises to Fangliao Canyon provide insight into sedimentation associated with a major typhoon. Box and piston cores were retrieved from Fangliao Canyon in early January 2007, after a local earthquake and an extended period of low-to-moderate river flow in streams that are suspected of contributing sediment to the canyon. Similar cores were collected from the canyon in early October 2009, following one of the largest typhoons to hit Taiwan in the past several decades. Typhoon Morakot delivered several meters of rain to Taiwan, with the largest river floods occurring in the south and southwest regions. In addition, the coastal ocean environment was energized by significant wave heights (>12m). Comparisons of textural, radioisotopic, and geochemical data reveal likely sediment transport and depositional processes within and surrounding Fangliao Canyon. Typhoon Morakot caused a layer ~10cm thick (and greater) throughout the canyon. X-radiographs of the 2007 cores show limited physical structure in most cases, and the 2009 radiographs display obvious changes in sediment density relative to the underlying sediment, as well as distinct physical lamination. Examining signals from different geochemical and radiochemical tracers for terrestrial sediment source indicates that the flood layer deposited by Typhoon Morakot came from several small mountainous rivers. By comparing the results of the 2007 cruise with those from 2009, we gain significant insight to the close linkage between a line source of fluvial sediment and deposition in a submarine canyon, as well as the role that tropical-storm events can play in delivering sediment to these environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nazaré Canyon extends from a water depth of 50m near the Portuguese coast to 5000m at the edge of the Iberian Abyssal Plain. The system is not connected to a modern river and instead obtains its present day sediment input by capture of along-shelf sediment transport. Much of this sediment is deposited in the middle canyon between about 2700 and 3800m. However, the middle canyon is a highly heterogeneous environment, with areas of both high and low sedimentation rates, exposed rock outcrop, erosion and stable and unstable slopes in close juxtaposition. This paper explores how the various sedimentary processes interact to create the observed heterogeneous canyon environment, which will influence benthic biodiversity in the canyon. Seafloor heterogeneity is investigated using a nested approach to data interpretation, using local high-resolution data to calibrate regional lower resolution data. Six different data types, ship and ROV-mounted swath bathymetry, 30kHz sidescan sonar images, sediment cores, seafloor video/photographs and current metre/acoustic backscatter data, were incorporated into the analysis. The main morphological characteristic of the middle canyon is a narrow, steep-sided, axial channel flanked by gently sloping terraces. Small-scale landsliding, active at the present day, is the main process that exposes a variety of substrates, ranging from semi-consolidated Holocene sediments to rock of probable Mesozoic age, on the steep axial channel walls. The axial channel floor is characterised in part by large-scale sediment bedforms and in part by landslide debris, suggesting some reworking of landslide debris by currents within the channel. The terraces are interpreted as inner levees with high sedimentation rates. Cores show a dominantly muddy sequence interrupted by thin turbidite sands emplaced on decadal to centennial timescales. The fine-grained sedimentation is the product of continuous settling from fine-grained flows that range from gravity currents to lateral advection of nepheloid layers. The close proximity of areas of high sedimentation and erosion creates a highly heterogeneous seafloor, with the highest heterogeneity on the steepest slopes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent sediment transport and deposition in the Lisbon–Setúbal and Cascais submarine canyons, Portuguese continental margin, were investigated on the basis of water column profiles of suspended particulate matter, records of near-bottom currents and settling fluxes of particulate matter obtained with benthic landers, and analysis of surface sediments. The results show that fine-grained predominantly lithogenic sediment derived from adjacent shelf areas accumulates in the upper reaches of the canyons. Sediment deposited further down in the middle and lower reaches of the canyons is essentially similar to the hemipelagic sediment found on the adjacent continental slope, indicating that down-canyon transport of sediment from the upper to the lower canyon is limited. Tidal currents measured at various depths in the Lisbon–Setúbal Canyon appear sufficiently strong to resuspend and transport sediment, but net up-canyon flow of the bottom water may retain shelf-derived lithogenic sediment in the upper canyon. Sediment gravity flows, which in the nearby Nazaré Canyon are an effective mechanism for down-canyon sediment transport, appear rare in the Lisbon–Setúbal Canyon and probably also in the Cascais Canyon. Turbidity current events recorded in the sedimentary record of the canyons may correspond to seismic events of 1969 and 1755 AD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Sediment transport and sedimentation processes in the Gaoping submarine canyon were studied using sediment trap and current meter moorings deployed at a location during the winter (January–March) and the summer (July–September) months in 2008. At the end of each deployment, sediment cores were also collected from the canyon floor at the mooring site. Samples from sediment traps and sediment cores were analyzed for 210Pb and 234Th by gamma spectrometry. In conjunction with particle size and flow measurements, the datasets suggest that sediment transport in the canyon is tidally-modulated in the drier winter season and flood (river)-dominated in the wetter summer season. From the magnitude and temporal variation of sediment flux in the canyon with respect to the burial flux and sediment budget on the open shelf and slope region, we reaffirm that, on annual or longer timescales, the Gaoping submarine canyon is an effective conduit transporting sediments from the Gaoping River''s drainage basin (the source) to the deep South China Sea (the ultimate sink). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The river–sea system consisting of the Gaoping (new spelling according to the latest government''s directive, formerly spelled Kaoping) River (KPR), shelf, and Submarine Canyon (KPRSC) located off southern Taiwan is an ideal natural laboratory to study the source, pathway, transport, and fate of terrestrial substances. In 2004 during the flood season of the KPR, a system-wide comprehensive field experiment was conducted to investigate particle dynamics from a source-to-sink perspective in the KPRSC with the emphasis on the effect of particle size on the transport, settling, and sedimentation along the pathway. This paper reports the findings from (1) two sediment trap moorings each configured with a Technicap PPS 3/3 sediment trap, and an acoustic current meter (Aquadopp); (2) concurrent hydrographic profiling and water sampling was conducted over 8 h next to the sediment trap moorings; and (3) box-coring in the head region of the submarine canyon near the mooring sites. Particle samples from sediment traps were analyzed for mass fluxes, grain-size composition, total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrogen (TN), organic matter (OM), carbonate, biogenic opal, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), lithogenic silica and aluminum, and foraminiferal abundance. Samples from box cores were analyzed for grain-size distribution, TOC, particulate organic matter (POM), carbonate, biogenic opal, water content, and 210Pbex. Water samples were filtered through 500, 250, 63, 10 µm sieves and 0.4 µm filter for the suspended sediment concentration of different size-classes. Results show that the river and shelf do not supply all the suspended particles near the canyon floor. The estimated mass flux near the canyon floor exceeds 800 g/m2/day, whose values are 2–7 times higher than those at the upper rim of the canyon. Most of the suspended particles in the canyon are fine-grained (finer than medium silt) lithogenic sediments whose percentages are 90.2% at the upper rim and 93.6% in the deeper part of the canyon. As suspended particles settle through the canyon, their size-composition shows a downward fining trend. The average percentage of clay-to-fine-silt particles (0.4–10 µm) in the water samples increases from 22.7% above the upper rim of the canyon to 56.0% near the bottom of the canyon. Conversely, the average percentage of the sand-sized (>63 µm) suspended particles decreases downward from 32.0% above the canyon to 12.0% in the deeper part of the canyon. Correspondingly, the substrate of the canyon is composed largely of hemipelagic lithogenic mud. Parallel to this downward fining trend is the downward decrease of concentrations of suspended nonlithogenic substances such as TOC and PAH, despite of their affinity to fine-grained particles. On the surface of the canyon, down-core variables (grain size, 210Pbex activity, TOC, water content) near the head region of the canyon show post-depositional disturbances such as hyperpycnite and turbiditic deposits. These deposits point to the occurrences of erosion and deposition related to high-density flows such as turbidity currents, which might be an important process in submarine canyon sedimentation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ninety-two box cores collected during 2004–2006 from an area of ~3000 km2 off the Gaoping (formerly spelled Kaoping) River, SW Taiwan, were analyzed for fallout radionuclides (210Pb, 137Cs and 7Be) to elucidate sedimentation rates and processes, and for the calculation of a sediment budget. The study area is located at an active collision margin with a narrow shelf and a submarine canyon extending essentially into the river''s mouth. The results indicate fairly constant hemipelagic sedimentation in much of the open margin and for most of the time except in the inner shelf and along the axis of the canyon where sediment transport is more dynamic and is controlled by tidal current and wave activities constantly, and by fluvial floods or gravity-driven flows episodically. Sedimentation rates in the study area derived from 210Pb and constrained by 137Cs vary from 0.04 to 1.5 cm/yr, with the highest rates (>1 cm/yr) flanking the Gaoping canyon over the upper slope (200–600 m) and the lowest rates (<0.1 cm/yr) in the distal basin beyond the continental slope. The depocenter delineated from 210Pb-based sedimentation rates overlaps with the area covered by a flood layer resulting from super-typhoon Haitang in July 2005. Such correspondence supports the notion that the processes operating on event timescale have bearing on the formation of the sediment strata over centennial or longer timescales. From the distribution of sedimentation rates, sediment deposited in the study area annually is estimated to be 6.6 Mton/yr, accounting for less than 20% of Gaoping River''s sediment load. The calculated budget, coupled with the presence of the short-lived 7Be and non-steady-state distribution of low levels of 210Pb in sediments along the canyon floor, suggests rapid transport of sediment from Gaoping River''s mountainous watershed (the source) via the Gaoping (Kaoping) Submarine Canyon and adjacent channels (as the conduit and temporary sink) to the abyssal plain and the Manila Trench in the South China Sea (the ultimate sink). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To investigate the processes by which sediment is transported through a submarine canyon incised in a continental margin affected by recurrent dense shelf water cascading events, several instrumented moorings were deployed in the Cap de Creus Canyon from September 2004 to September 2005. This was done as part of the EuroSTRATAFORM Program that investigated sediment transport and accumulation processes in the Gulf of Lions. Results obtained in this observational study confirm that major cascading events can effectively contribute to the rapid export of sediment from the shelf and upper slope to deeper environments, and suggest that the associated strong currents carrying coarse particles are able to erode the canyon floor and generate sedimentary furrows. During winter 2004–2005, persistent northerly winds and the absence of river floods contributed to decrease the buoyancy of coastal waters and to dramatically enhance the intensity of dense shelf water cascades in the Gulf of Lions. Under such conditions, cascading continuously affected the entire Cap de Creus upper canyon section for more than a month and sustained cold temperatures and down-canyon steady currents >60cm/s (up to 100cm/s), showing periodic fluctuations that lasted between 3 and 6 days. Increases in suspended sediment concentrations were associated with dense shelf water cascading outbursts, but the magnitude of the concentration peaks decreased with time, suggesting a progressive exhaustion of the resuspendable sediments from the shelf and canyon floor. Grain size analyses of the particles caught by a near-bottom sediment trap show that dense shelf water cascades are able to transport coarse sediments (up to 65% sand) in suspension (and presumably as bed load), which have the potential to abrade the seafloor and generate erosive bed forms. The orientation of a large field of “wide” (i.e., widths about 1/2 spacing indicative of erosive formation) sedimentary furrows recently observed in the Cap de Creus Canyon clearly coincides with the preferential direction of highest velocities measured by the moored current meters, indicating a causative relationship between contemporary dense shelf water cascades and furrow formation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Previous work in the Gulf of Lions (western Mediterranean Sea) has suggested that significant amounts of sediment escape through the western part of this tectonically passive margin, despite it being far removed from the primary sediment source (the Rhone River, ∼160km to the NE). The primary mechanism behind this export is hypothesized to be the interaction of a regional, southwestward sediment-transport path with a canyon deeply incising the southwestern part of the shelf, Cap de Creus Canyon. To understand the pattern of off-shelf sediment export from the western Gulf of Lions, and more specifically, the role of Cap de Creus Canyon in this transport, box cores were collected within the canyon and on the adjacent shelf during five cruises from November 2003 to April 2005. Geochronology (210Pb-derived accumulation rates), grain-size distributions, and sedimentary structures (X-radiography) were analyzed to assess temporal and spatial sedimentation patterns. Results indicate two mid-shelf depocenters (30–90m water depth) in the northern and southern portions of the study area, separated by a zone of bypassing due to current acceleration around a headland (Cap Bear). Estimates of a sediment budget indicate that ∼6–8% of the sediment input to the Gulf is sequestered on the shelf region. Within the Cap de Creus Canyon, there is a significant spatial asymmetry in both grain size and accumulation rates. The northern flank is a modern depocenter of fine-grained sediments, while the southern flank is primarily non-depositional for mud and includes locations of apparent erosion. This suggests the influence of multiple oceanographic processes supplying sediment to the canyon: advection of nepheloid layers from the northern rim that provide a relatively continuous sediment supply (over decadal timescales), and episodic strong currents affecting the southern rim, which can scour sediment from the southern flank. The mid-depth thalweg has an ephemeral mud layer, overlying sand and consolidated mud. The mud layer appears to be flushed down canyon periodically. The canyon head contains coarse material, suggesting reworked sands may be entering. The 100-year sediment budget, based on accumulation rates for the fine-grained fraction in the upper canyon, indicates that ∼1% of the total sediment input to the Gulf is accumulating in upper Cap de Creus Canyon. However, this number may significantly underestimate the total sediment entering the canyon because water-column measurements show that sediment is likely moving through the upper canyon during major dense-water cascading events from the shelf and being deposited deeper in the canyon system. The ephemeral mud layer also indicates rapid deposition and frequent flushing of sediment through the upper canyon. Overall, this study shows that Cap de Creus Canyon is an active conduit of sediment past the shelf break, despite its location distal to the primary sediment source to the Gulf. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Shelf-to-canyon suspended sediment transport during major storms was studied at the southwestern end of the Gulf of Lions. Waves, near-bottom currents, temperature and water turbidity were measured on the inner shelf at 28-m water depth and in the Cap de Creus submarine canyon head at 300m depth from November 2003 to March 2004. Two major storm events producing waves H s>6m coming from the E–SE sector took place, the first on 3–4 December 2003 (max H s: 8.4m) and the second on 20–22 February 2004 (max H s: 7m). During these events, shelf water flowed downcanyon producing strong near-bottom currents on the canyon head due to storm-induced downwelling, which was enhanced by dense shelf water cascading in February 2004. These processes generated different pulses of downcanyon suspended sediment transport. During the peak of both storms, the highest waves and the increasing near-bottom currents resuspended sediment on the canyon head and the adjacent outer shelf causing the first downcanyon sediment transport pulses. The December event ended just after these first pulses, when the induced downwelling finished suddenly due to restoration of shelf water stratification. This event was too short to allow the sediment resuspended on the shallow shelf to reach the canyon head. In contrast, the February event, reinforced by dense shelf water cascading, was long enough to transfer resuspended sediment from shallow shelf areas to the canyon head in two different pulses at the end of the event. The downcanyon transport during these last two pulses was one order of magnitude higher than those during the December event and during the first pulses of the February event and accounted for more than half of the total downcanyon sediment transport during the fall 2003 and winter 2004 period. Major storm events, especially during winter vertical mixing periods, produce major episodes of shelf-to-canyon sediment transport at the southwestern end of the Gulf of Lions. Hydrographic structure and storm duration are important factors controlling off-shelf sediment transport during these events. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Cap de Creus canyon, northwestern Mediterranean Sea, belongs to a complex network of submarine canyons cutting the western Gulf of Lion continental shelf and opening into the larger Sète canyon. Swath bathymetry data, MAK-1M deep-towed side-scan sonar imagery and 5 kHz high resolution seismic reflection profiles show striking morphologies in the Cap de Creus canyon floor and walls. As a consequence of the canyon head and the upper reach severe incision, the continental shelf dramatically narrows in front of the Creus Cape promontory. The upper canyon has a flat-bottomed thalweg incised in a mega-scale sediment furrow field displaying hyperbolic seismic facies. The tens of kilometres long linear furrows extend also over the middle canyon down to 1400 m of water depth. The furrows on either side of the canyon are not parallel but oblique and display varying degrees of excavation. Mid-channel sediment bars are locally present in the thalweg, which is made of sandy lag deposits, as revealed by its acoustic response and verified by sediment samples. The middle canyon is linear and steep, with an up to 700 m high southern wall, contrasting with the sinuous, smooth lower canyon, which is controlled by flowage of the underlying Messinian evaporites. Large sections of the canyon are affected by sediment instability processes. The lower Cap de Creus canyon hangs up to 260 m over its distalmost reach and the Sète canyon through a narrow, less than 1 km wide, gorge. Numerous scours up to 10 m deep suggesting bed load transport occupy the lower Sète canyon immediately downstream of the Cap de Creus canyon mouth. The data set provides the first complete very-high resolution imaging of a submarine canyon from its upper part down to its distalmost reach. The observations evidence a wide set of erosion, transport and deposition processes along the Cap de Creus canyon, including sediment entrapment at the canyon head, furrow-generating dense water cascading through the southern wall, along-channel currents strong enough to excavate specific sections of the channel floor and bed load sediment transport as demonstrated by the presence of mega-ripples, crescent scours and grooves in the lower canyon. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mass transport deposits, up to 3·9 m thick, have been identified from piston cores collected from canyon floors and inter-canyon ridges on the central Scotian Slope. These deposits are characterized by four distinct mass-transport facies – folded mud, dipping stratified mud, various types of mud-clast conglomerate, and diamicton. Commonly, the folded and stratified mud facies are overlain by mud-clast conglomerate, followed by diamicton and then by turbidity current deposits of well-sorted sand. Stratified and folded mud facies were sourced from canyon walls. Overconsolidation in clasts in some mud-clast conglomerates indicates that the source sediment was buried 12–33 m, much deeper than the present cored depth, implying a source in canyon heads and canyon walls. The known stratigraphic framework for the region and new radiocarbon dating suggests that there were four or five episodes of sediment failure within the past 17 ka, most of which are found in more than one canyon system. The most likely mechanism for triggering occasional, synchronous failures in separate canyons is seismic ground shaking. The facies sequence is interpreted as resulting from local slides being overlain by mud-clast conglomerate deposits derived from failures farther upslope and finally by coarser-grained deposits resulting from retrogressive failure re-mobilizing upper slope sediments to form debrisflows and turbidity currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Time serial multibeam bathymetry is used to evaluate geomorphic trends and submarine processes in the upper 4 km of Monterey Canyon, California. Seven high-resolution bathymetric surveys conducted between September 2002 to February 2005 show that the upper canyon axis and head grew in volume 1000000 m3 ±700000 m3, at an average annual rate of 400000 m3/a±300000 m3/a through lateral erosion and vertical incision. This net loss of substrate during the 29-month period is parsed between local erosion of 1400000 m3 and local deposition of 350000 m3. A submarine landslide with a scar void volume of 70000 m3 and debris pile of 52000 m3 occurred between March 2003 and September 2004. During the subsequent months until February 2005, the slide scar grew 40% in volume while the debris pile shrank by 80%. The canyon-head rim adjacent to Moss Landing Harbor prograded seaward and retreated shoreward significantly (up to 50 m) during the study suggesting frequent episodes of sediment build up and subsequent down-canyon failure. A large field of sand waves located in the channel axis was completely reworked in each time series except for a 24 h period where no wave crest movement was noted, and a 32 day period where up-canyon migration of approximately 7 m was recorded in the northern tributary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The modern Penghu Submarine Canyon is a sea floor expression of the convergent boundary between the frontal Taiwan orogenic wedge and the Chinese cratonic margin. The canyon is about 180km long and trends N–S, parallel to the strike of the Taiwan mountain belt. It is ∼240m deep at the head increasing to ∼3200m deep at its mouth before merging gradually into the Manila Trench. The Penghu Canyon is considered a tectonically controlled canyon rather than a slope canyon dominated by down-slope processes. Tectonic controls prevail over sedimentary processes. Tectonics controls the orientation and location of the Penghu Canyon while sedimentary processes contribute to its excavation and enlargement. The axis of the deep-water, underfilled basin off SW Taiwan dips southward and parallels the strike of the Taiwan orogen with a characteristic longitudinal sediment transport route. Hence, the Penghu Canyon developed under the gravitational mass movement with its main course along the N–S basin axis, not in a SW or SE downslope direction of both margins. The initial Penghu Canyon began at the intersection of the upper slopes of the South China Sea and Kaoping Slopes. Sediment flows cut into the slope sediments following regional dip toward the south, and excavated along the deepest part of the sea floor, forming the present Penghu Canyon. Shifting of axes of Late Pliocene–Pleistocene canyons from onshore SW Taiwan to the present-day position of the Penghu Canyon reflects the evolving foreland basins with a longitudinal canyon transport system progressively migrating southwestward. The linkage of canyon migration and evolution of the foreland basin may have significant implications for the overall sedimentation and tectonics of the SW Taiwan region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Detailed sampling of the axis and flanks of upper Monterey Canyon (water depths of «1500 m) was undertaken using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)-deployed vibracoring system. The objective was to document the characteristics and distribution of sediment within the canyon and to elucidate the sources and processes by which materials move into and through the canyon. Detailed multibeam bathymetric surveys guided the sampling. The combination of core data, multi-beam bathymetry, and multi-beam reflectivity reveals for the first time the facies and facies distribution patterns associated with the axial channel of an active submarine canyon. Coarse-grained deposits form a narrow trail of material that is tightly restricted to the axial channel floor, indicating that upper Monterey Canyon is an active submarine system closely coupled to sand transport along the shoreline. Sand from the modern beach and nearshore environment captured by the canyon head is moving down the axial channel of the canyon, while fine-grained sediments are accumulating on the flanks of the canyon. Our observations suggest that other submarine canyons in close proximity to the shoreline are presently active and that a modern supply of sand-sized material is moving down these canyon systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]