Depositional Patterns of the Mississippi Fan Surface: Evidence from GLORIA II and High-Resolution Seismic Profiles

Twichell, David C.; Kenyon, Neil H.; Parson, L. M.; McGregor, Bonnie A.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-8276-8_19

Cited by 45 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The first of these pertains to the many moderately to highly sinuous leveed channels on the Mississippi Submarine Fan (Twichell et al 1991) as well as within minibasins (Badalini et al 2000;Beaubouef et al 2003), and indeed on continental slopes and submarine fans adjacent to passive margins all over the world (e.g., Pirmez 1994). The mechanism of meander formation, whether subaerial or subaqueous, requires a setup of a velocity and pressure field that requires a flow that has a spatial length of at least a few meander lengths (e.g., Ikeda et al 1981;Imran et al 1999).…”

Section: Sustained Versus Pulse-like Turbidity Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depositional Turbidity Currents in Diapiric Minibasins on the Continental Slope: Formulation and Theory

Toniolo¹,

Lamb²,

Parker³

2006

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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The northern continental slope of the Gulf of Mexico is riddled with numerous subsiding diapiric minibasins bounded by ridges, many but not all of which are connected by channels created by turbidity currents. The region is economically relevant in that many of these diapiric minibasins constitute focal points for the deposition of sand. Some of these sandy deposits in turn serve as excellent reservoirs for hydrocarbons. A better understanding of the ''fill and spill'' process by which minibasins fill with mud and sand as the intervening ridges are dissected by canyons may serve to aid in the location of such reservoirs. In the present paper a theory is developed to describe sediment deposition in minibasins. The theory relies on the hypotheses that the turbidity currents in question are sustained for at least about one hour. Two key and heretofore unrecognized aspects of the ''fill and spill'' process are revealed: (1) the formation of an internal hydraulic jump as a turbidity current spills into a confined basin, and (2) the detrainment of water across a settling interface forming at the top of the ponded turbidity current downstream of the hydraulic jump. It is shown that sufficiently strong detrainment can consume the flow, so that there is no outflow of either water or sediment even with continuous inflow. As the basin fills with sediment, however, overspill is eventually realized. The theory is developed into a numerical model, tested against experiments and applied at field scale in a companion paper.

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Section: Sustained Versus Pulse-like Turbidity Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depositional Turbidity Currents in Diapiric Minibasins on the Continental Slope: Formulation and Theory

Toniolo¹,

Lamb²,

Parker³

2006

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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“…The right-hand levee has a pattern of streaks of medium backscatter (yellow) that rundown the gentle gradient from near the levee crest. These may be the tracks of partially channelized overbank flows (Twichell et al 1991). 3.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computer enhanced GLORIA sidescan sonar images of the surface of the Mississippi Fan

Wen

Sinding-Larsen

Kenyon

1995

Atlas of Deep Water Environments

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“…This period corresponds to the rapid deglaciation phase when meltwater discharge and subsequent sediment load were perhaps several times higher than during the maximum lowstand when the British Isles was partly glaciated (McCabe and Clark, 1998). This configuration is similar to that of the Mississippi Fan just before the Younger Dryas (Broecker et al, 1989;Fairbanks, 1989;Twichell et al, 1991). Associated with the meltwater discharge, the reworking of the deltaic environment deposits induced by the sea-level rise (Belderson et al, 1986;Lericolais, 1997), would have allowed significant supplies to the deep sea.…”

Section: Palaeoceanographic Control On the Development Of The Fanmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Comparisons between recently mapped fans and those largely documented in the literature e.g. Indus Fan (Kolla and Coumes, 1987;Kenyon et al, 1995), Mississippi Fan (Bouma, 1985;Bouma et al, 1989;Weimer, 1990;Twichell et al, 1991;Schwab et al, 1996), Amazon Fan (Damuth and Flood, 1985;Damuth et al, 1988;Flood and Piper, 1997), Zaire Fan (Droz et al, 1996) are of major interest for the improvement of submarine fan models. In addition studies of modern turbidite systems bring important information on sea-level changes, sediment flux to the deep oceans, ocean circulation, and regional and global climate variations (Flood and Piper, 1997).…”

Section: Statement Of Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiography and recent sediment distribution of the Celtic Deep-Sea Fan, Bay of Biscay

et al. 2000

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The Celtic Deep-Sea Fan located in the northwestern part of the Bay of Biscay is a middle sized fan with a surface area of more than 30,000 km 2 . The whole system is a mature mud/sand-rich submarine fan on a passive margin. Multi-beam echo sounder data, 3.5 kHz seismic and 12 Küllenberg cores were examined to define the fan morphology, the lithological characteristics, the sedimentary processes and the relationship between the evolution of the fan deposits and the environmental conditions on the Celtic continental shelf.The upper fan is characterised by the presence of two distinct tributary systems: (1) the Whittard system with a large, persistent, slightly sinuous channel, which is linked to the southern end of the Irish Sea River system; and (2) the Shamrock system, with a moderate sized channel, which is linked to the western end of the English Channel River system. The middle and lower fan corresponds to divergent braided secondary channels and associate lobes. Successive lobe elements, without important relief, were generated during periodic avulsions of middle fan channels.The lithological, palaeontological, and geochemical analyses on cores show the evolution of sedimentation since the last glaciation. During the last lowstand and rise of sea-level frequent low-density turbidity currents were predominant and deposited sediments throughout the whole fan system. They were initiated at the front of a deltaic environment on the Celtic outer-shelf. During the high sea-level conditions, occasional high-density turbidity currents and/or non-cohesive debris flows occur and were responsible for sand deposition in the middle-lower fan. They are derived from reworked sands due to the highenergy conditions on the outer shelf. Thus for the Celtic Fan, the variations of the hydrodynamic conditions on the outer Celtic Shelf seem to be the primary control on facies shift and fan growth. ᭧

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Depositional Patterns of the Mississippi Fan Surface: Evidence from GLORIA II and High-Resolution Seismic Profiles

Cited by 45 publications

References 22 publications

Depositional Turbidity Currents in Diapiric Minibasins on the Continental Slope: Formulation and Theory

Depositional Turbidity Currents in Diapiric Minibasins on the Continental Slope: Formulation and Theory

Computer enhanced GLORIA sidescan sonar images of the surface of the Mississippi Fan

Physiography and recent sediment distribution of the Celtic Deep-Sea Fan, Bay of Biscay

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