Sediment waves in the Caroline Basin suggest evidence for Miocene shifts in bottom water flow in the western equatorial Pacific

The Baiyun Slide Complex, South China Sea: A modern example of slope instability controlling submarine-channel incision on continental slopes

“…8a and b). This internal character is consistent with that observed from bottom-current sediment waves (Gong et al, 2015;Baldwin et al, 2017).…”

Different origins of seafloor undulations in a submarine canyon system, northern South China Sea, based on their seismic character and relative location

“…Four main hypotheses have been proposed for their genesis based on the environment settings in which seafloor undulations occur, their morphological characteristics, and internal architectures. These four hypotheses include: (1) bottom currents (Masson et al, 2002;Baldwin et al, 2017;Belde et al, 2017); (2) turbidity currents (Lewis and Pantin, 2002;Normark et al, 2002;McCave, 2017); (3) internal waves (Karl et al, 1986;Droghei et al, 2016;Ma et al, 2016;Ribó et al, 2016); and (4) gravity-driven downslope submarine creeps (Lee and Chough, 2001;Shillington et al, 2012;Li, et al, 2016a). In the following sections, the formation mechanisms of seafloor undulations are discussed for the study area based on the criteria proposed by Wynn and Stow (2002) and Symons et al (2016).…”

“…Previous studies have considered bottom currents as an important process forming sediment waves, such as in parts of the northeast Rockall Trough (Masson et al, 2002), the Caroline Basin in the West Pacific Ocean (Baldwin et al, 2017), and even in lakes (Ceramicola et al, 2001). Bottom currents, which are associated with the North Pacific intermediate water, affect the northern South China Sea at a water depth of 350-1350 m (Chen and Wang, 1998;Chen, 2005;Zhu et al, 2010;.…”

“…Seafloor undulations are generated by a combination of depositional and erosional processes, and their crests comprise positive features relative to the surrounding seafloor (Symons et al, 2016). Seafloor undulations have been documented in a wide range of submarine settings, including on continental shelves (Belde et al, 2017), continental slopes (Ribó et al, 2018), continental rises (Gonthier et al, 2002), abyssal plains (Baldwin et al, 2017), the slopes of volcanic islands (Pope et al, 2018), and submarine canyons and channels (Gong et al, 2012). Seafloor undulations are commonly associated with sediment waves and sediment deformation under gravity-driven submarine creep (Wynn and Stow, 2002).…”