The Concavity of Submarine Canyon Longitudinal Profiles

Soutter, Euan; Kane, Ian A.; Hodgson, David M.; Flint, Stephen S.

doi:10.1029/2021jf006185

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Previous global-scale studies that have investigated aspects of submarine canyon geomorphology (e.g. Nelson, 1970;De Pippo et al, 1999;Sømme et al 2009;Covault et al 2011a;Harris and Whiteway, 2011;Harris et al, 2014;Soutter et al, 2021) and assessed the relative importance of factors promoting sediment-connection of canyons to shorelines (Bernhardt and Schwanghart, 2021) constitute important contributions to a fuller understanding of submarine canyon evolution. Nevertheless, such global investigations of the geomorphology of modern submarine canyons have been limited to individual canyon morphometric parameters and to consideration of specific environmental controls, with the datasets being limited in terms of their geographic coverage prior to the advent of a global inventory of modern submarine canyons -comprising 5,849 canyonscompiled by Harris and Whiteway (2011).…”

Section: Submarine Canyon Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two global studies that have focused on the longitudinal profiles of submarine canyons are the studies by Covault et al (2011a) and Soutter et al (2021), who investigated the longitudinal profiles of a combination of 20 canyon and channels and of 377 submarine canyons, respectively. Covault et al (2011a) established links between the longitudinalprofile shape -classified as convex, slightly concave or very concave -and both the margin type and the depositional architecture of deep-water environments (see their Figure 9).…”

Section: Submarine Canyon Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A global analysis of controls on submarine-canyon geomorphology

Bührig¹,

Colombera²,

Patacci³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The role of possible controlling factors in influencing the geomorphology of submarine canyons has been investigated using a database of 282 globally distributed modern examples collated from the literature, open-source worldwide bathymetry and satellite imagery. Canyon geomorphology has been characterized quantitatively in terms of maximum and average canyon dimensions, canyon sinuosity, the average canyon thalweg gradient, and maximum canyon sidewall steepness. Geomorphological variations with respect to position of the canyon apex relative to the shelf break, continental-margin type, terrestrial source-to-sink system setting, oceanographic environment, and climate zones have been assessed. Scaling relationships between canyon morphometric parameters, and between them and attributes of their physiographic setting, their terrestrial catchments, and attributes of continental shelves and slopes have been quantified.Key findings are as follows: (i) a number of scaling relationships describing canyon morphometry (e.g. scaling between maximum canyon dimensions, relationships of maximum canyon sidewall steepness with maximum canyon width and depth) can be recognized globally, suggesting their general predictive value; (ii) possible causal links are identified between hydrodynamic processes (e.g. upwelling, longshore- and along-slope currents) and canyon morphology; (iii) potential predictors of canyon geomorphology include whether a canyon is incised into the shelf or confined to the slope, the continental-margin type, the oceanographic environment, latitude, and shelf-break depth; (iv) similarity in maximum width-to-maximum depth ratios across all settings suggests that the relative magnitudes of canyon-margin erosion and intra-canyon deposition do not vary greatly depending on setting or canyon size.The relationships between canyon geomorphology and environmental variables identified in this study may be incorporated into conceptual models describing canyon geomorphology and its relationship to other elements of deep-water systems, and into its broader source-to-sink context.

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Section: Submarine Canyon Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Submarine Canyon Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global analysis of controls on submarine-canyon geomorphology

Bührig¹,

Colombera²,

Patacci³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The findings might reflect how enhanced seafloor relief linked to tectonics tends to increase canyon length, while simultaneously inhibiting canyon deepening. A downcanyon decrease in the erosive power of canyon-traversing flows may be caused by the capture of coarser sediment fractions by intraslope depressions (e.g., Soutter et al, 2021) and by flow deceleration upstream of slope topography leading to deposition of coarser sediment (e.g., Soutter et al, 2020). Although our data on the average depth of canyons from active and passive margins show that active-margin canyons tend to be significantly shallower (Figure 2E), further investigation is needed to corroborate our findings in view of the limited geographic coverage of the dataset.…”

Section: Structural Controlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some global studies indicate that the overall geomorphology of canyons might not differ fundamentally between tectonically active and passive margins (e.g., Harris and Whiteway, 2011;Bührig et al, in review). Yet tectonic activity molds the basin topography via its control on the distribution and type of faulting and mass-failures, which have been shown to leave characteristic signatures in the morphology of submarine canyons of active continental margins (e.g., Greene et al, 1991;Chiang and Yu, 2006;Micallef et al, 2014;Corradino et al, 2021;Soutter et al, 2021). Moreover, active margins encompass both convergent and strike-slip tectonic domains, and are characterized by variability in sedimentary basin-morphology and sediment generation, transport and dispersal mechanisms (e.g., Ingersoll, 2012;Ju et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonic Influence on the Geomorphology of Submarine Canyons: Implications for Deep-Water Sedimentary Systems

Bührig

Colombera²,

Patacci³

et al. 2022

Front. Earth Sci.

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A database-informed metastudy of 294 globally distributed submarine canyons has been conducted with the aim of elucidating the role of tectonic setting on submarine-canyon geomorphology. To achieve this, data from seafloor and subsurface studies derived from 136 peer-reviewed publications and from open-source worldwide bathymetry datasets have been statistically analyzed. In particular, relationships between margin type (active vs. passive) or plate-boundary type (convergent vs. transform vs. complex) have been assessed for key morphometric parameters of submarine canyons, including: streamwise length, maximum and average width and depth, canyon sinuosity, average canyon thalweg gradient, and maximum canyon sidewall steepness. In addition, possible scaling relationships between canyon morphometric parameters and characteristics of the associated terrestrial catchment, continental shelf and slope, and of the broader physiographic setting for canyons along both active and passive margins have been evaluated. The following principal findings arise: 1) overall canyon geomorphology is not markedly different across tectonic settings; 2) slope failure might be more important in passive-margin canyons compared to active ones, possibly due to seismic strengthening in the latter; 3) some aspects of canyon geomorphology scale with attributes of the source-to-sink system and environmental setting, but the strength and sign in scaling might differ between active and passive margins, suggesting that the extent to which canyon geomorphology can be predicted depends on the tectonic setting. Insights from our analysis augment and improve conceptual, experimental and numerical models of slope systems at the scale of individual canyons and source-to-sink systems, and increase our understanding of the complex role played by tectonic setting in shaping deep-water systems.

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“…They control the sorting and segregation of sediments that are ultimately deposited in deep-marine environments, via their morphology (e.g. Soutter et al, 2021;Wan et al, 2021) and distance from fluvial outlets and littoral cells (e.g. Sweet and Blum, 2016;Sweet et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%