How fast do submarine fans grow? Insights from the Quaternary Golo fans, offshore Corsica

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Sweet ◽  
Gwladys T. Gaillot ◽  
Tammy M. Rittenour ◽  
Kathrine Love ◽  
Michael D. Blum
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Sand Fraction ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
Submarine Channels ◽  
Submarine Fans ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
Glacial Periods

High-resolution seismic, core, and chronological data from the Quaternary Golo deep-sea fans, offshore Corsica, France, give new insights into rates of submarine fan growth. Average vertical deposition rates for units that represent the Late Pleistocene glacial periods are 0.1–0.5 m/k.y. Glacial-age deposits are sand rich; in contrast, post-glacial deposits lack a significant sand fraction and are dominated by carbonate-rich mud. As a result, seismically constrained volumetric rates of deposition for glacial periods with low sea level and a subaerially exposed shelf are ~0.23 km3/k.y., 2×–5× higher than rates during interglacials when sea level is high, the shelf is submerged, and sand is trapped in shallow-marine environments. At millennial time scales, variations in deposition rate reflect climate-driven sea-level changes, autogenic avulsion of river channels that extend across the shelf during low sea level, and autogenic avulsion of submarine channels that shift the locus of deposition laterally. Short-term deposition rates range from 8.6 m/k.y. at proximal portions of submarine fans to 0.4 m/k.y. along the distal fringe. Our data show that submarine fans can be dynamic environments with formation and evolution of levee-confined channels and lobe complexes in 103–104 yr, comparable to the time scales needed to form fluvial channel belts and delta lobes.

scholarly journals Sediment routing from shelf to basin floor in the Quaternary Golo System of Eastern Corsica, France, western Mediterranean Sea

2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1217-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Sweet ◽  
Gwladys T. Gaillot ◽  
Gwenael Jouet ◽  
Tammy M. Rittenour ◽  
Samuel Toucanne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Deep Water ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽  
Submarine Canyons ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
Submarine Fans ◽  
Sediment Routing ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Glacial Periods

Abstract How and when sediment moves from shallow marine to deep-water environments is an important and poorly understood control on basin-scale sediment dispersal patterns, the evolution of continental margins, and hydrocarbon exploration in deep-water basins. The Golo River (Eastern Corsica, France), its delta, canyons, and fans provide a unique opportunity to study sediment routing from source to sink in a relatively compact depositional system. We studied this system using an array of high-frequency seismic data, multi-beam bathymetry, and five cores for lithology and age control. Movement of sediment to deep water was controlled by interactions between the Golo River, the Golo Delta, and shelf-penetrating submarine canyons. Sediment moved to deep water when lobes of the Golo Delta prograded to the heads of these canyons, or when the Golo River itself flowed directly into one of them. Sand accumulated in canyons, deep-water channels, and submarine fans during glacial periods of low sea level, while mud was deposited throughout the slope, in the relatively short reach of leveed-confined channels, and in the mud-rich fringes around the sandy fans. During interglacial periods of high sea level, the basin was blanketed by mud-rich deposits up to 10 m thick interbedded with distinctive carbonate-rich sediments. Deposition rates in the basin ranged from 0.07 m/ka to 0.59 m/ka over the last 450 ka. Mud deposition rates remained relatively constant at ∼0.16 m/ka during all time periods, while sand deposition only happened during glacial periods of low sea level with an average rate of 0.24 m/ka. In addition to sea-level controls on sediment delivery, avulsions of the Golo River and its deltaic lobes preferentially routed sediment down either the North or South Golo canyons. Thus, while the larger, sequence-scale architecture of the basin is controlled by allogenic sea level forcing, millennial-scale autogenic processes operating on the shelf and in deep water shaped the distribution of sand and mud, and the internal geometry of the deltas and submarine fans that they fed. While some aspects of the Golo system are characteristic of steep, tectonically active margins, others such as the nature of connections between rivers and shelf-penetrating submarine canyons are observed in most margins with active submarine fans regardless of their tectonic setting.

Vegetation change in the Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve (Lower Volga Delta, Russia) in relation to Caspian Sea level fluctuation

1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.A. BALDINA ◽  
J. DE LEEUW ◽  
A.K. GORBUNOV ◽  
I.A. LABUTINA ◽  
A.F. ZHIVOGLIAD ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Rapid Progression ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Volga Delta ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Lower Volga

During the twentieth century the level of the Caspian Sea dropped from -26 m (1930) to -29 m (1977) below global sea level and subsequently rose again to -26.66 m in 1996. We aimed to describe responses of the vegetation in the lower Volga Delta to these substantial sea-level changes using an analysis of historic vegetation maps produced by aerial photography and satellite imagery.The sea level drop in the earlier part of the century was followed by rapid progression of the vegetation. The subsequent rapid sea-level rise in the 1980s did however not result in similarly rapid regression of the vegetation. This partial irreversibility of the vegetation response to sea-level change is explained by the wide flooding tolerance of the major emergent species, namely Phragmites australis. Floating vegetation increased in extent, most likely due to the increased availability of more favourable conditions, particularly for Nelumbo nucifera, a tropical plant reaching its northernmost distribution in the Volga Delta. This species increased in distribution from 3.5 ha in the 1930s throughout the entire Volga Delta to several thousands of hectares in the Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve alone in the 1980s. The reported sea-level changes swept the ecosystems in the Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve back and forth within the Reserve boundaries. At longer time scales, ten-fold greater sea-level change has been reported. The ecosystems for which the Reserve is renowned might be pushed completely out of the Reserve under these conditions. We therefore question whether the current Reserve will be sufficiently large to guarantee conservation of the biota in the lower Volga Delta at longer time scales.

scholarly journals Origin of a deep buried valley system in Pleistocene deposits of the eastern central North Sea

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 7-19
Author(s):  
Inger Salomonsen
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
North Sea ◽  
River System ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Upper Pleistocene ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Tertiary ◽  
Deltaic Sedimentation ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Glacial Periods

In the North Sea, the sedimentary development of the late Tertiary and early Quaternary was dominated by deltaic sedimentation in a fast subsiding basin. During the Pleistocene, pronounced climatic changes affected the sedimentation of the area and progradation of the delta systems ceased. The Middle and Upper Pleistocene sedimentary successions consist of alternations of marine and fluvial deposits, partly reworked during glacial periods. Seismic records from the Danish sector of the North Sea reveal numerous deep incisions cut down from various levels of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene successions. These incisions are concluded to form a pattern of buried valleys. Detailed seismic stratigraphic analysis shows the occurrence of various internal unconformities within these buried valleys. It is concluded that the valleys originate from a river system developed in periods of repeated sea-level changes. Pluvial erosion during glacial sea-level lowstand and glacial meltwater action is proposed to have been responsible for the origin of the valley system. Thus, in Middle and Upper Pleistocene glacial periods drainage and associated sediment transport occurred from Northwest and Central European land areas via a presently buried river system in the southeastern North Sea towards a depositional basin north and northwest of the Danish North Sea sector.

scholarly journals Evolution of the North Horowhenua Coastal Depositional System in Response to Late Pleistocene Sea Level Changes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Glenn Richard Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Shallow Marine ◽  
Marine Strata ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
The North ◽  
Glacial Periods ◽  
And Sea Level

<p>The convergent tectonic setting of New Zealand has lead to the development of a series of anticlines and troughs resulting from folding and faulting of basement greywacke in southwest North Island. The most extensive of these is the Kairanga Trough spreading from the Horowhenua to the Manawatu, which lies between the uplifting Tararua Range and subsiding South Wanganui Basin. This trough was a major depocentre for fluvial and shallow marine strata during the Quaternary. By utilising a 280m deep borehole from the Kairanga Trough, this thesis investigates how climate and sea level variations affected sedimentation in the north Horowhenua District.   This borehole has recorded a near continuous record of climate and sea level change for the last 340ka. The lower part of the core is a marine sequence representing progressive infilling of the Kairanga Trough during 5th order (c.100ka) glacioeustatic fluctuations, which consequently produced 4 marine cyclothems. Transgressions and subsequent highstand periods are represented by shallow marine sediment, which were followed by fluvial aggradation during lowstand periods, then marine planation during subsequent transgressions. Cycle 1 developed during OIS 9 (340-300ka). Cycles 2 and 3 both formed during OIS 7 as a result of two closely spaced highstands centred around 245ka (OIS 7c) and 200ka (OIS 7a), which were separated by a period of lower sea level around 225ka (OIS 7b) that produced a disconformity. Cycle 4 formed during the Last Interglacial transgression (OIS 5e) and represents an incised valley fill. Progradation of a coastal strandplain and alluvial plain representing the latter stages of infilling of the Kairanga Trough with coastal and terrigenous sediment during the mid to late Last Interglacial and Glacial Periods is recorded in the sediment composing the top part of the borehole.</p>

Sea Level Rise

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anny Cazenave
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Variations

Sea level is the height of the sea surface expressed either in a geocentric reference frame (absolute sea level) or with respect to the moving Earth’s crust (relative sea level). Absolute sea level variations result from changes in the volume of water filling ocean basins (due either to water density or mass changes), while relative sea level variations designate sea surface height changes with respect to the ground (thus accounting both for “absolute” sea level changes and ground motions). Sea level variations spread over a very broad spectrum. On geological time scales, roughly 5–100 million years ago, 330-foot-amplitude sea level changes depend primarily on tectonics processes, such as large-scale changes in the shape of ocean basins associated with seafloor spreading and midocean ridge expansion, as well as on the existence (or not) of polar ice sheets. On a 10,000–100,000-year time scale, glacial/interglacial cycles driven by changes of the Earth’s orbit and obliquity also cause about 330-foot-amplitude sea level variations. On shorter time scales, 3.3-foot-amplitude sea level changes occur in response to natural climate-forcing factors (change in solar irradiance and volcanic eruptions). Humans also influence climate, and associated sea level change is noticeable since about 1900. Sea level is a very sensitive index of climate change and variability. For example, as the ocean warms in response to global warming, seawaters expand and thus sea level rises. When mountain glaciers melt in response to increasing air temperature, sea level rises because of fresh water mass input to the oceans. Similarly, ice mass loss from the ice sheets causes sea level rise. A corresponding increase of fresh water into the oceans changes water salinity; hence, seawater density as well as ocean circulation affects sea level and its spatial variability. Finally, modification of water storage on land in response to climate variability and direct anthropogenic forcing also causes sea level to vary on interannual to multidecadal time scales. Because of the multidisciplinary character of the sea level topic, as well as enormous progress made since the late 20th century owing to new in situ and space-observing systems, the literature on the subject is vast and continually increasing. For that reason, most of the works listed in this article were published after 2000, although a few older works are also mentioned.

scholarly journals Evolution of the North Horowhenua Coastal Depositional System in Response to Late Pleistocene Sea Level Changes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Glenn Richard Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Shallow Marine ◽  
Marine Strata ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
The North ◽  
Glacial Periods ◽  
And Sea Level

<p>The convergent tectonic setting of New Zealand has lead to the development of a series of anticlines and troughs resulting from folding and faulting of basement greywacke in southwest North Island. The most extensive of these is the Kairanga Trough spreading from the Horowhenua to the Manawatu, which lies between the uplifting Tararua Range and subsiding South Wanganui Basin. This trough was a major depocentre for fluvial and shallow marine strata during the Quaternary. By utilising a 280m deep borehole from the Kairanga Trough, this thesis investigates how climate and sea level variations affected sedimentation in the north Horowhenua District.   This borehole has recorded a near continuous record of climate and sea level change for the last 340ka. The lower part of the core is a marine sequence representing progressive infilling of the Kairanga Trough during 5th order (c.100ka) glacioeustatic fluctuations, which consequently produced 4 marine cyclothems. Transgressions and subsequent highstand periods are represented by shallow marine sediment, which were followed by fluvial aggradation during lowstand periods, then marine planation during subsequent transgressions. Cycle 1 developed during OIS 9 (340-300ka). Cycles 2 and 3 both formed during OIS 7 as a result of two closely spaced highstands centred around 245ka (OIS 7c) and 200ka (OIS 7a), which were separated by a period of lower sea level around 225ka (OIS 7b) that produced a disconformity. Cycle 4 formed during the Last Interglacial transgression (OIS 5e) and represents an incised valley fill. Progradation of a coastal strandplain and alluvial plain representing the latter stages of infilling of the Kairanga Trough with coastal and terrigenous sediment during the mid to late Last Interglacial and Glacial Periods is recorded in the sediment composing the top part of the borehole.</p>

Paleozoic Sea-Level Changes in the Appalachian Basin: Washington, D.C., July 20–24, 1989

10.1029/ft354 ◽  
1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Dennison ◽  
Edwin J. Anderson ◽  
Jack D. Beuthin ◽  
Edward Cotter ◽  
Richard J. Diecchio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Appalachian Basin ◽  
Sea Level Changes
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