Sandy lobe deposits on submarine fans are sensitive recorders of the types of sediment gravity flows supplied to a basin and are economically important as hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study investigates the causes of variability in 20 lobes in small late Pleistocene submarine fans off East Corsica. These lobes were imaged using ultra-high resolution boomer seismic profiles (<1 m vertical resolution) and sediment type was ground truthed using piston cores published in previous studies. Repeated crossings of the same depositional bodies were used to measure spatial changes in their dimensions and architecture. Most lobes increase abruptly down-slope to a peak thickness of 8 to 42 m, beyond which they show a progressive, typically more gradual, decrease in thickness until they thin to below seismic resolution or pass into draping facies of the basin plain. Lobe areas range from 3 to 70 km 2 and total lengths from 2 to 14 km, with the locus of maximum sediment accumulation from 3 to 28 km from the shelf-break. Based on their location, dimensions, internal architecture and nature of the feeder channel, the lobes are divided into two end-member types. The first are small depositional bodies located in proximal settings, clustered near the toe-of-slope and fed by slope gullies or erosive channels lacking or with poorly developed levées (referred to as 'proximal isolated lobes'). The second are larger architecturally more complex depositional bodies deposited in more distal settings, outboard more stable and longer-lived levéed fan valleys (referred to as 'composite mid-fan lobes'). Hybrid lobe types are also observed. At least three hierarchical levels of compensation stacking are recognized. Individual beds and bed-sets stack to form lobe-elements; lobe-elements stack to form composite lobes; and composite lobes stack to form lobe complexes. Differences in the size, shape and architectural complexity of lobe deposits reflect several inter-related factors including: (i) flow properties (volume, duration, grain-size, concentration and velocity); (ii) the number and frequency of flows, and their degree of variation through time; (iii) gradient change and sea floor morphology at the mouth of the feeder conduit; (iv) lobe lifespan prior to avulsion or abandonment; and (v) feeder channel geometry and stability. In general, lobes outboard stable fan valleys that are connected to shelf-incised canyons are wider, longer and thicker, accumulate in more basinal locations and are architecturally more complex.
A large turbidity current was detected in the Zaire submarine valley at 4000 m water depth. Current meters, turbidimeter and sediment trap deployed on a mooring located in the channel axis, although they were damaged, recorded the signature of a very high energy event. An average velocity of more than 121 cm s−1 was measured 150 m above the channel floor. Coarse sand and plant debris were collected at 40 m height. The turbidity current clearly overflowed the edges of the valley as demonstrated by the large quantity of turbiditic material (464 mg organic carbon m−2 d−1) found in the sediment trap moored 13 km south from the channel axis.
[1] We investigate the active seismogenic fault system in the area of the 2003 Mw 6.9 Boumerdes earthquake, Algeria, from a high-resolution swath bathymetry and seismic survey. A series of 5 main fault-propagation folds $20-35 km long leave prominent cumulative escarpments on the steep slope and in the deep basin. Fault activity creates Plio-Quaternary growth strata within uplifted areas such as a rollover basin on the slope and piggyback basins in the deep ocean. Most thrusts turn to fault-propagation folds at the sub-surface and depict ramp-flat trajectories. We find that the two main slip patches of the 2003 Mw 6.9 Boumerdes earthquake are spatially correlated to two segmented cumulative scarps recognized on the slope and at the foot of the margin. The overall geometry indicates the predominance of back thrusts implying underthrusting of the Neogene oceanic crust. Citation: Déverchère, J., et al.
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