Bute Inlet, a fiord along the southwestern coast of British Columbia, Canada, includes a sea‐floor sedimentation system 70 km in length which resembles those developed on some large submarine fans. Turbidity currents originate at the head of the flord on the submerged delta fronts of the Homathko and Southgate rivers. They move downslope for about 30 km within a single large incised channel, spill onto a depositional area termed the channel lobe complex, and finally spread out over a low‐relief distal splay area that passes 55 km downslope into a flat basin floor. During the present study, turbidity currents in Bute Inlet were studied using sea‐floor morphology, bottom sediment distribution, and in‐situ instrument packages. The mean velocities of the most recent flows, estimated from surface sediment grain size, has varied between 100–120 cm s–1 in the incised channel, 20–50 cms–1 in the channel lobe complex, and < 5 cm s–1 on the basin floor. Velocities based on channel morphology are poorly constrained but are in the range of 160‐425 cm s–1 in the upper part of the incised channel and 66 cm s–1 in the lower channel. Calculated flow densities range from 1.049 to 1.028g cm–3. Turbidity flows monitored in 1986 using submerged instrument packages exceeded 32 m in thickness in the upper part of the incised channel, where the maximum measured velocity was 330 cm s–1. At the head of the channel lobe complex the maximum velocity had declined to 75 cm s–1. The density of the monitored flows is estimated at 1.025‐1.03g cm–3. The cored sediments and channel morphology yield estimates of mean flow velocities that are generally greater than those measured by the in‐situ instrument packages and estimated from modern surface sediments. The former suggest past flow velocities up to 500 cm s–1 in the incised channel, about 20 cm s–1 in spillover deposits along the lower part of the incised channel, and 100‐140 cm s–1 in the distal splay. The contrast between the velocities of modern and past flows suggests that past flows may have been considerably larger and more energetic than those presently occurring in Bute Inlet. The size properties of sediments in the monitored turbidity flows suggest a strong vertical size gradient in the suspended load during transport. The surface and cored sediments fine downslope from the channel lobe complex to distal splay area. Distinctive sedimentary sequences are recognized in cores from the spillover lobes, channel lobe complex, distal splay, and basin floor depositional areas. Many individual turbidites grade downslope from massive Ta divisions in the channel lobe complex and probably in the incised channel to Ta divisions overlain by slurried divisions on the distal splay and largely slurried beds on the basin floor. These facies suggest that individual currents commonly evolve from largely cohesionless suspensions in the incised channel and channel lobe complex to dilute cohesive slurries downslope on the distal splay and basin floor. Many flows in Bute Inlet fail to develop a trac...

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A computer‐based numerical model of turbidity current flow and sedimentation is presented that integrates geological observations with basic equations for fluid and sediment motion. The model quantifies those aspects of turbidity currents that make them different from better‐understood fluvial processes, including water mixing across the upper flow boundary and the interactions between the suspended‐sediment concentration and the flow dynamics and sedimentation. The model includes three numerical components: (1) a layer‐averaged three‐equation flow model for tracing downslope flow evolution using continuity and momentum equations, (2) a sedimentation/fluidization model for tracing sediment‐size fractionation in sedimenting multicomponent suspensions and (3) a concentration‐viscosity model for quantifying the changes in resistance of such suspensions toward fluid and sediment motion. The model traces the evolution of a model turbidity current in terms the layer‐averaged flow velocity, flow thickness, sediment concentration distribution, and the rate of sedimentation and sediment size fractionation. It generates synthetic turbidites with downslope variations in thickness and grain‐size structuring at each point along the flow path. This study represents an effort to evaluate quantitatively the effects of basin geometry, sediment supply and sediment properties on the mechanics of turbidity current flow and sedimentation and on the geometry and grain size characteristics of the resulting deposits.

A process‐based, forward computer model of turbidity current flow and sedimentation, termed the TCFS model, has been developed to trace the downslope evolution of individual turbidity flows. Details of the model itself have been presented in a preceding paper. We here outline a series of tests of the TGFS model.The sensitivity tests of the TCFS model to general geological controls reveal the quantitative relationship between these controls and the behaviour of turbidity flows and the geometry and textural features of the resulting turbidites. Experimental turbidity currents on relatively steep slopes accelerate more rapidly and reach higher velocities than those on gentle slopes. Flows with larger initial volumes have higher initial velocities, travel further downslope, and form beds of greater thickness and downslope extent than smaller flows. Experimental high‐concentration flows with suspended‐sediment concentrations of 25% accelerate more rapidly and reach higher downslope velocities than dilute flows with 5% suspended sediment. The higher velocities and enhanced hindered‐settling effects of the high‐concentration flows lead to much greater transport distances and reduced vertical and lateral sediment size grading in the resulting turbidites. Beds formed by experimental high‐concentration flows are massive or show coarse‐tail grading whereas beds formed by low‐concentration flows show distribution‐grading. Experimental flows fed by coarse sediment sources tend to deposit the bulk of their suspended sediment loads on the proximal slope, resulting in more rapid flow deceleration and sedimentation than flows fed by silt‐rich, fine‐grained sediment sources. Turbidites formed by coarse‐sediment flows tend to have a wedge‐shaped geometry, with low downslope extent and high surface relief, whereas turbidites formed by fine‐sediment flows tend to have a tabular geometry, with greater downslope extent and lower surface relief.A specific geological test of the TCFS model is based on studies of modern turbidity currents in Bute Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. With the input initial and boundary conditions estimated from Bute Inlet, the model predicts the downslope velocity evolution of turbidity currents comparable to those of modern and ancient turbidity flows measured in Bute Inlet. Model‐calculated vertical and downslope grain‐size properties of turbidites are similar to those exhibited by surface and cored Bute Inlet turbidites. Model flows tend to decelerate more rapidly than some stronger turbidity currents in the Bute Inlet system, and model beds tend to decrease in grain‐size downslope more rapidly than observed bottom sediments. This is probably because the TCFS model flows lacked clay, which is abundant in Bute Inlet; they do not fully simulate turbulent mixing of suspended sediments; and they better represent the unsteady, depositional stage of turbidity‐currents than the preceding stage of more‐or‐less steady‐flow conditions.These tests demonstrate that the TCFS model provides a semi‐quantitative method to study the growth patterns of submarine turbidite systems. It can serve as a predictive tool for analysing the facies architecture of ancient turbidite systems through simulating multi‐depositional events by improving its erosion function, and the compatibility between its numerical components.

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