Processes That Initiate Turbidity Currents and Their Influence on Turbidites: A Marine Geology Perspective

Piper, David J. W.; Normark, William R.

doi:10.2110/jsr.2009.046

Cited by 335 publications

(225 citation statements)

References 106 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

220

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Paull and others (2005) observe that material accumulating rapidly in upper Monterey Canyon is subject to frequent downslope movements, otherwise the canyon head would fill completely in ~500 years. Despite high frequencies in the canyon head area, the youngest turbidite on the lower fan is likely from the 1906 earthquake, and the frequency of turbidite deposition is on the order of one every 230 years, similar to the northern San Andreas Fault earthquake frequency (Johnson andothers, 2005, 2006;Goldfinger and others, 2007a;Piper and Normark, 2009). Furthermore, the fill accumulating in the canyon is not sufficient to account for the volume deposited on the fan in major events, thus the material must not be escaping the canyon, but rather residing in the canyon-floor reservoir for considerable periods of time.…”

Section: Frequency Of Triggering Mechanisms Cascadia Turbidite Frequementioning

confidence: 94%

“…Although presently there are not (and may never be) unequivocal global, regional, or local criteria to distinguish between turbidity current generation processes (Piper and Normark, 2009), the combined evidence from sedimentology, tests of synchroneity, stratigraphic correlation, and analysis of nonearthquake triggers leads to the inference of earthquakes as the triggering mechanism for most Cascadia Holocene turbidites. The available sedimentological criteria generally support, or at least do not preclude, earthquake triggering in Cascadia Basin systems.…”

Section: Triggering Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Turbidite event history—Methods and implications for Holocene paleoseismicity of the Cascadia subduction zone

Goldfinger¹,

Nelson²,

Morey³

et al. 2012

Professional Paper

328

671

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Frequency Of Triggering Mechanisms Cascadia Turbidite Frequementioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Triggering Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Turbidite event history—Methods and implications for Holocene paleoseismicity of the Cascadia subduction zone

Goldfinger¹,

Nelson²,

Morey³

et al. 2012

Professional Paper

328

671

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Flows generated by large underwater landslides record the frequency and emplacement dynamics of these landslides, which are key parameters for predicting the magnitude of risk from associated tsunamis. Flow deposits may provide a detailed record of major earthquakes, which extends further back in time than most records on land (Goldfinger et al, 2007;Atwater and Griggs, 2012), of the way in which submarine landslides are emplaced which has important implications for tsunami-genesis (Wynn and Masson, 2003;Hunt et al, 2011), and of mega-floods associated with glacial melting that are inferred to have caused abrupt global climatic change (Piper and Normark, 2009). Obtaining a clearer understanding of submarine flow processes is of both scientific interest and societal relevance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How are subaqueous sediment density flows triggered, what is their internal structure and how does it evolve? Direct observations from monitoring of active flows

Talling

Paull

Piper

2013

Earth-Science Reviews

209

184

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Subaqueous sediment density flows are one of the volumetrically most important processes for moving sediment across our planet, and form the largest sediment accumulations on Earth (submarine fans). They are also arguably the most sparely monitored major sediment transport processes on our planet. Significant advances have been made in documenting their timing and triggers, especially within submarine canyons and delta-fronts, and freshwater lakes and reservoirs, but the sediment concentration of flows that run out beyond the continental slope has never been measured directly. This limited amount of monitoring data contrasts sharply with other major types of sediment flow, such as river systems, and ensure that understanding submarine sediment density flows remains a major challenge for Earth science. The available monitoring data define a series of flow types whose character and deposits differ significantly. Large (N 100 km 3 ) failures on the continental slope can generate fast-moving (up to 19 m/s) flows that reach the deep ocean, and deposit thick layers of sand across submarine fans. Even small volume (0.008 km 3 ) canyon head failures can sometimes generate channelised flows that travel at N 5 m/s for several hundred kilometres. A single event off SE Taiwan shows that river floods can generate powerful flows that reach the deep ocean, in this case triggered by failure of recently deposited sediment in the canyon head. Direct monitoring evidence of powerful oceanic flows produced by plunging hyperpycnal flood water is lacking, although this process has produced shorter and weaker oceanic flows. Numerous flows can occur each year on river-fed delta fronts, where they can generate up-slope migrating crescentic bedforms. These flows tend to occur during the flood season, but are not necessarily associated with individual flood discharge peaks, suggesting that they are often triggered by delta-front slope failures. Powerful flows occur several times each year in canyons fed by sand from the shelf, associated with strong wave action. These flows can also generate up-slope migrating crescentic bedforms that most likely originate due to retrogressive breaching associated with a dense near-bed layer of sediment. Expanded dilute flows that are supercritical and fully turbulent are also triggered by wave action in canyons. Sediment density flows in lakes and reservoirs generated by plunging river flood water have been monitored in much greater detail. They are typically very dilute (b 0.01 vol.% sediment) and travel at b 50 cm/s, and are prone to generating interflows within the density stratified freshwater. A key objective for future work is to develop measurement techniques for seeing through overlying dilute clouds of sediment, to determine whether dense near-bed layers are present. There is also a need to combine monitoring of flows with detailed analyses of flow deposits, in order to understand how flows are recorded in the rock record. Finally, a source-to-sink approach is needed because the character of subm...

show abstract

“…Submarine slope failure is an important mechanism that releases sediments stored on the continental shelf into the deep sea (Hampton et al, 1996;Van den Berg et al, 2002;Piper and Normark, 2009 Previous studies identify two end members of submarine slope failure. One end member is the liquefaction slope failure that is usually associated with clay rich deposits (Terzaghi, 1956;Morgenstern, 1967;Hampton et al, 1996;McAdoo et al, 2000).…”

Section: Chapter 1: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of dilative slope failure

You

Flemings

Mohrig

2012

Geology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Processes That Initiate Turbidity Currents and Their Influence on Turbidites: A Marine Geology Perspective

Cited by 335 publications

References 106 publications

Turbidite event history—Methods and implications for Holocene paleoseismicity of the Cascadia subduction zone

Turbidite event history—Methods and implications for Holocene paleoseismicity of the Cascadia subduction zone

How are subaqueous sediment density flows triggered, what is their internal structure and how does it evolve? Direct observations from monitoring of active flows

Dynamics of dilative slope failure

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About