Challenging the highstand-dormant paradigm for land-detached submarine canyons

M. S. Heijnen, F. Mienis, A. R. Gates, B. J. Bett, R. A. Hall, J. Hunt, I. A. Kane, C. Pebody, V. A. I. Huvenne, E. L. Soutter and M. A. Clare ()
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M. S. Heijnen: National Oceanography Centre, European Way
F. Mienis: Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ-Texel)
A. R. Gates: National Oceanography Centre, European Way
B. J. Bett: National Oceanography Centre, European Way
R. A. Hall: University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park
J. Hunt: National Oceanography Centre, European Way
I. A. Kane: University of Manchester
C. Pebody: National Oceanography Centre, European Way
V. A. I. Huvenne: National Oceanography Centre, European Way
E. L. Soutter: University of Manchester
M. A. Clare: National Oceanography Centre, European Way

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Sediment, nutrients, organic carbon and pollutants are funnelled down submarine canyons from continental shelves by sediment-laden flows called turbidity currents, which dominate particulate transfer to the deep sea. Post-glacial sea-level rise disconnected more than three quarters of the >9000 submarine canyons worldwide from their former river or long-shore drift sediment inputs. Existing models therefore assume that land-detached submarine canyons are dormant in the present-day; however, monitoring has focused on land-attached canyons and this paradigm remains untested. Here we present the most detailed field measurements yet of turbidity currents within a land-detached submarine canyon, documenting a remarkably similar frequency (6 yr−1) and speed (up to 5–8 ms−1) to those in large land-attached submarine canyons. Major triggers such as storms or earthquakes are not required; instead, seasonal variations in cross-shelf sediment transport explain temporal-clustering of flows, and why the storm season is surprisingly absent of turbidity currents. As >1000 other canyons have a similar configuration, we propose that contemporary deep-sea particulate transport via such land-detached canyons may have been dramatically under-estimated.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31114-9

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