Longest sediment flows yet measured show how major rivers connect efficiently to deep sea

Peter J. Talling (), Megan L. Baker, Ed L. Pope, Sean C. Ruffell, Ricardo Silva Jacinto, Maarten S. Heijnen, Sophie Hage, Stephen M. Simmons, Martin Hasenhündl, Catharina J. Heerema, Claire McGhee, Ronan Apprioual, Anthony Ferrant, Matthieu J. B. Cartigny, Daniel R. Parsons, Michael A. Clare, Raphael M. Tshimanga, Mark A. Trigg, Costa A. Cula, Rui Faria, Arnaud Gaillot, Gode Bola, Dec Wallance, Allan Griffiths, Robert Nunny, Morelia Urlaub, Christine Peirce, Richard Burnett, Jeffrey Neasham and Robert J. Hilton
Additional contact information
Peter J. Talling: Durham University
Megan L. Baker: Durham University
Ed L. Pope: Durham University
Sean C. Ruffell: Durham University
Ricardo Silva Jacinto: IFREMER Centre de Brest
Maarten S. Heijnen: National Oceanography Centre Southampton
Sophie Hage: University of Brest, CNRS, IFREMER
Stephen M. Simmons: University of Hull
Martin Hasenhündl: TU Wien
Catharina J. Heerema: Durham University
Claire McGhee: Newcastle University
Ronan Apprioual: IFREMER Centre de Brest
Anthony Ferrant: IFREMER Centre de Brest
Matthieu J. B. Cartigny: Durham University
Daniel R. Parsons: University of Hull
Michael A. Clare: National Oceanography Centre Southampton
Raphael M. Tshimanga: University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN)
Mark A. Trigg: University of Leeds
Costa A. Cula: Angola Cables SA
Rui Faria: Angola Cables SA
Arnaud Gaillot: IFREMER Centre de Brest
Gode Bola: University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN)
Dec Wallance: Subsea Centre of Excellence Technology, BT
Allan Griffiths: Vodaphone Group
Robert Nunny: Ambios
Morelia Urlaub: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research
Christine Peirce: Durham University
Richard Burnett: Newcastle University
Jeffrey Neasham: Newcastle University
Robert J. Hilton: Department of Earth Sciences

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Here we show how major rivers can efficiently connect to the deep-sea, by analysing the longest runout sediment flows (of any type) yet measured in action on Earth. These seafloor turbidity currents originated from the Congo River-mouth, with one flow travelling >1,130 km whilst accelerating from 5.2 to 8.0 m/s. In one year, these turbidity currents eroded 1,338-2,675 [>535-1,070] Mt of sediment from one submarine canyon, equivalent to 19–37 [>7–15] % of annual suspended sediment flux from present-day rivers. It was known earthquakes trigger canyon-flushing flows. We show river-floods also generate canyon-flushing flows, primed by rapid sediment-accumulation at the river-mouth, and sometimes triggered by spring tides weeks to months post-flood. It is demonstrated that strongly erosional turbidity currents self-accelerate, thereby travelling much further, validating a long-proposed theory. These observations explain highly-efficient organic carbon transfer, and have important implications for hazards to seabed cables, or deep-sea impacts of terrestrial climate change.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31689-3 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31689-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31689-3

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().