The Role of Canyons in Strata Formation

This paper provides a spatial and temporal multi-scale approach of European submarine canyons. We fi rst present the long-term geologic view of European margins as related to controls on submarine canyon development. Then we discuss the extent to which submarine canyon systems resemble river systems because both essentially form drainage networks. Finally, we deal with the hortest-term, highestresolution scale to get a fl avor of the current functioning and health of modern submarine canyons in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Submarine canyons are unique features of the seafl oor whose existence was known by European fi shermen centuries ago, especially for those canyons that have their heads at short distance from shoreline. Popular names given to specifi c canyons in the different languages spoken in European coastal communities refer to the concepts of a"deep" or"trench." In the old times it was also common thinking that submarine canyons where so deep that nobody could measure their depth or even that they had no bottom. Submarine canyons are just one of the seven different types of seafl oor valleys identifi ed by Shepard (1973) in his pioneering morphogenetic classifi cation. Shepard (1973) defined submarine canyons as"steep-walled, sinuous valleys, with V-shaped cross sections, and relief comparable even to the largest of land canyons; tributaries are found in most of the canyons and rock outcrops abound on their walls." Canyons are features typical of continental slopes with their upper reaches and heads cut into the continental shelf

Morphometry of Conception Bank: Evidence of geological and biological processes on a large volcanic seamount of the Canary Islands Seamount Province.

Concepcion Bank is the largest seamount in the Canary Islands Seamount Province (CISP), an oceanic area off NW Africa including 16 main seamounts, the Canaries archipelago and the Selvagens subarchipelago. The Bank is located 90 km northeast of Lanzarote Island and has been identified as a candidate Marine Protected Area (MPA) to be included in the Natura 2000 network. A compilation of complementary datasets consisting of multibeam bathymetry, TOPAS seismic reflection profiles, side scan sonar sonographs, Remotely Operated Vehicle video records and seafloor samples allowed describing in detail and ground truthing the submarine landforms and bioconstructions exhibited by the bank. The Concepcion Bank presently rises up to 2,433 m above the adjacent seafloor and exhibits two main domains: an extensive summit plateau and steep flanks. The sub-round summit plateau is 50km by 45 km and ranges from 158 to 1,485 m depth. The steep flanks that bound it descend to depths ranging between 1,700 and 2,500 m and define a seamount base that is 66km by 53 km. This morphology is the result of constructive and erosive processes involving different time scales, volumes of material and rates of change. The volcanic emplacement phase probably lasted 25-30 million years and was likely responsible for most of the 2,730 km3 of material that presently form the seamount. Subsequently, marine abrasion and, possibly, subaerial erosion modulated by global sea level oscillations, levelled the formerly emerging seamount summit plateau, in particular its shallower (<400 m), flatter (<0.5°) eastern half. Subsidence associated to the crustal cooling that followed the emplacement phase further contributed the current depth range of the seamount. The deeper and steeper (2.3°) western half of Concepcion Bank may result from tectonic tilting normal to a NNE-SSW fracture line. This fracture may still be expressed on the seafloor surface at some scarps detected on the seamount's summit. Sediment waves and cold-water coral (CWC) mounds on the bank summit plateau are the youngest features contributing to its final shaping, and may be indicative of internal wave effects. Numerous submarine canyons generally less than 10 km in length are incised on the bank's flanks. The most developed, hierarchized canyon system runs southwest of the bank, where it merges with other canyons coming from the southern bulges attached to some sections of the seamount flanks. These bulges are postulated as having an intrusive origin, as no major headwall landslide scars have been detected and their role as deposition areas for the submarine canyons seems to be minor. The results presented document how geological processes in the past and recent to subrecent oceanographic conditions and associated active processes determined the current physiography, morphology and sedimentary patterns of Concepcion Bank, including the development and decline of CWC mounds The setting of the seamount in the regional crustal structure is also discussed

Caracterización geológica de la región de enlace entre la Cuenca de Bransfield y la Dorsal Sur de Scotia (Antártida)

La Dorsal Sur de Scotia (DSS) constituye une frontera de placas transformante con sentido senestral, que limita las placas de Scotia, al norte, y Antártica, al sur. Durante la campaña de geología y geofísica marinas 'Scotia 92', realizada en Febrero de 1992 a bordo del BIO Hespérides, se ha estudiado su extremo occidental y sectores próximos a la Cuenca de Bransfield, entre el margen nor-occidental de la Península Antártica y las islas Shetland del Sur, Elefante y Orcadas del Sur. Al norte y sur de la DSS se desarrollan las cuencas de Scotia y de Powell, respectivamente. Los datos de sísmica de multicanal, magnetismo y gravimetna obtenidos muestran caracteristicas diferenciales entre ambas cuencas. La morfoestructura de la DSS, formada por dos crestas paralelas separadas por una profunda depresión axial, ha sido recubierta mediante perfilaje de multihaz con el sistema SIMRAD EM-12 en una área de 50 x 100 km. La batimetría resultante ha permitido reconocer en detalle las caracteristicas de una depresión de más de 5.300 m de profundidad y de 10 a 30 km de anchura, bautizada como Fosa Hespérides. En ella se aprecia la existencia de dos famílias de lineaciones, la primera de dirección E-W y paralela al límite de placas, y la segunda de dirección NW-SE. La primera acomodaría el movimiento cizallante regional mientras que la segunda estaría asociada con una componente extensional probablemente relacionada con la dirección de la Cuenca de Bransfield. La forma romboédrica de la fosa está determinada por la interacción de ambas famílias de lineaciones. Teniendo en cuenta que el límite de placas transcurre entre las dos crestas, interpretamos la Fosa Hespérides como una cuenca de pull-apart desarrollada como consecuencia del movimiento de cizalla a lo largo de la DSS

Caracterización geológica de la región de enlace entre la Cuenca de Bransfield y la Dorsal Sur de Scotia (Antártida)

La Dorsal Sur de Scotia (DSS) constituye une frontera de placas transformante con sentido senestral, que limita las placas de Scotia, al norte, y Antártica, al sur. Durante la campaña de geología y geofísica marinas 'Scotia 92', realizada en Febrero de 1992 a bordo del BIO Hespérides, se ha estudiado su extremo occidental y sectores próximos a la Cuenca de Bransfield, entre el margen nor-occidental de la Península Antártica y las islas Shetland del Sur, Elefante y Orcadas del Sur. Al norte y sur de la DSS se desarrollan las cuencas de Scotia y de Powell, respectivamente. Los datos de sísmica de multicanal, magnetismo y gravimetna obtenidos muestran caracteristicas diferenciales entre ambas cuencas. La morfoestructura de la DSS, formada por dos crestas paralelas separadas por una profunda depresión axial, ha sido recubierta mediante perfilaje de multihaz con el sistema SIMRAD EM-12 en una área de 50 x 100 km. La batimetría resultante ha permitido reconocer en detalle las caracteristicas de una depresión de más de 5.300 m de profundidad y de 10 a 30 km de anchura, bautizada como Fosa Hespérides. En ella se aprecia la existencia de dos famílias de lineaciones, la primera de dirección E-W y paralela al límite de placas, y la segunda de dirección NW-SE. La primera acomodaría el movimiento cizallante regional mientras que la segunda estaría asociada con una componente extensional probablemente relacionada con la dirección de la Cuenca de Bransfield. La forma romboédrica de la fosa está determinada por la interacción de ambas famílias de lineaciones. Teniendo en cuenta que el límite de placas transcurre entre las dos crestas, interpretamos la Fosa Hespérides como una cuenca de pull-apart desarrollada como consecuencia del movimiento de cizalla a lo largo de la DSS

Los sedimentos de la plataforma continental balear

El análisis sedimentológico de distintos sectores de la plataforma continental balear (Bahia de Campos, Sur de Menorca y Canal de Menorca) ha puesto de manifiesto la existencia de siete grupos de facies: A) algales, B) de bivalvos, C) de gasterpodos, D) bioclsticas, E) mixtas, F) de fragmentos liticos y G) cementadas (costras algales y calcarenitas). La distribución de estas facies sedimentarias guarda una estrecha relación con la profundidad, excepto en el Sur de Menorca, y con las comunidades bentónicas que se desarrollan en la plataforma continental. Las facies que recubren actualmente la plataforma balear se depositaron durante la fase del ascenso del nivel del mar de la transgresión Versiliense

Morphometry of Conception Bank: Evidence of geological and biological processes on a large volcanic seamount of the Canary Islands Seamount Province.

Concepcion Bank is the largest seamount in the Canary Islands Seamount Province (CISP), an oceanic area off NW Africa including 16 main seamounts, the Canaries archipelago and the Selvagens subarchipelago. The Bank is located 90 km northeast of Lanzarote Island and has been identified as a candidate Marine Protected Area (MPA) to be included in the Natura 2000 network. A compilation of complementary datasets consisting of multibeam bathymetry, TOPAS seismic reflection profiles, side scan sonar sonographs, Remotely Operated Vehicle video records and seafloor samples allowed describing in detail and ground truthing the submarine landforms and bioconstructions exhibited by the bank. The Concepcion Bank presently rises up to 2,433 m above the adjacent seafloor and exhibits two main domains: an extensive summit plateau and steep flanks. The sub-round summit plateau is 50km by 45 km and ranges from 158 to 1,485 m depth. The steep flanks that bound it descend to depths ranging between 1,700 and 2,500 m and define a seamount base that is 66km by 53 km. This morphology is the result of constructive and erosive processes involving different time scales, volumes of material and rates of change. The volcanic emplacement phase probably lasted 25-30 million years and was likely responsible for most of the 2,730 km3 of material that presently form the seamount. Subsequently, marine abrasion and, possibly, subaerial erosion modulated by global sea level oscillations, levelled the formerly emerging seamount summit plateau, in particular its shallower (<400 m), flatter (<0.5°) eastern half. Subsidence associated to the crustal cooling that followed the emplacement phase further contributed the current depth range of the seamount. The deeper and steeper (2.3°) western half of Concepcion Bank may result from tectonic tilting normal to a NNE-SSW fracture line. This fracture may still be expressed on the seafloor surface at some scarps detected on the seamount's summit. Sediment waves and cold-water coral (CWC) mounds on the bank summit plateau are the youngest features contributing to its final shaping, and may be indicative of internal wave effects. Numerous submarine canyons generally less than 10 km in length are incised on the bank's flanks. The most developed, hierarchized canyon system runs southwest of the bank, where it merges with other canyons coming from the southern bulges attached to some sections of the seamount flanks. These bulges are postulated as having an intrusive origin, as no major headwall landslide scars have been detected and their role as deposition areas for the submarine canyons seems to be minor. The results presented document how geological processes in the past and recent to subrecent oceanographic conditions and associated active processes determined the current physiography, morphology and sedimentary patterns of Concepcion Bank, including the development and decline of CWC mounds The setting of the seamount in the regional crustal structure is also discussed

Slope instability along the northeastern Iberian and Balearic continental margins

This paper gathers the available information on submarine landslides identified in the northeastern Iberian continental margin and presents new data on both already known landslides and new, previously unknown ones. The 2,000 km2, 26 km3 resulting deposit of the BIG'95 debris flow in the Ebro margin; the 4 up to 16 km2, 0.4 km3 Eivissa slides in the Eivissa Channel; the 2 up to 65.6 km2, 1.46 km3 Barcelona slides in the shallow southern Catalan margin; and the western Gulf of Lions debris flow in the deep north Catalan margin are presented. This compilation is completed with several other previously undescribed small-scale mass-wasting deposits together with those observed in the Balearic Promontory. The amount and widespreading of submarine landslide deposits in the northern Iberian margins demonstrate that these margins are not an exception to the common occurence of these kind of structures worldwide, and give an idea on these phenomena recurrence even in margins considered moderately quiet, in terms of seismicity

The Role of Canyons in Strata Formation

This paper provides a spatial and temporal multi-scale approach of European submarine canyons. We fi rst present the long-term geologic view of European margins as related to controls on submarine canyon development. Then we discuss the extent to which submarine canyon systems resemble river systems because both essentially form drainage networks. Finally, we deal with the hortest-term, highestresolution scale to get a fl avor of the current functioning and health of modern submarine canyons in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Submarine canyons are unique features of the seafl oor whose existence was known by European fi shermen centuries ago, especially for those canyons that have their heads at short distance from shoreline. Popular names given to specifi c canyons in the different languages spoken in European coastal communities refer to the concepts of a"deep" or"trench." In the old times it was also common thinking that submarine canyons where so deep that nobody could measure their depth or even that they had no bottom. Submarine canyons are just one of the seven different types of seafl oor valleys identifi ed by Shepard (1973) in his pioneering morphogenetic classifi cation. Shepard (1973) defined submarine canyons as"steep-walled, sinuous valleys, with V-shaped cross sections, and relief comparable even to the largest of land canyons; tributaries are found in most of the canyons and rock outcrops abound on their walls." Canyons are features typical of continental slopes with their upper reaches and heads cut into the continental shelf