Detailed monitoring reveals the nature of submarine turbidity currents

Seafloor sediment flows, called turbidity currents, form the largest sediment accumulations, deepest canyons, and longest channels on Earth. It was once thought that turbidity currents were impractical to measure in action, especially due to their ability to damage sensors in their path, but direct monitoring since the mid 2010s has measured them in detail. In this Review, we summarise knowledge of turbidity currents gleaned from this direct monitoring. Monitoring identifies triggering mechanisms from dilute river-plumes, and shows how rapid sediment accumulation can precondition slope failure, but the final triggers can be delayed and subtle. Turbidity currents are consistently more frequent than predicted by past sequence stratigraphic models, including at sites >300 km from any coast. Faster (>~1.5 m s–1) flows are driven by a dense near-bed layer at their front, whereas slower flows are entirely dilute. This frontal layer sometimes erodes large (>2.5 km3) volumes of sediment, yet maintains a near-uniform speed, leading to a travelling wave model. Monitoring shows that flows sculpt canyons and channels through fast-moving knickpoints, and how deposits originate. Emerging technologies with reduced cost and risk can lead to widespread monitoring of turbidity currents, so their sediment and carbon fluxes can be compared with other major global transport processes

Author Correction: Rapidly-migrating and internally-generated knickpoints can control submarine channel evolution (Nature Communications, (2020), 11, 1, (3129), 10.1038/s41467-020-16861-x)

© 2020, The Author(s). The original version of this Article contained an error in the labelling of the cross-section in Fig. 2g and the vertical axis in Fig. 2b. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article

Lessons learned from monitoring of turbidity currents and guidance for future platform designs

Turbidity currents transport globally significant volumes of sediment and organic carbon into the deep-sea and pose a hazard to critical infrastructure. Despite advances in technology, their powerful nature often damages expensive instruments placed in their path. These challenges mean that turbidity currents have only been measured in a few locations worldwide, in relatively shallow water depths (≪2 km). Here, we share lessons from recent field deployments about how to design the platforms on which instruments are deployed. First, we show how monitoring platforms have been affected by turbidity currents including instability, displacement, tumbling and damage. Second, we relate these issues to specifics of the platform design, such as exposure of large surface area instruments within a flow and inadequate anchoring or seafloor support. Third, we provide recommended improvements to improve design by simplifying mooring configurations, minimising surface area, and enhancing seafloor stability. Finally we highlight novel multi-point moorings that avoid interaction between the instruments and the flow, and flow-resilient seafloor platforms with innovative engineering design features, such as ejectable feet and ballast. Our experience will provide guidance for future deployments, so that more detailed insights can be provided into turbidity current behaviour, and in a wider range of settings

Global monitoring data shows grain size controls turbidity current structure

The first detailed measurements from active turbidity currents have been made in the last few years, at multiple sites worldwide. These data allow us to investigate the factors that control the structure of these flows. By analyzing the temporal evolution of the maximum velocity of turbidity currents at different sites, we aim to understand whether there are distinct types of flow, or if a continuum exists between end-members; and to investigate the physical controls on the different types of observed flow. Our results show that the evolution of the maximum velocity of turbidity currents falls between two end-members. Either the events show a rapid peak in velocity followed by an exponential decay or, flows continue at a plateau-like, near constant velocity. Our analysis suggests that rather than triggers or system input type, flow structure is primarily governed by the grain size of the sediment available for incorporation into the flow

Influences of flocculation on bed properties for fine-grained cohesive sediment

An understanding of the behaviour of newly deposited soil is important because of its direct applications in fields such as harbour siltation and storage of dredge slurries. In coastal regions the dominant mode for deposition of fine-grained cohesive material is through flocculation- the electrostatic aggregation of mud particles. The present study focuses on the measurement of both flocculation conditions and bed properties, towards the understanding of the influence of the former on the latter. A computerised laboratory setup, complete from sedimentation and flocculation to the long term consolidation allows each of these processes to be observed in instrumented perspex columns without the many variables present in an estuary. The bed deposition rates resemble those found in natural estuaries, and therefore this technique is a much improved method for examining natural processes than the method of slurry deposition, which is normally employed in soil mechanics. An image acquisition and analysis system has been designed specifically for this work. Image sequences are analysed in real time to give information about the dimensions and concentration of the particles, and the particle velocities. Floc sizes increase as the particle concentration increases in the column. Increasing the concentration further leads to an overall hindering of the sedimentation rate and breakup of the flocs. Images of beds formed through slow sedimentation clearly show aggregate features that are not present in slurry experiments. From low to medium sedimentation rates the bed height, normalised by the mass of sediment in the bed, increases. From medium to high rates of sedimentation, however, the normalised bed heights decrease. Overall slurry experiments have lower bed heights than slowly deposited experiments. Image analysis of the bed surface (top 0.5mm) has revealed that aggregates which are present immediately after deposition are broken down over tens of hours. The ISIS instrument has been modified to gather information about the resistance to erosion of the beds. A bed is more easily eroded after it has had a long period of consolidation. X-ray density measurements and imaging techniques are used to link the strength of the bed to biological factors. X-ray bulk density and pore pressure measurements allow calculations of void ratio, porosity, and effective stress. Bender element apparatus has been constructed to measure shear stiffness of the soil, and bed strength measurements are made using a shear vane. It is found that variations in the sedimentation conditions have significant effects on bed density and on void ratio. These effects continue to be visible in the consolidated bed, even after an order of magnitude increase in the total vertical bed stress (equivalent to the range of metres of overburden pressure). The variations in the bed structure can have profound effects on bed strength. Methods to compare floc measurements to bed measurements are complicated by the inherent variation in floc data. Possible techniques include the use of solids volume fraction, fractal dimension and intrinsic sediment properties. The usefulness of each of these is assessed. It is suggested that it is the frequency at which the bed is bombarded by flocs, and not the properties of the flocs themselves, that largely determines the bed properties

Influences of flocculation on bed properties for fine-grained cohesive sediment

An understanding of the behaviour of newly deposited soil is important because of its direct applications in fields such as harbour siltation and storage of dredge slurries. In coastal regions the dominant mode for deposition of fine-grained cohesive material is through flocculation- the electrostatic aggregation of mud particles. The present study focuses on the measurement of both flocculation conditions and bed properties, towards the understanding of the influence of the former on the latter. A computerised laboratory setup, complete from sedimentation and flocculation to the long term consolidation allows each of these processes to be observed in instrumented perspex columns without the many variables present in an estuary. The bed deposition rates resemble those found in natural estuaries, and therefore this technique is a much improved method for examining natural processes than the method of slurry deposition, which is normally employed in soil mechanics. An image acquisition and analysis system has been designed specifically for this work. Image sequences are analysed in real time to give information about the dimensions and concentration of the particles, and the particle velocities. Floc sizes increase as the particle concentration increases in the column. Increasing the concentration further leads to an overall hindering of the sedimentation rate and breakup of the flocs. Images of beds formed through slow sedimentation clearly show aggregate features that are not present in slurry experiments. From low to medium sedimentation rates the bed height, normalised by the mass of sediment in the bed, increases. From medium to high rates of sedimentation, however, the normalised bed heights decrease. Overall slurry experiments have lower bed heights than slowly deposited experiments. Image analysis of the bed surface (top 0.5mm) has revealed that aggregates which are present immediately after deposition are broken down over tens of hours. The ISIS instrument has been modified to gather information about the resistance to erosion of the beds. A bed is more easily eroded after it has had a long period of consolidation. X-ray density measurements and imaging techniques are used to link the strength of the bed to biological factors. X-ray bulk density and pore pressure measurements allow calculations of void ratio, porosity, and effective stress. Bender element apparatus has been constructed to measure shear stiffness of the soil, and bed strength measurements are made using a shear vane. It is found that variations in the sedimentation conditions have significant effects on bed density and on void ratio. These effects continue to be visible in the consolidated bed, even after an order of magnitude increase in the total vertical bed stress (equivalent to the range of metres of overburden pressure). The variations in the bed structure can have profound effects on bed strength. Methods to compare floc measurements to bed measurements are complicated by the inherent variation in floc data. Possible techniques include the use of solids volume fraction, fractal dimension and intrinsic sediment properties. The usefulness of each of these is assessed. It is suggested that it is the frequency at which the bed is bombarded by flocs, and not the properties of the flocs themselves, that largely determines the bed properties.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Sediment processes on the Fraser Delta

Sediment processes on the Fraser Delta, British Columbia, are being observed using a real time scientific ocean network maintained and operated by Ocean Networks Canada and the Geological Survey of Canada. The instruments have detected many features of sediment transport including plume settling characteristics, deposition rates, conditions for tidal resuspension and transport. This information would be useful for the understanding of remobilization and transport of contaminants from the Fraser River. Among the key findings, settling rates might be faster than stokes settling alone would account for, and annual bed-building deposition is interrupted by massive erosion events at certain tides. In addition to the transport modes above, the instruments have registered several turbidity current events, and in at least two cases these were strong enough to lift the 1-tonne platform off the seabed and send it tumbling, all the time measuring rarely measured properties of the turbidity currents. These turbidity currents would remove sediment and presumably contaminants to deep water in the Salish Sea (though we are not measuring contaminants directly). In this presentation, we show highlights of our measurements on the modes of sediment transport on the Fraser Delta

Fluvial Response to Climate Change in the Pacific Northwest: Skeena River Discharge and Sediment Yield

Changes in climate affect the hydrological regime of rivers worldwide and differ with geographic location and basin characteristics. Such changes within a basin are captured in the flux of water and sediment at river mouths, which can impact coastal productivity and development. Here, we model discharge and sediment yield of the Skeena River, a significant river in British Columbia, Canada. We use HydroTrend 3.0, two global climate models (GCMs), and two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) to model changes in fluvial fluxes related to climate change until the end of the century. Contributions of sediment to the river from glaciers decreases throughout the century, while basin-wide overland and instream contributions driven by precipitation increase. Bedload, though increased compared to the period (1981–2010), is on a decreasing trajectory by the end of the century. For overall yield, the model simulations suggest conflicting results, with those GCMs that predict higher increases in precipitation and temperature predicting an increase in total (suspended and bedload) sediment yield by up to 10% in some scenarios, and those predicting more moderate increases predicting a decrease in yield by as much as 20%. The model results highlight the complexity of sediment conveyance in rivers within British Columbia and present the first comprehensive investigation into the sediment fluxes of this understudied river system

Sedimentary Processes and Sediment Dispersal in the southern Strait of Georgia, BC, Canada

International audienc

How turbidity current frequency and character varies down a fjord-delta system: Combining direct monitoring, deposits and seismic data

Submarine turbidity currents are one of the most important processes for moving sediment across our planet; they are hazardous to offshore infrastructure, deposit petroleum reservoirs worldwide, and may record tsunamigenic landslides. However, there are few studies that have monitored these submarine flows in action, and even fewer studies that have combined direct monitoring with longer‐term records from core and seismic data of deposits. This article provides one of the most complete studies yet of a turbidity current system. The aim here is to understand what controls changes in flow frequency and character along the turbidite system. The study area is a 12 km long delta‐fed fjord (Howe Sound) in British Columbia, Canada. Over 100 often powerful (up to 2 to 3 m sec−1) events occur each year in the highly‐active proximal channels, which extend for 1 to 2 km from the delta lip. About half of these events reach the lobes at the channel mouths. However, flow frequency decreases rapidly once these initially sand‐rich flows become unconfined, and only one to five flows run out across the mid‐slope each year. Many of these sand‐rich, channelized, delta‐sourced flows therefore dissipated over a few hundred metres, once unconfined, rather than eroding and igniting. Upflow migrating bedforms indicate that supercritical flow dominated in the proximal channels and lobes, and also across the unconfined mid‐slope. These supercritical flows deposited thick sand beds in proximal channels and lobes, but thinner and finer beds on the unconfined mid‐slope. The distal flat basin records far larger volume and more hazardous events that have a recurrence interval of ca 100 years. This study shows how sand‐rich delta‐fed flows dissipate rapidly once they become unconfined, that supercritical flows dominate in both confined and unconfined settings, and how a second type of more hazardous, and much less frequent event is linked to a different scale of margin failure