Pulse propagation in turbidity currents

Ho, Viet Luan; Dorrell, Robert M.; Keevil, Gareth M.; Burns, Alan D.; McCaffrey, William D.

Abstract

© 2017 The Authors. Sedimentology © 2017 International Association of Sedimentologists Submarine turbidity currents are a key mechanism in the transportation of clastic sediments to deep seas. Such currents may initiate with a complex longitudinal flow structure comprising flow pulses (for example, by being sourced from retrogressive sea floor slope failures) or acquire such structure during run-out (for example, following flow combination downstream of confluences). A key question is how far along channel pathway complex flow structure is preserved within turbidity currents as they run out and thus if flow initiation mechanism and proximity to source may be inferred from the vertical structure of their deposits. To address this question, physical modelling of saline flows has been conducted to investigate the dynamics of single-pulsed versus multi-pulsed density driven currents. The data suggest that, under most circumstances, individual pulses within a multi-pulsed flow must merge. Therefore, initiation signatures will only be preserved in deposits upstream of the merging point and may be distorted approaching it; downstream of the merging point, all initiation signals will be lost. This new understanding of merging phenomenon within multi-pulsed gravity currents broadens our ability to interpret multi-pulsed turbidites.

Citation

Ho, V. L., Dorrell, R. M., Keevil, G. M., Burns, A. D., & McCaffrey, W. D. (2018). Pulse propagation in turbidity currents. Sedimentology, 65(2), 620-637. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12397

• Acceptance Date: Sep 1, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 26, 2017
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 21, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 27, 2018
• Journal: Sedimentology
• Print ISSN: 0037-0746
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 65
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 620-637
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12397
• Keywords: Multi-pulsed turbidity currents; pulsed turbidites; seismo-turbidites; signal shredding; stacked turbidites; turbidity currents
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/733474
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sed.12397
• Related Public URLs: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/118146/
• Contract Date: Mar 21, 2018