What is it about?
We use cutting-edge technology to produce high-resolution seafloor and shallow subsurface images of a complex set of adjacent deep-sea channels in ~1000 meters water depth, offshore central California. Instead of previously interpreted continuous channels, we find scours and other discontinuous channel morphologies associated with channel avulsion (shifting position upstream) and channel reactivation through flow-stripping of turbidity currents.
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Why is it important?
Our study of a channel system offshore central California provides an important example and potential analog for deep-sea channels in other locations without high-resolution imaging. The Lucia Chica dataset bridges persistent gaps between the scale of outcrop studies and subsurface imaging of deep-water channels. Our Geology paper provided the first publication of the Lucia Chica dataset and highlights complex channel morphologies formed from channel avulsion and turbidity current flow stripping that are extremely difficult to decipher in other datasets.
Perspectives
I conducted this research as part of my PhD in the Stanford Project on Deep-water Depositional Systems (SPODDS) research group with S.A. Graham and in collaboration with researchers at MBARI (C.K. Paull, D.W. Caress), Chevron ETC (A. Fildani, T. McHargue), and the U.S. Geological Survey (M. McGann). Check out sister publications on the Lucia Chica dataset in Journal of Sedimentary Research: https://goo.gl/Vpk3k5 in Sedimentology: https://goo.gl/xzfAJZ in Marine and Petroleum Geology: doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.03.00
Katherine L Maier
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The elusive character of discontinuous deep-water channels: New insights from Lucia Chica channel system, offshore California, Geology, March 2011, Geological Society of America,
DOI: 10.1130/g31589.1.
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