Elsevier

Sedimentary Geology

Volume 115, Issues 1–4, January 1998, Pages 111-132
Sedimentary Geology

The interplay between turbidity and contour current processes on the Columbia Channel fan drift, Southern Brazil Basin

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0037-0738(97)00089-4Get rights and content

Abstract

The distribution of sedimentary processes and associated deposits on the Columbia Channel fan drift system (Southern Brazil Basin), were investigated on the basis of 3.5-kHz echosounding profiles and core lithology. This system is composed of a sediment levee elongated downslope with a W-E then SW-NE trend, bounded to the south by the Columbia Channel and to the north by the Vitoria-Trindade seamounts. Turbidites are widespread on the shallowest part of the system: (1) thick turbidite sequences composed of quartz-rich sandy material originating from the upper continental margin are found in the axis of the channel; the turbidity currents do not significantly overflow the northern levee, where only sparse and thin silty-muddy turbidites, occur close to the axis of the channel; (2) the major part of the levee shows quartz-poor, mica- and foram-rich turbidite material originating from the Vitoria-Trindade seamounts. The abundance of this material decreases southwards and eastwards. The whole area is swept by the northward flowing Antarctic Bottom Water. Contour-current deposited muds are dominant on the southern flank of the Columbia Channel, free of any turbidite supply as a consequence of the Coriolis effect, and on the deepest part of the northern levee, remote from turbidite source areas. However, the contour currents interplay with the turbidity currents on the shallowest part of the levee. Contour-current deposited muds are interbedded with silty-sandy turbidite sequences, and a part of the muddy material has probably been pirated from the finer tails of the turbidity flows, the other part being transported from southernmost areas by the bottom currents. The interplay of both processes is also responsible for the deposition of silty turbidite beds, top-truncated by contour currents and overlain by bioturbated muddy contourites.

References (50)

  • G. Peggion et al.

    On the interaction of the bottom boundary layer and deep rings

    Mar. Geol.

    (1991)
  • K.I. Pickering et al.

    Deep water facies, processes and models: a review and classification scheme for modem and ancient sediments

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (1986)
  • D.J. Stanley

    Model for turbidite-to-contourite continuum and multiple process transport in deep marine settings: examples in the rock record

  • D.A.V. Stow et al.

    Contourites: their recognition in modem and ancient sediments

    Earth Sci. Rev.

    (1979)
  • P.E. Biscaye

    Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deep-sea clay in the Atlantic ocean and adjacent seas and oceans

    Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

    (1965)
  • A.H. Bouma

    Sedimentology of Some Flysch Deposits

  • A.H. Bouma

    Fossil contourites in lower Niesenflysch, Switzerland

    J. Sediment. Petrol.

    (1972)
  • L. Carter et al.

    Development of sediment drifts approaching an active plate margin under the SW Pacific Deep Western Boundary Current

    Paleoceanography

    (1994)
  • D.D. Castro

    Morfologia da margem continental Sudeste-Sul Brasileira e estratigrafia sismica do sopé continental

  • T.A. Davies et al.

    Sedimentary processes in the North Atlantic

    Init. Rep. DSDP

    (1972)
  • R.W. Embley

    Studies of Deep-Sea Sedimentation Processes Using High-Frequency Seismic Data

  • M. Ewing et al.

    Sediment transport and distribution in the Argentine Basin, 3. Nepheloid layer and processes of sedimentation

    Phys. Chem. Earth

    (1971)
  • J.C. Faugères

    La campagne Byblos. Role des courants profonds dans la sedimentation de la marge est-brésilienne. Géochronique

    Soc. Géol. Fr.

    (1988)
  • J.C. Faugères et al.

    Bottom-current-controlled sedimentation: a synthesis of the contourite problem

  • E. Gonthier et al.

    Contourite facies of the Faro Drift, Gulf of Cadiz

  • Cited by (40)

    • Along-strike Quaternary morphological variation of the Baiyun Sag, South China Sea: The interplay between deltas, pre-existing morphology, and oceanographic processes

      2020, Marine and Petroleum Geology
      Citation Excerpt :

      The continental slope, extending from shelf edge to deep sea, is a critical transition zone between ‘source’ and ‘sink’, which typically displays a variety of morphological features of different origins (e.g., submarine canyons, channels, landslides, contourite depositional systems, hybrid turbidite-drift channel complexes) (Massé et al., 1998; Brackenridge et al., 2013; Alonso et al., 2016; Mosher et al., 2017; Fuhrmann et al., 2020).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text