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GSA Bulletin; May 2009; v. 121; no. 5-6; p. 698-711; DOI: 10.1130/B26190.1
© 2009 Geological Society of America
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Trails of depressions and sediment waves along submarine channels on the continental margin of Espirito Santo Basin, Brazil

Päivi Heiniö1,{dagger} and Richard J. Davies2

1 3DLab, School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3YE, UK
2 CeREES (Centre for Research into Earth Energy Systems), Department of Earth Sciences, University of Durham, Science Labs, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

Correspondence: {dagger}Current address: StatoilHydro ASA, Forusbeen 50, 4035 Stavanger, Norway; phei{at}statoilhydro.com

Trails of depressions and associated sediment waves that follow the courses of underlying erosional submarine channels in Neogene strata in the Espirito Santo Basin on the Brazilian continental margin are described here. The features were imaged using three-dimensional seismic data, and they have a wavelength of several hundred meters and heights of tens of meters. Individual depressions are also found above knickpoints, scarps, and irregular top surfaces of mass-transport complexes. We propose that the depressions form initially as flute-shaped troughs of channel-confined sediment waves and develop into more circular depressions as a result of deposition on the shallow, upslope-facing stoss flanks and erosion or nondeposition in the lee flanks and the troughs. Depressions above topographical irregularities are interpreted to form when downslope-flowing currents encounter a break in slope, leading to excavation of a depression at the break and deposition of sediment downslope. This mechanism may be analogous to the formation of plunge pools and base-of-slope depressions. Similar features have been observed previously in several bathymetric data sets as well as created in numerical models and are thus considered ubiquitous in submarine settings.

Key Words: depressions • sediment waves • submarine features • continental margin sedimentation • channels • Espirito Santo Basin • Brazil






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