Éditeur(s) : Université de Brest
Résumé : The channel-lobe transition zone has been studied in two turbiditic systems: the Amazon channel-mouth lobe complex at the termination of the last eight channel-levee systems and the Neochannel termination, the last active channel of the Petit-Rhone turbidite system. - In the two cases, the internal geometry and stacking pattern of the deposits show a significant control of the configuration (size and shape) of the receiving basins, their morphology (gradients and subtle gradient changes), and their degree of confinement. - The Amazon and Petit-Rhone systems, with lobes built after the Last Glacial Maximum and the ensuing sea-level rise, evidence the major impact of external forcings (climatic events and eustatic variations) that induce variations in sediment fluxes delivered to the deep basin and therefore exert a control on channel-mouth lobes construction. The channel-mouth lobes of the Amazon and Petit-Rhone systems, even if they are located at great distances from the river mouths, at the termination of the turbidite systems and in areas characterised by subtle morphological variations, are both constrained by combined internal (accommodation and compensation) and external factors (post-glacial deconnection between the fluvial system and the deep basin).
La zone de transition chenal-levées/lobes a été étudiée dans 2 systèmes turbiditiques : le complexe de lobes à la terminaison des 8 derniers chenaux de l'éventail de l'Amazone et la terminaison du Néochenal, dernier chenal de l'éventail du Petit-Rhône. - Dans les deux cas, l'agencement des dépôts et leur évolution dans l'espace et le temps révèlent un fort contrôle de la configuration des réceptacles (taille et forme), de la morphologie des fonds (pentes et taux de changement des pentes) et du degré de confinement. - Les systèmes de l'Amazone et du Petit-Rhône, dont les lobes se sont construits à partir du Dernier Maximum Glaciaire et lors de la remontée du niveau marin qui a suivi, ont en outre permis de souligner l'impact majeur, sur la mise en place des lobes terminaux, de certains forçages externes (événements climatiques et variations eustatiques), qui déterminent les variations des flux sédimentaires arrivant au bassin. Ainsi, bien que situés à des distances considérables des sources fluviatiles et dans des zones distales où les variations de relief sont très ténues, les lobes terminaux de ces deux grands systèmes turbiditiques se sont révélés contraints à la fois par des processus internes (processus de compensation) et par des processus externes (déconnexion post-glaciaire du fleuve et du bassin).

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2008/these-6796.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/6796/

Éditeur(s) : Université de Bucarest - Université de Bretagne occidentale
Résumé : This study is focusing on the architecture and recent sedimentary evolution of the Danube channel, the youngest channel-levee system in the Danube deep-sea fan. The study was conducted as part of the BlaSON French-Romanian Project, and combined high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles and chirp profiles with multibeam bathymetry and piston cores. This data set was acquired in 1998 during a joint survey IFREMER-GeoEcoMar of the north-western Black Sea. Previous seismic and acoustic data were also used. The Danube deep-sea fan is a large passive-margin mud-rich fan. Like the other systems of this type (Amazon fan, Mississippi fan or Indus fan) the Danube fan consists of stacked channel-levee systems intercalated with mass-transport deposits. Seismic and sedimentary facies in the Danube fan are similar to those identified in most of the mud-rich systems. Nevertheless, the Danube fan is distinguished by a specific feature: its development in a freshwater environment. This is due to the peculiar water-level history of the Black Sea controlled by the link to the Mediterranean through the Strait of Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. This connexion was successively interrupted (during sea level lowstands) and re-established (when the sea level was rising above the Bosphorus). Temporary absence of marine water influx during lowstands together with large freshwater inputs from the Danube and other major rivers changed the Black Sea into a freshwater lake during times of fan activity. This peculiarity possibly favourised the development of hyperpycnal flow at the Danube mouth and the initiation of turbidity currents in the deep-sea fan. The Danube channel is directly connected to the large shelf-indenting Danube canyon (also known as Viteaz canyon). The Danube canyon is deeply incised into the shelf margin for 26 km landward of the shelfbreak. During lowstands this canyon acted as the most important path for sediment supply to the deep sea in this part of the continental margin. It consists of a main trough with steep flanks, and a meandering thalweg cut into the flat canyon floor, attesting for the development of the canyon by erosion in the entrenched axial thalweg. Sections with specific morphology, orientation and gradient identified along the canyon, are interpreted as phases of landward expansion of the canyon. Internal structure of the canyon shows several erosional surfaces, which indicate that the present morphology of the canyon is the result of its polyphasic evolution. Instability in the zone of the canyon is related to the important sediment supply at the Danube mouth, to the presence of the gas in the surficial sediment, and possibly under a structural control. The upper part of the Danube channel (between the Danube canyon and ~1400 m depth) consists in a single leveed-channel that has undergone significant overbank deposition, as attested by the well-developed levees. The levees are strongly asymmetrical, being higher and wider on the right-hand side looking downstream. This type of asymmetry is rather common in deep-sea fans, and is generally attributed to the Coriolis effect (Menard, 1955). The channel is slightly sinuous, partially filled and incised by an entrenched thalweg, connected to the axial thalweg of the Danube canyon. Detailed seismic investigation inside the channel trough documented several depositional phases within the channel fill, separated by erosional surfaces. These surfaces are associated with distinct terraces identified on the multibeam bathymetry, that can be followed downward along the main trough axis. The valley fill deposits (where not removed by the subsequent erosional event) show an axial HAR (High Amplitude Reflections) seismic facies with lateral lower amplitude continuous reflections consisting in a levee facies, as proved by sampling. This indicates that filling up was associated with flow within the channel, and not with interruption of fan activity. On the middle slope below 1400 m, this single channel bifurcates through repeated avulsions. As a result, several highly meandering channels developed. The onlap relationships between these channels indicate that only one channel was active at a time. Each phase of avulsion resulted in a depositional unit consisting in a basal unchannelized lobe defined as High Amplitude Reflection Packets (HARP, Flood et al., 1991) that underlies a channel-levee system. The deposition of HARPs was associated with the readjustment of the longitudinal profile of the channel after the breaching of a levee, which resulted in remobilization of upslope channel deposits and eroded levees. When this adjustment was complete, erosion ceased and levees began to develop above the HARPs (Pirmez et al., 1997). All the identified phases of avulsion followed the same pattern: (1) breaching of the lower and narrower left levee; (2) building of a unit of High Amplitude Reflector Packets (HARP) basinward of the bifurcation point by the unchannelized flow, while the former channel was abandoned; and (3) initiation of a new meandering leveed channel. The northward migration of the resulting units through repeated bifurcations is influenced by the asymmetry between levees (hence by the Coriolis effect), and confined between the high levees of the initial phase of the Danube channel (to the south) and the steep relief of the Dniepr fan (to the north). Structure of the fan valley fill indicate that the erosional surfaces inside the upper channel could be formed in response of successive avulsions, by the adjustment of the longitudinal profile of the channel following the breaching of a levee wall. Sediments removed by erosion formed the HARP lobes basinward of the avulsion point. When this adjustment was complete, a channel-levee system developed downward of the bifurcation, overlying the HARPs, but also upward of this point, as a confined channel-levee system inside the erosional trough of the fan valley. Fluvial incisions identified on the continental shelf, together with the coastline location during the last active period of the Danube channel, indicated that the paleo-Danube was directed towards the head of the Danube canyon. Paleo-Danube mouth was fairly close (ca. 10 km) to the Danube canyon, supplying sediment to the Danube channel. Furthermore, hyperpycnal flow probably prevailed in the freshwater environment that characterized the Black Sea during times of fan activity. These conditions would have enabled the development of a quasi-continuous river-canyon-deep-sea fan system, ensuring the effective transfer of the sediment between the coastal zone and the deep sea.
Ce travail est consacré à l'étude de l'architecture et de l'évolution sédimentaire récente de l'éventail profond du Danube, en particulier de son dernier système chenal-levée: le chenal du Danube. L'étude a été réalisée dans le cadre du projet de coopération franco-roumaine BlaSON, à partir des données sismiques, bathymétriques-acoustiques et sédimentologiques acquises en 1998 lors d'une campagne en mer Noire réalisée par IFREMER et GeoEcoMar. Des données sismiques et acoustiques antérieures ont été également utilisées. L'éventail profond du Danube s'enserre dans la catégorie des grands éventails vaseux. Comme les autres systèmes de ce genre (tel que les éventails de l'Amazone, du Mississippi ou de l'Indus) il est constitué d'une succession de systèmes chenaux-levées intercalés avec des dépôts de transport en masse. Le fonctionnement de l'éventail était conditionné par la baisse du niveau marin lors des périodes glaciaires. Ses faciès sismiques et sédimentaires s'apparentent aux faciès qui caractérisent la plupart des éventails de ce type. L'éventail du Danube constitue néanmoins un cas particulier parmi les autres systèmes étudiés, du fait de son fonctionnement dans un bassin lacustre. Ceci est dû à la situation spécifique de la mer Noire dont la connexion avec la Méditerranée, par le détroit de Bosphore et la mer de Marmara, a été successivement interrompue (au cours de périodes de bas niveau) et reprise (quand le niveau marin remontait en dépassant le seuil du Bosphore). L'absence de l'apport d'eau salée pendant les périodes glaciaires, associée avec l'augmentation de l'apport fluvial, ont déterminé l'installation d'un milieu d'eau douce dans la mer Noire à chaque fois que la baisse du niveau permettait la reprise du fonctionnement de l'éventail profond. Cette situation particulière aurait favorisé la formation des courants hyperpycnaux à l'embouchure d'un fleuve du débit du Danube qui déversait ses eaux turbides dans un bassin lacustre, et aurait donc influencé l'apparition de courants de turbidité dans l'éventail profond. Le chenal du Danube s'est développé sur la pente continentale en prolongation du canyon du Danube (ou Viteaz) auquel il est directement connecté. Le canyon est incisé de manière significative (26 km) dans la plate-forme continentale. Au cours de bas-niveaux marins il constituait la principale voie de transfert des sédiments terrigènes vers le bassin profond dans cette partie de la marge. Le canyon est constitué par une entaille avec des flancs abrupts et un talweg axial incisé, qui montre l'importance du processus d'érosion du fond pour le développement du canyon. Les segments qui ont été identifiés le long du canyon, avec des morphologies, des orientations et des pentes spécifiques, sont interprétés comme des phases d'avancement du canyon vers la côte. Plusieurs incisions sont visibles dans la structure interne du canyon et témoignent que la morphologie actuelle du canyon est le résultat de son évolution polyphasée. L'instabilité de la zone du canyon est en relation avec les apports sédimentaires importants à l'embouchure du Danube, avec la présence du gaz dans les sédiments superficiels, et possiblement sous un contrôle structural. Sur la pente supérieure (entre le canyon du Danube et environ 1400 m de profondeur) le chenal du Danube présente des levées bien développées et fortement asymétriques, avec la levée droite plus haute et plus large que la levée gauche. Ce type d'asymétrie, fréquemment décrit dans les éventails profonds est généralement attribué à l'effet Coriolis (Menard, 1955). Le chenal est légèrement sinueux, partiellement comblé et incisé par un talweg axial qui représente la continuation sur la pente du talweg incisé dans le canyon du Danube. L'analyse sismique détaillée du remplissage de la vallée montre plusieurs phases de dépôt, séparées par des discontinuités érosives. Ces surfaces d'érosion correspondent à des terrasses emboîtées, relativement parallèles le long de la vallée, visibles dans la bathymétrie. Les dépôts qui constituent le remplissage du chenal présentent un faciès sismique de type HAR (High Amplitude Reflections) dans l'axe du chenal, partiellement (ou parfois totalement) enlevé par les phases d'érosion subséquentes, qui continue latéralement avec des réflexions litées correspondant à un faciès sédimentaire de levée. Le remplissage de la vallée a été donc associé avec des écoulements dans le chenal, et non pas avec l'interruption de son fonctionnement. Sur la pente inférieure, le chenal unique bifurque plusieurs fois par avulsion et forme de nouveaux systèmes chenaux-levées méandriformes. Ces systèmes se succèdent verticalement en onlap, ce qui montre qu'un seul chenal a été actif à la fois. Chaque phase d'avulsion a eu comme résultat la mise en place d'une unité constituée par un lobe défini comme "High Amplitude Reflection Packets" (HARP, Flood et al., 1991) à la base, et un système chenal-levée au sommet. Le dépôt d'un lobe HARP est associé avec de l'érosion dans le chenal en amont du point d'avulsion pour l'ajustement de son profil après la rupture de la levée. Quand le chenal a retrouvé son profil d'équilibre, l'érosion a cessé et des levées ont commencé à se développer au-dessus des HARPs (Pirmez et al., 1997). Toutes les phases d'avulsion se sont développées d'après le même modèle: (1) la rupture de la levée gauche, plus étroite; (2) le dépôt d'un lobe HARP par les écoulements non-chenalisés en aval du point d'avulsion, et l'abandon de l'ancien chenal; (3) l'initiation d'un nouveau système chenal-levée. La migration systématique du chenal vers le nord est influencée par l'assymétrie des levées (donc par la force de Coriolis), et confinée entre les grandes levées de la phase initiale du chenal du Danube, au sud, et le relief abrupt de l'éventail du Dniepr au nord. La structure sédimentaire du chenal du Danube indique que les surfaces érosives à l'intérieur du remplissage du chenal se seraient formées en réponse aux avulsions, du fait de l'ajustement du profil du chenal après la rupture d'une levée. Les sédiments du chenal érodés au cours de ce processus ont formé les lobes HARP. Quand le chenal a retrouvé son profil d'équilibre, un système chenal-levée s'est développé en aval du point d'avulsion au dessus du lobe HARP, mais aussi en amont de ce point, où il se trouve confiné dans la vallée érosive. Les incisions fluviatiles identifiés sur la plate-forme continentale et la position de la ligne de côte pendant la dernière période d'activité du chenal du Danube montrent que le paléo-Danube se dirigeait directement vers la tête du canyon du Danube. Son embouchure était située à proximité du canyon, qui alimentait le chenal du Danube. Cependant, les courants hyperpycnaux devaient prévaloir dans le milieu de salinité réduite qui caractérisait la mer Noire lors des périodes actives de l'éventail. Ces conditions auraient favorisé la mise en place d'un système quasi-continu fleuve-canyon-éventail profond, qui contrôlait le transfert des sédiments entre la côte et le bassin profond.

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2002/these-1206.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/1206/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : Analysis of new high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles, chirp profiles and previously published sidescan data, together with piston cores on the Danube Fan provide new insight into the recent sedimentation processes in the deep northwestern Black Sea.The latest channel-levee system on the Danube Fan developed probably during the Neoeuxinian lowstand (oxygene isotope stage 2) in a semi-freshwater basin with a water level about 100 m lower than today. Sediment supplied by the Danube was transported to the deep basin through the Viteaz Canyon, which was directly connected to the leveed channel of this system on the middle slope. Channel avulsion was common in the middle fan, as indicated by four main phases of bifurcation. Each phase developed after the same pattern: breaching of the lower and narrower left levee by turbidity currents, building of a unit of High Amplitude Reflection Packets (HARP) by the unchannelized flow while the former channel was abandoned, followed by initiation of a new meandering leveed channel. The northward migration through successive bifurcations is influenced by the asymmetry between levees, hence by the Coriolis effect. In the lower fan where the levees became too low to maintain a stable pathway for the turbiditic flows, channel migration occurred. Locations of HARPs and channels after bifurcation are controlled by the pre-existing bathymetry. Sedimentary deposits are confined between the high levees of unit 0 (the initial phase of the youngest channel-levee system) to the south, and the steep relief of the Dniepr Fan to the north.The HARPs of the most recent phase of avulsion are the most severely constrained by local topography and form a very narrow elongate structure that is at most half as thick as the previous HARPs. Their distal part is not covered by channel-levee systems and is visible both on sidescan mosaics and on chirp profiles and was sampled in core BLKS 98-20.Sea level controlled fan activity but the evolution of the last channel-levee system with several bifurcations during a single sea level lowstand suggests that the primary control of channel avulsion and sand delivery is probably autocyclic.The presence of important HARP sand bodies in the mud-rich Danube Fan is presumed by analogy with a similar seismic facies on the Amazon Fan and indicated by the sands cored in BLKS98-20. However, only drilling of the HARP units could verify this interpretation.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier), 2001-09 , Vol. 179 , N. 1-2 , P. 25-37

Droits : 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2001/publication-474.pdf
DOI:10.1016/S0025-3227(01)00197-9
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/474/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Sci Ltd
Résumé : Several marine geophysical data and piston-coring surveys acquired during the last decade allow one to better understand the close dynamic interactions between the sand-rich Orinoco turbidite system and the compressional structures of the Barbados prism. These interactions have been active since Eocene time as illustrated by the study of outcrops onshore Barbados Island. Because of strong morphologic and tectonic control in the east-Caribbean active margin, the present-day Orinoco turbiditic pattern system does not exhibit a classic fan geometry. The sea-floor geometry between the slope of the front of the Barbados prism and the slope of the South-American margin induces the convergence of the turbidite channels toward the abyssal plain, at the front of the accretionary prism. Also, whereas in most passive margins the turbidite systems are organized upstream to downstream as canyon, channel-levee and lobes, here, due to the tectonic control, the sedimentary system is organized upstream to downstream as channel-levee, canyons and channelized lobes. Indeed, at the edge of the Orinoco platform, the system has multiple sources with several distributaries and downstream the channel courses are complex with frequent convergences or divergences that are emphasized by the effects of the undulating seafloor tectonic morphologies associated with active thrust tectonics and mud volcanism. On top of the accretionary prism, turbidite sediments are filling transported piggy-back basins whose timing of sedimentation vs. deformation is complex. While erosion processes are almost absent on the highly subsiding Orinoco platform and in the upper part of the turbidite system, they develop mostly between 2000 and 4000 m of water depth, above the compressional structures of the Barbados prism (canyons up to 3 km wide and 300 m deep). In the abyssal plain, the main turbiditic channel develops toward the east and connects with the Vidal mid-Atlantic channel. The sediments transported in this channel are filling several elongated basins linked with fracture zones (notably the Barracuda Basin), and finally end their course in the Puerto-Rico trench, the deepest morphologic depression of the region. Piston-cores have demonstrated that turbidite sediments above the accretionary prism and in the abyssal plain are mostly coarse sandy deposits covered by recent pelagic planktonic-rich sediments, which corresponds to slower sand deposition during the post-glacial sea level rise. Numerical stratigraphic modelling suggests that during the last glacial event, the main depocentres were located above the tectonic prism and in the abyssal plain, at the front of the prism and that, during the Holocene eustatic rise, a large accommodation space formed on the shelf confining sedimentation mostly on the Orinoco deltaic platform and producing a starvation downstream in the turbidite system.
Marine And Petroleum Geology (0264-8172) (Elsevier Sci Ltd), 2015-06 , Vol. 64 , P. 76-103

Droits : 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00252/36373/34913.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2014.12.015
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00252/36373/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : A study of organic carbon mineralization from the Congo continental shelf to the abyssal plain through the Congo submarine channel and Angola Margin was undertaken using in situ measurements of sediment oxygen demand as a tracer of benthic carbon recycling. Two measurement techniques were coupled on a single autonomous platform: in situ benthic chambers and microelectrodes, which provided total and diffusive oxygen uptake as well as oxygen microdistributions in porewaters. In addition, sediment trap fluxes, sediment composition (Org-C, Tot-N, CaCO3, porosity) and radionuclide profiles provided measurements of, respectively input fluxes and burial rate of organic and inorganic compounds. The in situ results show that the oxygen consumption on this margin close to the Congo River is high with values of total oxygen uptake (TOU) of 4 +/- 0.6, 3.6 +/- 0.5 mmol m(-2) d(-1) at 1300 and 3100m depth, respectively, and between 1.9 +/- 0.3 and 2.4 +/- 0.2 mmol m(-2) d(-1) at 4000 m depth. Diffusive oxygen uptakes (DOU) were 2.8 +/- 1.1, 2.3 +/- 0.8, 0.8 +/- 0.3 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 mmol m(-2) d(-1), respectively at the same depths. The magnitude of the oxygen demands on the slope is correlated with water depth but is not correlated with the proximity of the submarine channel-levee system, which indicates that cross-slope transport processes are active over the entire margin. Comparison of the vertical flux of organic carbon with its mineralization and burial reveal that this lateral input is very important since the sum of recycling and burial in the sediments is 5-8 times larger than the vertical flux recorded in traps. Transfer of material from the Congo River occurs through turbidity currents channelled in the Congo valley, which are subsequently deposited in the Lobe zone in the Congo fan below 4800 m. Ship board measurements of oxygen profiles indicate large mineralization rates of organic carbon in this zone, which agrees with the high organic carbon content (3%) and the large sedimentation rate (19 mm y(-1)) found on this site. The Lobe region could receive as high as 19 mol C m(-2) y(-1), 1/3 being mineralized and 2/3 being buried and could constitute the largest depocenter of organic carbon in the South Atlantic.
Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (0967-0645) (Elsevier), 2009-11 , Vol. 56 , N. 23 , P. 2223-2238

Droits : 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2009/publication-7316.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.dsr2.2009.04.005
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/7316/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Science Bv
Résumé : The Var turbiditic system located in the Ligurian Sea (SE France) is an intermediate mud/sand-rich system. The particularity of the Var deep-sea fan is its single channel with abrupt bends and its asymmetric and hyper-developed levee on the right hand side: the Var Sedimentary Ridge. Long-term sediment accumulation on the Var Sedimentary Ridge makes this an ideal target for studying the link between onshore climate change and deep-sea turbidite stratigraphy. This paper focuses on the establishment of the first detailed stratigraphy of the levee, which is used to analyze the timing of overbank deposition throughout the last deglaciation. Main results indicate that high variability in turbidite frequencies and deposition rates along the Var Sedimentary Ridge are determined by two main parameters: 1) the progressive decrease of the levee height controlling the ability of turbidity currents to spill out from the channel onto the levee, and 2) climatic variations affecting the drainage basin, in particular changes in glacial condition since late Last Glacial Maximum to early Holocene. Compared to other deep-water areas, this study confirms the ability of turbiditic systems to record past climatic events on millennial timescales, and underlines the influence of European deglaciation on the observed decrease in turbidite activity in the Var canyon. The presence of a very narrow continental shelf and a single, large channel-levee system makes the Var Sedimentary Ridge a unique example of climate-controlled turbiditic accumulations. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2011-01 , Vol. 279 , N. 1-4 , P. 148-161

Droits : 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00030/14104/11370.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2010.10.021
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00030/14104/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : The fining upward trend commonly described on levees of turbidite systems can be either attributed to changes in the sediment supply (external forcing = allocyclic) or changes in the spillover processes related to the growth of the levee (internal forcing = autocyclic). However the real causes remain speculative and difficult to demonstrate. Knowledge of vertical change in flow velocity (or grain size) in turbidity currents, of the turbidity current's height, as well as the growth rate of a levee are theoretically sufficient to describe the evolution of the grain size of a leveed turbidite sequence deposited by spillover processes. A piston core (MD99-2344) retrieved on the right levee of the Petit-Rhone neofan, sampled an 8.50 m long turbidite sequence containing more than one hundred turbidite beds and showing a marked fining upward trend. With the help of two profiles describing respectively the vertical velocity [Stacey, M. and Bowen, A.J., 1988b. The vertical structure of turbidity currents and a necessary condition for self-maintenance, Journal of Geophysical Research, pp. 3543-3553.] and the vertical grain size [Migeon, S., 2000. Dunes geantes et levees sedimentaires en domaine marin profond: approche morphologique, sismique et sedimentologique. PhD Thesis, Universite Bordeaux 1, Talence, France, 288 pp.] of a turbidity current, and a simple graphical method, we test several hypotheses on the height of the turbidity current and on the grain size at the bottom of the turbidity current and we attempt to reproduce the vertical fining upward trend. Our results show that the fining upward trend of the turbidite facies can be explained by the aggradation of the turbidite levee and the gradual confinement of the turbidity currents in the channel. This is, therefore, an autocyclical phenomenon. However a high frequency variability of the grain size overprinted on the trend cannot be explained by internal forcing and is believed to be allocyclical, depending on changes to the sediment input. The vertical grain-size profile allows more realistic flow conditions to be determined and shows that the vertical velocity profile does not describe the ability of turbidity current to transport sediment. This simple graphical method allows a better understanding and quantification of the forcing on turbidite deposits and improves description of the characteristics of the turbidity currents from the grain size of the deposits.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier), 2006-12 , Vol. 234 , N. 1-4 , P. 191-213

Droits : 2006 Elsevier
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-2311.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2006.09.019
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/2311/

Éditeur(s) : Society for Sedimentary Geology
Résumé : The Kramis deep-sea fan extends over 45 km at the base of the western Algerian continental slope between 2000 and 2550 m water depth and covers an area of approximately 1200 km2. The Kramis Fan was initiated after Messinian time, evolved during the Plio-Quaternary, and, is still active, as proved by submarine cable breaks during the 1954 Orléansville earthquake. The Kramis Fan is fed by two perpendicular canyons: the Kramis Canyon and the Khadra Canyon, merging in a single E–W-oriented channel confined at the foot of the slope. It is strongly asymmetric with a super-developed levee on the right-hand side of the channel, the Kramis Ridge. Based on recent multibeam, side-scan sonar, and sediment core data (Maradja, 2003 and 2005, Prisma, 2004, and Prisme, 2007 cruises), we describe the morphology and internal structure of the fan and particularly the sediment ridge, showing marked lateral changes in the sediment-wave morphology and their association with a series of large scours in the intermediate part of the ridge aligned in the continuity of the Khadra Canyon direction. Overall, the Kramis Ridge is formed by turbidity currents overspilling the ridge crest, which is 100 m above the channel floor, with two exceptions. In the distal part of the ridge the subdued ridge-crest height probably causes continuous overspill, testified by sediment waves migrating parallel to the channel. The scours occur in the intermediate part of the ridge where the ridge height is only 50–60 m; scours are interpreted as the result of cyclic steps due to flow stripping of currents provided by the intersection of the Khadra Canyon with the Kramis Canyon and Channel system. The scours probably postdate the main growth of the Kramis Ridge and induce the local erosion of the ridge, which could correspond to a new channel initiation cutting the ridge. The superposition or the interaction of flows with different directions is responsible of the amplification of the size of the sediment waves with erosional downside flanks and their transformation in scours. The Kramis Fan provides a clear example of flow interaction to explain the presence of large sediment waves and scours on modern submarine fans.
SEPM Special Publication (1060-071X) (Society for Sedimentary Geology), 2012 , Vol. 99 , P. 293-308

Droits : 2012 SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology)
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00129/24021/21978.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00129/24021/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : During the SEDIFAN 1 cruise we surveyed the bathymetry and the acoustic properties of the surface sediment of the Celtic Deep Sea Fan. We also collected Kullenberg cores in order to study recent sedimentary processes. From the bathymetry survey it is relatively easy to recognize the main areas of modern fan. The upper fan included a large sedimentary ridge which constitutes the right levee of the prominent meandering Whittard valley. After its confluence with the Shamrock valley the course of the Whittard valley is abruptly deflected to the south. At a short distance to the south the valley divides into two upper-fan channels, the Celtic channel to the west being the deeper one. This point constitutes the centre of a radiating pattern which is developed on a 150 degrees quadrant and a radius of about 100 km. The acoustic imagery displays contrasted features, related to change in lithology within the first metre beneath the sea bottom and to the sea floor roughness. The Austell ridge exhibits a contrasted pattern of elongated areas with high and low acoustic backscattering levels. This pattern is related to the development of abyssal dunes, the amplitude of which is of metric order. Particularly remarkable is a lobe-shaped low back-scattering area in the western part of the middle fan, also noteworthy are a lineated facies to the west and a braided facies to the east of the fan. The laminated silty-clayey sequences deposited on the Whittard ridge and on the Trevelyan levee were deposited during the deglaciation. We interpret these as turbidity currents overflow deposits from the Whittard valley. At the end of isotopic stage 3 and during stage 2, the English Channel was a large plain flooded by the Channel River. During this period a broad delta developed at 100 m below the present-day depth and a wide spectrum of material was bound to be supplied to the deep sea and contributed particularly to the deposition of the Whittard ridge silty-clayey sequences. The stage 2 deposits are characterized by rhythmic levels enriched in monosulfides. These types of deposits are common in areas affected by fluvial discharges. Excluding the sedimentary ridge and the channel levees the surface deposits sampled with the Kullenberg corer are sandy. These sands are deposited in various contexts on the interfluve between the western and eastern channels and at channel mouths. They were emplaced during high sea level stands as a result of high energy gravity processes. The precise sources of these sands have not yet been identified, however benthic foraminifers from included ooze pebbles have living depths of between 500 and 1 000 m. The gravity processes which eroded this marry ooze may have been triggered on the upper slope. The Celtic shelf is presently a high energy platform where the conjunction of storms and spring tides call lead to enhanced sediment transport from near-shore to the deep sea. The relict or palimpsest deposits of the glacial delta also constitute a large reservoir of sandy material which can also be subject to reworking.
Le programme Enam 2 (European North Atlantic Margin) concerne l'étude des processus sédimentaires quaternaires du Spitzberg au golfe de Gascogne. Dans le cadre de ce programme, la reconnaissance de l'Éventail profond celtique était l'objectif de la campagne Sedifan 1 au cours de laquelle nous avons établi la morphologie de l'éventail et obtenu une image acoustique des fonds sédimentaires. La morphologie permet de mettre en évidence une organisation en éventail. On note aussi le développement remarquable d'une ride sédimentaire au niveau de l'éventail supérieur. Les sédiments prélevés révèlent la présence de dépôts sableux, témoins d'une activité récente qui pourrait être liée à l'importance de l'hydrodynamisme sur les Grands Bancs de la plate-forme celtique.
Oceanologica Acta (0399-1784) (Elsevier), 2000 , Vol. 23 , N. 1 , P. 109-116

Droits : 2000 Ifremer/CNRS/IRD/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2000/publication-525.pdf
DOI:10.1016/S0399-1784(00)00116-X
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/525/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
We analyse the fluid flow regime within sediments on the Eastern levee of the modern Mississippi Canyon using 3D seismic data and downhole logging data acquired at Sites U1322 and U1324 during the 2005 Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 308 in the Gulf of Mexico. Sulphate and methane concentrations in pore water show that sulphate-methane transition zone, at 74 and 94 m below seafloor, are amongst the deepest ever found in a sedimentary basin. This is in part due to a basinward fluid flow in a buried turbiditic channel (Blue Unit, 1000 mbsf), which separates sedimentary compartments located below and above this unit, preventing normal upward methane flux to the seafloor. Overpressure in the lower compartment leads to episodic and focused fluid migration through deep conduits that bypass the upper compartment, forming mud volcanoes at the seabed. This may also favour seawater circulation and we interpret the deep sulphate-methane transition zones as a result of high downward sulphate fluxes coming from seawater that are about 5-10 times above those measured in other basins. The results show that geochemical reactions within shallow sediments are dominated by seawater downwelling in the Mars-Ursa basin, compared to other basins in which the upward fluid flux is controlling methane-related reactions. This has implications for the occurrence of gas hydrates in the subsurface and is evidence of the active connection between buried sediments and the water column.
ISSN: 1468-8115

hal-00590501
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00590501
DOI : 10.1111/j.1468-8123.2010.00304.x

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : A previously unknown pattern of multiple bottom-simulating reflections (BSRs) occurs on high-resolution reflection seismic data in the Danube deep-sea fan, associated with acoustic features indicating free gas. Our study provides evidence that this pattern is developed in relation with the architecture of distinct channel-levee systems of the Danube fan. Channel-levee systems hosting multiple BSRs act as relatively sealed gas-bearing systems whose top is situated above the base of the gas hydrate stability zone (BGHSZ). Inside these systems, free gas accumulates below the BGHSZ under a combined lithological, structural and stratigraphical control. The uppermost BSR marks the current equilibrium BGHSZ, for a gas composition of more than 99% methane. Model-derived depths of the BGHSZ for different gas compositions and pressure-temperature conditions show that multiple BSRs would correspond to the BGHSZ either for (1) layers of gas hydrates with high contents of heavy hydrocarbons or hydrogen sulphide, or (2) stable climatic episodes with temperatures between glacial values and the present-day conditions. As the gas hydrate compositions required by hypothesis (I) are in sharp contradiction with the general background of the gas composition in the study area, we suggest that multiple BSRs are most probably relics of former positions of the BGHSZ, corresponding to successive steps of climate warming. In this case, they can provide sea-bottom paleotemperature values for these episodes, and hence they are potential new proxies for deciphering past climate conditions.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier), 2006-03 , Vol. 227 , N. 3-4 , P. 163-176

Droits : 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-1210.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2005.12.006
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/1210/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Detailed sedimentological investigations on numerous outcrops and drill-core sections in the 2.1-Ga-old Franceville basin, Gabon, provide evidence for a large-scale injectite network. The injectites were formed by the injection of sands through a thickness of about 150 m of the FB1 Member, and now cover a minimum area of 70 km2 corresponding to the Bangombé plateau, but are also recognized close to Franceville 35 km farther south-east. The injectite lithology corresponds to a mud- or carbonate-supported sandstone characterized by a loose and uncompacted fabric contrasting with the host-rock. Because the injectites are often parallel to subparallel to the stratification, they were misinterpreted as depositional beds by previous authors. At outcrop, the injectite bodies exhibit sill, dyke, wing and protrusive geometries emplaced during early burial within poorly compacted material, with partial wall erosion and dissociation. The source of the sand material is attributed to a channel-levee turbidite depositional system located in the lower part of the FB1 Member. These deposits were buried by a thick biochemical muddy cap deposited during a starvation phase, which increased the seal capacity of the system. This type of architecture has a high potential to develop compaction disequilibrium during burial. Moreover, in the case of the Francevillian injectites, the abundance of microbial organic matter favoured early methane degassing and lateral charging of the sand reservoir. The overpressure in the channels was periodically released during early burial, through the effect of rapid sedimentary and tectonic loading, and possible seismic activity. The fluidized sand was injected according to a symmetrical wing pattern. Thus, the injected masses caused a local decrease in the grade of the lateritic manganese ore deposit of the Bangombé plateau.
ISSN: 0301-9268

hal-01667217
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01667217
DOI : 10.1016/j.precamres.2017.09.022

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Sci Ltd
Résumé : The quantity and the source of organic matter preserved in the Recent turbiditic channel-levees systems around 4000 m-depth off the Congo River were determined using bulk geochemical approaches (Rock-Eval, elemental and isotopic analyses) as well as molecular and optical analyses on selected samples. These mud-rich sediments contain high amount of organic matter (3% Corg on average), the origin of which is a mixture of terrestrial higher-plant debris and deeply oxidized phytoplanktonic material. Although the relative contribution of continental source versus marine source of the organic matter cannot be precisely quantified, the continental fraction appears significant (at least 70-80%) especially for such depths and distances from the coast. The organic matter distribution appears very homogeneous at different scales, from the single turbiditic event to the entire levee, and changes in accumulation rates have a little impact on the quantity and quality of preserved organic matter. With a petroleum potential around 4.5 kg HC per t rock, the fine-grained turbiditic sediments in the Congo deep-sea system could be regarded as an analog of gas-prone source rocks for the deep offshore of the Atlantic margins. Finally, the Congo deep-sea turbiditic system is a major conveyor of organic carbon to the deep ocean. Further studies are needed to evaluate the efficiency of such systems for the storage of continental organic matter into the deep ocean in relation to sea-level and climatic changes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Marine And Petroleum Geology (0264-8172) (Elsevier Sci Ltd), 2010-05 , Vol. 27 , N. 5 , P. 995-1010

Droits : 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00006/11700/9285.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.02.006
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00006/11700/