Éditeur(s) : Springer
Résumé : The Golo Margin in eastern Corsica is dissected by four canyons and two gullies which fed turbidite systems. Study of the dispersal of surficial sediments and flow dynamic in the Golo system is based on Kullenberg and interface cores interpreted in relation to a previously published seismic dataset. Cores were described in detail and interpreted within a sedimentary and stratigraphic framework. During the last 42,000 years, gravity processes which occurred in the large systems with a canyon source were mainly slide-induced, differentiated turbulent surges and hyperpycnal flows. Processes occurring in the small system with a gully source are mainly hyperconcentrated and concentrated flows. Deposits from the Corsican Margin can intercalate with products of processes triggered on the Pianosa Ridge located in the eastern part of the basin. During relative sea-level lowstands or during periods of rapid or high-amplitude sea-level fall, only large canyons (South and North Golo) are supplied by carbonate-rich hyperconcentrated and concentrated flows which are channelled in incised valleys on the shelf. During periods of slow or low-amplitude sea-level fall and during sea-level rise, sediments are trapped on a shelf delta and intensely winnowed by shelf hydrodynamic processes. Sand-rich hyperconcentrated and concentrated flows occur. All the systems fed by a canyon are active simultaneously. Gullies form and are active only during periods of sea-level rise. During relative highstands of sea level (Holocene), all the system is draped by hemipelagic sediments. Relative sea-level changes and canyon location relative to river mouths have a strong influence on the nature of sediment input, and the initiation and type of gravity flows which, in turn, control morphology and geometry.
Geo-Marine Letters (0276-0460) (Springer), 2006-12 , Vol. 26 , N. 6 , P. 373-395

Droits : 2006 Springer
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-3594.pdf
DOI:10.1007/s00367-006-0045-z
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/3594/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Science Bv
Résumé : Recent oceanographic surveys revealed the existence of five volcaniclastic deep-sea fans off La Reunion Island. The Cilaos fan is a large volcaniclastic submarine fan, connected to rivers that episodically experience torrential floods through a narrow and steep shelf-slope system. New piston cores presented in this study together with echosounder profiles give new insight into the evolution, of this extensive and sand-rich turbidite system. The Cilaos fan extends over 15,000 km(2) on an abyssal plain and is compartmentalized by topographic highs. Located southwest of the island, the sedimentary system consists of a canyon area and a deep sea fan divided into a proximal and a distal fan. The proximal fan is characterized by its wide extent and coarse-grained turbidites. The distal fan is characterized by elongated structures and fine-grained turbidites. A detailed morphological study of the fan which includes the analysis of swath bathymetry, backscatter, echosounder, and piston core data shows that the Cilaos fan is a complex volcaniclastic deep-sea fan, highly influenced by preexisting seafloor irregularities. The canyons and the slope area show a complex and evolving sediment feeding system with a direct sediment input by the river and irregular sediment supply by submarine landslide. Three main construction stages are identified for this system: (1) an old incision phase of the channels forming wide turbidites extending over the entire distal fan; (2) a period of no or low activity characterized by a thick layer of hemipelagic mud; and (3) a local reactivation of the channel in the proximal fan. Each stage seems to be linked to a different sediment source with a progressively increasing contribution of hemipelagic sediment and mud in younger stages. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Marine Geology (0025-3227) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2011-10 , Vol. 288 , N. 1-4 , P. 1-17

Droits : 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00056/16704/14203.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2011.06.011
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00056/16704/

Éditeur(s) : Springer
Résumé : The Var turbidite system is a small sandy system located in the Ligurian Basin. It was deposited during the Pliocene-Quaternary in a flat-floored basin formed during the Messinian salinity crisis. The system was fed through time by the Var and Paillon canyons that connect directly to the Var and Paillon rivers. It is still active during the present sea-level highstand. Two main mechanisms are responsible for gravity-flow triggering in the Var turbidite system: (1) mass-wasting events affect mainly the upper part of the continental slope, in areas where volumes of fresh sediment delivered by rivers are highest, and result from the under-consolidation state of slope sediments and earthquakes, and (2) high-magnitude river floods resulting from melting of snow and convective rainfall during fall and spring seasons, and generating hyperpycnal turbidity currents at river mouths when the density of freshwater transporting suspended particles exceeds that of ambient seawater. Failure- and flood-induced gravity flows are involved through time in the construction of the Var Sedimentary Ridge, the prominent right-hand levee of the Var system, and sediment waves. Processes of construction of both the Var Ridge and sediment waves are closely connected. Sandy deposits are thick and abundant in the eastern (downchannel) part of the ridge. Their distribution is highly constrained by the strong difference of depositional processes across the sediment waves, potentially resulting through time in the individualization of large and interconnected sand bodies.
Geo-Marine Letters (0276-0460) (Springer), 2006-12 , Vol. 26 , N. 6 , P. 361-371

Droits : 2006 Springer
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-2258.pdf
DOI:10.1007/s00367-006-0047-x
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/2258/

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) : 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 : We present new results from the MARADJA'03 cruise depicting the geological structures offshore central and western Algeria. Using swath bathymetry and seismic reflection data, we map and discuss the offshore limits of the Internal Zones corresponding to relics of the AIKaPeCa domain that drifted and collided the African plate during the Miocene. We identify large reverse faults and folds that reactivate part of these limits and are still active today. The morphology of the westernmost NE-SW margin suggests a former strike-slip activity accommodating a westward block translation responsible for the shift of the Internal Zones towards the Moroccan Rif.
Nous présentons les résultats récents de la campagne MARADJA'03, qui visent à mettre en évidence les structures géologiques dans le domaine marin au nord-ouest de l'Algérie. Grâce aux données de bathymétrie multifaisceau et de sismique réflexion, nous cartographions et discutons les limites en mer des Zones internes correspondant aux reliques du domaine AlKaPeCa qui a dérivé, puis est entré en collision avec la plaque africaine au Miocène. De grandes failles inverses et plis, actifs dans le champ de contrainte actuel, réactivent certaines de ces limites. La marge ouest-algérienne, orientée NE¿SW, indique la présence d'une ancienne activité en décrochement ayant accommodé la translation des Zones internes vers l'ouest.
Comptes Rendus Geoscience (1631-0713) (Elsevier), 2006 , Vol. 338 , N. 1-2 , P. 80-91

Droits : 2005 Académie des sciences Published by Elsevier SAS
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-1211.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.crte.2005.11.009
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/1211/

Éditeur(s) : Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd
Résumé : The Congo deep-sea fan is one of the largest fans in the world still affected by presently active turbidity currents. The present activity of deep-sea sedimentary processes is linked to the existence of a direct connection between the Congo River estuary and the Congo canyon head that allows relatively continuous sediment feeding of the deep-sea environment, in spite of a wide continental shelf (150 km). Because of this important activity in terms of sedimentary processes, the deep-sea environment of the Congo-Angola margin presents major interests concerning physical, chemical and biological studies near the seafloor. The main aim of this paper is to present the initial geological context of the BioZaire Program, showing a synthesis of the major results of the ZaiAngo Project including (1) the brief geological setting of the Congo-Angola margin, (2) the structure of the modern Congo deep-sea fan, (3) the sedimentary architecture of the recent Congo turbidite system (from the canyon to the distal lobes) and (4) the recent and present turbidite sedimentation. In order to provide useful information and advice relevant to biological and geochemical studies across the Congo sedimentary system, this article is particularly focused on the present sedimentary processes and the present activity of turbidity current along the Congo canyon and channel.
Deep Sea Research Part Ii Topical Studies In Oceanography (0967-0645) (Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd), 2009-11 , Vol. 56 , N. 23 , P. 2169-2182

Droits : Crown Copyright 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/11128/7848.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.dsr2.2009.04.001
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/11128/