Which triggers produce the most erosive, frequent and longest runout turbidity currents on deltas?

Hizzett, J.L.; Hughes Clarke, J.E.; Sumner, E.J.; Cartigny, M.J.B.; Talling, P.J.; Clare, M.A.

doi:10.1002/2017gl075751

Which triggers produce the most erosive, frequent and longest runout turbidity currents on deltas?

Hizzett, J.L.; Hughes Clarke, J.E.; Sumner, E.J.; Cartigny, M.J.B.; Talling, P.J.; Clare, M.A.

Authors

J.L. Hizzett

J.E. Hughes Clarke

E.J. Sumner

Dr Matthieu Cartigny matthieu.j.cartigny@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Professor Peter Talling peter.j.talling@durham.ac.uk
Professor

M.A. Clare

Abstract

Subaerial rivers and turbidity currents are the two most voluminous sediment transport processes on our planet, and it is important to understand how they are linked offshore from river mouths. Previously it was thought that slope failures or direct plunging of river flood water (hyperpycnal flow) dominated the triggering of turbidity currents on delta-fronts. Here we re-analyse the most detailed time-lapse monitoring yet of a submerged delta; comprising 93 surveys of the Squamish Delta in British Columbia, Canada. We show that most turbidity currents are triggered by settling of sediment from dilute surface river plumes, rather than landslides or hyperpycnal flows. Turbidity currents triggered by settling plumes occur frequently, run out as far as landslide-triggered events, and cause the greatest changes to delta and lobe morphology. For the first time, we show that settling from surface plumes can dominate the triggering of hazardous submarine flows and offshore sediment fluxes.

Citation

Hizzett, J., Hughes Clarke, J., Sumner, E., Cartigny, M., Talling, P., & Clare, M. (2018). Which triggers produce the most erosive, frequent and longest runout turbidity currents on deltas?. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(2), 855-863. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl075751

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 10, 2017
Online Publication Date	Jan 24, 2018
Publication Date	Jan 28, 2018
Deposit Date	Jan 8, 2018
Publicly Available Date	Jan 10, 2018
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Print ISSN	0094-8276
Electronic ISSN	1944-8007
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	45
Issue	2
Pages	855-863
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl075751
Related Public URLs	http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/518892/

Files

Accepted Journal Article (1.1 Mb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
©2017. The Authors.
This is an open access article under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits use,
distribution and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.