A review of undulated sediment features on Mediterranean prodeltas: distinguishing sediment transport structures from sediment deformation

Type Article
Date 2011-03
Language English
Author(s) Urgeles Roger1, Cattaneo AntonioORCID2, Puig Pere1, Liquete Camino3, de Mol Ben4, 5, Amblas David4, Sultan NabilORCID2, Trincardi Fabio6
Affiliation(s) 1 : CSIC, Dept Geol Marina, Inst Ciencies Mar, E-08003 Barcelona, Spain
2 : IFREMER, GM LES, F-29280 Plouzane, Bretagne, France
3 : Commiss European Communities, Joint Res Ctr, Inst Environm & Sustainabil, Water & Ecosyst Resources Unit, I-21027 Ispra, VA, Italy
4 : Univ Barcelona, Fac Geol, Dept Estratig Paleontol & Geociencies Marines, E-08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
5 : Parc Cient Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Catalonia, Spain
6 : CNR, ISMAR, I-40129 Bologna, Italy
Source Marine Geophysical Research (0025-3235) (Springer), 2011-03 , Vol. 32 , N. 1-2 , P. 49-69
DOI 10.1007/s11001-011-9125-1
WOS© Times Cited 44
Keyword(s) Undulated sediments, Prodeltas, Slope failure, Sediment waves, Hyperpycnal flows, Internal waves
Abstract Most Mediterranean prodeltas show undulated sediment features on the foresets of their Holocene wedges. These features have been described all along the Mediterranean for the last 30 years and interpreted as either soft sediment deformation and incipient landsliding, and more recently, as sediment transport structures. We perform a review and detailed analysis of these undulated sediment features using ultrahigh-resolution seismic and bathymetric data as well as geotechnical information and hydrodynamic time series and hydrographic transects. In this study we show that the characteristics of the sediment undulations (configuration of the reflections down section and between adjacent undulations and overall morphologic characteristics) are incompatible with a genesis by sediment deformation alone and do not show evidence of sediment deformation in most cases. Various processes in the benthic boundary layer can be invoked to explain the variety of features observed in the numerous areas displaying sediment undulations.
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Urgeles Roger, Cattaneo Antonio, Puig Pere, Liquete Camino, de Mol Ben, Amblas David, Sultan Nabil, Trincardi Fabio (2011). A review of undulated sediment features on Mediterranean prodeltas: distinguishing sediment transport structures from sediment deformation. Marine Geophysical Research, 32(1-2), 49-69. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-011-9125-1 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00043/15388/