Longest sediment flows yet measured show how major rivers connect efficiently to deep sea
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Date | 2022-07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Author(s) | Talling Peter J.![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Affiliation(s) | 1 : Departments of Geography and Earth Science, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK 2 : Department of Geography, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK 3 : Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK 4 : Marine Geosciences Unit, IFREMER Centre de Brest, Plouzané, France 5 : National Oceanography Centre Southampton, SO14 3ZH, Southampton, UK 6 : School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK 7 : University of Brest, CNRS, IFREMER, Geo-Ocean, 29280, Plouzané, France 8 : Department of Geosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada 9 : Energy and Environment Institute, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK 10 : Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, TU Wien, 1040, Vienna, Austria 11 : School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK 12 : Congo Basin Water Resources Research Center (CRREBaC) and Department of Natural Resources Management, University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN), Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo 13 : School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS3 9JT, UK 14 : Angola Cables SA, Cellwave Building 2nd Floor Via AL5, Zona XR6B, Talatona-Luanda, Angola 15 : Subsea Centre of Excellence Technology, BT, London, UK 16 : O&M Submarine Engineering, Vodaphone Group, Leeds, UK 17 : Ambios, 1 Hexton Road, Glastonbury, Somerset, BA6 8HL, UK 18 : GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Wischhofstraße 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany 19 : School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK 20 : Department of Earth Sciences, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK |
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Source | Nature Communications (2041-1723) (Springer Science and Business Media LLC), 2022-07 , Vol. 13 , N. 1 , P. 4193 (15p.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
DOI | 10.1038/s41467-022-31689-3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract | Here we show how major rivers can efficiently connect to the deep-sea, by analysing the longest runout sediment flows (of any type) yet measured in action on Earth. These seafloor turbidity currents originated from the Congo River-mouth, with one flow travelling >1,130 km whilst accelerating from 5.2 to 8.0 m/s. In one year, these turbidity currents eroded 1,338-2,675 [>535-1,070] Mt of sediment from one submarine canyon, equivalent to 19–37 [>7–15] % of annual suspended sediment flux from present-day rivers. It was known earthquakes trigger canyon-flushing flows. We show river-floods also generate canyon-flushing flows, primed by rapid sediment-accumulation at the river-mouth, and sometimes triggered by spring tides weeks to months post-flood. It is demonstrated that strongly erosional turbidity currents self-accelerate, thereby travelling much further, validating a long-proposed theory. These observations explain highly-efficient organic carbon transfer, and have important implications for hazards to seabed cables, or deep-sea impacts of terrestrial climate change. |
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