南海东北部峡谷体系的地貌特征与发育控制因素

海底峡谷在全球陆缘广泛分布,是浅海沉积物向深海运移的主要通道,对于理解深海浊流触发机制、深海沉积物的搬运模式、深海扇的发育历史和深海油气资源勘探等均具有重要意义。本文基于高分辨率高精度的多波束测深数据,首次对南海东北部海底峡谷体系进行了研究,精细刻画了高屏海底峡谷、澎湖海底峡谷、台湾浅滩南海底峡谷和东沙海底峡谷等4条大型海底峡谷的地貌特征并分析其发育控制因素。海底坡度、构造运动、海山与海丘是影响南海东北部峡谷群走向与特征的重要因素,其中,海底坡度对于峡谷上游多分支与“V”字特征有显著的控制作用;构造运动是控制高屏海底峡谷走向的因素,澎湖海底峡谷的走向则与菲律宾海板块与欧亚板块碰撞有关,东沙海底峡谷的走向则与东沙运动相关,台湾浅滩南海底峡谷上段受NW向断裂构造的控制;海山的阻挡作用造成峡谷局部走向和特征改变。海底峡谷群输送大量陆源沉积物到深海盆并形成大面积的沉积物波,海山和沉积物波的发育导致东沙海底峡谷下段“回春”和转向。     

全球海底峡谷成因及演化研究

海底峡谷广泛发育于全球大陆边缘,在地形上表现为深切于大陆边缘的凹槽,是海陆边界处最为显著的地貌之一。海底峡谷是陆缘碎屑物质由陆至深海运移的重要通道,是研究区域源-汇体系、海平面升降、构造演化的重要场所,也是海底油气资源形成与储集的重要区域,是国内外在海洋领域研究的热点之一。针对海底峡谷的成因及演化过程,进行了系统性的研究与划分,首先介绍了国内外海底峡谷研究的关键成果,其次概述了两大世界典型峡谷区南海北部海底峡谷区和蒙特利海底峡谷区的区域构造及成因,最后依据海底峡谷形成演化的主控因素,将其成因分为3种类型:强侵蚀性、河流侵蚀型、构造作用及溯源侵蚀型。通过对峡谷成因演化的研究,有助于为海底峡谷的分类提供新的思路,为海底峡谷区域的资源勘探、古气候与构造演化模式方面提供新的突破点。     

构造活动对海底峡谷地貌形态的影响

海底峡谷是大陆边缘最重要的地貌形态之一,是沉积物和陆源有机质向深海搬运的主要通道,在深海重力流沉积、全球碳循环、生物多样性、油气-水合物资源勘探及海底工程设施安全运营等方面的研究中具有重要意义。大量研究发现,海底峡谷常发育于构造活动较强烈的地区,其形成和演化与构造变形之间存在密切的关联。在文献调研基础上,着重就构造活动对海底峡谷地貌的控制作用进行综述。总结了5种与构造变形有关的海底峡谷平面分布端元模式,分别为限制型、转向型、偏转型、阻挡型及横向切穿型海底峡谷。分析了局部坡度变化对峡谷内部地貌特征的影响:构造变形引起的局部地形坡度增大会导致海底峡谷内部侵蚀作用的加剧与裂点的形成;局部地形坡度减小容易引起天然堤和决口扇的形成;坡度的变化还会引起峡谷弯曲度的动态响应。     

南海西沙海域永乐海底峡谷形成演化过程分析*

远海孤立碳酸盐台地周缘发育了碳酸盐岩峡谷, 对其开展研究有助于深刻理解碳酸盐碎屑沉积物的“源-汇”体系及深水油气成藏等方面。文章利用多波束测深、高分辨率二维多道地震等数据, 精细刻画南海西沙海域永乐海底峡谷的地貌形态及内部充填特征, 揭示该峡谷沉积演化过程, 分析峡谷成因控制因素及稳定性。永乐海底峡谷形成演化可分为萌芽、汇聚和拓展3个阶段, 随着演化过程的发展, 峡谷规模及对沉积物输运作用增加。永乐海底峡谷形成及演化主要受古地貌隆起形成的负地形和沉积物重力流侵蚀作用影响。峡谷在第四纪以后仍有较明显的活动迹象。分析显示永乐海底峡谷是西北次海盆的重要物质输送通道, 其沉积演化过程及稳定性对研究碳酸盐台地沉积物输运等深水沉积过程及岛礁工程建设具有一定参考意义。     

广西近海海底地形图测绘的启示

广西壮族自治区为了广西沿海海洋开发与管理的需要,于1994—1995年对广西近海海域进行了1:5万海底地形图测绘工作。本文介绍了广西近海海域海底地形图测绘的目的与测绘工作概况,它为开展全国近海海域海底地形图测绘开创了先例,提供了借鉴经验。     

南海北部陆坡区海底峡谷地貌、沉积特征及控制因素

南海北部陆坡发育众多海底峡谷,其形成、发育、演化过程都存在较大差异。本文选取南海北部陆坡典型的珠江口外海底峡谷群、东沙海底峡谷、台湾浅滩南海底峡谷和澎湖海底峡谷进行研究,通过高分辨率多道地震数据和多波束测深数据,结合前人研究成果,对4条典型海底峡谷的形态特征、沉积充填特征及结构、形成发育过程及控制因素进行研究。结果表明,南海北部陆缘各个海底峡谷的形成受多个控制因素的影响,其影响程度及方式都有差别。构造活动、海平面变化及沉积物重力流与海底峡谷的演化密切相关,而陆地河流和局部构造因素也以不同方式影响着海底峡谷的发育。对于发育在主动大陆边缘的台湾岛东南侧的澎湖海底峡谷,其板块运动和岩浆活动活跃,其上发育的海底峡谷的控制因素以内营力地质作用为主。而具有被动大陆边缘属性的其他3条峡谷,由于构造运动较少或停止,其上发育的海底峡谷的控制因素以外营力地质作用为主。     

南海宣德环礁东南海域地质灾害特征

宣德环礁作为我国南海诸岛礁开发利用程度最高的岛礁之一, 其周围海域地质灾害对岛礁基础工程建设及人类活动具有重大危害。为适应南海岛礁可持续发展的需要, 文章采用广州海洋地质调查局2018年采集的单道地震数据, 对宣德环礁东部斜坡带海域灾害地质因素进行综合解释和分析。结果表明, 研究区主要发育有海底滑坡、海底陡坎和断层3类地质灾害。海底滑坡是研究区主要灾害地质因素, 规模大小不一, 海底陡坎和断层为次要地质灾害。海底陡坎根据成因可分为礁体陡坎和滑坡陡坎, 礁体陡坎为礁盘形成过程中受海平面上升控制形成, 滑坡陡坎为海底滑坡导致。通过分析认为陡峭的地形和峡谷水道的侵蚀搬运作用是研究区地质灾害发育的主控因素。这些地质灾害对海洋工程建设及管线铺设均有不利的影响, 应尽量避开。     

菲律宾海深海海底沉积物声学特性与物理性质相关关系

为研究深海海底沉积物声学特性与物理性质相关关系,于2016年11月在实验室对水深3164～5 592 m的菲律宾海深海海底沉积物柱状样品的声学特性进行测量,获取了沉积物声速、声速比、声阻抗、声阻抗指数等声学特性参数。结合沉积物的孔隙度和密度等物理性质参数,分析了海底沉积物声速、声速比、声阻抗、声阻抗指数与孔隙度、密度的相关关系,建立了该海域海底沉积物声学特性回归方程。研究结果表明:研究区深海数据与浅海回归方程符合度较差,与深海回归方程符合度较好;Hamilton校正方法有助于修正实验室测量引起的温度和压力误差,声速比与Hamilton方程符合度比声速好;声阻抗和声阻抗指数与物理性质参数的相关性优于声速和声速比。此外,研究认为由于海底沉积物的沉积环境较为复杂,其声学特性回归方程存在差异。由于上述差异的存在,在使用基于不同海域数据建立的回归方程进行海底沉积物声学特性预测时,应加以区别对待。该研究丰富了深海海底沉积物声学数据,对促进深海海底沉积物声学深入研究具有一定的借鉴意义。     

南极中山站海湾地形特征研究

1999年完成的中山锚地高精度水深地形勘测,测量了锚地,调查了部分周边水深地形,取得较完整的测深数据,据此编绘了勘测锚地水深地形图。利用测区外的部分测绘资料使我们有机会可以审视和概略研究中山站附近的海底地形特征。继之对中山站附近的海底地形特征进行了研究,并在区内选取了有代表性的1条剖面进行了剖析。分析研究表明：中山站海湾地形复杂,地形类型多样：台地、水下山丘、峡谷,从陆向海倾斜。受冰体运动的影响,发育了SN向沟谷,自大陆向海中发散;海底地形陡峭,峡谷上穿切冰盖外沿,下达深海,其峡谷内在平坦的背景上仍然发育有水下低丘。     

南海礼乐盆地海底麻坑地貌及成因分析

本文基于高分辨率多波束测深和浅地层剖面数据,首次对南海礼乐盆地南部坳陷海底麻坑进行了系统的识别研究。共识别出各类麻坑81个,其中麻坑直径最大约2.4 km,坑深最大约157 m。麻坑种类多样:按平面形态主要分为圆形、椭圆形、拉长形和新月形麻坑;按组合方式分为孤立麻坑、链状麻坑和复合麻坑;按直径分为正常麻坑和大型麻坑。区域内发育多条大型海底峡谷,峡谷侵蚀引起两侧地层稳定性降低,气体储层遭受破坏,泄露的气体沿断层或气烟囱等喷发出海底形成麻坑。而因麻坑生成时剥蚀的沉积物质与周围水体混合并逐渐发展成浊流,在一定程度上促进海底峡谷向下延伸。研究区内单个麻坑的平面形态最初为圆形或椭圆形,之后由于重力流和峡谷侵蚀的影响,逐渐发展成拉长形或新月形,麻坑之间也会发生组合形成复合麻坑。链状麻坑与冲沟的形成联系密切,沿垂直于等深线方向展布的链状麻坑在重力流的冲刷下,发育成底部平坦的麻坑冲沟。对比分析全球其他海域麻坑,发现海底麻坑尺寸与水深关系密切,在深水区域更容易发育大型麻坑。     

基于水文分析法的海底峡谷特征要素自动提取方法研究及应用

海底峡谷是陆源沉积物向深海运移的主要通道,也是陆架/陆坡区重要的地貌单元。随着多波束测深技术的发展,如何快速而准确地从海量数据中识别并提取海底峡谷的特征要素,是一个亟待解决的重要热点问题。文中根据海底峡谷谷底下切、谷壁高而陡等地形特征,基于水文分析法和坡度分析等原理,通过ArcGIS中的数据建模工具建立了一种从数字高程模型(DEM)数据快速识别和提取海底峡谷特征要素的方法。以南海北部陆坡神狐峡谷区为例进行算例分析,结果表明,该方法在快速了解海底峡谷的发育位置和特征要素等方面是可行的,并可以获得峡谷头尾部水深、轴线长度、峡谷范围等特征信息。为获得该方法适用于研究区的最优参数组,文中讨论分析了峡谷形态、重分类阈值及数据分辨率等影响峡谷识别的因素。结果分析表明,峡谷形态会在一定程度上影响识别结果的准确性,但不影响对峡谷的总体了解;零值汇流累积量重分类阈值和DEM数据的空间分辨率是影响峡谷识别结果准确度的两个重要因素,在神狐峡谷群区,空间分辨率200 m且重分类阈值0.4时,海底峡谷识别和特征要素提取效果最佳。     

Two fundamentally different types of submarine canyons along the continental margin of Equatorial Guinea

Most submarine canyons are erosive conduits cut deeply into the world’s continental shelves through which sediment is transported from areas of high coastal sediment supply onto large submarine fans. However, many submarine canyons in areas of low sediment supply do not have associated submarine fans and show significantly different morphologies and depositional processes from those of ‘classic’ canyons. Using three-dimensional seismic reflection and core data, this study contrasts these two types of submarine canyons and proposes a bipartite classification scheme.The continental margin of Equatorial Guinea, West Africa during the late Cretaceous was dominated by a classic, erosional, sand-rich, submarine canyon system. This system was abandoned during the Paleogene, but the relict topography was re-activated in the Miocene during tectonic uplift. A subsequent decrease in sediment supply resulted in a drastic transformation in canyon morphology and activity, initiating the ‘Benito’ canyon system. This non-typical canyon system is aggradational rather than erosional, does not indent the shelf edge and has no downslope sediment apron. Smooth, draping seismic reflections indicate that hemipelagic deposition is the chief depositional process aggrading the canyons. Intra-canyon lateral accretion deposits indicate that canyon concavity is maintained by thick (>150 m), dilute, turbidity currents. There is little evidence for erosion, mass-wasting, or sand-rich deposition in the Benito canyon system. When a canyon loses flow access, usually due to piracy, it is abandoned and eventually filled. During canyon abandonment, fluid escape causes the successive formation of ‘cross-canyon ridges’ and pockmark trains along buried canyon axes.Based on comparison of canyons in the study area, we recognize two main types of submarine canyons: ‘Type I’ canyons indent the shelf edge and are linked to areas of high coarse-grained sediment supply, generating erosive canyon morphologies, sand-rich fill, and large downslope submarine fans/aprons. ‘Type II’ canyons do not indent the shelf edge and exhibit smooth, highly aggradational morphologies, mud-rich fill, and a lack of downslope fans/aprons. Type I canyons are dominated by erosive, sandy turbidity currents and mass-wasting, whereas hemipelagic deposition and dilute, sluggish turbidity currents are the main depositional processes sculpting Type II canyons. This morphology-based classification scheme can be used to help predict depositional processes, grain size distributions, and petroleum prospectivity of any submarine canyon.     

南海北部白云深水区东北部小型峡谷内的块体搬运

The process of mass movements and their consequent turbidity currents in large submarine canyons has been widely reported, however, little attention was paid to that in small canyons. In this paper, we document mass movements in small submarine canyons in the northeast of Baiyun deepwater area, north of the South China Sea(SCS), and their strong effects on the evolution of the canyons based on geophysical data. Submarine canyons in the study area arrange closely below the shelf break zone which was at the depth of –500 m. Within submarine canyons, seabed surface was covered with amounts of failure scars resulted from past small-sized landslides. A complex process of mass transportation in the canyons is indicated by three directions of mass movements.Recent mass movement deposits in the canyons exhibit translucent reflections or parallel reflections which represent the brittle deformation and the plastic deformation, respectively. The area of most landslides in the canyons is less than 3 km2. The trigger mechanisms for mass movements in the study area are gravitational overloading, slope angle and weak properties of soil. Geophysical data indicate that the genesis of submarine canyons is the erosion of mass movements and consequent turbidity currents. The significant effects of mass movements on canyon are incision and sediment transportation at the erosion phases and fillings supply at the fill phases. This research will be helpful for the geological risk assessments and understanding the sediment transportation in the northern margin of the SCS.     

Discovery of Messinian canyons and new seismic stratigraphic model,offshore Provence (SE France): Implications for the hydrographic network reconstruction

The interpretation of high-resolution 2D marine seismic profiles together with the analysis of sea-bottom cores allowed a stratigraphic and structural framework of the Provence continental shelf to be proposed. The integration of onshore and offshore stratigraphy, structure and geomorphology provided new insights into Messinian paleotopography and paleohydrography. A geological map of the offshore Provence continental shelf, isobath map of the base Plio-Quaternary surface are presented for the first time in this area. The base Plio-Quaternary surface is a polyphased unconformity that is composed of deep canyons developed by fluvial erosion during the Messinian event, and wave-cut surfaces formed during post-Messinian transgressions. The study evidenced a deep, E–W-trending canyon (Bandol canyon) connected to the head of the Cassidaigne canyon, and filled with up to 600 m-thick Plio-Quaternary deposits. The development of canyons on the Provence margin during the Messinian event was dominantly controlled by the lithology and structure of pre-Messinian formations. A map of the Messinian paleo-drainage network is proposed to explain the presence of deep canyons in the Eastern area and the lack of incision in the Western area. An underground karst drainage scheme is proposed, linked with the current submarine Port-Miou spring.     

Formation of submarine canyons on the flanks of the Canary Islands

Detailed morphological data collected from the submarine flanks of the Canary Islands have revealed numerous submarine canyons down to water depths of >3,000 m. These canyons are interpreted to have formed by submarine erosion. We postulate formation of proto-canyons by downslope-eroding mass flows which originate on land, enter the sea, and continue below sea level for several tens of kilometers. Once proto-canyons have been formed, they become deepened by further erosion and failures of the canyon walls and/or floor. Large amounts of sediments, funnelled through the canyons from the islands into the adjacent deep-ocean sedimentary basins, play an important role in the evolution of volcanic aprons surrounding ocean islands. Some major canyon systems appear to have persisted for at least 14 million years.     

Small turbidite systems in a complex tectonic setting (SW Mediterranean Sea): morphology and growth patterns

Three small turbidite systems (Almeria, Sacratif, and Guadiaro), each tens of kilometres long, are developed in the complex morpho-structural setting of the northern Alboran Sea and have similar primary architectural elements (canyons, channel-levee systems, lobes). However, comparison reveals differences in the axial gradients of their canyons, depth/physiographic location, morphological framework, and lateral and longitudinal sedimentary shifts of turbidite deposition. The depositional architecture and sedimentary evolution from late Pliocene to Quaternary seems to be conditioned by number of submarine feeding sources (canyons), sea-level fluctuations and local tectonic (e.g. margin/canyon-channel gradients, faults). We group the Alboran turbidite systems into two models: mud/sand-rich submarine point-source and mud/sand-rich multiple submarine source ramp.     

冲绳海槽陆源碎屑峡谷通道搬运与海底扇沉积

应用“向阳红16号”1992年地质调查和“向阳红9号”1995年地球物理调查的实际资料，并参照80年代以来有关研究成果，对冲绳海槽沉积物类型、陆源组分的堆积形式、沉积速率、物质通量以及沉积环境状况等进行了研究，结果表明，冲强海槽陆源碎屑主要集中在海底峡谷口外，形成海底扇沉积，海底扇以其与峡谷伴生而地势和缘、陆源组分含量高、沉积通量大、沉积物楔入体复合叠置为标志，揭示出海底峡谷在陆源碎屑向海槽输送过程中的通道作用；提出陆架潮流与海底峡谷内波、内潮汐的联合作用是陆源碎屑经峡谷通道向海槽持续搬运的主要动力因素，而黑潮摆动及其涡旋分支对峡谷上游沉积物的供给具有积极作用。     

Characteristics of migrating submarine canyons from the middle Miocene to present: Implications for paleoceanographic circulation,northern South China Sea

Previously undocumented, migrating submarine canyons have developed in the Pearl River Mouth Basin along the northern continental margin of the South China Sea from the middle Miocene to present. A grid of high-resolution, 2-D multi-channel seismic profiles calibrated by borehole information permits documentation of these northeastward migrating submarine canyons, as the result of the interplay of gravity flows and bottom currents. The modern canyons have lengths of 30–60 km, widths of 1–5.7 km, and relief of 50–300 m in water depths of 450–1500 m. Buried ancient submarine canyon successions were originally eroded by basal erosional discontinuities and partially filled by canyon thalweg deposits. These are overlain by lateral inclined packages and hemipelagic drape deposits. Basal erosional discontinuities and thalweg deposits are probably created principally by turbidity currents and filled with turbidites. Lateral inclined packages likely were formed by along-slope bottom currents. The evolution of these migrating submarine canyons reveals that northeastward bottom currents have consistently occurred at least from the middle Miocene to present in the study area. It might further imply that thermohaline intermediate water circulation of the South China Sea has been anti-cyclonic from the middle Miocene to present. The initiation of migrating submarine canyons possibly signals commencement of strong bottom currents after the middle Miocene in the South China Sea. The intensification of bottom currents also possibly may reflect shoaling of the major ocean seaways and increased vigor in oceanic circulation forced by global cooling after the middle Miocene.