Halokinetic deep‐seated slumping on the mediterranean slope of northern Sinai and southern Israel

Abstract

The continental margin of northern Sinai and Israel consists of a seaward‐inclined wedge, made up predominantly of foreset beds of mainly Nile‐derived clastics. They overlie seaward‐thickening Messinian (Upper Miocene) evaporites. Detailed bathymetric and seismic surveys reveal large areas of sea floor disturbances off northern Sinai and in several places off Israel, expressed by a complex block topography of the outer continental shelf and slope. These disturbed areas appear to be gigantic, deep‐seated, compound rotational slumps over down‐slope flowing evaporites. Many of the disturbances are above landward lobes of evaporites which fill buried Late Miocene erosion channels of the pre‐Messinian retreat of the sea. Flowage of the evaporites was presumably caused by excessive pore pressures, generated by the Pliocene‐Quaternary overload, in confined layers of the elastics interbedded within the evaporites.     

Bannock Basin,Sirte Abyssal Plain and Conrad Spur: structural relationships between Mediterranean Ridge and its western foreland and implications on the character of the accretionary complex (eastern Mediterranean)

In previous publications, the relationship between the Sirte Abyssal Plain as foreland and the Mediterranean Ridge as accretionary complex was considered to be simple: the foreland is undeformed, the accretionary complex consumes the foreland, the Messinian evaporites control the internal structure of the growing complex. The compilation of our own and published data results in a more complex tectonic pattern and a new geodynamic interpretation. The Sirte Abyssal Plain is imprinted by extensional tectonics which originated independently from and prior to the approaching process of accretion. The structural setting of the pre-Messinian and Messinian Sirte Abyssal Plain is responsible for the highly variable thickness of Messinian evaporites. The foreland setting in the Sirte Abyssal Plain also controls the internal structure of the Mediterranean Ridge, at least between the deformation front and Bannock Basin, following sediment deformation within the accretionary wedge with a dominating inherited SW-NE orientation. The taper angle of the post-Messinian Mediterranean Ridge is unusually small compared with other accretionary wedges. In the studied area, within a distance of about 45 km from the deformation front, there is no appreciable dip in the décollement. Therefore, the slope of the outer 45 km of the Mediterranean Ridge is considered to be caused only by gravitational spreading of Messinian evaporites deposited on the slope of pre-Messinian accretionary wedge. As a consequence, the Mediterranean Ridge underlying such slope is interpreted to belong to the foreland. The allochthonous evaporites overlie autochthonous evaporites of the Sirte Abyssal Plain. The NE-dipping décollement (and thus of the true tectonically driven deformation front) is expected to initiate at about the present position of Bannock Basin. The Sirte Abyssal Plain, the adjacent Cyrene Seamount and neighbouring seafloor relief on the African continental margin are considered to be the product of tectonic segmentation of the continental crust.     

The Var turbidite system (Ligurian Sea, northwestern Mediterranean)—morphology, sediment supply, construction of turbidite levee and sediment waves: implications for hydrocarbon reservoirs

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.     

Geotechnical characterization of slump scars,eroded slopes,and correlated deposits on continental margins: Gulf of Lions,Western Mediterranean sea

Abstract

Vertical variations of geotechnical properties in the uppermost sediment layers characterize the main sedimentary processes acting on the construction and destruction of progressive‐type continental slopes. In the Gulf of Lions, the original thicknesses and distribution of the uppermost sedimentary layers of the continental slope and rise, which consist of Holocene muds overlying Pleistocene muds, have been greatly modified by erosion and several kinds of slope failure processes. Each process is typified through sets of geotechnical properties measured in the eroded or slumped sections and in the associated sediment accumulations.

In slump scars, the water‐rich Holocene muds lie on fine, overconsolidated, Pleistocene muds with high plasticity and low shear strength. In bottom current‐eroded slopes, where modern sedimentation is extremely reduced, the Pleistocene muds frequently outcrop and may sometimes be overlain by a very thin layer of Holocene muds. The Pleistocene muds of eroded slopes are overconsolidated and more silty and less plastic than the Pleistocene muds from slopes affected by slope failure, their shear strength being 10 times greater.

Deposits at the toe of slumps are very often formed by several superposed three‐layer units (triplets of interstratified Holocene, transitional, and Pleistocene layers) issued from retrogressive slumping occurring in the slump scars above their head area. The main body of each layer is then relatively undisturbed, showing the usual burial geotechnical gradients due to overburden pressure (i.e., decrease of water content and increase of unit weight and shear strength). At the toe of bottom current‐eroded slopes, a thick and homogeneous layer of Holocene muds overlies the Pleistocene muds; this Holocene layer has unappreciable burial depth gradient of its geotechnical parameters because of a high rate of modem and continuous deposition.     

The structural evolution of the Messinian evaporites in the Levantine Basin

The Levantine Basin in the South-eastern Mediterranean Sea is a world class site for studying the initial stages of salt tectonics driven by differential sediment load, because the Messinian evaporites are comparatively young, the sediment load varies along the basin margin, they are hardly tectonically overprinted, and the geometry of the basin and the overburden is well-defined. In this study we analyse depositional phases of the evaporites and their structural evolution by means of high-resolution multi-channel seismic data. The basinal evaporites have a maximum thickness of about 2 km, precipitated during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, 5.3–5.9 Ma ago. The evaporite body is characterized by 5 transparent layers sequenced by four internal reflections. We suggest that each of the internal reflection bands indicate a change of evaporite facies, possibly interbedded clastic sediments, which were deposited during temporal sea level rises. All of these internal reflections are differently folded and distorted, proving that the deformation was syn-depositional. Thrust angles up to 14° are observed. Backstripping of the Pliocene–Quaternary reveals that salt tectonic is mainly driven by the sediment load of the Nile Cone. The direction of lateral salt displacement is mainly SSW–NNE and parallel to the bathymetric trend. Apparent rollback anticlines off Israel result rather from differential subsidence than from lateral salt displacement. In the south-eastern basin margin the deposition of the Isreali Slump Complex (ISC) is coeval with the onset of salt tectonic faulting, suggesting a causal link between slumping processes and salt tectonics.

The superposition of ‘thin-skinned’ tectonics and ‘thick-skinned’ tectonics becomes apparent in several locations: The fold belt off the Israeli Mediterranean slope mainly results from active strike-slip tectonics, which becomes evident in faults which reach from the seafloor well below the base of the evaporites. Owing to the wrenching of the crustal segments which are bounded by deep-rooted fault lines like the Damietta–Latakia, Pelusium and Shelf Edge Hinge line the setting is transpressional south of 32°N, where the fault lines bend further towards the west. This adds a component of ‘thick-skinned’ transpression to the generally ‘thin-skinned’ compressional regime in the basin. Above 1.5 km of evaporites, a mud volcano is observed with the mud source seemingly within the evaporite layer. At the eastern Cyprus Arc, the convergence zone of the African and the Anatolian plates, deep-rooted compression heavily deformed the base of the evaporites, whereas at the Eratosthenes Seamount mainly superficial compression affecting the Post-Messinian sediments and the top of the evaporites is observed.     

Active diapirism and slope steepening,northern gulf of Mexico continental slope

Abstract

Large diapiric and nondiapiric masses of Jurassic salt and Tertiary shale underlie the northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope and adjacent outer continental shelf. These masses show evidence of being structurally active at present and in the very recent geologic past. Local steepening of the sea floor in response to the vertical growth of these structures is a serious concern to those involved in the site selection and the construction of future oil and gas production and transportation facilities in this frontier petroleum province.

The seabed of the northern Gulf slope is hummocky and consists of many hillocks, knolls, and ridges interspersed by topographic depressions and canyon systems. Topographic highs and lows relate respectively to vertical diapiric growth and to withdrawal of large volumes of salt and shale. Topographic highs vary considerably in shape and size, but all have very limited areas of nearly flat sea floor. Intraslope topographic lows consist of three principal types: (1) remnants of submarine canyons blocked by diapiric uplift that terminated active downslope sediment transport common during stages of low sea level; (2) closed depressions formed by subsidence in response to salt and shale withdrawal and flow into surrounding diapiric uplifts; and (3) small collapse basins formed by faulting in strata arched over structural crests of diapirs.

Distribution patterns of both diapiric features and sediment accumulations on the slope are the result of the complex relationship that exists between sediment loading and diapirism. Diapiric activity is proportional to the thickness of salt or underconsolidated shale available for mobilization, and to the sedimentary load distribution on these highly plastic deposits. Variations in overburden load, in turn, are dependent on rates, volumes, and bulk densities of depo‐sitional influx; proximity to sources of supply, erosion, and distribution of sediments; and topographic control of sediment accumulation. Sediment capture in diapirically controlled interdomal basins and canyon systems localizes overburden load, thus inducing further diapiric growth, and complex structural and stratigraphic patterns are induced throughout the continental slope region.

Drill cores in the slope province indicate that most of the slope sediments are fine‐grained muds; appreciable quantities of sand‐size sediment are present principally in canyon axes. Turbidite sand layers drilled on a topographic high adjacent to the Gyre Basin reflect uplift far above their original deposition level, and calculations yield rates of uplift that average 2 to 4 m per 100 years. Seismic reflection profiles provide considerable evidence of “fresh”; slumps and ero‐sional surfaces on the flanks of many topographic highs not yet blanketed by a veneer of young sediments. This evidence thus supports our conclusion that the present continental slope region of the northern Gulf of Mexico is undergoing active diapirism and consequent slope steepening. Because most of the sediment on the flanks of diapiric structures consists of underconsolidated muds, slumping will take place regularly in response to further diapiric movement.     

Evolution of the western Barents Sea

Information from multichannel seismic reflection data complemented by seismic refraction, gravity and magnetics forms the basis for a regional structural and evolutionary model of the western Barents Sea during post-Caledonian times. The western Barents Sea contains a thick succession, locally > 10 km, of Upper Paleozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks covering a basement of probably Caledonian origin. The area is divided into three regional geological provinces: (1) an east-west trending basinal province between 74°N and the coast of Norway; (2) an elevated platform area to the north towards Svalbard; and (3) the western continental margin. Several structural elements of different origin and age have been mapped within each of these provinces. The main stratigraphic sequence boundaries have been tentatively dated from available well information, correlation with the geology of adjacent areas, and correlation with the interregional unconformities caused by relative changes of sea level. The main structural elements were developed during three major post-Caledonian tectonic phases: the Svalbardian phase in Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous times, the Mid and Late Kimmerian phase in Mid Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times and Cenozoic tectonism related to the progressive northward opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. The sediments are predicted to be of mainly clastic origin except for a thick sequence of Middle Carboniferous — Lower Permian carbonates and evaporites. Salt diapirs have developed in several sub-basins, especially in the Nordkapp Basin where they form continuous salt walls that have pierced through > 7 km of sediments.     

The Levant Slumps and the Phoenician Structures: collapse features along the continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea

Two distinct series of slumps deform the upper part of the sedimentary sequence along the continental margin of the Levant. One series is found along the base of the continental slope, where it overlies the disrupted eastern edge of the Messinian evaporites. The second series of slumps transects the continental margin from the shelf break to the Levant Basin. It seemed that the two series were triggered by two unrelated, though contemporaneous, processes. The shore-parallel slumps were initiated by basinwards flow of the Messinian salt, that carried along the overlying Plio-Quaternary sediments. Seawater that percolated along the detachment faults dissolved the underlying salt to form distinctly disrupted structures. The slope-normal slumps are located on top of large canyons that cut into the pre-Messinian sedimentary rocks. A layer of salt is found in the canyons, and the Plio-Quaternary sediments were deposited on that layer. The slumps are bounded by large, NW-trending faults where post-Messinian faulted offset was measured. We presume that the flow of the salt in the canyons also drives the slope-normal slumps. Thus thin-skinned halokynetic processes generated the composite post-Tortonian structural patterns of the Levant margin. The Phoenician Structures are a prime example of the collapse of a distal continental margin due to the dissolution of a massive salt layer.     

Multiple attenuation in crustal-scale imaging: examples from the TAIGER marine reflection data set

During summer of 2009, multi-channel marine seismic reflection data and wide-angle refraction data were acquired as part of the joint NSF and Taiwanese-funded TAIGER program with the goal of understanding the dynamics of arc-continent collision in Taiwan. One of the principle difficulties of crustal-scale imaging with marine reflection data such as these is the prevalent multiple contamination that obscures many of the deep crustal targets. Without effective treatment of multiples, many of the objectives of the TAIGER active source program may not be achieved. We present three profiles, one from each acquisition leg, that demonstrate the effectiveness of 2D surface-related multiple elimination (SRME) and radon filtering in attenuating much of this unwanted energy in broad ranges of water depths, seafloor topographies and lithologies. Two profiles from south of Taiwan image 3–4 km of sedimentary strata overlying moderately extended continental crust along the Eurasia continental shelf and a 5–6 km thick sedimentary section overlying thin crust consisting of faulted blocks and volcanic bodies along the continental slope. Our multiple attenuation efforts also reveal a seaward-dipping normal fault that penetrates into the upper mantle and separates thick crust of the continental shelf from thin crust of the continental slope. A profile from east of Taiwan reveals thin ocean crust of the Philippine Sea plate subducting beneath the Ryukyu trench that may be traced beneath the accretionary prism and Ryukyu forearc. These profiles demonstrate the success of our imaging strategy in the range of imaging environments spanned by the TAIGER marine reflection seismic data.     

Superposed deformation straddling the continental-oceanic transition in deep-water Angola

The Angolan margin is the type area for raft tectonics. New seismic data reveal the contractional buffer for this thin-skinned extension. A 200-km-long composite section from the Lower Congo Basin and Kwanza Basin illustrates a complex history of superposed deformation caused by: (1) progradation of the margin; and (2) episodic Tertiary epeirogenic uplift. Late Cretaceous tectonics was driven by a gentle slope created by thermal subsidence; extensional rafting took place updip, contractional thrusting and buckling downdip; some distal folds were possibly unroofed to form massive salt walls. Oligocene deformation was triggered by gentle kinking of the Atlantic Hinge Zone as the shelf and coastal plain rose by 2 or 3 km; relative uplift stripped Paleogene cover off the shelf, provided space for Miocene progradation, and steepened the continental slope, triggering more extension and buckling. In the Neogene, a subsalt half graben was inverted or reactivated, creating keystone faults that may have controlled the Congo Canyon; a thrust duplex of seaward-displaced salt jacked up the former abyssal plain, creating a plateau of salt 3–4 km thick on the present lower slope. The Angola Escarpment may be the toe of the Angola thrust nappe, in which a largely Cretaceous roof of gently buckled strata, was transported seawards above the thickened salt by up to 20 km.     

南海北部相干内潮和非相干内潮演变特征

通过南海北部跨越陆坡和陆架区的3套潜标数据,对全日和半日相干、非相干内潮的动能变化特征进行了研究。研究表明,全日内潮沿陆坡区向陆架区传播的过程中,在陆坡区主要以全日相干内潮生成为主,平均动能生成率为2.32 J/（m3·s）;在陆架区以全日相干内潮耗散为主,平均动能耗散率为0.44 J/（m3·s）。全日非相干内潮动能在陆坡和陆架区均增长,平均动能生成率分别为0.39 J/（m3·s）和0.03 J/（m3·s）。全日与半日相干内潮动能在陆坡和陆架区的表现不同,陆坡区的全日相干内潮动能明显大于陆架区的全日相干内潮动能,而半日相干内潮动能在陆坡和陆架区没有明显差别;陆架区的全日和半日非相干内潮动能要大于陆坡区的全日和半日非相干内潮动能。     

Bottom processes, morphology, and geotechnical properties of the continental slope south of Baltimore Canyon

The continental slope south of Baltimore Canyon seaward of the coasts of Delaware and Maryland has a different morphology and sedimentary structure than adjacent portions of the continental margin. Ridges of sediment 600 m thick and transverse to the slope contain many unconformities that can be traced from ridge to ridge. The age of the sediment is inferred to be late tertiary to recent with the morphology related to a major drainage system. Physical properties of a suite of sediment cores display a pattern that varies in relationship to the morphology and depositional environment. Sedimentary structures and low shear strengths indicate instability of surficial sediments present on the upper slope and can be correlated with regions where the seismic reflection profiles show slumping has occurred. A veneer of sand overlying the general silty clay of the area is present on the upper slope and on the ridges indicating sand spillover from the shelf with a recent change in deposition pattern.     

Comparison of modern fluid distribution,pressure and flow in sediments associated with anticlines growing in deepwater (Brunei) and continental environments (Iran)

Differences in fluids origin, creation of overpressure and migration are compared for end member Neogene fold and thrust environments: the deepwater region offshore Brunei (shale detachment), and the onshore, arid Central Basin of Iran (salt detachment). Variations in overpressure mechanism arise from a) the availability of water trapped in pore-space during early burial (deepwater marine environment vs arid, continental environment), and b) the depth/temperature at which mechanical compaction becomes a secondary effect and chemical processes start to dominate overpressure development. Chemical reactions associated with smectite rich mud rocks in Iran occur shallow (∼1900 m, smectite to illite transformation) causing load-transfer related (moderate) overpressures, whereas mechanical compaction and inflationary overpressures dominate smectite poor mud rocks offshore Brunei. The basal detachment in deepwater Brunei generally lies below temperatures of about 150 °C, where chemical processes and metagenesis are inferred to drive overpressure development. Overall the deepwater Brunei system is very water rich, and multiple opportunities for overpressure generation and fluid leakage have occurred throughout the growth of the anticlines. The result is a wide variety of fluid migration pathways and structures from deep to shallow levels (particularly mud dykes, sills, laccoliths, volcanoes and pipes, fluid escape pipes, crestal normal faults, thrust faults) and widespread inflationary-type overpressure. In the Central Basin the near surface environment is water limited. Mechanical and chemical compaction led to moderate overpressure development above the Upper Red Formation evaporites. Only below thick Early Miocene evaporites have near lithostatic overpressures developed in carbonates and marls affected by a wide range of overpressure mechanisms. Fluid leakage episodes across the evaporites have either been very few or absent in most areas. Locations where leakage can episodically occur (e.g. detaching thrusts, deep normal faults, salt welds) are sparse. However, in both Iran and Brunei crestal normal faults play an important role in the transmission of fluids in the upper regions of folds.     

Reprint of: Comparison of modern fluid distribution,pressure and flow in sediments associated with anticlines growing in deepwater (Brunei) and continental environments (Iran)

Differences in fluids origin, creation of overpressure and migration are compared for end member Neogene fold and thrust environments: the deepwater region offshore Brunei (shale detachment), and the onshore, arid Central Basin of Iran (salt detachment). Variations in overpressure mechanism arise from a) the availability of water trapped in pore-space during early burial (deepwater marine environment vs arid, continental environment), and b) the depth/temperature at which mechanical compaction becomes a secondary effect and chemical processes start to dominate overpressure development. Chemical reactions associated with smectite rich mud rocks in Iran occur shallow (∼1900 m, smectite to illite transformation) causing load-transfer related (moderate) overpressures, whereas mechanical compaction and inflationary overpressures dominate smectite poor mud rocks offshore Brunei. The basal detachment in deepwater Brunei generally lies below temperatures of about 150 °C, where chemical processes and metagenesis are inferred to drive overpressure development. Overall the deepwater Brunei system is very water rich, and multiple opportunities for overpressure generation and fluid leakage have occurred throughout the growth of the anticlines. The result is a wide variety of fluid migration pathways and structures from deep to shallow levels (particularly mud dykes, sills, laccoliths, volcanoes and pipes, fluid escape pipes, crestal normal faults, thrust faults) and widespread inflationary-type overpressure. In the Central Basin the near surface environment is water limited. Mechanical and chemical compaction led to moderate overpressure development above the Upper Red Formation evaporites. Only below thick Early Miocene evaporites have near lithostatic overpressures developed in carbonates and marls affected by a wide range of overpressure mechanisms. Fluid leakage episodes across the evaporites have either been very few or absent in most areas. Locations where leakage can episodically occur (e.g. detaching thrusts, deep normal faults, salt welds) are sparse. However, in both Iran and Brunei crestal normal faults play an important role in the transmission of fluids in the upper regions of folds.     

台湾南部恒春海脊地质地球物理特征及其大地构造属性

恒春海脊的地质、地球物理特征与其相邻的南海海盆、吕宋火山弧和北吕宋海槽等地质构造单元所反映的特征明显不同 ,主要表现为低密度、弱磁性。推测其地壳性质为陆壳 ,是恒春半岛的南延部分。海脊西侧缓坡为陆缘增生楔 ,可见刺穿现象 ,这些刺穿构造是由逆冲挤压引起的泥底辟。海脊东部受弧陆碰撞的影响而急剧抬升。东部的弧陆碰撞是海脊抬升和增生楔形成的主要原因     

Potential for gas hydrate formation at the northwest New Zealand shelf margin - New insights from seismic reflection data and petroleum systems modelling

In this study we provide evidence for methane hydrates in the Taranaki Basin, occurring a considerable distance from New Zealand's convergent margins, where they are well documented. We describe and reconstruct a unique example of gas migration and leakage at the edge of the continental shelf, linking shallow gas hydrate occurrence to a deeper petroleum system. The Taranaki Basin is a well investigated petroleum province with numerous fields producing oil and gas. Industry standard seismic reflection data show amplitude anomalies that are here interpreted as discontinuous BSRs, locally mimicking the channelized sea-floor and pinching out up-slope. Strong reverse polarity anomalies indicate the presence of gas pockets and gas-charged sediments. PetroMod™ petroleum systems modelling predicts that the gas is sourced from elevated microbial gas generation in the thick slope sediment succession with additional migration of thermogenic gas from buried Cretaceous petroleum source rocks. Cretaceous–Paleogene extensional faults underneath the present-day slope are interpreted to provide pathways for focussed gas migration and leakage, which may explain two dry petroleum wells drilled at the Taranaki shelf margin. PetroMod™ modelling predicts concentrated gas hydrate formation on the Taranaki continental slope consistent with the anomalies observed in the seismic data. We propose that a semi-continuous hydrate layer is present in the down-dip wall of incised canyons. Canyon incision is interpreted to cause the base of gas hydrate stability to bulge downward and thereby trap gas migrating up-slope in permeable beds due to the permeability decrease caused by hydrate formation in the pore space. Elsewhere, hydrate occurrence is likely patchy and may be controlled by focussed leakage of thermogenic gas. The proposed presence of hydrates in slope sediments in Taranaki Basin likely affects the stability of the Taranaki shelf margin. While hydrate presence can be a drilling hazard for oil and gas exploration, the proposed presence of gas hydrates opens up a new frontier for exploration of hydrates as an energy source.     

Petrology and mineral chemistry of sedimentary rocks from the Western Solomon Sea

Multichannel seismic reflection profiles recorded in the northern Red Sea show structures that we interpret to be a result of the intrusion of uppermost Miocene salt. We believe that the evaporites are underlaid by attenuated continental crust and the flow of salt is due to renewed faulting of basement in the Pliocene when sea floor spreading began between latitudes 21°N and 15°30°N.     

南海北部冬季和夏季逆风流机制初探Ⅱ.季风逆风流产生机制

分析讨论了季风风应力、大陆坡地形及底摩擦在产生季风逆风流的必要条件和间接逆风流诊断判据中的作用；应用季风逆风流必要条件和间接逆风流诊断判据，解释冬季风和夏季风逆风流是如何产生的。结果表明：季风风应力是产生季风逆风流的主导因素；冬季风风应力、大陆坡地形及底摩擦三者联合作用导致表层海水在大陆坡上产生辐合生成高水位带和高动力高度带，在大陆被北侧产生NE向的冬季逆风流，南侧产生SW向顺风流；夏季风风应力、大陆坡地形及底摩擦三者联合作用导致表层海水在大陆坡上产生辐散生成低水位带和低动力高度带，在大陆被北侧产生SW向的夏季逆风流，南侧产生NE向的顺风流；冬季风盛行期间，风致经巴士海峡流入南海的黑潮水，将加速冬季逆风流的形成，加大冬季逆风流的强度；夏季风盛行期间，风应力的作用使巴上海峡以东的黑潮水不能进入南海，即使别的原因令巴上海峡以东的黑潮水流入南海，但高温、高盐的黑潮水对夏季逆风流具有阻扼作用。     

The tectonic style of the northern Red Sea

Multichannel seismic reflection profiles recorded in the northern Red Sea show structures that we interpret to be a result of the intrusion of uppermost Miocene salt. We believe that the evaporites are underlaid by attenuated continental crust and the flow of salt is due to renewed faulting of basement in the Pliocene when sea floor spreading began between latitudes 21°N and 15°30°N.     

Continental margin off Sergipe and Alagoas, northeastern Brazil: A reconnaissance geophysical study of morphology and structure

The stable continental margin of northeastern Brazil is unusually narrow, probably because of the small size and tropical character of the drainage basins of the hinterland, and correspondingly low rates of land erosion and marine sedimentation. The continental shelf, which is mainly a marine erosion surface, is also remarkably shallow, either because of upwarping or, more probably, because of the ineffectiveness of Pleistocene marine erosional processes on steeply sloping continental margins. Sediment accumulation is confined to the Sāo Francisco delta, seaward of which are fossil (?) lagoonal deposits, and to a poorly developed nearshore sand prism.The margin formed by seaward progradation of sediment on a subsiding basement, but the present morphology of the continental slope reflects chiefly Pleistocene canyon cutting and mass gravitational movements of sediment, which have exposed older strata in the upper slope. Beneath the continental slope is a magnetic anomaly (like the slope anomaly off the eastern U.S.A.), probably caused by a deeply buried dike of oceanic basalt, and apparently associated with a buried ridge which may have formed the seaward margin of the Sergipe—Alagoas Basin during the early history of the South Atlantic. Similar structures may be typical of the narrow easternmost part of the Brazilian margin.