Magnitude-frequency relationship of coastal sand delivery by a southern California stream

Coastal sand delivery by a stream in southern California is estimated based on a numerical model which stimulates unsteady flow, sediment transport, and the associated channel adjustments for a stream-delta system. An average annual sediment yield of 51,400 m³/yr is estimated for the San Dieguito River, which drains a semiarid watershed controlled by dams. Of the total sand delivery by the stream, 20.5 percent is contributed from floods greater than the 100-year flood; 17.6 percent from those between the 50- and 100-year events; 28.4 percent from those between the 25- and 50 year floods; and 33.5 percent from those smaller than the 25-year flood.     

The Bengal Fan: Some preliminary results from ODP drilling

Three deep holes, with a maximum penetration of 960 m below sea floor, were drilled into the distal Bengal Fan just south of the equator during ODP Leg 116. The entire section recovered is dominated by sandy silt and mud turbidites derived from the Ganges Delta and from the continental margin of the western Bay of Bengal, interbedded with thin pelagic clays and with biogenic turbidites probably from a local sea mount source. The effects of Hi-Malayan uplift, sea level fluctuations, local tectonics, and fan channel/lobe processes have closely interacted to produce the observed sedimentary record of the past 17 million years since the early Miocene.Coauthors include: James R. Cochran, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory (Co-chief scientist); Dorrik A. V. Stow, Nottingham University, England (Co-chief scientist); Christian A. Auroux, Texas A & M University, USA (ODP staff scientist); Kazou Amano, Ibaraki University, Japan; Peter S. Balson, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Notts, England; Jacques Boulegue, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France; Garrett W. Brass, University of Miami, Florida, USA; Jeffrey Corrigan, University of Texas, Austin, USA; Stefan Gartner, Texas A & M University, USA; Stuart A. Hall, University of Houston, Texas, USA; Silvia Iaccarino, University of Parma, Italy; Toshio Ishizuka, University of Tokyo, Japan; trena Kacmarska, Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada; Heidemarie Kassens, Kiel University, West Germany; Gregory Leger, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Franca Proto Decima, University of Padova, Italy; C. V. Raman, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India; William W. Sager, Texas A & M University, USA; Kozo Takahashi, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA; Thomas Thompson, 580 Euclid Ave, Boulder, Colo, USA; Jean-Jacques Tiercelin, University of Bretagne, Brest, France; Mark Townsend, University of Nottingham, England; Andreas Wetzel, Tubingen University, West Germany; N. P. Wijayananda, National Aquatatic Resource Agency, Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Colin Williams, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.     

Fine-grained sediments in deep water: An overview of processes and facies models

There appears to be a continuum of processes affecting the transport and deposition of fine-grained sediments in the deep sea. This results in a facies continuum within which we can recognize three broadly different facies groups: turbidites, contourites, and pelagites/hemipelagites. Several distinct facies models can be defined for each group on the basis of their chief structural, textural, and compositional attributes.     

Upper Jurassic overlapping-fans slope-apron system: Brae oilfield,North Sea

The Brae oilfield reservoir in the North Sea comprises Upper Jurassic resedimented conglomerates and sandstones interbedded with organic-rich silstone and mudstone thin-bedded turbidites. The system represents a series of small overlapping fans that form a thick (300 m) slope-apron accumulation of sediments deposited in a narrow (<10 km wide) belt along an active fault zone. The complex lateral and vertical distribution of facies was due mainly to variable tectonic activity, and partly also to sediment supply and sea-level changes.     

Coasts, water levels, and climate change: A Great Lakes perspective

The North American Laurentian Great Lakes hold nearly 20 % of the earth’s unfrozen fresh surface water and have a length of coastline, and a coastal population, comparable to frequently-studied marine coasts. The surface water elevations of the Great Lakes, in particular, are an ideal metric for understanding impacts of climate change on large hydrologic systems, and for assessing adaption measures for absorbing those impacts. In light of the importance of the Great Lakes to the North American and global economies, the Great Lakes and the surrounding region also serve as an important benchmark for hydroclimate research, and offer an example of successful adaptive management under changing climate conditions. Here, we communicate some of the important lessons to be learned from the Great Lakes by examining how the coastline, water level, and water budget dynamics of the Great Lakes relate to other large coastal systems, along with implications for water resource management strategies and climate scenario-derived projections of future conditions. This improved understanding fills a critical gap in freshwater and marine global coastal research.     

Upper Jurassic overlapping-fans slope-apron system: Brae oilfield, North Sea

The Brae oilfield reservoir in the North Sea comprises Upper Jurassic resedimented conglomerates and sandstones interbedded with organic-rich silstone and mudstone thin-bedded turbidites. The system represents a series of small overlapping fans that form a thick (300 m) slope-apron accumulation of sediments deposited in a narrow (<10 km wide) belt along an active fault zone. The complex lateral and vertical distribution of facies was due mainly to variable tectonic activity, and partly also to sediment supply and sea-level changes. Margin setting represents fan and/or source area     

The Laurentian Fan: Sohm Abyssal Plain

The 0.5- to 2-km thick Quaternary Laurentian Fan is built over Tertiary and Mesozoic sediments that rest on oceanic crust. Two 400-km long fan valleys, with asymmetric levees up to 700-m high, lead to an equally long, sandy, lobate basin plain (northern Sohm Abyssal Plain). The muddy distal Sohm Abyssal Plain is a further 400-km long. The sediment supplied to the fan is glacial in origin, and in part results from seismically triggered slumping on the upper continental slope. Sandy turbidity currents, such as the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake event, probably erode the fan-valley floors; but thick muddy turbidity currents build up the high levees. Margin setting represents fan and/or source area     

Sedimentary, tectonic, and sea-level controls on submarine fan and slope-apron turbidite systems

To help understand factors that influence submarine fan deposition, we outline some of the principal sedimentary, tectonic, and sea-level controls involved in deep-water sedimentation, give some data on the rates at which they operate, and evaluate their probable effects. Three depositional end-member systems, two submarine fan types (elongate and radial), and a third nonfan, slope-apron system result primarily from variations in sediment type and supply. Tectonic setting and local and global sea-level changes further modify the nature of fan growth, the distribution of facies, and the resulting vertical stratigraphic sequences. Margin setting represents fan and/or source area     

Detecting shadows in multi-temporal aerial imagery to support near-real-time change detection

Multi-temporal aerial imagery captured via an approach called repeat station imaging (RSI) facilitates post-hazard assessment of damage to infrastructure. Spectral-radiometric (SR) variations caused by differences in shadowing may inhibit successful change detection based on image differencing. This study evaluates a novel approach to shadow classification based on bi-temporal imagery, which exploits SR change signatures associated with transient shadows. Changes in intensity (brightness from red–green–blue images) and intensity-normalized blue waveband values provide a basis for classifying transient shadows across a range of material types with unique reflectance properties, using thresholds that proved versatile for very different scenes. We derive classification thresholds for persistent shadows based on hue to intensity ratio (H/I) images, by exploiting statistics obtained from transient shadow areas. We assess shadow classification accuracy based on this procedure, and compare it to the more conventional approach of thresholding individual H/I images based on frequency distributions. Our efficient and semi-automated shadow classification procedure shows improved mean accuracy (93.3%) and versatility with different image sets over the conventional approach (84.7%). For proof-of-concept, we demonstrate that overlaying bi-temporal imagery also facilitates normalization of intensity values in transient shadow areas, as part of an integrated procedure to support near-real-time change detection.     

The Laurentian Fan: Sohm abyssal plain

The 0.5- to 2-km thick Quaternary Laurentian Fan is built over Tertiary and Mesozoic sediments that rest on oceanic crust. Two 400-km long fan valleys, with asymmetric levees up to 700-m high, lead to an equally long, sandy, lobate basin plain (northern Sohm Abyssal Plain). The muddy distal Sohm Abyssal Plain is a further 400-km long. The sediment supplied to the fan is glacial in origin, and in part results from seismically triggered slumping on the upper continental slope. Sandy turbidity currents, such as the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake event, probably erode the fan-valley floors; but thick muddy turbidity currents build up the high levees.