Recognition of Diagnostic Acoustic Signatures in Shelf and Slope Deposits: The STRATAFORM California Site
Abstract
One of the major goals of the STRATAFORM Project is to gain a better understanding of how strata form and how they combine to form characteristic stratigraphic sequences, such as drapes, aprons, wedges, sigmoids, and other characteristic geometries. An essential part of this understanding is the analysis and interpretation of surface features and deposits in the upper 50 m of the shelf and slope to provide information on the mechanism of sediment transport and deposition. Interpreting the signatures of various processes in surface and near-surface deposits provides a critical link between knowledge gained from measuring physical processes that are dominant over time spans from the duration of a single event to several years, and those inferred from seismic-reflection data that may represent 10(2) to 10(4) years. Towards these ends, we have been testing some of the concepts of sequence stratigraphy. Our objectives are to identify the types of sediment signatures that occur in high-resolution seismicreflection and sidescan-sonar records from the California continental margin, correlate them with the causative process (flood sedimentation, turbidity flow, slow hemipelagic drape, slope currents, etc.) that formed the deposits, and identify the relative abundance and significance of slope- and shelf- sediment signatures. These signatures can then be correlated with results from other STRATAFORM investigations and major patterns can be related to fluctuating sediment sources, sea levels, and climate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA542218
Entities
People
- David B. Prior
- Glenn Spinelli
- James V. Gardner
- Michael E. Field