The failure propagation of weakly stable sediment: A reason for the formation of high-velocity turbidity currents in submarine canyons

Abstract

Abstract해저 협곡에서 탁도의 장거리 이동은 많은 양의 퇴적물을 심해 평원으로 운반할 수 있습니다. 이전 연구에서는 5.9~28.0m/s 범위의 다중 케이블 손상 이벤트에서 파생된 탁도 전류 속도와 0.15~7.2m/s 사이의 현장 관찰 결과에서 명백한 차이가 있음을 보여줍니다. 따라서 해저 환경의 탁한 유체가 해저 협곡을 고속으로 장거리로 흐를 수 있는지에 대한 질문이 남아 있습니다. 연구실 시험의 결합을 통해 해저협곡의 탁류의 고속 및 장거리 운동을 설명하기 위해 약안정 퇴적물 기반의 새로운 모델(약안정 퇴적물에 대한 파손 전파 모델 제안, 줄여서 WSS-PFP 모델)을 제안합니다. 및 수치 아날로그. 이 모델은 두 가지 메커니즘을 기반으로 합니다. 1) 원래 탁도류는 약하게 안정한 퇴적층의 불안정화를 촉발하고 연질 퇴적물의 불안정화 및 하류 방향으로의 이동을 촉진하고 2) 원래 탁도류가 협곡으로 이동할 때 형성되는 여기파가 불안정화로 이어진다. 하류 방향으로 약하게 안정한 퇴적물의 수송. 제안된 모델은 심해 퇴적, 오염 물질 이동 및 광 케이블 손상 연구를 위한 동적 프로세스 해석을 제공할 것입니다.

The long-distance movement of turbidity currents in submarine canyons can transport large amounts of sediment to deep-sea plains. Previous studies show obvious differences in the turbidity current velocities derived from the multiple cables damage events ranging from 5.9 to 28.0 m/s and those of field observations between 0.15 and 7.2 m/s. Therefore, questions remain regarding whether a turbid fluid in an undersea environment can flow through a submarine canyon for a long distance at a high speed. A new model based on weakly stable sediment is proposed (proposed failure propagation model for weakly stable sediments, WSS-PFP model for short) to explain the high-speed and long-range motion of turbidity currents in submarine canyons through the combination of laboratory tests and numerical analogs. The model is based on two mechanisms: 1) the original turbidity current triggers the destabilization of the weakly stable sediment bed and promotes the destabilization and transport of the soft sediment in the downstream direction and 2) the excitation wave that forms when the original turbidity current moves into the canyon leads to the destabilization and transport of the weakly stable sediment in the downstream direction. The proposed model will provide dynamic process interpretation for the study of deep-sea deposition, pollutant transport, and optical cable damage.

Keyword

  • turbidity current
  • excitation wave
  • dense basal layer
  • velocity
  • WSS-PFP model

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Acknowledgment

We thank Hanru WU from Ocean University of China for his help in thesis writing, and Hao TIAN and Chenxi WANG from Ocean University of China for their helps in the preparation of the experimental materials. Guohui XU is responsible for the development of the initial concept, processing of test data, and management of coauthor contributions to the paper; Yupeng REN for the experiment setup and drafting of the paper; Yi ZHANG and Xingbei XU for the simulation part of the experiment; Houjie WANG for writing guidance; Zhiyuan CHEN for the experiment setup.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Geological Engineering, Qingdao, 266100, ChinaYupeng Ren, Yi Zhang, Guohui Xu, Xingbei Xu & Zhiyuan Chen
  2. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Geological Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, ChinaYupeng Ren & Houjie Wang
  3. Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Ecology, Ocean University of China, Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266100, ChinaYi Zhang, Guohui Xu, Xingbei Xu & Zhiyuan Chen

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guohui Xu.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41976049, 41720104001) and the Taishan Scholar Project of Shandong Province (No. TS20190913), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 202061028)

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Ren, Y., Zhang, Y., Xu, G. et al. The failure propagation of weakly stable sediment: A reason for the formation of high-velocity turbidity currents in submarine canyons. J. Ocean. Limnol. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-022-1285-0