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Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence.
Marine & Wildlife
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Challenging the highstand-dormant paradigm for land-detached submarine canyons
Nature Communications2022
34 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 40
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Maarten Heijnen
Euan Soutter,
Maarten Heijnen
Maarten Heijnen
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Michael Clare,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Ian Kane,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Ian Kane,
Maarten Heijnen
Euan Soutter,
Euan Soutter,
Euan Soutter,
Furu Mienis,
Furu Mienis,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Andrew R. Gates,
Brian J. Bett,
James E. Hunt,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Andrew R. Gates,
James E. Hunt,
Andrew R. Gates,
Andrew R. Gates,
Ian Kane,
James E. Hunt,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Brian J. Bett,
Ian Kane,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Euan Soutter,
Euan Soutter,
Brian J. Bett,
Furu Mienis,
Rob A. Hall,
Rob A. Hall,
Michael Clare,
James E. Hunt,
Furu Mienis,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Ian Kane,
James E. Hunt,
Ian Kane,
Rob A. Hall,
Ian Kane,
James E. Hunt,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Furu Mienis,
Corinne Pebody,
Furu Mienis,
Corinne Pebody,
Corinne Pebody,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Brian J. Bett,
Corinne Pebody,
Furu Mienis,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Furu Mienis,
Rob A. Hall,
Euan Soutter,
Euan Soutter,
Maarten Heijnen
Veerle A.I. Huvenne,
Michael Clare,
Ian Kane,
Ian Kane,
Andrew R. Gates,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Michael Clare,
Andrew R. Gates,
James E. Hunt,
Maarten Heijnen
Summary
Researchers discovered that submarine canyons disconnected from rivers — long assumed to be inactive — are actually transporting sediment, pollutants, and carbon to the deep sea at rates comparable to river-connected canyons, potentially meaning deep-sea particle transport has been vastly underestimated in over 1,000 such canyons worldwide.
Sediment, nutrients, organic carbon and pollutants are funnelled down submarine canyons from continental shelves by sediment-laden flows called turbidity currents, which dominate particulate transfer to the deep sea. Post-glacial sea-level rise disconnected more than three quarters of the >9000 submarine canyons worldwide from their former river or long-shore drift sediment inputs. Existing models therefore assume that land-detached submarine canyons are dormant in the present-day; however, monitoring has focused on land-attached canyons and this paradigm remains untested. Here we present the most detailed field measurements yet of turbidity currents within a land-detached submarine canyon, documenting a remarkably similar frequency (6 yr<sup>-1</sup>) and speed (up to 5-8 ms<sup>-1</sup>) to those in large land-attached submarine canyons. Major triggers such as storms or earthquakes are not required; instead, seasonal variations in cross-shelf sediment transport explain temporal-clustering of flows, and why the storm season is surprisingly absent of turbidity currents. As >1000 other canyons have a similar configuration, we propose that contemporary deep-sea particulate transport via such land-detached canyons may have been dramatically under-estimated.