Turbidity currents emanating from a submarine canyon and debouching onto an associated submarine fan often undergo an internal hydraulic jump near the canyon-fan transition. It is hypothesized here that the sudden decline in bed shear stress due to an internal hydraulic jump leaves a clear signature in the sediment deposit. This hypothesis is studied using the numerical model presented below. The experimental data of Garcia (1993) on turbidity currents near a canyon-fan transition are used to verify the model. Numerical experiments with input parameters similar to those of Garcia (1993) are designed in order to demonstrate that under the right conditions turbidity currents mark the resulting sediment deposit in a submarine canyon-fan system by leaving a detectible depositional signature at the location of the jump. The model is then employed to investigate the characteristics of the depositional signature created by a generic field-scale turbidity current.
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