Abstract
A SeaMARC I side-scan sonar survey on the central Scotian Slope shows a blocky debris flow with high surface roughness between the 1,000 and 2,000 m isobaths, covering an area of about 1,000 km2. The flow is at least 20 m thick, occuring as lenses within channels and as sheets on intervalley areas. The surface reflectivity is variable, with blocks and depressions 50 to 200 m wide and relief of 5 to 20 m. The source zone lies within two canyons on the upper slope and has relatively smooth surface reflectivity, in contrast to the gullied slope to either side.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Belderson RH, Kenyon NH (1976) Long range sonar views of submarine canyons. Marine Geology 22:M69-M74
Canadian Hydrographic Service (1976) Natural Resource Map 15122, scale 1:25000
Farre JA, McGregor BA, Ryan WBF, Robb JM (1983) Breaching the shelf break: passage from youthful to mature phase in submarine canyon evolution. Society Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication 33:25–39
Hill PR (1983) Detailed morphology of a small area of the Nova Scotian continental slope. Marine Geology 53:55–76
Hill PR (1984) Sedimentary facies of the Nova Scotian upper and middle continental slope, offshore Eastern Canada. Sedimentology 31:293–309
Kastens KA, Shor AN (1985) Depositional processes of a meandering channel on Mississippi Fan. American Association Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 69:190–202
Kosalos J, Chayes D (1983) A portable system for ocean bottom imaging and charting. In: OCEANS 83, Third Working Symposium on Oceanographic Data Systems, Proceedings pp. 1–8
Piper DJW, Farre JA, Shor AN (1985a) Late Quaternary slumps and debris flows on the Scotian Slope. Geological Society America Bulletin 96:1508–1517
Piper DJW, Normark WR, Sparkes R (1987) Late Cenozoic stratigraphy of the central Scotian Slope, Eastern Canada. Canadian Bulletin Petroleum Geology 35:1–11
Piper DJW, Shor AN, Farre JA, O'Connell S, Jacobi R (1985b) Sediment slides around the epicenter of the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake. Geology 13:538–541
Piper DJW, Sparkes R (1987) Proglacial sediment instability features on the Scotian Slope at 63° W. Marine Geology 76:15–31
Prior DB, Bornhold BD, Coleman JM, Bryant WR (1982) Morphology of a submarine slide, Kitimat Arm, British Columbia. Geology 10:588–592
Swift S (1985) Late Pleistocene sedimentation on the continental slope and rise off western Nova Scotia. Bulletin Geological Society America 96:832–841
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shor, A.N., Piper, D.J.W. A large late pleistocene blocky debris flow on the central scotian slope. Geo-Marine Letters 9, 153–160 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02431042
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02431042