Abstract Submarine channels deliver globally important volumes of sediments, nutrients, contaminants and organic carbon into the deep sea. Knickpoints are significant topographic features found within numerous submarine channels, which most likely play an important role in channel evolution and the behaviour of the submarine sediment‐laden flows (turbidity currents) that traverse them. Although prior research has linked supercritical turbidity currents to the formation of both knickpoints and smaller crescentic bedforms, the relationship between flows and the dynamics of these seafloor features remains poorly constrained at field‐scale. This study investigates the distribution, variation and interaction of knickpoints and crescentic bedforms along the 44 km long submarine channel system in Bute Inlet, British Columbia. Wavelet analyses on a series of repeated bathymetric surveys reveal that the floor of the submarine channel is composed of a series of knickpoints that have superimposed, higher‐frequency, crescentic bedforms. Individual knickpoints are separated by hundreds to thousands of metres, with the smaller superimposed crescentic bedforms varying in wavelengths from ca 16 m to ca 128 m through the channel system. Knickpoint migration is driven by the passage of frequent turbidity currents, and acts to redistribute and reorganize the crescentic bedforms. Direct measurements of turbidity currents indicate the seafloor reorganization caused by knickpoint migration can modify the flow field and, in turn, control the location and morphometry of crescentic bedforms. A transect of sediment cores obtained across one of the knickpoints show sand–mud laminations of deposits with higher aggradation rates in regions just downstream of the knickpoint. The interactions between flows, knickpoints and bedforms that are documented here are important because they likely dominate the character of preserved submarine channel‐bed deposits.

Ye Chen

Daniel R. Parsons

Stephen M. Simmons

Rebecca Williams

Matthieu J. B. Cartigny

John E. Hughes Clarke

Cooper D. Stacey

Sophie Hage

Peter J. Talling

Maria Azpiroz‐Zabala

Michael A. Clare

Jamie L. Hizzett

Maarten S. Heijnen

James E. Hunt

D. Gwyn Lintern

Esther J. Sumner

Age J. Vellinga

Daniela Vendettuoli

Sedimentology

作为该领域的国际领导者，SEDIMENTOLOGY 发表了跨越沉积学、沉积地质学和沉积地球化学的开创性研究。涵盖的领域包括：实验和理论谷物运输；沉积物通量；现代和古代沉积环境；层序地层沉积物-生物相互作用；古土壤；成岩作用；稳定同位素地球化学；环境沉积学

As a leading international journal in the field of sedimentology, Sedimentology publishes pioneering research that spans sedimentology, sedimentary geology, and sedimentary geochemistry. The covered areas include experimental and theoretical grain transport, sediment flux, modern and ancient sedimentary environments, sediment-biota interactions in sequence stratigraphy, paleosols, diagenesis, stable isotope geochemistry, and environmental sedimentology.

作为沉积学领域的国际领导者，Sedimentology 发表了跨越沉积学、沉积地质学和沉积地球化学的开创性研究。涵盖的领域包括实验和理论的颗粒运输、沉积物通量、现代和古代沉积环境、层序地层中的沉积物与生物相互作用、古土壤、成岩作用、稳定同位素地球化学以及环境沉积学。

Knickpoints and crescentic bedform interactions in submarine channels

海底河道中的裂点与新月形床形相互作用

Category	Quartile
地球科学	2
地球科学, 地质学	1

Knickpoints and crescentic bedform interactions in submarine channels

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