Abstract
Recent deep-towed, high resolution sidescan sonar records and seismic profiles have been collected on the lower Valencia Fan (Northwestern Mediterranean). Three morphological zones, channelled, transition and unchannelled, have been recognized in the Valencia Channel mouth. Sonographs from the transition zone show a progresive transversal gradation from depositional to erosional bedforms. This asymmetry may be due to the lateral inputs of sediment flows from the Rhone deep-sea fan and to the effect of the Coriolis force, which could have diverted the flows to the southwest. Bedforms recorded in the study area include trains of starved ripples and dunes, sand ribbons, and fields of elongated scours. Most morphological features, bedforms and seismic characteristics of the Valencia Channel mouth are typical of channel-lobe transition zones.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alonso, B., Canals, M., Palanques A. and Rehault, J.P., 1994, A deep-sea channel in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea: morphology and seismic structure of the Valencia channel and its surroundings,Marine Geophys. Res. (submitted).
Droz, L., 1983,L'eventail sous-marin profond du Rhone (Golfe du Lion): grands traits morphologiques et structure semi-profonde. Unpublished PhD thesis, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, Villefranche-Sur-Mer, 195 pp.
Droz, L. and Bellaiche, G., 1985, Rhône deep-sea fan: morphostructure and growth pattern,Ama. Assn. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 69, 460–479.
Kenyon, N.H., Droz, L., Ivanov, M. and Millington, J., in press, Scour Holes in the Channel-lobe transition Zone of the Rhone Cone.An Atlas of Turbidite Depositional Systems. London: Chapman and Hall.
Komar, P.D., 1973, Continuity of turbidity current flow and systematic variations in deep-sea channel morphology,Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 84, 3329–3338.
Maldonado, A., Got, H., Monaco, A., O'Connell, S. and Mirabille, L., 1985a, Valencia Fan (northwestern Mediterranean): distal deposition fan variant,Mar. Geol. 62, 295–319
Maldonado, A., Palanques, A., Alonso, B., Kastens, K.A., Nelson, C.H., O'Connell, S. and Ryan, W.B.F., 1985b, Physiography and deposition on a distal deep-sea system: the Valencia Fan (north-western Mediterranean),Geo-Mar. Lett. 5, 157–164.
Mutti, E. and Normark, W.R., 1991, An integrated approach to the study of turbidite systems, in Weimer, P. and Link, M.H. (eds),Seismic Facies and Sedimentary Processes of Submarine Fans and Turbidite Systems New York, Springer-Verlag, pp. 75–106.
Nelson, H. and Nilsen, T., 1974, Depositional trends of modern and ancient deep-sea fans, in R.H. Dott Jr. and R.H. Shaver (eds),Modern and Ancient Geosynclinal sedimentation: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication vol.19, pp. 54–76.
Nelson, H., Normark, W.R., Bouma, A.H. and Carlson, P.R., 1978, Thin-bedded turbidites in modern submarine canyons and fans, in Stanley, D.J. and Kelling, G. (eds),Sedimentation in Submarine Canyons, Fans and Trenches, Stroudsburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, pp. 177–190.
Normark, W.R., Meyer, A.W., Cremer, M., Droz, L. O'Connell, S., Pickering, K.T., Stelting, C.E., Stow, D.A.V., Brooks, G.R., Mazullo, J., Roberts, H. and Thayer, P., 1986, Summary of drilling results for the Mississippi Fan and considerations for application to other turbidite systems, in Bouma, A.H., Coleman, J.M. and Meyer, A.W.et al. (eds),Init Repts. DSDP, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, vol. 96, pp. 425–436.
Palanques, A. and Maldonado, A., 1985, Sedimentology and evolution of the Valencia Valley and Fan (northwestern Mediterranean),Acta Geol. Hisp. 20,1–19.
Palanques, A., Alonso, B. and Farrán, M., 1994, Progradation and retreat of the Valencia fanlobes controlled by sea-level changes during the Plio—Pleistocene (northwestern Mediterranean),Mar. Geol. 117, 195–205.
Shanmugam, G. and Moiola, R., 1991, Types of submarine fan lobes: models and implications,Am. Asn. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 75, 156–179.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Palanques, A., Kenyon, N.H., Alonso, B. et al. Erosional and depositional patterns in the Valencia Channel mouth: An example of a modern channel-lobe transition zone. Mar Geophys Res 17, 503–517 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01204341
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01204341