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Processes controlling very low sedimentation rates on the continental slope of the Gonone-Orosei canyon system, NE Sardinia—terrestrial and oceanic significance

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Abstract

The narrow shelf and upper slope immediately above the Gonone canyon head off NE Sardinia represent areas of very low sedimentation rates. Along the sides of the canyon head (1,600 m water depth), the sediment deposits are homogeneous but show alternating light-grey intervals rich in carbonate and dark-grey ones rich in organic matter, possibly related to distal turbidite processes. Deposits older than 50,000 years are already encountered at core depths of 2.50 m, the sedimentation rates varying from 6–21 cm/103 years in the lower parts of two cores and from 1.5–3 cm/103 years in the upper parts. At about 35,000 years BP, both cores show a simultaneous drop in sedimentation rate by a factor of 3, probably in response to local mechanisms of channel avulsion. Lithological, mineralogical and geochemical properties reveal the environmental factors which are responsible for the extremely slow sediment accumulation. The southernmost sector of the coast, and partly also of the shelf, consists of Jurassic limestones which supply only small amounts of fine-grained material transported in suspension. During the last sea-level highstand, the accumulation of the Cedrino River pro-delta remained restricted to the coast, the low siliciclastic sediment yields resulting in poor shelf sediment trapping. The present morphology of the canyon head prevented the occurrence of gravity processes in the deeper part of the canyon system, including the coring sites. Accordingly, deposition was mainly fed by hemipelagic material of planktonic origin, together with only moderate terrigenous inputs. On a wider late Pleistocene timescale, seismic data indicate the occurrence of a coarse-grained, layered turbidite facies, implying a very different architecture of the canyon drainage system probably prior to 60,000 years BP.

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Acknowledgements

The METYSS cruises as well as the laboratory analyses were supported by the French “ACTIONS MARGES” and “ACTION COORDONNEE” INSU programs. We warmly thank the captains of the R/V Téthys II (INSU/CNRS), Rémi Lafond and Joël Le Guennec, and their crews for their participation in data acquisition offshore. The study has been performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University  to V. Pascucci. We also wish to acknowledge Andrew Green and Mauro Coltorti for their critical reading of the original manuscript, as well as the editors Burg Flemming and Monique Delafontaine for their helpful comments. Gary Fowler helped us with the English language.

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  1. Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnements Méditerranéens (CEFREM), UMR 5110 CNRS, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, 52 av. Paul Alduy, 66860, Perpignan, France

    Pierre Giresse

  2. Dipartimento di Architettura, Design e Urbanistica, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Piandanna 4, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    Vincenzo Pascucci

  3. UMR 8217 CNRS Géosystèmes, Université de Lille 1, Cité scientifique - Bat. SN5, 59655, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

    Gaël Lymer & Virginie Gaullier

  4. BRGM - Direction des Géoressources/GBS, BP 36009, 45060, Orléans Cedex, France

    Isabelle Thinon

  5. Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies, Kazan Federal University (Russian Federation), Kazan, Russia

    Vincenzo Pascucci

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  1. Pierre Giresse
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Giresse, P., Pascucci, V., Lymer, G. et al. Processes controlling very low sedimentation rates on the continental slope of the Gonone-Orosei canyon system, NE Sardinia—terrestrial and oceanic significance. Geo-Mar Lett 34, 483–498 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-014-0379-x

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