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Origin of deep-water sediment wave fields in the Northern Continental Slope, South China Sea

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Abstract

A study utilizing a dense grid of seismic and piston-core data revealed that four different types of sediment wave fields have formed on the northern slope of the strongly enclosed and low-latitude marginal South China Sea (SCS). Their origins include turbidite flow, bottom current, gravity-induced deformation, and multi-origin. Three sediment wave fields formed by turbidite flow are neighboring to the channel or canyon, have the up-current migration and decreased size from a shallow depth to deeper water, have greater content of sand and decrease of grain size from upslope to downslope, and a lower content of CaCO3. Bottom current’s sediment wave fields are parallel to the slope, with small-size erosive troughs, scours or furrows, and convex depositional system on the downslope of the erosive field, and with a lower content of sand, a finer grain size, and a greater content of CaCO3. Gravity deformation’s sediment wave fields are adjacent to the canyon, and develop several sliding surfaces corresponding to wave troughs, wave variation of no regularity. One sediment wave field was more symmetrical, displayed a smooth and rounded morphology, and has not evident migration direction, which is the result of the interaction of turbidite flows and bottom currents. Every sediment wave field involves a complex interaction between geomorphology, tectonic setting of neighboring area, and oceanography of the SCS. This study assists us to understand deeply the sedimentation processes and correspondingly depositional system in the deep-water with strongly enclosed and low-latitude characteristics and analyze the context and propagation direction of the arc-continent between the Eurasian Continent and the Luzon Arc.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are extended to D. Van Rooij of Ghent University and one anonymous reviewer for their very detailed comments. We also are grateful to Mr. Mike Wareing (MInstLMe) and Daniele for their comments, text, and grammar of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    HaiRong Wang, ChengQian Yu & Zhipeng Huo

  2. Key Laboratory for Marine Reservoir Evolution and Hydrocarbon Abundance Mechanism, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    HaiRong Wang, ChengQian Yu & Zhipeng Huo

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Wang, H., Yu, C. & Huo, Z. Origin of deep-water sediment wave fields in the Northern Continental Slope, South China Sea. Arab J Geosci 14, 1233 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07528-y

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