Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Biological disturbance and camouflage of sedimentary features on the Northeast United States slope and rise

  • Published:
Geo-Marine Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Evidence from over 200 sediment cores, numerous submersible dives, and bottom photographs prove that bioturbation and bioerosion are ongoing processes affecting northeastern U.S. continental slope and rise sedimentation. Evidence of biological activity was found in greater than 95% of the cores examined. Submersible dive observations reveal that the results of biological activity often dominate sea-floor microtopography. Bioturbation can disturb sediments several centimeters deep in a matter of seconds and is in some areas the primary sediment transport mechanism. Many cores with sandy intervals were profoundly disturbed by bioturbation. Biologically camouflaged sand-rich intervals can easily be missed by visual observation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Milliman, J. D., Pilkey, O. H., and Ross, D. A., 1972. Sediments of the continental margin off the eastern United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 83, pp. 1315–1334.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kelling, G., Sheng, H., and Stanley, D. J., 1975. Mineralogic composition of sand-sized sediment on the outer margin off the Mid-Atlantic States: assessment of the influence of the ancestral Hudson and other fluvial system. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 86, pp. 853–862.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Doyle, L. J., Pilkey, O. H., and Woo, C. C., 1979. Sedimentation on the eastern United States continental slope. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication No. 27, pp. 119–129.

  4. Richter, R., 1952. Fluidal-texture in Sediment-Gesteinen und Über Sedifluktion Überhaupt: Notizblatt Hessische Landsamt Bodenforsch, v. 3, pp. 67–81.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Piper, D., and Marshall, N., 1969. Bioturbation of Holocene sediments on La Jolla deep-sea fan, California. Journal of Sedimentary trology, v. 39, pp. 891–901.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hecker, B., 1982. Possible benthic fauna and slope instability relationships. In: S. Saxov and J. Niewenhuis (eds.), Marine Slides and Other Mass Movements. Marine Science Series, Plenum Press, New York, v. 6, pp. 335–347.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rhoads, D. C., Aller, R. C., and Goldhaber, M. B., 1977. The influence of colonizing benthos on physical properties and chemical diagenesis of the estuarine seafloor. In: B. C. Coull (ed.), Ecology of Marine Benthos, Belle W. Baruch Library in Marine Science No. 6, Columbia, S.C., pp. 113–138.

  8. Rowe, G., Kelle, G., Edgerton, H., Staresinic, N., and Macillvaine, J., 1974. Time-lapse photography of the biological reworking of sediments in Hudson Submarine Canyon. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 44, pp. 549–552.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Paul, A., Thorndike, E., Sullivan, L., Heezen, B., and Gerard, R., 1978. Observations of the deep-sea floor from 202 days of time lapse photography. Nature, v. 272, pp. 812–814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Stanley, D. J., 1971. Bioturbation and sediment failure in some submarine canyons. Vie et Milieu (France), supplément, v. 22, pp. 541–555.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Malahoff, A., Embley, R. W., and Fonari, D. J., 1979. Geological observations from the ALVIN of the continental margin from Baltimore Canyon to Norfolk Canyon. EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union, v. 6018, pp. 287.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dillon, W. P., and Zimmerman, H. B., 1970. Erosion by biological activity in two New England submarine canyons. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 40, pp. 542–547.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Ryan, W., Cita, M. B., Miller, E. L., Hanselman, D., Nesteroff, W. D., Hecker, B., and Nibbelink, M., 1978. Bedrock geology in New England submarine canyons. Oceanologica Acta, v. 1, pp. 233–254.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Stubblefield, W., McGregor, B., Forde, E., Lambert, D., and Merrill, G., 1982. Reconnaissance in DSRV Alvin of a fluvial-like meander system in Wilmington Canyon and slump features in South Wilmington Canyon. Geology, v. 10, pp. 31–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Stanley, D. J., Sheng, H., Lambert, D., Rona, P. A., McGrail, D., and Jenkyns, J. S., 1981. Current-influenced depositional provinces, continental margin off Cape Hatteras, identified by petrologic method. Marine Geology, v. 40, pp. 215–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Berger, W., Ekdale, A., and Bryant, P., 1979. Selective preservation of burrows in deep-sea carbonates. Marine Geology, v. 32, pp. 205–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Turekian, K., Cochran, J., and DeMaster, D., 1978. Bioturbation in deep-sea deposits: rates and consequences. Oceanus, v. 21, pp. 34–41.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Forde, E., Stanley, D. J., Sawyer, W. B., and Slager, K. J., 1981. Sediment transport in Washington and Norfolk Submarine Canyons. Applied Ocean Research, v. 3, p. 59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, 33149, Miami, FL, USA

    Evan B. Forde & Suzanne Danner Ulrich

  2. Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, 10964, Palisades, NY, USA

    Barbara Hecker

Authors
  1. Evan B. Forde
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Suzanne Danner Ulrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Barbara Hecker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Forde, E.B., Ulrich, S.D. & Hecker, B. Biological disturbance and camouflage of sedimentary features on the Northeast United States slope and rise. Geo-Marine Letters 4, 49–53 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02237974

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02237974

Keywords

Search

Navigation