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The Laurentian Fan: Sohm abyssal plain

Geo-Marine Letters volume 3, pages 141–146 (1983)Cite this article

Abstract

The 0.5- to 2-km thick Quaternary Laurentian Fan is built over Tertiary and Mesozoic sediments that rest on oceanic crust. Two 400-km long fan valleys, with asymmetric levees up to 700-m high, lead to an equally long, sandy, lobate basin plain (northern Sohm Abyssal Plain). The muddy distal Sohm Abyssal Plain is a further 400-km long. The sediment supplied to the fan is glacial in origin, and in part results from seismically triggered slumping on the upper continental slope. Sandy turbidity currents, such as the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake event, probably erode the fan-valley floors; but thick muddy turbidity currents build up the high levees.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atlantic Geoscience Centre, Geological Survey of Canada, Bedford Institute of Geology, P. O. Box 1006, B2Y 4A2, Dartmouth, N. S., Canada

    David J. W. Piper

  2. Grant Institute of Geology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, EH9 3JW, Edinburgh, Scotland

    Dorrik A. V. Stow

  3. U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefeld Road, 94025, Menlo Park, CA, USA

    William R. Normark

Authors
  1. David J. W. Piper
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  2. Dorrik A. V. Stow
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  3. William R. Normark
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Piper, D.J.W., Stow, D.A.V. & Normark, W.R. The Laurentian Fan: Sohm abyssal plain. Geo-Marine Letters 3, 141–146 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02462459

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02462459

Keywords

  • Debris Flow
  • Turbidite
  • Continental Slope
  • Turbidity Current
  • Abyssal Plain