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Sediment transport on subaqueous fan delta slopes, Britannia Beach, British Columbia

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Abstract

A high-resolution acoustic survey over a fjord side fan delta revealed distinctive bottom features resulting from slope instability processes. Delta-front chutes occurring on slopes of l3° are partially filled with radiating splays of coarse-grained sediment, apparently transported downslope by coarse-grained debris flows that originated on the subaerial slopes above the fan. Arcuate scarp patterns represent shallow successive, rotational slides, with numcrous small displacements of individual blocks and slabs of sediment. Blocky, ridged depositional areas occur at the base of the fan delta, but there is no evidence of long-distance mass movement farther downfjord.

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Prior, D.B., Bornhold, B.D. Sediment transport on subaqueous fan delta slopes, Britannia Beach, British Columbia. Geo-Marine Letters 5, 217–224 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02233806

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02233806

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