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Active slope failure, sediment collapse, and silt flows on the modern subaqueous Huanghe (Yellow River) delta

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Abstract

Post-depositional slope instability and bottom mass-movement processes strongly modify the progradational subaqueous slopes of the modern Huanghe (Yellow River) Delta. Wide, shallow gullies dissect the submarine slopes with gradients of 0.3 to 0.4°. Lower delta-front sediments experiencein situ subsidence, forming numerous collapse depressions. These processes are pronounced over much of the delta, incising and redistributing the most recently deposited silt-rich sediment. Principal causative factors include low sediment strengths created by rapid deposition in the delta during annual peak discharges from the river and severe bottom perturbations by surface storm-generated waves.

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Prior, D.B., Yang, Z.S., Bornhold, B.D. et al. Active slope failure, sediment collapse, and silt flows on the modern subaqueous Huanghe (Yellow River) delta. Geo-Marine Letters 6, 85–95 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02281644

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02281644

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