Collaborative Research: Developing a Quantitative Understanding of Clinoform Formation, Gulf of Papua

这是一个研究导致巴布亚湾大陆架斜坡形成的沉积物搬运和堆积过程的项目。陆棚斜坡是大陆边缘地层的主要组成部分，但对形成它们的过程知之甚少。通过结合实地研究（地震剖面和活塞取芯）和数值模拟，可以在地质时间尺度上定量了解陆架中部斜坡的发育情况。这些研究将检验这样一个假设，即形成现今斜坡形态的主要机制是流体泥浆的跨大陆架重力流，而下伏地层可能是在不同条件下形成的，以响应海平面上升和沉积物供应的变化速率。

This is a project to study the processes of sediment transport and accumulation that lead to development of the clinoforms on the Gulf of Papua (GoP) continental shelf. Shelf clinoforms are the dominant components of continental-margin stratigraphy, but little is known about the processes that create them. By combining field research (seismic profiling and piston coring) and numerical modeling, quantitative understanding of mid-shelf clinoform development at geologic time scales can be developed. These studies will test the hypothesis that the predominant mechanism for creating the present-day clinoform morphology is across-shelf gravity flow of fluid muds, whereas underlying strata may have formed in different conditions in response to changing rates of sea-level rise and sediment supply.