Processes and products of deep-sea sediment-routing systems from bed- to basin-scale

从沉积岩记录对深海古环境的整体解释对于推断地球过去的重大事件至关重要，例如触发重大海底雪崩、山脉带的抬升和侵蚀以及气候驱动的海平面变化。此外，这些解释为大量碳氢化合物和水资源的分布提供了一个预测框架，这些资源广泛赋存于加拿大大陆边缘和其他地区的深海成因岩石中。深海已被证明特别难以研究，因为它们无法进入，而且经常发生破坏性事件，如浑浊洋流。对深海环境的有限观察使地质记录中对其沉积的解释特别具有挑战性。在这项研究方案中，利用深海航道系统长期输沙的记录来开发和应用新的模型，这些模型：(1)建立对深水泥沙输送过程形成的沉积物的认识；(2)利用海底扇-航道系统的沉积档案，推断沉积盆地的泥沙供应的长期变化，泥沙积累可容纳空间的产生和破坏，以及与构造或气候波动有关的泥沙来源区的变化。深海沉积物在大陆排水泥沙输送系统的末端提供了这些过程的关键档案。位于不列颠哥伦比亚省海湾群岛的白垩纪纳奈莫群的暴露被建立为一个世界级的深海沉积沉积研究的天然实验室，是拟议的研究计划的基础。该研究计划将培养14名高素质人才，其中包括5名理科学士、4名硕士和4名博士生，以及1名博士后学者，他们中的每一位都将在毕业后在工业、学术界或政府部门就业。HQP将使用传统和创新的野外方法和实验室技术，以约束深海岩石单位的特征和分布模式，推断形成沉积过程的内部和外部控制，并估计不同调查规模的沉积速率。这一知识对于加强对大陆边缘含烃深水岩石的分布和质量的预测至关重要，对查明和开发加拿大东部的能源资源具有重大的潜在长期经济影响。此外，海湾群岛研究区混浊基岩中含水层的特征将为不列颠哥伦比亚省的大量人口提供更好的饮用水管理战略。

Holistic interpretations of deep-sea paleo-environments from the sedimentary rock record are critical for deducing significant events in the Earth's past, such as triggering of major submarine avalanches, uplift and erosion of mountain belts, and climate-driven variations in sea-level. Moreover, these interpretations provide a predictive framework for the distribution of vast hydrocarbon and water resources, which are widely hosted in rocks of deep-sea origin on the continental margins of Canada, and beyond. The deep oceans have proved to be particularly difficult to study due to their inaccessibility and prevalence of destructive events, such as turbidity currents. Limited observations of deep-sea environments makes interpretations of their deposits in the geological record particularly challenging. In this research program, the record of long-term sediment-delivery through deep-sea channel systems is used to develop and apply novel models that: (1) establish recognition of deposits formed by deep-water sediment transport processes; and (2) use the sedimentary archive of submarine fan-channel systems to deduce long-term variations in sediment supply to sedimentary basins, the generation and destruction of accommodation space for sediment to accumulate, and changes in sediment source areas related to tectonics or climatic fluctuations. Deep-sea deposits provide critical archives of these processes at the ends of continent-draining sediment-routing systems. Exposures of the Cretaceous Nanaimo Group on the Gulf Islands of British Columbia are established as a world-class natural laboratory for the study of deep-sea sedimentary deposits, and are the foundation for the proposed research program. The research program will result in training of 14 highly qualified personnel, including 5 BSc, 4 MSc and 4 PhD students, as well as 1 postdoctoral scholar, each of which will be well positioned to gain employment in industry, academia, or government upon graduation. HQP will use traditional and innovative field methods and laboratory techniques in order to constrain the characteristics and distribution patterns of deep-sea rock units, deduce internal and external controls on formative sedimentary processes, and estimate depositional rates at various scales of investigation. This knowledge is essential for enhanced predictions of the distribution and quality of hydrocarbon-bearing deep-water rocks on continental margins, with significant potential long-term economic implications related to the identification and development of energy resources in eastern Canada. Furthermore, characterization of aquifers hosted in turbiditic bedrock of the Gulf Islands study area will inform better drinking water management strategies for a significant population of British Columbia.