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

从沉积岩记录中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，例如引发主要的海底雪崩，山带的隆起和侵蚀，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，这些资源广泛存在于加拿大大陆边缘的深海起源的岩石中，甚至更远。深海已被证明是特别难以研究的，因为它们难以接近，而且破坏性事件（如浊流）普遍存在。对深海环境的有限观测使得在地质记录中解释它们的沉积特别具有挑战性。在本研究项目中，通过深海通道系统的长期沉积物输送记录来开发和应用新的模型，这些模型：(1)建立对深水沉积物输送过程形成的沉积物的识别；(2)利用海底扇水道体系沉积档案，推断沉积盆地输沙量的长期变化、沉积物聚集容纳空间的产生和破坏以及与构造或气候波动有关的沉积物源区变化。深海沉积物在大陆排水沉积物路径系统的末端提供了这些过程的重要档案。不列颠哥伦比亚省海湾群岛白垩纪Nanaimo群的暴露被建立为研究深海沉积矿床的世界级自然实验室，是拟议研究计划的基础。该研究项目将培养14名高素质人才，其中包括5名理学士、4名理硕士、4名博士和1名博士后，他们将在毕业后进入工业界、学术界或政府部门工作。HQP将使用传统和创新的现场方法和实验室技术来限制深海岩石单元的特征和分布模式，推断形成沉积过程的内部和外部控制，并在不同的调查尺度上估计沉积速率。这些知识对于增强对大陆边缘含油气深水岩的分布和质量的预测至关重要，对加拿大东部能源资源的识别和开发具有重要的潜在长期经济影响。此外，对海湾群岛研究区域浊浊岩基岩含水层的表征将为不列颠哥伦比亚省大量人口提供更好的饮用水管理策略。

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.