Collaborative Research: Sediment Dispersal from Vertically Divergent Plumes on a Mountainous Collision Margin: A New Paradigm for Continental Margin Sedimentation

PI将测试在山区碰撞活动边缘背景下超高温浑浊流的产生。这样的浑浊洋流可能比目前认为的更频繁地产生。沉积物扩散受一个解耦过程控制，该过程将沉积物羽流分为表层和底层，受独立的物理过程的影响。海面成分受风、浪、潮汐和沿岸流的影响，形成一股正浮力的低空羽流。底部成分主要受重力、底部形态和边界层过程的控制，形成负浮力、超高温的底流。如果被证明是正确的，它可以证明低/高温度过程在形成混浊沉积物方面是重要的。PIS将对低潮过程进行水柱测量，并进行海底监测。他们将尝试钻探，研究巴布亚新几内亚近海塞皮克河入海口与暗流有关的沉积物。该项目是与澳大利亚科学家合作的。

The PIs will test the production of hyperpycnal turbidity currents in a mountainous collision active margin setting. Such turbidity currents could be generated more frequently than it is currently thought. Sediment dispersal is governed by a decoupling process that divides the sediment plume into surface and bottom components, influenced by independent physical processes. Surface component is influenced by wind, waves, tidal and coastal currents forming a positively buoyant, hypopycnal plume. Bottom component is dominated by gravity, bottom morphology and boundary layer processes forming a negatively buoyant, hyperpycnal underflow. If proved correct, it could demonstrate that hypopycnal/hyperpycnal processes are important in creating turbidity deposits. The PIs will take water column measurements for hypopycnal processes, together with seabed monitoring. They will attempt coring to study the deposits related to underflows at the mouth of the Sepik River, off Papua New Guinea. The project is collaborative with Australian scientists.