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进行整体解释，对于推断地球过去的重大事件至关重要，例如引发重大海底雪崩、山脉隆起和侵蚀以及气候驱动的海平面变化。此外，这些解释提供了一个预测框架的分布，巨大的碳氢化合物和水资源，这是广泛的托管在岩石的深海起源在加拿大大陆边缘，超越。事实证明，深海特别难以研究，因为它们难以进入，而且经常发生破坏性事件，如浊流。由于对深海环境的观察有限，因此对地质记录中的沉积物进行解释特别具有挑战性。在本研究计划中，通过深海水道系统的长期沉积物输送记录，开发和应用新的模型：（1）建立对深水沉积物输送过程形成的沉积物的认识;（2）利用海底扇沟系统的沉积档案推断沉积盆地沉积物供给的长期变化，沉积物堆积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的变化。 深海沉积物在大陆排泄沉积物路线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上白垩纪纳奈莫群的出露被确立为研究深海沉积物的世界级天然实验室，是拟议研究方案的基础。该研究计划将培养14名高素质的人才，包括5名理学学士，4名理学硕士和4名博士生，以及1名博士后学者，每个人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现场方法和实验室技术，以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，并估计各种调查规模的沉积速率。这一知识对于加强对大陆边含烃深水岩石的分布和质量的预测至关重要，对加拿大东部能源资源的确定和开发具有重大的潜在长期经济影响。此外，海湾群岛研究区浊积岩基岩含水层的表征将为不列颠哥伦比亚省的重要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.