Contourites are sediments deposited or substantially reworked by bottom currents. The study of contourites is crucial for several fields of fundamental and applied research: paleoclimatology and paleo-oceanography, since these fairly continuous and relatively high-resolution sediments hold the key for priceless information on the variability in circulation patter, current velocity, oceanographic history and basin interconnectivity; hydrocarbon exploration, since accumulation of source rocks may be favored by weak bottom currents, whereas "clean" deep-sea sands may be formed by robust flows; and slope stability, since low-permeability fine-grained contourites facilitate the formation of overpressurized gliding planes when fresh contourites with a high pore-water content becomes rapidly loaded, or when their rigid biosiliceous microfabric collapses due to diagenetic conditions. Despite its significance, this group of sediments is poorly known by the majority of non-specialists. Notwithstanding the growing interest and the intensified research in contourites, a textbook that might also serve as a reference book on contourites was missing until now. This book addresses all aspects of the knowledge in the field of contourites and provides an authoritative and comprehensive coverage of the subject. It also can serve as a standard reference work for non-specialists, and in particular postgraduate students, university teachers and lecturers, researchers and professionals who are seeking an authoritative source of information about contourites. Reviews both theoretical topics and case histories Provides practical advice on multidisciplinary research techniques Provides also nonspecialist users with an intuitively-accessible, cross-referenced, and comprehensive coverage of the knowledge in the field Provides a helpful tool for research in the preparation of classroom lectures

Deepwater Sedimentary Systems: Science, Discovery and Applications helps readers identify, understand and interpret deepwater sedimentary systems at various scales – both onshore and offshore. This book describes the best practices in the integration of geology, geophysics, engineering, technology and economics used to inform smart business decisions in these diverse environments. It draws on technical results gained from deepwater exploration and production drilling campaigns and global field analog studies. With the multi-decadal resilience of deepwater exploration and production and the nature of its inherent uncertainty, this book serves as the essential reference for companies, consultancies, universities, governments and deepwater practitioners around the world seeking to understand deepwater systems and how to explore for and produce resources in these frontier environments. From an academic perspective, readers will use this book as the primer for understanding the processes, deposits and sedimentary environments in deep water – from deep oceans to deep lakes. This book provides conceptual approaches and state-of-the-art information on deepwater systems, as well as scenarios for the next 100 years of human-led exploration and development in deepwater, offshore environments. The students taught this material in today’s classrooms will become the leaders of tomorrow in Earth’s deepwater frontier. This book provides a broad foundation in deepwater sedimentary systems. What may take an individual dozens of academic and professional courses to achieve an understanding in these systems is provided here in one book. Presents a holistic view of how subsurface and engineering processes work together in the energy industry, bringing together contributions from the various technical and engineering disciplines Provides diverse perspectives from a global authorship to create an accurate picture of the process of deepwater exploration and production around the world Helps readers understand how to interpret deepwater systems at various scales to inform smart business decisions, with a significant portion of the workflows derived from the upstream energy industry

'Deep-Sea Sediments' focuses on the sedimentary processes operating within the various modern and ancient deep-sea environments. The chapters track the way of sedimentary particles from continental erosion or production in the marine realm, to transport into the deep sea, to final deposition on the sea floor.

Deep-water (below wave base) processes, although generally hidden from view, shape the sedimentary record of more than 65% of the Earth’s surface, including large parts of ancient mountain belts. This book aims to inform advanced-level undergraduate and postgraduate students, and professional Earth scientists with interests in physical oceanography and hydrocarbon exploration and production, about many of the important physical aspects of deep-water (mainly deep-marine) systems. The authors consider transport and deposition in the deep sea, trace-fossil assemblages, and facies stacking patterns as an archive of the underlying controls on deposit architecture (e.g., seismicity, climate change, autocyclicity). Topics include modern and ancient deep-water sedimentary environments, tectonic settings, and how basinal and extra-basinal processes generate the typical characteristics of basin slopes, submarine canyons, contourite mounds and drifts, submarine fans, basin floors and abyssal plains.

Oceanic currents flowing near the seafloor erode, transport and deposit sediments, organic carbon, nutrients, and pollutants in deep-water sedimentary systems. Sediment deposits, which have mainly formed under the influence of these bottom currents (contourites) are high-resolution archives for reconstructing past ocean conditions. However, the interaction of sedimentary systems with oceanographic processes in deep-water environments is not well understood. The main objective of this thesis is to better understand the connection between contourites and the hydrodynamics that generate them in order to improve reconstructions of paleocurrents and sediment transport pathways. To achieve this objective a multidisciplinary study combining multibeam bathymetry, seismo-acoustic data, sediment samples, vessel-mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler data, numerical modelling of ocean currents and three-dimensional flume tank experiments has been conducted. Elongated depressions (moats) and their associated drifts form at the northern Argentine margin on top of relatively flat seafloor surfaces (terraces) next to a steep slope. The main current direction is along-slope, and the speed is higher near the slope and decreases on the terrace basinwards. Flume tank experiments show that a moat-drift system forms if there is a secondary basinward flow near the seafloor. The secondary flow increases with higher speeds and steeper slopes, leading to steeper adjacent drifts. Once the moat-drift system has developed, the secondary circulation is confined by the drift into a helix structure. Simultaneously, the primary along-slope velocity is increased. The measured current speed over the moats from the Argentine continental margin and the Bahamas area is high (up to 63 cm/s at 150-200 m) and decreases by 5-48% over the associated drift. Measurements from 185 cross-sections of moat-drift systems distributed at 39 different locations worldwide show that moats at steeper slopes have a steeper drift and that the angle of the slope side is on average 1.6 times higher than the angle of the drift side. However, no statistical relation is found between latitude and moat-drift morphology or stratigraphy. The flume tank experiments show that moat-drift systems can form solely because of along-slope currents without any additional oceanographic processes as eddies, internal waves or ocean current surface fronts. However, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler data and the hydrodynamic model from the Argentine continental margin show that eddies near the seafloor can form on a contourite terrace. These eddies might lead to the small erosion surfaces on the Ewing Terrace, even though it is mainly a depositional environment and currents are relatively weak (below 30 cm/s). Experiments show that the migration of the moat-drift system and the formation of internal stratigraphic architecture is a function of current strength in combination with sediment supply. The different stratigraphic types of more erosive and more depositional moat-drift systems have been observed in seismic data. A new sub-classification of moat-drift systems based on their stratigraphy is proposed. In summary, this study provides new insights into the interaction between ocean currents and sedimentary systems. It shows the importance of current strength, current variability (in time and space) and sediment supply for the formation of contourite systems. The combined data suggest that higher speeds and steeper slopes intensify the secondary flow, leading to steeper adjacent drifts. Thus, the morphology and internal architecture of the moat-drift systems can be used as a paleo-velocimeter. Furthermore, this study identifies the need for more in situ measurements near the seafloor.

The oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface, and are critical components of Earth’s climate system. This new edition of Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, Six Volume Set summarizes the breadth of knowledge about them, providing revised, up to date entries as well coverage of new topics in the field. New and expanded sections include microbial ecology, high latitude systems and the cryosphere, climate and climate change, hydrothermal and cold seep systems. The structure of the work provides a modern presentation of the field, reflecting the input and different perspective of chemical, physical and biological oceanography, the specialized area of expertise of each of the three Editors-in-Chief. In this framework maximum attention has been devoted to making this an organic and unified reference. Represents a one-stop. organic information resource on the breadth of ocean science research Reflects the input and different perspective of chemical, physical and biological oceanography, the specialized area of expertise of each of the three Editors-in-Chief New and expanded sections include microbial ecology, high latitude systems and climate change Provides scientifically reliable information at a foundational level, making this work a resource for students as well as active researches