The role of saltwater and waves in continental shelf formation with seaward migrating clinoform.

ABSTRACT: Continental shelves have generally been interpreted as drowned coastal plains associated with the allogenic effect of sea-level variation. Here, without disputing this mechanism we describe an alternative autogenic mechanism for subaqueous shelf formation, driven by the presence of dissolved salt in seawater and surface waves. We use a numerical model describing flow hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and morphodynamics in order to do this. More specifically, we focus on two major aspects: 1) the role of saltwater in the subaqueous construction of continental shelves and 2) the transformation of these shelves into seaward-migrating clinoforms under the condition of repeated pulses of water and sediment input and steady wave effects, but no allogenic forcing such as sea-level change. In the

SUBMITTER: Iwasaki T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6983424 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature