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Submarine "Natural Levees"

1952; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 60; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/625999

1537-5269

Edwin C. Buffington,

Flood Risk Assessment and Management

Natural levees fringe subaerial streams of low gradient which periodically experience overbank floods onto wide floodplains. Submarine features, resembling these natural levees, have been found in several places off the West Coast of the United States. A study of occurrences at ten localities at depths of from 600 to 3,600 feet shows (1) that transverse profiles may be symmetrical or asymmetrical, with one "levee" higher in the latter case; (2) that the channel between the "levees" may be U- or V-shaped; (3) that the tops of "levees" may be 24-408 feet above the adjoining channel bottom, and (4) that these tops may be 12-204 feet above the immediately adjacent sea floor. It is believed that these features may be the products of turbidity currents or submarine mudflows.