Submarine canyons of the continental margin, east Bass Strait (Australia)
1968; Elsevier BV; Volume: 6; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/0025-3227(68)90026-1
ISSN1872-6151
Autores Tópico(s)Coastal and Marine Dynamics
ResumoSeveral 50–100 mile long canyons traverse a 100 mile by 100 mile amphitheatre-like depression that occurs from the shelf break to depths of over 2,000 fathoms on the continental slope of Australia east of Bass Strait. Bass Canyon heads in at least three major tributaries at depths of 60–90 fathoms, is about 100 miles long and has a 40 mile long and 2–5 mile wide flat floor flanked by 700 fathom high walls and occupies the central depths of the continental slope depression directly offshore from the main shelf graben. Flinders Canyon, lying south of Bass Canyon, is generally narrow and gorge-like, has two major tributaries, and extends to depths of 2,100 fathoms over a distance of 60 miles. Following deposition of about 5,000–10,000 ft. of mostly deltaic and terrestial sediments in the Late Jurassic to Late Eocene in the Gippsland Basin there have been three main periods of canyon erosion and sedimentation. The first period occurred in the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, the second in the Miocene and the third was the formation of the contempory canyon system which was initiated in the Pliocene. Marine processes associated with these canyon systems have been responsible for prograding the continental slope 50–70 miles and removing about 20,000 cubic miles of sediment from the Australian mainland since the Late Eocene.
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