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About EUROSTRATAFORM
Introduction
EUROSTRATAFORM aims to understand sedimentary systems from source to sink. A key aim is to gain a better understanding of how sediment particles are transported from river mouths, across the shallow shelf and/or through submarine canyons, down to the deep sea. By studying different areas of the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean margins, we can gain an idea of how these sedimentary systems work in different settings.
In order to do this, we must examine how the sedimentary systems vary over time and space: the different pathways that sediment can take across the shelf, the variability in the amount of sediment supplied to the system, the causes of this variability, and how and where sediment accumulates. Understanding how the marine sedimentary record is built up is critical to developing ways in which man can use and develop the submarine environment in a responsible, sustainable fashion.
Above: Schematic cartoon showing different sediment transport pathways across a continental margin
Shelf and slope sedimentation are intimately linked because particles reaching the slope must escape the processes which lead to sediment accumulation on the continental shelf. How this is achieved, what the forcing conditions are and how much matter is involved, is not clear. Neither is it clear what the temporal and spatial variability of the processes involved is. Sediment transport pathways and processes over the shelf edge, through canyons and finally, deposition on the slope and adjacent part of the deeper margin are not well constrained and quantified. In particular, the role and function of canyons in a shelf-canyon-slope deep margin system is almost completely unknown. Where and how sediments are deposited on the shelf, slope or deep basin depends on a wide variety of processes and parameters, such as seabed morphology, slope stability, shelf edge currents, bottom currents, internal waves, particle input, reworking, particle fluxes, composition, accumulation rates, etc. Many individual processes and parameters have been studied through spatially and temporarily disjoint research efforts in the past, and hence the respective roles and interconnections of the active processes involved are still not well understood, quantified or modelled. To date, European margin systems have never been addressed in a holistic and synergetic approach as implemented in the EUROSTRATAFORM project.
An interdisciplinary research team
EUROSTRATAFORM will investigate a wide spectrum of hydrodynamic, sedimentary, geochemical and biological processes and their forcing conditions in four contrasting areas representative of the European continental margin. To do this, a well balanced team of scientific experts have come together to form the EUROSTRATAFORM research consortium. This team has expertise in hydrodynamics and physical oceanography, modelling of forcing conditions in particle transfer and sedimentary processes, and includes sedimentologists and seismic stratigraphers, who will be critical in establishing major Recent and Late Cenozoic sediment transport pathways governing margin architecture and stratigraphy. To achieve our goals, state of the art and front-line technologies are critical.
The interdisciplinary nature of the project team is one of its major strengths. State-of-the-art field sampling and measurement campaigns associated with appropriate analytical and modelling techniques will allow the project team to thoroughly assess the sedimentary processes that lead to the formation of marine sediment strata on European margins. This holistic approach focuses on understanding how sedimentary processes create continental margin strata, how fast this is achieved and under which conditions, what the stratigraphic record can tell us about past processes, and how knowledge of processes and margin stratigraphy can be formulated into predictive and diagnostic models.
Study areas
We have carefully selected four representative study areas along European margins which cover a complete range of physiographical and environmental settings, and have key characteristics which can be compared with, extrapolated to and modelled for other margin systems.
The selected study areas each have relatively limited areal extent, but have sufficient available background data to ensure rapid progress and achievement of our objectives. Of the areas selected, two are located in the Mediterranean Sea and two along the NE Atlantic continental margin of Europe (see map, below). The Mediterranean sites will reflect the impact of large river outflow systems on sedimentation across the shelf, continental slope and deep basin. The NE Atlantic sites allow the study of shelf-canyon-slope sedimentary systems both with direct connection to, and distinct separation from, river input.
Mediterranean sites: fluvial input and sediment transport across the shelf
The two Mediterranean areas - the Adriatic Sea and the Gulf of Lions - have been chosen because they are perfect zones to investigate the fate of sediment supplied from a fluvial source and transported across a continental shelf to a slope, where conditions are conducive for frequent mass failure to occur. The surficial shelf and slope strata form in response to active processes, and the underlying stratigraphic record should preserve a history of sedimentary responses to physical forcing (e.g. tectonic and eustatic processes) during the late Quaternary (i.e. past 5 x 105 years). Although impacted by man, major rivers feeding into these two Mediterranean margins supply modern sediment originating in the Alps.
Atlantic sites: sediment transport down submarine canyons
The two Atlantic margin areas - off western Iberia and Northern Norway - have been chosen because both are sites of large submarine canyons which funnel sediment from the shelf edge to the deep ocean basins. At the Iberian margin the sedimentary system is fuelled by river input and connected to canyon dominated transport to the deep sea (characteristic for high sea level stand processes). The other system to be studied will be the Andøya canyon system in the central Norwegian Sea, essentially formed and active under low sea level stand conditions. The study of both these sites allows comparison of continental margin strata formation under contrasting, climate induced (glaciated and non-glaciated) settings.
In these four key areas, we will study:
(i) the river-dominated influx of terrigenous sediments to the coastal ocean,
(ii) the various dispersal mechanisms and forcing conditions that ultimately control the location and nature of the resulting sedimentary deposits
(iii) the transport of sediment across the continental slopes, and
(iv) the margin architecture and stratigraphy of deep sea sedimentary systems where much of the sediment is eventually deposited.
Click on the study areas shown on the map below to find out more details on that area...
Map to show the study areas under investigation in the EUROSTRATAFORM project.
Click on the boxes to view more details on the study areas.
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