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C.H. Nelson

Publications and source records attributed to C.H. Nelson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1987

Gray whale and walrus feeding excavation on the Bering Shelf, Alaska

Sidescan sonar has been used to delineate benthic feeding structures of the California gray whale ( Eschrichtius robustus ) and Pacific walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens ) on the northeastern Bering Shelf. The gray whales (average mouth length, 2.0 m), when suction feeding on infaunal amphipods, create shallow pits in the sea floor, typically 2.5 m x 1.5 m x 10 cm deep, which are distinct and mappable on sidescan sonographs. Similarly, walrus, when foraging for shallow clams, create long, linear feeding furrows that average 47 x 0.4 x 0.1 m (length-width-depth). The distribution of the whale pits over 22,000 km 2 of the Bering Shelf closely matches 1) sightings of feeding whales identified by mud plumes; 2) the distribution of ampeliscid amphipods, the gray whale's main prey; and 3) the distribution of a transgressive inner-shelf fine sand that serves as a substrate for the amphipods. The walrus' furrows are recognized over 6,600 km 2 of variable muddier or coarser-grained substrate with clam-rich benthic communities that surround the fine sand substrate of whale feeding areas. The whale feeding pits are commonly enlarged and oriented by seasonal storm-related scour. Nonenlarged pits (less than 5.3 m 2 in area) form a discrete statistical population that we define as fresh . We estimate that a minimum of 5.6 percent (1,200 km 2 ) of the feeding area of the northeastern Bering Shelf (22,000 km 2 ) was covered by fresh pits made by whales during the 1980 feeding season. Assuming that the average pit depth is 10 cm, a minimum of 120 x 10 6 m 3 (172 x 10 6 metric tons) of sediment, equivalent to about three times the yearly sediment load of the Yukon River, is excavated and injected into the water column by as many as 16,000 gray whales feeding in northeastern Bering Sea each season. As a result of 1) sediment resuspension by whales, 2) average current speeds of 10.7 cm/s northward during the feeding season, and 3) enhanced post-feeding current scour because of bottom roughening, the following occur: the majority of the clay fraction (4.3 x 10 6 metric tons) of resuspended sediment is advected to the Chukchi Sea each year; sand gradually is transported northward and fills old feeding pits; modern mud does not accumulate in this region; and the whale-disturbed sand lacks physical sedimentary structures and matrix mud. Walrus feeding features are smaller, formed in higher-energy environments, and modified more rapidly than whale feeding pits. The amount of sediment reworking by walrus feeding may nearly equal that of whale feeding, but this cannot be quantified accurately.

Journal of Sedimentary Petrology↗
USGS1986

Crater Lake, Oregon: A restricted basin with base-of-slope aprons of nonchannelized turbidites

The basin floor of Crater Lake (10-km diameter, 600-m water depth) is covered by up to 75 m of sediment–gravity-flow deposits interbedded with mud. In the upper units (8 m (thick), sand and gravel layers with numerous wedging, strong seismic reflectors characterize the base-of-slope aprons at the basin margin. These layers evolve to turbidites of mainly thin, fine-grained, basin-plain type, characterized by numerous flat and weak seismic reflectors in the central basin floor. Many individual debris-chute sources funnel sediment to base-of-slope aprons: there, coarse-grained parts of the sediment–gravity flows deposit nonchannelized beds attributed to the F, A, B turbidite facies. While traversing the base-of-slope aprons, flows evolve to sheet-flow turbidity currents that deposit D-facies beds over the central basin floor. These processes and patterns of deposition characterize small siliciclastic basins without channelized submarine fans and are common in carbonate basins of all sizes.

Geology↗
USGS1985

Morphology of the Ebro fan valleys from SeaMARC and sea beam profiles

The northern continental slope off the Ebro Delta has a badland topography indicating major slope erosion and mass movement of material that deposits sediment into a ponded lobe. The southern slope has a low degree of mass movement activity and slope valleys feed channel levee-complexes on a steep continental rise. The last active fan valley is V-shaped with little meandering and its thalweg merges downstream with the Valencia Valley. The older and larger inactive channel-levee complex is smoother, U-shaped, and meanders more than the active fan valley. ?? 1985 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Geo-Marine Letters↗
USGS1985

Morphology and downslope sediment displacement in a deep-sea valley, the Valencia Valley (Northwestern Mediterranean)

The Valencia Valley is a Quaternary, 200 km long deep-sea valley in the Valencia Trough, Western Mediterranean Sea. A swathmapping survey approximately mid-way along the valley length, where the floor has an average gradient of 1:250 (0.2??), shows valley walls that rise 200 to 350 m above the valley floor, with slopes of 2 to 18??. Sediment forming the walls is undergoing retrogressive, upslope-directed slumping with increasing bedding disruption along steeper walls. The valley exhibits a winding course with steep outer and gentler inner walls around bends, and bedforms on the valley floor. Lateral migration around bends is less than 5 km and the valley is deeply entrenched into Quaternary-bedded sediments. ?? 1985 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Geo-Marine Letters↗
USGS1985

Physiography and deposition on a distal deep-sea system: The Valencia Fan (Northwestern Mediterranean)

The Valencia Fan developed as the distal fill of a deep-sea valley, detached from the continental slope and the main sedimentary source. A survey of side-scan sonar, Sea Beam and reflection seismics shows that the sediment is largely fed through the Valencia Valley. The upper fan comprises large channels with low-relief levees, and the middle fan has sinuous distributary channels. Depositional bedforms predominate on the valley floor and levees, and erosional bedforms are common in the valley walls. A change to slope on the fan apex and the presence of volcanoes on the upper fan are the main factors influencing fan-growth pattern. ?? 1985 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Geo-Marine Letters↗
USGS1984

Sedimentary, tectonic, and sea-level controls on submarine fan and slope-apron turbidite systems

To help understand factors that influence submarine fan deposition, we outline some of the principal sedimentary, tectonic, and sea-level controls involved in deep-water sedimentation, give some data on the rates at which they operate, and evaluate their probable effects. Three depositional end-member systems, two submarine fan types (elongate and radial), and a third nonfan, slope-apron system result primarily from variations in sediment type and supply. Tectonic setting and local and global sea-level changes further modify the nature of fan growth, the distribution of facies, and the resulting vertical stratigraphic sequences. ?? 1984 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Geo-Marine Letters↗
USGS1984

The Astoria Fan: An elongate type fan

The Astoria Fan, a modern system, is located on a subducting oceanic crust and fills a north-south-trending trench along the Oregon continental margin. Well-developed channels cross the entire fan length; they display classic inner-fan leveed profiles but evolve into distributaries in the midfan area where the gradient decreases sharply. During periods of low sea level, inner- and middle-fan channels funnel sand to distal depositional sites in the outer-fan area where the sand/shale ratios are highest. This pattern of sand displacement and efficiency of transport appears to be characteristic of elongate fans fed by a major river and submarine canyon. ?? 1984 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Geo-Marine Letters↗
USGS1984

The Ebro Deep-Sea Fan system

The Ebro Fan System consists of en echelon channel-levee complexes, 50??20 km in area and 200-m thick. A few strong reflectors in a generally transparent seismic facies identify the sand-rich channel floors and levee crests. Numerous continuous acoustic reflectors characterize overbank turbidites and hemipelagites that blanket abandoned channel-levee complexes. The interlobe areas between channel complexes fill with homogeneous mud and sand from mass flow and overbank deposition; these exhibit a transparent seismic character. The steep continental rise and sediment 'drainage' of Valencia Trough at the end of the channel-levee complexes prevent the development of distributary channels and midfan lobe deposits. ?? 1984 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Geo-Marine Letters↗
USGS1984

Side-scan sonar assessment of gray whale feeding in the Bering Sea

Side-scan sonar was used to map and measure feeding pits of the California gray whale over 22,000 square kilometers of the northeastern Bering Sea floor. The distribution of pits, feeding whales, ampeliscid amphipods (whale prey), and a fine-sand substrate bearing the amphipods were all closely correlated. The central Chirikov Basin and nearshore areas of Saint Lawrence Island supply at least 6.5 percent of the total gray whale food resource in summer. While feeding, the whales resuspend at least 1.2 × 10 8 cubic meters of sediment annually; this significantly affects the geology and biology of the region.

Alaska↗
USGS1983

Assessment of gray whale feeding grounds and sea floor interaction in the northeastern Bering Sea

A dense ampeliscid amphipod community in Chirikov Basin and around St. Lawrence Island in the northeastern Bering Sea has been outlined by summarizing biological studies, analyzing bioturbation in sediment samples, and examining sea floor photos and videotapes. The amphipod population is associated with a homogeneous, relict fine-grained sand body 0.10-1.5 m thick that is deposited during the marine transgression over the Bering land bridge 8,000-10,000 yr B.P. Modern current and water mass movements and perhaps whale feeding activity prevent modern deposition in this area. The distribution of the transgressive sand sheet, associated amphipod community and feeding gray whales mapped by aerial survey correlate closely with three types of sea-floor pits observed on high (500 kHz) and low (105 kHz) resolution side-scan sonar; they are attributed to gray whale feeding traces and their subsequent current scour modification. The fresh and modified feeding pits are present in 22,000 km2 of the basin and they cover a total of 2 to 18% of the sea floor in different areas of the feeding region. The smallest size class of pits approximates whale mouth gape size and is assumed to represent fresh whale feeding pits. Fresh feeding disturbance of the sea floor is estimated to average about 5.7% for a full feeding season. Combined with information that 34% of the measured benthic biomass is amphipod prey species, and calculating the number of gray whale feeding days in the Alaskan waters plus amount consumed per day, it can be estimated that Chirikov Basin, 2% of the feeding area, supplies a minimum of 5.3 to 7.1% of the gray whale's food resource in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean. If a maximum of 50% of the fresh feeding features are assumed to be missed because they parallel side-scan beam paths, then a maximum whale food resource of 14.2% is possible in northeastern Bering Sea. Because of side-scan techniques and possible higher amphipod biomass estimates, a reasonable minimum estimate of the total whale food resource in northeastern Bering Sea is 10%. These data show that side-scan sonar is a powerful new technique for analyzing marine mammal benthic feeding grounds. Sonographs reveal that the gray whales profoundly disturb the substrate and initiate substantial further erosion by bottom currents, all of which enhances productivity of the prey species and results in a 'farming of the sea floor'. In turn, because of the high concentration of whale prey species in a prime feeding ground that is vulnerable to the development of petroleum and mining for sand, great care is required in the exploitation of these resources in the Chirikov Basin.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1982

Modern shallow-water graded sand layers from storm surges, Bering Shelf: a mimic of Bouma sequences and turbidite systems

A sequence of graded sand layers, interbedded with mud, extends offshore over 100 km from the Yukon Delta shoreline across the flat, shallow (<20 m depth) epicontinental shelf of the northern Bering Sea, Alaska. Proximal graded sand beds on the delta-front platform near the shoreline are coarser (2-3phi ), thicker (10 to 20 cm), and contain more complete vertical sequences of sedimentary structures than distal beds. The inshore graded vertical sequence of structures from the base to the top of individual sand layers includes plane-parallel lamination (S b ), cross lamination (S c ), plane-parallel lamination (S d ), and mud (S e ) analogous to the Bouma T (sub a-e) turbidite sequence. Structures vary between interchannel platform deposits with complete S b -S e sequences and channel-floor sands that are all trough cross-laminated. Distally, storm-sand layers change to thin (1 to 5 cm) silt beds that contain flat and ripple-drift lamination (S (sub c-e,de) ), are commonly bioturbated, and are associated with shell and pebble lags from storm-wave reworking. The sequence of graded sands appears to be related to the major storm surges that occur every several years. The major storms increase the average 10-m water depth in southern Norton Sound as much as 5 m and cause fluctuations in pore pressure from wave cyclic loading that may liquefy the upper 2 to 3 m of sediment. Storm-associated bottom currents, possibly dominated by rapidly waning ebb flow, transport the liquefied inshore sand far offshore (> 100 kin). Such shallow-water graded layers off lobate deltas may be distinguished from similar deep-water turbidites by: 1) the predominance of trough cross-lamination, perhaps resulting from wave oscillation effects, in the proximal part of the system, and 2) gradation to common shallow marine fossils, bioturbation, and storm lag layers in distal areas.

Journal of Sedimentary Petrology↗
USGS1982

Variation in sand body types on the eastern Bering Sea epicontinental shelf.

The eastern epicontinental shelf of the Bering Sea is characterized by variations in river and glacial sediment supply, wave energy, tidal range (microtidal to mesotidal), and tidal, geostrophic, and storm-induced currents. These factors, combined with the effect of the Holocene rise in sea level, have resulted in the formation of a complex assemblage of generally linear sand bodies of similar morphology anad lithology, but different origins. The sand bodies are large features found from the present shoreline to tens of kilometers offshore, in water depths up to 50m. -from Authors

Geologie en Mijnbouw↗
USGS1982

Late Pleistocene- Holocene transgressive sedimentation in deltaic and non-deltaic areas of the northeastern Bering epicontinental shelf.

The distribution of late Pleistocene and Holocene surface sediments on the northern Bering Seafloor is patchy and dependent upon locations of seafloor bedrock and pre-late Pleistocene glacial debris, late Holocene river sediment influx, and modern strong bottom currents. Seafloor vibracores and high-resolution profiles record two different sedimentary environments in the northern Bering shelf: late Pleistocene-Holocene shoreline transgression in Chirikov Basin, and Holocene deposition from the Yukon River in Norton Sound.-from Author

Geologie en Mijnbouw↗
USGS1982

Geotechnical characteristics of bottom sediments in the northeastern Bering Sea.

Sediment of Holocene age derived from the Yukon River, consisting dominantly of silty fine sand and sandy silt, covers the bottom of central and western Norton Sound, which is a high energy environment involving extensive ice loading, high waves, and strong bottom currents. The sediment characteristics indicate that it is susceptible to liquefaction during major storms. Substantially finer grained, weak and highly compressible sediment of Holocene age covers eastern Norton Sound and the Port Clarence embayment, which are low energy environments. Pleistocene peaty deposits underlie the Holocene and late Pleistocene deposits in both Norton Sound and Chirikov Basin and are somewhat overconsolidated. The presence of gas indicates high in situ pore pressure and hence low material strength.-from Authors

Geologie en Mijnbouw↗
USGS1980

Sediment transport in Norton Sound, Alaska

The Yukon River, the largest single source of Bering Sea sediment, delivers > 95% of its sediment load at the southwest comer of Norton Sound during the ice-free months of late May through October. During this period, surface winds in the northern Bering Sea area are generally light from the south and southwest, and surface waves are not significant. Although wind stress may cause some transport of low-density turbid surface water into the head of Norton Sound, the most significant transport of Yukon River suspended matter occurs within advective currents flowing north across the outer part of the sound. The thickest accumulations of modern Yukon silt and very fine sand occur beneath this persistent current. We monitored temporal variations in bottom currents, pressure, and suspended-matter concentrations within this major transport pathway for 80 days in the summer of 1977 using a Geological Processes Bottom Environmental (GEOPROBE) tripod system. The record reveals two distinctive periods of bottom flow and sediment transport: an initial 59 days (July 8–September 5) of fair-weather conditions, characterized by tidally dominated currents and relatively low, stable suspended-matter concentrations; and a 21-day period (September 5–September 26) during which several storms traversed the northern Bering Sea, mean suspended-matter concentrations near the bottom increased by a factor of five, and the earlier tidal dominance was overshadowed by wind-driven and oscillatory wave-generated currents. Friction velocities (u * ) at the GEOPROBE site were generally subcritical during the initial fair-weather period. In contrast, the 21-day stormy period was characterized by uFriction velocities (u * ) at the GEOPROBE site were generally subcritical during the initial fair-weather period. In contrast, the 21-day stormy period was characterized by u * values that exceeded the critical level of 1.3 cm/s more than 60% of the time. The GEOPROBE data suggest that the very fine sand constituting about 50% of the sediment on the outer part of the Yukon prodelta is transported during a few late-summer and fall storms each year. A conservative estimate shows that suspended-matter transport during the storms in September 1977 was equal to four months of fair-weather transport. values that exceeded the critical level of 1.3 cm/s more than 60% of the time. The GEOPROBE data suggest that the very fine sand constituting about 50% of the sediment on the outer part of the Yukon prodelta is transported during a few late-summer and fall storms each year. A conservative estimate shows that suspended-matter transport during the storms in September 1977 was equal to four months of fair-weather transport.

Alaska↗
USGS1979

Biogenic and thermogenic gas in gas-charged sediment of Norton Sound, Alaska

Chemical and isotopic compositions of sediment gas from Norton Sound have been determined for near-surface, gas-charged sediments at two sites identified in acoustic profiles and bottom observations. At one site air-driven vibracorer penetrated sediment saturated with methane. The isotopic value suggests that the methane originated from active biological processes operating on peat in the top 4 m of sediment. At the other site, characterized by a large subsurface acoustic anomaly , smaller near-surface acoustic anomalies and active seepage of gas, the vibracorer obtained sediment saturated with gas composed of 98% CO2. Associated with the CO2 are minor concentrations of petroleum-like light hydrocarbons. The carbon isotopic compositions of CO2 and methane along with the chemical distribution of gaseous hydrocarbons indicate that at this site these gases are derived from thermal processes operating at depth in Norton Basin. Apparently CO2 from the decarbonation of marine limestone acts as a carrier for hydrocarbon gases that have been generated from organic matter buried in the basin. The gases reach the surface by faults and escape at the seafloor as a submarine seep. The presence of near-surface gas-charged sediment in Norton Sound reduces the stability of the seafloor. Areas where sediments are charged with gas may pose potential hazards for engineering developments.

Alaska↗