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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

CSPG Special Publications

Abstract


Shelf Sands and Sandstones — Memoir 11, 1986
Pages 45-55
Sediment Source, Supply and Dispersal

Character and Setting of Sand and Gravel Bed Forms on the Open Continental Shelf Off Western Canada

J. L. Luternauer

Abstract

The oceanographic regime in Queen Charlotte Sound and off the west coast of Vancouver Island is capable of generating oscillation bed forms with wavelengths up to 5 m and heights up to 0.5 m (as measured from sonography) in fine gravel to water depths of at least 60 m, and bed forms with wavelengths of 0.3 to 1.0 m and heights of 0.15 to 0.30 m (as estimated from a submersible) in coarse sand to depths of at least 105 m. Small combined-flow ripples in medium to coarse foraminifer-rich sand are generated to water depths of at least 130 m. Features more strongly influenced by tidal flows, such as sand bands and patches, occur to depths of up to at least 100 m. The sand patches appear to be maintained by longitudinal and transverse sediment transport. Formation of barchanoid sand waves to depths of at least 70 m seems to be governed primarily by flood tidal flows. In narrow passages and canyons between shelf islands, smaller, longer-crested asymmetric (sand?) bed forms are generated to depths of at least 120 m by tidal flows complemented by wave surge. Newly acquired side-scan sonar observations coupled with nearby current data suggest that sand is being transported in a dominantly northeasterly direction across the central and southern banks in Queen Charlotte Sound.


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