Friday, November 17, 2017

Highlights: Lobe Geometries Shaped by Channels

Channels and lobes, lobes and channels—the processes, dynamics, and geological record of deep-water fan systems are shaped by their interactions. In this paper, Hamilton et al. explore the relationship between the hydraulics of the channel feeding deep-water lobes in steep fan systems and the geometric properties of thickness, width, and length of the resultant terminal submarine fan lobes. Building on a series of laboratory tank experiments and high-resolution seismic data from the Quaternary east Corsica Trough, Golo Basin, the data show that distributary channel hydraulics can aid in describing the processes that set the maximum thickness of lobe elements. They further suggest that the maximum lobe element thickness can be estimated using a hydraulic jump equation if flow in the distributary channel is supercritical. The results illustrate how analytical morphodynamics, when tied to processes, can provide unique perspectives on the nature and scales of heterogeneity on analogous systems


Linking hydraulic properties in supercritical submarine distributary channels to depositional-lobe geometry by Paul Hamilton, Gwladys Gaillot, Kyle Strom, Juan Fedele, and David Hoyal