Effects of topography on lofting gravity flows: Implications for the deposition of deep-water massive sands

Hyperpycnal flows are generated in the marine environment by sediment-laden fresh water discharge into the ocean. They frequently form at river mouths and are also generated in proximal ice-melting settings and are thought to be responsible for transporting a large proportion of suspended river sediment onto and off the continental shelf. Hyperpycnal flows are an example of gravity currents that display reversing buoyancy. This phenomenon is generated by the fresh water interstitial fluid being less dense than that of the ambient seawater. Thus after sufficient particles are sedimented the flow can become positively buoyant and loft, forming a rising plume. Here we present results from physical scale-modelling experiments of lofting gravity currents upon interaction with topography. Topography, in the form of a vertical obstacle, triggered a localised lofting zone on its upstream side. This lofting zone was maintained in a fixed position until the bulk density of the flow had reduced enough to allow lofting along its entire length. The obstructed lofting zone is associated with a sharp increase in deposit thickness. By inference these experimentally established lofting dynamics are applied to improve understanding of the potential for hyperpycnal flows to deposit deep-water massive sands. This study provides a depositional mechanism by which large volumes of sand can be deposited in the absence of traction and the fines removed, leaving thick deposits of structureless sand with a low percentage of mud. This conceptual model for the first time provides a framework by which the geometries of certain deep-water massive sands may be predicted within specific depositional and basinal settings. This is crucial to our understanding of massive sand deposits in modern and ancient turbiditic systems and in the commercial evaluation of hydrocarbon potential of such sedimentary successions.