Sediment Dating With Short-Lived Radioisotopes In Monterey Canyon, California Imply Episodes Of Rapid Deposition And Erosion

Submarine canyons are a major conduit for terrestrial material to the deep sea. To better constrain the timing and rates in which sediment is transported down-canyon, we collected a series of sediment cores along the axis of Monterey Canyon, and quantified mass accumulation rates using short-lived radio-isotopes. A suite of sediment cores were carefully collected perpendicular to the canyon thalweg in water depths of approximately 300m, 500m, 800m, and 1500m using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). We choose cores that were between 60m and 75m above the canyon thalweg on canyon side bench features for correlation with moored instrument deployments. The sediment cores reveal a complex stratigraphy that includes copious bioturbation features, sand lenses, subtle erosional surfaces, subtle graded bedding, and abrupt changes sediment texture and color. Downcore excess 210Pb and 137Cs profiles imply episodic deposition and remobilization cycles on the canyon benches. Excess 210Pb activities in cores reach depths of up to 1m, implying very rapid sedimentation. Sedimentation rates vary with water depth, generally with the highest sedimentation rate in closest to land, but vary substantially on adjacent canyon benches. Preliminary results demonstrate that sediment movement within Monterey Canyon is both dynamic and episodic on human time-scales and can be reconstructed used short-lived radio-isotopes.