Abstract

ABSTRACT A methodology has been developed which allows the structural history of a multi-layered marine sediment deposit such as a sub-marine fan to be recreated by simulating the fan's growth, layer layer, from the beginning of its existence until the present time. The technique is based on the concept of geotechnical stratigraphy and involves the simulation of two processes: the deposition of new sediment layers, and the consolidation of existing layers, This research describes the development of a numerical modeling and simulation technique for application in the field of geotechnical e engineering INTRODUCTION The advent of the electronic computer during the last half of this Century has produced spectacular advances in the applied sciences. In the process, a completely new mode of research, the computational approach, has come into existence. One of the primary tools of this new approach is the technique of computer modeling and simulation which allows a physical system to be studied by computer manipulation of its mathematical model The primary objective of the research described hem was to develop new modeling and simulation methods for the study of multi-layered marine sediment deposits such as submarine fans In particular, the methods were applied to the large Mississippi Fan located in the Gulf of Mexico. Since consolidation is generally the most important process affecting fan geometry, the modeling and simulation techniques were designed around this concept. The goal was to develop techniques which could provide insight into how the formation and evolutionary processes active within the Mississippi Fan have changed the fan's geometry during the roughly two million years of its history. The basic approach was to recreate the fan's structural history through the use of a numerical simulation of the consolidation process. The research can be partitioned into the following basic task:Develop an appropriate simulation model which quantifies the consolidation processDevelop a simulation database containing a discretized representation of fan structure.Collect and process sufficient data for defining current fan geometry.Perform a digital simulation to generate the fan's structural historyDevelop a visualization to show how the fan structure has changed during its past history THEORY AND GOVERNING EQUATIONS SUBMARINE FAN FORMATION The Mississippi Fan is a large deep-sea turbidite deposit located in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. It is generally. fan-shapedand composed of predominantly terrigenous sediments which have accumulated at the lower end of the Mississippi submarinecanyon. The fan is marked by a seaward bowing of the bathymetric Contours1 and extends seaward from the continental shelf of Louisiana to abyssal depths (Figure 1). The west Florida carbonate platform forma the fan's eastern flank, while the Texas-Louisiana Florida continental slope borders on the north and west. The fan's deeper portions merge with the Florida plain to the southeast and the Sigsbee plain on the southwest2.

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