Morphological definition of the North İmralı Canyon in the Sea of Marmara

Abstract

Submarine canyons are the significant morphological structures that related with oceanographic processes, mass movements, sediment transportation, productivity, and related biodiversity of benthic habitats between continental shelf and abyssal plain including slope. The specifications and relative influences of the canyon can be described by meanings of its shape, formation, metrics, and location from shelf margin to the slope and beyond. In this paper, the morphological analysis of the North Imrali Canyon is presented in terms of geomorphic metrics and physiographical properties, which is located in the Sea of Marmara. The 17 metrics (attributes) are obtained from the multi-beam bathymetry data. These attributes are used for defining and classifying the North Imrali Canyon according to physical properties of the canyon types that separate the slope-confined and shelf-incising canyons. The formation and evolution stages of the North Imrali Canyon are controlled by the erosive current flows, slope mass-wastes related with fluvial, and shelf sources.