Petrology and origin of deep-sea sands: Hatteras Abyssal Plain

Abstract

A petrographic reconnaissance survey of 23 Pleistocene deep-sea sand layers from the Hatteras Abyssal Plain and adjacent deep-sea environments was undertaken in an attempt to delineate the provenance of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain sands. Data from 18 widely spaced piston cores reveal that subarkosic sands on the Hatteras Abyssal Plain derive from widely separated, characteristically different source areas. When the diverse character of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain sands is compared to that of the Hatteras Fan and adjacent continental margin, differences in composition suggest a portion of the coarse fraction derives north of Cape Hatteras via Wilmington Canyon System or the Sohm Abyssal Plain. The presence of certain diagnostic grain assemblages (schistose metaquartz, schistose, basic, and meta-volcanic rock fragments), not found in adjacent continental margin sands, indicates the glaciated areas that feed the Hudson Canyon/Fan and Sohm Abyssal Plain are a principal source. The data substantiate that premise of previous studies, that channelization and overflow of turbidity currents through the Sohm Abyssal Gap has played a major role in sedimentation on the Hatteras Abyssal Plain. Aside from the obvious Pleistocene contributions from the adjacent Hatteras Fan, which fed southerly flowing littoral drift material into the deep ocean, a more southerly continental shelf source is also indicated. The occurrence of certain carbonate grain types (ooids and peloid-algal biomicrites) is generally restricted to the continental shelf south of Hatteras Canyon system. The presence of these diagnostic grain types on the Abyssal Plain suggests a two-step process involving northerly transport via the Gulf Stream into canyon tributaries offshore Cape Hatteras during lower sea levels and eventual redistribution by density currents into the deep ocean. This process appears to have been responsible for the emplacement of carbonate-rich sands on the Hatteras Abyssal Plain.