Submarine canyons of Santa Monica Bay, Southern California: Variability in morphology and sedimentary processes

Abstract

Abstract High-resolution autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)-based multibeam bathymetry and chirp sub-bottom profiles were used to map the axial channels of Santa Monica and Redondo Canyon-Channel Systems, offshore southern California. The new bathymetry reveals the seafloor morphology at 1-meter grid resolution, whereas sub-bottom chirp and regional multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) profiles allow characterizing the shallow and deep sedimentary record, respectively. Even though these two submarine canyons have coexisted under the same regional controls (i.e., tectonics and sea-level changes), they have evolved distinctly over time. Turbidity current activity along the Redondo Canyon-Channel System as a result of canyon-head incision to the present-day shoreline resulted in a different geomorphology compared to the abandoned Santa Monica Canyon. The Redondo Canyon and channel system presents a number of morphologies, namely terraces, gullies, arcuate scarps, distinctive canyon-floor scarps (DCFS), crescent-shaped bedforms (CSBs) and scours. Their geneses, especially the CSBs along the Redondo axial channel, are the result of the morphodynamic interaction between turbidity flows and the seafloor. We infer that sediment gravity flows are the dominant process shaping the Redondo Canyon and channel system and transporting material to the San Pedro Basin. In contrast, the Santa Monica Canyon displays a smooth, flat-bottomed and partially in-filled axial channel, which lacks axial incision and large sediment bedforms indicating infilling at present. We interpret the large scours on the flanks of Santa Monica Canyon and the sediment waves on the Redondo Fan, respectively, as bedforms produced by repeated cyclic steps in turbidity currents which alternated between net erosional and net depositional.