Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The goals of this proposed research are to improve our understanding of formative processes and geological products related to sedimentary strata on continental margins. This research builds on existing international partnerships and collaborations, the proposer's newly developed quantitative approach to modeling fine-scale sedimentary strata, and a strong synergy in the field of seabed processes and seabed imaging at Memorial University.  The sediment cover of continent-ocean margins is created by a range of tectonic, climatic, and oceanic processes acting over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Although we can enumerate many important processes, there is no clear consensus on how these processes operate and interact to create margin stratigraphy, because of both the complexity of process interactions and products, and difficulties in sampling and imaging the seabed. The limits to our understanding of this issue limit our ability to delineate and conserve margin-associated habitat, and mineral and living resources. Specific areas of research will include: (1) the relationships among river-supplied sediment flux, oceanic dispersal processes, and formation of marine sediment deposits, and (2) the formation of fine-scale strata within these processes by local physical and biogeochemical processes. The anticipated results of these efforts will enhance our ability to map seabed geological settings and associated habitat and natural resources, and decipher records of natural and anthropogenic environmental change.