Thèse (M.Sc.)--Université Laval, 2008. / Bibliogr.: f. 44-52. Publié aussi en version électronique dans la Collection Mémoires et thèses électroniques.

Submarine canyons are important to continental shelf ecosystems. They have a strong influence on shelf circulation and the distribution of biota. The Perth Canyon is a long, deep canyon on the Western Australian coastline that has attracted attention as a feeding area for pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda). Despite existing on a highly oligotrophic coast, the Perth Canyon has the ability to support sufficient krill to feed these massive mammals. The aim of this study was to examine the physical processes within the Perth Canyon, and consider how these could affect productivity. Research areas included the interaction of the Leeuwin Current and Leeuwin Undercurrent with the canyon, the circulation within the canyon, the effect of wind forcing and the occurrence of upwelling. The oceanography of the Western Australian coast including seasonal productivity changes was also examined. This study utilised numerical modelling and collection of field data to develop a thorough understanding of the Perth Canyon. The numerical model ROMS (Regional Ocean Modelling System) was used to simulate a long stretch of coastline in which the Perth Canyon was centrally located. The model forced the Leeuwin Current and Undercurrent using density gradients, and the seasonal Capes Current was then generated by applying a surface wind stress. The simulations showed that primarily the Leeuwin Undercurrent interacted with the canyon. Eddies continually formed within the canyon, which enhanced vertical transport and could contribute to entrapment of passive drifters. The addition of wind had no discernible effect on canyon circulation although vertical velocities increased everywhere and shallow upwelling occurred along the shelf. The field data comprised moored temperature loggers, field cruises, and sundry data from satellite imagery, weather stations and whale observations. / The temperature loggers, located on the canyon rim, indicated the range of processes that affect the canyon region. These processes included seasonal changes in the wind, the seasonal changes and meanders of the Leeuwin Current, storms, the near-diurnal sea breeze and inertial period changes, and other internal waves. The temperature loggers also indicated sporadic upwelling at the canyon rims, although this upwelling rarely extended into the Leeuwin Current. The field cruises gathered CTD, ADCP, nutrients and acoustic backscatter data. The water masses near the canyon were identified from their temperature, salinity and oxygen signatures. The deep chlorophyll maximum exhibited high spatial variability around the canyon. The circulation, in conjunction with the simulated circulation from ROMS, reiterated that eddies filled the canyon below its rims, and suggested that passive drifters would aggregate within the head. The acoustic backscatter reinforced this, showing that biota concentrated near the head of the canyon, which is where the whales were most often sighted feeding. The conclusions of this study were that the canyon is a region of enhanced productivity where upwelling is enhanced and aggregation of passive drifters is likely. Upwelling occurs more strongly when the Leeuwin Current is weakened or has meandered out of a region. Seasonal changes in productivity in the canyon conform to seasonal productivity arguments for the entire coastline, which accounts for the seasonal aggregation of blue whales. The physical processes in the Perth Canyon are variable and all are important to this marine ecosystem.

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences de l'environnement. Géologie marine : Bordeaux 1 : 2008. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre.

The development and activity of submarine canyons on continental margins is strongly influenced by temporal and spatial changes in sediment distribution associated with orbitally-forced sea-level cyclicity. On active margins, canyons are also strongly influenced by tectonic processes such as faulting, uplift and earthquakes. Within this framework the role of mass-wasting processes, including sediment failures, bedrock landslides and sediment gravity flows, are to: 1) transport material across the slope; 2) act as intra-slope sediment sources; and 3) shape seafloor morphology. In this project the seafloor-landscape signatures of tectonic and geomorphic processes are analysed to interpret the development of submarine canyon morphology on active margins. Datasets include high-resolution bathymetry data (Simrad EM300), multichannel seismic reflection data (MCS), high-resolution 3.5 kHz seismic reflection data, sediment cores, and dated seafloor samples. High-resolution bathymetric grids are analysed using techniques developed for terrain-roughness analysis in terrestrial landscapes to objectively map and interpret features related to seafloor mass-wasting processes. The Hikurangi subduction margin of New Zealand provides world-class examples of the control of tectonic and sedimentary processes on margin development, hosting multiple examples of deeply-incised canyon systems across a range of scales. Two main study sites, in Poverty Bay and Cook Strait, provide examples of canyon formation. From these examples conceptual and representative models are developed for the spatial and temporal relationships between active tectonic structures, geology, sediment supply, slope- and shelf-incised canyons, slope gully systems, and bedrock mass failures. The Poverty Bay site occurs on the subduction-dominated northern Hikurangi Margin, where the ~3000 km² Poverty re-entrant hosts the large Poverty Canyon system, the only shelf-break-to-subduction-trough canyon on the northern margin. The geomorphic development of the re-entrant is affected by gully development on the upper slope, and multi-cubic-kilometre-scale submarine landslides. From this site the study focuses on the initiation and development of upper-slope gullies and the role of deep-seated slope failure in upper-slope evolution. The Cook Strait site occurs on the southern Hikurangi Margin in the subduction-to-strike-slip transition zone. The 1800 km² Cook Strait Canyon incises almost 50 km into the continental shelf, with a multi-branching canyon head converging to a deeply slope-incised meandering main channel fed by multiple contributing slope canyons. Other medium-sized canyons are incised into the adjacent continental slope. Fluvial sediment supply to the coast is relatively low on the southern margin, but Cook Strait is subject to large diurnal tidal currents that mobilise sediment through the main strait area. Prior to the morphostructural analysis of the Cook Strait and Poverty study sites a revision of the tectonic structure was undertaken. In Cook Strait a revision of the available fault maps was undertaken as part of a wider, related tectonic study of the central New Zealand region. In Poverty Bay very limited prior information was available, and as part of this study the structure and stratigraphy of the entire shelf and upper slope has been interpreted. On active tectonic margins submarine canyons respond to tectonics at: 1) margin-setting scales relating to their ability to become shelf incised; 2) regional scales relating to canyon-incision response to base-level perturbations; and 3) local scales relating to propagating structures affecting canyon location and geometry. Interpretation of the spatial distribution of fluid vent sites, gully development and landslide scars leads to the conclusion that seepage-driven failure is not a primary control on the widespread instances of gully formation and landslide erosion affecting structurally-generated relief across the margin. Rather, the erosion of tectonic ridges is dominated by tectonics by: slope oversteepening; weakening of the rockmass in fault-damage zones; and triggering of slope failure by earthquake-generated cyclic loading. Deep-seated mass failures affect numerous aspects of submarine landscapes and play a major role in the enlargement of canyon systems. They enable the development of slope gully systems and represent a major intra-slope sediment source. Quantitative morphometric analysis together with MCS data indicate that landslides may evolve to be active complexes where landslide debris is remobilized repeatedly, analogous to terrestrial-earthflow processes. This process has not previously been documented on submarine slopes. A model is presented for the evolution of active margin canyons that contrasts highstand and lowstand canyon activity in terms of channel incision, sedimentary processes and slope-erosion processes. During sea-level highstand intervals, canyons become decoupled from their terrestrial/coastal sediment-supply source areas, while during sea-level lowstand intervals, canyons are coupled to fluvial and littoral sediment-supply sources, and top-down (i.e. shelf-to-lower-slope) sediment transport and channel incision is active. Canyon-head areas are incision dominated during the lowstand while mid to lower canyon reaches experience both a transient increase in sediment in storage and canyon-fill degradation and incision into bedrock. Tectonics influences the canyon landscape through both uplift-controlled perturbations to canyon base-levels and earthquake-triggering of mass movement. Following sea-level rise the sediment supply to canyon heads will be switched off at a certain threshold sea level. From this point canyon heads become aggradational. Mid to lower canyon reaches continue to incise due to continuing tectonic uplift and earthquake-triggered slope instability. Knickpoints are propagated up channel and excavate canyon and sub-canyon channels from the bottom up. Thus, while top-down infilling of non-coupled canyons occurs during sea-level highstands, the lower reaches of active margin canyons continue to incise due the influence of tectonic processes.

The development and activity of submarine canyons on continental margins is strongly influenced by temporal and spatial changes in sediment distribution associated with orbitally-forced sea-level cyclicity. On active margins, canyons are also strongly influenced by tectonic processes such as faulting, uplift and earthquakes. Within this framework the role of mass-wasting processes, including sediment failures, bedrock landslides and sediment gravity flows, are to: 1) transport material across the slope; 2) act as intra-slope sediment sources; and 3) shape seafloor morphology. In this project the seafloor-landscape signatures of tectonic and geomorphic processes are analysed to interpret the development of submarine canyon morphology on active margins. Datasets include high-resolution bathymetry data (Simrad EM300), multichannel seismic reflection data (MCS), high-resolution 3.5 kHz seismic reflection data, sediment cores, and dated seafloor samples. High-resolution bathymetric grids are analysed using techniques developed for terrain-roughness analysis in terrestrial landscapes to objectively map and interpret features related to seafloor mass-wasting processes. The Hikurangi subduction margin of New Zealand provides world-class examples of the control of tectonic and sedimentary processes on margin development, hosting multiple examples of deeply-incised canyon systems across a range of scales. Two main study sites, in Poverty Bay and Cook Strait, provide examples of canyon formation. From these examples conceptual and representative models are developed for the spatial and temporal relationships between active tectonic structures, geology, sediment supply, slope- and shelf-incised canyons, slope gully systems, and bedrock mass failures. The Poverty Bay site occurs on the subduction-dominated northern Hikurangi Margin, where the ~3000 km² Poverty re-entrant hosts the large Poverty Canyon system, the only shelf-break-to-subduction-trough canyon on the northern margin. The geomorphic development of the re-entrant is affected by gully development on the upper slope, and multi-cubic-kilometre-scale submarine landslides. From this site the study focuses on the initiation and development of upper-slope gullies and the role of deep-seated slope failure in upper-slope evolution. The Cook Strait site occurs on the southern Hikurangi Margin in the subduction-to-strike-slip transition zone. The 1800 km² Cook Strait Canyon incises almost 50 km into the continental shelf, with a multi-branching canyon head converging to a deeply slope-incised meandering main channel fed by multiple contributing slope canyons. Other medium-sized canyons are incised into the adjacent continental slope. Fluvial sediment supply to the coast is relatively low on the southern margin, but Cook Strait is subject to large diurnal tidal currents that mobilise sediment through the main strait area. Prior to the morphostructural analysis of the Cook Strait and Poverty study sites a revision of the tectonic structure was undertaken. In Cook Strait a revision of the available fault maps was undertaken as part of a wider, related tectonic study of the central New Zealand region. In Poverty Bay very limited prior information was available, and as part of this study the structure and stratigraphy of the entire shelf and upper slope has been interpreted. On active tectonic margins submarine canyons respond to tectonics at: 1) margin-setting scales relating to their ability to become shelf incised; 2) regional scales relating to canyon-incision response to base-level perturbations; and 3) local scales relating to propagating structures affecting canyon location and geometry. Interpretation of the spatial distribution of fluid vent sites, gully development and landslide scars leads to the conclusion that seepage-driven failure is not a primary control on the widespread instances of gully formation and landslide erosion affecting structurally-generated relief across the margin. Rather, the erosion of tectonic ridges is dominated by tectonics by: slope oversteepening; weakening of the rockmass in fault-damage zones; and triggering of slope failure by earthquake-generated cyclic loading. Deep-seated mass failures affect numerous aspects of submarine landscapes and play a major role in the enlargement of canyon systems. They enable the development of slope gully systems and represent a major intra-slope sediment source. Quantitative morphometric analysis together with MCS data indicate that landslides may evolve to be active complexes where landslide debris is remobilized repeatedly, analogous to terrestrial-earthflow processes. This process has not previously been documented on submarine slopes. A model is presented for the evolution of active margin canyons that contrasts highstand and lowstand canyon activity in terms of channel incision, sedimentary processes and slope-erosion processes. During sea-level highstand intervals, canyons become decoupled from their terrestrial/coastal sediment-supply source areas, while during sea-level lowstand intervals, canyons are coupled to fluvial and littoral sediment-supply sources, and top-down (i.e. shelf-to-lower-slope) sediment transport and channel incision is active. Canyon-head areas are incision dominated during the lowstand while mid to lower canyon reaches experience both a transient increase in sediment in storage and canyon-fill degradation and incision into bedrock. Tectonics influences the canyon landscape through both uplift-controlled perturbations to canyon base-levels and earthquake-triggering of mass movement. Following sea-level rise the sediment supply to canyon heads will be switched off at a certain threshold sea level. From this point canyon heads become aggradational. Mid to lower canyon reaches continue to incise due to continuing tectonic uplift and earthquake-triggered slope instability. Knickpoints are propagated up channel and excavate canyon and sub-canyon channels from the bottom up. Thus, while top-down infilling of non-coupled canyons occurs during sea-level highstands, the lower reaches of active margin canyons continue to incise due the influence of tectonic processes.

Les courants de turbidité dans les canyons sous-marins contribuent largement au transfert sédimentaire à travers des marges continentales. L’étude géologique des canyons sous-marins et des systèmes turbiditiques associés a permis des avancées fondamentales dans la compréhension de l’évolution des courants de turbidité.Ces études sont cependant limitées à des interprétations a posteriori, basées sur la répartition des dépôts et des évidences morphologiques. Cette thèse vise à l’application de la modélisation numérique des courants de turbidité, sur la base des processus physiques, à deux canyons sous-marins de la côte Méditerranée Occidentale.Des courants de turbidité liés au chalutage de fond sont modélisés dans le canyon de La Fonera. Les résultats du modèle permettent de spatialiser ce transport; ainsi le modèle peut être un point de départ pour l’identification de zones de pêche au chalut avec un moindre impact. L’absence d’un plateau continental au niveau de Nice a permis une alimentation continue du système turbiditique du Var indépendamment des variations du niveau marin. Ainsi ce système s’avère un laboratoire naturel pour l’étude du contrôle climatique sur l’activité turbiditique. L’influence des forces de Coriolis dans l’évolution spatiale des courants de turbidité et dans la construction de la Ride sédimentaire du Var est modélisée et mise en évidence pour la première fois.La modélisation numérique des courants de turbidité ne peut pas fournir à présent des résultats de qualité prédictive du fait de la quantité limitée d’information disponible pour établir les conditions initiales de l’écoulement qui impactent largement son évolution et dépôts. Malgré ce fait, la modélisation numérique permet d’élargir les interprétations du fonctionnement sédimentaire des canyons étudiés, d’identifier les chemins empruntés par les écoulements et leur dépôt final et de mieux préparer des cibles (mouillages et carottage) lors des campagnes à la mer. / Turbidity currents in submarine canyons are the main contribution for sediment transfer across the continental margins. Geological studies of submarine canyons and associated turbiditic systems for more than 30 years led to an extraordinary breakthrough in the understanding of how turbidite systems evolve. However, these studies remain limited to a posteriori interpretations, based on the distribution of deposits and morphological evidences. The overarching aim of this thesis is to apply a 2DH process-based model to simulate large-scale turbidity currents on two different submarine canyons in the western Mediterranean coast.The work in La Fonera canyon, in the Catalan margin, focuses on the modelling of sediment transport and accumulation resulting from trawling activities on the canyon flanks. The numerical process-based provides a 3D visualization of potential trawling impacts on sediment dynamics. The study represents a starting point for the assessment of the sedimentary impact of bottom trawling in deep continental margins. The present work can help in the identification of trawling areas with lesser impacts. The Var Sedimentary System, located in the vicinity of Nice (France), is connected to the Var River during both low and high-stands and it can be considered as a natural laboratory for the study of the climatic control on the turbiditic activity. The influence of Coriolis forces on the spatial evolution of the hyperpycnal flows and hence in the construction of the Var Sedimentary Ridge (VSR) is evidenced and supported for the first time.The major drawback is the limited amount of information for the necessary initial and boundary conditions; hence modelling results might not be of predictive quality. However, modelling results provide a full-scale vision of the system allowing the identification of sediment pathways and deposition areas on the basis of physical processes and enlarge the present knowledge of the canyons studied. The results obtained may help in the identification of strategic mooring and coring sites to further advance the state of our knowledge on sediment dynamics of the different cases studies.

When simulating air flows in an urban environment, for e.g. pollutant dispersion investigations, today's main tool is advanced computational fluid dynamics simulations. These simulations take a lot of time and resources to perform, even for small geometries. In some situations, one would like to be able to run approximate simulations, possibly with large geometries, without such a significant investment. The model described in this thesis is a graph network model which have streets and intersections of an urban environment modeled as connections and nodes in a graph. The model uses a pressured pipe model, based on the Darcy-Weisbach equation, to simulate air flow in the network. Such a model requires only rough measurements of the urban geometry and an estimated Darcy's friction factor, to be able to solve the system. Furthermore, using the same rough geometrical parameters, together with shear velocity, the model solves atmospheric exchange rates of the streets. Intersections play a major role when investigating urban dispersion. The way this model deals with dispersion in any complex intersections, represented by single nodes, is by using wind direction variance together with a distribution parameter based on computational fluid dynamics intersection simulations made in Comsol Multiphysics - also present in this paper. Using the simple model described above, I have simulated urban air flows in a complex urban geometry of a part of Paris. This specific geometry has already been investigated by computational fluid dynamics simulations as well as wind tunnel experiments. By comparing the computational fluid dynamics simulation with my model, I have validated its accuracy. 40% and 45% of all streets reach a relative and absolute error below 25% respectively. Directions of the street velocities have been simulated with approximately 90% accuracy - with distinct error indications. Atmospheric exchange rates of the streets are within an order of magnitude accurate, however, showing a systematic error by overestimating the vast majority of the exchange rates. The model could become even better by covering error sources discussed in the discussion section. Excess theory for simulating each of the above-described flows is presented, which might change the results. For example, slightly altering the modeling of the atmospheric exchange rate might fix the overestimation offset we have seen. Potential error sources could be the varying building heights and the streets angle relative the overlaying wind direction. The pressured pipe simulated flows have shown tendencies to be bad at picking up the effects of high/low buildings following low/high buildings, as well as accurately capture the behavior of streets close to perpendicular to the wind direction. Main streets with plenty of exits have been modeled with intersections at each exit, which results in strong flow variation along a street that should have a flow close to constant. Solving main streets like this separately could improve this behavior drastically.

This thesis includes two different studies in an attempt to investigate and better understand the key characteristics of landscape evolution. In the first study, the rate of surface particle creep was investigated through the use of Terrestrial lidar at an archaeological site in Grand Canyon National Park. The second study developed ways to quantify metrics of the Colorado River drainage and reports the role of bedrock strength in the irregular profile of the trunk Colorado River drainage. Archaeological sites along the Colorado River corridor in Grand Canyon National Park are eroding due to a variety of surficial processes. The nature of surface particle creep is difficult to quantify and managers of this sensitive landscape wish to know the rates of erosion in order to make timely decisions regarding preservation. In the first study, two scans of a single convex hillslope were collected over the span of 12 months through the use of a ground-based lidar instrument. The scans were used to track the movement of rock clasts. This study, with a relatively small data set, did not show the expected positive relations of creep rate to slope or clast size, but did not preclude the existence of these relations either. The remarkably irregular long profile of the Colorado River has inspired several questions about the role of knickpoint recession, tectonics, and bedrock in the landscape evolution of Grand Canyon and the region. Bedrock resistance to erosion has a fundamental role in controlling topography and surface processes. In this second study, a data set of bedrock strength data was compiled and presented, providing relations of bedrock strength to hydraulicdriving forces of the trunk Colorado River drainage. Results indicate that rock strength and topographic metrics are strongly correlated in the middle to lower reaches of the plateau drainage. In the upper reaches of the drainage, intact-rock strength values are ~25% higher without a matching increase in stream power. As more tensile strength samples are analyzed and appropriately scaled with respect to fracturing and shale content, we believe we will see a clearer and more consistent pattern in the upper reaches.

The Green River canyons of the eastern Uinta Mountains have experienced a 5- year period of high debris flow activity. Catchment factors were studied in watersheds and on debris fans with recent debris flows, leading to the development of a conceptual framework of the hillslope and debris flow processes that deliver sediment to the Green River. Two recent fan deposits were monitored to determine the magnitude and processes of reworking that occur during mainstem floods of varying magnitude. The dominant debris flow initiation mechanism, termed the firehose effect, occurs when overland flow generated on bedrock slopes cascades down steep cliffs and saturates and impacts colluvium stored in bedrock hollows, causing failure. The dry climate and high strength of bedrock cause hillslopes to be weathering-limited, prohibiting the formation of extensive regolith and vegetative cover. This reduces the degree vegetation regulates geomorphic processes and causes wildfire to have little influence on debris flow initiation. The dry climate and strong rocks also lead to high runoff ratios and steep escarpments that result in debris flow initiation via the firehose effect. This initiation process also dominates in Grand Canyon, where geologic and topographic characteristics are similar, but differs from locations in the Rocky Mountains where fire has a strong influence on debris flow processes. Monitoring of two recently aggraded debris fans shows that mainstem floods with magnitudes as low as 75% of the pre-dam 2-year flood cause significant erosion of fan deposits, whereas floods with magnitudes less than 40% of the pre-dam 2-year flood do little reworking. Armoring of the debris fan surface limited the degree ofreworking done by successive floods. Eroded material was deposited directly downstream of the fan, not at the expansion gravel bar. This depositional location represents a change in the organization of the fan-eddy complex, potentially altering the location of recirculating eddies and associated backwater habitats. These results indicate that the firehose effect may be the dominant initiation processes in the steep canyons of the Colorado Plateau and that dam releases that significantly rework fan deposits are within the operational range of large dams in the Colorado River system.

Water column methane measurements have been used to understand both the global distribution of methane in the oceans and the local flux of methane from geologic sources on the continental margins, including methane vents and gas-hydrate-bearing sites. We have measured methane concentrations in 1607 water samples collected along the central California continental margin. Methane supersaturation of the surface mixed layer (0-50 msbsl) is widespread and above a well-defined subsurface particle maximum (~50 mbsl) that generally corresponds with the pycnocline. Local production of methane appears to be occurring in the surface mixed layer above the particle maximum and may not be particle-associated. Methane concentrations in water column CTD cast profiles and ROV-collected bottom waters obtained in Partington, Hueneme, Santa Monica, and Redondo submarine canyons increase towards the seafloor and are distinctly higher (up to 186 nM) compared to open-slope and shelf waters at similar depths. These values are in excess of measured surface water methane concentrations and could not be generated by mixing with surface water. Elevated methane concentrations in these submarine canyons and persistent mid-water methane anomalies in Ascension and Ano Nuevo Canyons could result from restricted circulation and/or proximity to gas vents, seafloor exposure of methane gas hydrates, recently-eroded methane-rich sediment, submarine discharge of methane-rich groundwater, or particle-associated methane production. On the Santa Barbara shelf water column methane profiles near known gas vents also increase in concentration with increasing depth. Thus, elevated bottom water methane concentrations observed in submarine canyons may not be diagnostic of proximity to methane vents and may be caused by other processes.