. The Earth beneath the sea : History. Ocean bottom; Marine geophysics. SECT. 3] TURBIDITY CURRENTS 763 modern turbidity-current deposits have been compared by them to those described by Natland and Kuenen (1951) and others from the filled sedimentary basins of southern California. Consideral)le attention has been given to these de- posits since the analogous deposits in the filled basins are productive of petroleum. Menard (1955) has employed the turbidity-current hyj)othesis to explain the smooth topography, and the canyons, and the deep-sea channels of the North Pacific. Locher (1954) and P
. The Earth beneath the sea : History. Ocean bottom; Marine geophysics. SECT. 3] TURBIDITY CURRENTS 763 modern turbidity-current deposits have been compared by them to those described by Natland and Kuenen (1951) and others from the filled sedimentary basins of southern California. Consideral)le attention has been given to these de- posits since the analogous deposits in the filled basins are productive of petroleum. Menard (1955) has employed the turbidity-current hyj)othesis to explain the smooth topography, and the canyons, and the deep-sea channels of the North Pacific. Locher (1954) and Phleger (1951), who studied the lithology and fauna of the deep-sea sands from the equatorial Atlantic, became convinced of their turbidity-current origin. Bourcart (1953) and Duplaix and Calleux (1956) described deep-sea sands from the abyssal plains of the Mediterranean which they identified as the deposits of turbidity currents. The concept has found an "^^^v^ik. AREAS INACCESSIBLE TO SHALLOW-WATER TURBIDITY CURRENTS HISTORICAL TURBIDITY CURRENTS Fig. 17. Historical turbidity currents (since 1880). Each arrow denotes one or more turbidity currents. With the exception of two off southern California, all are based on submarine cable breakage. (After Elmendorf and Heezen, 1957.) increasingly greater application in paleogeographical reconstruction and a host of recent papers have appeared which we will not attempt to review here. It will suffice to say that Kuenen, his associates, and his students, as well as many other independent workers, have had considerable success in identifying ancient turbidity-current deposits throughout the world. There is now little doubt that turbidity currents play an important part in the deep sea (Fig. 17). Their velocities have been determined by sequences of cable breaks. The distribution of sands and silts in the deep-sea basins has conclusively shown that the abyssal plains, archipelagic plains and smooth continental rise areas owe their e
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