Predicting the geometry of channelized deep-sea turbidites

Analytical relationships between the dynamic properties of a deposit-forming turbidity current propagating across a sea floor with small slope and the geometry of the resulting deposit have been confirmed experimentally for a wide range of particle sizes, initial concentrations, and volumes of the driving suspension. These simple expressions provide a basis for inferring the dynamics of natural flows from their deposits. We surmise that the turbidity current responsible for depositing the Black Shell turbidite in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean had an initial sediment concentration on the order of 100 g of silt per litre and a volume on the order of 1000 km (super 3) .