Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SubCAN (Agents of geomorphic change in submarine canyons)
Reporting period: 2024-10-01 to 2026-03-31
Huge volumes of material are transported from land into the deep sea through submarine canyons. This transport, facilitated mainly by landslides and turbidity currents, is largely episodic and rapid. There are, however, multiple other processes, including biological, that impact canyon morphology over short and long periods of time. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SubCAN project will use acoustic data, sediment cores, and numerical modelling to study the factors driving changes in submarine canyons over multiple time and spatial scales. It aims to understand margin evolution, stability, and hazards by focusing on two distinct types of submarine canyons: one characterised by low-event magnitude and high-event frequency, and the other by high-event magnitude and low-event frequency. Additionally, the project will reconstruct the evolution of a canyon where high-resolution and repeat data are not available to better understand the universal processes that drive changes in submarine canyons.
WP1: Quantify fine-scale geomorphic changes and processes in a submarine canyon with low-magnitude, high-frequency events using repeated mapping and monitoring (Monterey Canyon, offshore California): Revision of literature and state of the art, software familiarisation (MB-System), processing of newest high-resolution multibeam data collected from Monterey Canyon between October and December 2024.
WP2: Quantify fine-scale geomorphic changes and processes in a submarine canyon with high-magnitude, low-frequency events using repeated mapping (Kaikoura Canyon, offshore New Zealand): Revision of literature and state of the art, research stay at NIWA (Wellington, New Zealand), analysis of high-resolution multibeam data collected in and adjacent to Kaikoura Canyon during the EUROFLEETS mission in 2020, data collection during RV Sonne expedition SO310 MAWACAAP.
WP2: Quantify fine-scale geomorphic changes and processes in a submarine canyon with high-magnitude, low-frequency events using repeated mapping (Kaikoura Canyon, offshore New Zealand): Revision of literature and state of the art, research stay at NIWA (Wellington, New Zealand), analysis of high-resolution multibeam data collected in and adjacent to Kaikoura Canyon during the EUROFLEETS mission in 2020, data collection during RV Sonne expedition SO310 MAWACAAP.
The project was terminated early (Project Start: October 2024, and End: June 2025. Suspended from April - June 2025). Further research is required to achieve the project objectives.