Agents of geomorphic change in submarine canyons

Project Information

SubCAN

Grant agreement ID: 101154871

DOI

10.3030/101154871

Project terminated on 15 July 2025

EC signature date 2 April 2024

Start date 1 October 2024

End date 31 March 2027

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 220 966,80

Coordinated by

CHRISTIAN-ALBRECHTS-UNIVERSITAET ZU KIEL
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SubCAN (Agents of geomorphic change in submarine canyons)

Reporting period: 2024-10-01 to 2026-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

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.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

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.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

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.