Controls on the apex location of large deltas

Adrian J. Hartley; Gary S. Weissmann; Louis Scuderi

doi:10.1144/jgs2015-154

Controls on the apex location of large deltas

Adrian J. Hartley, Gary S. Weissmann, Louis Scuderi

Geology and Geophysics

University of New Mexico

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The majority of sediment transport to the world's oceans is routed via large deltas. We examine controls on delta apex location using a database of 84 of the world's largest deltas. Of the dataset, 94% of apices are controlled by either bedrock valleys (80%) or Pleistocene alluvial valleys (14%), suggesting that the principal control on modern apex development is valley exit and/or bedslope-mediated avulsion and not hydrodynamic backwater length. Valley exit control on large delta apex location may have been as important in the rock record as it is today, and should be considered as a key control on delta development.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	10-13
Number of pages	4
Journal	Journal of the Geological Society
Volume	174
Early online date	7 Oct 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2015-154
Publication status	Published - Jan 2017

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements and Funding

We would like to acknowledge the sponsors of the Fluvial Systems Research Group consortium BP, BG, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Total. We would like to thank A. Felicia for image generation and database management.

Keywords

delta
apex
backwater length
valley
avulsion
river

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10.1144/jgs2015-154Licence: CC BY

Controls on the apex location of large deltas
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
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Cite this

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title = "Controls on the apex location of large deltas",

abstract = "The majority of sediment transport to the world's oceans is routed via large deltas. We examine controls on delta apex location using a database of 84 of the world's largest deltas. Of the dataset, 94% of apices are controlled by either bedrock valleys (80%) or Pleistocene alluvial valleys (14%), suggesting that the principal control on modern apex development is valley exit and/or bedslope-mediated avulsion and not hydrodynamic backwater length. Valley exit control on large delta apex location may have been as important in the rock record as it is today, and should be considered as a key control on delta development.",

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AU - Weissmann, Gary S.

AU - Scuderi, Louis

N1 - Acknowledgements and Funding We would like to acknowledge the sponsors of the Fluvial Systems Research Group consortium BP, BG, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Total. We would like to thank A. Felicia for image generation and database management.

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N2 - The majority of sediment transport to the world's oceans is routed via large deltas. We examine controls on delta apex location using a database of 84 of the world's largest deltas. Of the dataset, 94% of apices are controlled by either bedrock valleys (80%) or Pleistocene alluvial valleys (14%), suggesting that the principal control on modern apex development is valley exit and/or bedslope-mediated avulsion and not hydrodynamic backwater length. Valley exit control on large delta apex location may have been as important in the rock record as it is today, and should be considered as a key control on delta development.

AB - The majority of sediment transport to the world's oceans is routed via large deltas. We examine controls on delta apex location using a database of 84 of the world's largest deltas. Of the dataset, 94% of apices are controlled by either bedrock valleys (80%) or Pleistocene alluvial valleys (14%), suggesting that the principal control on modern apex development is valley exit and/or bedslope-mediated avulsion and not hydrodynamic backwater length. Valley exit control on large delta apex location may have been as important in the rock record as it is today, and should be considered as a key control on delta development.

KW - delta

KW - apex

KW - backwater length

KW - valley

KW - avulsion

KW - river

U2 - 10.1144/jgs2015-154

DO - 10.1144/jgs2015-154

M3 - Article

SN - 0016-7649

VL - 174

SP - 10

EP - 13

JO - Journal of the Geological Society

JF - Journal of the Geological Society

ER -

Controls on the apex location of large deltas

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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