Distribution and Characteristics of Suspended Sediment on the Amazon Shelf

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Authors

Gail C. Kineke | School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Richard W. Sternberg | School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

David A. Cacchione | US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, USA

Kate Kranck | Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

David E. Drake | US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, USA

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First Paragraph

The major goals of the AmasSeds sediment transport group are to determine the dominant physical processes causing sediment transport on the Amazon Shelf and to understand the particle response to these processes. The study was motivated by previous findings concerning such issues as: a) spatially variable sediment accumulation (from 0 to 10 cm y–l; Kuehl et al., 1986); b) extreme sediment reworking depths/surface mixed layer thicknesses of up to 150 cm at water depths of 15 m (Kuehl et al., 1986); c) sediment dispersal (only 60-70% of the Amazon sediment discharge is accounted for; Nittrouer et al., 1986); and d) the origin of fine-scale stratigraphy. Although dynamic physical processes control the response of the sediments, the link between them can be complicated. Therefore a comprehensive study to document physical processes and simultaneous sediment response was initiated in this complex environment. Some preliminary findings are presented in this paper.

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Full Article

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Citation

Kineke, G.C., R.W. Sternberg, D.A. Cacchione, K. Kranck, and D.E. Drake. 1991. Distribution and characteristics of suspended sediment on the Amazon shelf. Oceanography 4(1):21–26, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.1991.17.

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