Prof Peter Talling - Turbidity currents: first detailed monitoring of giant deep-sea sediment avalanches in action

Dear Colleagues,
 
We are very proud to announce that Prof Peter Talling from the University of Durham will be giving a seminar today on Turbidity currents: first detailed monitoring of giant deep-sea sediment avalanches in action sponsored by VISTA.

Date: 12.02.2019 (today)
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Room: 3153 (Kvart-Sitten, 3rd floor, RFB)
 
Turbidity currents: first detailed monitoring of giant deep-sea sediment avalanches in action
Submarine sediment avalanches called turbidity currents form the largest sediment accumulations on Earth. Only terrestrial river systems carry similar volumes of sediment, although one turbidity current can sometimes transport more sediment than the annual global flux from all rivers combined. Understanding turbidity current structure and duration is important for mitigating the considerable hazard that they pose to expensive seafloor infrastructure, such as oil and gas pipelines, or the network of seafloor cables that now carries >95% of internet and other global data traffic. Turbidity currents play a significant role in global carbon cycling and sequestration, supply important nutrients to deep-sea ecosystems, ventilate the deep ocean with fresh water, whilst their deposits host major petroleum reservoirs worldwide, and contain important archives of Earth’s geological past. In contrast to many millions of direct observations of velocity and suspended sediment concentrations in rivers, there are remarkably few direct measurements from turbidity currents in action, ensuring they are poorly understood. These submarine flows are notoriously difficult to monitor due to their relatively inaccessible location, often unpredictable occurrence, and ability to severely damage instruments placed in their path To make a step change in understanding of turbidity currents, and their wider impacts, there is a compelling need to measure key parameters within full scale events. This talk will summarise recent major international projects that have successfully monitored flows in action, sometimes travelling at up to 8 m/s, and carrying 800 kg objects at 5 m/s. It will outline major new insights into how turbidity currents work, what these flows are, and their wider implications for global sediment and carbon transport, and offshore geohazards.  

Best regards,
Thilo
 
Thilo Wrona
VISTA Research Fellow
Department of Earth Science
University of Bergen
Norway