Delta slope processes and turbidity currents in prodeltaic submarine channels, Queen Inlet, Glacier Bay, Alaska

Coarse sediment loads from Carroll Glacier are transported down the delta foreslope and through the submarine channels, and finer material is dispersed throughout the fjord from overflow plumes. Slides and slumps occur intermittently on the delta foreslope. A recording current meter positioned in a submarine channel 1m above the bottom and 2.7km seaward from the delta brink indicated during July 1989 predominantly quasi-continuous downfjord currents, although several small surges were also observed. The contrast between sporadic surges on the delta foreslope and predominantly quasi-continuuous turbidity currents downstream in the submarine channels is interpreted as due to attenuation and overlapping of sediment gravity flows of various sizes and velocities originating at the delta front. -from Authors