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"RV Manta - FGBNMS - FGBNMS-15-27_UTIG_2_1.nc - 29.31N, 94.82W - 2015-10-08"

Published by TAMU | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 02:28 AM | Dataset Last Updated: October 16, 2019 at 12:00 AM
A key question in the marine and energy geosciences is how sand is transported from the river mouth across continental shelves and slopes to eventually be accumulated in significant volumes within deep sea fans. Significant in this case is defined as volumetrically large enough deposits to serve as future hydrocarbon reservoirs. One mechanism may be transport through incised river valleys during sea-level low-stands, temporary deposition in shelf-edge deltas, with possible winnowing over multiple sealevel cycles, and with subsequent remobilization via sediment gravity flows that traverse the slope to build fan systems. To understand what factors critically control sediment routing and preferential sorting, we need to study fully preserved analogs for deepwater sands. One such analog is the Pleistocene Rio Grande source-to-sink system and in particular the linkage between the known sandy deposits on the shelf edge and deepwater Rio Grande Fan. We propose a high-resolution 2D marine seismic and mini-piston coring study of the shelf edge through upper fan to demonstrate our ability to image and core sandy intervals within the incised valley and slope canyon fill. Cored sands will be radiocarbon dated and analyzed by U-Pb-He double dating to establish its age and provenance signature. Sedimentary structures and textures will be used to constrain transport and depositional styles associated with this large system.

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