Hudson submarine canyon head offshore new york and new Jersey: A physical and geochemical investigation (original) (raw)

Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 2015

Abstract

Hudson Canyon is the largest submarine canyon on the U. S. Atlantic continental margin. Having completed a surface ship multi-beam bathymetric map of the Hudson Canyon region (resolution 100m; http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1441/index/html), we report preliminary results of mapping portions of the canyon head (75 square km, water depth 200-500 m) using the Eagle Ray autonomous underwater vehicle (Explorer 27- BO1-2200 AUV, ISE Ltd.) of the University of Southern Mississippi. The AUV was equipped with a Simrad EM2000 multi-beam sonar system and flown 50 m above the seafloor for resolution (3 m), and with a CTD to map water column properties. Shipboard CTD casts were also made and water sampled from the shelf break (depth 200 m) to the upper continental rise (3000 m) for detection of methane. The canyon head is of interest as an essential fish habitat (squid, hake, tilefish, and lobster) that may contribute to sustain a regional fishery and that may conduct sediment to the ocean basin. A shallow trough, the Hudson Shelf Valley, extends ~185 km across the continental shelf connecting the mouth of the Hudson River to the canyon head where it indents the seaward edge of the shelf. The canyon head bifurcates with branch 1 (6 km-long) oriented NW-SE aligned with the Shelf Valley, and branch 2 (4 km-long) oriented N-S. The two branches merge into a segment 10 km-long oriented NW-SE aligned with branch 1. Branch 1 has symmetric walls with mean inclinations of 10 degrees and smooth seafloor, suggesting that it is presently inactive and accumulating a cover of hemipelagic sediment. In contrast, the walls of both the N-S branch 2 and of the contiguous NW-SE segment are asymmetric. The walls of the NW-SE segment have a mean inclination of 15 degrees and exhibit semicircular escarpments 800-900 m long and 600-700 m wide, separated by narrow ravines perpendicular to the canyon axis. Slump blocks with sharp rims occur where N-S branch 1 joins the NW- SE segment. Two circular depressions (diameter 100 and 300 m; relief c.15 m; depths 345 m and 390 m) occur at the base of the SW wall of the segment and may be collapse features related to gas discharge evidenced by a high methane anomaly at the shelf edge. The head of Hudson Canyon encompasses diverse habitats and is a dynamic interface between shelf and slope processes. We thank NOAA's National Undersea Research Program for support.

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