Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Terrigenous sediments are responsible for a significant amount of the salt in today's oceans. Over time rivers continue to carry minerals to the ocean but when water evaporates, it leaves the minerals behind. Since chlorine and sodium are not consumed by biological processes, these two elements constitute the greatest portion of dissolved minerals.
Marine sediment, or ocean sediment, or seafloor sediment, are deposits of insoluble particles that have accumulated on the seafloor.These particles either have their origins in soil and rocks and have been transported from the land to the sea, mainly by rivers but also by dust carried by wind and by the flow of glaciers into the sea, or they are biogenic deposits from marine organisms or from ...
Terrigenous sediment is the most abundant sediment found on the seafloor. Terrigenous sediments come from the continents. These materials are eroded from continents and transported by wind and water to the ocean. Fluvial sediments are transported from land by rivers and glaciers, such as clay, silt, mud, and glacial flour. Aeolian sediments are ...
The sediment can consist of terrigenous material, which originates on land, but may be deposited in either terrestrial, marine, or lacustrine (lake) environments, or of sediments (often biological) originating in the body of water. Terrigenous material is often supplied by nearby rivers and streams or reworked marine sediment (e.g. sand). In ...
Global map of marine sediment distribution. Despite the common association between shallow water and high productivity, biogenous ooze is not as common around continental shelves. This is due to the transport of terrigenous sediments by methods such as rivers and wind from the continents. The terrigenous sediment buries most accumulated organic ...
The continental shelves are covered by terrigenous sediments; that is, those derived from erosion of the continents. However, little of the sediment is from current rivers; some 60–70% of the sediment on the world's shelves is relict sediment, deposited during the last ice age, when sea level was 100–120 m lower than it is now. [21] [11]
Precipitation sourced from the above water column is referred to as hydrogenetic, while precipitation from the sediment pore water is diagenetic. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Nodule growth occurs more readily in oxygenated environments with relatively low sedimentation rates that provide adequate levels of labile organic matter to fuel precipitation. [ 3 ]
Since contour currents generally flow at speed of 2–20 cm/s, their capacity to carry sediments is limited to fine grain particles already in suspension. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] Redistribution of sediments by contour currents have, however, been reported as evidenced by the sea floor morphological features parallel to regional isobaths . [ 4 ]