Turbidity Currents

06/14/26

“How can sediment avalanches happen underwater?”

It’s easy to think of sediment in water bodies as unchanging. However, sometimes, sediment can accumulate near a steep slope, and an event can cause this sediment to tumble downhill. The water that becomes mixed with this sediment will end up denser than the surrounding water, and gravity will pull the mixture downhill, resulting in a strong, long-traveling current called a Turbidity Current. Turbidity currents can carve out abyssal channels if done repeatedly enough. 

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