Morphology and sedimentary architecture of a modern volcaniclastic turbidite system: The Cilaos fan, offshore La Réunion Island

Emmanuelle Sisavath (1, 2) , Nathalie Babonneau (3) , Francky Saint-Ange (4) , Patrick Bachèlery (1) , Stéphan Jorry (2) , Christine Deplus (5) , Béatrice de Voogd (6) , Bruno Savoye (2)

1 LGSR - Laboratoire GéoSciences Réunion
2 LES - Laboratoire Environnements Sédimentaires
3 LDO - Domaines Océaniques
4 GSC Atlantic - Geological Survey of Canada [Dartmouth]
5 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
6 MIGP - Laboratoire de Modélisation et d'Imagerie en Géosciences de Pau

Recent oceanographic surveys revealed the existence of five volcaniclastic deep-sea fans off La Réunion Island. The Cilaos fan is a large volcaniclastic submarine fan, connected to rivers that episodically experience torrential floods through a narrow and steep shelf-slope system. New piston cores presented in this study together with echosounder profiles give new insight into the evolution of this extensive and sand-rich turbidite system. The Cilaos fan extends over 15,000 km2 on an abyssal plain and is compartmentalized by topographic highs. Located southwest of the island, the sedimentary system consists of a canyon area and a deep sea fan divided into a proximal and a distal fan. The proximal fan is characterized by its wide extent and coarse-grained turbidites. The distal fan is characterized by elongated structures and fine-grained turbidites. A detailed morphological study of the fan which includes the analysis of swath bathymetry, backscatter, echosounder, and piston core data shows that the Cilaos fan is a complex volcaniclastic deep-sea fan, highly influenced by preexisting seafloor irregularities. The canyons and the slope area show a complex and evolving sediment feeding system with a direct sediment input by the river and irregular sediment supply by submarine landslide. Three main construction stages are identified for this system: (1) an old incision phase of the channels forming wide turbidites extending over the entire distal fan; (2) a period of no or low activity characterized by a thick layer of hemipelagic mud; and (3) a local reactivation of the channel in the proximal fan. Each stage seems to be linked to a different sediment source with a progressively increasing contribution of hemipelagic sediment and mud in younger stages.

Keywords: turbidite; deep-sea fan; volcaniclastic; La Reunion Island

Domains: Earth Sciences

Emmanuelle Sisavath, Nathalie Babonneau, Francky Saint-Ange, Patrick Bachèlery, Stéphan Jorry, et al.. Morphology and sedimentary architecture of a modern volcaniclastic turbidite system: The Cilaos fan, offshore La Réunion Island. Marine Geology, 2011, 288 (1-4), pp.1-17. ⟨10.1016/j.margeo.2011.06.011⟩. ⟨insu-00656017⟩