This week's image highlights some structural features on the sea floor. These images are from a 2004 paper by Mosher et al. titled Near-surface geology and sediment-failure geohazards of the central Scotian Slope.
The first image (below) is a map showing the study area and some regional context. The Scotian continental slope is offshore Nova Scotia, Canada.
The image below is a multibeam sonar image of the sea floor (scale in upper left corner). Note the continuous escarpments cutting across the slope...roughly parallel to the bathymetric contours.
The image below is a seismic-reflection profile along line C-D denoted in map above. This type of normal faulting on steep submarine slopes is quite common. In some cases, complete and abrupt failure can create mass flows ... in other cases, slower creep and/or faulting occurs.
The Scotian Slope received abundant sediment during the Last Glacial Maximum, when sea level was out at the present shelf edge, and during post-glacial transgression from very active glacial outwash systems.
*Check out the Mosher et al. (2004) here (subscription required). *
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