When sediment becomes suspended within a mass of water, this increase in density causes the water body to begin moving downslope under the influence of gravity. This is termed a turbidity current.
When sediment becomes suspended within a mass of water, this increase in density causes the water body to begin moving downslope under the influence of gravity. This is termed a turbidity current. These high-energy currents can form through several different processes but three of the most common are offshore of rivers during flooding events, where large amounts of sediment are carried out to sea and then begin to move down the continental slope following volcanic eruptions such as Tonga as the eruption column collapses and during landslides caused by earthquakes, where the finer sediment thrown up by the main slide becomes suspended in the water.
Turbidity flows are most commonly a threat to cables laid across submarine canyons, particularly though not exclusively those offshore of large rivers such as the Congo Canyon in West Africa due to the increased sediment supply. Even flows that originate outside the canyons will often be ‘captured’ by them as they descend the continental slope.
Turbidity currents can be a key risk for fiber optic cables through three main mechanisms. Firstly, close to their source, turbidity currents are erosive. As they move across the seabed, the currents dig into it and entrain more sediment into the
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