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The Contourite Problem.

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 The contourite problem
G. Shanmugam

In: Mazumder, R. (ed.), Sediment Provenance, Elsevier, Chapter 9 (2016, in press)

Elsevier Reviewers of Chapter 9:

1. George Devries Klein, a sedimentologic pioneer on deep-water tidalites and contourites
2. A. J. (Tom) van Loon, who served as the Series Editor for Elsevier's Developments in Sedimentology
60 entitled "Contourites" (Rebesco and Camerlenghi, 2008)

Note to readers: The purpose of my 2016 trilogy of Elsevier publications, composed of (1) this book
chapter on contourites, (2) a research module on deep-water processes (Shanmugam, 2016a), and (3) a
journal article on turbidites and submarine fans (Shanmugam, 2016b), is to illustrate my relentless
endeavors during the past 40 years against the rigid orthodoxy of deep-water facies models. This
Chapter 9 contains 104 manuscript pages, 4 tables, 28 figures , and 320 references. The following
summary provides a glimpse of the chapter with selected figures. Please feel free to contact me on this
trilogy using my email: shanshanmugam@aol.com. Thank you for your interest. Author.

Summary: Contourites are deposits of thermohaline-driven (Figure 9.2) geostrophic contour currents
(Figure 9.4) in deep-water environments. However, the contourite domain is still in a state of flux after
nearly 60 years of research because of 14 fundamental problems: (1) dual forcing mechanisms (i.e.,
atmospheric and thermohaline) of contour currents (Figure 9.14), (2) problematic principle of process
continuum between turbidity currents and contour currents (Figure 9.15), (3) the broad application of
the term "contourite" to represent deposits of all four types of bottom currents (i.e., thermohaline,
wind, tide, and baroclinic) (Figure 9.16), (4) regional hiatuses, (5) problematic recognition of contourite
channels, (6) Gulf of Cadiz as the type locality for study of contourites (Figure 9.18), (7) obsolete
contourite facies model (Figure 9.19), (8) the lack of measured grain-size data for the IODP Expedition
339 cores (Figure 9.23), (9) the lack of diagnostic criteria for recognition of ancient contourites, (10)
untenable bedform- velocity matrix, (11) seismic wave geometries, (12) the lack of sedimentological
knowledge on deposits of oceanic waves (i.e., internal waves/tides, cyclonic waves, and tsunami waves),
(13) reservoir quality, and (14) sediment provenance. The contourite problems, composed of
conceptual, nomenclatural, empirical, and methodological issues, have effectively hindered progress on
contourite research during the past six decades. Failure to acknowledge and rectify these issues will only
further muddle the problem. Because the real-world oceans are ubiquitously affected by multiple
processes concurrently, the grand ingrained principle of 'one deposit for one flow type' is nothing more
than a misplaced optimism. Genetic facies models, developed for both turbidites (see Shanmugam,
2016b) and contourites, are nothing more than a groupthink that tends to thrive more on custom and
complacency than on intellect and innovation. The contourite problem is not just incidental, it is
fundamental to the basic understanding of all deep-water sediments.

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Keywords: contourites, cyclones, Gulf of Cadiz, internal wave/tide-driven baroclinic currents,
Mediterranean Outflow Water, thermohaline-driven geostrophic contour currents, tide-driven bottom
currents, tsunamis, wind-driven bottom currents

Dedication: Chapter 9 is dedicated to the late Charles Davis Hollister (1936-1999), considered to be the
father of Contourites (McCave, 2002), who died in a climbing accident while on vacation in Wyoming
with his family at an untimely age of 63. His pioneering publications have greatly influenced my research
during the past 40 years.

References

Faugres, J.-C., Mulder, T., 2011. Contour currents and contourite drifts. In: Hneke, H., Mulder, T.
(eds.), Deep-Sea Sediments, Developments in Sedimentology 63: Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 149-
214. Chapter 3.
Faugres, J.-C., Gonthier, E., Stow, D. A. V., 1984. Contourite drift moulded by deep Mediterranean
outflow. Geology 12, 296300.
Gonthier, E. G., Faugres, J.-C., Stow, D A. V., 1984. Contourite facies of the Faro Drift, Gulf of Cadiz. In:
Stow, D.A.V., Piper, D.J.W. (eds.), Fine-Grained Sediments: Deep-Water Processes and Facies,
Geological Society of London Special Publication 15, Geological Society of London, pp. 275-292.
Hernndez-Molina, F. J., Stow, D. A. V., Alvarez-Zarikian, C., 2013. IODP Expedition 339 in the Gulf of
Cadiz and off West Iberia: decoding the environmental significance of the Mediterranean
outflow water and its global influence. Scientific Drilling 16, 111.
Hernndez-Molina, F. J., Whlin, A., Bruno, M., Ercilla, G., Llave, E., Serra, N., Roson, G., Puig, P.,
Rebesco, M., Van Rooij, D., Roque, D., Gonzlez-Pola, C., Snchez, F., Gmez, M., Preu, B.,
Schwenk, T., Hanebuth, T.J.J., Snchez Leal, R. F., Garca-Lafuente, J., Brackenridge, R. E., Juan,
C., Stow, D. A.V., Sanchez-Gonzlez, J. M., 2016. Oceanographic processes and
morphosedimentary products along the Iberian margins: A new multidisciplinary approach,
Marine Geology (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2015.12.008, (in press).
Hollister, C. D., 1967, Sediment distribution and deep circulation in the western North Atlantic. Ph.D.
dissertation. New York, Columbia University, 467 p.
Klein, G. D., 1971. A sedimentary model for determining paleotidal range. GSA Bulletin 82, 2585-2592.
Lovell, J. P. B., Stow, D. A. V., (1981). Identification of ancient sandy contourites. Geology 9, 347-349.
McCave, I. N., 2002. Charles Davis Hollister, 1936-1999: A personal scientific appreciation of the father
of 'contourites'. In: D.A.V. Stow, C.J. Pudsey, J.A. Howe, J-C. Faugres, and A.R. Viana (eds.),
Deep-Water Contourite Systems: Modern Drifts and Ancient Series, Seismic and Sedimentary
Characteristics: Geological Society, London, Memoirs 22, pp. 16.
Rebesco, M., Camerlenghi, A. (eds.), 2008. Contourites, Developments in Sedimentology 60. Elsevier,
Amsterdam, 663 p.
Rebesco, M., Hernndez-Molina, F. J. Van Rooij, D., Whlin, A., 2014. Contourites and associated
sediments controlled by deep-water circulation processes: State-of-the-art and future
considerations. Marine Geology 352, 111154.
Shanmugam, G., 2008a. Deep-water bottom currents and their deposits. In: Rebesco, M., Camerlenghi,
A. (eds.), Contourites. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Developments in Sedimentology 60, pp. 59-81.
Chapter 5.

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Shanmugam, G., 2012a. New perspectives on deep-water sandstones: origin, recognition, initiation and
reservoir quality. Handbook of Petroleum Exploration and Production. 9. Elsevier, Amsterdam
524 p.
Shanmugam, G., 2013a. Modern internal waves and internal tides along oceanic pycnoclines: Challenges
and implications for ancient deep-marine baroclinic sands. AAPG Bulletin 97(5), 767-811.
Shanmugam, G., 2016a. Slides, Slumps, Debris Flows, Turbidity Currents, and Bottom Currents.
Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Elsevier, 2016 (Online).
Shanmugam, G., 2016b. Submarine fans: A critical retrospective (1950-2015). Journal of
Palaeogeography, 5(2): (in press).
Shanmugam, G., Spalding, T. D., Rofheart, D. H., 1993a, Process sedimentology and reservoir quality of
deep-marine bottom-current reworked sands (sandy contourites): an example from the Gulf of
Mexico. AAPG Bulletin 77, 12411259.
Stow, D. A. V., Lovell, J. P. B., 1979. Contourites: their recognition in modern and ancient sediments.
Earth-Science Reviews 14, 251-291.
Stow, D. A. V., Faugres, J. C., 2008. Contourite facies and the facies model. In: Rebesco, M.,
Camerlenghi, A. (eds.), Contourites. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Developments in Sedimentology 60,
pp. 223256. Chapter 13.
Stow, D. A. V., Hunter, S., Wilkinson, D., Hernndez-Molina, F. J., 2008. The nature of contourite
deposition. In: Rebesco, M., Camerlenghi, A. (eds.), Contourites. Elsevier, Amsterdam,
Developments in Sedimentology 60, pp. 143156. Chapter 9.
Talley, L. D., 2013. Closure of the global overturning circulation through the Indian, Pacific, and Southern
Oceans: Schematics and transports. Oceanography 26(1), 80-97.
Zenk, W., 2008. Abyssal and contour currents. In: Rebesco, M., Camerlenghi, A. (eds.), Contourites.
Elsevier, Amsterdam, Developments in Sedimentology 60, pp. 37-57. Chapter 4.

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Figure 9.2. A conceptual model of the Southern Ocean showing three vertical segments, composed of
the upper surface currents, the middle deep-water masses, and the lower bottom currents, forming a
vertical continuum (left). Note the origin of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) by freezing of shelf waters
(right). As a consequence, the increase in the density of cold saline (i.e., thermohaline) water triggers
the sinking of the water mass down the continental slope and the spreading of the water masses to
other parts of the ocean. Modified after Hannes Grobe, April 7, 2000, http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antarctic_bottom_water_hg.png. Accessed May 18, 2011. Figure from
Shanmugam (2012a).

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Figure 9.4. Map showing the global overturning circulation (GOC). The location of Gulf of Cadiz is added
in this article. This site served as the type locality for the contourite facies model (see Figure 9.19). The
global circulation is not important in interpreting the primary sediment provenance at a given site.
Modified after Talley (2013), with permission from the Oceanography Society.

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Figure 9.14. Schematic diagram showing the wind-driven and thermohaline-driven mechanisms in the
Southern Ocean (Antarctica) in initiating global ocean circulation. From Talley (2013), with permission
from the Oceanography Society.

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Figure 9.15. Conceptual model showing the spatial relationship between downslope turbidity currents
and along-slope contour currents. The principle of process continuum between turbidity currents and
contour currents, originally enacted by Stow and Lovell (1979) and recently promoted by Rebesco et al.
(2014), is unsustainable. After Shanmugam et al. (1993a), with permission from AAPG.

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Figure 9.16: Four types of bottom currents and their depositional facies. The facies term "contourites" is
appropriate only for deposits of thermohaline-driven geostrophic contour currents, but not for deposits
of other three types of bottom currents(i.e., wind, tide, or baroclinic) . The basic problem began with a
false narrative by Lovell and Stow (1981, p. 349) who stated that "...the cause of the current is not
necessarily critical to the application of the term." In other words, the term "contourites" can be applied
to any kind of bottom-current deposit, irrespective of their origin (see also Stow et al., 2008). From
Shanmugam (2016a), with permission from Elsevier.

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Figure 9.18. Schematic diagram showing the location of Gulf of Cadiz and complex transport nature of
the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW), involving three stages of evolution: (1) channel-current
stage, (2) mixing and spreading (i.e., transition) stage, and (3) genuine contour- current stage. The Gulf
of Cadiz (Hernndez-Molina et al., 2016), the birthplace of the first contourite facies model (Faugres et
al., 1984; Gonthier et al., 1984), has its limitations. For example, the MOW in the Gulf of Cadiz not a
genuine contour current (Zenk (2008, p. 45). Because of multiple controlling factors that operate in this
locality, the contourite facies model developed from here is obsolete. Figure from Shanmugam (2016a),
with permission from Elsevier.

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Figure 9.19. a. Revised contourite facies model with five divisions proposed by Stow and Faugres
(2008). b. Original contourite facies model by Faugres et al. (1984). Note that the original authors of
this model did not include the five internal divisions (Faugres et al., 1984). The most recent version of
this model by Faugres and Mulder (2011) contains neither the five internal divisions nor the hiatuses in
the C3 division (red arrow inserted in this article). Recognition of these muddy intervals in the ancient
rock record is impossible due to compaction. Originally from Faugres et al. (1984), with permission
from the Geological Society of America.

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Figure 9.23. Core photographs showing sedimentary facies of contourites (a, b, c, e), turbidites (d),
debrites (f), and slumps (g) recovered during IODP Expedition 339. Note that vertical grain-size
variations showing grading are schematic (red arrows), not factual using the Wentworth grain-size class
on the abscissa. From Hernndez-Molina et al. (2013), with permission from IODP Expedition 339
Scientiic Drilling.

Chapter 9: Table of Contents

ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS
INTRODUCTION
Contourite research
Description of the problem
GLOBAL THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION
DEEP-WATER BOTTOM CURRENTS
Thermohaline-driven geostrophic contour currents
Wind-driven bottom currents
Tide-driven bottom currents
Internal wave/tide-driven baroclinic currents

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FUNDAMENTAL CONTOURITE PROBLEMS
1. Dual forcing of global ocean circulation
2. Continuum between turbidity currents and contour currents
3. Revision of the basic principle of contour currents
4. Hiatuses in contourites
5. Origin of erosional features
6. Gulf of Cadiz as the type locality
i. Channel-current Stage
ii. Mixing and spreading Stage
iii. Contour-current Stage
7. The contourite facies model
Five internal divisions
Current velocities
Internal hiatuses
Bioturbation
Multiple interactive processes
8. Grain-size data and related issues
9. Traction structures and shale clasts
10.Bedform-velocity matrix
11. Seismic profiles, sonar images, and submarine photographs
12. Oceanic Waves
Internal waves and tides
Cyclonic waves
Tsunami waves
13. Reservoir quaity
14. Sediment provenance
Current directions
Detrital composition
CONCLUDING REMARKS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES

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