Complex System Interpretation: Challenges in Understanding Channel Levee Development

William D. McCaffrey
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Submarine channel levee systems arise and develop due to complex feedbacks between turbidity currents and confining bathymetry. In particular, because the flow can be lost overbank, there must be a link between the flow transmitted downstream from any particular point and the evolution of the geometric form of the levee. Consideration of aspects of this complex system can potentially give insights into: auto vs. allo-cyclic controls on channel development and avulsion; monotonic evolution of flow properties within the channel; topological approaches to channel pattern development, such as avulsion node migration directions and inundation area analysis; bed thickness distribution patterns with the levee, and in channel-fed lobes. The implications for the interpretation of architecture development will be explored, together with the implied limits on interpretation.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas