Relationships Between Morphological and

Basin Research (2009) 21, 361387, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2117.2009.00397.
Relationships between morphological and

sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink
systems: a basis for predicting semi-quantitative
characteristics in subsurface systems
Tor O. Smme, n William Helland-Hansen, n Ole J. Martinsenw and John B. Thurmondw
n
Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

wStatoilHydro Research Centre, Bergen, Norway
ABSTRACT
The study of source-to - sink systems relates long-term variations in sediment ux to morphogenic
evolution of erosional^depositional systems.These variations are caused by an intricate combination
of autogenic and allogenic forcing mechanisms that operate on multiple time scales ^ from individual
transport events to largescale lling of basins. In order to achieve a better understanding of how
these mechanisms inuence morphological characteristics on dierent scales, 29 submodern
source-to - sink systems have been investigated.The study is based on measurements of
morphological parameters from catchments, shelves and slopes derived from a 1km global digital
elevation model dataset, in combination with data on basin oor fans, sediment supply, water
discharge and deposition rates derived from published literature. By comparing various
morphological and sedimentological parameters within and between individual systems, a number of
relationships governing system evolution and behaviour are identied.The results suggest that the
amount of low-gradient oodplain area and river channel gradient are good indicators for catchment
storage potential. Catchment area and river channel length is also related to shelf area and shelf width,
respectively. Similarly to the oodplain area, these parameters are important for long-term storage of
sediment on the shelf platform. Additionally, the basin oor fan area is correlative to the long-term
deposition rate and the slope length.The slope length thus proves to be a useful parameter linking
proximal and distal segments in source-to - sink systems.The relationships observed in this study
provide insight into segment scale development of source-to - sink systems, and an understanding of
these relationships in modern systems may result in improved knowledge on internal and external
development of source-to - sink systems over geological time scales.They also allow for the
development of a set of semi-quantitative guidelines that can be used to predict similar relationships
in other systems where data from individual system segments are missing or lacking.
INTRODUCTION
The source-to-sink system comprises all areas that contribute to erosion, transportation and deposition of sediments
within an erosional^depositional system ^ from catchment
headwater to deep-marine basin oor fan. The system is
composed of segments (Fig. 1) that are genetically related
(Moore, 1969) so that evolution due to erosion or deposition
in one part of the system is reected by morphological modication within one or several adjacent segments. This process^response relationship is the driving force behind
segment development and system evolution over geological
Correspondence: Tor O. Smme, Department of Earth Science,
University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, N5007 Bergen, Norway.
E-mail: tor.somme@geo.uib.no
time scales, dening a fundamental basis, which allows basin-wide parameter extrapolation. In this way, the sourceto-sink system covers both the morphological (in terms of
segment areas, lengths and gradients) and the sedimentological (in terms of sediment transfer, storage and buering)
aspect of any erosional^depositional system. The nature of
sediment distribution in the source-to-sink system as it is
discussed here thus corresponds to, and should be thought
of as identical to,the sediment routing system, which often
is described in terms of dynamic processes and feedback
mechanisms between the various autogenic and allogenic
forcing conditions that govern sediment dispersal in erosional^depositional systems (Allen, 1997, 2005, 2008a, b;
Densmore et al., 2007).
Sediment dispersal in source-to - sink systems occurs
on several spatial and temporal scales in response to
r 2009 The Authors

Journal Compilation r Blackwell Publishing Ltd, European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers and International Association of Sedimentologists
361
T. O. Smme et al.
Fig. 1. Overview of the four segments in

the source-to - sink system.The
segments are genetically related so that
long-term modication (on geological
time scales) by erosion and deposition in
one segment will aect one or several
remaining segments, causing
lengthening and attening of the
segments and overall development of the
entire system.
short- and long-term (days to tens of millions of years)

changes in local and regional climate patterns and tectonic
uplift rate (e.g. Wolman & Miller, 1960; Brunsden &
Thornes, 1979; Walling & Webb, 1983; Meade et al., 1990;
Blum & Tornqvist, 2000; Paola, 2000; Frostick & Jones,
2002; Allen, 2008b). As a consequence, the stratigraphic
record is a mixture of products representing short periods
of erosion and deposition superimposed on longer-term
allogenic control mechanisms. Previous studies that have
focused on sediment distribution in response to climate
and tectonic variations have primarily been restricted to
the uvial realm (e.g. Meade, 1982; Allen & Densmore,
2000; Zhang et al., 2001; Molnar, 2004; Quigley et al.,
2007) and the shorefaceshelf transect, including deltas
and estuaries, which commonly act as a temporary storage
for sediment delivered by rivers (e.g. Milliman, 1991;
Goodbred & Kuehl, 1999; Galloway, 2001). However, many
workers have also focused on several segments within the
source-to - sink system and investigated the impact of
climatic and/or tectonic changes on sediment dispersal
to the deep-marine basins (e.g. Curray & Moore, 1971;
Collins, 1986; Dickinson, 1988; Kolla & Perlmutter, 1993;
Wetzel, 1993; Einsele et al., 1996; Perlmutter et al., 1998;
Metivier & Gaudemer, 1999; Galloway et al., 2000; Paola,
2000;Van der Zwan, 2002; Dearing & Jones, 2003; Leturmy
et al., 2003; Tinker et al., 2008). These studies show that
a global perspective is required for the understanding
of short- and long-term development of source-to - sink
systems, how the various geomorphologic elements are
related and how the sediments are being transported and
stored at various time scales. Even though both morpholo gical and sedimentological characteristics frequently have
been described individually for various environments,
little attention has been directed towards largescale interactions within and between entire source-to - sink systems.
Generally, the size of the catchment segment and the
length of the associated rivers increase with time as the
drainage basin develops and expands. It is therefore
expected that a number of relationships exist between the
various morphological parameters in this segment (e.g.
Strahler, 1952; Milliman & Meade, 1983; Allen & Hovius,
362
1998; Dade, 2001; Castelltort & Simpson, 2006), and that

these relationships are comparable for other systems
sharing the same characteristics. The catchment controls
the amount and rate of sediment delivered to the ocean,
and this ux is inuenced by a number of factors that are
ultimately related to climate and tectonism (e.g. Hovius,
1998; Syvitski et al., 2003). The areaâltitude distribution
(hypsometry) within a catchment is also of great signi cance for temporal storage of sediment, as sediment transport through a river system is dependent on the amount
of sediment available for erosion and the magnitude and
variation in river transport capacity (Meade et al., 1990;
Frostick & Jones, 2002; Molnar et al., 2006).
The shelf segment shows the largest variations in terms of
down-dip extent and accommodation space, both of which
are primarily controlled by the interplay between underlying
structures, sediment supply and relative sea level (e.g. Jervey,
1988; Posamentier etal.,1988; Helland-Hansen & Martinsen,
1996; Muto & Steel, 2002). The shelf segment also plays a
crucial role linking sediment transport between the catchment and slope^basin oor segments, thereby controlling
the amount of sediment stored on the shelf vs. the amount
delivered to the more distal environments.
The slope segment is fully subaqueous and is commonly
an area of net deposition. This segment acts as storage for
sediment delivered from up-dip, and variations in timing
and magnitude of this sediment ux are recorded in the
length, gradient and overall progradation architecture of
the slope. The basin oor fan is the ultimate sink, and the
sedimentary record laid down here should therefore reect
the combined impact of dierent autogenic and allogenicforcing mechanisms, which cause basin-wide perturbations
aecting the entire source-to-sink system.
Previous work on sediment routing in source-to - sink
systems has primarily taken a dynamic approach with emphasis on response times to allogenic forcing and oodplain buering of basinward-deected sediment pulses
(e.g Metivier & Gaudemer, 1999; Castelltort & Van den
Driessche, 2003; Allen, 2008b). In this study, we attempt a
more morphological approach, where segment characteristics within and between source-to - sink systems are
r 2009 The Authors

Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

discussed in terms of lengths, areas, gradients, etc.We also
discuss sediment dispersal between segments and systems
based on morphological characteristics, and relate this to
the dynamic model where appropriate.
The aim of this study is to determine how morphological and sedimentological parameters are linked and related
within and between dierent source-to - sink systems.
Because the relationships discussed in this study are not
restricted to any geographical area or specic period of
geological time, they comprise a basic foundation that allows extrapolation to other modern or ancient systems.
The aim is therefore also to develop a semi-quantitative
set of relationships, which can be used to estimate rstorder sedimentary and morphological parameters in
ancient systems where data are missing or lacking. Identifying such relationships is important for understanding
the largescale development of erosional^depositional
systems both in terms of sediment distribution and in
terms of segment scaling. From the perspective of hydro carbon exploration, selection of the best basins and plays
has become increasingly dicult and warrants a thorough
look at entire sedimentary systems from source to sink.
Such a procedure is particularly important in unexplored
basins, but also in apparently mature basins, as source-to sink analysis may yield new results and ideas, which can
lead to new play concepts.
DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY

To be able to compare the most important relationships in
various types of source-to - sink systems, data on morpho logical parameters, sediment supply, deposition rates and
climate data have been gathered for 29 submodern systems
(Table 1 and Fig. 2). Because the aim of this study is to construct guidelines that are applicable for both modern and
ancient depositional environments, the systems have been
specically chosen to include a wide span of climate zones
and geographical locations, including the main types of
margin congurations (Fig. 3).The size of the catchments
range from 1 103 to 6 106 km2, whereas basin oor
fans range from 60 to 3 106 km2, thus spanning three
and ve orders of magnitude, respectively. Systems that
are or were heavily inuenced by glacial erosion and
deposition during the Plio -Holocene are excluded as they
have been subject to forcing conditions that are not representative for the majority of ancient, subsurface pre-Plio cene systems (Weaver et al., 2000). The chosen systems are
also limited to margins with a distinct shelf^ slope^basin
oor conguration, which is the most common basin
setting in ancient, subsurface petroleum systems.
Data on submarine canyons, fans and fan channel
morphologies and marine deposition rates were compiled
from published literature (seeTable1for references).Where
several authors have presented multiple values for a given
parameter based of dierent dataset and/or calculation
methods, the most recent values and/or the ones occurring
most frequently have been used. Fluvial sediment load and
water discharge data were primarily compiled from online

databases (IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library and USGS
Surface Water Data for the Nation, 2007), but also from
literature sources (see Table 1 for full reference list). Peak
discharge values represent the highest discharge measured
at a given gauging station, whereas the average discharge
is the mean over the entire gauging record at the same
station. In any case, sediment and discharge data were
compiled from the most distal gauging station. Morpho logical data from drainage areas, shelves and slopes were
extracted from SRTM30_PLUS digital elevation models
(DEMs).The DEM dataset (available at: http://topex.ucsd.
edu/index.html) combines both land and ocean topography and has a grid resolution of 30 arc seconds ( 1km).
The parameters were derived from the DEMs using Rivertools GIS application software.
The uncertainties associated with the dierent morphological and sedimentological parameters vary considerably depending on the system studied and the original
method used for estimating the parameter. Morphological
parameters such as areas, lengths and gradients are considered to have small and relatively uniform uncertainties
for all systems as they were calculated in the same manner
and from the same dataset. Uncertainties in sediment
supply rates are considered to be fairly low, even though
they are highly dependant on the duration of the gauging
record, the amount of human impact and the overall
size of the uvial system (e.g. Meade et al., 1990). As
almost the entire sediment load in small river systems
is delivered during short, high- energy ood events, the
gauging records in these systems depend on capturing
these short (hourly to daily) events. In addition, most
available records do not implement bed load transport
measurements, which typically account for o10% of the
total sediment supply, but which also vary with climate,
type and size of the river system (e.g. Meade et al., 1990;
Hovius, 1998).
The highest uncertainties are related to deep -marine
deposition rates and volume estimations. Both volumes
and long-term deposition rates are initially based on seismic
interpretation, and the data, which vary in quality and regional coverage, are always subject to regional correlation and
extrapolation, which may lead to erroneous volume estimations. Based on the reported variance in calculated fan volumes, we therefore suspect that the uncertainties may be
over 300% in some cases (e.g. the volume of the Bengal Fan
was considered to be 4 106 km3 by Barnes & Normark
(1985) and references therein, whereas Curray (1994) later
calculated the fan to be 12.5 106 km3).These uncertainties will also inuence long-term deposition rates as these are
based on volume and duration of fan deposition. Short-time
deposition rates are usually better constrained as timing
commonly is derived from cores, which provide 14C
dates, and as the upper part of basin oor fans often are
smaller and easier to correlate, thus yielding lower volume
uncertainties.
In the case of the Tyrrhenian Sea and Golo systems
where it has not been possible to obtain detailed water
r 2009 The Authors

363
Catchment area
2.9
3.8
5.7
0.092
0.085
0.085
4
0.08
0.032
2.6
2.1
0.72
1.75
1.4
0.26
0.89
1.1
0.234
0.003
0.016
0.003
^
0.004
0.002
0.004
0.003
0.002
Source to
sink system
Mississippi (P)
Congo (P)
Amazon (P)
Rhone (P)
Valencia (P)
Ebro (P)
Nile (P)
Cap Ferret (P)
Wilmington (P)
Niger (P)
Mozambique (P)
Danube (P)
Bengal (M)
Indus (M)
Magdalena (M)
Orinoco (M)
Astoria (LA)
Nitinat (LA)
Var (SA)
Monterey (SA)
Delgada (SA)
La Jolla (SA)
Oceanside (SA)
Redondo (SA)
Navy (SA)
Crati (SA)
Tyrrhenian Sea (SA)
% area with slope

less than 10 m km1
13
3
21
11
7
16
^
47
31
68
33
13
6
18
23
16
16
68
23
27
75
62
38
88
45
63
53
Length of longest
river channel km
1.9
1.3
1.3
1.6
2.5
1.7
0.5
0.5
1
1.7
0.3
0.8
0.5
Mean channel
gradient m km1
68
104
113
134
86
51
21.4
20.7
13
19
24
6.3
^
3958 2.5
1497 2.6
2508 0.8
2664 1.4
1332 1.1
103 25
318 2.9
745
657
657
6725
527
487
4017
3497
2553
2847
4929
5945
5474
Maximum catchment
height m
17 704
Average water
discharge at
river mouth m3 s1
2230
2340
1060
2101
1989
1046
^
8238
5217
5140
4175
3889
2842
1674
4335
3146
3146
4688
3023
1482
2840
2880
3533
8685
22
Sediment load from

river 106 t year1
1700
^
0.52
0.33
0.21
1.7
0.76
1.5
0.53n
11 000 450
12 000 144
65 000 150
24 000 15
20 000 20
17 200
1.3
2700
4.8
13 000
7.4
2500 20
2500 20
12 300 240
2900
3.2
32 000
1
2700 40
12 400 48
15540 67.5
65 000 980
80 000 48
210 000 1200
39 000 400
Peak flood
discharge m3 s1
2.5
1245
8.9
3680
1.2
960
40
13 000
27
^
2644
7500
38 000
7900
3972
70
12.5
1700
500
500
2700
1080
380
1100
3300
6550
29 700
4087 40 000
6247 150 000
4225
Shelf area
103 km2
Shelf width km
115 0.5
Shelf gradient
m km1
0.1
0.2
0.8
0.1
0.3
2.2
0.3
71.7
1.3
32.4
10.1
8.7
0.05
0.7
6
11
15
1
3
160
100
100
Submarine canyon
length km
2.5
30
0.6
2.5
3.5
14
10
16
9
6
34
43
8
25
20
^
10
80
12
100
50
20
100
185
60
2.7
35
3
160
3
50
4
80
1.25 80
0.4
60
2
35
1.5 ^
1
40
1.1 200
13 10
5 10
115
20
140
84
80
1
12
6.9 48
9.4
70
9.4
70
23.1
50
11.9 125
28.3 125
30.4 65
30.9
75
30.1 110
105.9 190
12.6 90 2.5
236
300 0.7
34.4
Submarine canyon
depth km
^
0.5
0.4
^
0.04
0.4
0.22
1
1.4
^
0.92
0.6
0.45
0.4
0.25
^
0.4
^
0.35
0.6
0.75
^
0.4
0.9
1.3
0.6
0.4
Submarine canyon
width km
1
4.5
4
20
3
13
10
^
13
13
3
12
5
10
15
^
3
40
15
13
20
Slope gradient
m km1
Slope length km
30
38
25
27
57
98
120
39
52
52
17
31
50
18
17
27
23
15
14
8
6
15
11
8
57
127
89
32
58
72 41
5 90
58
67
67
68
20
23
10
50
24
24
112
114
41
191
94
54
64
184
204
115 16
Fan area
103 km2
0.21
0.45
0.56
0.06
2
50
0.52
1100
53
30
32
23
20
70
70
11
5
70
52
100
1000
2000
16
2900
1500
370
300
Fan length km
570 3300
200
85
60
500
150
190
550
400
100
1430
13 1050
10 820
30 1900
4 450
17 700
350 280 4300

40 50 1100
42
15
40
16
30
Fan volume
103 km3
500
700
290
5.7
70
228
Long term
fan deposition
rate 106 t year1
25
0.2
0.08
0.01
0.2
40
1.18
1000
180
15
27
9
8
50
1.7
0.12
0.34
0.79
0.34
6.8
1.1
151
18.5
5.7
39.7
24.6
3.2
6.8
2800
12
14.5
2800
6.2
2.5
1800
1.7
0.6
3000
400
51
4400
1.3 12.3
4600
50
4.7
4500 2000
67
5000 3000
113
2200
30
19
5000 12 500
325
1500 960 4600
300 300 4000
180 60 4700
250 130 2840
260 80 2800
60 40 2700
400 250 4700
300
350
50
280
350
600
550
1800
150
3000
800 400 5200

700 600 4300
540
Fan width km
106 km2
364
Depth at distal
fan m
Table 1. Main parameters describing morphological and sedimentological characteristics for the various source-to - sink systems discussed in this study
Recent fan deposition
rate 106 t year1
^
^
0.22
0.65
0.72
^
0.22
1.6
^
^
1.5
0.4
1.5
4.5
0.08
0.1
0.5
9
0.08
^
^
^
0.9
^
17
1.6
1.7
References
1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 43, 76, 77,
79, 80
3, 59, 73, 74, 75, 76
1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 20,
76, 78, 79, 80
1, 2, 3, 13, 38, 39, 76, 79
3, 33, 35, 79
1, 2, 3, 33, 34, 35, 79
1, 2, 3, 46, 47, 67, 76, 79
1, 2, 3, 50, 51, 76, 79
2, 68, 77, 80
52, 53, 76
2, 3, 57, 58, 59, 76, 80
64, 65, 66, 76, 81
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 36, 37,
41, 42, 76, 79, 87
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 76, 79
1, 2, 3, 48, 49, 54, 76
60, 61, 62, 76
1, 2, 3, 19, 22, 76, 79, 80
1, 3, 32, 76, 77, 80, 83
70, 71, 72, 79
1, 2, 3, 14, 15, 16, 40,
44, 76, 82
1, 3, 17, 18, 44, 79
1, 2, 3, 21, 23, 24, 25,
44, 79, 84
44, 79, 84, 85
2, 28, 29, 44, 79, 82, 85
1, 2,3,27,30,44,79,85
1,2,3,26,31,45,79
2,55,56,79
T. O. Smme et al.
r 2009 The Authors

Sediments are primaraly delivered by longshore drift.

References: (1) Barnes & Normark (1985); (2) Reading & Richards (1994); (3) Wetzel (1993); (4) Curray et al. (2003); (5) Einsele (1996); (6) von Rad & Tahir (1997); (7) Piper et al. (1999); (8) Lopez (2001); (9) Damuth & Flood (1985); (10)
Pirmez & Imran (2003); (11) Burgess & Hovius (1998); (12) Bouma et al. (1985); (13) Torres et al. (1997); (14) Normark et al. (1985); (15) Eittreim et al. (2002); (16) Greene et al. (2002); (17) Normark & Gutmacher (1985); (18) Drake et al.
(1989); (19) Nelson (1985); (20) Kineke et al. (1996); (21) Bachman & Graham (1985); (22) Sternberg (1986); (23) Shepard & Bungt (1968); (24) Schwalbach et al. (1996); (25) Shepard et al. (1969); (26) Lucchi et al. (1985); (27) Normark &
Piper (1985); (28) Haner (1971); (29) Drake & Gorsline (1973); (30) Piper & Normark (1983); (31) Colella & Digeronimo (1987); (32) Underwood etal. (2005); (33) Nelson & Maldonado (1988); (34) Nelson etal. (1985); (35) Nelson (1990); (36)
Wasson (2003); (37) Goodbred (2003); (38) Bernet etal. (2004); (39) Kettneretal. (2004); (40) Xu etal. (2002); (41) Weberetal. (2003); (42) Goodbred & Kuehl (1999); (43) Kesel etal. (1992); (44) U.S. Geological Survey (2006); (45) Bellotti et
al. (2004); (46) Mart et al. (1993); (47) Reeder et al. (2002); (48) Ercilla et al. (2002); (49) Restrepo & Kjerfve (2000); (50) Jouanneau et al. (1999); (51) Schafer et al. (2002); (52) Damuth (1994); (53) Zabel et al. (2001); (54) Prell (1978); (55)
Trincardi etal. (1995); (56) LePera & Critelli (1997); (57) Droz & Mougenot (1987); (58) Kolla etal. (1980); (59) Shahin (2002); (60) Warne etal. (2002); (61) Belderson etal. (1984); (62) Faugeres etal. (1993); (63) Piper & Normark (2001); (64)
Popescu et al. (2001); (65) Popescu et al. (2004); (66) Panin & Jipa (2002); (67) Bartolini et al. (1975); (68) Ayers & Cleary (1980); (69) Bellaiche et al. (1994); (70) Piper & Savoye (1993); (71) Mulder et al. (1998); (72) Anthony & Julian (1999);
(73) Droz et al. (2003); (74) Babonneau et al. (2002); (75) Gaillardet et al. (1995); (76) Ludwig & Probst (1998); (77) Benke & Cushing (2005); (78) Damuth & Fairbridge (1970); (79) IRI/LDEO Climate data liberary; (80) Milliman &
Syvitski (1992); (81) Bahr et al. (2005); (82) Klaucke et al. (2004); (83) Stokke et al. (1977); (84) Covault et al. (2007); (85) Inman & Jenkins (1999); (86) HYDRO France Hydrological data (2008); (87) Curray (1994).
P, passive; M, mixed; LA, large active; SA, small active.
Long term
fan deposition
rate 106 t year1
Fan volume
103 km3
Depth at distal
fan m
Fan width km
Fan length km
Fan area
103 km2
Slope gradient
m km1
Slope length km
Submarine canyon
width km
Submarine canyon
depth km
Submarine canyon
length km
Shelf gradient
m km1
Shelf width km
Shelf area
103 km2
Sediment load from
river 106 t year1
Peak flood
discharge m3 s1
Average water
discharge at
river mouth m3 s1
Maximum catchment
height m
Mean channel
gradient m km1
Length of longest
river channel km
% area with slope
less than 10 m km1
106 km2
Catchment area
0.004
0.001
5.7
0.7
0.34
0.17
0.4
0.27
900
700
25
4
50
20
4
0.5
9 61
9 50
3.5
3.5
0.25
0.15
7
2
5 11
10 15
0.4
0.8
3.8
0.71
2600
734
5
20.4
2574
2706
131 28
72 20
Recent fan deposition

rate 106 t year1
Source to
sink system
Hueneme (SA)
Golo (SA)
8
14
References
Table 1. (Continued)
7,44,63,79,85
69,70,86

and/or sediment discharge values from the literature or
from global databases, values have been calculated using
a sediment prediction model (BQART) from Syvitski &
Milliman (2007), which relate sediment supply to water
discharge, catchment area, relief and temperature based
on multiple regression of 488 modern rivers. Values
estimated by the model for theTyrrhenian Sea and Golo
systems are highly comparable to the ones observed in
the nearby Crati and Var Rivers, with also have similarsized catchments and type of climate.
As a result, the parameter uncertainty will vary, but
because of the wide span of measured sediment supply
(three orders of magnitude) and average water discharge
(ve orders of magnitude), these uncertainties will not
have any major inuence on the general trends when
compared on a global scale.
The dierent parameters compiled from the literature and the DEMs have been compared by standard
statistical techniques to visualize and determine the
degree of correlation between the variables. Correlation
coecients and P-values are shown for each individual
scatter plot to quantify the degree of correlation.
Eventually, only the statistically signicant relationships and the relationships that were considered to best
illustrate the link between and within segments and
systems, and the ones that most easily can be extracted
from subsurface data (e.g. seismic), are presented
and discussed. Individual systems and groups of
systems are discussed relative to their associated types
of margin congurations (tectonically active, passive
and mixed; Mutti & Normark, 1987; Shanmugam &
Moiola, 1988).
THE SOURCE-TO-SINK PROFILE:

CHARACTERISTICS AND CONTROLS
Based on the 29 studied systems, the characteristics and
controls on morphology, sediment delivery, storage and
deposition are discussed in a source-to - sink prole from
headwater catchment to deep -water basin oor.The aim
is to establish generic relationships that assist in interpreting other source-to - sink systems and particularly
ancient systems where one or more of the segments may
be missing due to lack of preservation or lack of sucient
data.
The catchment
Areaâltitude distribution, type of drainage pattern,
basement lithology, climate and vegetation have a significant inuence on sediment transport on relatively short
(100^105 years) time scales (e.g. Strahler, 1952; Schumm,
1977; Milliman & Meade, 1983; Leeder et al., 1998; Syvitski & Milliman, 2007), whereas evolution of catchment
area with time is considered to be the most important
factor governing sediment transport and storage on the
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365
T. O. Smme et al.
Fig. 2. Summary of the dierent parameters extracted from published literature and digital elevation models, and which are used to
identify the morphological and depositional relationships that exists within and between source-to - sink systems.
Fig. 3. Location of the source-to - sink systems discussed in this study. Climate zones from Kottek et al. (2006).
scale of evolution of an entire source-to - sink system

(4106 years).
Steady uvial discharge (typical for large, low-gradient
catchments) favour continuous sediment transport,
whereas rivers experiencing high-amplitude variations in
water discharge (typical for small and steep catchments)
may be capable of transporting sediment loads over short
time periods that are several orders of magnitude higher
than the long-term average (e.g. Wolman & Miller, 1960;
Mulder & Syvitski, 1995; Warrick et al., 2004). Slope and
varying relief is also important in controlling erosion and
transport capacity, as the stream power is proportional to
the gradient over which the river ows and to the water
366
discharge (e.g. Meade et al., 1990; Dade & Friend, 1998).

The balance between generation of sediment by weathering and subsequent removal by erosion inuences both
the speed at which the catchment responds to changes
in uplift-rate and climate changes, the time it will take for
sediments to be transported through the river system, the
amount of material that is continuously stored in the lowgradient parts of the drainage area and how and when the
remaining sediment is being delivered to the ocean.
However, the actual contribution of each parameter
controlling sediment supply and sediment yield from a
catchment is still debated (e.g. Milliman & Syvitski, 1992;
Summereld & Hulton, 1994; Hovius, 1998; Ludwig &
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Probst, 1998; Harrison, 2000; Syvitski et al., 2003; Syvitski
& Milliman, 2007).The main problem has been to identify
the specic signicance of each variable, and most studies
describe various combinations of factors that ultimately
relate to climate and tectonism (Frostick & Jones, 2002).
These studies assume that the above variables control
sediment supply from all types of catchments, even
though they vary in size by several orders of magnitude,
range over several climate zones, have dierent lithological
compositions and are located in various tectonic environments. Consequently, these approaches condently estimate rst- order average sediment supplies and yields for
long time periods, but they do not cover short-time variations that are especially important in small catchments
(Mulder & Syvitski, 1995; Meybeck et al., 2003).
The long-term catchment response to changes in these
forcing conditions is primarily controlled by the size of the
catchment, and by the time it will take for the uvial system
to respond and adapt to changes in sediment ux derived
from variations in climate or tectonic uplift rate (Allen,
2008b). For example, Metivier & Gaudemer (1999) suggested
that the sediment supply to the marine basins has been
stable for large southeast Asian river systems during the past
2 Myr, and that this could be attributed to high oodplain
storage potential and buering of sediment pulses from the
Himalayas. In general, Metivier & Gaudemer (1999) calculated oodplain reaction times in the order of 104^106 years
for the large Asian river systems, which is the minimum
duration of climatic or tectonic changes needed to aect the
sediment ux at the river mouth.
In contrast, Allen & Densmore (2000) showed that small
catchments located in tectonically active regions have a relatively short reaction time (10s of kyr) to changes in uplift
rate, whereas high-frequency variations in climate result
in rapid alterations throughout the entire erosional^depositional area, thus emphasizing the dierence in storage
potential and reaction time between drainage areas of various size (Paola et al., 1992; Whipple, 2001; Castelltort &
Van den Driessche, 2003; Dearing & Jones, 2003; Van den
Berg van Saparoea & Postma, 2008).
In the following sections, the various relationships that
exist between morphological parameters in the catchment
segment will be investigated along with the mechanisms
that are considered to be most important in controlling
sediment dispersal on various time scales.
Morphology
Drainage systems increase with time as a result of uplift and
emergence of new land along tectonically active margins
(Castelltort & Simpson, 2006) and/or by headward erosion
and capture of adjacent river networks (Summereld, 1991).
Older systems are therefore generally larger, and have longer
and more stable low-gradient rivers than younger and smaller systems (Fig. 4a and d). A comparison between area and
maximum catchment elevation for the various systems in
this study (Fig. 4b) also shows that the highest elevations are
located within the largest drainage areas (Wyatt, 1984).
Areaâltitude distribution is dependent on the size and

age of the river system (Strahler, 1952), as indicated by the
comparison between drainage area and the fraction of area
comprising low-gradient (o10 m km 1) oodplain (Fig.
4c). The diagram shows that small (o104 km2) and large
(4106 km2) systems have low-gradient areas covering
o20% and 440% of the catchments, respectively. The
same trend can also be visualized by comparing the main
river channel gradient and the size of the drainage area
(Fig. 4d), suggesting that systems larger than 104 km2 generally have average main channel gradients that are lower
than 5 m km 1; large systems commonly have gradients
0.5 m km 1. In contrast, small systems have steep channel gradients ranging from 5 to 30 m km 1.
When the area^gradient correlations in Fig. 4c and d are
compared with the areaâltitude diagram in Fig. 4b, it becomes evident that the distribution of area is considerably
dierent for the various types of systems. Although large
catchments generally have higher peaks than small, the
hypsometric curve shows that steep mountainous areas
only occupy a limited portion of the catchment (Fig. 5) so
that the average channel gradient ( 0.5 m km 1) only is
representative for a small part of the drainage system,
whereas the majority of the river system has signicantly
lower gradients (e.g. the Amazon catchment). In smaller
systems, the down-dip variation in channel gradient becomes more gradual, leading to less dierence between
the highest and the lowest altitude, which again makes the
average gradient more representative for these systems
(e.g. the Crati and Golo catchments). Such dierences in
area distribution and transitions from steep mountainous
terrain to low-gradient oodplain have major implications
for the long-term distribution of sediment, and how the
systems will respond to changes in external forcing conditions such as climate and uplift rate.
Sediment load
Comparison between catchment area and sediment supply
at the river mouth from systems in this study (Fig. 4e)
shows the same relationship as have been recognized in
other global datasets (e.g. Milliman & Meade, 1983; Milliman & Syvitski, 1992). Even though pre-dam values have
been used where available, sediment supply estimates are
signicantly inuenced by human activity, especially in
rural areas (Meade et al., 1990). In addition, the measured
values may be lower than actual values because small systems mainly transport sediment during large oods that
may not have been captured by the gauging record (Milliman & Syvitski, 1992; Kirchner et al., 2001). Despite these
uncertainties, the correlation relates sediment ux to
catchment size over four orders of magnitude.
Short-term (101^103 years) dispersal of sediment
The relationship between water discharge and suspended
sediment load is commonly described by a power law, in
which the frequency and magnitude of oods have a rst-
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367
T. O. Smme et al.
Fig. 4. General relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in the catchment segment. Systems are
discussed relative to the continental margins where they are located: tectonically active (S 5 small, L 5 large), passive and mixed.
Regression line equations, correlation coecients and P-values are shown for each diagram. See text for discussion.
order control on sediment transport in rivers (e.g. Meade et

al., 1990; Meybeck et al., 2003). When catchment area
(Fig. 4f) and distribution of oodplain area (Fig. 4g) are
compared with the peak/average water discharge ratio (the
dierence in water discharge between the long-term average and the maximum peak discharge at a gauging station),
it becomes evident that discharge variations have a strong
correlation to catchment size and hypsometry. This indicates that small catchments (o104 km2) may experience a
368
dierence between ood and average discharge in the

range of two to three orders of magnitude. This results in
intense water and sediment discharge peaks during highmagnitude events such as storms, hurricanes, monsoons
and during El Nino -Southern Oscillationtype events in
these systems (Inman & Jenkins, 1999). In several catchments in the southern California, for example, such highmagnitude events cause more than 50% of the sediment to
be transported during 0.1% of the time (1day every third
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year) (Warrick & Milliman, 2003; see also Wolman &
Miller, 1960; Meade et al., 1990; Meybeck et al., 2003).
These types of systems with overall steep gradients and
high ood discharges may maintain their peak discharges
also in the lower part of the rivers if the ood-generating
Fig. 5. Areaâltitude distribution for four of the systems in this

study, demonstrating the dierence between large passive
systems such as the Amazon and the Rhone where large parts of
the catchment is represented by low-gradient oodplain, and
small active systems such as the Golo and Crati where the area is
more evenly distributed.The distribution of area is of primary
importance in determining sediment storage and catchment
response time to changes in controlling mechanisms.
stormcell is larger than the drainage area (Fig. 6; Molnar,

2001). If the high-magnitude, decadal or centennial storms
in these small systems are able to generate signicant
stream power, all or most of the available sediment in the
proximal part of the river may be removed, causing erosion
into the underlying bedrock. Systems, which are eective
in ushing sediment through the rivers, having short sediment residence times, and which actively erode the underlying bedrock, are detachment limited. In these rivers,
signicant sediment storage only occur in the most distal
reaches of the channel system, and they will therefore be
much more eective in responding to changes in sediment
supply from the hinterland. These systems may also be
termed reactive or steady from a dynamic perspective,
as their response times typically are shorter than the rate
of allogenic changes in forcing conditions (Allen, 2008b;
see also Brunsden & Thornes, 1979; Paola et al., 1992).
Distinct variations in the peak/average water discharge
ratio are attributed to two main factors, which become
more important with increasing catchment area: (1) the
proportion of low-gradient oodplain which dampens
peak discharge, and (2) an increased time delay of the arrival of peak discharges from the various tributary channels,
thereby distributing the ood discharge over an extended
time period in the distal reaches of the river. As a result,
the time required for a ood to move through a drainage
area will increase with the size of the catchment, so that
Fig. 6. Conceptual gure demonstrating the inuence of lateral restricted storm- cells on ood discharge and sediment distribution in
systems of varying size. A stormcell with a diameter of 50 km will only cover a small part of the 93 103 km2 Rhone catchment,
causing ooding only in a small part of the drainage network and relatively low water discharges at the river mouth.The peak ood
discharge will also arrive at dierent times in the lower part of the river as the storm system moves across the catchment and the various
tributary channels, resulting in further decrease of the ood discharge. In the o3000 km2 Var and Golo catchments, a storm of similar
size will be as large as, or larger than the entire catchment so that the entire channel network experiences ood discharge
simultaneously.When combined with steep channel gradients throughout the river network, these small systems are able to maintain
high discharges and transport capacities at the river mouth, and will be more eective in ushing sediment to the ocean.
r 2009 The Authors
369
T. O. Smme et al.
more area of (low lying) land will contribute to reduce the
discharge and thereby the transport capacity of the river
(Lu et al., 2006). Another eect of increasing catchment
size is the decreasing regional inuence of the stormcell
as it continuously causes ooding in a smaller portion of
the drainage area (Matthai, 1990). The size of the stormcell therefore has to increase with the size of the catchment
to have the same regional eect on ood discharge.
This pattern is in contrast to large passive systems,
which have long, supply-limited rivers and large oodplains. For example, the peak ood discharge in the Congo
River rarely exceeds three times the long-term average,
and in general, large systems (4105 km2) rarely experience
ood discharges higher than 10 times the long-term average (Fig. 4f). A result of this is that the drainage areas that
are too large to maintain peak- ood discharge from the region where the ood is generated, and to the river mouth,
will have to deposit the coarsest grain sizes in the low-lying catchment area where the transport capacity and the
competence decreases (e.g. Schumm, 1977; Aalto et al.,
2003). The systems are then considered to be buered or
transient, as their response time to changes in boundary
conditions are signicantly longer than the duration of the
climatic or tectonic perturbation (Allen, 2008b; see also
Brunsden & Thornes, 1979; Paola et al., 1992).
Long-term (103^106 years) dispersal of sediment
The various correlations between catchment area, river
gradient and peak/average discharge ratio, in Fig. 4, illustrate the importance of areaâltitude distribution when
considering short-term (100^103 years) sediment storage.
The same factors also control long-term (103^106 years)
storage in the same systems.
Both the storage potential and the general response to
long-term changes in climate and uplift rate can be indirectly
investigated by comparing the average sediment supply at
the river mouths and the long-term deposition rates on the
associated basin oor fans (Fig. 4h; Metivier & Gaudemer,
1999). The deposition rates have been derived from fan volumes and ages, and the rate will therefore represent the
long-term average deposition rate for the duration of fan deposition. The comparison suggests that the long-term sediment ux from catchments to basin oor fans is stable within
one order of magnitude (Metivier & Gaudemer, 1999). However, the correlation is more accurate for large passive and
mixed systems than it is for small tectonically active systems,
indicating that the variability in sediment dispersal to the basin oor is dependent on the size and type of the source-tosink system. The scatter within the small active systems can
be attributed to the lack of storage potential, as any long-term
change in regional climate pattern or tectonic uplift rate will
result in varying sediment ux to the shelf and basin oor
segments (as discussed above). It can also be attributed to
more complex sediment distribution patterns where several
small catchments typically feed one or several fans, and
where signicant amounts of sediment are derived from
longshore drift (Schwalbach & Gorsline, 1985; Trincardi
370
et al., 1995; Covault et al., 2007). In addition, smaller systems

commonly feed relatively shallow intraslope basins where
signicant amounts of sediment may be bypassed to deeper
parts of the slope and to the basin oor (Piper, 1970).
The more stable sediment ux observed in large
systems may reect two main characteristics, which become increasingly more important as the size of the catchment increases: (1) the peak/average water discharge ratio
decreases with increasing oodplain area, and therefore,
(2) the amount of increase in uplift rate and the regional
extension of the climate changes required to signicantly
alter the sediment ux at the river mouth also have to increase. In fact, the variations observed between sediment
supply and deposition rate in the various types of systems
demonstrate the eect of catchment storage and varying
response times, indicating that the continuity of sediment
delivery to the basin oor is highly dependent on internal
relationships within each segment, and on the interaction
between dierent segments within the entire source-to sink system.
In summary, the areaâltitude distribution in uvial
systems is very important in controlling the timing of sediment transport and storage. Small systems with small
oodplain areas respond rapidly to tectonic or climatically
triggered sediment pulses from the hinterland (Figs 6
and 7; Metivier & Gaudemer, 1999; Castelltort & Van den
Driessche, 2003; Allen, 2008b). In contrast, large systems
react slowly to the same sediment pulse, causing regional
storage and buering of the basinward-deected perturbation. Only a climatically controlled increase in transport
capacity throughout the river system will cause rapid response and changes in sediment ux at the river mouth
(Leeder et al., 1998; Vandenberghe, 2002; Goodbred, 2003;
Van den Berg van Saparoea & Postma, 2008).
The shelf and slope

The shelf is of primary importance controlling the spatial
and temporal distribution of sediment from river catchments to the slopes and basin oor fans.Variations in shelf
and slope width, depth and gradient can be attributed to
dierential fracturing and fault linkage during the initial
stages of rift margin spreading, in addition to spatial variations in sediment deposition and subsidence rates during
later periods of margin development (Shepard, 1973; Boillot, 1981). In mature passive systems, the underlying basement may be covered by several kilometers of sediments,
whereas in younger tectonically active systems, the shelf
and slope may only be covered by a thin sediment blanket,
causing underlying structures to exert a main control on
sediment dispersal in these environments.
Sediment transport on the shelf is dependent on several
autogenic and allogenic factors such as morphology (e.g.
width, gradient), wave regime, wind climate (e.g. direction,
frequency, magnitude) and tidal and alongshore currents
(e.g. Nittrouer & Wright, 1994; Sanchez-Arcilla & Simpson, 2002). On the shelf, sediment is primarily transported
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Fig. 7. Conceptual gure showing the inferred long-term catchment response to a sediment pulse resulting from increased uplift rates
in the hinterland, or from regional changes in climate and increased transport capacity, using the Amazon and the Crati catchments as
examples. During a period of increased uplift rate, more sediment will be available for uvial transport in the proximal part of the river
system (grey pulse). Because large passive systems typically are associated with extensive, low-gradient oodplains, sediment availability
is higher than the transport capacity in the distal reaches, resulting in buering and storage of sediment in these transport-limited
rivers.The opposite may be true for smaller catchments with steep river gradients such as the Crati system, where large storms typically
cover the entire catchments, causing regional ooding and continuous ushing of sediment in detachment-limited rivers. In contrast, a
regional change in climate accompanied by a signicant increase in water discharge may result in a sediment pulse which can be
transferred to the river mouth in both systems, as this implies increased transport capacity throughout the entire system. See further
discussion in the text.The black box in lower left corner represents the outline of the Crati catchment, demonstrating the major
dierence in scale between the two types of systems.
in the uppermost surface layer, as a hypopycnal plume, or

in the bottom layer as hyperpycnal- or nepheloid ow (Fig.
8). Even though surface plumes may transport signicant
amounts of sediment from the river, they tend to be deected alongshore where the material is being deposited,
and in general, only systems with high peak/average water
discharge ratios are capable of producing surface plumes
that are able to transport material to the outer part of the
shelf (Geyer et al., 2004; Warrick & Fong, 2004). Bottom
layer nepheloid and hyperpycnal currents are primarily
driven by gravity but may increase their momentum when
reinforced by shelf- and storm currents, making them
capable of transporting sediment across wide shelves or
to nearby submarine canyons (Drake & Gorsline, 1973; Xu
et al., 2002).
During periods when the catchment and slope is connected, that is, when the river delivers sediment directly
to the outer shelf or to the head of a submarine canyon

(by normal or forced regression), the sediment volume
supplied to the river mouth should approximately equal
the amount of sediment accumulating on the slope and
on the basin oor (Fig. 9). In addition, during low stands,
rivers tend to merge into larger river systems with
increased sediment ux (Mulder & Syvitski, 1996). When
the shelf and slope segments are disconnected, the sediment introduced to the coastline will be stored in the
littoral zone and on the shelf along the coast. In these
situations, when less sediment is transported to the basin
oor than the amount delivered to the river mouth, there
is a net sediment loss within that particular source-to sink system. Along margins where several small systems
are located relatively closely along strike (e.g. Californian
Borderland; Inman & Jenkins, 1999; Covault et al., 2007),
such loss from one system may result in a net gain in
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371
T. O. Smme et al.
Fig. 8. Conceptual cartoon showing the main mechanisms controlling across- and alongshore sediment transport, and the two main
types of submarine canyons identied in modern shelves and slopes. Small tectonically active systems commonly have narrow shelves,
allowing sediment to be transported to the middle and outer part by bottom currents and surface plumes.These systems are also
typically associated with a network of submarine canyons incised into underlying bedrock, representing long-lived transport routes
across the shelf and slope. In larger passive systems, wave and current driven nephloid ow are the most important mechanisms
transporting sediment along and across the shelf during high stands.Where the shelf and slope morphology is controlled by thick
successions of shallow-marine deposits, submarine canyons tend to incise semi-unconsolidated sediments and may by more shortlived compared with small active systems.
another system located down-drift along the shoreline

(Figs 9 and 10).
In this section the morphological and sedimentological
relationships that occur within the shelf and slope segments are discussed. Similar to the previous section on
catchment response, the dierences between sediment
loads from the rivers and deposition rates on the basin
oor fans are used to analyse the variation in shelf storage
potential between various types of systems.
Shelf and slope morphology

The majority of the shorefaceshelf deposits in any type of
source-to - sink system are underlain by old continental
crust, and the shelf can therefore be considered as marine
extension of the continent (Hedberg, 1970; Blum & Steel,
2007). This relationship can be visualized by comparing
the length of the main river channel and the shelf width
(Fig.11a). All small tectonically active systems in this study
have shelves that are narrower than 15 km, whereas all
passive systems have shelves that are wider than 50 km;
372
the widest being the Amazon (up to 300 km). As the shelf
width is controlled by the relationship between relative
sea-level changes, sediment supply, subsidence and compaction, the shelf segment is, by far, the most variable segment in terms of down-dip extension, so that a short-term
increase or decrease of the shelf width will result in an
equal amount of landward and basinward contraction
or extension of the catchment segment. Thus, the ratio
between the two segments should be comparable for all
systems, independent on the time of investigation (glacial
or interglacial, greenhouse or icehouse). Using only the
shelf width to predict morphological parameters in
ancient systems may therefore result in unreliable values,
as the shelf width is highly dependent on the relative sealevel stand at the time of investigation.
This relationship between catchment and shelf can also
be illustrated by comparing their mean gradients, demonstrating the dierence between relatively old and mature systems with low-gradient oodplains and shelves, and
younger and smaller systems characterized by relatively
steep oodplain and shelf gradients (Fig. 11b). There is a
transition separating small tectonically active systems with
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Fig. 9. Conceptual cartoon illustrating the importance of submarine canyons, longshore transport and shelf storage (left), and low
relative sea level and merging of catchments (right) for sediment budgets in source-to - sink systems.The amount of sediment delivered
to the basin oor may both be higher and lower than the amount delivered by nearby rivers (i.e. loss and gain within the individual
system). During low stands, rivers tend to merge downstream creating larger composite river systems with higher sediment loads, but
with lower discharge variations.The relative impact on sediment delivery to the slope and basin oor increase with decreasing
catchment size (compare catchment size between tectonically active and passive systems).
Fig. 10. Dierence in across- shelf sediment transport mechanisms and shelf storage potential for large passive and small tectonically
active source-to - sink systems. (a) Sediment bypass to the slope and basin oor segments may occur as the delta progrades across the
shelf by normal or forced regression, causing sediment delivery to or close to the shelf edge; here exemplied by the Mississippi delta. In
periods when the catchment and slope segments are disconnected, the majority of the sediment is stored on the shelf. (b) Sediment may
also bypass the shelf if a submarine canyon incises the shelf, intercepting longshore- or hyperpycnal currents from nearby rivers;
exemplied here by the Hueneme, Redondo, La Jolla and Navy canyons. Along margins such as the Californian Borderland where
multiple rivers feed a long section of coastline with signicant longshore drift, sediment transport and canyon feeding may show
relatively complicated distributional patterns where some systems are only fed by longshore drift, and where others may receive more
sediment than the amount delivered from the nearby rivers (see Fig. 9).White arrows indicate sediment input from rivers, solid black
arrows indicate location of submarine canyons, open black arrows indicate longshore current directions.The shoreline is indicated by
the black line. Note the dierence in scale.
steep gradients from the remaining systems at 5 m km 1,

indicating that systems with river gradients steeper than
5 m km 1 also are associated with shelf gradients that
are steeper than 5 m km 1, and vice versa. Similar to the
storage potential of low-gradient uvial systems, these relationships will inuence the magnitude of sediment transportation and storage across and along the shelves.
Slope morphology is also strongly controlled by

sediment supply from their associated rivers (e.g. OGrady
et al., 2000), and the slope length is therefore correlative to
the river length (Fig. 11c). Small tectonically active systems
generally have steep slopes with relatively distinct transitions from the base of the slope to the rise and the basin
oor. In large systems where the amount of sediment deliv-
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373
T. O. Smme et al.
Fig. 11. General relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in the shelf segment. Systems are discussed
relative to the continental margins where they are located: tectonically active (S 5 small, L 5 large), passive and mixed. Regression line
equations, correlation coecients and P-values are shown for each diagram. See text for discussion.
ered by the rivers is more signicant, high deposition rates

result in decreasing slope gradients and a more gradual
transition between the slope, rise and basin oor environments (Fig. 11d). Larger and more mature systems are also
less ecient and transport ner grain sizes which further
attens the slope (Pirmez et al., 1998). Both the correlation
between slope length and length of the longest river channel, and the one between slope gradient and sediment
supply (Fig. 4c and d), indicate that the slope length is a
good indicator for the amount of sediment delivered from
374
the continent, and thereby a proxy for the size of the catchment feeding the shoreline.
Sediment transport on continental shelves
Flattening of the shelf and slope segments in older and more
mature systems is a result of stacking of multiple regressive
and transgressive shoreline transit events which leads to
sediment blanketing of underlying structures. However,
even during the Holocene, which is characterized by rela-
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Table 2. Holocene-recent sediment budgets (in %) for some systems discussed in this study
Source-to sink system
Amount of
sediment
stored in the
littoral zone
and on the shelf
Amount of
sediment
bypassing
the shelf
References
Bengaln
Congo
Amazon
Rhonen
Valencia
Ebro
Cap Ferret
Danube
Var
Monterey
Astoria
Redondo
60
25
100
75
77
77
97
100
9
50
95
47
40
75
0
25
2
31
3
0
91
50
5
53
Hueneme
41
59
Goodbred & Kuehl (1999)

Eisma & Kalf (1984)
Kineke et al. (1996)
de Madron et al. (2000)
Nelson (1990)
Nelson (1990)
Ruch et al. (1993)
Panin & Jipa (2002)
Mulder et al. (1998)
Eittreim et al. (2002)
Sternberg (1986)
Schwalbach & Gorsline
(1985)
Schwalbach & Gorsline
(1985)
Sediment distribution values are corrected from original values to exclude oodplain storage.
tively wide and deep shelves compared with most previous

periods of geological time (Blum & Steel, 2007), and when
the shelf storage potential is considered to have been at its
highest, sediment budgets derived from some of the systems
in this study (e.g. Bengal, Rhone, Var) show signicant
across-shelf sediment transport (Table 2). Such dierences
in sediment transport demonstrate the importance of submarine canyons and shelf currents in allowing sediment to
be delivered to and beyond the shelf edge.
The importance of shelf storage in sediment budgets
Estimation of long- and short-term sediment storage on
continental shelves is important for determining the loss
between the catchment, slope and basin oor segments.
The amount of shelf storage varies signicantly with time,
and it is mainly dependent on wave and shelfal current patterns, inherited bathymetry, and temporal changes in shelf
morphology due to the interplay between sediment supply,
subsidence/uplift and eustatic sea level. Of these, shelf
morphology can most readily be identied in ancient systems, and will thus represent the best parameter for studying shelf storage at various time scales.
The shelf area available for sediment storage is highly
correlative to the drainage area (Fig.11e), similar to the correlation between shelf width and the longest river channel
(Fig. 11a). The area available for sediment storage is not
conned to the immediate area in front of the river mouth,
but does commonly include a signicant part of the shelf
on either (or both) sides of the river mouth. In the Amazon
system for example, only 50% of the sediment delivered
by the Amazon River is deposited on the subaquous delta
and on the nearby shelf, whereas the remaining sediment
is transported northwards by the Guayana Current towards
the Orinoco Delta (Warne et al., 2002), an area exceeding

twice the shelf area directly in front of the river mouth.
This is representative for large systems (4105 km2), which
have large shelves, and which deliver predominantly very
ne-grained sand, silt and mud that can be transported
over large areas.
The storage potential for large systems can be investigated by comparing the shelf area and the long-term/recent (L/R) deposition rate ratio on the basin oor fans
(Fig.11f).The long-term deposition rate is calculated from
basin oor fan volumes and ages (equivalent to the values
used in the previous section), whereas the recent deposition rate primarily represents Holocene accumulation on
the most recently active fan lobe.This L/R ratio will therefore give an estimate of the continuity of fan deposition,
and one can assume that if the deposition rate on the fan
was signicantly lower during the Holocene transgression
compared with the average, long-term deposition rate, a
signicant part of the sediment must have been stored on
the shelf (given that the sediment supply to the shelf has
been relatively continuous; this assumption was justied
in the previous section). One should also assume that this
ratio would increase with increasing shelf width and area,
which is available for sediment storage. The relationship
observed in Fig. 11f suggests that large systems (with shelf
area 4104 km2) show an on- o mode in terms of sediment
transfer from the river, via the shelf and to the basin oor,
whereas small systems show more continuous sediment
dispersal. The recent deposition rate is considered to represent a period characterized by wide shelves and a high
sediment loss between the catchment and the shelf segments. In contrast, the long-term rate is considered to represent periods characterized by relatively narrow shelves
when signicant amounts of sediments were deposited on
the slope and on the basin oor fans, and when the loss between the segments was relatively small. As all systems show
dierent patterns of sediment transport and storage, and because all systems are highly dynamic and may respond dierently to changes in controlling parameters, the contrasting
deposition rates should not be considered as end members.
The diagram in Fig. 11f shows that small tectonically active
systems typically have deposition rate ratios between 0.1 and
10, whereas most of the remaining systems have L/R ratios
between 10 and 1000. On average, this indicates that small
systems with shelf areas smaller than 103 km2 are in the
order of 100 times more ecient in bypassing sediment to
the slope and basin oor than large systems.
However, some exceptions occur. The passive Congo
system which has a large shelf area of 1.3 104 km2 plots
among the small active systems, having a low L/R ratio
(0.3). Even though the Congo River produce a large hypo pycnal plume which carries 8% of the ne-grained sediments north along a relatively wide shelf, a large
submarine canyon incises the shelf, extending 30 km
up-river (Eisma & Kalf,1984).This causes the Congo River
to deposit the majority of the material at the canyon head,
funneling the sediment across the shelf and slope to the
Congo Fan, resulting in a continuous transfer of sediment
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375
T. O. Smme et al.
over long time scales and an overall low L/R ratio. This
example demonstrates how large passive systems may have
transport eciencies comparable to small active systems
during periods when the link between the catchment and
slope/basin oor segments is closed and the sediment loss
within the system is limited (Fig. 9).
L/R ratios describe sediment distribution in the order
of 103^106 years, showing the importance of shelf storage
over long time scales. More recent sediment storage (101^
103 years) can also be analysed by comparing the present
sediment load from the river mouths and the recent
(Holocene) deposition rate on the basin oor fans (Fig.
11g).The correlation between the river load/recent deposition rate (R/R) ratio and the shelf area available for sediment storage is stronger than the L/R correlation,
probably because it excludes the relatively high uncertainties associated with calculating fan ages and volumes, and
as the time averaged sediment load from the rivers is relatively well constrained.Thus, the R/R and L/R correlations
show the same trend where small active systems commonly
have ratios below 10, whereas large active, passive and
mixed systems have ratios above 10 and commonly above
100. Similar to the L/R correlation, the R/R correlation
also indicates that the storage potential increases gradually
with increasing shelf area, suggesting that this is the main
control on sediment transport to the slope and the basin
oor. Assuming that the long-term average sediment supply has been relatively continuous throughout the depositional history of the fans, this correlation also emphasizes
that the Holocene is characterized by relatively wide
shelves and an open link between the shelf and slope/basin
oor segments.
Submarine canyons
Submarine canyons in this study show varying morpholo gies (ranging from single, relatively straight canyons to
multiple smaller canyons and gullies with more dendritic
and meandering patterns), and are recognized along the
margins of all systems, except for the Crati system where
sediments are being transported in delta front channels
(Colella & Digeronimo, 1987).
Two types of submarine canyons can be identied: (1)
those that are incised into bedrock, and (2) those that are
incised into unconsolidated or partly consolidated marine
sediments deposited during previous cycles of shorefaceshelf progradation. The type of canyon associated with a
given source-to - sink system will have important implications for the time of formation and development of the
canyons. Several of the passive and mixed systems in this
study, such as the Bengal (Curray et al., 2003), the Rhone
(Torres et al., 1996) and the Mississippi (Dixon & Weimer,
1998) systems show several generations of canyon cutting
and lling related to Plio -Pleistocene sea-level changes.
Because these canyons are incised into relatively young
and easily erodible sediments, they can be excavated relatively rapidly (103^105 years). Thus, the depositional his-
376
tory of the associated basin oor fan systems may be

dominated by laterally changing feeder systems. In areas
where sediment supply is high, canyons may be partially
or completely lled during every period of sea-level rise.
In these areas, the presence of submarine canyons is crucial for funneling sediments to the slope and basin oor
during periods when the link between the catchment and
slope^basin oor segments is open, thereby minimizing
the sediment loss to the shelf.
In contrast, active margins are often associated with
canyons that are incised into bedrock and which require
extensive erosion over relatively long time intervals in order to obtain dimensions comparable to the ones cut into
unconsolidated sediment (Shepard, 1981; Normark &
Carlson, 2003). These will provide the basin oor fan
systems with a more long-lived and possibly more complicated sediment transfer system across the slope, even
though these canyons also may experience periods of
cutting and lling (Hampton et al., 1989; Greene et al.,
2002). Low sediment supply and steep shelf and slope gradients in small systems also favour sediment bypass in the
canyons, decreasing the potential of lling during transgression and highstand conditions.
According to Normark & Carlson (2003), there is no
obvious relationship between the size of submarine canyons
(length, width, relief) and the amount of material they deliver to the basin oor.This observation is partly conrmed in
this study by comparing various canyon parameters with associated basin oor fan characteristics. For example, the correlation between the width/depth relationships of submarine
canyons and the fan volumes is not statistically signicant
(Fig. 12a), indicating that the width/depth relationship is
not related to fan volume. However, canyons along active
margins are generally narrower and shallower than the ones
along passive margins. When fan volume is compared with
canyon length, on the other hand, there is a trend of increasing fan volume with increasing canyon length (Fig.12b).This
correlation is not directly related to the size of the canyon
itself, but rather, to the fact that slopes along passive margins
are longer and have lower gradients compared with the
slopes located along tectonically active margins. Because
most canyons extend from the bottom of the slope to or
beyond the shelf edge, passive margins, which also are associated with larger fans than active margins, will have longer
submarine canyons.
In order to focus signicant sediment transport across
the shelf, the head of the submarine canyon must be able
to intercept longshore and shelfal currents. Both wave
and current energies decrease basinward towards the shelf
break, and an increasing amount of sediment is deposited
on the middle shelf (Nittrouer & Wright, 1994; Jouanneau
et al., 1999). Therefore, the magnitude of sediment transport by submarine canyons depends, in addition to waves
and currents, on the location of the head of the canyon
relative to the river mouth.
Within the 29 systems investigated in this study, there
is a distinct trend suggesting that large systems with
shelves wider than 50 km generally have canyons located
r 2009 The Authors

Fig. 12. General relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in the slope and basin oor fan segments.
Systems are discussed relative to the continental margins where they are located: tectonically active (S 5 small, L 5 large), passive and
mixed. Regression line equations, correlation coecients and P-values are shown for each diagram. See text for discussion.
more than 10 km from their river mouths (e.g. Amazon,

Cap Ferret, Danube). In contrast, small tectonically
active systems with narrow shelves also have river mouths
located less than 10 km from the head of the submarine
canyons (e.g. Tyrrhenian Sea, Delgada, Golo). The water
depth at the head of the canyons also varies, showing
an average of 97 m for passive systems and 56 for small

active systems. In summary, the correlation show that
small systems located along active margins have relatively
steep and narrow shelves with submarine canyons located
signicantly closer to the river mouths and at shallower
water depths compared with larger passive systems.
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377
T. O. Smme et al.
This will increase the amount of sediment available
to the canyons in these types of systems (e.g. Covault
et al., 2007).
The basin floor

Numerous classications schemes for basin oor fan systems
have been proposed based on lithology (sand/mud rich), system eciency, type of margin and feeder system (e.g. Mutti &
Normark, 1987; Shanmugam & Moiola, 1988; Reading & Richards,1994; Galloway,1998). However, none of these models
describe and relate all diagnostic features for any given fan
and the associated feeder system, and most fan systems share
characteristics from several models and fall between the various end-members (Bouma, 2000). In addition, many systems may be classied both as sand- and mud-rich
depending on sea-level stand and area of interest (Piper &
Normark, 2001), making a detailed classication solely based
on lithology somewhat inaccurate. In this study, basin oor
fans are therefore discussed based on their morphological
characteristics and the type of margin where they are located.
Wetzel (1993) recognized a relationship between fan area
and fan length, and long-term fan deposition rate, thus
quantifying the intuitive connection between large drainage
areas and high sediment uxes to the basin oor environments. Larger drainage areas also deliver more ne-grained
material which can be transported further into the basin
(Stow et al., 1985), so that the type of margin and associated
feeder system will, along with basin physiography, have an effect on the basin oor delivery system in terms of mode of
sediment transportation (mass failure, debris ows, turbidity currents), length, width and depth of fan channels, channel meandering, type and size of channel-levee systems,
detached vs. attached fan lobes and facies stacking pattern.
Such factors will therefore represent indirect indications on
the dominant fan lithology in many systems.
In this section, the various morphological relationships
that exist within the basin oor segment will be discussed
together with sediment distribution patterns for the various systems.
Morphology and sediment dispersal

Although fan lithology not will be discussed in detail,
some general relationships between fan morphology and
the dominant type of fan sediment should be considered.
It is, for example, well accepted that the fan length (in an
unconned basin) is related to the type of sediment delivered to the base of the slope as muddy fans tend to be more
elongated than sandy, radial fans (e.g. Normark, 1970; Stow
et al., 1985).This relationship can also be quantied in this
study, where it becomes evident that fans associated with
passive and mixed systems have higher length/width ratios
than those of smaller systems (Fig. 12c). It is also evident
that larger fans are associated with longer slopes than
small systems (Fig. 12d). In addition, fan length and area
also correlate positively to the long-term deposition rate
378
(Wetzel, 1993), showing a distinct increase in larger and

older systems (Fig. 12e and f).
In general, fan channel length also increases with fan
area (from 10^100 km in active, to 100^2000 km in
passive systems), however, some variations occur,
especially among the small tectonically active systems.Variations in channel lengths suggest that these fans are more
heterolithic, expressing larger variations in lithology and
facies distribution, in addition to more complicated sediment transport routes and basin physiography. As small
active systems commonly are located in smaller (intraslope) basins that may be strongly inuenced by local- or
deep - seated tectonics (e.g. Prather, 2003), both morphology and lateral extension of the fan may vary signicantly,
resulting in various channel lengths relative to fan area.
Width/depth relationships within the fan channels are less
convincing, even though an overall attening and widening trend is observed in larger fans (the ratio range from
o10 in the smallest, to 4100 in the largest systems). This
reect changes into ner grain sizes and an increase in the
magnitude of the sediment transport events passing
through the system as the channels tend to scale to the
average height of the turbidity currents or debris ows
passing through the system (Nelson & Nilsen, 1984).
Most deep- sea fans are located at the base of the slope
and extend onto the rise and basin oor. On average, the
fan apex is located at or below 1000 m water depth and
the distal fan commonly extends to depths of more than
5000 m (Fig.12g).The variance in apex location may be attributed to the dierence between the basin oor fans originating from canyons at the base of the slope, and from
those where high amounts of ne-grained sediment form
cones where the transition from the slope and to the rise is
less distinct (e.g. Nile, Mississippi, Amazon, Niger). All
the fans that are located in shallower water (i.e. extending
not deeper than 1000 m) are small active fans located in
conned or intraslope basins. Fan deposition in these basins may also show complicated sediment distribution patterns, as sediments may bypass the fan to be deposited
deeper on the slope or on the basin oor (e.g. Piper, 1970;
Prather, 2003). This indicates that fans which otherwise
have similar morphological characteristics and which are
located in the same type of marginal settings (e.g. small
tectonically active systems) can be located at various water
depths. However, there is a good correlation between fan
area and depth of fan deposition (Fig.12g), suggesting that
on a large scale, the distal part of large fans is located signicantly deeper than the distal part of smaller fans.
SCALING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN

SOURCE-TO-SINK SEGMENTS
As discussed in the previous sections, a number of scaling
relationships exist between various morphological
parameters characterizing the catchment, shelf, slope and
basin oor segments in source-to - sink systems. As larger
catchments generally produce more sediment than small,
r 2009 The Authors

Fig. 13. General relationships between morphological parameters linking proximal and distal segments in the source-to - sink system.
Systems are discussed relative to the continental margins where they are located: tectonically active (S 5 small, L 5 large), passive and
mixed. Regression line equations, correlation coecients and P-values are shown for each diagram. See text for discussion.
one should also expect scaling relationships between

catchment and basin oor fan areas, and for the length of
the main river channels and the fan lengths. The correlation shows a relatively strong relationship between fan area
and catchment area (Fig.13a), with best correlation among
the passive, mixed and large active systems, and the poorest
correlation within the small active systems.This may be attributed to the tendency for small fans to be fed by several
small catchments and longshore drift (LePera & Critelli,
1997; Eittreim etal., 2002; Covault etal., 2007), and that they
at the same time experience relatively rapid changes in size
and morphology of the catchments due to varying tectonic
inuence and drainage area development (e.g. Dadson etal.,
2003; Hovius & Stark, 2006).This relationship should generally increase as the size of the system increases, and as the
spacing and thereby sediment input from rivers located
down- current is dependent on the length of the rivers in a
mountain range (Hovius, 1996; Castelltort & Simpson,
2006). The comparison between river channel length and
fan length (Fig.13b) also show a relatively good correlation,
suggesting a close link between these proximal and distal
segments. In contrast to the area correlation, small tectonically active systems are more clustered.This may be related
to the fact that even though the small active systems may
have many small drainage areas, they are all of similar size
and shape, and are all fed by rivers of similar length.
On an even larger scale, both drainage area and fan area
show a good correlation with catchment-shelf gradient and
slope-basin oor gradient, respectively. Figure 13c and d
show that systems with catchment^shelf- and slope-basin
oor gradients steeper than 10 m km 1 also are associated
with drainage areas smaller than 0.01 106 km2, and fans
smaller than 10^100 103 km2, respectively.
Segment scaling between various types of source-to-sink
systems also show that the catchment and basin oor segments do not increase linearly in size relative to each other,
or to the shelf and slope segments as the systems
develop (Fig. 14). In small systems, the catchment segment is
typically two times longer than the basin oor segment,
whereas in medium-sized and large passive, active and mixed
systems, the catchment segment tends to be three or four
times longer than the basin oor segment. In contrast, the
relationship between the shelf and the slope segments is relatively continuous for all scales, showing approximately an
overall one-to-one relationship.This suggests that as systems
develop, the catchment increases in size at a higher rate than
the remaining segments, and both this and the basin oor
segmentwill therefore occupy a larger part of the entire transect in larger source-to-sink systems.
These relationships indicate that the morphological
characteristics of the various segments are very important
in predicting areas and lengths of basin oor fans, in
addition to sediment supply and deposition rates at
various scales.
PREDICTIONS IN ANCIENT SOURCETO-SINK SYSTEMS

The relationships shown for modern source-to-sink
systems in Figs 4, 11, 12 and 13 allow for the development of
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379
T. O. Smme et al.
Fig. 14. Scaling relationships between the catchment, shelf and basin oor morphological segment parameters relative to the slope
length. In general, the size of the catchment increases relative to the shelf, slope and basin oor as systems becomes larger. Note how the
relationship between the shelf and slope segment remains relatively constant at all scales.The boundary between segments is delineated
by vertical broken lines.
rst-order guidelines which can be used to predict morphological parameters and sediment distribution patterns over
several orders of magnitude in ancient systems (Fig.15).
During the initial exploration stages of a deep-water depositional system, the main morphological parameters
concerning the scale and type of system are often derived
from regional seismic interpretation. Because of dierential subsidence, uplift and erosion which varies from basin
to basin, the entire paleo source-to - sink system will never
be preserved in the subsurface, and commonly, only parts
of the shelf, slope and basin oor are preserved. More
complete transects extending from coastal plain to basin
oor are rare, and are probably limited to the latest Paleo gene and Neogene record (e.g. Storvola, Spitsbergen).The
generic relationships that can be established from submo dern examples are therefore crucial for evaluating uncertainties, and for allowing predictions to be made which
can reduce risk in subsurface exploration.
The methods explained here have been used to estimate
slope, shelf and catchment characteristics in the Maastrichtian-Danian Ormen Lange system located in the
Mre Basin, Norwegian Sea (Smme et al., 2008). Here,
the basin oor fan segment is well preserved and represents an important gas reservoir on the Norwegian margin. By using the relationships observed in this study
together with input data from the Ormen Lange Fan (area
of 2.5 103 km2), the associated paleo catchment area
has been estimated to 20 103 km2. This estimate is
found to be a good approximation when compared with
preserved remnants of uvial valleys located onshore southern Norway, which are believed to date from the Early Paleocene. This study represents a good example on how this
approach can be used in ancient source-to-sink systems.
Finally, it is important to recognize the limitations associated with extrapolating these types of relationships
380
back in time.The data set presented here will only be able

to predict rst- order (basin scale), general morphological
and sedimentological patterns, and it is important to identify uncertainties caused by local basin variations, as well
as systems which may represent outliers. Each source-to sink system is unique in terms of regional and local climate
and tectonics both onshore and oshore, catchment lithology, dynamic response to autogenic and allogenic forcing,
sediment transport characteristics and long-term basin
evolution history. In addition, some of the scatter will inevitably also be related to measurement uncertainties. As
all systems develop individually, the discussed uncertainty
variables may cause any ancient system to fall anywhere
within the distribution of the submodern systems.
In addition, even though the basic sedimentary processes
and controls have been the same throughout the Phanerozoic (water, wind, chemical reactions, gravity, ocean currents
etc.), the relationship between them have changed with time
and have adapted to varying controlling conditions. The
most important is eustatic sea level, which has a rst-order
control on shelf accommodation, and which has varied
signicantly throughout the Cenozoic and Mesozoic, showing amplitude and frequency variation that are very dierent
from the Plio-Holocene (Miller et al., 2005).
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Sediment distribution in source-to - sink systems is
dependent on a number of variables which are related to
climate, tectonism and drainage basin morphology, and
which will vary with time and period of investigation. By
studying 29 modern source-to - sink systems covering various climate zones and margin congurations, a number of
r 2009 The Authors

Fig. 15. Examples of some relationships observed in modern source-to - sink systems which can be used to predict morphological parameters (upper row) and sediment dispersal (lower row) in
ancient systems based on the slope length.The relationships are based on the data in Table 1. In general, the transition between small tectonically active and large active, mixed and passive systems is
represented by slope lengths of 20^30 km.The uncertainty varies, but parameters can generally be predicted within one to three orders of magnitude.
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381
T. O. Smme et al.
morphological relationships and sediment distribution
patterns have been observed:
Large passive systems commonly have peak/average
discharge ratios that are below 10, whereas small active
systems have ratios between 100 and 1000, indicating
that these are much more ecient in responding to
changes in climate and uplift rate. As a result, small
systems will be more eective in transporting sediment pulses through the river system.
Shelf storage is related to shelf current patterns and
shelf morphology (width, depth, area), which is directly related to the size and gradient of the catchment.
The investigation of the L/R and R/R deposition rate
ratios suggests that small systems may be up to 100
times more eective in bypassing sediment from the
catchment to the slope and the basin oor. Larger
systems with wide shelves and without submarine
canyons intercepting longshore drift show an on- o
mode in sediment delivery to the basin oor.
Because large systems have larger catchments and
higher sediment supply than small systems, they also
have slopes and basin oor fans that are longer and
which have lower gradients. In general, systems with
slope lengths above 20 km are also associated with
catchments that are larger than 30 103 km2 and fans
that are larger than 10 103 km2. Slope length and
gradient is thus considered to be a good proxy for the
type of source-to - sink system, and it can often readily
be extracted from seismic data in ancient systems.
Parameter prediction in ancient source-to-sink systems is
based on the generic relationship between segments within
and between dierent types of systems. In the subsurface,
where assessment of lithology and reservoir quality is essential for exploration success, a thorough source-to-sink
analysis provides a qualied tool by which uncertainty and
risk can be reduced for basin selection, paleogeographic
mapping and generation of plays. However, these estimates
will only be valid for the types of margins represented in
the study, and care should be taken when predicting systems
deposited under dierent controlling conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was funded by StatoilHydro. Ian Lunt and
Jan-Arild Skjervheim are thanked for useful discussions.
Philip Allen, Se bastien Castelltort and an anonymous reviewer provided critical review which greatly improved the
manuscript. Peter van der Beek (editor) is also acknowledged for providing valuable advice on the manuscript.
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2009.
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Basin Research (2009) 21, 361387, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2117.2009.00397.

Relationships between morphological and

Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

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Fig. 1. Overview of the four segments in

short- and long-term (days to tens of millions of years)

1998; Dade, 2001; Castelltort & Simpson, 2006), and that

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Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY

water discharge data were primarily compiled from online

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% area with slope

Sediment load from

350 280 4300

800 400 5200

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Sediments are primaraly delivered by longshore drift.

Recent fan deposition

Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

THE SOURCE-TO-SINK PROFILE:

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scale of evolution of an entire source-to - sink system

discharge (e.g. Meade et al., 1990; Dade & Friend, 1998).

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Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

Area^altitude distribution is dependent on the size and

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order control on sediment transport in rivers (e.g. Meade et

dierence between ood and average discharge in the

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Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

Fig. 5. Area^altitude distribution for four of the systems in this

storm- cell is larger than the drainage area (Fig. 6; Molnar,

et al., 1995; Covault et al., 2007). In addition, smaller systems

The shelf and slope

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Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

in the uppermost surface layer, as a hypopycnal plume, or

to the outer shelf or to the head of a submarine canyon

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another system located down-drift along the shoreline

Shelf and slope morphology

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Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

steep gradients from the remaining systems at 5 m km 1,

Slope morphology is also strongly controlled by

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ered by the rivers is more signicant, high deposition rates

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Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

Source-to sink system

Goodbred & Kuehl (1999)

tively wide and deep shelves compared with most previous

the Orinoco Delta (Warne et al., 2002), an area exceeding

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tory of the associated basin oor fan systems may be

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Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems

more than 10 km from their river mouths (e.g. Amazon,

an average of 97 m for passive systems and 56 for small

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The basin floor