2017-2018 - Voyage summary
The 14 November 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura Earthquake provided the opportunity to study the consequence of earthquake effects for deep-sea ecosystems in the Kaikōura Canyon region.
Sediment cores collected from Kaikōura Canyon, Hikurangi Channel, and channel-overbank regions at four days (voyage TAN1613), ten weeks (TAN1701), and 8 months (TAN1705) after the Kaikōura Earthquake, show normally graded turbidites, consistent with a recent sediment density flow that traversed much, if not all, of the Hikurangi Channel (Mountjoy et al., in press 2018). A comparison of seafloor photographs taken at sites in the canyon in 2006 with those taken during TAN1701 suggest fresh deposition of sediment and the death of large infauna at up to 1000 m water depth (Figure 1). Subsequent reconnaissance multibeam bathymetry surveys in January and April 2017 (IKA1701 and TAN1703) determined that the parts of the upper and midcanyon seafloor had been eroded by tens of metres, suggesting massive sediment loss down-canyon to the deep ocean.
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