Representing pelagic sediment accumulation on rugged topography with a diffusion equation

What is it about?

The pelagic sediments accumulating on the rugged topography of mid-ocean ridges are typically redistributed from hills into valleys where they preferentially accumulate. Some researchers have used diffusion transport models to represent this movement. Such models lead to strata and sediment topography that are superficially like those we see in geophysical data. In this study, the shapes of sediment deposits imaged with the Scripps Deep Tow across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge were characterized in order to evaluate how well they are represented by a diffusion-type model. A solution to the diffusion equation in which fluxes at the boundary of a system obeying diffusion are constant is a parabola. Many small pockets of sediment were found to have parabolic surfaces. Using estimates of the regional sedimentation rate and the geometry, the effective diffusivity of the sediment was estimated to be 0.04-0.11 m^2/yr.

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