ABYSSAL PLAINS

General discussion.—An abyssal plain has been defined (Heezen, Ewing, and Ericson, 1954) as "an area of the deep-ocean floor in which the ocean bottom is flat and the slope of the bottom is less than 1:1000".

Abyssal plains have been found in all oceans, characteristically at the foot of the continental rise. Koczy (1954; 1956) and Gaskell and Ashton (1954) have described the abyssal plain south of the Bay of Bengal. Koczy (1956) has described plains in the equatorial Atlantic on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. On Expedition Deep Freeze workers on the USS Glacier, using a PDR, discovered an abyssal plain in the Weddell Sea. Workers on the R. V. Vema in 1957 confirmed the existence of abyssal plains in the Argentine and in the Cape and Angola basins of the South Atlantic. Menard (1955) has described abyssal plains off the California and Alaska coasts. Abyssal plains are really important and are present off all coasts except those having a long, continuous, unfilled marginal trench.

The abyssal plains shown on the physiographic diagram have been named in order to facilitate referencing. The abyssal plains of the western Atlantic between Newfoundland and the West Indies are best known. The "abyssal plain south of Newfoundland" (Heezen et al., 1954) has been named the Sohm Abyssal Plain following the usage of Murray (1912) who referred to this area as "Sohm Deep" in several publications. The abyssal plain south of the Bermuda Rise referred to as the "abyssal plain in the Nares Basin" (Heezen, Ewing, and Menzies, 1955; Luskin et al., 1954) is named on the province chart (Pl. 20) the Nares Abyssal Plain, also following the usage of Murray (1912), who named this area the Nares Deep. The abyssal plain southwest of the Bermuda Rise was included in the Nares Abyssal Plain until the discovery in 1955 that the two parts were separated by a steep abyssal gap at 24° N. 68° W. necessitated the splitting off of this plain from the Nares Abyssal Plain. The name Hatteras Abyssal Plain used on the map was suggested by the close proximity of the very prominent Cape Hatteras.

An abyssal plain is probably present in the Newfoundland basin, but no PDR soundings have been obtained in that area. The name Newfoundland Abyssal Plain is suggested subject to confirmation by a precision survey.

The outer ridge which runs south from Cape Hatteras paralleling the coast lines of the Bahamas encloses the Blake-Bahama Basin (Ericson, Ewing, and Heezen, 1952); a narrow abyssal plain is found along its western margin. This plain is named the Blake-Bahama Abyssal Plain.

Between the Greater Antilles and the Bahama Banks is a depression called the Old Bahama Channel in the north; farther south it is known as the Hispaniola-Caicos Channel. The Hispaniola-Caicos Channel in particular contains an abyssal plain which, although much smaller than the large, deep-sea abyssal plains, has all the characteristics of slope flatness and sediment composition. This is called the Hispaniola-Caicos Abyssal Plain.

The smallest, yet perhaps the most striking, Atlantic abyssal plains are those at the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench at depths of about 4358 fathoms (4585 corrected). They exhibit the proper degree of flatness, low gradient (Ewing and Heezen, 1955), and the shallow-water clastic sediments typical of abyssal plains.

South of Cuba in the southwest corner of the diagram lies a major deep-sea trench. Only the eastern end of this Cayman Trench is shown in the diagram. On the floor of this steep-walled trench lies a narrow trench plain or system of semi-connected trench plains which lie at depths of about 3000 fathoms south of Guantanamo, Cuba, but deepen to 3692 fathoms south of the Cayman Islands. These are known as the Cayman Trench Plains. This area will be described in more detail in a later publication devoted to the topography of the Caribbean.

In the eastern Atlantic each abyssal plain has been crossed at least three times by ships employing a PDR, a coverage which, although sufficient to establish their existence, is vastly inferior to the coverage of the western Atlantic abyssal plains. The Biscay Abyssal Plain occupies a large portion of the Bay of Biscay. It is connected by an abyssal gap at 43° 30´N., 12° 00´W., to the Iberia Abyssal Plain which lies west of the northern two-thirds of the Iberian Peninsula. A small abyssal plain west of the Tagus River takes its name from this river. The great abyssal plain which skirts Madeira on the east and south and extends over a vast area to the west is referred to as the Madeira Abyssal Plain. The Canary Islands and associated banks form the boundaries of a small oval depression known as the Canary Abyssal Plain. The vast abyssal plain which skirts the African continent west of Cape Verde is named the Cape Verde Abyssal Plain.

The eastern margin of the map just reaches the abyssal plain in the western Mediterranean which Heezen and Ewing (1955) have named the Balearic Abyssal Plain.

Abyssal plains were not discovered until the use of continuously recording echo sounders was extended to abyssal depths following World War II (Tolstoy and Ewing, 1949). While the early nonprecision echo sounders were sometimes adequate to distinguish the limits of particular plains, real advances in their study required the development of precision sounders and the extensive use thereof (Heezen, Ewing, and Ericson, 1954). Since the very existence of abyssal plains has been known for less than 10 years and only recently have any of them been adequately delineated, the problem of their nomenclature has never before arisen.

In the cases of the Nares and Sohm abyssal plains we have taken the name Murray has given to the "deeps" in which the plains occur. For Cape Verde, Iberia, and Newfoundland abyssal plains we have followed the name Wüst (1940b) proposed for the basin within which the plains lie. The Biscay, Tagus, Hatteras, Blake-Bahama, Hispaniola-Caicos, and Balearic have been given the name of a prominent near-by land area, in accordance with recognized practice. The Horseshoe Abyssal Plain takes its name from the horseshoe-shaped line of seamounts which surrounds it except on the eastern side.

Regional description.—The relief of the abyssal plains is so low that ordinary small-scale exaggerated profiles (Pls. 22, 27) reveal nothing of its detailed character. In a few areas exceptionally good PDR records have been obtained which show relief of a few feet (Pl. 12).

SOHM ABYSSAL PLAIN: The best-studied abyssal plain is the Sohm Abyssal Plain south of Newfoundland. In addition to the 1953 Vema PDR survey (Heezen et al., 1954) the area was studied extensively in 1955 and crossed by the trans-Atlantic cruises of 1954 and 1956. The plain is T-shaped and generally about 200 miles wide; depths range from 2700 to 3000 fathoms (uncorrected). The depth increases in each arm of the T toward the stem where the slope changes to south. The greatest depth is found at the south boundary of the plain near 29° N. In the northern part of the plain small topographic irregularities are unknown, but toward the south peaks 50 to 500 fathoms high increase in number until they finally replace the plain. North of the Bermuda Rise the plain surrounds a line of huge seamounts. However, even here no small hills are found. In the strip extending between 30° and 37° N., the east and west boundaries of the plain are formed by scarps 200 to 800 fathoms high. The boundary on the north side of the Bermuda Rise is formed by a distinct shallowing, but no scarp is seen.

There is some justification for separating the northwest arm of the Sohm Abyssal Plain north of the Bermuda Rise from the rest of the Sohm Abyssal Plain since a mid-ocean canyon runs from the northwest to the central sections of the plain. A sill might lie northeast of the northeast tip of the Bermuda Rise. Here the bottom gradient changes slightly, and an extremely large magnetic anomaly is associated with the region. However, the plain narrows only slightly at this point, and, since we cannot tell how many individual basins were filled to form an abyssal plain, we will consider that the Sohm Plain now includes the whole area, keeping in mind that the northwest arm may have only recently merged with the rest.

South of Newfoundland the continental rise merges with the abyssal plain with no scarp or line of hills. Here the boundary is taken at the point where the gradient is gentler than 1:1000. This is not an entirely arbitrary definition since an appreciable change in gradient generally occurs near this point. South of the boundary the gradient gradually decreases to 1:3000 at 37° N., beyond which it decreases even more gradually and reaches 1:5000 at the southern edge of the plain.

HATTERAS ABYSSAL PLAIN: Northeast of the Bermuda Rise on a line between Long Island (N. Y.) and Bermuda a small area of abyssal hills lies between the continental rise on the northwest, the Bermuda Rise on the southeast, the Sohm Abyssal Plain on the northeast, and the Hatteras Abyssal Plain on the southwest. Although this area has been traversed by more tracks than any area of similar size in the Atlantic, the relationships here are still somewhat obscure. This area of some 6000 square miles is one of irregular relief, but it is not known if it is of the character of an irregular sill or a complex abyssal gap, although the latter seems more probable. The northwest margin of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain is abruptly formed by the lower continental rise hills. The eastern boundary is generally distinct and in places is formed by a 50- or 100-fathom scarp, but generally it is not so impressive as the east and west boundaries of the Sohm Abyssal Plain. South of about 34° N., the western boundary of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain is formed by the outer ridge. In some sectors the eastern flank of the outer ridge is rather gentle, and the abyssal plain gently laps the ridge without a sharp break. This boundary is generally sharp north of 27° N. but to the south is less definite. The Hatteras Plain slopes southeast to about 31° N. where the direction of slope changes to south. A gradient of about 1:3000 and depths of about 2900 fathoms are reached at 25° N. Within about 60 miles of Vema Gap the plain is broken by numerous mid-ocean canyons which converge on the gap (Pl. 14, fig. 3). The Hatteras Abyssal Plain has no known seamounts or sea knolls, in contrast to the Sohm Abyssal Plain and Nares Abyssal Plain.

The sediments of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain resemble the northern abyssal plains in having many beds of quartz silts (Pl. 28) and contrast sharply with the Blake-Bahama Abyssal Plain where calcareous sands are abundant. On the west the outer ridge forms a continuous barrier to turbidity-current sediments coming from the near-by Bahamas so that the only source of turbidity-current sediments is from the Cape Hatteras region to the north or possibly from the Hudson Canyon via the suspected abyssal gap mentioned above. The type of sediment is entirely consistent with the gradient of the plain which slopes southward from the Hatteras region.

PDR RECORDS OF MID-OCEAN CANYON NO. 2 AND CANYONS AT VEMA GAP

Depth in fathoms.

Area of each photograph is about 6 by 8 feet.

Plate 15.—OCEAN-BOTTOM PHOTOGRAPHS OF SEAMOUNTS

Positions of stations shown on Plate 30

BLAKE-BAHAMA ABYSSAL PLAIN: The Blake-Bahama Basin is a long narrow basin between the great Blake Escarpment and calcareous Bahama Island banks on the west and the outer ridge on the east. A narrow abyssal plain 20 to 70 miles wide spreads out from the base of the escarpment (Pl. 5, fig. 3). The plain is shallowest and widest just east of the Northeast Providence Channel and deepens and narrows toward its northern and southern ends. Sediment cores taken 60 miles off the mouth of Northeast Providence Channel contained graded beds of calcareous sand a few meters thick (Ericson et al., 1952). The material was obviously derived from the Bahamas, presumably through the action of turbidity currents running out through the Providence Channels, the southern entrance of Exuma Sound, and the numerous submarine canyons which dissect the slopes off the islands. The depth of the plain ranges from 2600 to 2750 fathoms, and its area is about 7000 square miles.

NARES ABYSSAL PLAIN: South and southeast of the Bermuda Rise lies the Nares Plain, a 37,000-square-mile abyssal plain that slopes eastward from Vema Gap toward the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. From 62° to 64° W. its northern and southern boundaries are abrupt, and only three or four small abyssal hills have been observed in the plain. East of 64° W. the gradient of the plain exceeds 1:2500, and the frequency of hills increases until at 61° W. the plain consists of a series of fingers which extend into the abyssal hills. The sediment cores obtained in the Nares Abyssal Plain consist of alternating red clays and quartz silts (Ericson et al., 1952; in press). The Nares Abyssal Plain is the deepest of the broad abyssal plains of the ocean-basin floor. It is also the farthest from the land. If the turbidity currents smoothed the Nares Plain they would all have had to flow through Vema Gap since the outer ridge-trench complex to the south prevents currents from this area from reaching the Nares Abyssal Plain. The idea of a route through Vema Gap is supported by the fact that the plain slopes eastward from the gap.

HISPANIOLA-CAICOS ABYSSAL PLAIN: The depression between the Bahamas and the coasts of Cuba and Hispaniola deepens east of Cay Lobos and reaches its maximum depth of 2220 fathoms northwest of Cape Francis Viejo of Hispaniola. At Cay Lobos the channel is a steep V-shaped depression with a maximum depth of 400 fathoms, but to the east this V-shaped channel opens out to an abyssal plain about 1500 fathoms deep. Between this point and Great Inagua Island the flat floor slopes east reaching a depth of 1575 fathoms just southwest of Inagua. This portion is called the Old Bahama Abyssal Plain. South of Great Inagua is another V-shaped channel in which the depth drops from 1700 fathoms on the west to 2200 fathoms on the east. From this point to Cape Francis Viejo the Hispaniola-Caicos Abyssal Plain is nearly flat. Sediments collected from this plain confirmed the turbidity-current origin of the smooth topography. The cores contained plant debris, shallow-water fossils, and a variety of reworked older material (Ericson, Ewing, and Heezen, 1952; Ewing and Heezen, 1955; Ericson et al., 1955).

PUERTO RICO TRENCH (ABYSSAL) PLAINS: A trench plain is an abyssal plain in the bottom of a deep-sea trench. Since the discovery of the Puerto Rico Trench (Abyssal) Plains similar features have been reported for the Middle America Trench (Fisher, 1954), the Kurile-Kamchatka Trench (Udintsev, 1955), and the Peru-Chile Trench (Zeigler, 1958). Two trench plains are known from the Puerto Rico Trench. The smaller one occupies a basin south of a median ridge, and the larger one lies along the deep axis of the trench. They range in width from 1-2 miles to about 12 miles. Sediment cores taken in the trench plain contained beds of graded calcareous sand containing fragments of Halimeda and shallow benthic Foraminifera (Ericson, Ewing, and Heezen, 1952). The depth of the larger trench plain ranges only slightly from 4358 fathoms (4585 fathoms corrected). The trench shallows eastward, and the plains disappear.

CAYMAN TRENCH (ABYSSAL) PLAINS: The Cayman Trench contains trench plains very similar to those in the Puerto Rico Trench. The limits of the Cayman Trench Plains shown on the physiographic diagram may not be too reliable; it has not been redrafted since the most recent tracks shown on the track chart were obtained.

BISCAY ABYSSAL PLAIN: The Bay of Biscay is occupied by a large abyssal plain which begins a few miles north of the northern limit of the map and ends at the Theta Gap at 43° 30´N. The plain ranges from 2550 to 2650 fathoms in depth and is about 200 miles wide. Cores of graded sand and silt have been obtained from the floor of the plain. Several mid-ocean canyons 3 to 5 fathoms deep and a quarter of a mile to 2 miles wide have been observed in the plain (Pl. 8), but data are not sufficient to determine their exact courses. It is suggested that they converge on Theta Gap and that some may be extensions of submarine canyons of the continental slope.

IBERIA ABYSSAL PLAIN: South of Theta Gap and west of the northern third of the Iberian Peninsula lies an oval abyssal plain of about 25,000 square miles. The depth of this plain ranges from 2770 fathoms near Theta Gap and at the base of the continental rise to 2820 fathoms near the eastern margin of the abyssal hills province. The plain fans out from Theta Gap and gradually merges with the normal westward slope from the continental rise of north Iberia.

TAGUS ABYSSAL PLAIN: West of the canyons off the mouth of the Tagus lies a small circular plain of 7100 square miles. Its depth ranges from 2650 to 2700 fathoms, and it slopes westward with slightly fan-shaped contours extending from the mouths of the two large canyons. A recent sediment sampling campaign revealed numerous graded silt and sand layers in the plain (Pl. 28).

HORSESHOE ABYSSAL PLAIN: A small abyssal plain of 5200 square miles lies in the center of a horseshoe-shaped ring of seamounts, just west of Gibraltar.

MADEIRA AND CAPE VERDE ABYSSAL PLAINS: From Gibraltar to Cape Verde and extending southward to the Sierra Leone Rise at 10° N. a vast abyssal plain parallels the coast of Africa. For most of its length the western boundary of this plain is 750 miles from the coast. The average width of the plain is 200 miles, and it occasionally reaches 300 miles. An eastward extension of the abyssal hills approaches within 200 miles of the Canary Islands, forming a natural constriction which divides the plain into a northern part, the Madeira Abyssal Plain, and a southern part, the Cape Verde Abyssal Plain.

The Madeira Abyssal Plain occupies 150,000 square miles. The Azores-Gibraltar Ridge forms its northern boundary, and the abyssal hills its western boundary. Depths near the seaward limit of the plain reach 2970 fathoms. The northern part of the Madeira Plain is broken by a series of low scarps (Pl. 13, fig. 3). The gradient of the plain between successive scarps is about 1:1500.

The Cape Verde Abyssal Plain occupies 200,000 square miles of sea floor (Pl. 9, fig. 3). The transition from abyssal plain to abyssal hills is gradual. Many hills are scattered in the plain near the boundary. Small scarps of the kind observed in the Madeira Abyssal Plain have not been found.

Recent soundings southwest of Madeira indicate that a low topographic feature which might be called the Madeira Rise continues into the northeast part of the area shown as Madeira Abyssal Plain. This abyssal plain is thus somewhat smaller than indicated in the drawings. Two PDR records from this rise area are illustrated (Pl. 13, figs. 1, 2). Since the limits of the Madeira Abyssal Plain are based on only four sounding profiles, future surveys will cause relatively great changes in this portion of the diagram.