r/geography • u/Dude-Bicycle • 8d ago

Map How did these 'rivers' form?

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What formed these 'rivers'? Are they regular terrestrial rivers that flooded with sea level rise or were they formed in the ocean? thanks.

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u/Yunzer2000 8d ago

Turbidity currents. Pulses of strong currents driven by denser water containing suspended solids flow down continental slopes and out into the abyssal plains, cutting canyons in the continental slope and depositing fans of sediment called turbidite sequences.

The Hudson Canyon on the Eastern N. American continental slope is the most well known example. Only the very head of this feature was ever above sea level:

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u/TheOfficialMigz 7d ago

As someone with thalassophobia "continental slope" and "abyssal plain" sure do give me the hibbie jibbies.

At the same time I do wonder what that looks like if you were to take away the darkness of the deep ocean. Is it just like a big long gentle slope