| Submarine canyons are major sediment transport conduits that carry coarse material from the continent to the deep-sea, yet few sediment samples collected from submarine canyons exist. A vibracoring system developed at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) was used to collect coarse sediment from Monterey Canyon and has provided the largest collection of modern sediment from a submarine canyon to date.; Grain-size data, quartz-feldspar-lithic ratios, lithologic identification, and facies analysis are the foundation of this thesis. Sand is the predominant material in the channel on Monterey Canyon's floor, with the largest grain sizes occurring at water depths between 1,000 m and 1,500 m. The sand is derived from terrestrial watersheds within the Monterey Bay region, not from the canyon flanks or continental shelf. This study concludes that upper Monterey Canyon (<1,500 m) is an active conduit of coarse-grained material from the shoreline to the lower canyon. |
