Deep-water canyon-channel systems of the Queensland Plateau, Northeast Australia

Sediment conduits like erosive canyons and channels are common morphological elements of submarine landscapes down to abyssal depths. While canyon-channel systems connected to slopes and shallow water are well studied, detached sediment-routing systems emerging in deeper waters have received less attention, especially in carbonate settings. We study the sedimentary architecture and evolution of an extensive canyon-channel system in the ‘Willis Passage’, a marine strait between the Magdelaine and Willis carbonate banks (Queensland Plateau, northeast Australia). The canyon-channel system is detached from the slopes of the carbonate banks, emerges at depths of >500 m and runs over more than 100 km towards the slope break of the carbonate plateau. The canyon is several kilometres wide and several tens of metres deep. Morphological edges (knickpoints) occur along the canyon course; one with a plunge pool at its downstream foot wall. Current ripples and coarse-grained lag deposits at the floor of the canyon indicate bottom-current activity and possibly winnowing of fine-grained sediment. The seafloor outside the canyon is intersected by bundles of grooves (linear seafloor cuts), tens of kilometres long. Sedimentological and morphological characteristics indicate that canyon-channel system and grooves are shaped by eastward-flowing bottom currents, which is in a direction counter to the dominant westward-flowing oceanic current regime. We propose that eastward-flowing sediment-laden bottom currents originate from the channelization of oceanic currents by the carbonate edifices of the Queensland Plateau, paired with tidal pumping in the narrow passages between the banks. This mechanism is most efficient during episodes of lowered sea level, while bottom currents are much weaker during sea-level highstand. Our seismic data reveal the existence of buried individual canyon-channel systems and document that the Queensland Plateau underwent episodic changes in the local current regime since the upper Miocene. Based on new geophysical and oceanographic data, as well as video observations of the seafloor, we show that slope-detached deep-water canyon-channel systems act as a conveyor, routing sediment from carbonate platforms to the deep ocean. As a link between the neritic realm and abyssal depths, these systems are important agents of dismantling and degradation of carbonate platforms and underline the role of bottom currents in shaping these depositional environments. • Slope-detached canyon-channel systems occur in deeper waters surrounding the carbonate banks. • Canyons are >100 km long, several kilometres wide, and tens of meters deep. • Submarine landforms include block fields, > 10 km long grooves, plunge pools, and mega-ripples. • Canyon formation by bottom currents is opposed to the prevailing oceanic current regime.