Three-dimensional seismic evidence for depositional undulations nucleated around pre-existing relief, South China Sea

Sediment undulations are widely distributed along continental shelf and slope worldwide. The driving mechanisms of undulations are crucial for assessing the long-term stability of continental slope, which, however, remain poorly understood. We used high-resolution 3D seismic data to investigate the internal architecture and origin of a field of seafloor and subsurface undulations along the slope of South China Sea (SCS). The undulations have narrow troughs and broad ridges. The reflection geometries in the troughs between undulations tend to be continuous and not offset by faults. These troughs terminate at different subsurface depths, commonly ranging from 50 to 400 ms in two-way travel time (TWTT) below the seafloor, often at locations related to subsurface geological structures, such as buried faults and steps within mass transport deposits (MTDs). These subsurface terminations therefore suggest that the undulations are probably depositional features not linked to creep-related basal detachment. The troughs between undulations display an absence of growth features, while the undulations increase in amplitude from base to top (characteristics that are also incompatible with gravitational deformation). Erosional and depositional features are commonly found in the undulations; thus, we interpret the narrow troughs between undulations to represent the areas where sediment-laden bottom currents undergo passage from supercritical to subcritical conditions. These troughs nucleated mostly from fault scarps and seafloor steps induced by past slope failures. Previous alternative interpretations report that these features originate from subsurface creep; alternatively, the present interpretation as sediment transport structures has significant implications for seafloor management and engineering projects.