ELSEVIER Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210

Acoustic backscatter of the 1995 flood deposit on the Eel shelf

Jeffry C. Borgeld a, , John E. Hughes Clarke b , John A. Goff c , Larry A. Mayer b ,
Jennifer A. Curtis d
a Department of Oceanography, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, USA
bUniversity of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada
c University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, Austin, TX 78759, USA
d Department of Geology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, USA

Received 24 March 1997; accepted 14 April 1998

Abstract

Acoustic swath mapping and sediment box coring conducted on the continental shelf near the mouth of the Eel River
revealed regional variations in acoustic backscatter that can be related to the shelf sedimentology. The acoustic-backscatter
variations observed on the shelf were unusually narrow compared to the response of similar sediment types documented
in other areas. However, the acoustic data revealed four principal bottom types on the shelf that can be related to sedimen-
tologic differences observed in cores. The four areas are: (1) low acoustic backscatter associated with the nearshore-sand
facies and the prodelta terraces of the Eel and Mad rivers, composed of fine sands and coarse silts with low porosity; (2)
high acoustic backscatter associated with fine silts characterized by high porosity and deposited by the 1995 flood of the Eel
River; (3) intermediate acoustic backscatter in the outer-shelf muds, where clayey silts are accumulating and the 1995 flood
apparently had limited direct effect; and (4) intermediate acoustic backscatter near the fringes of the 1995 flood deposits
and in areas where the flood sediments were more disrupted by post-depositional processes. The highest acoustic backscat-
ter was identified in areas where the 1995 flood sediments remained relatively intact and near the shelf surface into the
summer of 1995. Cores collected from these areas contained wavy or lenticular bedding. The rapid deposition of the high-
porosity muddy layers results in better preservation of incorporated ripple forms than in areas less directly impacted by the
flood deposit. The high-porosity muddy layers allow acoustic penetration into the sediments and result in greater acoustic
backscatter from incorporated roughness elements. 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: sedimentation; acoustic backscatter; lenticular bedding; Eel River; flood layer

1. Introduction tal shelf by the flood were recognizable in sedi-

In early 1995, a flood event occurred in north-
ern California that directly impacted the continental
margin near the mouth of the Eel River. Estimates
are that the flood represented approximately a 30-
year event for the Eel River (Syvitski and Morehead,
1999). Strata deposited on the adjacent continen-
Corresponding author. E-mail: jcb2@axe.humboldt.edu
ment cores collected immediately after the event
(Wheatcroft et al., 1996). The core coverage allowed
estimates of the thickness of flood material, the spa-
tial distribution, and a sediment budget for the event
to be constructed (Wheatcroft et al., 1997).
Following the initial deposition of the flood layer,
a sequence of research cruises was conducted to bet-
ter characterize the margin, including the nature and
fate of the recently deposited sediments. Acoustic

0025-3227/99/$ see front matter 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 2 5 - 3 2 2 7 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 1 1 3 - 3
198 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210
swath mapping was done in July 1995, 5 months af-
ter the event; coring cruises were conducted in May
and September 1995, bracketing the swath mapping.
The maps provided rapid, high-resolution, and com-
plete areal coverage that included both bathymetry
and sidescan backscatter data. Backscatter varies in
response to the morphology, composition and fine-
scale roughness of the bed (Urick, 1975). Previous
researchers have used sidescan coverage to deduce
the geologic character of the sea floor (Reut et al.,
1985; Tamsett, 1993; Mitchell and Hughes Clarke,
1994; Stewart et al., 1994). Other researchers have
utilized sidescan data to examine both spatial and
temporal variations in seabed roughness (Jackson,
1986; Hay and Wilson, 1994; Lyons et al., 1994;
Wheatcroft, 1994; Jumars et al., 1996).
The swath mapping revealed few major bathymet-
ric features on the Eel shelf, but that the intensity
of acoustic backscatter varied across the same region
(Goff et al., 1999). Given the absence of signifi-
cant changes in local bathymetry, the differences in
acoustic backscatter on the Eel shelf imply varia-
tions in bottom roughness or subbottom heterogene-
ity (Reut et al., 1985; Tamsett, 1993; Mitchell and
Hughes Clarke, 1994). These variations should be
identifiable in sediment box cores collected from the
same area. If the sources of the variations in acous-
tic backscatter can be identified in the cores, the
sidescan imagery would provide excellent areal cov-
erage that could be used to improve extrapolations of
sediment character between core locations.
2. Study area
The Eel shelf extends from Cape Mendocino
northward to Trinidad Head (Fig. 1). The shelf
area to the north of Eel Canyon is blanketed by
modern sediments supplied primarily from the Eel
and Mad rivers (Borgeld, 1985). The surface sedi-
ments are composed of a sand facies on the inner
shelf, from shore to water depths of 5060 m, and
a clayey silt facies from depths of 6070 m sea-
ward to the shelf=slope break. A transitional facies
occurs in depths ranging from 50 to 70 m, where
the inner-shelf sands interfinger with the outer-shelf
muds (Borgeld, 1985). The primary source of sedi-
ment to this continental margin is from local rivers.
The supply of riverine sediment to the shelf is
episodic with the majority of sediments supplied dur-
ing short-duration winter flood events (Syvitski and
Morehead, 1999). The shelf circulation is principally
wind-driven and variable in response to the seasonal
winds. River flooding occurs most commonly during
the winter when surface currents are directed to the
north (Carlson and Harden, 1975; Pirie and Steller,
1977; Largier et al., 1993).
In early 1995, a flood resulted in the accumulation
of a distinct deposit on the shelf that was recog-
nizable by both sedimentological and geochemical
means (Wheatcroft et al., 1996, 1997). The 1995
flood represented the third highest discharge in an
85-year record, and sediment discharge was roughly
50 times the annual average. Coring conducted in
February 1995 demonstrated that the flood deposit
extended along the shelf 30 km to the north of the
Eel River, and was primarily located in water depths
of 5090 m.
3. Methods
3.1. Acoustic swath mapping
In July 1995, approximately 850 km2 of the Eel
margin were mapped using the Simrad EM-1000
multibeam sonar system aboard the R=V Pacific
Hunter (Fig. 1). The Simrad EM-1000 operates at a
frequency of 95 kHz utilizing multiple beams that
are 3.3 wide in the across-ship direction and 2.5
wide in the along-ship direction. The transducer was
mounted on a portable ram at the vessels bow. A
0.2-ms pulse was transmitted and received using 60
beams, spaced at 2.5 over a 150 sector.
Imperfect knowledge of sound-speed stratification
in the water column (which affected the refracted-
ray-path solution) and imperfect motion compensa-
tion (due to a non-rigid ram) caused increased sound-
ing uncertainty in the outer parts of each swath. As
a result, line spacing was restricted to about 5 times
the water depth, producing significant overlap of
swaths. Using both phase and amplitude detection
methods, the sonar was capable of achieving a verti-
cal resolution of about 0.25% of the water depth for
features that spanned a horizontal distance greater
than 510% of the water depth. Due to uncertainties
 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210 199

Fig. 1. Chart of the study area showing locations of sediment box cores taken in May and September 1995 and swath coverage in July
1995. Core locations for X-radiographs shown in Figs. 5 and 6 are highlighted and numbered. Bathymetric contours are in meters.
200 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210

Fig. 2. Mean sea-floor backscatter for the Eel shelf mapped using the Simrad EM-1000 multibeam sonar system. All backscatter
measurements are averaged within 80 m2 and are presented here as a gray scale ranging from 30 (white) to 35 (black) dB. The
seaward edge of the data is 140-m depth. Superimposed on the backscatter is the isopach of 1995-flood-layer thickness (from Wheatcroft
et al., 1997); contours are thickness of flood layer in centimeters.
 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210
related to the tide, vessel heave, water-column struc-
ture and sonar attitude (Hughes Clarke et al., 1996),
the absolute vertical accuracy was about 1% for the
inner 60 sector and about 23% for the outermost
beams.
In addition to providing detailed bathymetric data,
the EM-1000 also provides a quantitative measure of
the sea-floor backscatter intensity. A time series of
echo amplitudes from each beam is recorded (at 0.2
2.0 ms sampling rate, depending on the water depth).
These echo amplitudes, which are sampled at an
interval that is much finer than the beam spacing, can
be displayed in a sidescan-sonar-like image (Hughes
Clarke et al., 1996) with the across-track resolution
of the sampling interval (15 cm at 0.2 ms). Only
targets that have a horizontal dimension greater than
about 5% of the water depth can be recognized
confidently.
The EM-1000 system corrects the amplitude se-
ries for gain changes, propagation losses, predicted
beam patterns and for the insonified area. Subsequent
processing uses real sea-floor slopes and applies em-
pirically derived beam-pattern corrections to produce
a quantitative estimate of sea-floor backscatter across
the swath. The mean variation with grazing angle
has been removed in an attempt to provide a sin-
gle dimension (mean backscatter intensity) that can
be used as a first-order aid in delineating regional
sediment boundaries (Hughes Clarke, 1994).
The mean intensity of backscatter data for the
entire continental margin is presented as a gray scale
(Goff et al., 1999). The data for the continental shelf
(defined here as shallower than 140 m) ranged from
approximately 35 to 30 dB. The variations seen
on the Eel shelf are unusually narrow compared
to the full range of sediment types observed in
other areas. For example, Hughes Clarke (1993)
documents variations from 45 to 15 dB going
from clays to bedrock. The narrow range reflects
the similarity in sediment type over much of the
Eel shelf. Zonations presented here rely on regional
variations of as little as 1 dB. In order to display
such small changes, the stochastic variation in the
raw backscatter intensities, representing a standard
deviation of as much as 10 dB, has been suppressed
through spatial low-pass filtering. All backscatter
measurements within an 80 m2 area of the sea floor
were averaged and are presented here as a gray
201
scale ranging from 30 (white) to 35 (black) dB
(Fig. 2).
For comparison with seabed core data, the mean
intensity of seabed backscatter has been derived from
a 200 m 200 m area around each core location
(Fig. 1). The 200 m 200 m area for averaging was
selected using an interactive tool when cores were
located either just off the edge of the image or in
areas where the image was corrupted by swath edges
or bubble masking.
3.2. Sediment sampling
An Ocean Instruments box corer was used to
collect cores (20 30 cm cross-section) from the
sea floor. During May 1995, 41 box cores were
collected from the continental shelf; during Septem-
ber, 110 box cores were collected (Fig. 1). Typical
core lengths were from 2050 cm. Subsamples were
taken immediately after cores were brought onboard
the ship and included: (1) 2-cm-thick Plexiglas slabs
inserted vertically into the cores, which were re-
moved and X-radiographed to examine the sedimen-
tary structures; (2) small 1-cm-wide syringe cores to
determine sedimentwater content and porosity; (3)
and surface sediment samples of the upper centime-
ter for particle-size analysis.
Water content and porosity of cores were deter-
mined using small (2.5 cm3 ) syringe cores taken
at 1-cm intervals from the surface to 12-cm depth.
These syringes were extruded into pre-weighed vials,
sealed and returned to the laboratory. The volume
of each syringe core was measured in the labora-
tory. Sedimentwater contents were determined as
wet weight percentages after being dried at 103C
and reweighed. Porosity was calculated from the
weight-percentage water and the weight-percentage
sediment utilizing the syringe-core volumes.
The upper centimeter of the sediment was ana-
lyzed for grain size using standard sieve and pipette
techniques. Samples were disaggregated and organic
material was oxidized using hydrogen peroxide. The
samples were wet sieved through a 25-m-mesh
sieve to separate the fine silts and clays from the
sands and coarse silts. The fraction larger than 25
m was dried and shaken for 30 min through nested
sieves at a class interval of 0.25 (Ingram, 1971).
Sodium hexametaphosphate was added to the fine
202 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210

Fig. 3. Isopachs of mean diameter for the upper centimeter of surface sediments on the Eel shelf, sampled in September 1995. Contours
are in m and are superimposed over sea-floor backscatter (see Fig. 2). Core locations for X-radiographs shown in Figs. 5 and 6 are
highlighted and numbered.
 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210 203

fraction, which was examined in a settling column. Be-7, which is indicative of a terrestrial source, and
Stokes Law was used to calculate grain-size dis- contained organic material with stable-carbon iso-
tributions at 0.50- intervals for the fine silts and topic signatures that also point to a terrestrial origin
1 intervals for the clays (Galehouse, 1971). Sedi- (Wheatcroft et al., 1996). The flood layer deposited
ment statistics were determined using the graphical in early 1995 (Fig. 2) was still recognizable in cores
technique of Inman (1952). collected in May and September 1995. The similar-
ity between cores collected in May and September
suggests that they both give a good representation
4. Results of the sea floor during the swath mapping that was
conducted in July. The distribution (in September)
4.1. Swath bathymetry and acoustic backscatter for mean grain sizes in surface sediment shows a
progressive fining seaward from nearshore sediment
The Eel shelf is topographically smooth. The coarser than 60 m to outer-shelf sediment, finer
small-scale morphologic variations that occur are than 4 m (Fig. 3).
below the resolution of the Simrad EM-1000 system Correlation coefficients were determined between
(Goff et al., 1999). The smooth nature of the shelf acoustic backscatter and surface sediment size, and
is likely a result of the large input of terrigenous between backscatter and average porosity (Fig. 4).
sediments being supplied from the Eel and Mad
rivers. The only notable major bathymetric features
on the shelf between the Eel River and Trinidad Head
are the prodelta terraces of the Eel and Mad rivers,
and a dredge-spoil disposal site near the mouth
of Humboldt Bay. More subtle, longer-wavelength
features are evident in the data and are discussed by
Goff et al. (1999).
Onshoreoffshore and regional differences in
backscatter are apparent on the Eel shelf (Fig. 2).
The lowest backscatter (dB values less than 32.5) is
associated with the nearshore region, shallower than
approximately 45 m, and with the prodelta terraces
of the Eel and Mad rivers. The highest backscatter
region (dB values more than 31.2) occurs on the
mid-shelf region in water depths from 50 to 90 m,
extending from the vicinity of the Humboldt Bay
mouth to the Mad River prodelta terrace. Intermedi-
ate backscatter (dB values from 32.5 to 31.2) is
associated with the outer shelf (>90 m) and with the
transition zone between the nearshore and mid-shelf
regions.

4.2. Shelf surface sediments

The 1995 flood deposited a layer on the shelf that

was distinctive and recognizable in sediment box
cores (Wheatcroft et al., 1996, 1997). The layer was
light tan in color, had high and consistent water con-
tent, was relatively transparent to X-rays, and had a
lack of benthic epifauna. The layer was enriched in
Fig. 4. Sediment porosity and size plotted versus acoustic
backscatter for cores collected in September 1995. Correlation
coefficients are indicated. Porosity data are averages for the up-
per 3 cm; size data are for the upper 1 cm. Correlations are
weak, but suggest highest acoustic backscatter for fine-grained
high-porosity muds.
204 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210
The best correlation between backscatter and poros-
ity occurred when porosity was averaged from 0 to
3 cm. Although correlations are weak (r D 0.63 and
0.55, respectively), the observed trend suggests that
higher-porosity, finer-grained sediments are associ-
ated with higher acoustic backscatter.
5. Discussion
5.1. Regional sedimentology
The shelf area between the Eel River and Trinidad
Head is divided into four regions based on the inten-
sity of acoustic backscatter (Goff et al., 1999). These
regions show distinct sedimentological characteris-
tics.
5.1.1. Inner-shelf low-backscatter region
The box cores collected from this region (dB
values less than 32.5) revealed well-sorted fine
sands and coarse silts that were relatively opaque
to X-rays (Fig. 5). These cores show evidence of
physical cross-stratification, and the sediments grade
seaward from fine sands in shallow water to coarse
silts. The sediments in the cores have relatively low
porosity, less than 50%. This region corresponds to
the prodelta terraces of the Eel and Mad rivers and
to the inner-shelf sand facies discussed by Borgeld
(1985), shallower than about 45 m.
5.1.2. Mid-shelf high-backscatter region
This region covers depths of about 5090 m be-
tween the prodelta terraces of the Eel and Mad
rivers, and corresponds to the northern part of the
zone where sediments accumulated during the 1995
flood event (Fig. 2). These sediments appear to have
retained the high water contents and relative trans-
parency to X-rays that were noted as a signature
of the flood deposit (Wheatcroft et al., 1997). The
surface sediments are clayey silts (mean diameters
from 4 to 15 m). The porosity in the flood sedi-
ments are high (7085%). In some cases, the core
surfaces show evidence of mixing, and the best pre-
served flood material is a few centimeters deep in
the cores. Evident within the flood layer is wavy or
lenticular bedding (Reineck and Singh, 1973). The
coarser-grained layers in the cores are less transpar-
ent to X-rays and commonly display ripple forms,
ripple cross-stratification, or both (Fig. 5).
5.1.3. Shelf transition region of intermediate
backscatter
The transition region between the inner-shelf
sands and the mid-shelf silts corresponds to an area
of intermediate backscatter (Fig. 2). Cores collected
in this region are dominated by flaser or wavy bed-
ding, where laminae of fine sands or coarse silts
alternate with finer silts (Fig. 5). The occurrences
of finer-grained laminae decrease in shallower water.
The cores commonly have a coarser-grained surface
layer that may show evidence of bioturbation.
5.1.4. Outer-shelf intermediate-backscatter region
The outer-shelf regions (>90 m depth) are repre-
sented by intermediate backscatter and are covered
by fine-grained clayey silts. Surface mean sediment
diameters range from 4 to 8 m. This region of the
shelf apparently was not directly impacted by the
1995 flood. The porosity in the surface sediments is
relatively high (5560%) and decreases with depth
in the upper few centimeters of the cores. Core
X-radiographs commonly display mottling with oc-
casional biogenic structures, and little evidence of
primary physical stratification (Fig. 5).
5.2. Surface backscatter
With the absence of steep changes in local
bathymetry, the regional differences in backscatter
that were evident on the Eel shelf imply differ-
ences in acoustic roughness (Reut et al., 1985; Tam-
sett, 1993; Mitchell and Hughes Clarke, 1994). The
sidescan backscatter intensity responds to bottom
roughness and sub-bottom heterogeneity at scales on
the order of 0.52 times the acoustic wavelength
at typical grazing angles for sidescan surveys in
this case, roughness of about 0.52 cm (Jackson,
1986; Goff et al., 1996). Surface and shallow subsur-
face roughness, generated by biological and physical
means, can cause variations in sidescan backscat-
ter (Jackson, 1986; Wheatcroft, 1994; Jumars et al.,
1996).
Jackson and Briggs (1992) used a 40-kHz system
to examine roughness at a site on the Russian River
shelf (91-m depth) and concluded that backscatter-
 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210 205

Fig. 5. Representative core X-radiograph negatives and porosity profiles from the four regions identified on the Eel shelf. Darker colors
indicate core sections more transparent to X-rays. Core locations are shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Sta. G60 is relatively opaque to X-rays,
and reveals some cross-laminations; sediment porosity is low (4651%). Sta. U70 has a surface flood layer, about 4 cm thick, of high
porosity (7073%), underlain by lower-porosity sediments (5558%), less transparent to X-rays. At a depth of about 2 cm within the
flood material, a layer (rippled?) less transparent to X-rays is evident. Sta. U110 is bioturbated and intermediate in regard to X-ray
transparency. Porosity is high in the surface layer (77%) and decreases with depth (to 6567%). Sta. S50 displays wavy and lenticular
bedding with variable porosity (5066%).

ing was primarily due to acoustic penetration into (1994) re-examined acoustic backscatter at this loca-
the seabed with subsequent scattering from inhomo- tion and concluded that their 40-kHz sonar was also
geneities within the sediment. Dworski and Jackson penetrating the surface sediments. They evaluated
206 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210
how deeply their signal was penetrating and esti-
mated approximately 2 cm at a range of 40 m away
from their source. Lyons et al. (1994) examined data
from Monterey Fan and concluded that in some ar-
eas acoustic returns were dominated by scattering
from random inhomogeneities within the sediments.
Therefore, features below the surface of the Eel shelf
could be responsible for the regional differences in
backscatter that are observed.
5.3. Source of roughness
In shelf environments, physically generated
roughness occurs principally as ripples and megarip-
ples (Komar et al., 1972; Clifton, 1976; Hay and Wil-
son, 1994), whereas biologically generated rough-
ness occurs in the form of mounds, tracks, trails and
burrow openings (Wheatcroft, 1994; Jumars et al.,
1996). These features have been described in similar
shelf sediments in a number of environments; the bi-
ological features have been produced at the expense
of physically generated features (Komar et al., 1972;
Sternberg and Larsen, 1975; Wheatcroft, 1994). Ko-
mar et al. (1972) identified ripples across the entire
Oregon continental shelf in bottom photographs, to
depths up to 200 m. These bedforms were fresh (i.e.
with sharp crests) during only a single winter cruise.
At other times of year, the ripples showed marked
differences that had resulted from burrowing activ-
ities of benthic organisms that partially destroyed
or rounded the primary ripple forms. The ripple
wave lengths ranged from 8 to 21 cm, ripple heights
ranged from 1.5 to 7 cm (Komar et al., 1972). Jumars
et al. (1996) noted similar degradation of sediment
ripples following storm events on the shelf near
the Russian River, where many animals re-excavated
feeding pits that were partially filled by deposition
events. This presumably caused backscatter to return
more closely to its predeposition state than if these
animals had not acted. Wheatcroft (1994) examined
the process of ripple degradation in more detail at a
91-m site near the Russian River and found that all
physical bedforms were destroyed by bioturbation
in periods of hours to days. The mean height of
seabed features ranged from 3.2 mm to 9.2 mm, with
maximum bed relief not exceeding 5 cm.
The episodic nature of storms and riverine sedi-
ment supply are well documented both on modern
margins and in preserved shelf sequences (Drake,
1976; Walker et al., 1983; Swift et al., 1987; Wright
et al., 1987; Snedden et al., 1988). A number of
investigators have recognized the deposition of pri-
mary sedimentary structures and subsequent modifi-
cation or destruction of these strata by bioturbation
(Komar et al., 1972; Sternberg and Larsen, 1975;
Wheatcroft, 1994). Preservation of physical strati-
fication occurs when post-depositional modification
is limited, for example, by rapid burial or limited
benthic activity (due to unfavorable environmental
conditions). As noted above, researchers working in
northern California also have suggested that phys-
ically generated roughness elements may be larger
than biologically generated elements (Wheatcroft,
1994; Jumars et al., 1996). This suggests that acous-
tic roughness may be reduced by the onset of bio-
turbation, as surface features are degraded and strata
are mixed. Wheatcroft (1994) has suggested that
such activity may occur rapidly. Therefore, in order
to maintain and preserve physical roughness, preser-
vation (e.g., by burial) also must occur rapidly.
5.4. Roughness preservation
Preservation of ripple forms within a mud ma-
trix is commonly referred to as wavy or lenticular
bedding, depending principally on the relative abun-
dance of sand and mud in the deposit (Reineck and
Wunderlich, 1968). The genesis of such bedding
requires conditions in which sand and mud layers
can alternately be deposited, preserving sharp con-
tacts between them (McCave, 1970; Terwindt and
Breusers, 1972; Reineck and Singh, 1973; Hawley,
1981b). The deposition of a mud layer over a sandy,
rippled bed can occur with a decreasing shear stress
and a sufficient fine-grained sediment load. The de-
position of a sandy rippled layer over a mud layer
requires that the shear stress transporting the sand be
less and of shorter duration than that needed to re-
mobilize all of the underlying mud. Hawley (1981b)
has suggested that the appropriate conditions are
either a very large supply of mud with sand sup-
plied intermittently or mud deposition followed by
a period of flow velocities insufficient for sediment
transport, thus allowing the muds to consolidate. The
mud consolidation would need to elevate the criti-
cal shear stress for the bed such that a subsequent
 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210 207

flow could transport sands and form ripples without

eroding all of the underlying mud (McCave, 1971;
Reineck and Singh, 1973; Hawley, 1981b). Hawley
(1981a) has shown that sufficient consolidation of
mud beds (1-cm thick) occurs within about 5 h after
the initiation of deposition.
Optimal conditions for the formation of wavy and
lenticular bedding may have occurred on the Eel
shelf during the 1995 flood. Three pulses of high
discharge occurred from January through March of
1995 (Wheatcroft et al., 1997). Intermixed with the
high discharge were periods when waves were en-
ergetic enough to have remobilized and resuspended
bed sediments (Wiberg et al., 1996). As bottom or-
bital velocities increase, bottom roughness generally
increases in the form of ripples and sand waves
(Allen, 1970, 1982; Miller and Komar, 1980). If flow
intensity increases to the point where sediments are
resuspended, roughness is reduced and the bedforms
disappear. Once the storm passes, the waning orbital
velocities can no longer suspend sediments and bed
roughness increases as bedforms reappear. In the
event that a large sediment pulse was introduced,
rapid deposition could bury and preserve ripples that
had been produced. If however, ripples were left ex-
posed at the sediment surface, they would experience
degradation as the benthic biological communities
recovered. Ripple forms buried within the seabed as
wavy or lenticular bedding would be able to preserve
the roughness elements associated with a storm.
Photographic examination of the sea floor several
months after an event may reveal little fresh evidence
of it, if the benthic communities are able to quickly
recover and degrade the ripple forms. Briggs and
Logan (1996) examined the seabed on the Eel shelf
in June 1996, using stereo-photography, and noted
that degraded ripples were common and fresh ripples
were not. Acoustic sources, however, are able to pen-
etrate several centimeters into sediments of low den-
sity and high water content similar to those deposited
by the 1995 Eel River flood (Jackson and Briggs, Fig. 6. Representative X-radiograph negatives of cores collected
from the shelf area where Wheatcroft et al. (1997) identified
1992; Dworski and Jackson, 1994). Buried within the
flood sediments in February 1995 (Fig. 2). Darker colors indicate
deposit are larger roughness elements in the form of core sections more transparent to X-rays. Core locations are
sand and silt ripples preserved as wavy or lenticular shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The cores contain lenticular bedding
bedding (Fig. 6). These are of a size, about one-half with well-preserved ripples that are denser and less transparent
to twice the acoustic wavelength (13 cm), which to X-rays.
are extremely important in generating acoustic slant-
range backscatter (Jackson, 1986). The acoustic
208 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210
swath mapping that was conducted on the Eel shelf
in July 1995, 45 months after the last flood pulse,
identifies this area by the greatest relative backscat-
ter. The cores collected in May and September, be-
fore and after the swath mapping, identify the same
area by the preservation of fine-grained, high-water-
content sediments with wavy and lenticular bedding.
6. Conclusions
In this study, we have examined the variations
in acoustic backscatter that existed on the Eel shelf
during the summer of 1995. These backscatter data
have been compared to sediment properties that were
sampled with box cores. The acoustic backscatter
seen on the Eel shelf during July 1995 revealed
a relatively small range of variation, compared to
that documented in other areas (Hughes Clarke,
1993). The narrow range, from 35 to 30 dB,
reflects the actively accumulating modern sediments
on the Eel shelf and the similarity in sediment
types over most of the shelf surveyed. Although
the acoustic backscatter variations were of narrow
range, they could be compared to the shelf sedi-
mentology to identify four primary regions: (1) low
acoustic backscatter associated with the inner-shelf
sand facies and the prodelta terraces of the Eel and
Mad rivers, composed of fine sands and coarse silts
with low water contents; (2) high acoustic backscat-
ter associated with fine-grained, high-water-content
sediments deposited by the 1995 flood of the Eel
River, which remained near the sediment surface and
relatively intact into the summer of 1995; (3) inter-
mediate acoustic backscatter in the transition region
between the inner-shelf sands and the 1995 flood
deposits, and in areas where the flood sediments
were more disrupted by post-depositional processes
or had been buried more than several centimeters be-
low the seabed surface; and (4) intermediate acoustic
backscatter in the outer-shelf muds, in water depths
greater than about 90 m, where clayey silts are accu-
mulating and the 1995 flood apparently had limited
direct effect.
The highest acoustic backscatter was observed in
locations where the fine-grained, high-water-content
sediments characteristic of the 1995 flood deposit
remained generally intact and near the seabed into
the summer of 1995. These sediments contained
wavy or lenticular bedding. The low bulk density
of the muddy surficial deposits would have allowed
acoustic penetration into the sediments and resulted
in acoustic backscatter from incorporated roughness
elements. The elements at depth in the sediment
were larger and less disrupted by post-depositional
physical mixing and bioturbation than those at or
near the sediment surface. These better-preserved
elements resulted in greater acoustic backscatter than
other areas of the Eel shelf, where post-depositional
modifications had been more intense. In areas where
the flood deposit had been disrupted by bioturbation
or had been buried to several centimeters below
the seabed surface, the acoustic backscatter was, in
general, lower and more variable.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribu-
tion of the many STRATAFORM scientists, with-
out whom this work would not have been possi-
ble. We especially thank the undergraduate students
from Humboldt State University who assisted in
this project. We appreciate constructive discussions
with Kevin Briggs, Dave Cacchione, Courtney Har-
ris, Dick Sternberg, Andrea Ogsten, Rob Wheatcroft,
and Pat Wiberg. We thank Rob Evans, Don Swift,
Don Wright, an unidentified reviewer, and especially
Chuck Nittrouer for their efforts reviewing this pa-
per. Thanks go to Anna Boyette for her help with
graphics. This work was supported by the Office of
Naval Research, through grants N-00014-95-1-0035
and N-00014-95-1-1085.
References
Allen, J.R.L., 1970. Physical Processes of Sedimentation. Allen
and Unwin, London, 248 pp.
Allen, J.R.L., 1982. Sedimentary Structures: Their Character and
Physical Basis, Vol. 1. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 593 pp.
Borgeld, J.C., 1985. Holocene Stratigraphy and Sedimentation on
the Northern California Continental Shelf. Ph.D. Dissertation,
Univ. of Washington, Seattle, 177 pp.
Briggs, K.B., Logan, M., 1996. Eel River study 1996, cruise
reports for W9605A, Leg 2. NRL Rep., Stennis Space Center,
MI, 86 pp.
Carlson, P.R., Harden, D.R., 1975. ERTS observations of surface
 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210
currents along the Pacific coast of the United States. In: Carl-
son, P.R., Conomos, T.J., Janda, R.J., Petersen, D.H. (Eds.),
Principal Sources and Dispersal Patterns of Suspended Par-
ticulate Matter in Nearshore Surface Waters of the Northeast
Pacific Ocean. ERTS-1 Final Rep., NTIS E75-10266, pp. 100
126.
Clifton, H.E., 1976. Wave-formed sedimentary structures a
conceptual model. In: Davis Jr., R.A., Ethington, R.L. (Eds.),
Beach and Nearshore Sedimentation. Soc. Econ. Paleontol.
Mineral. Spec. Publ. 24, 126148.
Drake, D.E., 1976. Suspended sediment transport and mud de-
position on continental shelves. In: Stanley, D.J., Swift, D.J.P.
(Eds.), Marine Sediment Transport and Environmental Man-
agement. Wiley, New York, pp. 127158.
Dworski, J.G., Jackson, D.R., 1994. Spatial and temporal varia-
tion of acoustic backscatter in the STRESS experiment. Cont.
Shelf Res. 14, 12211237.
Galehouse, J.S., 1971. Sedimentation analysis. In: Carver, R.E.
(Ed.), Procedures in Sedimentary Petrology. Wiley, New York,
pp. 6994.
Goff, J.A., Mayer, L.A., Hughes Clarke, J.E., Pratson, L.F.,
1996. Swath mapping on the continental shelf and slope: the
Eel River basin, northern California. Oceanography 9, 178
182.
Goff, J.A., Orange, D.L., Mayer, L.A., Hughes Clarke, J.E.,
1999. Detailed investigation of continental shelf morphology
using a high-resolution swath sonar survey: the Eel margin,
northern California. Mar. Geol. 154, 255269.
Hawley, N., 1981a. Mud consolidation during a short time inter-
val. Geo. Mar. Lett. 1, 710.
Hawley, N., 1981b. Flume experiments on the origin of flaser
bedding. Sedimentology 28, 699712.
Hay, A.E., Wilson, D.J., 1994. Rotary sidescan images of
nearshore bedform evolution during a storm. Mar. Geol. 119,
5765.
Hughes Clarke, J.E., 1993. The potential for seabed classification
using backscatter from shallow water multibeam sonars. In:
Pace, N., Langhorne, D.N. (Eds.), Acoustic Classification and
Mapping of the Seafloor. Proc. Inst. Acoust. 15, 381388.
Hughes Clarke, J.E., 1994. Toward remote seafloor classifica-
tion using the angular response of acoustic backscattering: a
case study from multiple overlapping GLORIA data. IEEE J.
Oceanic Eng. 19, 364374.
Hughes Clarke, J.E., Mayer, L.A., Wells, D.E., 1996. Shallow-
water imaging multibeam sonars: a new tool for investigating
seafloor processes in the coastal zone and on the continental
shelf. Mar. Geophys. Res. 18, 607629.
Ingram, R.L., 1971. Sieve analysis. In: Carver, R.E. (Ed.), Pro-
cedures in Sedimentary Petrology. Wiley, New York, pp. 49
67.
Inman, D.L., 1952. Measures for describing the size distributions
of sediments. J. Sediment. Petrol. 22, 125145.
Jackson, D.R., 1986. High-frequency bottom backscatter mea-
surements in shallow water. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 80, 1188
1199.
Jackson, D.R., Briggs, K.B., 1992. High-frequency bottom
209
backscattering: roughness vs. sediment volume scattering. J.
Acoust. Soc. Am. 92, 962977.
Jumars, P.A., Jackson, D.R., Gross, T.F., Sherwood, C., 1996.
Acoustic remote sensing of benthic activity: a statistical ap-
proach. Limnol. Oceanogr. 41, 12201241.
Komar, P.D., Neudeck, R.H., Kulm, L.D., 1972. Observations
and significance of deep-water oscillatory ripple marks on
the Oregon continental shelf. In: Swift, D.J.P., Duane, D.B.,
Pilkey, O.H. (Eds.), Shelf Sediment Transport: Process and
Pattern. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, PA, pp.
601619.
Largier, J.L., Magnell, B.A., Winant, C.D., 1993. Subtidal circu-
lation over the northern California shelf. J. Geophys. Res. 98,
1814718179.
Lyons, A.P., Anderson, A.L., Dwan, F.S., 1994. Acoustic scat-
tering from the seafloor: modeling and data comparison. J.
Acoust. Soc. Am. 95, 24412451.
McCave, I.N., 1970. Deposition of fine-grained suspended sedi-
ments from tidal currents. J. Geophys. Res. 75, 41514159.
McCave, I.N., 1971. Wave effectiveness at the sea bed and its
relationship to bed-forms and deposition of mud. J. Sediment.
Petrol. 41, 8996.
Miller, M.C., Komar, P.D., 1980. A field investigation of the
relationship between oscillation ripple spacing and the near-
bottom water orbital motions. J. Sediment. Petrol. 50, 183
191.
Mitchell, N.C., Hughes Clarke, J.E., 1994. Classification of
seafloor geology using multibeam sonar data from the Sco-
tian shelf. Mar. Geol. 121, 143160.
Pirie, D.M., Steller, D.D., 1977. California Coastal Processes
Study. Landsat II, Final Rep., 163 pp.
Reineck, H.-E., Singh, I.B., 1973. Depositional Sedimentary
Environments. Springer, Berlin, 551 pp.
Reineck, H.-E., Wunderlich, F., 1968. Classification and origin
of flaser and lenticular bedding. Sedimentology 11, 99104.
Reut, Z., Pace, N.G., Heaton, M.J.P., 1985. Computer classifica-
tion of sea beds by sonar. Nature 314, 426428.
Snedden, J.W., Nummedal, D., Amos, A.F., 1988. Storm- and
fair-weather combined flow on the central Texas continental
shelf. J. Sediment. Petrol. 58, 580595.
Sternberg, R.W., Larsen, L.H., 1975. Threshold of sediment
movement by open ocean waves: observations. Deep-Sea Res.
22, 299309.
Stewart, W.K., Jiang, M., Marra, M., 1994. A neural network
approach to classification of sidescan sonar imagery from a
mid-ocean ridge area. IEEE J. Oceanic Eng. 19, 214224.
Swift, D.J.P., Hudelson, P.M., Brenner, R.L., Thompson, P.,
1987. Storm-deposited sandstones in the Upper Cretaceous
Mesa Verde Group, Book Cliffs, Utah: role of prodelta shelf
depositional systems in the formation of foreland basin depo-
sitional sequences. Sedimentology 34, 423457.
Syvitski, J.P., Morehead, M.D., 1999. Estimating river-sediment
discharge to the ocean: application to the Eel margin, northern
California. Mar. Geol. 154, 1328.
Tamsett, D., 1993. Sea-bed characterization and classification
from the power spectra of side-scan sonar data. Mar. Geophys.
Res. 15, 4364.
210 J.C. Borgeld et al. / Marine Geology 154 (1999) 197210
Terwindt, J.H.J., Breusers, H.N.C., 1972. Experiments on the
origin of flaser, lenticular and sandclay alternating bedding.
Sedimentology 19, 8598.
Urick, R.J., 1975. Principles of Underwater Sound. McGraw-
Hill, New York, 384 pp.
Walker, R.G., Duke, W.L., Leckie, D.A., 1983. Hummocky strat-
ification, significance of its variable bedding sequences: dis-
cussion. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 94, 12451251.
Wheatcroft, R.A., 1994. Temporal variation in bed configura-
tion and one-dimensional bottom roughness at the mid-shelf
STRESS site. Cont. Shelf Res. 14, 11671190.
Wheatcroft, R.A., Borgeld, J.C., Born, R.S., Drake, D.E., Lei-
thold, E.L., Nittrouer, C.A., Sommerfield, C.K., 1996. The
anatomy of an oceanic flood deposit. Oceanography 9, 158
162.
Wheatcroft, R.A., Sommerfield, C.K., Drake, D.E., Borgeld, J.C.,
Nittrouer, C.A., 1997. Rapid and widespread dispersal of flood
sediment on the northern California margin. Geology 25, 163
166.
Wiberg, P.L., Cacchione, D.A., Sternberg, R.W., Wright, L.D.,
1996. Linking sediment transport and stratigraphy on the con-
tinental shelf. Oceanography 9, 153157.
Wright, L.D., Boon III, J.D., Green, M.O., List, J.H., 1987.
Response of the mid-shoreface of the southern mid-Atlantic
bight to a Northeaster. Geo-Mar. Lett. 6, 153160.