Abstract
Sand waves near the shelf break in the northern South China Sea have not previously been described in detail due to the lack of high-resolution bathymetric data. Their occurrence, however, is important for understanding sand transport and dispersal in the northern South China Sea. Here, using recent bathymetric data, side-scan image, bottom current measurements, and sediment samples collected in 2010 and 2016, we document the distribution, geometry, and mobility of sand waves in five regions along the shelf break of the northern South China Sea. Results show that the sand waves have distinctly different distribution patterns, geometries, and migration behaviors above and below the 145 m isobath. Sand waves at depths greater than 145 m are larger and steeper, and mostly occur on slopes steeper than 0.5°. Their crest lines are aligned parallel to the isobaths and their migration direction is toward the southeast (seaward). In comparison, the sand waves on the gentler sloping seabed at water depths < 145 m migrate toward the northwest with crest lines mostly intersecting the depth contours. Neither the heights nor the wavelengths of the sand waves correlate with water depth, although the two classes of sand wave are restricted to distinct depth intervals. The observed bottom currents, which are characterized by strong velocity pulses, probably relate to internal solitary waves which have the capacity of moving the sediment in the sand wave fields. The height-wavelength relationships of the sand waves correspond to those of subaqueous dunes. The diverging migration directions of the sand waves are interpreted as reflecting the polarity conversion of the internal solitary waves in the northern South China Sea during their propagation onto the shelf. The volume changes of the sand waves from 2010 to 2016 indicate both sediment loss and sediment accretion in various areas, suggesting complex sediment dispersal patterns near the shelf break.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aliotta S, Perillo GME (1987) A sand wave field in the entrance to Bahia Blanca Estuary, Argentina. Mar Geol 76:1–14
Allen JRL (1968) The nature and origin of bedform hierarchies. Sedimentology 10:161–182
Allen JRL (1980) Sand waves: a model of origin and internal structure. Sediment Geol 26:281–328
Allen JRL (1982) Simple models for the shape and symmetry of tidal sand waves: (1) statically stable equilibrium forms. Mar Geol 48:31–49
Ashley GM (1990) Classification of large-scale subaqueous bedforms: a new look at an old problem. J Sediment Petrol 60:160–172
Bai Y, Song H, Guan Y, Yang S (2017) Estimating depth of polarity conversion of shoaling internal solitary waves in the northeastern South China Sea. Cont Shelf Res 143:9–17
Bao J, Feng C, Ren J, Zheng Y, Chengqiang WU, Huiquan LU, Yan XU (2014) Morphological characteristics of sand waves in the middle Taiwan shoal based on multi-beam data analysis. Acta Geol Sin-Engl 88:1499–1512
Barker W (1901) On sand-waves in tidal currents: discussion. Geogr J 18:200–202
Barnard PL, Hanes DM, Rubin DM, Kvitek RG (2013) Giant sand waves at the mouth of San Francisco Bay. EOS Trans Am Geophys Union 87:285–289
Belde J, Back S, Reuning L (2015) Three-dimensional seismic analysis of sediment waves and related geomorphological features on a carbonate shelf exposed to large amplitude internal waves, Browse Basin region, Australia. Sedimentology 62(1):87–109
Blondeaux P, Vittori G (2011) The formation of tidal sand waves: fully three-dimensional versus shallow water approaches. Cont Shelf Res 31(9):990–996
Bøe R, Skarðhamar J, Rise L, Dolan MFJ, Bellec VK, Winsborrow M, Skagseth Ø, Knies J, King EL, Walderhaug O, Chand S, Buenz S, Mienert J (2015) Sandwaves and sand transport on the Barents Sea continental slope offshore northern Norway. Mar Pet Geol 60:34–53
Bogucki D, Dickey T, Redekopp LG (1997) Sediment resuspension and mixing by resonantly generated internal solitary waves. J Phys Oceanogr 27:1181–1196
Bogucki DJ, Redekopp LG, Barth J (2005) Internal solitary waves in the coastal mixing and optics 1996 experiment: multimodal structure and resuspension. J Geophys Res Oceans 110:1–19
Borsje BW, de Vries MB, Bouma TJ, Besio G, Hulscher SJMH, Herman PMJ (2009) Modeling bio-geomorphological influences for offshore sandwaves. Cont Shelf Res 29:1289–1301
Brandt P, Alpers W, Backhaus JO (1996) Study of the generation and propagation of internal waves in the strait of Gibraltar using a numerical model and synthetic aperture radar images of the European ERS 1 satellite. J Geophys Res Oceans 101:14237–14252
Buijsman MC, Ridderinkhof H (2008) Long-term evolution of sand waves in the Marsdiep inlet. I: high-resolution observations. Cont Shelf Res 28:1190–1201
Campmans GHP, Roos PC, Vriend HJD, Hulscher SJMH (2017) Modeling the influence of storms on sand wave formation: a linear stability approach. Cont Shelf Res 137:103–116
Chen Z, Nie Y, Xie J, Xu J, He Y, Cai S (2017) Generation of internal solitary waves over a large sill: from Knight inlet to Luzon Strait. J Geophys Res Oceans 122:1555–1573
Cheng MH, Hsu JRC, Chen CY, Chen CW (2009) Modeling internal solitary wave across double ridges and a shelf-slope. Environ Fluid Mech 9(3):321–340
Cloet RL (1954) Sandwaves in the southern North Sea and in the Persian Gulf. J Navig 7:272–279
Dalrymple RW, Knight RJ, Lambiase JJ (1978) Bedforms and their hydraulic stability relationships in a tidal environment, Bay of Fundy, Canada. Nature 275:100–104
Du H, Wei G, Zhang YM, Xu XH (2012) Experimental investigation on the shoaling and breaking of internal solitary waves over a slope (in Chinese with English abstract). The 11th National Conference on Hydrodynamics and the 24th National Hydrodynamics Symposium and the Anniversary of the 110th Anniversary of Professor Zhou Peiyuan's Birth
Du C, Liu Z, Dai M, Kao SJ (2013) Impact of the Kuroshio intrusion on the nutrient inventory in the upper northern South China Sea: insights from an isopycnal mixing model. Biogeosciences 10:6419–6432
Duda TF, Lynch JF, Irish JD, Beardsley RC, Ramp SR, Chiu CS, Tang TY, Yang YJ (2005) Internal tide and nonlinear internal wave behavior at the continental slope in the northern South China Sea. IEEE J Ocean Eng 29:1105–1130
Fang G, Fang W, Fang Y, Wang K (1998) A survey of studies on the South China Sea upper ocean circulation. Acta Oceanogr Taiwan 37:1–15
Fang G, Kwok Y-K, Yu K, Zhu Y (1999) Numerical simulation of principal tidal constituents in the South China Sea, Gulf of Tonkin and Gulf of Thailand. Cont Shelf Res 19:845–869
Fang W, Chen Y, Mao Q (2000) Abrupt strong currents over continental slope of northern South China Sea (in Chinese with English abstract). Trop Oceanol 19:70–75
Feng S (1982) An introduction to storm surges (in Chinese). Science Press, Beijing, p 241
Feng W, Bao C, Chen J, Zhao X (1982) Preliminary study on submarine relief of the northern South China Sea (in Chinese with English abstract). Acta Oceanol Sin 4:007
Feng W, Li W, Shi Y (1994) Dynamic study on submarine sand waves of the northern South China Sea. Acta Oceanol Sin 16:92–99
Fenster MS, Fitzgerald DM, Moore MS (2006) Assessing decadal-scale changes to a giant sand wave field in eastern Long Island Sound. Geology 34(2):89–92
Flemming B (1988) Zur Klassifikation subaquatischer, strömungstransversaler Transportkörper. Bochum Geol Geotechn Arb 29:44–47
Flemming BW, Bartholomä A (2012) Temporal variability, migration rates, and preservation potential of subaqueous dune fields on the southeast African continental shelf. Int Assoc Sedimentol Spec Publ 44:229–247
Franzetti M, Le Roy P, Delacourt C, Garlan T, Cancouët R, Sukhovich A, Deschamps A (2013) Giant dune morphologies and dynamics in a deep continental shelf environment: example of the banc du four (Western Brittany, France). Mar Geol 346:17–30
Gan XL, Huang WG, Yang JS, Xiao-Feng LI, Lou XL, Shi AQ (2007) The study of spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of internal waves in the South China Sea from multi-satellite data (in Chinese with English abstract). Remote Sensing Technology and Application 22:242–245
Groves DG, Hunt LM (1980) Ocean world encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York
Guo C, Chen X (2014) A review of internal solitary wave dynamics in the northern South China Sea. Prog Oceanogr 121:7–23
Harris PT, Collins MB (1984) Side-scan sonar investigation into temporal variation in sand wave morphology: Helwick sands, Bristol Channel. Geo-Mar Lett 4:91–97
He Q, Wei Z, Wang Y (2012) Study on the sea currents in the northern shelf and slope of the South China Sea based on the observation (in Chinese with English abstract). Acta Oceanol Sin (in Chinese with English abstract) 34:17–28
Holloway PE, Barnes B (1998) A numerical investigation into the bottom boundary layer flow and vertical structure of internal waves on a continental slope. Cont Shelf Res 18(1):31–65
Hosegood P, Bonnin J, Haren HV (2004) Solibore-induced sediment resuspension in the Faeroe/Shetland Channel. Geophys Res Lett 31:760–768
Hu J, Kawamura H, Hong H, Qi Y (2000) A review on the currents in the South China Sea: seasonal circulation, South China Sea warm current and Kuroshio intrusion. J Oceanogr 56:607–624
Hwang JS, Dahms HU, Tseng LC, Chen QC (2007) Intrusions of the Kuroshio Current in the northern South China Sea affect copepod assemblages of the Luzon Strait. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 352:12–27
Kenyon NH, Akhmetzhanov AM, Twichell DC (2002) Sand wave fields beneath the loop current, Gulf of Mexico: reworking of fan sands. Mar Geol 192:297–307
King EL, Bøe R, Bellec VK, Rise L, Skarðhamar J, Ferré B, Dolan MFJ (2014) Contour current driven continental slope-situated sandwaves with effects from secondary current processes on the Barents Sea margin offshore Norway. Mar Geol 353:108–127
Li L, Chen Z, Liu J, Chen H, Yan W, Zhong Y (2014) Distribution of surface sediment types and sedimentary environment divisions in the northern South China Sea (in Chinese with English abstract). J Trop Oceanogr 33:54–61
Li J, Zheng Q, Hu J, Xie L, Zhu J, Fan Z (2016) A case study of winter storm-induced continental shelf waves in the northern South China Sea in winter 2009. Cont Shelf Res 125:127–135
Lonsdale P, Malfait B (1974) Abyssal dunes of foraminiferal sand on the Carnegie Ridge. Geol Soc Am Bull 85:1697–1712
Luan X, Peng X, Wang Y, Qiu Y (2010) Activity and formation of sand waves on northern South China Sea shelf. J Earth Sci 21:55–70
Ma X, Yan J, Fan F (2014) Morphology of submarine barchans and sediment transport in barchans fields off the Dongfang coast in Beibu Gulf. Geomorphology 213:213–224
Ma X, Yan J, Hou Y, Lin F, Zheng X (2016) Footprints of obliquely incident internal solitary waves and internal tides near the shelf break in the northern South China Sea. J Geophys Res Oceans 121:8706–8719
McCave IN (1971) Sand waves in the North Sea off the coast of Holland. Mar Geol 10:199–225
Morelissen R, Hulscher SJMH, Knaapen MAF, Németh AA, Bijker R (2003) Mathematical modelling of sand wave migration and the interaction with pipelines. Coast Eng 48:197–209
Nan F, Xue H, Yu F (2015) Kuroshio intrusion into the South China Sea: a review. Prog Oceanogr 137:314–333
Németh AA, Hulscher SJMH, Vriend HJD (2002) Modelling sand wave migration in shallow shelf seas. Cont Shelf Res 22:2795–2806
Németh AA, Hulscher SJMH, Damme RMJV (2007) Modelling offshore sand wave evolution. Cont Shelf Res 27:713–728
Nielsen P (1992) Coastal bottom boundary layers and sediment transport. Advanced series on ocean engineering, vol 4. World Scientific Publishing, Singapore
Peng XC, Wu L, Cui ZG, Liu S, Wang Y (2006) A stability analysis of seabed sand waves in waters north of Dongsha Islands of South China Sea (in Chinese with English abstract). J Trop Oceanogr 25:21–27
Qian H, Huang X, Tian J, and Zhao W (2015) Shoaling of the internal solitary waves over the continental shelf of the northern South China Sea. Acta Oceanol Sin 34(9):35–42
Quaresma LS, Vitorino J, Oliveira A, da Silva J (2007) Evidence of sediment resuspension by nonlinear internal waves on the western Portuguese mid-shelf. Mar Geol 246:123–143
Ramp SR, Tang TY, Duda TF, Lynch JF, Liu AK, Chiu C-S, Bahr FL, Kim H-R, Yang Y-J (2004) Internal solitons in the northeastern South China Sea. Part I: sources and deep water propagation. IEEE J Ocean Eng 29:1157–1181
Reeder DB, Ma BB, Yang YJ (2011) Very large subaqueous sand dunes on the upper continental slope in the South China Sea generated by episodic, shoaling deep-water internal solitary waves. Mar Geol 279:12–18
Rubin DM, McCulloch DS (1980) Single and superimposed bedforms: a synthesis of San Francisco Bay and flume observations. Sediment Geol 26:207–231
Schijen EPWJ (2017) Modelling the influence of storm related processes and their frequencies of occurrence on sand wave dynamics in the North Sea. University of Twente, Twente, p 79
Soulsby RL, Whitehouse RJS (1997) Threshold of sediment motion in coastal environments. In: Pacific coasts and ports’ 97: proceedings of the 13th Australasian coastal and ocean engineering conference and the 6th Australasian port and harbour Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand: Centre for Advanced Engineering, University of Canterbury, vol 1, pp 145–150
Stewart CJ, Davidson-Arnott RGD (1988) Morphology, formation and migration of longshore sandwaves; Long Point, Lake Erie, Canada. Mar Geol 81:63–77
Van Landeghem KJJV, Wheeler AJ, Mitchell NC, Sutton G (2009) Variations in sediment wave dimensions across the tidally dominated Irish Sea, NW Europe. Mar Geol 263:108–119
Waage M (2012) Sand waves and sediment transport on the SW Barents Sea continental slope. University of Tromsø, Tromsø, p 119
Wang S, Li D (1994) Dynamic analysis of continental shelf slope and submarine sandwave in the Pearl River Estuary Basin in the South China Sea. Acta Geologica Sinica (Chinese Edition) 16:122–132
Whitmeyer SJ, Fitzgerald DM (2008) Episodic dynamics of a sand wave field. Mar Geol 252:24–37
Wu JZ, Hu RJ, Zhu LH, Ma F, Liu JL (2006) Study on the seafloor sandwaves in the northern South China Sea (in Chinese with English abstract). Periodical of Ocean University of China 36:1019–1023
Wu JL, Wei G, Du H, Xu JN (2017) Experimental study on the flow field induced by internal solitary waves and its influence factors. Marine Sciences (in Chinse with English abstract) 41(09):114–122
Xia H, Liu Y, Yang Y (2009) Internal-wave characteristics of strong bottom currents at the sand-wave zone of the northern South China Sea and its role in sand-wave motion (in Chinese with English abstract). J Trop Oceanogr 6:15–22
Yang W, Yin B, Yang D, Xu Z (2013) Application of FVCOM in numerical simulation of tide and tidal currents in the northern South China Sea (in Chinese with English abstract). Mar Sci 37:10–19
Zhao Z, Alford MH (2006) Source and propagation of internal solitary waves in the northeastern South China Sea. J Geophys Res Oceans 111:63–79
Zheng Q, Susanto RD, Ho CR, Song YT, Xu Q (2007) Statistical and dynamical analyses of generation mechanisms of solitary internal waves in the northern South China Sea. J Geophys Res Oceans 112:1–16
Zhong Y, Chen Z, Li L, Liu J, Li G, Zheng X, Wang S, Mo A (2017) Bottom water hydrodynamic provinces and transport patterns of the northern South China Sea: evidence from grain size of the terrigenous sediments. Cont Shelf Res 140:11–26
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Z. Luan, C. Chen, X. Liu, and Y. Song of the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences on raw data collecting and processing. The crews on board during surveys are also thanked.
We would like to thank the editor Andrew Green and the anonymous associated editor and reviewers for their insightful comments to improve the manuscript.
Funding
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41576056, 41876035 and 41406061).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, H., Ma, X., Zhuang, L. et al. Sand waves near the shelf break of the northern South China Sea: morphology and recent mobility. Geo-Mar Lett 39, 19–36 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-018-0557-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-018-0557-3