Kim W. Conway

Discovery of a “Living Dinosaur”: Globally unique modern hexactinellid sponge reefs off British Columbia, Canada

SummaryGlobally unique hexactinellid sponge reefs occur on the continental shelf off British Columbia, Canada. They cover about 425 km2 of seafloor on the continental shelf off British Columbia (Canada) in water depths between 165 and 240 metres and occur on a low-angle deep shelf, iceberg scoured seafloor, characterized by very low sedimentation rates and very stable environmental conditions. The sponge bioherms are up to 19 metres high with steep flanks, whereas the biostromes are 2–10 metres thick and many kilometres wide. They all consist of dense populations of only seven hexactinellid species. Three of them, all hexactinosan species (Aphrocallistes vastus, Heterochone calyx, Farrea occa) are the main frambuilders, composing a true rigid framework of sponge skeletons encased in a organic rich matrix of modern clay baffled by the sponges. Growth rates of hexactinosan sponges range in the order of 0–7 centimetres per year. The base of the oldest sponge reefs date from approximately 9000 years b.p.Different invertebrate and fish faunas occupy the reefs than occur on adjacent seafloor areas and some species appear to use the sponge reef complex structures as refugia where they can hide.Sidescan sonar data and direct observation by manned submersible clearly show that large areas of sponge reefs have been heavily damaged by seafloor trawling in the past decade.These unique extant siliceous sponge reefs can be used as a modern analogue for a better understanding and interpretation of fossil siliceous sponge reefs, known from many ages and many locations world wide.

Post glacial sea levels on the Western Canadian continental shelf: evidence for rapid change, extensive subaerial exposure, and early human habitation

Grounded piedmont type glaciers inundated and isostatically loaded the deep troughs which indent the Western Canadian continental shelf, as far west as the shelf edge. Glaciers do not appear to have covered the offshore banks east of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). Ice retreated from the shelf at approximately 13,500 14C yr B.P. Rapid emergence of the crust followed the ice retreat and resulted in a relative fall of sea level. At 10,400 14C yr B.P. relative sea level on the continental shelf was more than 100 m below that of today and large areas of the Queen Charlotte Basin were subaerially exposed. Eustatic sea-level rise, coupled with subsidence of a glacioisostatic forebulge, allowed sea levels to rise very rapidly, and reach the present shoreline on the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) by about 9100 14C yr B.P. Dated shoreline deposits (shells), submerged wood remnants, and barnacles on stone tools at elevations between −110 m and +14 m suggest a sea-level rise of 6.3 cm per year between 12,200 and 11,000 calender years. Our reconstructions of the paleogeography and paleoenvironments suggest a hospitable environment for human habitation existed in areas that are now submerged. Stone tools excavated from intertidal deposits support this interpretation. Significant local variations in the depth of synchronous shorelines are described and attributed to localized differences in isostatic load. The documented rates of crustal adjustment are much greater than those used in conventional geophysical (forebulge) models. Regional high-resolution seismic reflection data (3400 line km) shows little evidence for post-glacial faulting and suggest that most crustal adjustments appear to have been isostatically rather than tectonically driven. Subaerial exposure and subsequent sea-level transgression were the dominant post-glacial processes that determined the morphology, texture and paleoenvironment of the Western Canadian continental shelf.

Holocene sponge bioherms on the western Canadian continental shelf

Abstract Bioherms dominated by hexactinellid sponges occur in the three major troughs which cross the north-central continental shelf of British Columbia, Canada. The preferred substrate of the bioherms is till, glaciomarine sediments or bedrock in 150 to 250 m water depth. These bioherms began to develop in the early Holocene and have expanded since that time to discontinuously mantle more than 700 km 2 today. The sponge colonies form mounds and sheet-like structures up to 15 m thick and several kilometres wide and accrete new material to the bioherm through the removal of silty clay from suspension by the baffling of bottom currents. The sedimentologic and morphologic characteristics of the bioherms are in part due to fused siliceous mainframe skeletons of the sponges that provide the framework for the construction of the bioherm. The locus of sponge habitation on the surface of the bioherms changes with time in response to sediment accretion and microtopographic changes which affect delivery of sediment and nutrients entrained in bottom currents.

Rapid sea-level change and coastal evolution on the Pacific margin of Canada

A rapid regression occurred off the northern Pacific margin of Canada approximately between 14,600 and 12,500 14C years B.P., contemporary with the deglaciation of the continental shelf, primarily due to the rapid isostatic rebound. Sea level had reached a maximum lowering of greater than 150 m and remained low until approximately 12,400 14C years B.P., after which a rapid transgression occurred. At 12,500 14C years B.P., the shelf tilt across the northern Pacific margin of Canada ranged between 50 m of submergence at Prince Rupert on the British Columbia mainland to greater than 150 m of emergence on the western edge of the Queen Charlotte Islands. This regressive/transgressive cycle lasted only from 5200 to 5500 14C years, a result of the development and collapse of a glacioisostatic forebulge. Sediment supply, wave action and tidal-current energy are the primary factors that controlled the coastal response to these late Quaternary relative sea-level changes. Plate tectonics, on the other hand, played a secondary role in coastal evolution. During deglacial regression, extensive glacial outwash and glaciomarine deposition occurred except on the outer coast where sediment was transferred to the shelf break. During the transgression of the shelf, the sediment supply was primarily restricted to the erosion of the previously deposited deglacial deposits, resulting in the formation of drowned wave-cut terraces, spit platforms and modification of estuarine environments, as the sea level rose in steps. The present unconsolidated coastline is mostly erosional. During the most recent ENSO event, the sea-level rise of up to 0.4 m resulted in as much as 12 m of coastal retreat.

Late Pleistocene terrestrial deposits on the continental shelf of western Canada: Evidence for rapid sea-level change at the end of the last glaciation

A paleosol with in situ rooted plant remains has been found in a core at a water depth of 95 m on the central continental shelf of British Columbia. Fluvial sediments associated with the paleosol are sharply overlain by lagoonal or shallow pond sediments; these, in turn, are overlain by shallow-marine ediments. Radiocarbon dates on wood fragments and root recovered from the cored sediments indicate that relative sea level was at least 95 m lower 10,500 yr B.P. and that the core site was rapidly transgressed by the sea shortly thereafter. This rapid transgression was contemporaneous with an equally rapid regression at the heads of fiords on the British Columbia mainland to the east. The two are probably genetically linked and a result of late Pleistocene deglaciation and the migration and collapse of a glacial forebulge. Our evidence indicates that large areas of the British Columbia continental shelf were subaerially exposed 11-10 ka. This may have facilitated the southward migration of early humans from Beringia into mid-continental North America at the end of the Pleistocene.

Status of the glass sponge reefs in the Georgia Basin

The purpose of this paper is to describe the status and general faunal composition of sponge reefs in the Georgia Basin (GB), British Columbia, Canada. Fourteen distinct deep-water glass sponge (Hexactinellid) reefs have been mapped using multibeam bathymetry and sidescan sonar in the GB. Seven of these have been surveyed visually using video from remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Analysis of video data indicated that three reefs were undamaged, two were damaged and the other two were damaged but potentially recovering. The nature of the damaged reefs, with large areas of scattered dead sponge skeleton fragments and few live reef-building sponges (Aphrocallistes vastus and Heterochone calyx), as well as video evidence of tracks suggest they were damaged mechanically by mobile fishing gear. Relative abundance of the megafauna associated with the reefs is discussed in the context of oceanographic conditions, such as sediment accumulation and organic flux, as well as overall reef status. Of particular interest for fisheries conservation efforts in the area was the fact that one undamaged reef in the southern GB showed higher taxonomic richness and abundance of rockfish (Sebastes spp.), both adult and juvenile, compared to an adjacent damaged reef. This result suggests that undamaged reefs may act as refugia for these endangered stocks.

Late Quaternary geology and geochronology of the central continental shelf of western Canada

Piston cores and high-resolution seismic profiles from Queen Charlotte Sound have yielded new information on the late Quaternary history of this part of the western Canada continental shelf. Cores in three major troughs (Goose Island, Mitchells and Moresby), up to 130 km apart, sample a similar sedimentary sequence. This sequence comprises five units: The lowest unit (A), which is up to 40 m thick, is a laminated to massive mud containing coarse ice-rafted debris deposited between pre- 13.6 ka and 12.9 ka during deglaciation of Queen Charlotte Sound. This unit is overlain by a sequence of stratified sediments (units B1–B3) up to 20 m thick deposited during the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. Unit B1 directly overlies, and is similar to, unit A but lacks ice-rafted detritus. Unit B2 is sandy mud (locally gravelly) deposited during a period of lagging and winnowing from about 12.9 to 10.2 ka when sea level in Queen Charlotte Sound was lower, relative to the land, than it is today. Unit B3 is a laminated to massive mud similar to Unit B1 deposited when water depths in Queen Charlotte Sound rapidly increased at the end of the Pleistocene due to the combined effect of eustatic sea-level rise and forebulge collapse. The sedimentary sequence is capped by up to 10 m of mud (unit C) which is more organic-rich and contains more clay than any of the other units. It was accumulating under present-day conditions as early as 9.7 k.y. ago.

Sedimentary processes and sediment dispersal in the southern Strait of Georgia, BC, Canada

This paper presents a review of sediment dispersal processes in the Strait of Georgia, based on marine geological studies. Sediment from the Fraser River is dispersed around the Strait through a variety of transport pathways. Most sand and coarser silt fractions settle out and are deposited within a few 100 m of the channel mouths. Both channelled and non-channelled gravity flows probably transport sediment downslope and onto the basin floor. Asymmetric tidal currents force a predominantly northward sediment drift, resulting in a reworked slope off Roberts Bank and a finer-grained depositional slope off Sturgeon Bank. Far-field sediment accumulation is controlled by local morphology and sediment dynamics. Multibeam mapping and seismic profiling reveal that some parts of the basin floor are characterized by bottom sediment reworking and erosion. Given the complexities of sediment dispersal and seafloor reworking, generalizations about sediment dispersal paths and sedimentation rates are difficult. Future understanding will be advanced by the cabled observatory, VENUS, which will enable near real-time monitoring of key processes.

RECENT HEXACTINOSIDAN SPONGE REEFS (SILICATE MOUNDS) OFF BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA: FRAME-BUILDING PROCESSES

Abstract Hexactinosidan sponges are important reef-building organisms in Earth history as they are able to create a three-dimensional reef framework and thereby form topographic relief comparable to that produced by scleractinian corals. Study of modern hexactinosidan sponge skeletons from water depths of 165–240 m on the continental shelf off British Columbia, Canada, demonstrate the hitherto undescribed frame-building process that leads to the formation of large and so far unique siliceous sponge reefs in this area. The fundamentals of the frame-building process are based on the production of siliceous envelopes around spicules of dead hexactinosidan sponges. In addition to the development of a three-dimensional reef framework, mound growth is supported by the current baffling effect of the sponges. Fine-grained siliciclastic suspended sediment is trapped and deposited within the gaps in the sponge skeletons and in voids in the reef surface preventing the framework from collapsing as the reef grows. Analogous but tropical examples from the Lower Jurassic of Portugal show that the frame-building potential of hexactinosidan and other siliceous sponges has existed, substantially unchanged, for more than 180 million years. In contrast to well-known fossil mud mounds of various geologic ages, in which the in situ precipitation of automicrite via microbial processes plays a major role, the matrix of the hexactinosidan sponge mounds of British Columbia consists exclusively of baffled fine-grained siliciclastics; automicrite is absent. Existing mud mound classification schemes do not encompass these depositional characteristics, therefore this new type of mound is consequently here classified as a silicate mound.

Submerged late quaternary terrestrial deposits and paleoenvironment of northern Hecate Strait, British Columbia continental shelf, Canada

Abstract Stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental analyses of sediments recovered from cores on the western Canadian continental shelf indicate that areas of the north-central shelf were subaerial and supported terrestrial vegetation during the regional Late Wisconsinan deglaciation. Paleoecological analyses of now submerged shelf sediments reveal a Late Quaternary treeless environment locally covered by wet sedge tundra. Samples from a coeval onshore section on eastern Graham Island indicate that a dwarf shrub tundra with mosses and willows also occupied lowland areas on the Queen Charlotte Islands between 13 and 14 ka. Ice-free subaerial conditions persisted for a period of at least 3200 years on some parts of the emergent shelf, between 13.2 and 10 ka. During the same time period clay-rich glaciomarine sediment with ice-rafted debris was accumulating in the troughs of the shelf. Low relative sea levels during deglaciation on the continental shelf adjacent to the eastern Queen Charlotte Islands suggest that Late Wisconsinan ice was thin and limited in extent in this area. The presence of a habitable lowland environment during this time interval strengthens the view that a coastal migration of humans from Beringia was possible along portions of the exposed continental shelf.