Morphology and architecture of the typical erosion-genesis submarine canyons on the East China Sea slope

The Yithi submarine canyons,composed of four canyons less than 60 km in length,are located on the narrowest part of the East China Sea(ECS) slope.They extend from the shelf break at 160 m down to water depth of 1 500 m with an average gradient(along the canyon axis) of 3°(<1 000 m) and 0.7°(>1000 m).The sinuosity of the canyons ranges form 1.02 to 1.14 and their pathways extend radially from the shelf break to the axis of the Okinawa Trough.Structural and evolution pattern of the Yithi canyons are mainly controlled by sediment mass-movements and turbidity current and similar with that of the canyons in Ebro continental slope.The whole canyon system consists of three parts:the canyon,the channel and the fan.Slumps and slides often develop in the upper part of canyon where the water depth is less than 1000 m,and the turbidities usually developed on the fan.The scale of turbidites becomes smaller and their inner structures become more regular towards the ends of the canyons.Canyon-fans are often associated with small angle progradational reflection.Most canyon-fans and levees were transversely cut by active normal faults with NEE-SWW trending that are coupled to the modern extension of the Okinawa Trough.According to the age of formation of canyon-fans and sediments incised by canyons,we can infer that the Yithi canyons were formed since the middle the Medio-Pleistocene.