Submarine canyons are prime conduits for sediment-laden flows that link terrestrial sediment sources with deep-marine depocenters. If the distance between the canyon head and the shore is short, terrestrial sediment, associated pollutants and organic carbon is efficiently delivered to the deep ocean. The efficiency of sediment routing from land to the ocean depends on the position of submarine canyon heads with regard to terrestrial sediment sources. However, the detailed controls on why a submarine canyon is incised into the shelf or why it remained connected or became disconnected from terrestrial sediment supply during rising sea level are poorly understood.
In this dataset, we identified 4717 canyon heads a long the major continents between 50°N and 50°S (excluding islands). We assigned 55 variables to these submarine canyon heads, including terrestrial and marine topographic variables, oceanographic variables, lithologic variables of the onshore catchments, and canyon topographic variables. These data can be used to better understand the geomorphology and extent of submarine canyons and their connectivity to terrestrial sediment sources.
This dataset supports the study "Seafloor Slopes Control Submarine Canyon Distribution: A Global Analysis", which investigates the global-scale controls on the distribution of submarine canyons. The dataset includes geospatial and environmental attributes for 2,261 submarine canyon heads located along the continental margins between 50°N and 50°S (excluding islands and regions dominated by glacial or salt tectonic processes).
Each canyon head is assigned 16 variables encompassing topographic, oceanographic, lithologic, and climatic attributes of adjacent marine and terrestrial environments. These variables serve as potential predictors of canyon occurrence and were used in spatial-statistical models—including inhomogeneous Poisson point process models—to assess the influence of marine slope inclination and other factors on canyon distribution. Canyon locations are represented as point features projected onto a global network of continental slope centerlines to facilitate linear-network-based point pattern analysis. This data package includes: (1) submarine canyon locations and attributes, (2) global environmental datasets representing potential controls on canyon distribution, (3) MATLAB code for conducting point pattern analysis on linear networks, and (4) scripts for residual analysis using operational spatial count models. Together, these resources enable detailed exploration of the geomorphological and environmental factors influencing submarine canyon formation, providing a valuable foundation for research on sediment transport, continental margin evolution, and global biogeochemical cycling.