F-6 

 sit sediments on the up-current (right bank) side. 



Flushing/erosion of submarine canyons seems to be a 

 complex process. Cascading of cold dense water in the vicin- 

 ity of the canyons may be locally important (Cooper and Vaux, 

 1949; Iselin, 1963) . Turbidites cored at the bases of many 

 parts of the rise attest to occasional turbidity current 

 activity (Ericson et al . , 1961), but may not necessarily 

 be responsible for the deep incision observed. There is 

 growing evidence that up- and down-canyon tidal flow is 

 effective in moving fine grained sediments down canyons 

 (Shepard and Marshall, 1978; Keller and Shepard, 1978). 



Baltimore Canyon 



The Baltimore Canyon (and related Wilmington Canyon) is 

 located off Chesapeake Bay. The region is tectonically 

 quiescent, and is situated south of the area directly affect- 

 ed by Pleistocene glacial advances. The surface of the outer 

 shelf in the area is relatively smooth. The upper portions 

 of both canyons trend southward to about the shelf/slope 

 break at about 70-80 m, and then abruptly turn southeastward 

 across the slope. The axis of the Baltimore Canyon is con- 

 cave upwards (Fig. Fl) but is broken by changes in axial 

 gradient. Kelling and Stanley (1970) observed that both 

 axial gradients and changes in course take place at similar 

 distances from an arbitrary point along the margin, suggest- 

 ing large scale structural and/or lithologic controls. 



The head of Baltimore Canyon cuts some 18 km landward 



