1 DR. BUTMAN: Does that cover it? You are going to get to write a 



2 paragraph that says what that means. 



3 DR. HECKER: I would put in just patchiness, faunal patchiness. 



4 It's just much higher. 



5 DR. BUTMAN: Variability? 



6 Dick, that's an interesting question, the sedimentation rate. 



7 What is that to other deposition layers that we know about? Is it 



8 higher or is it lower? That seemed to be a major thread which ran 



9 through all the presentations, that some canyons have lack of 



10 accumulation and some canyons had accumulation. That was a feature 



11 which we all thought should be addressed as to what makes them unique in 



12 one way or another. 



13 DR. AYERS: Does that depend on currents? 



14 DR. BUTMAN: Yes. 



15 DR. AYERS: If you've got energetic currents, I don't see how you 



16 are going to get a depositional area. 



17 DR. BUTMAN: Well, it seems-- 



18 DR. AYERS: In Toms Canyon, we found currents to be weaker than on 



19 the shelf. 



20 DR. BUTMAN: It seems like in some canyons, they are weaker and in 



21 some canyons, they are stronger. 



22 DR. AYERS: We had more silt and clay in the canyon than we did on 



23 the shelf. 



24 DR. BUTMAN: Right. But there are some canyons which are the 



25 opposite of that, for instance, Oceanographer Canyon has stronger 



26 currents and probably coarser sediments than are on the shelf. 



27 DR. AYERS: You wouldn't consider that a depositional area, then, 



28 would you? 



29 DR. BUTMAN: Oceanographer Canyon? No, no. But I might consider 



30 Toms Canyon a depositional area. 



31 DR. AYERS: Right. The currents are weaker there. 



32 DR. BUTMAN: Right. We want to decouple that, so they could 



33 be--in some canyons, they are stronger; in some canyons, they are 



34 weaker. We can't really say. Just like accumulation, in some cases-- 



178 



