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China study finds subsea cable-wrecking supercurrents more common than realised

A team led by Tsinghua University says it has built a framework that could better predict and manage these powerful flows

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The Xiaolangdi Reservoir on China’s sediment-laden Yellow River was a natural laboratory for the researchers. Photo: Xinhua
Victoria Bela
Scientists have known for decades that massive undersea flows called turbidity currents can reshape ocean floors and damage the vital cables that carry the world’s internet traffic. But an understanding of how they form and behave has remained elusive until now.
An international team led by Tsinghua University has found that these flows are more common than previously believed, forming in gentle environments such as reservoirs and lakes, where such currents were thought to be impossible.

The findings, along with a framework the researchers have built for understanding the formation of turbidity currents, could help to better predict and manage these powerful flows, protecting underwater infrastructure and managing reservoirs.

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“Self-accelerating turbidity currents are powerful, erosive gravity underflows that sever intercontinental telecommunication cables and reshape subaqueous landscapes,” they wrote in a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on May 26.

“Despite success in small-scale set-ups, field observations of accelerating turbidity currents have been rare, with only a few cases primarily in submarine settings,” the paper said.

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The team included researchers from the Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research, the University of Wyoming, the University of Illinois, Texas Tech University, Hokkaido University and Durham University.

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