TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN1

TJEERD H. VAN ANDEL

School of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331
ABSTRACT
The Panama Basin in the eastern equatorial Pacific is bordered by the continental margins of
central and South America and by the Cocos and Carnegie Ridges. A series of banks divides it into
an eastern and a western basin. The distribution patterns of the sediments are the product of complex
interactions between biological productivity, dissolution of calcite at depth, influx of continental debris,
and dispersal and reworking of sediments by deep currents. Detailed grain-size analyses provide
insight into the reworking-dispersal portion of this system. The coarsest grain-size modes in the sand
and coarse-silt range are concentrated on banks and ridges by winnowing, while the chaff is
deposited on ridge slopes and in the western basin. Approximately one-half of the sediment in the
deep western basin is the product of reworking. In contrast, the finest silt and clay modes have been
dispersed by near-bottom currents and show transport of continental and fine biogenous material from
the eastern to the western basin through gaps in the dividing ranges.
INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, sediment studies on land
and in shallow seas have included textural
analysis as an essential component. Sediment
texture has been the basis for inferences
regarding transport modes, classification,
composition, and provenance. On the other
hand, textural analysis has enjoyed little
popularity in the study of pelagic deposits.
Among the many reasons for this neglect three
stand out: (1) pelagic deposits are generally
fine, and proper techniques for asufficiently a
detailed examination of fine size distributions
have not been available until recently; (2) the
principal value of grain-size analysis is in the
study of sediment transport, reworking, and
mixing-processes which have generally been
assumed to be of minor importance on the
deep-sea floor; and (3) this type of study
requires a closely spaced net of samples
which is rarely available. The lack of such
sample coverage has impeded, not only
textural, but also conventional, regional
sediments-petrologic studies of pelagic
sediments,
in
contrast
to
detailed
micropaleontological and geochemical examinations of isolated sets of cores.
1

Manuscript received February 12, 1973;

revised March 2, 1973.

The conviction that such general

sediment-petrological studies have considerable potential led us to initiate in 1969 a
comprehensive study of the surface sediments
of the Panama Basin in the eastern equatorial
Pacific. The main objective of this study of
what can be properly called a miniature ocean
basin was the elucidation of deep water
sedimentation processes. The Panama Basin
was selected because it is one of the
biologically most productive regions of the
Pacific, contains a broad range of water
depths and topographic features, and receives
a modest and a really restricted supply of
continent-derived sediment. It has large
environmental gradients and represents, within
a relatively small area, most of the important
deep-sea environments so that sampling and
data analysis are manageable. A large suite of
cores collected by several oceanographic
institutions is available. In two earlier papers
(van Andel et al. 1971; Heath and van Andel
1973), the morphology, tectonics, and geologic
history of the basin have been described. The
present paper, together with its companions
(Moore et al. 1973; Kowsmann 1973; Heath et
al., in press), focuses on the regional
sedimentation patterns and depositional processes of the latest Quaternary sediments.
THE PANAMA BASIN

[JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY, 1973, Vol. 81, p.

434-457]
1973 by the University of Chicago. All rights
reserved.

The Panama Basin is bordered

continental margins of southern

by the
central

TJEERD H. VAN ANDEL

TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
and northwestern South America and by two
submarine ridges, the Cocos Ridge in the west
and the Carnegie Ridge in the south (Fig. 1).
The Galapagos Islands are at the
southwestern corner and the Middle Americas
Trench abuts the Cocos Ridge in the
northwestern corner. In the southeast, the
Peru trench terminates in a saddle between
the Carnegie Ridge and the continental
margin. The ridges have relatively flat tops at
1,400 - 1,800 m and are bordered by steep,
fault-controlled slopes (van Andel et al. 1971).
A saddle at about 2,220 m divides the
Carnegie Ridge into two parts.
A series of banks - the Coiba Ridge at
the Panamanian continental margin, the
Malpelo Ridge in the center, and the Malpelo-

Carnegie saddle in the south divides the

Panama Basin into eastern and western subbasins. A narrow, but deep (3,600 m) channel
between the Coiba and Malpelo Ridges is the
principal connection between the basins. In
the western basin, a young rift offset by
several north-south trending fracture zones
lies parallel to and just north of the Carnegie
Ridge. In the eastern basin a number of
curved troughs parallel the continental margin.
Magnetic anomaly studies (van Andel et al.
1971; Herron 1972) and deep drilling (Heath
and van Andel 1973) indicate an age not in
excess of ten m.y. for the western basin; the
eastern basin may be somewhat older.
The sediment cover, notwithstanding the
young age of the basin, is quite thick (van

FIG. 1 - Bathymetry and place names in the Panama Basin. Contours in meters (not corrected for
variations in sound velocity in sea water) are derived from van Andel et al. (1971, Fig. 2) and were
selected to bring out principal topographic features. They are repeated without labels on following
figures.

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TJEERD H. VAN ANDEL

TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN

Andel et al. 1971), but on ridge crests erosion

has locally removed the sediment cover
completely and has deeply incised the flanks
down to bedrock. The erosion processes,
which have displaced a great deal of
sediment, are still active (Lonsdale et al.
1972).
Along its eastern and northern margins,
the Panama Basin receives sediments of
continental origin. Forsbergh (1969) estimates
the annual runoff into the basin as 350 x 109
m3. Using an average content of solids of 100
ppm, similar to that of the Amazon system
(Gibbs 1967), the amount of solids contributed
by runoff can be estimated as 35 million tons
per year. The suspended matter is distributed
throughout the eastern basin and carried by
bottom currents into the western basin through
the Coiba gap (Moore et al. 1973; Heath et al.,
in press). The surface circulation has been
summarized by Moore et al. (1973) and by Kowsmann (1973).
The Panama Basin is located in a region
of high biological productivity which is
concentrated over the Carnegie Ridge and in a
region of domal upwelling in the Panama bight
(Moore et al. 1973, Fig. 2). Productivity is also
high in coastal waters, but in the center of the
basin the surface waters are less productive.
Thus, it might be expected that the distribution
in the sediments of the biogenic components
calcite and opal would reflect this productivity
pattern. This is not the case: the concentration
of calcite on the ridges and of opal in the deep
basins is more closely related to topography
than to productivity, (Moore et al. 1973).
From these observations, the cited
authors concluded that the distribution of these
major sediment components is a function, not
of primary production, but of dissolution of
calcite in deep water, of reworking, and
winnowing at intermediate depths and
deposition of chaff in deep water, and of
dilution with terrigenous material. Although
part of the change in composition with
increasing sea-floor depth can be explained by
dissolution, it is necessary to invoke
considerable reworking and dispersal to
explain the details. The relation between
calcite content and water depth suggests that
nearly one-half of the biogenic sediment in the
deep basins may be on a secondary resting
place. In the eastern basin, this interplay
between primary production, dissolution, and
winnowing and redispersal is complicated

further by the influx of fine terrigenous

material.
GRAIN SIZE METHODOLOGY
Traditionally, textural analysis has
emphasized the coarse grades because the
best techniques are available for this range
and because they provide the most easily
interpreted data for the study of transport
modes, dispersal paths, and sediment
classification. Furthermore, in continental and
shallow marine deposits, the silt fraction is
underrepresented relative to the coarser and
finer fractions (Pettijohn 1957, p. 47-51); in
pelagic deposits, the reverse is true. A
composite of about 1,000 analyses from the
Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans shows
that the silt fraction is the dominant one. In the
Panama Basin, the average silt content of
48% exceeds that of the sand (13%) and clay
(39%) fractions.
A major factor in the lack of textural
studies of fine-grained sediments has been the
inadequacy
of
analytical
techniques.
Conventional methods, such as pipette and
hydrometer, require large samples and yield
wide class boundaries incapable of providing
fine detail. In recent years, new techniques
have alleviated the problem. The falling drop
method (Moum 1967) requires small samples
and allows fairly closely spaced class
boundaries. Continuously recording balances
(Bascomb 1968; Oser 1972) accommodate
very small samples and yield size distributions
that are continuous except for limitations
imposed by digitizing. Computer data
processing has facilitated the handling of
information.
The detail provided by these methods
makes possible interpretations that differ from
the traditional use of summary statistics or
curve shape classifications. Curray (1960) has
shown that the size distributions of many
sediments are polymodal and that individual
modes contain much information regarding
sediment dispersal. Van Andel (1964) used
this approach successfully in marine
sediments of intermediate depth. Oser (1972)
and Dauphin (1972) have shown that many
pelagic sediments are also polymodal and that
the individual modes can be interpreted in
terms of composition, dispersal, and
provenance.
The present study is based on data
obtained with the falling drop method with

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TJEERD H. VAN ANDEL

TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
class intervals of 0.5 between 4.0 and 7.5
, and of 0.2 between 7.8 and 9.0 ( = log2 [diameter in mm]). The data are thus more
limited than that of Oser and Dauphin who
used a continuous recording sedimentation
balance. The samples were taken from cores
in collections of the Lamont-Doherty
Geological Observatory, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, and Oregon State University
(Fig. 2) and represent the latest Quaternary
surface samples.
The sediments were treated with buffered
(pH, 7.0) 19% hydrogen peroxide to remove
organic matter and disperse the particles,
rarely dispersed by treatment with a few drops
of sodium hexametaphosphate or mild
agitation in an ultrasonic bath when
flocculation occurred, sieved in distilled water
on a 4.0 (0.0162 mm) sieve and washed

several times with distilled water. The sieve

residue was labeled sand; because of the
generally small volume, its size distribution
was not determined further. A split of 1-2 g of
the fine material, diluted to 50 ml, was placed
in a constant temperature bath at 20C in the
falling drop apparatus, and the size distribution
between 4.0 and 9.0 (0.062 - 0.002 mm)
determined as described by Moum (1967).
The remaining fraction < 9.0 was labeled
clay. (The terms "sand" and "clay" are used in
their textural connotation). With a computer
program, a cubic spline curve was fitted to the
cumulative data points for the 4.0 9.0
fraction and differentiated to yield t he sizefrequency distribution (Oser 1972). A
smoothing factor of 1.5 was used to reduce
irregularities and peakedness. Examples of
the process are shown in figure 3.

FIG. 2 - Location of samples. Numbers are accession numbers in the OSU marine sediment
laboratory. Large dots represent samples used in Figs. 3-5. Contours from Fig. 1.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN

FIG. 3 - Derivation of component modes. Dots indicate points of cumulative curve determined by
falling drop technique. Heavy solid line is cumulative size distribution determined by fitting cubic spline
curve to data, thin solid line is size-frequency curve obtained by differentiation of cumulative curve.
Dashed lines represent component modes determined by DuPont Curve Resolver (labeled as defined
in text). Note tail modes on fine side of upper curve and coarse side of lower curve. Mode f in PL 031
probably represents a clay mode extending into the silt domain; converted to percentage of total
sample it would add 11% to 47% clay fraction. Tail mode a of PS 131 is probably an artifact due to
curve processing; it would only add 1% to the sand fraction of 24%. Peaks of modes C (PL 031) and
D and E (PS 131) are displaced with respect to apparent peak positions in respective frequency
curves indicating that visual estimation of peak positions is hazardous. Note further that a broad mode
(C in PS 131) depresses peak height and decreases modal area of modes on its banks below what
visual inspection might suggest. A double mode, E-E', is present in PS 131; the question may be
raised whether the D-E-E' cluster is real or a result of inaccurate data or of a deviation of the component modes from a normal distribution; the majority of the Panama Basin samples have well
separated modes such as shown in Fig. 5.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
In the past, considerable difficulty has
been experienced in resolving the polymodal
frequency curve into individual modes (Curray
1960; van Andel 1964). In principle, most
polymodal curves can be resolved into an
infinite number of sets of modes, depending
on assumptions regarding the nature of the
component distributions. There has been a
good deal of argument regarding the nature of
the basic size-distribution function, but there is
some concensus that it is best described by a
Gaussian function with a logarithmic size (or
settling velocity equivalence) scale for which
the phi scale is appropriate. Therefore, the
resolution of the polymodal curves for this
investigation was based on the assumption of
a Gaussian function for the component modes.
Even with this assumption, the problem does
not always have a unique solution, and a
numerical approach is difficult. Instead, an
analog device, the DuPont 310 Curve
Resolver, was used; this device can generate
up to 10 individual curves of a chosen function
with variable width, height, and position. These
components can be modified and summed
until the summation curve matches the original
size-frequency
distribution.
Although
theoretically such a solution need not be
unique, it was generally found that only one
set of curves could be generated that fully
matched the original distribution. Most
matches are perfect within line width; the worst
ones are matched to better than 95% of the
area under the original curve.
The frequency curves (Fig. 3) are limited
by the 4.0 and 9.0 boundaries and do not
take account of coarser or finer material that
may be present. Consequently, edge effects at
these boundaries must be expected. These
are of two kinds: (1) mathematical artifacts
resulting from a poor fit of the cubic spline

curve at the terminals of the distribution, and

(2) partial modes where a natural mode
straddles the boundary. Such components
cannot be properly matched and width,
position, and area will be in error; such tail
modes (Figs. 4, 5) are common. Small ones
are probably artifacts of curve fitting, but the
larger ones should be included with the sand
or clay fractions after converting to the
percentage of the total size distribution.
Mode studies by Curray (1960) and van
Andel (1964) were based on visual inspection.
This procedure has significant pitfalls
illustrated by figure 4 and 5. Quite commonly,
modes on the flank of a larger one have their
peaks displaced from the apparent peak or
shoulder on the original frequency distribution
so that a purely visual determination of the
peak position can be quite unreliable. In such
cases - and also where a small mode occurs
between two large and wide ones - there is
little correspondence between peak height on
the composite curve and the area of the
component mode (e.g., Fig. 4, mode E). In the
majority of the Panama Basin samples, the
separation between individual modes is
distinct and an unambiguous determination of
component shape and position is possible.
However, in some cases the modes are close
together or broad and overlapping and the
polymodal envelope is not easily interpreted.
Furthermore, in differentiating a cumulative
curve based on rather wide class boundaries,
processing errors and deviations of the component modes from a Gaussian function may
produce deformed modes or introduce small
artificial ones. In the following discussion,
modes of more than 5% area will be
considered as probably real and modes with
more than 10% as real.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN

FIG. 4 - Tail modes. Solid line is size-frequency distribution; dashed line represents component
modes. Small tail modes in center graph may be due to edge effects resulting from data processing or
may represent small deviations of the adjacent modes from a true normal distribution. The large tail
modes of the upper and lower graphs probably represent portions of sand and clay modes,
respectively, intruding into the silt domain. Note small modes B (upper graph) and C (middle graph).
These are required to fill shoulders on the C and D modes, respectively; although labeled as real
modes, they may represent deviations of the large modes from a true normal distribution. Tick marks
along base indicate class boundaries used in falling drop analysis.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
GROUPING OF MODES
Using the DuPont Curve Resolver, peak
positions on a particular size-frequency curve
can be determined to the nearest 0.05 or
better. Since the class boundaries used in the
analysis are much more widely spaced than
that and because of other errors discussed
above, the error of this value is large. Thus,
the peak positions can be used only if they can
be grouped into natural categories; such
natural categories appear to exist. A histogram
of the numbers of modes having their peak

positions in successive 0.05 classes (Fig. 6)

consists of a series of discrete or partly
overlapping clusters around mean values.
These clusters are bound by minima in the
histogram. Eight such clusters can be distinguished: two of these, a and f, are tail
modes and may be either truncated sand or
clay modes or artifacts of curve processing;
the others, labeled A-F, are true silt mode
clusters. Each of these appears to be
approximately normally distributed and a mean
peak position can be determined. Peak

FIG. 5 - Examples of size-frequency distributions and their component modes in the Panama Basin.
Letters indicate mode groups discussed in text. Note large tail modes (a) in PL 017 and PS 124; they
are probably part of a sand mode. They add 5% and 6%, respectively, to sand fractions of 87% and
11%. A small mode (B) is needed in PS 130 to account for the asymmetry of mode C and a small
mode A in PL 017 to fill slight asymmetry in tail mode a. Both may be due to small deviations of the
main modes from a true normal distribution. Mode D in PS 124 demonstrates the effect of broad
adjacent modes in reducing peak height and area below what is visually apparent. Tick marks along
base indicate class boundaries used in falling drop analysis.

441

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN

FIG. 6 - Histogram of number of cases in each 0.05 modal class plotted against grain size. The
histogram has been divided into clusters at minima in the number of cases and clusters have been
shown alternatingly with broken and solid bars erected in each 0.05 interval. Modes assigned to
two clusters in one interval are shown with two bars of different signature. Total number of cases 103.
Triangles at base indicate class boundaries used in falling drop analysis. Cluster boundaries appear
not to be directly related to these boundaries.
positions for each cluster are listed in table 1.
The spread of each cluster is probably largely
due to uncertainties in the determination of the
peak of each component mode as a result of
wide spacing of size class boundaries.
However, the spread may be in part a function
of a natural variation in peak position. Clearly,
a technique yielding continuous size
distributions would provide more certainly that
the component modes do not form a
continuous series.
A few component modes occur in
transition zones between clusters (table 1,
lower part); these were assigned to clusters by
a somewhat subjective process. If the mode
was a minor shoulder or subsidiary peak on a
larger one, it was assigned to the same
cluster; if it was clearly independent, it was
assigned to whichever cluster on the left or
right was unoccupied in the sample. In a very
few cases, the decision was influenced by the
logic of the resulting map pattern.

REGIONAL GRAIN-SIZE PATTERNS

The procedure used in this study divides
the sediments into sand, silt, and clay
fractions, then subdivides the silt fraction into
six mode clusters. The terms "sand," "silt," and
"clay" are textural: the deposits of the Panama
Basin are dominantly to exclusively biogenic
except for those of the northern and eastern
margins where the "clay" fraction indeed
consists mainly of clay.
The distribution patterns of sand and clay
(Figs. 7, 8) are nearly mutually exclusive.
Sand-consisting
mainly
of
planktonic
foraminifers
(Kowsmann
1973)
is
concentrated on the ridges, while clay
increases downslope to maxima in the deep
basins and along the eastern and northern
margins of the basin. An exception is the
northern Cocos Ridge which is covered with
fine sediments. Because the sand, silt, and
clay
fractions
are
expressed
in

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN

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TJEERD H. VAN ANDEL

TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
percentages, the silt distribution (Fig. 9) is the
complement of the two others, showing a low
silt content on the ridges and along the
eastern and northern margins. This fraction is
also concentrated on the slopes of the ridges
and in the western, but not in the eastern.
basin.
The distribution patterns of mode clusters
A-F of the silt fraction (Figs: 10-15) are
expressed as a percentage of the silt fraction
rather than as a- percentage of the entire size
distribution. Otherwise, the mutually exclusive
character of the sand and clay fractions would
tend to dominate the patterns. In figure 10, the

percentages of group A have been combined

with those of coarse tail mode a, because a
distinction between natural and artificial tail
modes is impossible. The artificial ones are
likely to have low values and should not distort
the pattern seriously. There are so few fine tail
modes that they have been omitted from figure
15.
The distribution pattern of group A as well
as that of the next finer mode cluster (Figs. 10,
11) is very similar to that of the sand fraction;
both modes are nearly limited to the crests of
the ridges. A slight difference between the two
is
the
greater
extent
of
B

FIG. 7 - Distribution of sand fraction (coarser than 4.0 , 0.062 mm) in Panama Basin. Contours in
percentage of total sediment. Black dots are sample locations, thin depth contours refer to Fig. 1.
Sample numbers and locations in Fig. 2.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
on the slopes and the existence of a small
patch of B in the center of the western basin.
The trend toward downflank displacement is
much stronger in the distribution of group C
(Fig. 12). Although also closely associated
with the ridge topography, this group is mainly
concentrated on ridge flanks, especially on the
northern flank of the Carnegie and the
southern flank of the Cocos Ridge: The
sample density is not sufficient to determine
whether this is true for all ridge flanks, and the
difference between the north and south flanks
of the Carnegie Ridge appears to be real. A
small patch of group C also occurs in relatively

shallow water off the Panamanian continental

margin.
Group D (Fig. 13) represents an even
more extreme case of downslope shift of
progressively finer material. On the north side
of the Carnegie Ridge, the maximum
concentration has shifted both downslope and
west of the coarser modes. In addition, group
D is also present along the continental margin
in the eastern basin. As for the coarser modes,
the sample distribution around the Malpelo
Ridge and on the Malpelo-Carnegie saddle,
although suggestive of a similar relationship
between depth and grain size, is insufficient

FIG. 8 - Distribution of clay fraction (finer than 9.0 ; 0.002 mm) in the Panama Basin. Contours in
percentage of total sediment. Black dots are sample locations (Fig. 2); thin depth contours from Fig. 1.

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TJEERD H. VAN ANDEL

TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
for a precise delineation of the pattern. It is
worth mentioning that mode D is identical in
position and width to a mode found by Oser
(1972) in the western Pacific which consists
nearly exclusively of a single coccolith species
(C. pelagicus).
Thus, the sand fraction and modes A-D
form a series of progressive downslope
displacement of finer fractions on the oceanic
ridges. The slopes of the continental margins
do not exhibit a corresponding grain-size
pattern. The only exception is the occurrence
of a band of mode D along the lower eastern
continental margin.

To some extent, mode E (Fig. 14) represents the extreme of this trend, with zones of
high concentration along the foot of the
Carnegie and Cocos Ridge slopes. More
important, however, is a new pattern not
observed in the coarser modes. This pattern
consists of large concentrations in the northern
parts of the eastern and western basins
connected through the Coiba gap, and with
tongues extending southwestward into the
western basin and through the MalpeloCarnegie
saddle.
Another
zone
of
concentration occurs along the southeastern
continental margin. This new pattern

FIG. 9 - Distribution of silt fraction (4.0 - 9.0 ; 0.062 - 0.002 mm) in the Panama Basin. Contours
in percentage of total sediment. Black dots are sample locations (Fig. 2); thin depth contours from Fig.
1.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
resembles that of the clay fraction but with
significant differences, such as the absence of
group E on the northern Cocos Ridge.
The distribution of group F (Fig. 15) is
even more similar to that of the clay fraction. It
bears no relation to the ridges, except perhaps
for some small concentrations in the far
southwest, but is strikingly concentrated in the
eastern basin and in the northern part of the
western basin. However, it is not directly
contiguous with the continental margin, as is
the clay fraction. A tongue extends from the
eastern into the western basin through the
Coiba gap and another may pass through the
Malpelo-Carnegie saddle. In the western

basin, three zones of high concentration

extend southward along the foot of the Cocos
Ridge and in areas of greatest depth. The F
group is also an important component south of
the Carnegie and west of the northern Cocos
Ridge.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
If we accept the perhaps somewhat
optimistic assumption regarding the reliability
of the grain-size data presented above, the
distribution patterns of the textural elements
are clear and remarkably meaningful. Two
basic patterns can be distinguished:

FIG. 10 - Distribution of modal groups A and a. Contours in percentage of total silt fraction. Black dots
are sample locations, larger if mode a is present (sample numbers and locations in Fig. 2); thin depth
contours from Fig. 1. See table 1.

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the first-represented by the clay and finest silt
mode is restricted t o the deepest parts of the
basins, approximately confined by the 3,0003,400 m contours (cf. Fig. 1), and contiguous
to the northern and eastern basin margins
(Fig. 16); the other represented by the s and
fraction and the coarse and medium silt modes
is clearly related to the oceanic ridges and
banks, and shows concentration of coarse
material on top and progressive fining
downslope (Fig. 17). Silt mode E is
transitional; its distribution combines elements
of both patterns.
The restriction of the clay to deepest
water and its high concentration adjacent to

the continental margins suggest that this size

fraction is mainly of continental origin and
being dispersed by bottom-water flow. This is
confirmed by a comparison of the clay
distribution with bottom-water flow patterns
from the Peru trench through the eastern basin
and into the western basin via the Coiba gap
and the Malpelo-Carnegie saddle (Laird 1971;
Kowsmann 1973). The distribution of opal and
fine carbonate (Moore et al. 1973, Figs. 4 and
8) indicates that the clay fraction in the eastern
and in the northern part of the western basin is
dominantly of terrigenous origin while else
where it must contain a large biogenous
component.

FIG. 11 - Distribution of modal group B. Contours in percentage of total silt fraction. Black dots are
sample locations (Fig. 2); thin depth contours from Fig. 1. See table 1.

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Mode F exhibits the same pattern as the
clay fraction with two main differences: (1) it is
more important and more widespread in the
western than in the eastern basin and (2) its
greatest concentrations are well separated
from the continental margins. Thus, one may
conclude that this mode is being dispersed by
the same transport system, but is derived from
a different source. The sharply defined
transportation paths and the restriction to
deepest water suggest that this source is
basin-wide but geographically restricted.
Winnowed material from the ridges is thus

more likely an important contributor than

productivity in the surface waters. This
explanation also clarifies the anomaly that the
dispersal of this somewhat coarser material
extends farther into the western basin than the
clay fraction. It seems probable that the F
mode contains a terrigenous component as
well, but the data is inadequate to estimate its
proportion.
The second pattern shows a simple
relationship between texture and the
topography of the oceanic ridges. Essentially
no silt fraction is found on the ridge

FIG. 12 - Distribution of modal group C. Contours in percentage of total silt fraction. Black dots are
sample locations (Fig. 2); thin depth contours from Fig. 1. See table 1.

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crests and no sand in deep water; on the
slopes, progressively finer silt modes overlap
downward. Moore et al. (1973) and Kowsmann
(1973) have shown that in the western basin
the sand and silt fractions and a portion of the
clay fraction are of primary biogenous origin.
The sand fraction and the coarsest silt mode
are mainly calcareous and consist of whole
and broken foraminifers, while the finer fractions are progressively more siliceous.
Two explanations can be offered for this
relation between texture and topography: (1)
winnowing and dispersal of fine material on
the ridges, and (2) progressive e dissolution of
calcareous material with depth. A third that the

size distribution of material produced in

surface waters varies with the level of
productivity can be disposed of; although this
is possible in principle (increase of diatoms),
the textural gradients in the sediments do not
coincide with gradients of productivity in
surface waters.
The first explanation invokes creation of a
coarse lag deposit on ridge crests,
accompanied perhaps by fragmentation of
skeletal material, and removal of the fine
material by currents. There is considerable
evidence that this process indeed operates.
Kowsmann (1973) has shown that the coarse
deposits are rich in whole foraminifers, but

FIG. 13 - Distribution of modal group D. Contours in percentage of total silt fraction. Black dots are
sample locations. Thin depth contours from Fig. 1. See table 1.

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that whole radiolarians of equivalent size but
smaller density are depleted there and
enriched in deeper water.
Foraminiferal
fragments are also enriched in slope deposits.
The high concentration of coarse fraction
(more than 30%) is itself evidence for a
winnowing effect; at this depth below the
lysocline, the deposits should already have
been depleted substantially in this material.
Furthermore, Moore et al. (1973) have shown
that the calcium carbonate dissolution curve
with depth can best be explained by assuming
that large amounts of fine calcareous material
are added in mid-depth. Lonsdale et al. (1972)
and B. T. Malfait (personal communication,

1973) have shown that large-scale erosion

occurs on the saddle of the Carnegie Ridge
and is accompanied by major transport of
erosion products downslope. Truchan and
Aitken (1973) have presented evidence based
on seismic reflection data that much erosion
and redistribution of sediment occurs on the
Coiba and Cocos Ridges.
An alternative explanation for the textural
gradients can be sought in dissolution with
depth. This process has been discussed in
detail by Moore et al. (1973) and might yield a
downslope decrease in size as a result of
breakup and dissolution of foraminifers and
delicate siliceous
skeletons. Intuitively,

FIG. 14 - Distribution of modal group E. Contours in percentage of total silt fraction. Thin depth
contours from Fig. 1. Black dots are sample locations. See table 1.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
it would appear improbable that such a
process (which is unquestionably active)
would be capable of producing the sequence
of well-defined textural modes, but without
compositional information this cannot be
decided. The strong arguments in favor of
winnowing and dispersal, however, suggest
that dissolution is not the sole or even the
dominant textural process.
It is of obvious importance for geochemical, micropaleontological, and sedimentological studies to estimate the amount of
material that is reworked and ultimately
incorporated into deep-water deposits. Such
an estimate is difficult because three sources

of sediment may contribute material to the

floor of the western basin: (1) particles
winnowed from the ridge crest (as this material
moves downslope it is subject to dissolution of
its calcareous components while more delicate
siliceous skeletal material may be dissolved or
broken): (2) particles directly from biologic
productivity in overlying waters (also subject to
dissolution but less to mechanical damage);
and (3) fine-grained material may be supplied
by bottom currents from outside the basin.
Moore et al. (1973), considering dissolution rates with depth, have estimated that
between 40% and 50% of the sediment in the
deep western basin is chaff produced by

FIG. 15 - Distribution of modal group F. Contours in percentage of total silt fraction. Black dots are
sample locations. Thin depth contours from Fig. 1. See table 1.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
winnowing on the ridges. If this chaff is subject
to dissolution during transport, the proportion
may be higher. An independent estimate of the
quantity of reworked material would be
valuable.
Such an estimate, although crude, was
obtained by comparing the textural makeup of
the sediments of the western Panama Basin
with that of sediments outside the basin and
well removed from input of reworked material.
A set of samples from the central western
basin where conditions are most uniform, and
a set from about 200-350 km south of the

Carnegie Ridge are compared in table 2.

Figure 18 shows that the average
compositions of the two sets of samples differ
in significant and expected ways. The western
basin set is depleted in coarse material and
enriched in medium-grained fractions relative
to the open ocean suite, while both are similar
in the content of finest material. If we assume
that the coarse material in the western basin
set represents pelagic material on a primary
resting place, the ratio between the sand
contents, or A mode percentages, in the two
sets can be used to estimate the

FIG. 16 - Schematic representation of dispersal of clay and fine silt in Panama Basin (modes F, E in
part). Isopleths from Figs. 8, 14, 15. Solid arrows indicate dispersal system of land-derived material
and follow deepest part of basin below 3,200 m; dashed arrows indicate dispersal of material derived
from winnowing on ridge crests.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN
primary deposition fraction in the other size
grades of the western basin set. This
procedure yields an estimate of 60% for the
content of primary pelagic material in the
western basin, although our confidence in this
number is somewhat reduced by the fact that
the open ocean set is from a somewhat
greater depth (several hundred meters) and is
somewhat more calcareous (10% - 20%) than
the western basin set. Within these limitations,
the agreement with the estimate of Moore et
al. (1973) is satisfactory. It is worth noting that
the C mode is entirely absent in the pelagic

samples, suggesting that it is a product of

winnowing.
It is obvious that this investigation has at
least established that textural studies of deepsea sediments hold considerable promise for
evaluating depositional processes. In many
respects, this study is only a beginning: for a
more thorough and quantitative approach
better size analysis techniques should be
used, the textural information for the sand
fraction should be added, and the composition
of the individual mode clusters must be determined. Moreover, the sample density although

FIG. 17 - Schematic representation of dispersal of coarse and medium silt in Panama Basin. Isopleths
from Figs. 10-13. Distribution of mode groups E and B shown in part only. Arrows indicate dispersal
directions based on textural patterns and existing knowledge regarding current patterns and erosion
channels.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN

FIG. 18 - Histogram of average textural composition of sets of samples from open Pacific Ocean
(labeled "pelagic") and from western Panama Basin.

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TEXTURE AND DISPERSAL OF SEDIMENTS IN THE PANAMA BASIN

good for a deep ocean study is inadequate in

view of the apparent complexity of both the
topography and the transport systems. The
next steps in this type of study should be the
examination of the vertical and horizontal
variation on a very small scale and a thorough
study in detail of a well-defined portion of the
system, such as, for example, the northward
dispersal from the crest of the Carnegie Ridge.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.- Investigation was
supported by the office of Naval Research
(contract
N00014-67-A-039-0007
under

project NR 083-1021). The Panama Basin

study is a team effort and many have
contributed to its overall success and to this
particular report. The analytical methods were
developed and the data obtained with the aid
of Ellen T. Drake, Robert M. Beer, Mary
Franklin, David B. Ellis, G. Ross Heath, Robert
K. Oser, and J. Paul Dauphin. Discussions
and comments by the latter and by Renato O.
Kowsmann, Bruce T. Malfait, and T. C. Moore,
Jr. have been extremely valuable. To all I owe
a large debt of thanks. The illustrations were
prepared by Natasa Sotiropoulos.

456