Exploring the Deep Sea and Beyond themed issue Introduction: Exploring the deep sea and beyond: Contributions to marine geology in honor of William R. Normark Andrea Fildani1, David J.W. Piper2, and Dave Scholl3 1Chevron Energy Technology Company, 6001 Bollinger Canyon Road, Room D1192, San Ramon, California 94583, USA 2Geological Survey of Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS B2Y 4A2, Canada 3U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA, and College of Natural Science and Mathematics, University of Alaska, Fairbanks 99775, USA All men by nature desire knowledge. Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC), Metaphysics We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the fi rst time. T.S. Eliot (1888–1965), Little Gidding A volume in honor of William R. Normark, known to all of us as simply Bill, is an appro- priate contribution to the memory of a great scientist, an extraordinary mentor, and an unri- valed friend. Editors and authors were energized by the opportunity to craft such a volume: to us Bill was a friend, a colleague, and an insightful peer always ready to share new ideas. For some of us Bill was a mentor, an inspiration, and an unmatched role model. The variety and creativ- ity refl ected by these manuscripts revisit Bill’s broad interests in earth sciences. His holistic approach to science and his natural talent for synthesizing large data sets made Bill the proto- type of the modern scientist. Integration across disciplines, scientifi c rigor, and masterful synthe- ses together represent the “core” of Bill’s legacy. This volume embodies Bill’s ideas of exploring nature with every available tool while keeping his mind open to surprises around each corner. Throughout his career, targeted exploration remained the most effective scientifi c method to apply to revealing the ocean’s secrets. This vol- ume collects scientifi c contributions from recog- nized experts in different fi elds. Contributions are from marine geology, sedimentology, tec- tonics, seafl oor geomorphology, and overarching earth sciences. Before we go into the details of the notable contributions collected in this volume, we briefl y retrace Bill Normark’s scientifi c life and his many achievements below. The history of Bill’s career and the evolution of his scientifi c Bill Normark, May 2006. methods and interests provide necessary context Photo taken in Italy. for the structure of this volume in his honor. Geosphere; April 2011; v. 7; no. 2; p. 290–293; doi:10.1130/GES00660.1; 2 fi gures. 290 For permission to copy, contact [email protected] © 2011 Geological Society of America Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article-pdf/7/2/290/3714377/290.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Exploring the deep sea and beyond BILL’S CAREER AND ACHIEVEMENTS Bill served on several Ocean Drilling Pro- years. By using the AUV and in situ measure- gram (ODP) advisory panels, was the Joint ments, Paull et al. offers stunning new imagery William R. Normark passed away on Jan- Oceanographic Institution/U.S. Science Advi- and thought-provoking hypotheses of these bed- uary 12, 2008, at his home in Sunnyvale, sory Committee’s Distinguished Lecturer for forms that will keep the community on its toes California, after staunchly fi ghting cancer for 1995/96, and participated in ODP Leg 155 for a while to come. nearly eight years. (Amazon Fan). During much of Bill’s career, he Macdonald et al. present a frontier data set A proud Wyoming native, Bill moved to the served on editorial boards of high profi le jour- from the deep reaches of the Atlantic Ocean. West Coast to attend Stanford University for his nals, including Geology, the Journal of Sedi- A series of large-scale erosional scours are undergraduate studies in 1961 where he earned mentary Petrology (now Journal of Sedimentary described from four modern deep-water canyon/ his Bachelor of Science degree in geology in Research), Marine Geology, and the Giornale channel systems along the northeast Atlantic 1965. After graduating from Stanford, Bill di Geologia. He was AAPG Distinguished Lec- continental margin. Regional-scale geophysical headed to Scripps Institution of Oceanography turer in 1986–87. data indicate that most scours occur in zones of (SIO) for his PhD. Bill’s fi rst cruise at Scripps Bill was the primary author of at least 90 rapid fl ow expansion, such as canyon/channel was with pioneering marine geoscientist Fran- peer-reviewed papers among the more than 230 termini and margins. These large features on the cis Parker Shepard. Shepard invited incoming total papers (and some 150 presentations) that seafl oor are imaged with a state-of-the-art AUV. students to go to sea with him before classes carry his name. He participated in more than 60 Four distinct scour morphologies are identifi ed: started. The cruise sailed directly up the coast USGS research cruises, about half as chief (or spoon-shaped, heel-shaped, crescent-shaped, to core the Monterey Fan and map in detail the co-chief) scientist. Bill was a recipient of the and oval-shaped. Isolated scours are shown to now famous Shepard Meander. After earning Department of Interior Meritorious (1986) and coalesce laterally into broad regions of amalga- his PhD, Bill spent four years at the University Distinguished (2002) Awards; he also received mated scours that may be several kilometers of Minnesota, where he started his pioneering the Michael J. Keen Medal (2003) from the across. The combined morpho-sedimentological work on density-driven underfl ows using the Geological Association of Canada for contribu- data set is used to consider some of the putative natural laboratory of Lake Superior. His famous tions to the fi eld of Marine Geoscience and the mechanisms for scour genesis. work on Lake Superior gravity-driven under- Francis P. Shepard Medal (2005) from SEPM The contributions from Kostic, Eke et al., fl ows was the vehicle through which he was for Excellence in Marine Geology, and was and Talling et al. belong more to the numeri- introduced to Gary Parker. Gary provided Bill elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical cal, experimental, and process-based investiga- with an insightful review of his very innovative Union in 2006. tion that Bill always found insightful and key to paper (Normark, 1989); the two would never fully understanding natural processes and test- forget the experience, working together again VOLUME CONTRIBUTIONS ing natural hypotheses. on documenting and numerically demonstrating Kostic offers a fundamental numerical the recurrence of cyclic steps across deep sea- The ideal venue for this collection of work description of an increasingly recognized sea- scapes decades later (Fildani et al., 2006). The in honor of Bill’s memory is Geosphere, which fl oor feature in submarine cyclic steps. She contributions from Gary Parker’s group (Eke demonstrates applications of new technologies outlines submarine cyclic steps in the context et al., this volume) and of Svetlana Kostic (this in earth science, including deep-sea exploration, of sediment waves of various origins and clari- volume) are a natural follow-up to that great and advocates new ways of doing and report- fi es the physics and the key parameters govern- collaboration. Even though Bill enjoyed skiing ing science in a provocative yet rigorous way. ing their formation, migration, and architecture. to work during the long winters of Minnesota, The range of papers refl ects the broad scope of Furthermore, this contribution fi nally clarifi es the distance from the ocean and his passion for Bill’s interests and scientifi c impact. We trust the frequent terminology confusion between pure research made the “call” from the West an it is a suitable memorial to a remarkable scien- net-depositional cyclic steps and sediment irresistible one for a marine explorer like him. tist and dear friend, and we are convinced that waves in general. Bill moved back to California in 1974 and began these contributions will be of high import to the The Eke et al. article presents numerical his distinguished career at the U.S. Geological broader scientifi c community. modeling of breaching as a mechanism for gen- Survey in Menlo Park. While all the manuscripts are well inte- erating continuous turbidity currents. The term Bill was best known for his work on the grated and amenable to a broad audience, there “breaching” refers to the slow, retrogressive fail- character and depositional patterns of turbi- are affi nities that help loosely cluster them by ure of a steep subaqueous slope, forming a tur- dite fan deposits, including work on the Navy, method ology and/or topic. bidity current directed down slope. They model Laurentian, Delgada, Monterey, Hueneme, Contributions from Paull et al. and Macdonald a breach-generated turbidity current using a Mississippi, and Amazon fans. His work was et al. have the typical deep-sea exploration and three-equation, layer-averaged model that has informed by and applied to ancient turbidite fresh discovery fl avor that always inspired Bill. its basis in the governing equations for the con- successions, leading to a productive collabora- The two contributions from Paull et al. are a servation of momentum, water, and suspended tion with the Italian turbidite school, including natural follow-up to the latest collaboration sediment of the turbidity current. The model is Emiliano Mutti (University of Parma) (Mutti that Bill and Charlie Paull undertook using the applied to establish the feasibility of a breach- and Normark, 1991), and Gian Gaspare Zuffa AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) devel- generated turbidity current in a fi eld setting, (University of Bologna). Notably, his long- oped at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research using a generic example based on the Monterey continuing collaboration with David Piper Institute.