Topographic and Sedimentary Controls on Submarine Canyon-Channel Systems Along the Adélie Land Margin

Submarine canyon-channel system plays a critical role as potential conduit for warm water upwelling in Antarctica, thereby influencing ice sheet stability. In this study, we identify 29 canyon-channel systems along the Adélie Land margin and conduct sys-tematic morphometric analysis of their length, width, depth, width-to-depth (W/D) ratio, and sinuosity. The results reveal pronounced differences in the distribution and morphological evolution of canyon–channel systems between the Adélie Depression and the Adélie Bank. We propose that these differences are primarily controlled by the shelf-slope topography, sediment supply, and ice sheet dynamic process. As the main catchment area of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin (WSB), the Adélie Depression is fed by a focused, high-flux supply of glacial debris, leading to the development of large-scale progradation wedges and mass transport deposits. These conditions promote the formation of extensive canyon–channel systems with elongated, tortuous, and dendritic morphologies. In contrast, canyon–channel systems on the Adélie Bank are smaller, more isolated, and irregularly distributed, reflecting dispersed and episodic sediment supply combined with strong bottom-current reworking. This study eluci-dates how canyon-channel system morphology responds to the topography, sedi-mentation, and ice dynamics in high-latitude glaciated margins, providing important constraints on sediment transport pathways and ice-sheet–ocean interactions in Antarctica.