Use of multibeam echo sounder backscatter and bathymetry data to reveal new insights into the Campeche Escarpment

Multibeam echo sounder (MBES) bathymetry and backscatter data from the 2013 R/V Falkor survey are used to define the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary deposit outcropping on the Campeche Escarpment and to characterize large-scale erosional processes on the Campeche shelf. We delineate the escarpment into four geomorphic provinces based on submarine canyon density and morphology, as well as pronounced geomorphological differences formed in response to erosional processes along strike of the Campeche Escarpment. Large-scale, retrogressive-appearing mass wasting has left high-angle scarps where large slabs of sediment have eroded the escarpment edge, giving the slope a terraced appearance. This erosion reveals higher backscatter intensity material overlain with remnants of lower backscatter intensity sediments within the slide scar. We infer this high-intensity backscatter material to be predominantly carbonate layers on which erosion occurred. The most prominent high-intensity backscatter layer is interp...