Using topographic slope distributions to infer seafloor patterns

The authors present a method for obtaining parameters for Sea Beam swath bathymetry which describe the characteristics of abyssal-hill topography. The basic quantity used in the analysis is the distribution of topographic slopes in a region. A convenient means for parameterizing these slopes is through unit vectors that are normal to small patches of the seafloor; the normal vectors are decomposed into azimuthal and dip components. It is found that the azimuthal distribution of the vectors provides a first-order indication of the dominant elongation directions in the topography, including multiple lineations when they are present. It is shown that the slope statistics are relatively independent of long-wavelength depth variations and are robust even if large anomalous features such as seamounts and fracture zones are included in the section of bathymetry analyzed