Submarine Canyon Erosion: Contribution of Marine Rock Burrowers

Abstract

Rocks of the rim and upper walls of Scripps Submarine Canyon are intensely burrowed by marine invertebrates. Important excavators are bivalves, polychaetes, and sipunculoids whose activities culminate in a network of passageways and eventual disintegration of the rocks. In many localities erosion by animals is more important than erosion by physical and chemical processes.