WOA3, Section 4, Chapter 5, Subchapter 5J: Continental slopes and submarine canyons

Continental slopes and submarine canyons

Writing team: Miquel Canals (coordinating author), Catherine Creese, Marie-Claire Fabri, François Galgani, Veerle Huvenne, Jacobo Martín, Antonio Pusceddu, Renato Quinones (co-lead member) Julie A. Trotter, Joshua Tuhumwire (lead member), Mahsa Haghi, Khaira Ismail, Nathan Merchant and Yue Sun.

Key points

  • Continental slopes and submarine canyons are increasingly affected by direct anthropogenic impacts and by climate change.
  • Fishing, waste dumping, litter and plastic pollution, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, placement of seafloor infrastructures, noise generation and tourism appear as the human activities with the most impact.
  • Submarine canyons are highly valuable biodiversity hotspots, including corals, sponges and cetaceans.
  • Little is known about the capability and time scales of continental slopes and submarine canyons to recover after disturbance, but they are generally much slower compared to shallow waters. The recovery of habitats affected by bottom trawling can take decades while key ecosystem engineers rebuild.
  • Despite substantial advances in slope and canyon knowledge, conservation and management, many of the gaps identified in the second World Ocean Assessment remain.
  • Most continental slope and submarine canyon habitats remain unexplored and mid- to long- term data is limited, making it difficult to assess changes over the past 5 to 10 years.

1. Introduction

The continental slope represents the seafloor province extending from the shelf edge (100-1,000 m depth or more) to the upper limit of the continental rise (1,000-4,000 m or more). Continental slopes vary in width, gradient and length, covering 19.6 million km2, or 5.2% of the global ocean floor, and are often incised by submarine canyons (Anell, 2024), which are slope dissecting steep-walled valleys varying in shape, length and configuration. Canyons serve as drainage networks conveying sediments, organic matter and pollutants from shallow to deep Ref 30 Ref 167 Ref 92. Intense hydrodynamic processes may occur in canyons eventually involving different water masses. Over 10,000 submarine canyons are known, with more yet to be mapped in underexplored oceanic regions.

2. Developments in understanding of continental slopes and submarine canyons

Functioning

The continental slope is a depocenter where sedimentary and organic particles can accumulate and be buried due to a hydrodynamic regime weaker than that on the shelf (Bianchi and others, 2018; Ausín and others, 2021). Longshore hydrographic fronts and the balance between the horizontal pressure gradient and Coriolis force, create major water flows along isobaths. By promoting the slow, long-term sorting and redeposition of seafloor sediments, these currents create large deposits (contourite drifts) Ref 147 Ref 161, that can trap substantial amounts of organic carbon Ref 164.

Submarine canyons enhance the connectivity between coastal and deep realms Ref 102 and accelerate the transfer of material from the shelf to deep waters, which promotes carbon sequestration Ref 11. Canyon dynamics can encompass strong and deep tidal currents, local upwelling, bringing nutrients into the euphotic zone enhancing primary production Ref 130 Ref 26 and deep upwelling that can contribute to global diapycnal mixing Ref 163. Canyons also channel dense waters that cascade down continental slopes, enhancing cross-margin export of matter Ref 101 Ref 56. At high latitudes, shoreward cross-isobath flows may transport warm currents to the continental shelf, thus easing the melting of sea-terminating glaciers Ref 163 Ref 54. Marine heatwaves can reach upper continental slope and submarine canyon depths Ref 3.

Submarine canyons are also loci for the reflection and refraction of internal waves and tides that could exceed 100 m in amplitude, leading to increased energy focusing and dissipation, resuspension and mixing Ref 79 Ref 106 Ref 148, thereby affecting resident benthic communities Ref 119.

Episodic gravitational processes, some of which could generate tsunamis, help shape continental slopes and canyons. Land-detached canyons can be as active Ref 82 as those connected to the biggest river systems on Earth Ref 9.

Effects of climate change

Canyon inhabitants are vulnerable to climate change given they often live near their tolerance limits of temperature, aragonite saturation, oxygen concentration and nutrient levels. By 2100, significant increases in temperature with decreases in pH, dissolved oxygen and particulate organic carbon (POC) in canyons and continental slope areas are projected under the high CO2 emissions scenario RCP8.5 especially, with atmospheric CO2 at approximately 940 parts per million and mean global temperature of approximately 3.7℃ above pre-industrial levels Ref 97 Ref 18. However, the heterogeneous, synergistic and compounding effects of climate change-related processes will be highly variable, spatially defined and species-dependent.

Anthropogenic CO2 has already descended to canyon intermediate water depths Ref 150 Ref 65. Climate velocity models have now identified the mesopelagic zone as highly susceptible to major shifts in biogeography Ref 24. Since corals underpin deep-water reef ecosystems and local biodiversity hotspots, large reductions in coral habitat suitability predicted by 2100 (e.g. more than 79% in the north Atlantic) will have major ecological ramifications Ref 110 (see sect. 4, subchap. 5E). In deep waters, ingress of CO2 via overturning ocean circulation has caused shoaling of the carbonate compensation depth; canyons in the southwest Atlantic are deemed most vulnerable where substrates below the carbonate compensation depth have doubled since pre- industrial times Ref 81.

The Mediterranean Sea is at the forefront of climate change as it is warming faster than the global ocean. While invertebrate mass mortality events have occurred across the continental shelf, abrupt temperature increases and intensified oligotrophic conditions around canyons are now threatening deeper water communities Ref 10. Globally, limited experimental and in-situ data show deep-water taxa are variably sensitive to warming at different life stages, thus reduced metabolic function, increased mortality and latitudinal or depth migration is expected under higher temperature conditions Ref 18 Ref 138 Ref 96 Ref 135. Together with Antarctic warming, sea-ice retreat will reduce nutrient-rich zones and biomass in canyons Ref 61 Ref 18. Krill, a keystone species of marine food webs, have already responded by their poleward contraction Ref 7 Ref 94; thus, canyons in lower latitudes may serve as future refuges for krill Ref 133.

At oxygen minima zones (e.g. African margins), where colonial corals appear hypoxia-tolerant Ref 160 (see sect. 4, subchap. 5E), greater sensitivities are expected in organisms living close to their metabolic thresholds. As these zones expand, the consequent impacts on mortality, reproduction and other physiological impairments, will restructure or potentially decimate canyon and slope ecosystems.

3. Value of continental slopes and submarine canyons as biodiversity hotspots

Continental slopes and submarine canyons can be biodiversity hotspots Ref 88. Compared with continental slopes, canyons feature complex and dynamic environments with higher spatial heterogeneity and a wider range of habitats and communities.

Coral and sponge hotspots

Sediment-rich continental slopes host extensive soft coral communities, like bamboo corals, sea pens and sponge grounds that provide crucial habitats for invertebrates and fish Ref 132 Ref 43 Ref 77. Highly dynamic, nutrient-rich and morphologically complex canyons support hard corals and sponges and attract fish Ref 44 Ref 134 Ref 78. Recent studies of the distribution of deep-sea habitats reveal new locations of cold-water corals Ref 19 Ref 150, soft-corals Ref 99 and biodiversity hotspots Ref 108 Ref 72, as well as changes in priority habitats Ref 112 Ref 113. These discoveries show how depth, relief, local hydrodynamics and substratum collectively impact habitat distribution and emphasize the need for further exploration and extensive conservation (see sect. 4, subchap. 5E).

Recent discoveries of new deep-sea species (e.g. sponges, gastropods, octocorals and corals) including 111 unique taxa off the Western Antarctic Peninsula Ref 67, highlight the need for ongoing taxonomic reviews Ref 1 (see sect. 4, subchap. 5E).

Cetacean hotspots

Submarine canyons, due to their complex topography and enhanced nutrient cycling provide productive conditions for marine mammals, whereas continental slopes serve are important feeding grounds and corridors for migratory cetaceans Ref 31 Ref 100 Ref 126. Temperature and productivity influence cetacean distribution Ref 75 Ref 131 and their higher diversity in canyons Ref 84, highlighting their importance for cetacean conservation. The use of species distribution models Ref 63 and environmental DNA Ref 20 Ref 90 has improved habitat characterization for various cetacean species along continental slopes.

4. Natural resources and ecosystem services

Continental slopes and submarine canyons sustain many supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services that are crucial to human well-being. These include: (i) seafood Ref 59 Ref 40; (ii) non-renewable resources, in particular oil and gas and possibly gas hydrates and deep-sea minerals in the future Ref 104 Ref 158 Ref 166; (iii) bioactive compounds from prokaryotes Ref 156, fungi Ref 116 Ref 154 and invertebrates, especially octocorals and demosponges Ref 165; (iv) space for offshore energy and communication infrastructure Ref 21 Ref 49; (v) carbon sequestration Ref 76; (vi) nutrient cycling Ref 36; (vii) biodiversity enhancement Ref 52 Ref 125; and (viii) ecological refuges and habitats for spawning of commercial species Ref 125.

High-resolution data from continental slopes and canyons has identified new functions and services, some already threatened. Fisheries have moved to deep ocean environments, with documented impacts on single species and whole ecosystems Ref 115 Ref 118 Ref 145, even if new regional regulations limit their effects, such as the total closure of 87 sensitive zones between 400 and 800 m deep in the north-east Atlantic Ref 57. Increasing anthropogenic impairment of the services provided by slopes and canyons, exacerbated by climate change, has prompted research on environmental management issues Ref 146 Ref 12 Ref 5.

5. Human activities and associated impacts

Loss of seafloor integrity and associated impacts

Continental slope and canyon floor integrity refers to the maintenance of the characteristic functioning of natural ecosystem processes and spatial connectedness, including the physical structure and biotic composition of the benthic community Ref 127. Many human activities impact the seafloor and associated communities, causing disturbance or physical loss Ref 87 and compromising the provision of ecosystem services. Loss involves sealed (e.g. pipelines, cables) or unsealed (e.g. bottom trawling) disappearance of the natural seafloor, which can occur over different time intervals (Buhl- Mortensen and Buhl-Mortensen, 2018). Other harmful activities include mining of hydrothermal sulphide fields, crusts and phosphates on continental slope settings Ref 46 Ref 33 Ref 71 Ref 91 Ref 152. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has discussed on the draft regulations on exploitation of mineral resources in the Area -which might include continental slope settings beyond the limits of national jurisdiction - in order to ensure effective protection for the marine environment from harmful effects which may arise from such activities.

Fishing

Bottom trawling is the most significant human activity on continental margins and in canyons Ref 149. It disrupts benthic habitats by destroying them and resuspending and overturning sediments, with impacts far surpassing natural processes like currents, especially at greater depths Ref 123 Ref 136. Effects extend beyond fishing grounds, as resuspended particles spread impacts across large areas, including canyon axes Ref 124 Ref 48 Ref 23.

Waste dumping

Deep submarine canyons and adjacent continental slopes used for domestic and industrial waste disposal are "out of sight, out of mind" Ref 153 Ref 155 Ref 122. Canyons near populated and industrial areas especially can become conduits for land-sourced waste Ref 58 Ref 22. Industrial waste can spread well beyond the initial discharge site Ref 64.

Oil and gas exploration and exploitation

The oil and gas industry has continued its expansion into continental slopes Ref 166 Ref 159. Incidents with oil spills from drilling rigs and seabed pipelines (e.g. the Deepwater Horizon disaster) continue to pose severe environmental threats Ref 73 Ref 95 Ref 34. Sediment resuspension, burial from anchoring and pipeline installation and discharges of drilling muds and produced water typically affect areas within 100 to 2,000 m Ref 45. Hard structures, like pipelines, can become growing substrata for organisms, which should be considered during decommissioning Ref 129 Ref 105.

Submarine cables

The submarine communication cable industry is growing, driven by increasing demand for content and data transmission, carrying over 95% of worldwide communications. Most new installations focus on mid and low latitudes, often connecting data centre hubs rather than traditional population centres Ref 142. Power cables are mostly installed in shallow waters, with some deep-water examples mostly in the Mediterranean Sea Ref 6. Power cables often incorporate fibre optics for communication purposes. Cable routes in deep-water are chosen to minimize environmental impact and avoid geohazard-prone areas (e.g. landslides and canyons) Ref 38 Disused cables are increasingly recovered for recycling (see second World Ocean Assessment).

Noise

Human-driven underwater noise pollution modifies marine soundscapes Ref 14, impacting marine organisms across various trophic levels Ref 55. Shipping, geophysical surveys, drilling and military sonars are major sources of this pollution. While monitoring efforts are increasing, in particular for impulsive noise sources like seismic surveys Ref 107, data on continuous noise from shipping are limited Ref 89.

Litter and plastic pollution

Seafloor litter accumulates in submarine canyons, being greatest near populated coastlines and tourism hotspots Ref 29 Ref 83 Ref 120. These include mainly single-use plastics, microplastics and lost fishing gear, which are transported by canyon hydrodynamics Ref 68 Ref 80. Plastic degrades into micro and nanoplastics, threatening marine life and ecosystems, with accumulations in deep-sea sediments and biota showing alarming increases Ref 66 Ref 93. The persistence timescales of litter depend on composition, with those of plastics unknown but likely longest in deep-sea environments Ref 157, posing serious concerns for canyon ecosystems Ref 121.

Tourism

Dolphin and whale-watching along the continental margins is a booming industry that supports local economies, but it can also negatively impact marine mammals. Other wildlife species can also be affected by boat-based and in-water tourist activities (Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) Secretariat, 2025). Boat presence, noise pollution and close encounters can disrupt the behaviour of cetaceans and other species, causing stress, altering feeding and socializing patterns, and even leading to habitat abandonment Ref 137 Ref 139. However, efforts are underway to promote more sustainable and ecologically respectful tourism practices Ref 4 Ref 141 (see subsect. 5A, chap. 4). It is of the utmost importance to ensure that wildlife interactions driven by tourism are conducted sustainably Ref 41.

Recovery from disturbance

While evidence of anthropogenic impacts on continental slopes and submarine canyons is growing, little is known about the recovery of these habitats. Studying deep waters is challenging and repeat surveys at impacted sites are scarce. Habitat recovery affected by bottom trawling, for example, can take decades while key ecosystem engineers like cold-water corals and sponges (CWCS) rebuild Ref 86 Ref 39 Ref 74 (see sect. 4, subchap. 5E). However, once impacts are removed and conditions are favourable, recolonisation by species can occur Ref 140.

Submarine canyons, naturally prone to disturbances (e.g. slope failures and sediment flows), offer insights into natural recovery processes. The meiofauna of the Kaikoura Canyon nearly completely recovered within four years after the 2016 MW 7.8 earthquake, nematode communities still differed from pre-earthquake conditions and complete megafauna recovery is projected to take between 4.5 and 12 years Ref 17.

Most continental slope and submarine canyon habitats remain unexplored and mid- to long-term data are limited, making it difficult to assess changes over the past 5 to 10 years. Natural disturbances and those derived from human activities can have immediate and widespread effects, but recovery and shifts in these deep-sea ecosystems are generally much slower compared to shallow waters Ref 50.

Evidence of climate change-induced shifts in marine species is emerging. Tropicalization of demersal megafauna along the Brazilian Meridional Margin has occurred since 2013 (Alvarez Perez and Sant' Ana, 2022). European Seas (e.g. the Mediterranean, Black and Baltic seas), have been warming since the 1980s, leading to tropicalization and deborealization Ref 37 and the expansion of non-indigenous species (NIS) Ref 69. Sea pens and shrimps are expected to shift to higher latitudes, while most cold-water corals will move to lower latitudes in the Atlantic Ref 111 (see sect. 4, subchap. 5E).

Improved waste management and recycling could reduce the amount of waste reaching coastal areas and nearby canyon heads Ref 162 Ref 25. Greater enforcement of and amendments to international agreements aim to curb marine pollution.

However, debate continues over the disposal of hazardous waste like radioactive materials Ref 28 Ref 47. Conservation efforts have advanced with many continental slopes and canyons now within exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and cross-boundary agreements aiming to extend conservation efforts into international waters Ref 62.

Despite substantial advances in slope and canyon knowledge, conservation and management, many of the gaps identified in the second World Ocean Assessment remain. With new technologies, coordinated funding initiatives and new regulatory frameworks, major progress is anticipated to better understand canyon processes Ref 53 Ref 163, quantify ecosystem functioning and services and better predict ecosystem adaptations under climate change Ref 144. Marine litter and pollution research is shifting from identifications and inventories to investigations into ecotoxicological and species behavioural effects Ref 25. The expansion and increased accessibility of new technologies (e.g. automated underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles) and artificial intelligence-based data analysis, together with increased time series observations Ref 35, will further support evidence-based management of continental margins.

7. Knowledge and capacity-building gaps

The major imbalance in data availability and access to key observational equipment and research capacity still hampers the progress to fully understand the world's continental slopes and submarine canyons. Research efforts remain focused on only a limited number of study sites, mostly within the EEZs of developed nations. The 10 most prominent institutions in submarine canyon research are based in the United States of America, Spain, France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The most studied canyons are all along the continental margins of North America (six canyons), southern Europe (four canyons) and Taiwan Province of China (one canyon) Ref 103. Specialized vocational and university training is closely connected to marine research, industrial development and management capabilities. While there are diverse strategies and initiatives to address these imbalances (e.g. greater access to the best universities, research centres and modern infrastructure), challenges remain Ref 13 Ref 85 Ref 128. 

Ocean literacy campaigns are also important for societies to understand the benefits of, and provide support to, deep-sea research, which is especially critical given the general lack of interest in protecting the deep sea Ref 32, despite scientists increasingly advocating its importance Ref 114 Ref 50 Ref 60.

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