Hidden Canyons

Vast seabed chasms are carved by riverlike processes

In April 2003, scientists on the German research vessel Meteor were cruising toward a site off the arid northwestern coast of Africa. On a mission to examine the erosion that sculpts the ocean floor, the crew was anxious to reach the study site to focus the ship’s seafloor-scanning sonar on an area where they knew undersea landslides had occurred.