Hudson Canyon
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The Hudson Canyon is a marine pathway from land to sea, extending over 400 nautical miles seaward from New York Harbor, across the continental margin, and out to the deep ocean basin extending 300 miles beneath the sea.
Submarine canyons are pathways from land to sea. As silt, sand and mud are carried down the Hudson River, they flow into the canyon and out into the deep sea. Geologists believe the canyon was likely formed thousands of years ago during a cooler climate period associated with the most recent ice age. As sea levels were much lower then, the Hudson River emptied into Atlantic Ocean hundreds of miles further off shore than the present shoreline. It is possible that the Hudson Canyon continues to be cut by traveling sediments.
It is suspected that the Hudson Canyon contains remnants of pollution and trash from the days when New York's trash was dumped into the river. If this is true, many parts of the trench bottom may likely be covered in sludge.
Submarine canyons are believed to contain vast reserves of methane hydrates, a promising clean-burning natural energy source, believed to reside in near freezing temperatures within sea floor sediments.
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