From the highest to the deepest: The Gaoping River–Gaoping Submarine Canyon dispersal system

There are many different source-to-sink dispersal systems around the world, and the Gaoping River (GPR)–Gaoping Submarine Canyon (GPSC) provides an example especially as a canyon-captured system. The GPR, a small mountainous river having an average gradient of 1:150, and the GPSC, which links the river catchment to the deep-sea basin, represent two major topographic features around SW Taiwan. Together, they constitute a terrestrial-to-marine dispersal system that has an overriding impact on the source-to-sink transport of sediment in this region. The GPSC extents from the mouth of the GPR through the shelf and slope and into the northeastern Manila Trench, a distance of about 260km. It is a major conduit for the transport of terrestrial sediment and carbon to the South China Sea and the landward transport of particles of marine and biological origin.