A missing link between continental shelves and the deep sea: Have we underestimated the importance of land-detached canyons?

Submarine canyons are assumed to be globally-significant conduits for the transfer of sediment, nutrients, organic carbon and pollutants between continental shelves and the deep sea. However, efforts to directly quantify contemporary particulate fluxes through submarine canyons have focused solely on a handful of canyons that directly connect to…