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1.
The Rockall Bank Mass Flow (RBMF) is a large, multi-phase submarine slope failure and mass flow complex. It is located in an area where the Feni Drift impinges upon the eastern flank of the Rockall Bank in the NE Atlantic. A 6100 km2 region of slope failure scarps, extending over a wide water depth range and with individual scarps reaching up to 22 km long and 150 m high, lies upslope of a series of mass flow lobes that cover at least 18,000 km2 of the base of slope and floor of the Rockall Trough. The downslope lobe complex has a negative topographic relief along much of its northern boundary, being inset below the level of the undisplaced contourite drift at the base of slope. The southern margin is topographically more subtle but is marked by the sharp termination of sediment waves outside the lobe. Within the lobe complex the southern margin of the largest lobe shows a positive relief along its southern margin. The initial failure is suggested to have occurred along coherent layer-parallel detachment surfaces at depths of up to 100 m and this promoted initial downslope block sliding which in turn transformed into debris flows which moved out into the basin. The remains of a deep erosional moat linked to the onlapping contourite complex bisects the region of failed slope, and post-failure thermohaline currents have continued to modify the mass flow in this area. Differential sedimentation and erosion associated with the moat may have promoted slope instability. Following the major failure phase, continuous readjustments of the slope occurred and resulted in small-volume turbidites found in shallow gravity cores collected on the lobes. The short term trigger for the failure remains uncertain but earthquake events associated with a deep-seated tectonic lineament to the north of the mass flow may have been important. A Late Pleistocene age for the slope failure is likely. The RBMF is unusual in that it records large-scale collapse of a contourite body that impinged on a sediment-undersupplied slope system. Unlike many other large slope failure complexes along the NE Atlantic margin, the RBMF occurs in a region where there was little overloading by glacial sediment.  相似文献   

2.
Sedimentary facies of cores from the eastern side of the Rockall Bank and the Feni Drift (55°–58°N) have been studied. They confirm the existence of slumping which contributes only in small part to drift build-up.

These slumps occurred at different episodes during last Glacial and early Post-Glacial periods. They are sandwiched in between more important turbidites, and are found in places where the drift lies against the slope and so is acted upon by continental-rise sedimentary processes. The sea level rise periods with ice melting seems to favour gravity flow release.  相似文献   


3.
The continental margin offshore of western Ireland offers an opportunity to study the effects of glacial forcing on the morphology and sediment architecture of a mid-latitude margin. High resolution multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data, combined with shallow seismic and TOBI deep-towed side-scan sonar profiles, provide the basis for this study and allow a detailed geomorphological interpretation of the northwest Irish continental margin. Several features, including submarine mass failures, canyon systems and escarpments, are identified in the Rockall Trough for the first time. A new physiographic classification of the Irish margin is proposed and linked to the impact of glaciations along the margin. Correlation of the position and dimensions of moraines on the continental shelf with the level of canyon evolution suggests that the sediment and meltwater delivered by the British–Irish Ice Sheet played a fundamental role in shaping the margin including the upslope development of some of the canyon systems. The glacial influence is also suggested by the variable extent and backscatter signal of sedimentary lobes associated with the canyons. These lobes provide an indirect measurement of the amount of glaciogenic sediment delivered by the ice sheet into the Rockall Trough during the last glacial maximum. None of the sedimentary lobes demonstrates notable relief, indicating that the amount of glaciogenic sediment delivered by the British–Irish Ice Sheet into the Rockall Trough was limited. Their southward disappearance suggests a more restricted BIIS, which did not reach the shelf edge south of 54°23′ N. The various slope styles observed on the Irish margin represent snapshots of the progressive stages of slope development for a glacially-influenced passive margin and may provide a predictive model for the evolution of other such margins.  相似文献   

4.
A 700 km wide-angle reflection/refraction profile carried out in the central North Atlantic west of Ireland crossed the Erris Trough, Rockall Trough and Rockall Bank, and terminated in the western Hatton-Rockall Basin. The results reveal the presence of a number of sedimentary basins separated by basement highs. The Rockall Trough, with a sedimentary pile up to 5 km thick, is underlain by thinned continental crust 8–10 km thick. Some major fault block structures are identified, especially on the eastern margin of the Rockall Trough and in the adjacent Erris Trough. The Hatton-Rockall Basin is underlain by westward-thinning continental crust 22–10 km thick. Sedimentary strata are up to 5 km thick. The strata in the Rockall Trough and Hatton-Rockall Basin probably range in age from Late Palaeozoic to Cenozoic. However, the basins have different sedimentation histories and differ in structural style. The geometry of the crust and sediments suggests that the Rockall Trough originated by pure shear crustal stretching, associated with rift deposits and Cenozoic thermal sag strata. In contrast, the development of the Erris Trough, located on unthinned continental crust, was facilitated by shallow, brittle extension with little deep crustal attenuation. A two-layered crust occurs throughout the region. The lower crustal velocity in the Hatton-Rockall Basin is higher than that in the Rockall Trough. The velocity structure shows no indication of crustal underplating by upper mantle material in the region.  相似文献   

5.
冲绳海槽西部陆坡地震相模式与沉积体系   总被引:8,自引:3,他引:5  
对冲绳海槽西部陆坡上两个航次(95航次和99航次)共计2000多公里的单道地震资料进行分析和解译,对斜坡沉积环境下沉积体系发育、分布特征进行了研究。结果表明:a)冲绳海槽西部斜坡环境下,上新世以来的沉积层均不同程度的变形和错动;b)存在两种斜坡相地震反射模式——退覆模式和叠覆模式,这两种模式都反映了冲绳海槽西部陆坡得到充足的沉积物供给;c)斜坡环境下主要发育陆架边缘三角洲、重力流沉积和水道充填等沉积体系;d)沉积层发育特征表明,冲绳海槽西部陆坡具有北段坡度缓、沉积物供应丰富、构造相对不活跃,中段坡度陡、沉积物供应充足、构造活动强烈,南段坡度陡、沉积供应相对较少、构造和火山活动十分强烈3种主要沉积环境。西部陆坡的沉积特征也揭示了东海陆架向陆坡提供了大量碎屑沉积物质。  相似文献   

6.
The Ebro Fan System consists of en echelon channel-levee complexes, 50×20 km in area and 200-m thick. A few strong reflectors in a generally transparent seismic facies identify the sand-rich channel floors and levee crests. Numerous continuous acoustic reflectors characterize overbank turbidites and hemipelagites that blanket abandoned channel-levee complexes. The interlobe areas between channel complexes fill with homogeneous mud and sand from mass flow and overbank deposition; these exhibit a transparent seismic character. The steep continental rise and sediment “drainage” of Valencia Trough at the end of the channel-levee complexes prevent the development of distributary channels and midfan lobe deposits.  相似文献   

7.
A Late Pleistocene submarine slide on the Bear Island Trough Mouth Fan   总被引:5,自引:2,他引:5  
A large submarine slide on the southern flank of the Bear Island Trough Mouth Fan, southwestern Barents Sea continental slope, has a run-out distance of about 400 km, a total volume of about 1100 km3, and is younger than 330 ka. Three seismic units, comprising mainly hemipelagic sediments has partly filled the slide scar. An increased sedimentation rate on the Bear Island Trough Mouth Fan from Late Pliocene time, probably in combination with abundant earthquakes, is the most likely cause of the slide. Based on these and previous studies, we suggest that large-scale slides were important sediment transport processes during Plio-Pleistocene.  相似文献   

8.
The Ebro Fan System consists of en echelon channel-levee complexes, 50×20 km in area and 200-m thick. A few strong reflectors in a generally transparent seismic facies identify the sand-rich channel floors and levee crests. Numerous continuous acoustic reflectors characterize overbank turbidites and hemipelagites that blanket abandoned channel-levee complexes. The interlobe areas between channel complexes fill with homogeneous mud and sand from mass flow and overbank deposition; these exhibit a transparent seismic character. The steep continental rise and sediment “drainage” of Valencia Trough at the end of the channel-levee complexes prevent the development of distributary channels and midfan lobe deposits. Margin setting represents fan and/or source area  相似文献   

9.
We have obtained improved images of a debris flow deposit through the reprocessing of multichannel seismic reflection data between Drifts 6 and 7 of the continental rise of the Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula. The reprocessing, primarily aimed at the reduction of noise, relative to amplitude preservation, deconvolution, also included accurate velocity analyses. The deposit is dated as upper Pliocene (nearly 3.0 Ma) via correlation to Sites 1095 and 1096 of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 178. The estimated volume is about 1800 km3 and the inferred provenance from the continental slope implies a run out distance exceeding 250 km. The dramatic mass-wasting event that produced this deposit, unique in the sedimentary history of this margin, is related to widespread late Pliocene margin erosion. This was associated with a catastrophic continental margin collapse, following the Antarctic ice sheet expansion in response to global cooling. The seismic data analysis also allowed us to identify diffractions and amplitude anomalies interpreted as expressions of sedimentary mounds at the seafloor overlying narrow high-velocity zones that we interpret as conduits of fluid expulsion hosting either methane hydrates or authigenic carbonates. Fluid expulsion was triggered by loading of underlying sediments by the debris flow deposits and may have continued until today by input of fluids from sediment compaction following the deep diagenesis of biogenic silica.  相似文献   

10.
Based on studies of sediment accumulations deposited from-and erode by-alongslope flowing ocean currents on the European continental margin from Porcupine (Ireland) to Lofoten (Norway), the evolution of the Cenozoic paleocirculation was reconstructed as part of the STRATAGEM project. There is evidence of ocean current-controlled erosion and deposition in the Rockall Trough, in the Faeroe-Shetland Channel and on the Vøring Plateau since the late Eocene, although the circulation pattern remains ambiguous. The late Palaeogene flow in the Rockall Trough was almost probably driven by southerly-derived Tethyan Outflow Water. The extent and strength of any northerly-derived flow is uncertain. From the early Neogene (early-mid-Miocene), there was a massive regional expansion of contourite drift development both in the North Atlantic and in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. This was most probably related to the development of the Faroe Conduit, the opening of the Fram Strait and the general subsidence of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. These may have combined to cause a considerable acceleration in the exchange and overflow of deep waters between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. An early late Neogene (late early Pliocene) regional erosional event has been ascribed to a vigorous pulse of bottom-current activity, most probably the result of a global reorganisation of ocean currents associated with the closure of the Central American Seaway. During the late Neogene, contourites and sediment drifts developed in deep-water basins, between units of glacigenic sediments as well as infill of several paleo-slide scars. These sediments were derived from areas of bottom-current erosion as well as from the development of Plio-Pleistocene prograding sediment wedges, incorporating the extensive sediment supply derived from shelf-wide ice sheets. Presently a profound winnowing prevails along the shelf and upper slope due to the inflowing currents of Atlantic water. Depocentres of sediments derived from the winnowing are located (locally) in lower slope embayments and in slide scars.  相似文献   

11.
The seismic stratigraphy and sedimentary architecture of the Amundsen Gulf Trough and adjacent slope, Canadian Beaufort Sea margin, are investigated using a grid of 2-D seismic reflection data. The inner-shelf of the Amundsen Gulf Trough is interpreted to be composed predominantly of exposed or near-surface bedrock, overlain by a spatially-discontinuous veneer of glacimarine to open-marine sediment. There is a seaward transition from exposed bedrock on the inner-shelf to a thick (up to 500 m) outer-shelf prograding wedge of acoustically semi-transparent sediment. Eight seismic sequences, divided into four megasequences, are described from the outer-shelf stratigraphy. Eight till sheets are identified from Megasequences A to C, providing evidence for at least eight Quaternary ice-stream advances through the Amundsen Gulf Trough to the shelf break. A trough-mouth fan with a minimum volume of about 10,000 km3 is present on the adjacent slope. The Amundsen Gulf ice stream probably represented the most northwesterly marine-terminating ice stream of the Laurentide Ice Sheet through much of the Quaternary, providing a major route for ice and sediment transfer to the Arctic Ocean. The youngest till sheet within the Amundsen Gulf Trough, Megasequence D, was probably deposited by a subsidiary ice stream, the Anderson ice stream, subsequent to retreat of the last, Late Wisconsinan Amundsen Gulf ice stream. This provides evidence of dynamic ice-sheet behaviour and the reorganisation of the northwest Laurentide Ice Sheet margin during the last deglaciation. A number of buried glacigenic landforms, including palaeo-shelf break gullies and a grounding-zone wedge with a volume of 90 km3, are described from the Amundsen Gulf Trough stratigraphy. Lateral grounding-zone wedges are identified at the northern and southern lateral margins of the Amundsen Gulf and M'Clure Strait troughs, respectively, and are interpreted to have been formed roughly contemporaneously by ice streams in Amundsen Gulf and M'Clure Strait.  相似文献   

12.
Triple mass-transport deposits(MTDs) with areas of 625, 494 and 902 km2, respectively, have been identified on the north slope of the Xisha Trough, northern South China Sea margin. Based on high-resolution seismic reflection data and multi-beam bathymetric data, the Quaternary MTDs are characterized by typical geometric shapes and internal structures. Results of slope analysis showed that they are developed in a steep slope ranging from 5° to 35°. The head wall scarps of the MTDs arrived to 50 km in length(from headwall to termination). Their inner structures include well developed basal shear surface, growth faults, stepping lateral scarps, erosion grooves, and frontal thrust deformation. From seismic images, the central deepwater channel system of the Xisha Trough has been filled by interbedded channel-levee deposits and thick MTDs. Therefore, we inferred that the MTDs in the deepwater channel system could be dominated by far-travelled slope failure deposits even though there are local collapses of the trough walls. And then, we drew the two-dimensional process model and threedimensional structure model diagram of the MTDs. Combined with the regional geological setting and previous studies, we discussed the trigger mechanisms of the triple MTDs.  相似文献   

13.
Wyville Thomson Ridge Overflow Water (WTOW), which is the only part of the outflow from the Norwegian Sea not to directly enter the Iceland Basin, is shown to be a significant water mass in the northern Rockall Trough. It is found primarily at intermediate depths (600–1200 m) beneath the northward flowing warm Atlantic waters, and above recirculating Mediterranean influenced waters and Labrador Sea Water (LSW). The bottom of the WTOW layer can be identified by a mid-depth inflexion point in potential temperature–salinity plots. An analysis of historical data reveals that WTOW has been present in all but eight of the last 31 years at 57.5°N in the Rockall Trough. A denser component of WTOW below 1500 m has also been present, although it appears to be less persistent (12 out of the 31 years) and limited to the west of the section. The signature of intermediate WTOW was absent in two periods, the mid-1980s and early 1990s, both of which coincided with a freshening, and probable increase in volume, of LSW in the trough. Potential temperature–salinity diagrams from historical observations indicate that WTOW persists at least as far south as 55°N (and as far west as 20°W in the Iceland Basin) although its signature is quickly lost on leaving the Rockall Trough. We suggest that a transport of WTOW down the western side of the trough exists, with WTOW at intermediate depths entering the eastern trough either via a cyclonic recirculation, or as a result of eddy activity. Further, WTOW is seen on the Rockall–Hatton Plateau and in the deep channels connecting with the Iceland Basin, suggesting additional possible WTOW transport pathways. These suggested transport routes remain to be confirmed by further observational or modelling studies.  相似文献   

14.
Gassy sediments in the Ría de Arousa are preferentially distributed in areas of muddy seabed sediments. The close relationship between seabed sediment parameters and gas distribution is here studied in detail to establish better constraints on the presence of gas. Discriminant analysis was applied to the textural and compositional characteristics of 303 seabed sediment samples to classify gas-related and gas-free areas in the Ría de Arousa. The parameters considered in the classification were: particle size data (percentages of clay, silt, sand and gravel), the total inorganic carbon and the total organic carbon contents of the samples. The samples were initially classified in two groups according to the presence or absence of acoustic turbidity in the seismic profiles, shallower than 150 cm below seabed. Of the total known cases, 85.5% were correctly classified using these variables. Applying the Wilks’ lambda criterion, the most influential textural discriminating variables were the percentage of clay and the percentage of coarse fraction (gravel and sand) in the sediment sample. Discriminant analysis has achieved good differentiation between gas-related and gas-free sediments using near-seabed sediment information. The application of the discriminant method has enabled the estimation of the total area covered by gassy sediments in the Ría de Arousa. The area calculated based on the seismic data (30 km2) is a minimum estimate that is constrained by the limits of the existing seismic data. Based on the sediment information obtained from seabed samples, the statistical method estimates a total area of gassy sediments of 39 km2. The new gassy areas recognized are located around the gas field at the inner ría, and the gas field west of Arousa Island, which increase in area by 8.3 and 0.4 km2 respectively.  相似文献   

15.
A collection of basalts dredged from the southern flank of Rosemary Bank in the Rockall Trough is described. All samples are highly altered, the introduction of large amounts of CaCO3 into the rocks being particularly notable. Normative calculations suggest that the basalts are transitional or mildly alkaline in character. Several trace elements appear to have been immobile during the process of secondary alteration and are used to infer the tectonic setting of Rosemary Bank at the time of its formation. Employing the discrimination techniques of Pearce and Cann, the basalts are shown to have oceanic affinities. However, caution has to be exercised in interpreting the trace element results in terms of sea-floor spreading in the Rockall Trough since some Scottish basalts extruded on to continental crust have similar compositions. A minimum age of Eocene has been obtained for Rosemary Bank.  相似文献   

16.
The Fram Strait(FS) is the primary region of sea ice export from the Arctic Ocean and thus plays an important role in regulating the amount of sea ice and fresh water entering the North Atlantic seas. A 5 a(2011–2015) sea ice thickness record retrieved from Cryo Sat-2 observations is used to derive a sea ice volume flux via the FS. Over this period, a mean winter accumulative volume flux(WAVF) based on sea ice drift data derived from passivemicrowave measurements, which are provided by the National Snow and Ice Data Center(NSIDC) and the Institut Francais de Recherche pour d'Exploitation de la Mer(IFREMER), amounts to 1 029 km~3(NSIDC) and1 463 km~3(IFREMER), respectively. For this period, a mean monthly volume flux(area flux) difference between the estimates derived from the NSIDC and IFREMER drift data is –62 km~3 per month(–18×10~6 km~2 per month).Analysis reveals that this negative bias is mainly attributable to faster IFREMER drift speeds in comparison with slower NSIDC drift data. NSIDC-based sea ice volume flux estimates are compared with the results from the University of Bremen(UB), and the two products agree relatively well with a mean monthly bias of(5.7±45.9) km~3 per month for the period from January 2011 to August 2013. IFREMER-based volume flux is also in good agreement with previous results of the 1990 s. Compared with P1(1990/1991–1993/1994) and P2(2003/2004–2007/2008), the WAVF estimates indicate a decline of more than 600 km~3 in P3(2011/2012–2014/2015). Over the three periods, the variability and the decline in the sea ice volume flux are mainly attributable to sea ice motion changes, and second to sea ice thickness changes, and the least to sea ice concentration variations.  相似文献   

17.
对南冲绳海槽进行反射地震调查 ,结果表明 :(1 )海槽盖层主要由反射层组 (时代相当于第四纪 )和反射层组 (时代相当于上新世 )组成 ,推测槽底局部存在中新统。槽底沉积物主要源自中国大陆。轴部目前仍处在裂陷作用阶段 ;(2 )断裂极为发育 ,可分 NE— SW向(西南端转为近 E— W向 )和 NW— SE向两组 ,分别属张性及张扭性断裂 ,后者切割前者 ;(3)岩浆活动十分强烈 ,东南缘岩浆活动尤甚 ,推测其岩性以中、基性岩为主  相似文献   

18.
Kveithola Trough, an E–W trending glacial trough in the NW Barents Sea, was surveyed for the first time during the EGLACOM cruise of R/V OGS-Explora in summer 2008. Swath bathymetry shows that the seafloor is characterized by E–W trending mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGL) that record a fast flowing ice stream draining the Svalbard/Barents Sea Ice Sheet (SBIS) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). MSGL are overprinted by transverse sediment ridges about 15 km apart which give rise to a staircase axial profile of the trough. Such transverse ridges are interpreted to be grounding-zone wedges (GZWs) formed by deposition of subglacial till during episodic ice stream retreat. Sub-bottom (CHIRP) and multi-channel reflection seismic data show that the present-day morphology is largely inherited from the palaeo-seafloor topography at the time of deposition of the transverse ridges, overlain by a draping glaciomarine unit which in places is over 15 m thick. Our data allow the reconstruction of depositional processes which accompanied deglaciation of the Spitsbergen Bank area. The sedimentary drape deposited on top of the GZWs is suggested to have accumulated at a very high rate, (on average in the order of 1–1.5 m ka?1) and therefore may potentially preserve a high-resolution palaeoclimatic record of deglaciation and post-glacial conditions in this sector of the Barents Sea.  相似文献   

19.
Rockall Bank is an unusual example of an isolated continental shelf developed on the subsided Rockall Plateau microcontinent. The sediment distribution on Rockall Bank has been investigated using topographic, seismic, sonar and photographic data. The present sedimentation regime may reflect post-Flandrian transgressive burial of the older substrate. The limited development of the shelf reflects the lack of sediment supply available on Rockall Bank which, with the exception of glacial periods, has probably been submerged for the past 37 m.y.  相似文献   

20.
While concern over anthropogenic marine litter around coastlines is increasing worldwide, information on this litter in trenches on the seafloor is very sparse. We investigated the amount of marine litter on the deep-sea bottom around the Ryukyu Islands in the Northwest Pacific, based on trawl samples. The density of litter observed in the axis of the Ryukyu Trench (7100 m) and in the basin of the Okinawa Trough ranged from 1.2 × 103 to 7.1 × 103 items km?2, or 7.5–121.4 kg km?2, which was significantly higher than that observed on the adjacent shallower continental slopes or abyssal plain (0.1 × 103 to 0.6 × 103 items km?2; 0.03–9.2 kg km?2). This suggests that trenches and troughs function as “depocenters” for anthropogenic litter because of their deeper and enclosed topographies.  相似文献   

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