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1.
The continental margin off the Lofoten-Vesterålen islands between 67° and 70°N becomes progressively narrower northwards. The continental shelf west of the islands and in the Vestfjord is underlain by a relatively thin sedimentary sequence which has been subjected to block faulting, forming local basins and highs. The structural deformation had ceased in the mid-Creataceous. The Tertiary sediments are generally missing, but reappear in the Træn Basin south of about 67.5°N. The continental margin seaward of the shelf edge changes structural style from south to north. In the north, the marginal subsidence is characterized by major faults, whereas minor faults and flexuring dominate south of 69°N. A smooth acoustic basement reflector, which in places is underlain by dipping sub-basement interfaces, is typical for the area between anomaly 23 and the Vøring Plateau Escarpment. In the northern area, the acoustic basement extends almost to the shelf edge. These observations relate to the early Tertiary history of rifting and passive margin formation within a preexisting epicontinental sea between Norway and Greenland. The abrupt change from continental to oceanic basement is defined by the extension of the Vøring Plateau Escarpment south of 69.1°N and by the change in magnetic character off Vesterålen.  相似文献   

2.
The study of contourite drifts is an increasingly used tool for understanding the climate history of the oceans. In this paper we analyse two contourite drifts along the continental margin west of Spitsbergen, just south of the Fram Strait where significant water mass exchanges impact the Arctic climate. We detail the internal geometry and the morphologic characteristics of the two drifts on the base of multichannel seismic reflection data, sub-bottom profiles and bathymetry. These mounded features, that we propose to name Isfjorden and Bellsund drifts, are located on the continental slope between 1200 and 1800 m depth, whereas the upper slope is characterized by reduced- or non-deposition. The more distinct Isfjorden Drift is about 25 km wide and 45 km long, and over 200 ms TWT thick. We revise the 13 years-long time series of velocity, temperature, and salinity obtained from a mooring array across the Fram Strait. Two distinct current cores are visible in the long-term average. The shallower current core has an average northward velocity of about 20 cm/s, while the deeper bottom current core at about 1450 m depth has an average northward velocity of about 9 cm/s. We consider Norwegian Sea Deep Water episodically ventilated by relatively dense and turbid shelf water from the Barents Sea responsible for the accumulation of the contourites. The onset of the drift growth west of Spitsbergen is inferred to be about 1.3 Ma and related to the Early Pleistocene glacial expansion recorded in the area. The lack of mounded contouritic deposits on the continental slope of the Storfjorden is related to consecutive erosion by glacigenic debris flows. The Isfjorden and Bellsund drifts are inferred to contain the record of the regional palaeoceanography and glacial history and may constitute an excellent target of future scientific drilling.  相似文献   

3.
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   

4.
《Marine Geology》2001,172(3-4):265-285
Studies of latest Quaternary continental slope sediments at two localities on the east Australian margin have revealed markedly different responses to late Quaternary sea level fluctuations. Offshore of Noosa, in the sub-tropics, the sediment is predominantly a mixture of fine metastable carbonate, siliciclastic material, and pelagic carbonate. Important features of the stratigraphy include a siliciclastic-dominated facies deposited relatively slowly during the last glacial lowstand (sedimentation rate ≤8 cm/ka), and a calcareous facies, rich in metastable carbonate, deposited more rapidly during the late post-glacial transgression (sedimentation rates 15–24 cm/ka). Highstand and transgressive sedimentation rates are greater than lowstand rates by a factor of 2.5–6 due to increased shelf carbonate productivity after flooding of the mid-shelf. Off Sydney, in temperate latitudes, continental slope sediment is largely a mixture of fine siliciclastic material and pelagic carbonate. Mean sedimentation rates range from 2 to 5 cm/ka over the last four oxygen isotope stages, with mean glacial/interstadial rates higher than Holocene rates by a factor of ∼1.36. This largely reflects the transfer of siliciclastic mud from the shelf to the slope during sea level regression. In both localities, facies changes on the slope are not related to specific sea level states (e.g. lowstand facies, transgressive facies, etc.), but reflect instead the interaction of changing sea level with shelf morphology.  相似文献   

5.
Multichannel seismic reflection data from the Cosmonaut Sea margin of East Antarctica have been interpreted in terms of depositional processes in the continental slope and rise area. A major sediment lens is present below the upper continental rise along the entire Cosmonaut Sea margin. The lens probably consists of sediments supplied from the shelf and slope, being constantly reworked by westward flowing bottom currents, which redeposited the sediments into a large scale drift deposit prior to the main glaciogenic input along the margin. High-relief semicircular or elongated depositional structures are also found on the upper continental rise stratigraphically above the regional sediment lens, and were deposited by the combined influence of downslope and alongslope sediment transport. On the lower continental rise, large-scale sediment bodies extend perpendicular to the continental margin and were deposited as a result of downslope turbidity transport and westward flowing bottom currents after initiation of glacigenic input to the slope and rise. We compare the seismostratigraphic signatures along the continental margin segments of the adjacent Riiser Larsen Sea, the Weddell Sea and the Prydz Bay/Cooperation Sea, focussing on indications that may be interpreted as a preglacial-glaciomarine transition in the depositional environment. We suggest that earliest glaciogenic input to the continental slope and rise occurred in the Prydz Bay and possibly in the Weddell Sea. At a later stage, an intensification of the oceanic circulation pattern occurred, resulting in the deposition of the regional plastered drift deposit along the Cosmonaut Sea margin, as well as the initiation of large drift deposits in the Cooperation Sea. At an even later stage, possibly in the middle Miocene, glacial advances across the continental shelf were initiated along the Cosmonaut Sea and the Riiser Larsen Sea continental margins.  相似文献   

6.
Pleistocene glacial history of the NW European continental margin   总被引:3,自引:3,他引:3  
In this paper new and previously published data on the Pleistocene glacial impact on the NW European margin from Ireland to Svalbard (between c. 48°N–80°N) are compiled. The morphology of the glaciated part of the European margin strongly reflects repeated occurrence of fast-moving ice streams, creating numerous glacial troughs/channels that are separated by shallow bank areas. End-moraines have been identified at several locations on the shelf, suggesting shelf-edge glaciation along the major part of the margin during the Last Glacial Maximum. Deposition of stacked units of glacigenic debris flows on the continental slope form fans at a number of locations from 55°N and northwards, whereas the margin to the south of this is characterised by the presence of submarine canyons. Glaciation curves, based primarily on information from the glacial fed fan systems, that depict the Pleistocene trends in extent of glaciations along the margin have been compiled. These curves suggest that extensive shelf glaciations started around Svalbard at 1.6–1.3 Ma, while repeated periods of shelf-edge glaciations on the UK margin started with MIS 12 (c. 0.45 Ma). The available evidence for MIS 2 suggest that shelf-edge glaciation for the whole margin was reached between c. 28 and 22 14C ka BP and maximum positions after this were more limited in some regions (North Sea and Lofoten). The last glacial advance on the margin has been dated to 15–13.5 14C ka BP, and by c. 13 14C ka BP the shelf areas were completely deglaciated. The Younger Dryas (Loch Lomond) advance reached the coastal areas in only a few regions.  相似文献   

7.
《Marine Geology》2003,193(1-2):93-127
This study is based on detailed investigation of sediment cores and high resolution seismics. We identified and describe five lithofacies on the Vøring Plateau and eight on the mid-Norwegian continental slope. The various lithofacies are mainly related to the fluctuations of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet and the varying intensity of bottom currents and inflow of Atlantic water masses. Ocean circulation was highly variable between 40 and 22 14C ka BP, being vigorous during interstadials and sluggish during stadials. Between ca 22 and 15 14C ka BP the sedimentary environment was significantly influenced by fluctuations of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, repeatedly reaching the outermost shelf. These fluctuations are reflected in the sedimentary record as ice-rafted debris (IRD) accumulation peaks, deposition of stratified diamicton, and glacigenic debris flows on the continental slope. During this period the sediment accumulation rate increased, bottom currents influenced the sedimentary pattern, and surface waters were seasonally ice-free, indicating inflow of Atlantic waters. Subsequent to ca 15 14C ka BP the glacier influence decreased as the margin of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet retreated to reach the coast before 12.5 14C ka BP. The modern sedimentary environment is characterised by relatively strong bottom current action, causing winnowing or non-deposition down to approximately 1000 m water depth.  相似文献   

8.
Contourite deposits in the central sector of the middle slope of the Gulf of Cadiz have been studied using a comprehensive acoustic, seismic and core database. Buried, mounded, elongated and separated drifts developed under the influence of the lower core of the Mediterranean Outflow Water are preserved in the sedimentary record. These are characterised by depositional features in an area where strong tectonic and erosive processes are now dominant. The general stacking pattern of the depositional system is mainly influenced by climatic changes through the Quaternary, whereas changes in the depositional style observed in two, buried, mounded drifts, the Guadalquivir and Huelva Drifts, are evidence of a tectonic control. In the western Guadalquivir Drift, the onset of the sheeted drift construction (aggrading QII unit) above a mounded drift (prograding QI unit) resulted from a new Lower Mediterranean Core Water hydrodynamic regime. This change is correlated with a tectonic event coeval with the Mid Pleistocene Revolution (MPR) discontinuity that produced new irregularities of the seafloor during the Mid- to Late-Pleistocene. Changes in the Huelva Drift from a mounded to a sheeted drift geometry during the Late-Pleistocene, and from a prograding drift (QI and most part of QII) to an aggrading one (upper seismic unit of QII), highlight a new change in oceanographic conditions. This depositional and then oceanographic change is associated with a tectonic event, coeval with the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 discontinuity, in which a redistribution of the diapiric ridges led to the development of new local gateways, three principal branches of the Mediterranean Lower Core Water, and associated contourite channels. As a result, these buried contourite drifts hold a key palaeoceanographic record of the evolution of Mediterranean Lower Core Water, influenced by both neotectonic activity and climatic changes during the Quaternary. This study is an example of how contourite deposits and erosive elements in the marine environment can provide evidence for the reconstruction of palaeoceanographic and recent tectonic changes.  相似文献   

9.
Sedimentary processes and structures across the continental rise in the western Weddell Sea have been investigated using sediment acoustic and multichannel seismic data, integrated with multibeam depth sounding and core investigations. The results show that a network of channels with associated along-channel ridges covers the upper continental slope. The seismic profiles reveal that the channels initially developed as erosive turbidite channels with associated levees on their northern side due to Coriolis force. Later they were partly or fully infilled, probably as a result of decreasing turbidite activity. Now the larger ones exist as erosive turbidite channels of reduced size, whereas the smaller ones are non-erosive channels, their shape being maintained by contour current activity. Drift bodies only developed where slumps caused a distinctive break in slope inclination on the upper continental rise, which served to initiate the growth of a drift body fed by contour currents or by the combined action of turbidites and contourites. The history of sedimentation can be reconstructed tentatively by correlation of seismo-stratigraphic units with the stages of evolution of the drifts on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Three stages can be distinguished in the western Weddell Sea after a pre-drift stage, which is delimited by an erosional unconformity at the top: (1) a growth stage, dominated by turbidites, with occasional occurrence of slumps during its initial phase; (2) during a maintenance stage turbiditiy-current intensity (and presumably sedimentation rate also) decreased, probably as a result of the ice masses retreating from the shelf edge, and sedimentation became increasingly dominated by contour current activity; and (3) a phase of sheeted-sequence formation. A southward decrease in sediment thickness shows that the Larsen Ice Shelf plays an important role in sediment delivery to the western Weddell Sea. This study shows that the western Weddell Sea has some characteristics in common with the southern as well as the northwestern Weddell Sea: contour currents off the Larsen Ice Shelf have been present for a long time, probably since the late Miocene, but during times of high sediment input from the shelves as a result of advancing ice masses a channel-levee system developed and dominated over the contour-current transport of sediment. At times of relatively low sediment input the contour-current transport dominated, leading to the formation of drift deposits on the upper continental rise. Seaward of areas without shelf ice masses the continental rise mainly shows a rough topography with small channels and underdeveloped levees. The results demonstrate that sediment supply is an important, maybe the controlling factor of drift development on the Antarctic continental rise.  相似文献   

10.
The margin of the Gulf of Cadiz is swept by the deep current formed by the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) flowing from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. On the northern margin of the Gulf (Algarve Margin, South Portugal), the MOW intensity is low and fine-grained contourite drifts are built up with an alongslope development. From new sedimentological data, this study emphasizes the presence of two types of contourite drifts separated only by a deep submarine canyon incising the slope with a north-south orientation (Portimão Canyon). High-resolution seismic and bathymetry interpretation shows that on the eastern side of the canyon, the MOW forms a thick and large detached drift (Albufeira Drift) prograding toward both north and west, as shown in seismic profiles, with a high sedimentation rate. On this side of the canyon, the MOW intensity is high enough to erode the slope forming a moat channel (Alvarez Cabral). On the western side of Portimão Canyon, the MOW energy is lower, preventing moat channel erosion. Only flat and thin drift develops (Portimão and Lagos Drifts) with slow aggradation and a low sedimentation rate. This difference in drift development is due to the presence of the canyon which generates an important change in hydrodynamic of the MOW, confirmed by temperature-density measurements showing that MOW flows down Portimão Canyon. The canyon is responsible for the deviation of the direction of the MOW as it partly catches the deep-sea current flowing westward (i.e. capture phenomenon). It creates, thus, a decrease of the flow energy, competency and capacity between the east and west sides of the canyon. Through this phenomenon of MOW deep-sea current capture, the canyon constitutes a morphologic feature generating an important change in the contourite deposition pattern.In addition to already known climatic and oceanographic influences, our results show the role of canyons on contourite drift building. This study provides new elements on autocyclic factors influencing the contourite sedimentation, which are important to consider in future sedimentary paleo-reconstruction interpretations.  相似文献   

11.
Late Cenozoic sedimentation from four varied sites on the continental slopes off southeastern Canada has been analysed using high-resolution airgun multichannel seismic profiles, supplemented with some single channel data. Biostratigraphic ties are available to exploratory wells at three of the sites. Uniform, slow accumulation of hemipelagic sediments was locally terminated by the late Miocene sea-level lowering, which is also reflected in changes in foraminiferan faunas on the continental shelf. Data are very limited for the early Pliocene but suggest a return to slow hemipelagic sedimentation. At the beginning of the late Pliocene, there was a change in sedimentation style marked by a several-fold increase in accumulation rates and cutting of slope valleys. This late Pliocene cutting of slope valleys corresponds to the onset of late Cenozoic growth of the Laurentian Fan and the initiation of turbidite sedimentation on the Sohm Abyssal Plain. Although it corresponds to a time of sea-level lowering, the contrast with the late Miocene lowstand indicates that there must also have been a change in sediment delivery to the coastline, perhaps as a result of increased rainfall or development of valley glaciers. High sedimentation rates continued into the early Pleistocene, but the extent of slope dissection by gullies increased. Gully-cutting episodes alternated with sediment-draping episodes. Throughout the southeastern Canadian continental margin, there was a change in sedimentation style in the middle Pleistocene that resulted from extensive ice sheets crossing the continental shelf and delivering coarse sediment directly to the continental slope.  相似文献   

12.
Late Cenozoic seismic stratigraphy of the Vøring continental margin has been studied in detail, with emphasis on the geological development of the Naust Formation deposited during the last 3 million years. The Kai Formation (15–3 Ma) comprises mainly biogenic ooze deposited in the Møre and Vøring Basins. In Naust time, there was a marked increase in supply of sediments from the inner shelf areas and the western part of the Scandinavian mountain range, and glaciers expanded to the shelf and reached the shelf edge several times during the last 1.5–2 million years. During early to mid Naust time the shelf was widened by westerly prograding sediment units, but for a long period the shallowest part of the Helland-Hansen Arch (HHA) formed a barrier preventing glacially derived debris from being distributed farther west. West of the HHA, mainly stratified marine and glacimarine sediments were deposited. A substantial part of these sediments were transported by the north-flowing Norwegian Atlantic Current, which redistributed suspended particles from ice streams, rivers, coastal erosion and seabed winnowing. After burial of the crest of the HHA at c. 0.5 Ma, glacial debris and slide deposits were also deposited west of this high. In the north, massive units of glacial debris were distributed beyond the crest of the HHA, also in mid Naust time, thinning westwards and interfingering with fine-grained sediments on the lower slope. The Sklinnadjupet Slide, inferred to be c. 250,000 years old, corresponds in age with an earlier huge slide in the Storegga area. An elongated area of uneven seabed topography previously interpreted as diapirs (Vigrid diapirs) on the slope west of the HHA is shown to be formed by ooze eruption from the crest of the arch and submarine sliding.  相似文献   

13.
Abstract

Numerous large sediment slides and slumps have been discovered and surveyed on the continental margins of Northwest Africa, Southwest Africa, Brazil (Amazon Cone), the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, and North America over the past 10 years. The mass movements are of two primary types: (1) translational slides, and (2) rotational slumps. Translational slides are characterized by a slide scar and a downslope zone of debris flows, after traveling in some areas for several hundreds of kilometers on slopes of less than 0.5°. Rotational slumps are bounded by steep scarps, but they do not involve large‐scale translation of sediments, although seismic records indicate disturbance in the down‐dropped block. Many of the slides and slumps have occurred in water depths greater than 2000 m on initial slopes of less than 1.5°. The largest slide so far discovered is off Spanish Sahara; in this case, the slide scar is 18,000 km2 in area, at least 600 km3 in volume of translated sediments. No apparent consistent relationship has yet been observed between the presence of the slides and the sedimentary environment in which they occurred. The slides off Southwest Africa and Spanish Sahara occurred in pelagic sediments rich in planktonic organic matter. In contrast, the slides off North America, Senegal‐Mauritania, and Brazil (Amazon Cone) occurred in sediments containing a high percentage of terrigenous material from nearby landmasses. Large sediment slides have also occurred in pelagic sediments on isolated oceanic rises such as the Madeira Rise (East‐Central Atlantic) and the Ontong‐Java Plateau (Pacific), where sedimentation rates are less than 2 cm/1000 years. The failure mechanism of the slides initiated near the shelf edge can probably be explained by sediment overloading during low glacio‐eustatic sea level, which allowed rivers to debouch sediments directly onto the outer shelf or upper slope. Possible mechanisms of failure of the deepwater slides and slumps include earthquakes, undercutting of the slope by bottom currents, and changes in porewater pressures induced as a direct or indirect result of glacio‐eustatic changes in sea level.  相似文献   

14.
本文通过对阿蒙森海西北部陆隆AMS01岩心沉积物颜色、粒度及地球化学等多种指标分析,重建了该地区氧同位素9期(MIS9,大约距今34万年)以来冰盖与古生产力演变历史,结果表明:(1)岩心沉积物粒度与古生产力替代指标表现出明显的冰期–间冰期旋回变化特征;(2)MIS9、MIS7和MIS5等间冰期沉积速率较小,沉积物呈褐色,冰筏碎屑含量低,生源组分含量高,反映出该时期阿蒙森海地区气候温暖,冰盖发生了大规模退缩,冰盖–冰架–冰山等陆源冰对沉积物的影响减弱,海冰覆盖减弱,有利于浮游植物的生长和繁殖;(3)MIS8c、MIS8a、MIS6、MIS2等冰期沉积速率大,沉积物呈灰色,沉积物随之变粗,冰筏碎屑含量高,生源组分含量低,说明该时期冰盖大幅扩张,陆隆区成为近冰盖/冰架沉积环境,海冰和冰山密集,海洋生产力显著降低;(4)冰期、间冰期内,冰盖与古生产力也有不同程度的波动;特别是MIS8b期发育浅褐色间冰阶沉积,冰筏碎屑含量低,生产力水平与间冰期基本持平,说明阿蒙森海地区冰盖、海洋对气候变化的响应比东南极地区敏感。  相似文献   

15.
Numerous oceanographic cruises (with hydrology, water sampling, drift current measurements) carried out since 1980 on the continental shelf of the Bay of Biscay, together with available NOAA/AVHRR infra-red images, form the basis of a proposed explanation for the processes responsible for the distribution of suspended sediments on the shelf. The seasonal hydrographic structure of continental shelf waters is of paramount importance in sediment distribution. In summer, there is an horizontal stratification of water masses, and suspended sediment distribution is closely related to the thermo-haline structure. A fresher water mass with less suspended material lies on a thicker and more turbid homogeneous layer. During winter, when sediment discharge from the rivers often reaches its annual maximum, an oceanic thermo-haline wedge occurs on the shelf at around −100 m. As a result, winter turbidity values on the outer continental shelf are low (comparable to summer values), and a permanent nepheloı̈d layer is never observed. The wedge, which lasts for several months, may act as a filter, preventing transport to the slope. High turbidities on the external shelf and the continental slope are only measured in spring, when the thermo-haline wedge disappears. It seems possible that during winter time, suspended materials brought by rivers are deposited in the “Grande Vasière” (the “large mud patch”). It is postulated that the position of this mud patch is linked to the long-term stable location of the thermo-haline front that separates oceanic waters from the colder and less salty coastal waters.  相似文献   

16.
Seismic expression of contourites and related deposits: a preface   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
Contourites are widespread throughout the deep sea, ranging from those that build up individually distinct bodies (mounded drifts) to those that occur closely interbedded with other deep-water facies. Although seismic data should not be used to make a firm identification of contourites without supporting evidence, much progress has been made in determining the combination of seismic criteria that best represent contourite deposits. With some modifications and additions, these criteria are in broad agreement with those recently proposed by Faugères and colleagues (1999). The papers in this special issue are mainly drawn from those presented at an IGCP workshop held in Trieste, Italy (October 2000), together with selected additions. Some of the new and important topics covered include: discussion of bottom-current controlled deposits on continental shelves and in large lakes (shallow-water and lacustrine `contourites'); the unique characteristics of high-latitude contourite systems that show interaction with turbidity current, debris flow and glacigenic processes; and the importance of local slope topography, developed as a result of synsedimentary tectonics and downslope mass movement, in focussing and shaping drift deposits (infill and fault-related drifts). An introduction to the powerful use of 3D seismic data in understanding contourite systems points the way towards important future research.  相似文献   

17.
A regional correlation of Neogene stratigraphy has been attempted along and across the NW European Atlantic continental margin, between Mid-Norway and SW Ireland. Two unconformity-bounded successions are recognised. These are referred to as the lower and upper Neogene successions, and have been dated as Miocene–early Pliocene and early Pliocene–Holocene, respectively, in age. Their development is interpreted to reflect plate-wide, tectonically driven changes in the sedimentary, oceanographic and latterly climatic evolution of the NE Atlantic region. The lower Neogene succession mainly preserves a record of deep-water sedimentation that indicates an expansion of contourite sediment drifts above submarine unconformities, within this succession, on both sides of the eastern Greenland–Scotland Ridge from the mid-Miocene. This is interpreted to record enhanced deep-water exchange through the Faroe Conduit (deepest part of the Southern Gateway), and can be linked to compressive inversion of the Wyville–Thomson Ridge Complex. Thus, a pervasive, interconnected Arctic–North Atlantic deep-water circulation system is a Neogene phenomenon. The upper Neogene succession records a regional change, at about 4 Ma, in the patterns of contourite sedimentation (submarine erosion, new depocentres) coeval with the onset of rapid seaward-progradation of the continental margin by up to 100 km. This build-out of the shelf and slope is inferred to record a marked increase in sediment supply in response to uplift and tilting of the continental margin. Associated changes in deep-water circulation may be part of an Atlantic-wide reorganisation of ocean bottom currents. Glacial sediments form a major component of the prograding shelf margin (shelf-slope) sediment wedges, but stratigraphic data indicate that the onset of progradation pre-dates significant high-latitude glaciation by at least 1 Ma, and expansive Northern Hemisphere glaciation by at least 3 Ma.  相似文献   

18.
冲绳海槽中南部不同环境表层沉积物质来源   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
对冲绳海槽中南部3种不同沉积环境(东海外陆架、东海陆坡和冲绳海槽)表层沉积物进行了稀土等元素地球化学分析,结果显示,冲绳海槽和陆坡表层沉积物具有与台湾物质来源类似的稀土元素配分模式,La/Sm-Gd/Yb散点图也显示海槽和陆坡沉积物主要分布在台湾物源端元区,表明冲绳海槽中南部海槽和陆坡表层沉积物主要来源于台湾,而外陆架沉积物明显的重稀土亏损与大陆河流(特别是长江、黄河)沉积物来源较为一致。为进一步判断外陆架表层沉积物来源,对外陆架沉积物重矿物进行分析鉴定,结果显示,外陆架沉积物重矿物以普通角闪石-绿帘石-石榴石-赤褐铁矿为组合特征,与长江沉积物重矿物组成特征类似,其明显缺乏台湾河流来源的典型重矿物锆石、黄河来源典型重矿物云母、浙闽沿岸来源典型重矿物磁铁矿,说明台湾、黄河和浙闽沿岸并非研究区外陆架表层沉积物主要物源。根据以往测年等研究成果,研究区外陆架沉积物年代较老,应为古长江物质经东海现代环流体系不断改造而成。  相似文献   

19.
We studied the behavior of chemical substances in the upper 300 m of the water column across the continental shelf–slope interface in the East China Sea off the Okinawa Trough. The behaviors of iron, inorganic nutrients, and humic-like fluorescent dissolved organic matter were strongly influenced by the extensive water exchange between the East China Sea and the Kuroshio Current across the shelf break and slope via upwelling and frontal processes. We attributed the high humic-like fluorescent intensity at the subsurface of the shelf break and slope regions to the lateral supply of humic-like fluorescent dissolved organic matter from the shelf sediments to the outer shelf region due to the intrusion of shelf water into Kuroshio subsurface water. We found that the behavior of iron at the continental shelf–slope was remarkably different from the conservative mixing of inorganic nutrients and humic-like fluorescent dissolved organic matter. In deep and bottom waters at the shelf–slope, high total iron concentrations, which were closely related to water transmittance, possibly resulted from the swept transport of iron-rich resuspended sediments over the shelf floor from the slope by the invading Kuroshio Intermediate Water close to the bottom.  相似文献   

20.
The continental-shelf morphology is dominated by glacial erosion and deposition. Erosion is prominent on the near-shore shelf and deposition along the outer shelf edge. The continental slope is characterized by delta-shaped progradations (glaciomarine-sediment fans) seaward of the shelf channels. Canyons cross the continental slope only in the region southeast of Cape Farewell. The continental rise is incised by a number of submarine canyons. Broad sediment ridges on the upper continental rise are probably canyon-eroded remains of extensive Plio-Pleistocene fans. A mid-ocean channel which crosses the continental rise is possibly related to the axis of maximum depth of Denmark Strait. Despite the presence of strong bottom currents, there is no indication of depositional sediment drifts along the continental margin of Greenland between Cape Farewell and Denmark Strait. This may be a function of high current velocity or low sediment load.Sea floor older than 60 m.y. B.P. is present just seaward of the Greenland continental margin implying either downwarped continental material or an early rift formed prior to the separation of Greenland from the European plate. A left lateral offset of anomalies 20 and 21 at 65°N indicates a major fracture zone related to the Greenland continental margin offset nearby.  相似文献   

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