Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation
Ice observations and sediment collected in a summer transit through the Northwest Passage provide insights on suspension freezing, the most important sediment entrainment mechanism for the Arctic Ocean. No evidence was seen for entrainment by bottom adfreezing, bluff slumping, river flooding, draggi...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/e92-060 2024-03-03T08:41:48+00:00 Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation Reimnitz, Erk Marincovich Jr., Louie McCormick, Michael Briggs, W. M. 1992 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e92-060 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e92-060 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 29, issue 4, page 693-703 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 General Earth and Planetary Sciences journal-article 1992 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/e92-060 2024-02-07T10:53:38Z Ice observations and sediment collected in a summer transit through the Northwest Passage provide insights on suspension freezing, the most important sediment entrainment mechanism for the Arctic Ocean. No evidence was seen for entrainment by bottom adfreezing, bluff slumping, river flooding, dragging ice keels, or significant eolian transport from land to sea. Lack of eolian sediment loading in the Northwest Passage, together with that already reported for northern Alaska, eliminates wind as an important source for fine sediment in the pack of the Beaufort Gyre and related parts of the Transpolar Drift. Muddy sediment with pebbles and cobbles, algae with holdfasts, ostracodes with appendages, and well-preserved mollusks and sea urchins were collected from two sites in a 50 km long stretch of turbid ice. These materials indicate that suspension freezing reaching to a water depth of 25–30 m during the previous fall was responsible for entrainment. This mechanism requires rapid ice formation in open, shallow water during a freezing storm, when the ocean becomes supercooled, and frazil and anchor ice attach to and ultimately lift sediment and living organisms to the sea surface. The mechanism, already known to be important in the Beaufort Sea, probably also affects wide, shallow Siberian shelves and leads to cross-shelf transport of shallow-water organisms and dropstones with "glacial striations" toward deep basins. This makes distinguishing glacial–interglacial cycles more difficult. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Northwest passage Alaska Canadian Science Publishing Arctic Arctic Ocean Northwest Passage Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 29 4 693 703 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Reimnitz, Erk Marincovich Jr., Louie McCormick, Michael Briggs, W. M. Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
description |
Ice observations and sediment collected in a summer transit through the Northwest Passage provide insights on suspension freezing, the most important sediment entrainment mechanism for the Arctic Ocean. No evidence was seen for entrainment by bottom adfreezing, bluff slumping, river flooding, dragging ice keels, or significant eolian transport from land to sea. Lack of eolian sediment loading in the Northwest Passage, together with that already reported for northern Alaska, eliminates wind as an important source for fine sediment in the pack of the Beaufort Gyre and related parts of the Transpolar Drift. Muddy sediment with pebbles and cobbles, algae with holdfasts, ostracodes with appendages, and well-preserved mollusks and sea urchins were collected from two sites in a 50 km long stretch of turbid ice. These materials indicate that suspension freezing reaching to a water depth of 25–30 m during the previous fall was responsible for entrainment. This mechanism requires rapid ice formation in open, shallow water during a freezing storm, when the ocean becomes supercooled, and frazil and anchor ice attach to and ultimately lift sediment and living organisms to the sea surface. The mechanism, already known to be important in the Beaufort Sea, probably also affects wide, shallow Siberian shelves and leads to cross-shelf transport of shallow-water organisms and dropstones with "glacial striations" toward deep basins. This makes distinguishing glacial–interglacial cycles more difficult. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reimnitz, Erk Marincovich Jr., Louie McCormick, Michael Briggs, W. M. |
author_facet |
Reimnitz, Erk Marincovich Jr., Louie McCormick, Michael Briggs, W. M. |
author_sort |
Reimnitz, Erk |
title |
Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation |
title_short |
Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation |
title_full |
Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation |
title_fullStr |
Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation |
title_sort |
suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the northwest passage and implications for arctic ocean sedimentation |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1992 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e92-060 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e92-060 |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Northwest Passage |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Northwest Passage |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Northwest passage Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Northwest passage Alaska |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 29, issue 4, page 693-703 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/e92-060 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
693 |
op_container_end_page |
703 |
_version_ |
1792497393397137408 |