Submarine landslides along the Siberian termination of the Lomonosov Ridge, Arctic Ocean
Acoustic and detailed swath bathymetry data revealed a systematic picture of submarine landslides on the Siberian part of Lomonosov Ridge. Whereas numerous studies on mass movement exist along the margin of the Arctic Ocean less is known from central Arctic. A regional survey comprising swath bathym...
| Published in: | Geomorphology |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/53844/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/53844/1/Schlager_2021_SubmLandslidesOnLR.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.cce1a72b-a2d0-461f-9692-c1a17701682d |
| Summary: | Acoustic and detailed swath bathymetry data revealed a systematic picture of submarine landslides on the Siberian part of Lomonosov Ridge. Whereas numerous studies on mass movement exist along the margin of the Arctic Ocean less is known from central Arctic. A regional survey comprising swath bathymetry, sediment echo sounder and multichannel seismic profiling was performed on the southeastern Lomonosov Ridge. The data provide constraints on the present-day morphology of the Siberian part of Lomonosov Ridge, between 81°–84°N and 140°–146°E. We mapped twelve crescent-shaped escarpments located on both flanks on the crest of Lomonosov Ridge. The escarpments are 2.1 to 10.2 km wide, 1.7 to 8.2 km long and 125 to 851 m high from which 58 to 207 m are occupied by crescent-shaped headscarps. Subbottom data show chaotic reflections within most of the escarpment areas. The unit is overlain by ~110–340 m of semi-coherent parallel reflections. At its bottom the chaotic reflections are limited by a partly eroded high-amplitude reflection sequence that is inclined with <1° basinwards. We find the escarpments to be remnants of submarine landslide events that mobilized 0.09 to 7.58 km3 of sediments between mid Pliocene and mid Miocene. The relatively small amounts of mobilized sediments seem to be typical for the Lomonosov Ridge. The epoch corresponds to the ongoing subsidence of the Lomonosov Ridge below sea level. During that time deposition and the load of sediments changed. We suggest that changes in sediment type preconditioned, and co-occurring earthquakes finally triggered the submarine landslides. |
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