Recent glacially influenced sedimentary processes on the East Greenland continental slope and deep Greenland Basin

• Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Main Authors: García, Marga, Dowdeswell, Julian A., Ercilla, Gemma, Jakobsson, Martin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2012
• Subjects: Greenland Basin; Glacially influenced sedimentary processes; Debris flows; Turbidite systems; Erskine; Greenland; Kenyon; New Zealand; Antarc*; Antarctica; East Greenland; Gateway Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Scott Polar Research Institute
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/71832; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.06.016

18 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables This paper presents the morpho-sedimentary characterization and interpretations of the assemblage of landforms of the East Greenland continental slope and Greenland Basin, based on swath bathymetry and sub-bottom TOPAS profiles. The interpretation of landforms reveals the glacial influence on recent sedimentary processes shaping the seafloor, including mass-wasting and turbidite flows. The timing of landform development points to a predominantly glacial origin of the sediment supplied to the continental margin, supporting the scenario of a Greenland Ice Sheet extending across the continental shelf, or even to the shelf-edge, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Major sedimentary processes along the central section of the eastern Greenland Continental Slope, the Norske margin, suggest a relatively high glacial sediment input during the LGM that, probably triggered by tectonic activity, led to the development of scarps and channels on the slope and debris flows on the continental rise. The more southerly Kejser Franz Josef margin has small-scale mass-wasting deposits and an extensive turbidite system that developed in relation to both channelised and unconfined turbidity flows which transferred sediments into the deep Greenland Basin We thank Neil Kenyon and Colm Ó Cofaigh for their help with data acquisition on Cruise JR51 of the RRS James Clark Ross. The cruise was funded through UK NERC Grant GST/02/2198 to Julian Dowdeswell. A Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (7th Framework Programme, European Commission) has supported the research of Marga Garcia in the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. Writing of the paperwas completed while Julian Dowdeswell was Visiting Cambridge Fellow at Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, funded through the Erskine Bequest. M. Jakobsson received support from the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University through a grant from FORMAS. We are ...