Sedimentology of three cores from the Laptev Sea continental margin (Arctic Ocean) ...

• Main Authors: Müller, Claudia, Stein, Ruediger
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2000
• Subjects: Kasten corer; ARK-IX/4; ARK-XI/1; Polarstern; Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions from Marine Sediments @ AWI AWI_Paleo; Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian North QUEEN; Arctic Ocean; Ice Sheet; khatanga; laptev; Laptev Sea
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.728287; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.728287

Three sediment cores from the Laptev Sea continental margin were investigated for their clay mineralogy by X-ray diffraction to study the fluvial sediment supply since the late Weichselian. In the study area, the clay-mineral composition of surface sediments is characterized by distinct regional variations. The source area for smectite in the eastern Eurasian Basin is the Putoran Plateau drained by the Khatanga and Yenisei rivers. Currents caused by river discharge and the inflow of Atlantic water masses along the Eurasian continental margin are responsible for sediment distribution. In the sediment cores, smectite and illite contents show an opposite trend which mainly results from variable smectite supply. During MIS 2 the amount of smectite on the Laptev Sea continental margin never exceeds 10 rel.%. Probably, reduced river discharge and the lowered sea level during MIS 2 caused a decreased sediment supply to the Laptev Sea. Additionally, the Putoran Plateau was covered by an ice sheet during the Late ... : Supplement to: Müller, Claudia; Stein, Ruediger (2000): Variability of fluvial sediment supply to the Laptev Sea continental margin during Late Weichselian to Holocene times: Implications from clay-mineral records. In: Stein, R (ed.), International Journal of Earth Sciences Special Issue: Circum Arctic River Discharge and its Geological Record, Springer ...