Buried Quaternary channels in the southern Baltic Sea North of Rügen Island, Germany: distribution and genesis

• Main Author: Jürgens, Udo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Quaternary channels; Southern Baltic Sea; Seismic records; Reprocessing; Interpretation; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://lmavb.lvb.lt/LMAVB:ELABAPDB5847258&prefLang=en_US

Reprocessing and reinterpretation of seismic-reflection records enabled previously poorly documented seismic velocity anomalies in the uppermost reflections north of the island of Rugen to be more accurately characterized. They are interpreted as due to a channel system formed during the Quaternary. The channels are not reflected in the morphology of the sea floor. They trend mainly NE-SW; with an apparent depth of about 10 to 50 ms TWT; and are mostly between 500 and 1000 m wide and vary in cross-section. The channel system covers an area of about 625 km2. Their genesis was possibly influenced by uplift movements of the Arkona block. The channels were most probably eroded in front of the ice sheet due to the drop in base level in the North Sea area during the Pleistocene.