Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water
Submarine gullies are the most common morphological features observed on Antarctic continental slopes. The processes forming these gullies, however, remain poorly constrained. In some areas, gully heads incise the continental shelf edge, and one hypothesis proposed is erosion by overflow of cold, de...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Geophysical Union
2012
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/1/jgrf970.pdf https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2012JF002357 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357 |
id |
ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:21041 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:21041 2023-05-15T13:45:12+02:00 Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water Gales, J.A. Larter, R.D. Mitchell, N.C. Hillenbrand, C.-D. Østerhus, S. Shoosmith, D.R. 2012-12 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/1/jgrf970.pdf https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2012JF002357 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357 en eng American Geophysical Union https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/1/jgrf970.pdf Gales, J.A.; Larter, R.D. orcid:0000-0002-8414-7389 Mitchell, N.C.; Hillenbrand, C.-D. orcid:0000-0003-0240-7317 Østerhus, S.; Shoosmith, D.R. 2012 Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117 (F4), F04021. 11, pp. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2012 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357 2023-02-04T19:33:12Z Submarine gullies are the most common morphological features observed on Antarctic continental slopes. The processes forming these gullies, however, remain poorly constrained. In some areas, gully heads incise the continental shelf edge, and one hypothesis proposed is erosion by overflow of cold, dense water masses formed on the continental shelf. We examined new multibeam echo sounder bathymetric data from the Weddell Sea continental slope, the region that has the highest rate of cold, dense water overflow in Antarctica. Ice Shelf Water (ISW) cascades downslope with an average transport rate of 1.6 Sverdrups (Sv) in the southern Weddell Sea. Our new data show that within this region, ISW overflow does not deeply incise the shelf edge. The absence of gullies extending deeply into the glacial sediments at the shelf edge implies that cold, high salinity water overflow is unlikely to have caused the extensive shelf edge erosion observed on other parts of the Antarctic continental margin. Instead, the gullies observed in the southern Weddell Sea are relatively small and their characteristics indicative accumulation and subsequent failure of proglacial sediment during glacial maxima. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Weddell Sea Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 117 F4 n/a n/a |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Submarine gullies are the most common morphological features observed on Antarctic continental slopes. The processes forming these gullies, however, remain poorly constrained. In some areas, gully heads incise the continental shelf edge, and one hypothesis proposed is erosion by overflow of cold, dense water masses formed on the continental shelf. We examined new multibeam echo sounder bathymetric data from the Weddell Sea continental slope, the region that has the highest rate of cold, dense water overflow in Antarctica. Ice Shelf Water (ISW) cascades downslope with an average transport rate of 1.6 Sverdrups (Sv) in the southern Weddell Sea. Our new data show that within this region, ISW overflow does not deeply incise the shelf edge. The absence of gullies extending deeply into the glacial sediments at the shelf edge implies that cold, high salinity water overflow is unlikely to have caused the extensive shelf edge erosion observed on other parts of the Antarctic continental margin. Instead, the gullies observed in the southern Weddell Sea are relatively small and their characteristics indicative accumulation and subsequent failure of proglacial sediment during glacial maxima. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gales, J.A. Larter, R.D. Mitchell, N.C. Hillenbrand, C.-D. Østerhus, S. Shoosmith, D.R. |
spellingShingle |
Gales, J.A. Larter, R.D. Mitchell, N.C. Hillenbrand, C.-D. Østerhus, S. Shoosmith, D.R. Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water |
author_facet |
Gales, J.A. Larter, R.D. Mitchell, N.C. Hillenbrand, C.-D. Østerhus, S. Shoosmith, D.R. |
author_sort |
Gales, J.A. |
title |
Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water |
title_short |
Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water |
title_full |
Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water |
title_fullStr |
Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water |
title_full_unstemmed |
Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water |
title_sort |
southern weddell sea shelf edge geomorphology: implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/1/jgrf970.pdf https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2012JF002357 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Weddell Sea |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/21041/1/jgrf970.pdf Gales, J.A.; Larter, R.D. orcid:0000-0002-8414-7389 Mitchell, N.C.; Hillenbrand, C.-D. orcid:0000-0003-0240-7317 Østerhus, S.; Shoosmith, D.R. 2012 Southern Weddell Sea shelf edge geomorphology: Implications for gully formation by the overflow of high-salinity water. Journal of Geophysical Research, 117 (F4), F04021. 11, pp. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JF002357 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
container_volume |
117 |
container_issue |
F4 |
container_start_page |
n/a |
op_container_end_page |
n/a |
_version_ |
1766217271570595840 |