Seismic stratigraphy of the late Quaternary sedimentary infill of Lac d'Armor (Kerguelen archipelago): a record of glacier retreat, sedimentary mass wasting and southern Westerly intensification

• Published in: Antarctic Science
• Main Authors: Heirman, Katrien, De Batist, Marc, Arnaud, Fabien, De Beaulieu, Jacques-Louis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Sciences; glacial sedimentation; lacustrine sedimentation; drift deposit; LAKE; OCEAN; DEGLACIATION; CIRCULATION; EVOLUTION; ISLANDS; HISTORY; MAXIMUM; ORIGIN; CLIMATE VARIABILITY; wind-driven currents; Kerguelen; Lac d'Armor; Antarctic Science
• Online Access: https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/3096256; http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-3096256; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102012000466; https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/3096256/file/3096264

Lac d'Armor (49 degrees 27'S, 69 degrees 42'E) is a medium-sized, fiord-type lake located on the 'Grande Terre' island of the Kerguelen archipelago. A dense grid of high-resolution reflection seismic profiles was collected from this lake basin. The seismic stratigraphic facies reveal a last deglaciation to Holocene infill comparable to the seismic facies found in other glacigenic lakes all over the world. Remarkable features in the seismic stratigraphy are mounded structures found at the southern edge of both sub-basins. The sediment mounds can be interpreted as sediment drifts created by wind-induced bottom currents. The onset of the build-up of these drifts initiated at some point in the Holocene and indicates a strengthening of the southern Westerlies, which are currently the dominant winds on this island.