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Early Miocene glaciation in the Amundsen Sea, Southern Pacific: A study of the distribution of sedimentary sequences
Uenzelmann-Neben, G.; Gohl, K. (2014). Early Miocene glaciation in the Amundsen Sea, Southern Pacific: A study of the distribution of sedimentary sequences, in: Van Rooij, D. et al. (Ed.) Book of Abstracts. 2nd Deep-Water Circulation Congress: The Contourite Log-book. Ghent, Belgium, 10-12 September 2014. VLIZ Special Publication, 69: pp. 81-82
In: Van Rooij, D.; Rüggeberg, A. (Ed.) (2014). Book of Abstracts. 2nd Deep-Water Circulation Congress: The Contourite Log-book. Ghent, Belgium, 10-12 September 2014. VLIZ Special Publication, 69. Ghent University, Department of Geology and Soil Science/Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ): Oostende. xviii, 152 pp., more
In: VLIZ Special Publication. Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ): Oostende. ISSN 1377-0950, more

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Document type: Summary

Keyword
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Sedimentary sequences; Sediment drifts; Bottom water circulation; Glacial development

Authors  Top 
  • Uenzelmann-Neben, G.
  • Gohl, K.

Abstract
    The distribution and internal architecture of seismostratigraphic sequences observed on the Antarctic continental slope and rise are results of sediment transport and deposition by bottom currents and ice sheets. Low energy input of detritus via a palaeo-delta originating in an area of the Amundsen Sea shelf and deposition of this material on the continental rise under sea ice coverage (60-21Ma) was followed by glacial erosion in the hinterland of this part of West Antarctica (21-14.1Ma), resulting in a larger depocentre and an increase in mass transport deposits. A higher sediment supply along a broad front with a focus via two palaeo-ice stream troughs resulted from a polythermal ice sheet. In the eastern Amundsen Sea rise the glaciogenic debris was shaped into levee-drifts by a re-circulating bottom current. A reduced sediment accumulation in the deep-sea subsequent indicates a reduced sediment supply probably in response to a colder and drier ice sheet (14.1-4Ma). A dynamic ice sheet since 4Ma delivered material offshore mainly via Abbott Trough and Pine Island Trough West. Interaction of this glaciogenic detritus with a west-setting bottom current resulted in the continued formation of levee-drifts in the eastern and central Amundsen Sea.

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