TY - JOUR
T1 - Quaternary sedimentation, margin architecture and ocean circulation variability around the Faroe Islands, North Atlantic
AU - Nielsen, T.
AU - Rasmussen, T.L.
AU - Ceramicola, S.
AU - Kuijpers, A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The draft of this paper was prepared during a two weeks stay in the San Cataldo Monastery, Italy, supported by the Friends of San Cataldo and funded by the Velux Foundation.
Funding Information:
This study was carried out under the auspices of the LINK project, funded by the SNF (Danish Natural Science Research Foundation), and the EU-funded STRATAGEM project (EVK3-CT-1999-00011). We warmly thank J. Boserup (GEUS) for invaluable help in the coring procedures during the R/V DANA 2000 cruise, and C. D’Amicantonio and M. Grossi (OGS) are thanked for their effort in acquiring and processing the seismic data. P. Konradi and I. S. Nielsen (GEUS) are thanked for their help in post-cruise core handling. The deep-towed side-scan sonar data presented in Fig. 10 was collected with R/V ‘Prof. Logachev’ within the framework of the international, UNESCO-supported TTR-program, coordinated by Prof. M. Ivanov, Moscow State University. Dr. Martin Stoker and two anonymous referees are thanked for fruitful comments. Dr. Patrick Friend is thanked for kindly helping with the English language.
PY - 2007/4
Y1 - 2007/4
N2 - The Quaternary development offshore the Faroe Islands has been studied using high-resolution seismic and core data from the R/V DANA 2000 cruise and previous cruises. Several glacial-related features and deposits are observed, all bearing witness to former extensive glaciations of the Faroe area. On the shelves, overlaying a mid-Pleistocene glacial erosional surface, glacial and glacimarine deposits form a sheet geometry interrupted by ridges of sediment that are likely to represent ice-front deposits. An iceberg turbate north of the Faroe Islands provides evidence of large-scale drift of ultra-deep draft (>600 m) icebergs in the Nordic Seas at pre-Weichselian glacial stage(s). Marginal and transverse troughs found on the eastern and western shelf are suggested to have formed during the same glacial period(s) as the iceberg turbate. Iceberg plough-marks and abundant ice rafted material of non-Faroese origin, together with the relict moraine ridges encircling the Faroe Islands at around the 100 and 200 m water depth contours, indicate that the outer shelf was probably ice free during the Weichselian ice age. On the slopes and basinal parts, the formation of fine-grained contourites was favoured during (Weichselian) glacial stages when bottom currents were reduced. Sediment overloading during these glacial stages resulted in repeated slope instability, causing mass failures of the contourite deposits.
AB - The Quaternary development offshore the Faroe Islands has been studied using high-resolution seismic and core data from the R/V DANA 2000 cruise and previous cruises. Several glacial-related features and deposits are observed, all bearing witness to former extensive glaciations of the Faroe area. On the shelves, overlaying a mid-Pleistocene glacial erosional surface, glacial and glacimarine deposits form a sheet geometry interrupted by ridges of sediment that are likely to represent ice-front deposits. An iceberg turbate north of the Faroe Islands provides evidence of large-scale drift of ultra-deep draft (>600 m) icebergs in the Nordic Seas at pre-Weichselian glacial stage(s). Marginal and transverse troughs found on the eastern and western shelf are suggested to have formed during the same glacial period(s) as the iceberg turbate. Iceberg plough-marks and abundant ice rafted material of non-Faroese origin, together with the relict moraine ridges encircling the Faroe Islands at around the 100 and 200 m water depth contours, indicate that the outer shelf was probably ice free during the Weichselian ice age. On the slopes and basinal parts, the formation of fine-grained contourites was favoured during (Weichselian) glacial stages when bottom currents were reduced. Sediment overloading during these glacial stages resulted in repeated slope instability, causing mass failures of the contourite deposits.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34248367408&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.12.005
DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.12.005
M3 - Article
SN - 0277-3791
VL - 26
SP - 1016
EP - 1036
JO - Quaternary Science Reviews
JF - Quaternary Science Reviews
IS - 7-8
ER -