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Bathymetry and acoustic facies beneath the former Larsen-A and Prince Gustav ice shelves, north-west Weddell Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2004

Carol J. Pudsey ,
Jeffrey Evans ,
Eugene W. Domack ,
Peter Morris  and
Rodolfo A. Del Valle
Carol J. Pudsey
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environmental Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, UK
Jeffrey Evans
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environmental Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, UK
Eugene W. Domack
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Road, Clinton, NY 13323, USA
Peter Morris
Affiliation:
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environmental Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, UK
Rodolfo A. Del Valle
Affiliation:
Depto. Ciencias de la Tierra, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, C1010AAZ Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Abstract

We present preliminary results of the first detailied surveys of the former Larsen-A Ice Shelf, Larsen Inlet and southern Prince Gustav Channel, where disintegration of small ice shelves in the past ten years has exposed the seafloor. Glacial troughs in the Larsen-A area, Larsen Inlet and Prince Gustav Channel reach 900–1100 m depth and have hummocky floors. Farther south-east, the continental shelf is shallower (400–500 m) and its surface is fluted to smooth, with the density of iceberg furrowing increasing towards the shelf edge. Acoustic profiles show a drape of transparent sediment 4–8 m thick in Prince Gustav Channel, thinning southwards. In cores, this drape corresponds to diatom-bearing marine and glacial-marine mud. In the Larsen-A area and Larsen Inlet, acoustically opaque sediment includes proximal ice shelf glaciomarine gravelly and sandy muds, and firm to stiff diamicts probably deposited subglacilly. These are overlain by thin (up to 1.3 m) glaciomarine muds, locally with distinctive diatom ooze laminae.

Keywords

echo characterglaciomarine sedimentLarsen Ice Shelfsubglacial sedimentWeddell Sea
Type
Papers—Earth Sciences and Glaciology
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 2001 , pp. 312 - 322
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2001

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