Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:12:53.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Evidence from Beneath the Western North Atlantic for the Depth of Glacial Erosion in Greenland and North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Edward P. Laine
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Interpretation of Deep Sea Drilling Project results and air-gun seismic profiles suggests that about 106 km3 of sediment have been eroded from eastern North America and southern Greenland and deposited in the adjacent North Atlantic since the beginning of continental glaciation. This volume is a minimum estimate which does not account for sediment beneath the continental shelf nor that portion carried south of the Blake-Bahama Outer Ridge by the Western Boundary Undercurrent. It represents erosion of about 100 m of solid rock and indicates that more than 90% of the sediment eroded from these areas was deposited as sands, silts, and clays in the adjacent western North Atlantic. Glaciation accounts for between 55 and 95 m of this average 100 m, and fluvial processes account for the remainder. The documented erosion in part substantiates W. A. White's (1972, Geological Society of America Bulletin83, 1037–1056) hypothesis of deep erosion and exhumation of shield regions, but is not in agreement with the entire volume of erosion implied by his model.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , September 1980 , pp. 188 - 198
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benson, W.E. Sheridan, R.E. et al. 3. Site 388: Lower Continental Rise Hills Benson, W.E. Sheridan, R.E. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 44 1978 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 23 67 Google Scholar
Berggren, W.A. Late Pliocene-Pleistocene glaciation Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 12 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 953 963 Google Scholar
Bode, R.E. Carbon and carbonate analyses, Leg 11 Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 11 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 1059 1071 Google Scholar
Boyce, R.E. 38. Carbon and carbonate analyses, Leg 11 Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 11 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 1059 1072 Google Scholar
Clark, S.P. Jr. Handbook of Physical Constants. Geol. Soc. America Mem. 97 1966 Google Scholar
Davies, T.A. Laughton, A.S. Sedimentary processes in the North Atlantic Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 12 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 905 934 Google Scholar
Ewing, J.I. Ewing, M. Seismic reflection Maxwell, A.E. The Sea, Volume 4 1970 Wiley-Interscience New York Chap. 1 Google Scholar
Ewing, J.I. Ewing, M. Windisch, E. Aitken, T. Lamont-Doherty Survey of the World Ocean. Underway Marine Geophysical Data in the North Atlantic, June 1961– January 1971 1974 Part F. New York Google Scholar
Ewing, J.I. Ewing, M. Windisch, C. Aitken, T. Lamont-Doherty Survey of the World Ocean. Underway Marine Geophysical Data in the North Atlantic, June 1961–January 1971 1974 Part E. New York Google Scholar
Flint, R.F. Glacial and Quaternary Geology 1971 Wiley New York Google Scholar
Gravenor, C.P. Erosion by Continental Ice Sheets. American Journal of Science 275 1975 594 604 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, G.R. Moore, T.C. Opdyke, N.D. Dauphin, J.P. Distribution of quartz, opal, calcium carbonate, and organic carbon in Holocene, six-hundred thousand, and Brunhes-Matuyama age sediments in the North Pacific. Geological Society of America: Abstracts with Programs 5 1973 662 Google Scholar
Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. et al. Sites 102, 103, and 104, Blake-Bahama Outer Ridge (northern end) Sites Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.E. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 11 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Wasington, D.C 135 218 Google Scholar
Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.K. et al. Site 105-Lower Continental Rise Hills Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 11 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 219 312 Google Scholar
Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. et al. Site 106-Lower Continental Rise Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 11 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 313 349 Google Scholar
Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. et al. Site 107-Upper Continental Rise Hollister, C.D. Ewing, J.I. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 11 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 351 356 Google Scholar
Horn, D.R. Ewing, M. Horn, B.M. Delach, M.N. Turbidites of the Hatteras and Sohm Abyssal Plains, Western North Atlantic. Marine Geology 11 1971 287 323 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houtz, R.E. Preliminary study of global sound velocities from Sonobouy data Hampton, L. Physics of Sound in Marine Sediments 1974 Plenum New York 519 535 Google Scholar
Judson, S. Erosion of the land, or what's happening to our continents. American Scientist 56 1968 356 374 Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P. Cenozoic Evolution of Antarctic Glaciation, the circum-Antarctic Ocean, and their impact on global paleoceanography. Journal of Geophysical Research 82 1977 3843 3860 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolla, V. Biscayne, P.E. Hanley, A.F. Distribution of quartz in late Quaternary Atlantic sediments in relation to climate. Quaternary Research 11 1979 261 277 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laine, E.P. Atlantic deep sea sediments: The influence of contrasting Pleistocene/Neogene Patterns of terrigenous weathering. Geological Society of America: Abstracts with Programs 9 1977 1064 Google Scholar
Laine, E.P. Geological Effects of the Gulf Stream System in the North American Basin. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis 1977 Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography Google Scholar
Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. et al. Site 111 Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 12 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 33 159 Google Scholar
Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. et al. Site 112 Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 12 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 161 254 Google Scholar
Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. et al. Site 113 Laughton, A.S. Berggren, W.A. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 12 1972 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 255 312 Google Scholar
Mathews, W.H. Cenozoic Erosion and erosion surfaces of Eastern North America. American Journal of Science 275 1975 818 824 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, M.N.A. Edgar, T. et al. 3. Site 8 Peterson, M.N.A. Edgar, T. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 2 1969 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 9 33 Google Scholar
Peterson, M.N.A. Edgar, T. et al. 4. Site 9 Peterson, M.N.A. Edgar, T. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 2 1969 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 35 117 Google Scholar
Peterson, M.N.A. Edgar, T. et al. 9: Carbon carbonate results Peterson, M.N.A. Edgar, T. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 2 1969 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 319 321 Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F. Late Quaternary deposition of ice-rafted sand in the Subpolar North Atlantic (Lot 40° to 65°N). Geological Society of America Bulletin 88 1977 1813 1827 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. Cita, M.B. Oxygen and carbon isotopic stratigraphy of Benthonic Foraminifera in Site 397; Detailed climatic history during the Late Neogene Rabinowitz, P.A. Melson, W.G. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 45 1979 U.S. Govt. Printing Office In press CrossRefGoogle Scholar
shackleton, N.J. Kennett, J.P. Late Cenzoic oxygen and carbon isotopic changes at DSDP. Site 284: Implications for glacial history of the Northern Hemisphere and Antarctica Kennett, J.P. Houtz, R.E. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 29 1975 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C 801 807 Google Scholar
Sugden, D.E. A case against deep erosion of shields by ice sheets. Geology 4 1976 580 582 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. et al. Site 382 Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 43 1979 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C In press CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. et al. Site 385 Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 43 1979 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C In press CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. et al. Site 386 Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 43 1979 U.S. Govt. Printing Office Washington, D.C In press CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. et al. Site 387 Tucholke, B.E. Vogt, P.R. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 43 1979 U.S. Vogt. Printing Office Washington, D.C In press CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, W.A. Deep erosion by Continental Ice Sheets. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83 1972 1037 1056 CrossRefGoogle Scholar