Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Glacial and post-glacial sedimentary processes in the Irish Rockall Trough from an integrated acoustic analysis of near-seabed sediments

  • Original
  • Published:
Geo-Marine Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Near-seabed (<50 m) sediments were studied throughout the Irish sector of the Rockall Trough (ca. 123,000 km2) based on a combined analysis of shallow seismic (3.5 kHz) and multibeam swath data acquired by the Irish National Seabed Survey and reprocessed here at higher resolution. The detailed identification of seven acoustic facies served to classify the Rockall Trough into six main sedimentary provinces, incorporating the well-known Feni Drift, Donegal-Barra Fan and Rockall Bank mass flow. In the northern part of the study area, extensive mass transport deposits from both flanks of the trough are the dominant depositional features. Debris flow deposits formed by ice streaming of the British-Irish ice sheet characterise most of the Donegal-Barra Fan, whereas turbidite deposition occurs towards the toe of the fan. On the western margin of the trough, the post-glacial Rockall Bank mass flow deposit displays a rough topography with no acoustic penetration. Several failure scarps are visible on the flank of the bank where the mass flow originated, and pass downslope into large sediment lobes and smaller debris flow deposits. Smaller-scale mass transport deposits were also discovered close to some canyons indenting the eastern slope. High seismic penetration characterises the Feni contourite drift deposit, and precise mapping of its geographical extent shows that it is considerably wider than previously reported. The sediment waves that drape this drift are interpreted as predominantly relict features, and their varied geometry suggests a complex oceanographic regime. In the deeper part of the trough, the data reveal novel evidence of the widespread occurrence (about 12,000 km2) of distinct seismic and backscatter signatures indicating the possible presence of fluid escape structures within fine-grained sediments of mixed contouritic, hemipelagic and turbiditic origin. Sediment overloading and increased pore pressure resulting from extensive mass wasting to the north of the area is a likely cause of dewatering-rooted fluid migration towards the seabed, but further investigations are required to confirm the nature and origin of such fluids in the Rockall Trough.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andresen KJ (2012) Fluid flow features in hydrocarbon plumbing systems: what do they tell us about the basin evolution? Mar Geol. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2012.07.006

  • Armishaw JE, Holmes RW, Stow DAV (1998) Morphology and sedimentation on the Hebrides slope and Barra fan, NW UK continental margin. In: Stoker MS, Evans D, Cramp A (eds) Geological processes on continental margins: sedimentation, mass-wasting and stability. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 129:81–104

  • Armishaw JE, Holmes RW, Stow DAV (2000) The Barra Fan: a bottom-current reworked, glacially-fed submarine fan system. Mar Petrol Geol 17:219–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayon G, Loncke L, Dupré S, Caprais J-C, Ducassou E, Duperron S, Etoubleau J, Foucher J-P, Fouquet Y, Gontharet S, Henderson GM, Huguen C, Klaucke I, Mascle J, Migeon S, Olu-Le Roy K, Ondréas H, Pierre C, Sibuet M, Stadnitskaia A, Woodside J (2009) Multi-disciplinary investigation of fluid seepage on an unstable margin: the case of the Central Nile deep sea fan. Mar Geol 261(1/4):92–104. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.10.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berndt C (2005) Focused fluid flow in passive continental margins. Philos Trans R Soc A Math Phys Eng Sci 363:2855–2871. doi:10.1098/rsta.2005.1666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brackenridge R, Stow DAV, Hernández-Molina FJ (2011) Contourites within a deep-water sequence stratigraphic framework. Geo-Mar Lett 31(5/6):343–360. doi:10.1007/s00367-011-0256-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camps A, Long D, Rochelle C, Lovell MA (2009) Mapping hydrate stability zones offshore Scotland. In: Long D, Lovell MA, Rees J, Rochelle C (eds) Sediment-hosted gas hydrates: new insights on natural and synthetic systems. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 319:81–91

  • Cartwright J, Huuse M, Aplin A (2007) Seal bypass systems. Am Assoc Petrol Geol Bull 91:1141–1166

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark CD, Hughes ALC, Greenwood SL, Jordan C, Sejrup HP (2012) Pattern and timing of retreat of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet. Quat Sci Rev 44:112–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croker PF, Kozachenko M, Wheeler AJ (2005) Gas-related seabed structures in the Western Irish Sea (IRL-SEA6). Tech Rep Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA6, Dublin

  • Cronin BT, Akhmetzhanov AM, Mazzini A, Akhmanov G, Ivanov M, Kenyon NH (2005) Morphology, evolution and fill: implications for sand and mud distribution in filling deep-water canyons and slope channel complexes. Sediment Geol 179(1/2):71–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlgren KIT, Vorren TO, Stoker MS, Nielsen T, Nygård A, Sejrup HP (2005) Late Cenozoic prograding wedges on the NW European continental margin: their formation and relationship to tectonics and climate. Mar Petrol Geol 22(9/10):1089–1110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai J, Snyder F, Gillespie D, Koesoemadinata A, Dutta N (2008) Exploration for gas hydrates in the deepwater, northern Gulf of Mexico: Part I. A seismic approach based on geologic model, inversion, and rock physics principles. Mar Petrol Geol 25(9):830–844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damuth JE (1979) Migrating sediment waves created by turbidity currents in the northern South China Basin. Geology 7:520–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damuth JE (1980) Use of high-frequency (3.5-12 kHz) echograms in the study of near-bottom sedimentation processes in the deep-sea: a review. Mar Geol 38:51–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davison S, Stoker MS (2002) Late Pleistocene glacially-influenced deep-marine sedimentation off NW Britain: implications for the rock record. In: Dowdeswell JA, Ó Cofaigh C (eds) Glacier-influenced sedimentation of high-latitude continental margins. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 203:129–147

  • Dickson RR, Kidd RB (1987) Deep circulation in the southern Rockall Trough - the oceanographic setting of site-610. Init Rep Deep Sea Drilling Proj 94:1061–1074

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowdeswell JA, Kenyon NH, Laberg JS (1997) The glacier-influenced Scoresby Sund fan, East Greenland continental margin: evidence from GLORIA and 3.5 kHz records. Mar Geol 143(1/4):207–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlop P, Shannon R, Quinn R, McCabe AM, Doyle E (2010) Marine geophysical evidence for ice sheet extension on the Malin Shelf: new evidence for the western limits of the British Irish Ice Sheet. Mar Geol 276(1/4):86–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott GM, Shannon PM, Haughton PDW, Praeg D, O’Reilly B (2006) Mid- to Late Cenozoic canyon development on the eastern margin of the Rockall Trough, offshore Ireland. Mar Geol 229(3/4):113–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott GM, Shannon PM, Haughton PDW, Øvrebø LK (2010) The Rockall Bank Mass Flow: collapse of a moated contourite drift onlapping the eastern flank of Rockall Bank, west of Ireland. Mar Petrol Geol 27(1):92–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etiope G, Ciccioli P (2009) Earth’s degassing: a missing ethane and propane source. Science 323:478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans DJA, Clark CD, Mitchell WA (2005) The last British Ice Sheet: a review of the evidence utilized in the compilation of the Glacial Map of Britain. Earth Sci Rev 70:253–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faugères J-C, Gonthier E, Grousset F, Poutiers J (1981) The Feni Drift: the importance and meaning of slump deposits on the eastern slope of the Rockall Bank. Mar Geol 40:49–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood RD, Hollister CD, Lonsdale P (1979) Disruption of the Feni sediment drift by debris flows from Rockall Bank. Mar Geol 32(3/4):311–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flood RD, Shor AN, Manley PL (1993) Morphology of abyssal mudwaves at project MUDWAVES sites in the Argentine Basin. Deep Sea Res II Topical Stud Oceanogr 40(4/5):859–888

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fonseca L, Brown C, Calder B, Mayer L, Rzhanov Y (2009) Angular range analysis of acoustic themes from Stanton Banks Ireland: a link between visual interpretation and multibeam echosounder angular signatures. Appl Acoustics 70(10):1298–1304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucher J-P, Westbrook GK, Boetius A, Ceramicola S, Dupré S, Mascle J, Mienert J, Pfannkuche O, Pierre C, Praeg D (2009) Structure and drivers of cold seep ecosystems. Oceanography 22(1):92–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García M, Dowdeswell JA, Ercilla G, Jakobsson M (2012) Recent glacially influenced sedimentary processes on the East Greenland continental slope and deep Greenland Basin. Quat Sci Rev 49:64–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JV, Field ME, Twichell DC (eds) (1996) Geology of the United States’ seafloor - the view from GLORIA. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Gay A, Lopez M, Cochonat P, Sermondadaz G (2004) Polygonal faults-furrows system related to early stages of compaction – upper Miocene to recent sediments of the Lower Congo Basin. Basin Res 16(1):101–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gay A, Lopez M, Berndt C, Séranne M (2007) Geological controls on focused fluid flow associated with seafloor seeps in the Lower Congo Basin. Mar Geol 244(1/4):68–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Georgiopoulou A, Benetti S, Shannon PM, Haughton PDW, McCarron S (2012) Gravity flow deposits in the deep Rockall Trough, Northeast Atlantic. In: Yamada Y, Kawamura K, Ikehara K, Ogawa Y, Urgeles R, Mosher D, Chaytor J, Strasser M (eds) Submarine mass movements and their consequences. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 31. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 695–707. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2162-3_62

  • Ginsburg GD, Soloviev VA (1997) Methane migration within the submarine gas-hydrate stability zone under deep-water conditions. Mar Geol 137:49–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heggland R (1997) Detection of gas migration from a deep source by the use of exploration 3D seismic data. Mar Geol 137(1/2):41–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henriet JP, De Mol B, Pillen S, Vanneste M, Van Rooij D, Versteeg W, Croker PF, Shannon PM, Unnithan V, Bouriak S, Chachkine P, Belgica 97 Shipboard Party (1998) Gas hydrate crystals may help build reefs. Nature 391:648–649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hesse R, Klaucke I, Ryan WBF, Edwards MH, Piper DJW, NAMOC study group (1996) Imaging Laurentide Ice Sheet drainage into the deep-sea: impact on sediments and bottom water. GSA Today 6(9):3–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesse R, Klaucke I, Khodabakhsh S, Piper D (1999) Continental slope sedimentation adjacent to an ice margin. III. The upper Labrador Slope. Mar Geol 155(3/4):249–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holliday NP, Pollard RT, Read JF, Leach H (2000) Water mass properties and fluxes in the Rockall Trough, 1975–1998. Deep-Sea Res 47(7):1303–1332. doi:10.1016/S0967-0637(99)00109-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmes R, Long D, Dodd LR (1998) Large-scale debrites and submarine landslides on the Barra Fan, west of Britain. In: Stoker MS, Evans D, Cramp A (eds) Geological processes on continental margins: sedimentation, mass-wasting and stability. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 129:67–79

  • Hovland M, Judd AG (1988) Seabed pockmarks and seepages. Impact on geology, biology and marine environment. Graham & Trotman, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Howe JA, Stoker MS, Stow DAV, Akhurst MC (2002) Sediment drifts and contourite sedimentation in the northeastern Rockall Trough and Faroe-Shetland Channel, North Atlantic Ocean. In: Stow DAV, Pudsey CJ, Howe JA, Faugères J-C, Viana AR (eds) Deep-water contourite systems: modern drifts and ancient series, seismic and sedimentary characteristics. Geol Soc Lond Mem 22:65–72

  • Hughes Clarke JE, O’Leary DW, Piper DJW (1992) Western Nova Scotia continental rise: relative importance of mass wasting and deep boundary-current activity. In: Poag CW, de Graciansky PC (eds) Geologic evolution of Atlantic continental rise. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, pp 266–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Huuse M, Jackson CAL, Van Rensbergen P, Davies RJ, Flemings PB, Dixon RJ (2012) Subsurface sediment remobilization and fluid flow in sedimentary basins: an overview. Basin Res 22(4):342–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huvenne VAI, De Mol B, Henriet JP (2003) A 3D seismic study of the morphology and spatial distribution of buried coral banks in the Porcupine Basin, SW of Ireland. Mar Geol 198(1/2):5–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judd AG, Hovland M (1992) The evidence of shallow gas in marine sediments. Cont Shelf Res 12(10):1081–1096

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judd A, Hovland M (2007) Seabed fluid flow; the impact on geology, biology, and the marine environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon NH (1987) Mass wasting features on the continental slope of northwest Europe. Mar Geol 74:57–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenyon NH, Akhmetzhanov AM, Wheeler AJ, van Weering TCE, de Haas H, Ivanov MK (2003) Giant carbonate mud mounds in the southern Rockall Trough. Mar Geol 195(1/4):5–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd RB, Hill PR (1986) Sedimentation on mid-ocean sediment drifts. In: Summerhayes CP, Shackleton NJ (eds) North Atlantic palaeoceanography. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 21:87–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd RB, Hill PR (1987) Sedimentation on Feni and Gardar sediment drifts. In: Ruddiman WF, Kidd RB, Thomas E (eds) Initial Reports DSDP, vol 94. US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, pp 1217–1244

    Google Scholar 

  • Knutz PK, Jones EJ, Austin WEN, van Weering TCE (2002) Glacimarine slope sedimentation, contourite drifts and bottomcurrent pathways on the Barra Fan, UK North Atlantic margin. Mar Geol 188:129–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopf AJ (2002) Significance of mud volcanism. Rev Geophys 40:1–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kvenvolden KA (1993) Gas hydrates—geological perspective and global change. Rev Geophys 31:173–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kvenvolden KA, Rogers BW (2005) Gaia’s breath – global methane exhalations. Mar Petrol Geol 22:579–590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kvenvolden KA, Ginsburg GD, Soloviev VA (1993) Worldwide distribution of subaquatic gas hydrates. Geo-Mar Lett 13(1):32–40. doi:10.1007/BF01204390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laine EP, Damuth JE, Jacobi R (1986) Surficial sedimentary processes revealed by echo-character mapping in the western North Atlantic. In: Vogt PR, Tucholke BE (eds) The Geology of North America, vol M, The Western North Atlantic Region. Geological Society of America, Boulder, pp 427–436

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin LA (2005) Ecology of cold seep sediments: interactions of fauna with flow, chemistry and microbes. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 43:1–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loncke L, Droz L, Gaullier V, Basile C, Patriat M, Roest W (2009) Slope instabilities from echo-character mapping along the French Guiana transform margin and Demerara abyssal plain. Mar Petrol Geol 26(5):711–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long D (2000) The methane hydrate stability zone north and west of Scotland. Tech Rep British Geological Survey, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Masson DG, Howe JA, Stoker MS (2002) Bottom-current sediment waves, sediment drifts and contourites in the northern Rockall Trough. Mar Geol 192:215–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzini A, Akhmetzhanov A, Monteys X, Ivanov M (2012) The Porcupine Bank Canyon coral mounds: oceanographic and topographic steering of deep-water carbonate mound development and associated phosphatic deposition. Geo-Mar Lett 32(3):205–225. doi:10.1007/s00367-011-0257-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milkov AV (2000) Worldwide distribution of submarine mud volcanoes and associated gas hydrates. Mar Geol 167(1/2):29–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naehr TH, Eichhubl P, Orphan VJ, Hovland M, Paull CK, Ussler W III, Lorenson TD, Greene HG (2007) Authigenic carbonate formation at hydrocarbon seeps in continental margin sediments: a comparative study. Deep Sea Res II Topical Stud Oceanogr 54(11/13):1268–1291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naylor D, Shannon PM (2005) The structural framework of the Irish Atlantic Margin. Petrol Geol Conf Series 6:1009–1021

    Google Scholar 

  • Naylor D, Shannon PM (2009) Geology of offshore Ireland. The Geology of Ireland. Dunedin Academic Press, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • New AL, Smythe-Wright D (2001) Aspects of the circulation in the Rockall Trough. Cont Shelf Res 21:777–810

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ó Cofaigh C, Dunlop P, Benetti S (2012) Marine geophysical evidence for Late Pleistocene ice sheet extent and recession off northwest Ireland. Quat Sci Rev 44:147–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly BM, Shannon PM, Readman PW (2007) Shelf to slope sedimentation processes and the impact of Plio-Pleistocene glaciations in the northeast Atlantic, west of Ireland. Mar Geol 238(1/4):21–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Øvrebø LK (2005) Spatial and temporal variations in sedimentary slope processes along the margins of the Rockall Trough, offshore West Ireland. PhD Thesis, University College Dublin, Dublin

  • Øvrebø LK, Haughton PDW, Shannon PM (2006) A record of fluctuating bottom currents on the slopes west of the Porcupine Bank, offshore Ireland - implications for Late Quaternary climate forcing. Mar Geol 225(1/4):279–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piper DJW, McCall C (2003) A synthesis of the distribution of submarine mass movements on the Eastern Canadian margin. In: Locat J, Mienert J (eds) Submarine mass movements and their consequences. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 291–298

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Piper DJW, Normark WR (1982) Effects of 1929 Grand Banks earthquake on the continental slope off eastern Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Current Res B 82(1B):147–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Piper DJW, Cochonat P, Morrison ML (1999) The sequence of events around the epicentre of the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: initiation of debris flows and turbidity current inferred from sidescan sonar. Sedimentology 46(1):79–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Praeg D, Stoker MS, Shannon PM, Ceramicola S, Hjelstuen B, Laberg JS, Mathiesen A (2005) Episodic Cenozoic tectonism and the development of the NW European ‘passive’ continental margin. Mar Petrol Geol 22(9/10):1007–1030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratson LF, Laine EP (1989) The relative importance of gravity-induced versus current-controlled sedimentation during the Quaternary along the Mideast U.S. outer continental margin revealed by 3.5 kHz echo character. Mar Geol 89:87–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read JF (2001) CONVEX-91: water masses and circulation of the northeast Atlantic sub-polar gyre. Progr Oceanogr 48:461–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richter TO, Lassen S, van Weering TCE, de Haas H (2001) Magnetic susceptibility patterns and provenance of ice-rafted material at Feni Drift, Rockall Trough: implications for the history of the British-Irish ice sheet. Mar Geol 173(1/4):37–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts DG (1972) Slumping on the eastern margin of the Rockall bank, North Atlantic Ocean. Mar Geol 13:225–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts DG (1975) Marine geology of the Rockall Plateau and Trough. Philos Trans R Soc A Math Phys Eng Sci 278(1285):447–509. doi:10.1098/rsta.1975.0033

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts DG, Kidd RB (1979) Abyssal sediment-wave fields on Feni Ridge, Rockall Trough: long-range sonar studies. Mar Geol 33:175–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson GS, McCave IN (1994) Orbital forcing of bottom-current enhanced sedimentation on Feni Drift, NE Atlantic, during the mid-Pleistocene. Paleoceanography 9(6):943–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacchetti F, Benetti S, Georgiopoulou A, Dunlop P, Quinn R (2011) Geomorphology of the Irish Rockall Trough, North Atlantic Ocean, mapped from multibeam bathymetric and backscatter data. J Maps 7(1):60–81. doi:10.4113/jom.2011.1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacchetti F, Benetti S, Georgiopoulou A, Shannon PM, O’Reilly BM, Dunlop P, Quinn R, Ó Cofaigh C (2012) Deep-water geomorphology of the glaciated Irish margin from high-resolution marine geophysical data. Mar Geol 291/294:113–131. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2011.11.011

    Google Scholar 

  • Schroot BM, Schüttenhelm RTE (2003) Shallow gas and gas seepage: expressions on seismic and other acoustic data from the Netherlands North Sea. J Geochem Explor 78(79):305–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumacher D, Abrams MA (1996) Hydrocarbon migration and its near-surface expression. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa

    Google Scholar 

  • Sejrup HP, Hjelstuen BO, Dahlgren KIT, Haflidason H, Kuijpers A, Nygard A, Praeg D, Stoker MS, Vorren TO (2005) Pleistocene glacial history of the NW European continental margin. Mar Petrol Geol 22(9/10):1111–1129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shannon PM, O’Reilly B, Readman PW, Jacob AWB, Kenyon NH (2001) Slope failure features on the margins of the Rockall Trough. In: Shannon PM, Haughton PDW, Corcoran DV (eds) The petroleum exploration of Ireland’s offshore basins. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 188:455–464

  • Shaw J, Piper DJW, Skulski T, Lamplugh MJ, Craft A, Roy A (2012) New evidence for widespread mass transport on the Northeast Newfoundland Shelf revealed by Olex single-beam echo sounding. Geo-Mar Lett 32(1):5–15. doi:10.1007/s00367-011-0233-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sibuet M (2003) Cold seep communities on continental margins; structure and quantitative distribution relative to geological and fluid venting patterns. In: Wefer G, Billett D, Hebbeln D, Jørgensen BB, Schlueter M, van Weering TCE (eds) Ocean margin systems. Springer, Berlin, pp 235–251

    Google Scholar 

  • Sloan ED Jr, Koh CA (2008) Clathrate hydrates of natural gases, 3rd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoker MS (1998) Sediment-drift development on the continental margin off NW Britain. In: Stoker MS, Evans D, Cramp A (eds) Geological processes on continental margins: sedimentation, mass-wasting and stability. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 129:229–254

  • Stoker MS, Van Weering TCE, Svaerdborg T (2001) A Mid- to Late Cenozoic tectonostratigraphic framework for the Rockall Trough. In: Shannon PM, Haughton PDW, Corcoran DV (eds) The petroleum exploration of Ireland’s offshore basins. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 188:411–438

  • Stoker MS, Hoult RJ, Nielsen T, Hjelstuen BO, Laberg JS, Shannon PM, Praeg D, Mathiesen A, van Weering TCE, McDonnell A (2005) Sedimentary and oceanographic responses to early Neogene compression on the NW European margin. Mar Petrol Geol 22(9/10):1031–1044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thierens M, Pirlet H, Colin C, Latruwe K, Vanhaecke F, Lee JR, Stuut JB, Titschack J, Huvenne VAI, Dorschel B, Wheeler AJ, Henriet JP (2011) Ice-rafting from the British-Irish ice sheet since the earliest Pleistocene (2.6 million years ago): implications for long-term mid-latitudinal ice-sheet growth in the North Atlantic region. Quat Sci Rev 44:229–240. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.12.020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tripsanas EK, Piper DJW (2008) Glaciogenic debris-flow deposits of Orphan Basin, offshore Eastern Canada: sedimentological and rheological properties, origin, and relationship to meltwater discharge. J Sediment Res 78:724–744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tripsanas EK, Piper DJW, Jenner KA, Bryant WR (2008) Submarine mass-transport facies: new perspectives on flow processes from cores on the eastern North American margin. Sedimentology 55:97–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Unnithan V, Shannon PM, McGrane K, Readman PW, Jacob AWB, Keary R, Kenyon NH (2001) Slope instability and sediment redistribution in the Rockall Trough: constraints from GLORIA. In: Shannon PM, Haughton PDW, Corcoran DV (eds) The petroleum exploration of Ireland’s offshore basins. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 188:439–454

  • Van Rensbergen P, Hillis RR, Maltman AJ, Morley CK (eds) (2003) Subsurface sediment mobilization. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 216

  • van Weering TCE, de Rijk S (1991) Sedimentation and climate-induced sediments on Feni Ridge, Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Mar Geol 101(1/4):49–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver PPE, Wynn RB, Kenyon NH, Evans J (2000) Continental margin sedimentation, with special reference to the north-east Atlantic margin. Sedimentology 47(suppl 1):239–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wold CN (1994) Cenozoic sediment accumulation on drifts in the northern North Atlantic. Paleoceanography 9(6):917–941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynn RB, Stow DAV (2002) Classification and characterisation of deep-water sediment waves. Mar Geol 192(1/3):7–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaragosi S, Auffret GA, Faugères J-C, Garlan T, Pujol C, Cortijo E (2000) Physiography and recent sediment distribution of the Celtic Deep-Sea Fan, Bay of Biscay. Mar Geol 169(1/2):207–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out as part of F. Sacchetti’s PhD project funded by the Vice Chancellor Research Scholarship of the University of Ulster. We thank the Irish Marine Institute and the Geological Survey of Ireland for providing access to the INSS and INFOMAR datasets, and for help and support throughout the project. F.S. gratefully acknowledges A. Georgiopoulou and P. Shannon for discussions on the fluid escape structures in the Rockall Trough. We also thank Seismic Micro Technology for providing Kingdom Suite to the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Ulster. Thorough assessments by D. Praeg, J. Howe and the journal editors helped to improve the final manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland

    Fabio Sacchetti, Sara Benetti & Rory Quinn

  2. Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Colm Ó Cofaigh

Authors
  1. Fabio Sacchetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sara Benetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rory Quinn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Colm Ó Cofaigh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabio Sacchetti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sacchetti, F., Benetti, S., Quinn, R. et al. Glacial and post-glacial sedimentary processes in the Irish Rockall Trough from an integrated acoustic analysis of near-seabed sediments. Geo-Mar Lett 33, 49–66 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-012-0310-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-012-0310-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation