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Sediment Distribution in Deep Areas of the Northern Kara Sea

  • Conference paper
Marine Geology and Oceanography of the Arctic Seas

Abstract

The northern margin of the Asiatic Arctic continental shelf, underlying the Kara Sea, is cut by two deep troughs. The Svyataya Anna (or St. Ann) Trough to the west is the larger (140,000 square kilometers at the 200-m isobath) and deeper (exceeding 640 m) of the two troughs with a general U-shape. The Central Kara Plateau, a shallow area which contains two islands and several shoal areas, separates the St. Arm Trough from the Voronin Trough (20,000 square kilometers at the 200-m isobath, and over 400 m deep).

The areal distributions of sedimentary variables such as grain-size, organic carbon content, water content, sand content of sediment cores and clay mineral ratios show a consistent north-south zonation in the St. Ann Trough and a less clear axial trend in the Voronin Trough. A persistent set of bottom currents may best explain the origin of the sediment dispersal pattern in the St. Ann Trough, and an intermittent bottom current may best explain the less clear dispersal pattern observed in the Voronin Trough.

Bottom currents on the west side of the St. Ann Trough flow toward the south, introducing deep-ocean fauna and warmer waters into the trough. This current does not transport terrigenous sediment, although it may rework existing sediments. A north-flowing bottom current best explains the distribution of sediment variables on the eastern side of the St. Ann Trough. This postulated current must owe its existence to the near proximity of two of the world’s largest rivers, the Ob and the Yenisey, and to the different behavior of north-flowing rivers above the Arctic Circle.

The southern reaches of the rivers open first during the spring, then breakup proceeds seaward. There is a sudden and dramatic flushing of the downstream portions of the rivers. The first slug of flood water would mix with the cold saline waters filling the estuaries and rivers as a salt water wedge. The now-saline slug of flood water would erode and transport the last deposited sediment from the previous year. The result would be the formation of a density current which would continue seaward along the drainage system existing on the submerged portions of the Ob-Yenisey Delta, and eventually flow into the St. Ann Trough. Once in the U-shaped trough, such currents would tend to flow along the eastern side as a tractive current under the influence of the Coriolis effect.

The current enters the Arctic Ocean at a depth greater than 600 m and deposits considerable terrigenous sediment on the Arctic sea floor (the Svyataya Anna Cone on the Heezen-Tharp physiographic map) over 600 km from the Ob-Yenisey Delta. The common genetic relationship of river, delta, submarine canyon, and abyssal fan is not definitive for the Ob-Yenisey system, since the St. Ann Trough is neither a true delta nor canyon. It functions as a 600-km-long pipeline passing terrigenous sediments from the delta to the Arctic floor.

The surface patterns of sediment variables persist at depth in cores from the two troughs, suggesting that the processes now active have been active for some time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shell Oil Company, P.O. Box 127, Metairie, Louisiana, 70004, USA

    John A. Andrew

  2. U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, Washington, D.C., 20390, USA

    Joseph H. Kravitz

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  1. John A. Andrew
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  1. Department of Geology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 99163, USA

    Yvonne Herman

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Andrew, J.A., Kravitz, J.H. (1974). Sediment Distribution in Deep Areas of the Northern Kara Sea. In: Herman, Y. (eds) Marine Geology and Oceanography of the Arctic Seas. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87411-6_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87411-6_10

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