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Iceberg and ice-keel ploughmarks on the Gdansk-Gotland Sill (south-eastern Baltic Sea)

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Abstract

New interpretation of the undulating moraine relief of the Gdansk-Gotland Sill, Baltic Sea is proposed. Relict iceberg and ice-keel ploughmarks were observed based on the integration of recently acquired side-scan sonar, multi-beam, single-beam and lithological data. The most likely time of their formation is the period of fast Scandinavian sheet retreat occurring from approximately 13.2 to 11.7 ka. Weak erosional-accumulative processes on the sill from 11.7 ka until the present favoured preservation of the iceberg ploughmarks. The predominant directions of the ploughmarks (north–south and northwest–southeast) coincide with the major iceberg (ice) drift direction from the Scandinavian ice sheet. Furrow width varies from 1 to 300 m with a main width of 20–60 m in a depth range of 1 to 10 m (mostly 2–4 m depth). The ploughmarks are flanked by side ridges 0.5–2 m high, and there is a push mound at the end of some furrows. Three types of cross-sectional furrow profiles have been distinguished: V-shaped cross-section profiles would have been formed by a peaked iceberg keel, U-shaped profiles by a flat keel, and W-shaped profiles by double-keel icebergs (ice ridges). The wide local depressions at the end of ploughmarks could have been formed during periods of fast falling of the Baltic Ice Lake water level, when the ice ridges (stamukhi) or icebergs could ground into the seafloor.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge constructive feedback from an anonymous reviewer and the editors on an earlier version of this article. We are also thankful to Elena Sukhikh (Geological Institute RAS, Moscow) for help with multi-beam data processing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 36 Nahimovskiy prospekt, Moscow, Russian Federation

    D. V. Dorokhov, E. V. Dorokhova & V. V. Sivkov

  2. Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, 14 A. Nevskogo Str., Kaliningrad, Russian Federation

    V. V. Sivkov

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  1. D. V. Dorokhov
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  2. E. V. Dorokhova
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  3. V. V. Sivkov
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Correspondence to D. V. Dorokhov.

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Responsible editor: B.W. Flemming

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Dorokhov, D.V., Dorokhova, E.V. & Sivkov, V.V. Iceberg and ice-keel ploughmarks on the Gdansk-Gotland Sill (south-eastern Baltic Sea). Geo-Mar Lett 38, 83–94 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-017-0517-3

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