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Morphology and sedimentology of (clustered) cold-water coral mounds at the south Rockall Trough margins, NE Atlantic Ocean

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Abstract

Cold-water coral mounds on both margins of the Rockall Trough (NE Atlantic Ocean) have a strongly different morphology. Single, isolated mounds occur on the SE margin and are mainly found on the upper slope between 900 and 650 m water depth, while large mound clusters are found on the SW margin in water depths between 600 and 1,000 m, in a narrow zone almost parallel to the slope. Sedimentation rates on the mounds are higher than on the surrounding seabed as a result of baffling of biogenic carbonate debris and siliciclastic particles by the coral framework covering the mounds. This is confirmed by 210Pb measurements. The individual coral growth rate can be three times higher then the vertical growth rate of the coral cover (±10 mm year−1) which in turn is more than an order of magnitude higher then the present-day overall mound growth rate (±0.25 mm year−1). The presence of extensive hardgrounds and firmgrounds and the three-dimensional coral framework are considered to be responsible for the stability of the relatively steep slopes of the mounds. High current velocities in the intramound areas result in local non-sedimentation and erosion, as is shown by the presence of IRD (ice-rafted debris) lag deposits on the seabed and moats around some of the mounds. The morphology and sedimentology of cold-water coral-covered (mainly Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata) mounds on the southern Rockall Trough margins (NE Atlantic Ocean) is discussed and a model describing the development of these mounds is presented.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the officers and crew of the R.V. Pelagia and Royal NIOZ staff and technicians for their support during cruise preparations and at sea. Magda Bergman and Gerard Duineveld provided underwater video equipment. Bob Koster provided support during the seismic and seabed imaging surveys. Seabed photographs were developed by Jaap Kalf. Wim Boer, Rineke Gieles, Thijs Broersma and Boris Dorschel are thanked for their assistance on board and in the laboratory. Dominique Blamart is thanked for his support to Norbert Frank. Comments by André Freiwald, Yvonne Bone and John Reijmer considerably improved an earlier version of the manuscript. The final version benefited from comments by two anonymous reviewers and André Freiwald. The cold-water coral mound studies were financially supported by the European Commission under contract numbers EVK3-CT-1999-00008 (ACES), EVK-3-CT-1999-00013 (ECOMOUND) and EVK3-CT-1999-0016 (GEOMOUND) and by the European Science Foundation (ESF)/Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) through the Moundforce project (contract no. 813.03.006/855.01.040). Additional data was collected during cruises of the European Commission funded ENAM II project (contract MAS3-CT-95-0003) and STRATAGEM (contract EVK-3-CT-1999-00011). Reinhold Steinacher was partly funded through the Leonardo da Vinci II program of the European Commission.

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  1. Reinhold Steinacher

    Present address: , Ampfererstr. 34, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, AB, 1790, Den Burg, The Netherlands

    Henk de Haas, Furu Mienis, Thomas O. Richter, Reinhold Steinacher, Henko de Stigter, Cees van der Land & Tjeerd C. E. van Weering

  2. Department of Paleoclimatology and Geomorphology, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, HV, 1081, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Tjeerd C. E. van Weering

  3. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE), CNRS, Bât. 12, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Norbert Frank

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  1. Henk de Haas
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Correspondence to Henk de Haas.

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de Haas, H., Mienis, F., Frank, N. et al. Morphology and sedimentology of (clustered) cold-water coral mounds at the south Rockall Trough margins, NE Atlantic Ocean. Facies 55, 1–26 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-008-0157-1

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