Abstract
Sea floor morphology plays an important role in many scientific disciplines such as ecology, hydrology and sedimentology since geomorphic features can act as physical controls for e.g. species distribution, oceanographically flow-path estimations or sedimentation processes. In this study, we provide a terrain analysis of the Weddell Sea based on the 500 m × 500 m resolution bathymetry data provided by the mapping project IBCSO. Seventeen seabed classes are recognized at the sea floor based on a fine and broad scale Benthic Positioning Index calculation highlighting the diversity of the glacially carved shelf. Beside the morphology, slope, aspect, terrain rugosity and hillshade were calculated and supplied to the data archive PANGAEA. Applying zonal statistics to the geomorphic features identified unambiguously the shelf edge of the Weddell Sea with a width of 45–70 km and a mean depth of about 1200 m ranging from 270 m to 4300 m. A complex morphology of troughs, flat ridges, pinnacles, steep slopes, seamounts, outcrops, and narrow ridges, structures with approx. 5–7 km width, build an approx. 40–70 km long swath along the shelf edge. The study shows where scarps and depressions control the connection between shelf and abyssal and where high and low declination within the scarps e.g. occur. For evaluation purpose, 428 grain size samples were added to the seabed class map. The mean values of mud, sand and gravel of those samples falling into a single seabed class was calculated, respectively, and assigned to a sediment texture class according to a common sediment classification scheme.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson JB (1971) Marine origin of sands in the Weddell Sea. Antarct J US 6:168–169
Anderson JB, Wright R, Andrews B (1986) Weddell Fan and associated abyssal plain, Antarctica: morphology, sediment processes, and factors influencing sediment supply. Geo-Mar Lett 6:121–129
Arndt JE, Schenke HW, Jakobsson M, Nitsche F, Buys G, Goleby B, Rebesco M, Bohoyo F, Hong JK, Black J, Greku R, Udintsev G, Barrios F, Reynoso-Peralta W, Morishita T, Wigley R (2013) The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) version 10: a new bathymetric compilation covering circum-Antarctic waters. Geophys Res Lett 40(9):1–7. doi:10.1002/grl.50413
Bart PJ, De Batist M, Jokat W (1999) Interglacial collapse of Crary trough mouth fan, Weddell Sea, Antarctica: implications for glacial history analysis. J Sediment Res 69(6):1276–1289
Beck MW (2000) Separating the elements of habitat structure: independent effects of habitat complexity and structural components on rocky intertidal gastropods. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 249(1):29–49
Bekkby T, Erikstad L, Bakkestuen V, Bjørge A (2002) A landscape ecological approach to coastal zone applications. Sarsia 87:396–408
Bekkby T, Erikstad L, Christensen O, Longva O (2005) Effekten av skala og kriterier for inndeling i marine substrattyper. Vann 1:35–43
Boström C, Pittman SJ, Simenstad C, Kneib RT (2011) Seascape ecology of coastal benthic habitats: advances, gaps, and challenges. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 427:191–217
Brandt A, Linse K, Schüller M (2009) Bathymetric distribution patterns of Southern Ocean macrofaunal taxa: Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Isopoda and Polychaeta. Deep Sea Res Part I: Oceanogr Res Pap 56:2013–2025
Brey T, Dahm C, Gorny M, Klages M, Stiller M et al (1996) Do Antarctic benthic invertebrates show an extended level of eurybathy? Antarct Sci 8:3–6
Dartnell P, Gardner JV (2004) Predicted seafloor facies from multibeam bathymetry and acoustic backscatter data, Central Santa Monica Bay, California. Photogram Eng Rem Sens 70(9):1081–1091
Diekmann B, Kuhn G (1997) Terrigene Partikeltransporte als Abbild spätquartärer Tiefen- und Bodenwasserzirkulation im Südatlantik und angrenzendem Südpolarmeer. J Ger Geol Soc 148:405–429
Diekmann B, Kuhn G (1999) Provenance and dispersal of glacial–marine surface sediments in the Weddell Sea and adjoining areas, Antarctica: ice-rafting versus current transport. Mar Geol 158:209–231
Dolan MFJ, Buhl-Mortensen P, Thorsnes T, Buhl-Mortensen L, Bellec VK, Bøe R (2009) Developing seabed nature-type maps offshore Norway: initial results from the MAREANO programme. Nor J Geol 89:17–28
Dolan MFJ, Thorsnes T, Leth J, Al-Hamdani Z, Guinan J, Van Lancker V (2012) Terrain characterization from bathymetry data a various resloutions in European waters—experiences and recommendations. NGU Report 2012045 Geological Survey of Norway
Douglass LL, Turner J, Grantham HS, Kaiser S, Constable A et al (2014) A hierarchical classification of benthic biodiversity and assessment of protected areas in the Southern Ocean. PLoS ONE. doi:10.1371/journalpone0100551
Duhamel G, Hautecoeur M (2009) Biomass, abundance and distribution of fish in the Kerguelen Islands. EEZ (CCAMLR statistical division 5851) CCAMLR. Science 16:1–32
Dzeroski S, Drumm DJ (2003) Using regression trees to identify the habitat preference of the sea cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota) on Rarotonga. Cook Islands. Ecol Model 170(2–3):219–226
Erdey-Heydorn MD (2008) An ArcGIS seabed characterization toolbox developed for investigating benthic habitats. Mar Geod 31:318–358. doi:10.1080/014904108024668I9
ESRI (2011) ArcGIS desktop: release 10. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands
Evans M, Hastings N, Peacock B (2000) Statistical distributions, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York
Folk RL (1954) The distinction between grain size and mineral composition in sedimentary rock nomenclature. J Geol 62(4):344–359
Forman RTT, Godron M (1986) Landscape ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Fütterer DK, Grobe H, Grünig S (1988) Quaternary sediment patterns in the Weddell Sea: relations and environmental conditions. Paleoceanography 3:551–561
Fütterer DK, Kuhn G, Schenke HW (1990) Wegener Canyon bathymetry and results from rock dredging near ODP Sites 691–693, eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. In: Barker PF et al (ed) College Station, TX: Ocean Drilling Program, pp 39–48
Gales JA, Leat PT, Larter RD, Kuhn G, Hillenbrand CD, Graham AGC, Mitchell NC, Tate AJ, Buys GB, Jokat W (2014) Large-scale submarine landslides, channel and gully systems on the southern Weddell Sea margin, Antarctica. Mar Geol 348:73–87
Gutt J (2007) Antarctic macro-zoobenthic communities: a review and an ecological classification. Antarct Sci 19:165–182
Haid V (2013) Coastal polynyas in the southwestern Weddell Sea: surface fluxes, sea ice production and water mass modification. Dissertation, Universität Bremen. http://www.elibsuubuni-bremende/edocs/00103445-1pdf
Harris PT, Macmillan-Lawler M, Rupp J, Baker EK (2014) Geomorphology of the oceans. Mar Geol 352:4–24
Heap AD, Harris PT (2008) Geomorphology of the Australian margin and adjacent seabed. Aust J Earth Sci 55:555–585
Held C, Wägele JW (2005) Cryptic speciation in the giant Antarctic isopod Glyptonotus antarcticus (Isopoda, Valvifera, Chaetiliidae). Sci mar 69:175–181
Hellmer HH, Huhn O, Gomis D, Timmermann R (2011) On the freshening of the northwestern Weddell Sea continental shelf. Ocean Sci 7:305–316. doi:10.5194/os-7-305-2011
Hellmer HH, Kauker F, Timmermann R, Determann J, Rae J (2012) Twenty-first-century warming of a large Antarctic ice-shelf cavity by a redirected coastal current. Nature 485:225–228. doi:10.1038/nature11064
Hillenbrand C-D, Bentley MJ, Stolldorf TD, Hein AS, Kuhn G, Graham AGC, Fogwill CJ, Kristoffersen Y, Smith JA, Anderson JB, Larter RD, Melles M, Hodgson DA, Mulvaney R, Sugden DE (2014) Reconstruction of changes in the Weddell Sea sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quat Sci Rev 100:111–136
Hobson RD (1972) Surface roughness in topography: quantitative approach. In: Chorley RJ (ed) Spatial analysis in geomorphology. Harper and Row, New York, pp 221–245
Huhn O, Hellmer HH, Rhein M, Rodehacke C, Roether W, Schodlok MP, Schröder M (2008) Evidence of deep- and bottom-water formation in the western Weddell Sea. Deep Sea Res Part II: Top Stud Oceanogr 55(8–9):1098–1116. doi:10.1016/jdsr2200712015
Hunter RL, Halanych KM (2008) Evaluating connectivity in the brooding brittle star Astrotoma agassizii across the Drake Passage in the Southern Ocean. J Hered 99(2):137–148
Huybrechts P (2002) Sea-level changes at the LGM from ice-dynamic reconstructions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets during the glacial cycles. Quat Sci Rev 21(1–3):203–231. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00082-8
Jenness JS (2004) Calculating landscape surface area from digital elevation models. Wildl Soc B 32(3):829–839
Jenness J (2013) DEM surface tools for ArcGIS, version 21375. Jenness Enterprises. http://www.jennessentcom/arcgis/surface_areahtm
Knox GA (2007) Biology of the Southern Ocean. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Kostylev VE, Todd BJ, Fader GBJ, Cameron GDM, Pickrill RA (2001) Benthic habitat mapping on the Scotian Shelf based on multibeam bathymetry, surficial geology and sea floor photographs. Mar Ecol-Prog Ser 219:121–137
Kostylev VE, Courtney RC, Robert G, Todd BJ (2003) Stock evaluation of giant scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) using high-resolution acoustics for seabed mapping. Fish Res 60(2–3):479–492
Kostylev VE, Erlandsson J, Mak YM, Williams GA (2005) The relative importance of habitat complexity and surface area in assessing biodiversity: fractal application on rocky shores. Ecol Complex 2(3):272–286. doi:10.1016/jecocom200504002
Kuhn G, Weber M (1993) Acoustical characterization of sediments by Parasound and 35 kHz systems: related sedimentary processes on the southeastern Weddell Sea continental slope, Antarctica. Mar Geol 113:201–217
Kuvaas B, Kristoffersen Y (1991) The Crary Fan: a trough-mouth fan on the Weddell Sea continental margin, Antarctica. Mar Geol 97:345–362
Larter RD, Graham AGC, Hillenbrand C-D, Smith JA, Gales JA (2012) Late quaternary grounded ice extent in the Filchner Trough, Weddell Sea, Antarctica: new marine geophysical evidence. Quat Sci Rev 53:111–122
Lindeque A, Martos Martin YM, Gohl K, Maldonado A (2013) Deep-sea pre-glacial to glacial sedimentation in the Weddell Sea and southern Scotia Sea from a cross-basin seismic transect. Mar Geol 336:61–83
Lundblad E, Wright DJ, Miller J, Larkin EM, Rinehart R, Naar DF, Donahue BT, Anderson SM, Battista T (2006) A benthic terrain classification scheme for American Samoa. Mar Geod 29(2):89–111
Melles M, Kuhn G (1993) Sub-bottom profiling and sedimentological studies in the southern Weddell Sea, Antarctica: evidence for large-scale erosional/depositional processes. Deep-Sea Res I: Oceanogr Res Pap 40(4):739–760
Melles M, Kuhn G, Fütterer D, Meischner D (1995) Processes of modern sedimentation in the Southern Weddell Sea, Antractica: evidence from surface sediments. Polarforschung 64:45–74
Michels KH, Rogenhagen J, Kuhn G (2001) Recognition of contour-current influence in mixed contourite-turbidite sequences of the western Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Mar Geophys Res 22:465–485
Michels KH, Kuhn G, Hillenbrand C-D, Diekmann B, Fütterer DK, Grobe H, Uenzelmann-Neben G (2002) The southern Weddell Sea: combined contourite-turbidite sedimentation at the southeastern margin of the Weddell Gyre. In: Stow DAV, Pudsey C, Howe JC, Faugères J-C, Viana AR (eds) Deep-water contourite systems: modern drifts and ancient series. Seism Sedim Charact Geol Soc, London, pp 305–323
Moons A, De Batist M, Henriet JP, Miller H (1992) Sequence stratigraphy of the Crary Fan, southeastern Weddell Sea. In: Yoshida Y et al (eds) Recent progress in Antarctic Earth Science, pp 613–618
O’Brien PE, Post AL, Romeyn R (2009) Antarctic-wide Geomorphology as an aid to habitat mapping and locating vulnerable marine ecosystems, CCAMLR Document number WS-VME-09/10 Canberra, Australia
Parnum IM, Siwabessy PJW, Gavrilov AN (2004) Identification of seafloor habitats in coastal shelf waters using a multibeam echosounder. In: Proceedings of acoustics Nov 3–5
Pittman SJ, Kneib RT, Simenstad CA (2011) Practicing coastal seascape ecology. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 427:187–190
Post AL (2012, updated 2013) Antarctic wide seafloor geomorphology. Australian Antarctic Data Centre-CAASM-Metadata http://www.dataaadgovau/aadc/metadata/metadata_redirectcfm?md=/AMD/AU/ant_seafloor_geomorph)
Post AL, O’Brien PE, Beaman RJ, Riddle MJ, de Santis L (2010) Physical controls on deep water coral communities on the George V Land slope, East Antarctica. Antarct Sci 22(4):371–378. doi:10.1017/S0954102010000180
Post AL, Beaman RJ, O’Brien PE, Eléaume M, Riddle MJ (2011) Community structure and benthic habitats across the George V Shelf, East Antarctica: trends through space and time. Deep Sea Res Part II: Top Stud Oceanogr 58:105–118
Riley SJ, DeGloria SD, Elliot R (1999) A terrain ruggedness index that quantifies topographic heterogeneity. Intermt J Sci 5(1–4):23–27
Sappington JM, Longshore KM, Thomson DB (2007) Quantifiying landscape ruggedness for animal habitat analysis: a case study using bighorn sheep in the Mojave Desert. J Wildlife Manage 71(5):1419–1426
Stolldorf T, Schenke H-W, Anderson JB (2012) LGM ice sheet extent in the Weddell Sea: evidence for diachronous behavior of Antarctic Ice Sheets. Quat Sci Rev 48:20–31
Thatje S, Hillenbrand C, Larter R (2005) On the origin of Antarctic marine benthic community structure. Trends Ecol Evol 20:534–540
Weber ME, Clark PU, Ricken W, Mitrovica JX, Hostetler SW, Kuhn G (2011) Interhemispheric ice-sheet synchronicity during the last glacial maximum. Science 334:1265–1269
Wedding LM, Lepczyk CA, Pittman SJ, Friedlander AM, Jorgensen S (2011) Quantifying seascape structure: extending terrestrial spatial pattern metrics to the marine realm. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 427:219–232
Weiss AD (2001) Topographic positions and landforms analysis (poster). ESRI international user conference, July 2001 San Diego, CA: ESRI
Whitehouse PL, Bentley MJ, Le Brocq AM (2012a) A deglacial model for Antarctica: geological constraints and glaciological modelling as a basis for a new model of Antarctic glacial isostatic adjustment. Quat Sci Rev 32:1–24
Whitehouse PL, Bentley MJ, Milne GA, King MA, Thomas ID (2012b) A new glacial isostatic adjustment model for Antarctica: calibrated and tested using observations of relative sea-level change and present-day uplift rates. Geophys J Int 190:1464–1482
Wienberg C, Wintersteller P, Beuck L, Hebbeln D (2013) Coral Patch seamount (NE Atlantic): a sedimentological and megafaunal reconnaissance based on video and hydroacoustic surveys. Biogeosciences 10:3421–3443. doi:10.5194/bg-10-3421-2013
Wilbur AR (2000) Fish habitat characterization and assessment: approach to integrate seafloor features and juvenile organisms data. Oceans 2000: where marine science and technology meet 3:1555–1561. doi:10.1109/OCEANS.2000.882162
Wilson MFJ, O’Connell B, Brown C, Guinan JC, Grehan AJ (2007) Multiscale terrain analysis of multibeam bathymetry data for habitat mapping on the continental slope. Mar Geod 30:13–35. doi:10.1080/01490410701295962
Wood JD (1996) The geomorphological characterisation of digital elevation models. Dissertation University of Leicester
Wright R, Anderson JB (1982) The importance of sediment gravity flow to sediment transport and sorting in a glacial marine environment: Eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Geol Soc Am Bull 93:951–963
Wright DJ, Lundblad ER, Larkin EM, Rinehart RW, Murphy J, Cary-Kothera L, Draganov K (2005) ArcGIS Benthic Terrain Modeler: a collection of tools used with bathymetric data sets to examine the deepwater benthic environment. Oregon State University, Corvallis
Zevenbergen LW, Thorne CR (1987) Quantitative analysis of land surface topography Earth surface. Process Landf 12:47–56
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank D. Beaver for enlightening discussions and Torben Gentz for technical help and support. Two anonymous reviewers deserve a big Thank you for careful reading and providing good advice and helpful comments. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in the framework of the Priority Programme “Antarctic Research with comparative investigations in Arctic ice areas” by a Grant JE 680/1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jerosch, K., Kuhn, G., Krajnik, I. et al. A geomorphological seabed classification for the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Mar Geophys Res 37, 127–141 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-015-9256-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-015-9256-x