Abstract
Sediment patterns derived from fades distribution of surface sediments and acoustic sediment characteristics were mapped in the southern Weddell Sea between 35°W and the Antarctic Peninsula at 61°W. Sediment sampling with box grab and gravity corer, and 3.5 kHz sub-bottom profiling has been carried out in recent years during several expeditions by R.V. Polarstem (ANT-IV/4, 1984; ANT-IV/3 and -IV/-4, 1985/86; ANT-VI/3,1987/88).
Results from sub-bottom profiling of the Filchner Shelf show a thin veneer of acoustically transparent ‘postglacial’ sediments overlying a hard reflector that allows no acoustic penetration into the deeper layers beneath. This reflects the transition from an overcompacted diamicton deposited by a grounded ice-sheet to glaciomarine conditions of a floating ice-shelf. Sediment textures on the shelf show a wide diversity from very well-sorted pure sands in the SE near Gould Bay, sandy muds to the west and gravelly dropstone-rich muds in the Ronne Trough closer to the foot of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Surface sediments of the Filchner Depression have been subdivided into five distinct sediment types which can be related to different depositional environments. Sediment facies distribution above the overcompacted diamicton supplies information about the retreat and fluctuations of the Holocene ice-shelf edge.
The continental slope north of the Filchner Depression shows a gravel-paved, acoustically hard sea bottom. This together with oceanographic data indicates an area of strong bottom water flow across the slope (northward flowing Ice-Shelf Water, ISW) which leads to vigorous erosion and lag sediment formation.
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Fütterer, D.K., Melles, M. (1990). Sediment Patterns in the Southern Weddell Sea: Filchner Shelf and Filchner Depression. In: Bleil, U., Thiede, J. (eds) Geological History of the Polar Oceans: Arctic versus Antarctic. NATO ASI Series, vol 308. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2029-3_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2029-3_21
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