Glacigenic deposits of the Central Deep: a key to the Late Quaternary evolution of the eastern Barents Sea

Abstract

Sparker and shallow drilling data indicate that the Quaternary deposits in the Central Deep of the Barents Sea are mainly composed of glacigenic sediments. They comprise basal till and proximal and distal glaciomarine sediments deposited during the last glacial cycle. Apparent glaciotectonic features imply strong glacial erosion of Mesozoic bedrock. The general ice movement is assumed to have been from off Novaya Zemlya and it is concluded that the whole eastern Barents Sea was covered by the Late Weichselian ice‐sheet.

The impact of glaciation, river-discharge and sea-level change on Late Quaternary environments in the southwestern Kara Sea

“…Lithological and seismic characteristics of sedimentary unit III are similar to those of glacial diamictons described from the Barents Sea and the Saint Anna Trough (e.g., Elverhùi and Solheim 1983;Sñttem et al 1992;Gataullin et al 1993;Polyak et al 1997a). The erosional lower boundary of unit III (Fig.…”

“…2C). We identify this deposit as seismic unit III, shown in the Barents Sea to be a glacial diamicton (Gataullin et al 1993;Gataullin et al, in press;Polyak et al 1995). The bottom of unit III is sometimes complicated by narrow incisions that are cut down to 25 m into bedrock ( Fig.…”

“…The truncation of these strata is correlated to the Upper Regional Unconformity (URU) which separates Quaternary from older deposits and can be traced over the Barents Sea shelf to its western margin (Solheim and Kristoffersen 1984;Sñttem et al 1992;Gataullin et al 1993). In the sedimentary sequence above the URU, we identify three major seismic units, I±III, and correlate them to the seismostratigraphy established for the southeastern Barents Sea (Krapivner et al 1988;Gataullin et al 1993;Gataullin et al, in press). A <50-m-thick unit occurs on top of the URU and has a chaotic seismic signature, variable thickness, and hummocky top surface.…”

Towards an improved organic carbon budget for the western Barents Sea shelf

“…These rates (listed in Table 4) are approximately 7 times higher than our estimates for an area 3 times larger than our study region. The eastern Barents Sea includes deeper depressions and thicker sediment packages than the western part of the shelf (Gataullin et al, 1993;Gurevich, 1995;Polyak et al, 1995) that account for higher accumulation in comparison.…”

Some indication for late Quaternary Pechora River discharge: results of vibrocore studies in the southeastern Pechora Sea

“…Some authors believe that these are largely marine sediments that were accumulated during most of the Pleistocene time or even longer (e.g., Gritsenko et al 1989;Pavlidis and Polyakova 1997). However, there is evidence that this sedimentary sequence includes extensive glacial deposits, and that the oldest preserved strata are of Weichselian age (e.g., Epshtein et al 1983;Gataullin et al 1993). This interpretation is corroborated by recent reinvestigation of boreholes and seismic reflection data and on-land studies that employ modern chronostratigraphic techniques (Polyak et al 1995, Polyak et al 2000Astakhov et al 1999;Mangerud et al 1999;Gataullin et al, in press).…”