Shallow crustal structure and evidences of bottom current flows imprinted on contourite deposits of the SW Scotia Sea basin (Antarctica)

• Autores: Yasmina M. Martos Martín, Fernando Bohoyo Muñoz, Jesús Galindo Zaldívar, Francisco Javier Hernández Molina, Francisco José Lobo Sánchez, Andrés Maldonado López, Lara F. Pérez Miguel
• Localización: Geotemas (Madrid), ISSN 1576-5172, Nº. 11, 2010 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Deep-Water Circulation: Processes & Products. International Congress. Baitona, Pontevedra, Spain. 16 & 17 June 2010), págs. 117-118
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The southwestern sector of the Scotia Sea is located in the proximity of the boundary between the Scotia and Antarctic plates and also close to the active Shackleton Fracture Zone. This area is a key region to constrain the opening of the Drake Passage since the Oligocene. The opening of the Passage holds significant implications for global ocean circulation and for the instauration of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Geophysical informationfrom 15 profiles of two surveys carried out in 1992 and 1992/1993 have been integrated in new magnetic anomalymaps identifying the main structures taking into account the satellite free air anomaly data and estimating theirdepths. Additionally, we have interpreted three parallel seismic profiles in order to identify and correlate the mainseismic units. These seismic features suggest a control of main structures on the evolution of bottom current flows,sediment supply and water mass distribution. We interpreted the deposits as contourites developed under theinfluence of the Weddell Sea Deep Water.