Contouritic terraces on the northern Argentina middle continental slope (Southwestern Atlantic).

VIOLANTE, R. HERNÁNDEZ MOLINA, J., PATERLINI, M., BOZZANO, G., KRASTEL, S., HANEBUT, T., PREU, B. Y LAPRIDA, C.,

Pontevedra

Congreso; Deep-Water Circulation: Processes & Products. Baiona (Pontevedra, Spain); 2010

Morphological and seismic characteristics of the Ewing Terrace and associated contouritic deposits in the middle slope of the Northern sector of the Argentina Continental Margin are described. Onset of this terrace since middle Miocene times occurred when the Antarctic intermediated -sourced water mass flowing to the north along the margin was completely established. The northernmost zone of the Ewing Terrace is also affected by the southward-flowing Brazilian Current that modelled some local erosive surfaces. These along-slope processes, combined with across-slope gravitational processes, produced a complex set of contouritic and turbiditic deposits along the terrace, closely related to the evolution of the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon head.