Contourite features in the northern Scotia Sea: preliminary sedimentary and paleoceanographic implications

HERNÁNDEZ-MOLINA, F.J.; PÉREZ, L. F.; ESTEBAN, F.D.; TASSONE, A.; MALDONADO, A.; LODOLO, E.

Granada

Simposio; The Scotia Arc: Geodynamic Evolution & Global Implications; 2013

The North Scotia Ridge (NSR) is a complex of shallow banks and submarine ridges derived from the former continental link existing between South America and South Georgia (Barker, 2001). It constitutes the northern edge of the Scotia Sea and hosts the sinistral strike-slip boundary of the South America-Scotia plates (Pelayo and Wiens, 1989). The study area is located in the western part of the NSR which comprises the shallow Burdwood Bank, a submerged E-W oriented continental fragment (Fig. 1). This tectonically complex area is influenced by the transpressional regime resulting in an active convergence whose probably tectonic expression is the northern Malvinas/Falkland Trough. Due to its relatively shallow relief (Fig. 1), the NSR imposes an important morphologic obstacle to the northern flow of theAntarctic water masses between the Scotia Sea and the South Atlantic Ocean (Howe et al., 1997). The water masses circulation in the northern part of the Scotia Sea is under the influence of five active bottom waters: (a) the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW); (b) the upper part of the Circumpolar Deep Water (UCDW); (c) the Southeast Pacific Deep Slope Water (SPDSW); (d) the lower fraction of the Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW); and (e) to the east the Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW) (Howe et al., 1997).