Late Pliocene sand ridges at the western margin of the Barents Sea—do they monitor Late Pliocene glaciations?

Seismic data combined with core analysis of the northwesternmost exploration well on the Norwegian continental margin, well 7316/5-1, has been used to map and discuss the genesis of three well-defined sand ridges. The sand ridges have a NE-SW to N-S orientation and are of Late Pliocene age. The dime...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global and planetary change 1996-03, Vol.12 (1), p.159-169
Main Authors: Knutsen, Stig-Morten, Larsen, Kjell-Bjørnar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Marine
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Seismic data combined with core analysis of the northwesternmost exploration well on the Norwegian continental margin, well 7316/5-1, has been used to map and discuss the genesis of three well-defined sand ridges. The sand ridges have a NE-SW to N-S orientation and are of Late Pliocene age. The dimensions of the ridges are: height 40 m, length 2–4 km and width 0.5–1 km. In relation to the glaciation models of the Barents Sea, the position of well 7316/5-1, and especially information from a core that penetrated one of the sand ridges, provide important information. The ridges are not, in themselves, diagnostic for grounded glaciers at the margin of the Barents Sea shelf during the Late Pliocene, although the presence of pebbles in a cored section of the ridges may represent ice-dropped material. Whether the possible influx of glaciogenic material is related to local or regional glaciations on the Barents Shelf remains to be evaluated.
ISSN:0921-8181
1872-6364
DOI:10.1016/0921-8181(95)00018-6