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Multibeam bathymetric and sediment profiler evidence for ice grounding on the Chukchi Borderland, Arctic Ocean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Martin Jakobsson ,
James V. Gardner ,
Peter R. Vogt ,
Larry A. Mayer ,
Andrew Armstrong ,
Jan Backman ,
Rick Brennan ,
Brian Calder ,
John K. Hall  and
Barbara Kraft
Martin Jakobsson*
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
James V. Gardner
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA
Peter R. Vogt
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Larry A. Mayer
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA
Andrew Armstrong
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA
Jan Backman
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Rick Brennan
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA
Brian Calder
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA
John K. Hall
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA
Barbara Kraft
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, NH 03824, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. Fax: +(46) 8 6747897.E-mail address:martin.jakobsson@geo.su.se (M. Jakobsson).
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Abstract

Multibeam bathymetry and 3.5-kHz sub-bottom profiler data collected from the US icebreaker Healy in 2003 provide convincing evidence for grounded ice on the Chukchi Borderland off the northern Alaskan margin, Arctic Ocean. The data show parallel, glacially induced seafloor scours, or grooves, and intervening ridges that reach widths of 1000 m (rim to rim) and as much as 40 m relief. Following previous authors, we refer to these features as “megascale glacial lineations (MSGLs).” Additional support for ice grounding is apparent from stratigraphic unconformities, interpreted to have been caused by ice-induced erosion. Most likely, the observed sea-floor features represent evidence for massive ice-shelf grounding. The general ESE/WNW direction of the MSGLs, together with sediment, evidently bulldozed off the Chukchi Plateau, that is mapped on the western (Siberian) side of the plateau, suggests ice flow from the Canada Basin side of Chukchi Borderland. Two separate generations of glacially derived MSGLs are identified on the Chukchi Borderland from the Healy geophysical data. The deepest and oldest extensive MSGLs appear to be draped by sediments less than 5 m thick, whereas no sediment drape can be distinguished within the resolution of the sub-bottom profiles on the younger generation.

Keywords

Ice groundingChukchi BorderlandMultibeam bathymetryIceberg scour
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , March 2005 , pp. 150 - 160
Copyright
University of Washington

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