The Norwegian–greenland Sea Continental Margins: Morphology and Late Quaternary Sedimentary Processes and Environment

Vorren, Tore O.; Laberg, Jan Sverre; Blaume, Frank; Dowdeswell, Julian A.; Kenyon, Neil H.; Mienert, Jürgen; Rumohr, Jan; Werner, Friedrich

doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(97)00072-3

Cited by 316 publications

(201 citation statements)

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“…[13] Sediments at this west Svalbard site are low permeability, hemipelagic muds interbedded with terrigeous material deposited during the Pleistocene and early Holocene [Eiken and Hinz, 1993;Vorren et al, 1998]. The sedimentation rate exceeds 500 m Ma À1 [Eiken and Hinz, 1993;Vanneste et al, 2005a], and sediments in the region contain an appreciable amount of organic carbon.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Controls on the formation and stability of gas hydrate‐related bottom‐simulating reflectors (BSRs): A case study from the west Svalbard continental slope

2008

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[1] The growth and stability of the free-gas zone (FGZ) beneath gas-hydrate related bottom-simulating seismic reflectors (BSRs) is investigated using analytical and numerical analyses to understand the factors controlling the formation and depletion of free gas. For a model based on the continental slope west of Svalbard (a continental margin of north Atlantic type), we find that the FGZ is inherently unstable under a wide range of conditions because upward flow of under-saturated liquid depletes free gas faster than it is produced by hydrate recycling. In these scenarios, the 150-m-thick FGZ that presently exists there would deplete within 10 5 -10 6 years. We suggest the FGZ is in a stable state, however, that is formed by a diffusion-dominated mechanism that produces low concentrations of gas in a FGZ of steady state thickness. Gas forms across a thick zone because the upward fluid flux is relatively low and because the gas-water solubility decreases to a minimum several hundred meters below the seabed. This newly understood solubility-curvature effect is complementary to hydrate recycling, but becomes the most important factor controlling the presence and properties of the BSR in environments where the rate of upward fluid flow and the rate of hydrate recycling are both relatively low (i.e., rifted continental margins). If the present-day FGZ is in steady state, we estimate that the upward fluid flux in the west Svalbard site must be less than 0.15 mm a À1 .Citation: Haacke, R. R., G. K. Westbrook, and M. S. Riley (2008), Controls on the formation and stability of gas hydrate-related bottom-simulating reflectors (BSRs): A case study from the west Svalbard continental slope,

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Controls on the formation and stability of gas hydrate‐related bottom‐simulating reflectors (BSRs): A case study from the west Svalbard continental slope

2008

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“…In high latitudes terrestrial sediment input is highest during glacial periods 139 due to erosion at the base of ice sheets which then extend to the shelf edge 140 (Vorren et al, 1998;Weaver et al, 2000;Rørvik et al, 2010). Across-shelf ori-141 ented ice streams drain the ice sheets and therewith provide effective transport 142 of eroded material.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing and frequency of large submarine landslides: implications for understanding triggers and future geohazard

Urlaub¹,

Talling²,

Masson³

2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

172

164

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Large submarine landslides can have serious socioeconomic consequences as they have the potential to cause tsunamis and damage seabed infrastructure. It is important to understand the frequency of these landslides, and how that frequency is related to climate-driven factors such as sea level or sedimentation rate, in order to assess their occurrence in the future. Recent studies have proposed that more landslides occur during periods of sea level rise and lowstand, or during periods of rapid sedimentation. In this contribution we test these hypotheses by analysing the most comprehensive global data set of ages for large (> 1km 3 ) late Quaternary submarine landslides that has been compiled to date. We include the uncertainties in each landslide age that arise from both the dating technique, and the typically larger uncertainties that result from the position of the samples used for dating. Contrary to the hypothesis that continental slope stability is linked to sea level change, the data set does not show statistically significant patterns, trends or clusters in landslide abundance. If such a link between sea level and landslide frequency exists it is too weak to be detected using the available global data base. It is possible that controlling factors vary between different geographical areas, and their role is therefore hidden * Corresponding author Email address: m.urlaub@noc.soton.ac.uk (Morelia Urlaub)Preprint submitted to Elsevier March 1, 2013in a global data set, or that the uncertainties within the dates is too great to see an underlying correlation. Our analysis also shows that there is no evidence for an immediate influence of rapid sedimentation on slope stability as failures tend to occur several thousand years after periods of increased sedimentation rates. The results imply that there is not a strong global correlation of landslide frequency with sea level changes or increases in local sedimentation rate, based on the currently available ages for large submarine landslides.

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“…2d, 3, 6) (Solheim et al 1998;Forsberg et al 1999;Escudia et al 2000;Jessen et al 2010). GDFs represent building blocks of trough mouth fan complexes, and is up to 200 km long, \50 m thick and 1-40 km wide flows deposited only during shelf edge glaciations (King et al 1998;Vorren et al 1998;Nygård et al 2005). GDF deposition occurred frequently during the late Plio-Pleistocene time period along the Svalbard margin (Forsberg et al 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vorren et al 1998). These fans have been deposited in front of troughs on the continental shelf ( Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cenozoic western Svalbard margin: sediment geometry and sedimentary processes in an area of ultraslow oceanic spreading

et al. 2011

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The northeastern high-latitude North Atlantic is characterised by the Bellsund and Isfjorden fans on the continental slope off west Svalbard, the asymmetrical ultraslow Knipovich spreading ridge and a 1,000 m deep rift valley. Recently collected multichannel seismic profiles and bathymetric records now provide a more complete picture of sedimentary processes and depositional environments within this region. Both downslope and alongslope sedimentary processes are identified in the study area. Turbidity currents and deposition of glacigenic debris flows are the dominating downslope processes, whereas mass failures, which are a common process on glaciated margins, appear to have been less significant. The slide debrite observed on the Bellsund Fan is most likely related to a 2.5-1.7 Ma old failure on the northwestern Barents Sea margin. The seismic records further reveal that alongslope current processes played a major role in shaping the sediment packages in the study area. Within the Knipovich rift valley and at the western rift flank accumulations as thick as 950-1,000 m are deposited. We note that oceanic basement is locally exposed within the rift valley, and that seismostratigraphic relationships indicate that fault activity along the eastern rift flank lasted until at least as recently as 1.5 Ma. A purely hemipelagic origin of the sediments in the rift valley and on the western rift flank is unlikely. We suggest that these sediments, partly, have been sourced from the western Svalbard-northwestern Barents Sea margin and into the Knipovich Ridge rift valley before continuous spreading and tectonic activity caused the sediments to be transported out of the valley and westward.

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The Norwegian–greenland Sea Continental Margins: Morphology and Late Quaternary Sedimentary Processes and Environment

Cited by 316 publications

References 0 publications

Controls on the formation and stability of gas hydrate‐related bottom‐simulating reflectors (BSRs): A case study from the west Svalbard continental slope

Controls on the formation and stability of gas hydrate‐related bottom‐simulating reflectors (BSRs): A case study from the west Svalbard continental slope

Timing and frequency of large submarine landslides: implications for understanding triggers and future geohazard

The Cenozoic western Svalbard margin: sediment geometry and sedimentary processes in an area of ultraslow oceanic spreading

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