Unveiling the contourite depositional system in the Vema Fracture Zone (Central Atlantic).

ABSTRACT: A combination of a high sediment input and intense bottom currents often leads to the formation of contourites (sediments deposited or significantly reworked by bottom currents). Both of these components are present in the Vema Fracture Zone valley which is the most important passageway for the distribution of the Antarctic Bottom Water from the West to the North-East of the Atlantic. However, no contourite drifts, moats or contourite channels have been found in this region in more than half a century of research. The prevailing sedimentation paradigm postulates that turbidity currents have predominantly governed sedimentation in this region during the Pleistocene. This work describes the first example of contourite depositional system identified in the Vema Fracture Zone. The discovery wa

SUBMITTER: Borisov DG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10449790 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature