1069-1088－Cenozoic alongslope processes and sedimentation on the NW European Atlantic margin.pdf

Marine and Petroleum Geology 22 (2005) 1069–1088
ate/marpetgeo
Cenozoic alongslope processes and sedimentation
on the NW European Atlantic margin
Jan Sverre Laberga,*, Martyn S. Stokerb, . Torbjørn Dahlgrena,
Henk de Haasc, Haflidi Haflidasond, Berit O. Hjelstuend, Tove Nielsene,
Pat M. Shannonf, Tore O. Vorrena, Tjeerd . van Weeringc, Silvia Ceramicolag
aDepartment of Geology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
bBritish Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road Edinburgh, EH9 3LA, UK
herlands Institute for Sea Research, . Box 59, Texel, herlands
dDepartment of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Alle`gt 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway
eGeological Survey of Denmark and Greenland DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
fUCD School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
gIstituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Trieste, Italy
Accepted 14 January 2005
Abstract
Based on studies of sediment accumulations deposited from-and erode by-alongslope flowing ocean currents on the European continental
margin from Porcupine (Ireland) to Lofoten (Norway), the evolution of the Cenozoic paleocirculation was reconstructed as part of the
STRATAGEM project. There is evidence of ocean current-controlled erosion and deposition in the Rockall Trough, in the Faeroe-Shetland
Channel and on the Vøring Plateau since the late Eocene, although the circulation pattern remains ambiguous. The late Palaeogene flow in the
Rockall Trough was almost probably driven by southerly-derived Tethyan Outflow Water. The extent and strength of any northerly-derived
flow is uncertain. From the early Neogene (early-mid-Miocene), there was a massive regional expansion of contourite drift development both
in the North Atlantic and in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. This was most probably related to the development of the Faroe Conduit, the
opening of the Fram Strait and the general subsidence of the Greenland-Scotl