Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C506372/1
Sediment transfer from the Antarctic continent to deep ocean: a shelf-slope-basin system investigated using the ISIS Remotely Operated Vehicle.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor JA Dowdeswell, University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor G Griffiths, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr RD Larter, NERC British Antarctic Survey, Science Programmes
- Grant held at:
- University of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute
- Science Area:
- Marine
- Earth
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Science Topics:
- Sediment/Sedimentary Processes
- Quaternary Science
- Palaeoenvironments
- Glacial & Cryospheric Systems
- Abstract:
- The marine sediments on the Antarctic continental margin contain a unique long-term and, sometimes, continuous record of past ice-sheet and environmental changes. However, the understanding of this record is complex in terms of both the process environment in which sediments are deposited and reworked, and the palaeo-environmental interpretation of the record. The sediments on the shelf, slope and deep-sea basin offshore of the western Antarctic Peninsula have been investigated previously using a suite of marine geological and geophysical tools, including cores, swath bathymetry, and reflection seismics. These studies have yielded a view of the large-scale distribution of sediments, and of the processes interpreted to be responsible for their deposition. The deployment of several geophysical instruments and sampling tools from the new Isis deep-submergence ROV will allow us to investigate the nature of a series of sedimentary environments on the Antarctic margin at an unprecedented level of detail. The study is timely for several reasons: (i) the recent acquisition of a deep water ROV system allows, for the first time, detailed sea-floor investigations to be undertaken at depths of several thousand metres over relatively wide areas; (ii) the recent availability of larger-scale geophysical data from a variety of Antarctic margin sub-environments to define sites suitable for ROV investigations; and (iii) our need to understand the complexities of sediment deposition on high-latitude margins and how this impinges on the nature and interpretation of the palaeo-environmental record of Antarctic environmental change. The ROV will be deployed on a series of missions over sites defined from existing seismic, side-scan sonar and swath bathymetric data from the Bellingshausen Sea margin in the area of Marguerite Bay, west of the Antarctic Peninsula. The topics we will address include: glacial processes and sediments on the Antarctic continental shelf; scouring by iceberg keels, disturbance and implications for marine organisms; sediment transfer processes on the continent slope; stability and de-watering of sediment drifts on the continental rise, in deep water beyond the slope.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C506372/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- AFI Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- AFI
This grant award has a total value of £143,632
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Equipment | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £85,548 | £5,251 | £11,982 | £1,498 | £39,352 |
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