Sedimentary processes related to turbidity current interaction with bathymetric obstacles were s... more Sedimentary processes related to turbidity current interaction with bathymetric obstacles were studied in the area of the Lametini Seamounts and Stromboli Canyon. Four types of turbidite were identified on the basis of their compositional and sedimentological characteristics, and they were interpreted in terms of provenance, transport, and depositional processes. At the bend of the Stromboli Canyon, south of the Lametini Seamounts, the fine fraction of large turbidity currents can spill over and either (1) expand within the canyon embayment; (2) cross the saddle that divides the two volcanic cones of the Lametini Seamounts; or (3) be reflected by the steep slopes of the seamounts.
Our study characterizes glacial and interglacial deposition on two Antarctic margins in order to ... more Our study characterizes glacial and interglacial deposition on two Antarctic margins in order to discriminate between regional and continent-wide early to middle Pliocene warm intervals that caused sea-ice reduction and continental ice sheet retreat. We use a multi-proxy (i.e., sediment facies and grain size, siliceous microfossils, biogenic opal, geochemical composition and clay mineralogy) approach to examine sediments recovered in drill holes from the West Antarctic Peninsula and the East Antarctic Prydz Bay margins, focusing on the climatic record between 4 and 3.5 Ma. Warm conditions in both East and West Antarctica are recorded, which based on our age model correspond to periods of prolonged or extreme warmth correlated with isotopic stages Gi5, Gi1, MG11 and MG7. For the Gi5 interglacial our data corroborates the 60% Dictyocha percentage at 34.60 mbsf previously reported from Prydz Bay and interpreted to indicate a SSST of about 5.6°C above present. Our higher-resolution sampling interval shows Dictyocha percentages up to 87.5%, suggesting even higher SSSTs above present levels. During MG11, which coincides with the section dated by the magnetic polarity reversal Gilbert-Gauss at 3.58 Ma, SSSTs were tentatively 2.5°-4°warmer than present, and reduced sea-ice cover in Prydz Bay and probably also west of the Antarctic Peninsula is indicated by increased primary productivity. In addition, a reduction of ice sheet size is suggested by the bioturbated and IRD-enriched facies that characterize these highproductivity intervals. Based in our age model and calculated sedimentation rates glacial-interglacial cyclicity between 4 and 3.5 Ma in the cores from Antarctic Peninsula and Prydz Bay Sites, result in frequencies consistent with obliquity and precession forcing. The prolonged early-middle Pliocene warm period was superimposed on a cooling trend recorded by the: 1) increase of the terrigenous sediment supply at all our sites starting between 3.7 and 3.6 Ma, and 2) decrease in SSSTs (from >5.6°C at 3.7 Ma to 4°-2.7°C at 3.6 Ma, and 2.5°C at 3.5 Ma.) indicated by the silicoflagellate W/C R from Site 1165. We postulate that, although the start of a cooling trend is recorded at about 3.7-3.6-Ma, relatively warm conditions prevailed until 3.5 Ma capable of maintained open marine conditions with reduced or no sea-ice and reduced ice sheet volume and extent. The information in this paper regarding the timing of continental-wide and regional warm events and the paleoenvironmental conditions that characterized them (i.e., SSST, extent of sea ice, and ice sheet size) are relevant to help constrain paleoclimate and ice sheet models for the early-middle Pliocene, a time period when the level of warming according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, is within range of the estimates of the Earth's global temperature increases for the 21st century. These data, when linked to modeling studies like those of Pollard and DeConto (2009) will further our understanding of how these ice sheets may respond to future warming of the southern high latitudes.
IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude c... more IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude continental margins (NICE-STREAMS) resulted in two coordinated cruises on the adjacent Storfjorden and Kveithola trough-mouth fans in the NW Barents Sea: SVAIS Cruise of BIO Hespérides, summer 2007, and EGLACOM Cruise of Cruise R/V OGS-Explora, summer 2008. The objectives were to acquire a high-resolution set of bathymetric, seismic and sediment core data in order to decipher the Neogene architectural development of the glacially-dominated NW Barents Sea continental margin in response to natural climate change. The paleo-ice streams drained ice from southern Spitsbergen, Spitsbergen Bank, and Bear Island. The short distance from the ice source to the calving front produced a short residence time of ice, and therefore a rapid response to climatic changes. In the outer trough of southern Storfjorden, lobate moraines superimpose and are cut by very large linear features attributed to mega-iceberg scours. In the adjacent Kveithola trough, a fresh morphology includes mega-scale glacial lineations overprinted by transverse grounding-zone wedges, diagnostic of episodic ice stream retreat. A 15 m thick glacimarine drape suggests an high post-deglaciation sedimentation rate. Preliminary interpretation suggests that the retreat of the Svalbard/Barents Sea Ice Sheet was highly dynamic and that grounded ice persisted on Spitsbergen Bank for some thousands years after the main Barents Sea deglaciation.The Storfjorden continental slope is divided into three wide lobes. Opposite the two northernmost lobes the slope is dominated by straight gullies in the upper part, and deposition of debris lobes on the mid and lower parts. In contrast, the southernmost lobe is characterized by widespread occurrence of submarine landslides. Sediment failure has accompanied the evolution of the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola margin throughout the Late Neogene, with very large mass transport deposits up to 200 m thick in the early phases of the development of the glacially influenced margin. Conversely, the central and northern parts of the Storfjorden margin have prograded without appreciable episodes of mass failure. Sedimentation has occurred through alternate layering of decimeter-thick glacial debris flows deposits, with laminated and acoustically transparent interglacial sediment drape. Gullies and paleo-gullies incise the glacial debris flows and are covered by the interglacial drape. They are formed early during each deglaciation phase, most likely by the erosive action of short-lived hyperpycnal flows generated by sediment-laden subglacial meltwater discharge. In sediment cores thick finely-laminated sedimentary beds on the upper continental slope of the southern part of the margin indicate preferential deposition by settlement of meltwater sediment plumes. High sedimentation rates of plumites may contribute to the slope instability and suggest that meltwater discharge was focused on the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola paleo-ice streams.
Throughout the last decade large sediment drifts located on the upper continental rise west of th... more Throughout the last decade large sediment drifts located on the upper continental rise west of the Antarctic Peninsula were the target of oceanographic measurements, bathymetric mapping, seismic investigations, shallow sediment coring, and deep-sea drilling by Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 178. These studies concluded that for most of the late Neogene and Quaternary a generally SW-ward directed bottom current affected the deposition on the drifts. In particular during glacial periods, the deposition was additionally influenced by NW-ward directed transport of terrigenous detritus supplied by turbidity currents from the Antarctic Peninsula continental slope. In a recent study, however, the palaeomagnetic signal of the drift sediments recovered at two ODP Leg 178 sites (1095 and 1101) was interpreted to provide spatial and directional information on the physical record of the NEward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Here we investigate the link between the clockwise flowing ACC and the generally SW-wards flowing near-bottom contour current. We show that at the ODP Leg 178 sites on the western Antarctic Peninsula continental margin the ACC only affects the ocean circulation above ca. 1000 m water depth. Therefore, the signal of ACC flow might only be archived in the ice-rafted debris (IRD) content of the drift sediments. However, the IRD from the Leg 178 sites accounts for only a small proportion of the drift sediments and is dominantly of local origin. Past variability of bottom-water flow around the sediment drifts was reconstructed on the basis of seismic studies and clay mineralogical and grain-size analyses. These reconstructions provide useful information about both downstream direction and velocity changes of the bottom current and point to its SW-ward flow along the upper rise during at least the last 9.4 Ma.
Sedimentary processes in the Stromboli Canyon and in the Marsili Basin are studied on the basis ... more Sedimentary processes in the Stromboli Canyon and in the Marsili Basin are studied on the basis of side-scan sonographs. The basin margins are characterized by slump scars, gullies, channels, and large debrites on the Calabrian slope and by straight chutes of fast downslope sediment transport and blocky–hummocky avalanche deposits on the flanks of the Stromboli volcano. In the Stromboli Canyon and in minor deep-sea channels, sediment transport by turbidity currents generates sediment waves. Between the basin margins and the abyssal plain, the outcropping volcanic basement traps part of the sediment coming from the marginal areas. The abyssal plain is characterized by low relief lobes and ponded sediments.
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2007
Deep-sea finely laminated and barren glacial sediments occur in the sediment drift field offshore... more Deep-sea finely laminated and barren glacial sediments occur in the sediment drift field offshore the Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula where a weak contour current flows at present to the SW. Atypical sedimentary facies were related to the coexistence and interaction of different sedimentary processes. Three 'end-members' of radiograph facies were defined to represent the sedimentary sequences controlled by a dominant process, as follows.
Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic investigations were carried out on four gravity cores recovered f... more Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic investigations were carried out on four gravity cores recovered from the western continental rise of the Antarctic Peninsula during the SEDANO II cruise of RV OGS-Explora. The studied cores, each about 6.5 m-long, were collected at a depth of 3700-4100 m below the sea level, on the distal gentle side of sediment Drift 7, and consist of very fine-grained sediments spanning through various glacial-interglacial cycles. Detailed analysis of the paleomagnetic and rock magnetic data allowed to reconstruct relative paleointensity (RPI) records (NRM 20 mT /ARM 20 mT ) for each core. We established a refined age model for the studied sequences by correlating individual SEDANO RPI curves to the global RPI stack SINT-800 [Y. Guyodo, J.-P. Valet, Global changes in intensity of the Earth's magnetic field during the past 800 kyr, Nature 399 (1999) 249-252]. The individual normalized SEDANO RPI records are in mutual close agreement; they were thus merged in a RPI stacking curve spanning the last 270 kyr and showing a low standard deviation. This study also points out that RPI records may provide a viable tool to date otherwise difficult-to-date sedimentary sequences, such as those deposited along peri-Antarctic margins. The new RPI chronology indicates that the sampled sedimentary sequence is younger than previously thought and allows a new high-resolution correlation to oxygen isotope stages. Furthermore, we recognized variations in the rock magnetic parameters that appear to be climatically-driven, with changes in the relative proportion of two magnetic mineral populations with distinct coercivities. Rock magnetic and lithological trends observed in the SEDANO cores indicate that during the climatic cycles of the Late Pleistocene this sector of the peri-Antarctic margin was subjected to subtle, yet identifiable, environmental changes, confirming a relatively higher instability of the West Antarctic ice sheet with respect to the East Antarctic counterpart.
IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude c... more IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude continental margins (NICE-STREAMS) resulted in two coordinated cruises on the adjacent Storfjorden and Kveithola trough-mouth fans in the NW Barents Sea. The objectives were to acquire a high-resolution set of bathymetric, seismic and sediment core data in order to decipher the Neogene architectural development of the glacially-dominated NW Barents Sea continental margin in response to natural climate change. The paleo-ice streams drained ice from southern Spitsbergen and Bear Island. The short distance from the ice source to the calving front produced a short residence time of ice, and therefore a rapid response to climatic changes. In the outer trough of southern Storfjorden, lobate moraines are cut by very large linear features tentatively attributed to mega-iceberg scours. In the adjacent Kveithola trough, a fresher morphology includes mega-scale glacial lineations overprinted by transverse grounding-zone wedges, diagnostic of episodic ice stream retreat. A 15 m thick glacimarine drape suggests an high post-deglaciation sedimentation rate. Preliminary interpretation suggests that the retreat of the Svalbard/Barents Sea Ice Sheet was highly dynamic and that grounded ice persisted on Spitsbergen Bank for some thousands years after the main Barents Sea deglaciation, likely until the end of Younger Dryas. The Storfjorden continental slope is divided into three wide lobes. Opposite the two northernmost lobes the slope is dominated by straight gullies in the upper part, and deposition of debris lobes on the mid and lower parts. In contrast, the southernmost lobe is characterized by widespread occurrence of submarine landslides. Sediment failure has accompanied the evolution of the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola margin throughout the Late Neogene, with very large mass transport deposits up to 200 m thick in the early phases of the development of the glacially influenced margin. Conversely, the central and northern parts of the Storfjorden margin have prograded without appreciable episodes of mass failure. Sedimentation has occurred through alternate layering of decimeter-thick glacial debris flows deposits, with laminated and acoustically transparent interglacial sediment drape. Gullies and paleo-gullies incise the glacial debris flows and are covered by the interglacial drape. They are formed early during each deglaciation phase, most likely by the erosive action of short-lived hyperpycnal flows generated by sediment-laden subglacial meltwater discharge. In sediment cores thick finely-laminated sedimentary beds on the upper continental slope of the southern part of the margin indicate preferential deposition by settlement of meltwater sediment plumes. High sedimentation rates of plumites may contribute to the slope instability and suggest that meltwater discharge was focused on the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola paleo-ice streams.
Deep-sea Research Part Ii-topical Studies in Oceanography, 2003
The Wilkes Land continental rise is characterised by mounds and channels with approximately a nor... more The Wilkes Land continental rise is characterised by mounds and channels with approximately a north-south elongation, perpendicular to the margin. Proximal mound relief is up to 1000 m, decreasing to about 300 m in the central part. During the geophysical and geological survey conducted on in February-March 2000 by the joint Italian and Australian WEGA Project, onboard R/V Tangaroa, 11 piston cores were collected along two transects crossing the channel-mound system. All cores were logged for physical (magnetic susceptibility and density) and acoustic properties (P-wave velocity). Split cores were X-rayed and samples were analysed for clay mineral assemblages, chemical and micropaleontological (diatoms, foraminifera and nannofossils) content.
The SEDANO Project recovered 19 gravity cores on sediment drifts from the Pacific continental mar... more The SEDANO Project recovered 19 gravity cores on sediment drifts from the Pacific continental margin of the Antarctic Peninsula High-resolution terrigenous sedimentary record of the sediment drifts on the Antarctic Peninsula Pacific margin. In: Ricci, C.A. (Ed.), The Antarctic region. Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, Siena, pp. 705^710]. Fifteen cores were sampled with the aim of developing an integrated biostratigraphy and palaeoecology based on calcareous nannofossils, diatoms, planktonic and benthic foraminifera, framed in a depositional process reconstruction. Barren gray laminated and brown bioturbated hemipelagic sediments characterize glacial and interglacial cycles, respectively. Analyses from both intervals allow comparison between microfossil occurrence in glacial and interglacial cycles. The unit boundaries were drawn more accurately by means of the microfossil distribution. On the basis of micropalaeontological and sedimentological evidence, Interglacial Unit C is correlated to Oxygen Isotope Stage 5, thus dating the unit boundaries at 127 and 70 ka. Peaks in diatom abundance correlate well with interglacial units and indicate high productivity and an open ocean environment. A calcareous nannofossil cold-taxa association is present in most cores examined, and its consistent distribution within Interglacial Unit C indicates key environmental relationships. The occurrence of calcareous nannofossils has been related to temperature tolerance, sea-ice cover reduction, nutrient availability, and factors limiting primary productivity. Our results confirm that coccolithophorids occurred at southern high latitudes, in the western marginal basins of the Antarctic Peninsula, during short periods of the Late Quaternary. A foraminiferal assemblage, made up of sinistral Neogloboquadrina pachyderma and few benthics, occurs only in interglacial units. Correlation of microfossil occurrences with climatic cycles adds information on their palaeoecology and palaeoproductivity in the southern high latitudes. ß
A high-resolution paleomagnetic and rock magnetic study has been carried out on sediment cores co... more A high-resolution paleomagnetic and rock magnetic study has been carried out on sediment cores collected in glaciomarine silty-clay sequences from the continental shelf and slope of the southern Storfjorden trough-mouth fan, on the northwestern Barents Sea continental margin. The Storfjorden sedimentary system was investigated during the SVAIS and EGLACOM cruises, when 10 gravity cores, with a variable length from 1.03 m to 6.41 m, were retrieved. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C analyses on 24 samples indicate that the cores span a time interval that includes the Holocene, the last deglaciation phase and in some cores the last glacial maximum. The sediments carry a well-defined characteristic remanent magnetization and have a valuable potential to reconstruct the paleosecular variation (PSV) of the geomagnetic field, including relative paleointensity (RPI) variations. The paleomagnetic data allow reconstruction of past dynamics and amplitude of the geomagnetic field variations at high northern latitudes (75°-76° N). At the same time, the rock magnetic and paleomagnetic data allow a high-resolution correlation of the sedimentary sequences and a refinement of their preliminary age models. The Holocene PSV and RPI records appear particularly sound, since they are consistent between cores and they can be correlated to the closest regional stacking curves (UK PSV, FENNOSTACK and FENNORPIS) and global geomagnetic model for the last 7 ka (CALS7k.2). The computed amplitude of secular variation is lower than that outlined by some geomagnetic field models, suggesting that it has been almost independent from latitude during the Holocene.
Several submarine landslides were identified on the Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan (TMF) to the sou... more Several submarine landslides were identified on the Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan (TMF) to the southwest of the Svalbard Islands during two recent research cruises carried out within the International Polar Year (IPY). The Spanish SVAIS and the Italian EGLACOM cruises, respectively in the summer of 2007 and of 2008, both contributed to IPY Activity 367 NICE-STREAM (Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high-latitde continental margins) aimed at understanding erosion and depositional systems associated with ice streams. Thin-skinned modern landslides, visible on both swath bathymetry data and on sub-bottom and multichannel seimic reflection profiles, are composed by a long, sharp-edged, straight channel developed downslope of the head scars, which lie on the upper-middle continental slope. Giant paleo landslides, detected only on multichannel seimic reflection profiles, are characterized by thick (up to over 200 ms thick) chaotic deposits on the lower part of the continental slope. Both modern and paleo landslides are focused in the southern part of the Storfjorden TMF, towards the northern border of the Bear Island TMF. The area is peculiar because of the presence of a large deep-sea channel system, the INBIS channel system (Vorren et al., 1998)). Channel systems in fact are rare on the Norwegian margin and confined to the INBIS and Lofoten Basin channels. Also peculiar of this area is the presence on continental shelf of a sharp, narrow cross-shelf trough, the Kveithola Trough, which shows glacial growes and boundles produced by fast-flowing grounded ice. This evidence suggests to us that the abundance of basal meltwater beneath the ice, a key factor for the lubrication and motion of ice-streams, is also crucial for the inception of mass-movements along the INBIS Channel and for the genesis of the landslides indentified in this sector of the margin. References: Vorren, T.O., Laberg, J.S., Blaumme, F., Dowdeswell, J.A., Kenyon, N.H., Mienert, J., Rumohr, J., Werner, F., 1998. The Norwegian-Greenland Sea continental margins: morphology and Late Quaternary sedimentary processes and environment. Quat. Sci. Rev. 17, 273-302.
Sedimentary processes related to turbidity current interaction with bathymetric obstacles were s... more Sedimentary processes related to turbidity current interaction with bathymetric obstacles were studied in the area of the Lametini Seamounts and Stromboli Canyon. Four types of turbidite were identified on the basis of their compositional and sedimentological characteristics, and they were interpreted in terms of provenance, transport, and depositional processes. At the bend of the Stromboli Canyon, south of the Lametini Seamounts, the fine fraction of large turbidity currents can spill over and either (1) expand within the canyon embayment; (2) cross the saddle that divides the two volcanic cones of the Lametini Seamounts; or (3) be reflected by the steep slopes of the seamounts.
Our study characterizes glacial and interglacial deposition on two Antarctic margins in order to ... more Our study characterizes glacial and interglacial deposition on two Antarctic margins in order to discriminate between regional and continent-wide early to middle Pliocene warm intervals that caused sea-ice reduction and continental ice sheet retreat. We use a multi-proxy (i.e., sediment facies and grain size, siliceous microfossils, biogenic opal, geochemical composition and clay mineralogy) approach to examine sediments recovered in drill holes from the West Antarctic Peninsula and the East Antarctic Prydz Bay margins, focusing on the climatic record between 4 and 3.5 Ma. Warm conditions in both East and West Antarctica are recorded, which based on our age model correspond to periods of prolonged or extreme warmth correlated with isotopic stages Gi5, Gi1, MG11 and MG7. For the Gi5 interglacial our data corroborates the 60% Dictyocha percentage at 34.60 mbsf previously reported from Prydz Bay and interpreted to indicate a SSST of about 5.6°C above present. Our higher-resolution sampling interval shows Dictyocha percentages up to 87.5%, suggesting even higher SSSTs above present levels. During MG11, which coincides with the section dated by the magnetic polarity reversal Gilbert-Gauss at 3.58 Ma, SSSTs were tentatively 2.5°-4°warmer than present, and reduced sea-ice cover in Prydz Bay and probably also west of the Antarctic Peninsula is indicated by increased primary productivity. In addition, a reduction of ice sheet size is suggested by the bioturbated and IRD-enriched facies that characterize these highproductivity intervals. Based in our age model and calculated sedimentation rates glacial-interglacial cyclicity between 4 and 3.5 Ma in the cores from Antarctic Peninsula and Prydz Bay Sites, result in frequencies consistent with obliquity and precession forcing. The prolonged early-middle Pliocene warm period was superimposed on a cooling trend recorded by the: 1) increase of the terrigenous sediment supply at all our sites starting between 3.7 and 3.6 Ma, and 2) decrease in SSSTs (from >5.6°C at 3.7 Ma to 4°-2.7°C at 3.6 Ma, and 2.5°C at 3.5 Ma.) indicated by the silicoflagellate W/C R from Site 1165. We postulate that, although the start of a cooling trend is recorded at about 3.7-3.6-Ma, relatively warm conditions prevailed until 3.5 Ma capable of maintained open marine conditions with reduced or no sea-ice and reduced ice sheet volume and extent. The information in this paper regarding the timing of continental-wide and regional warm events and the paleoenvironmental conditions that characterized them (i.e., SSST, extent of sea ice, and ice sheet size) are relevant to help constrain paleoclimate and ice sheet models for the early-middle Pliocene, a time period when the level of warming according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, is within range of the estimates of the Earth's global temperature increases for the 21st century. These data, when linked to modeling studies like those of Pollard and DeConto (2009) will further our understanding of how these ice sheets may respond to future warming of the southern high latitudes.
IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude c... more IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude continental margins (NICE-STREAMS) resulted in two coordinated cruises on the adjacent Storfjorden and Kveithola trough-mouth fans in the NW Barents Sea: SVAIS Cruise of BIO Hespérides, summer 2007, and EGLACOM Cruise of Cruise R/V OGS-Explora, summer 2008. The objectives were to acquire a high-resolution set of bathymetric, seismic and sediment core data in order to decipher the Neogene architectural development of the glacially-dominated NW Barents Sea continental margin in response to natural climate change. The paleo-ice streams drained ice from southern Spitsbergen, Spitsbergen Bank, and Bear Island. The short distance from the ice source to the calving front produced a short residence time of ice, and therefore a rapid response to climatic changes. In the outer trough of southern Storfjorden, lobate moraines superimpose and are cut by very large linear features attributed to mega-iceberg scours. In the adjacent Kveithola trough, a fresh morphology includes mega-scale glacial lineations overprinted by transverse grounding-zone wedges, diagnostic of episodic ice stream retreat. A 15 m thick glacimarine drape suggests an high post-deglaciation sedimentation rate. Preliminary interpretation suggests that the retreat of the Svalbard/Barents Sea Ice Sheet was highly dynamic and that grounded ice persisted on Spitsbergen Bank for some thousands years after the main Barents Sea deglaciation.The Storfjorden continental slope is divided into three wide lobes. Opposite the two northernmost lobes the slope is dominated by straight gullies in the upper part, and deposition of debris lobes on the mid and lower parts. In contrast, the southernmost lobe is characterized by widespread occurrence of submarine landslides. Sediment failure has accompanied the evolution of the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola margin throughout the Late Neogene, with very large mass transport deposits up to 200 m thick in the early phases of the development of the glacially influenced margin. Conversely, the central and northern parts of the Storfjorden margin have prograded without appreciable episodes of mass failure. Sedimentation has occurred through alternate layering of decimeter-thick glacial debris flows deposits, with laminated and acoustically transparent interglacial sediment drape. Gullies and paleo-gullies incise the glacial debris flows and are covered by the interglacial drape. They are formed early during each deglaciation phase, most likely by the erosive action of short-lived hyperpycnal flows generated by sediment-laden subglacial meltwater discharge. In sediment cores thick finely-laminated sedimentary beds on the upper continental slope of the southern part of the margin indicate preferential deposition by settlement of meltwater sediment plumes. High sedimentation rates of plumites may contribute to the slope instability and suggest that meltwater discharge was focused on the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola paleo-ice streams.
Throughout the last decade large sediment drifts located on the upper continental rise west of th... more Throughout the last decade large sediment drifts located on the upper continental rise west of the Antarctic Peninsula were the target of oceanographic measurements, bathymetric mapping, seismic investigations, shallow sediment coring, and deep-sea drilling by Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 178. These studies concluded that for most of the late Neogene and Quaternary a generally SW-ward directed bottom current affected the deposition on the drifts. In particular during glacial periods, the deposition was additionally influenced by NW-ward directed transport of terrigenous detritus supplied by turbidity currents from the Antarctic Peninsula continental slope. In a recent study, however, the palaeomagnetic signal of the drift sediments recovered at two ODP Leg 178 sites (1095 and 1101) was interpreted to provide spatial and directional information on the physical record of the NEward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Here we investigate the link between the clockwise flowing ACC and the generally SW-wards flowing near-bottom contour current. We show that at the ODP Leg 178 sites on the western Antarctic Peninsula continental margin the ACC only affects the ocean circulation above ca. 1000 m water depth. Therefore, the signal of ACC flow might only be archived in the ice-rafted debris (IRD) content of the drift sediments. However, the IRD from the Leg 178 sites accounts for only a small proportion of the drift sediments and is dominantly of local origin. Past variability of bottom-water flow around the sediment drifts was reconstructed on the basis of seismic studies and clay mineralogical and grain-size analyses. These reconstructions provide useful information about both downstream direction and velocity changes of the bottom current and point to its SW-ward flow along the upper rise during at least the last 9.4 Ma.
Sedimentary processes in the Stromboli Canyon and in the Marsili Basin are studied on the basis ... more Sedimentary processes in the Stromboli Canyon and in the Marsili Basin are studied on the basis of side-scan sonographs. The basin margins are characterized by slump scars, gullies, channels, and large debrites on the Calabrian slope and by straight chutes of fast downslope sediment transport and blocky–hummocky avalanche deposits on the flanks of the Stromboli volcano. In the Stromboli Canyon and in minor deep-sea channels, sediment transport by turbidity currents generates sediment waves. Between the basin margins and the abyssal plain, the outcropping volcanic basement traps part of the sediment coming from the marginal areas. The abyssal plain is characterized by low relief lobes and ponded sediments.
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2007
Deep-sea finely laminated and barren glacial sediments occur in the sediment drift field offshore... more Deep-sea finely laminated and barren glacial sediments occur in the sediment drift field offshore the Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula where a weak contour current flows at present to the SW. Atypical sedimentary facies were related to the coexistence and interaction of different sedimentary processes. Three 'end-members' of radiograph facies were defined to represent the sedimentary sequences controlled by a dominant process, as follows.
Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic investigations were carried out on four gravity cores recovered f... more Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic investigations were carried out on four gravity cores recovered from the western continental rise of the Antarctic Peninsula during the SEDANO II cruise of RV OGS-Explora. The studied cores, each about 6.5 m-long, were collected at a depth of 3700-4100 m below the sea level, on the distal gentle side of sediment Drift 7, and consist of very fine-grained sediments spanning through various glacial-interglacial cycles. Detailed analysis of the paleomagnetic and rock magnetic data allowed to reconstruct relative paleointensity (RPI) records (NRM 20 mT /ARM 20 mT ) for each core. We established a refined age model for the studied sequences by correlating individual SEDANO RPI curves to the global RPI stack SINT-800 [Y. Guyodo, J.-P. Valet, Global changes in intensity of the Earth's magnetic field during the past 800 kyr, Nature 399 (1999) 249-252]. The individual normalized SEDANO RPI records are in mutual close agreement; they were thus merged in a RPI stacking curve spanning the last 270 kyr and showing a low standard deviation. This study also points out that RPI records may provide a viable tool to date otherwise difficult-to-date sedimentary sequences, such as those deposited along peri-Antarctic margins. The new RPI chronology indicates that the sampled sedimentary sequence is younger than previously thought and allows a new high-resolution correlation to oxygen isotope stages. Furthermore, we recognized variations in the rock magnetic parameters that appear to be climatically-driven, with changes in the relative proportion of two magnetic mineral populations with distinct coercivities. Rock magnetic and lithological trends observed in the SEDANO cores indicate that during the climatic cycles of the Late Pleistocene this sector of the peri-Antarctic margin was subjected to subtle, yet identifiable, environmental changes, confirming a relatively higher instability of the West Antarctic ice sheet with respect to the East Antarctic counterpart.
IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude c... more IPY Activity N. 367 focusing on Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high- latitude continental margins (NICE-STREAMS) resulted in two coordinated cruises on the adjacent Storfjorden and Kveithola trough-mouth fans in the NW Barents Sea. The objectives were to acquire a high-resolution set of bathymetric, seismic and sediment core data in order to decipher the Neogene architectural development of the glacially-dominated NW Barents Sea continental margin in response to natural climate change. The paleo-ice streams drained ice from southern Spitsbergen and Bear Island. The short distance from the ice source to the calving front produced a short residence time of ice, and therefore a rapid response to climatic changes. In the outer trough of southern Storfjorden, lobate moraines are cut by very large linear features tentatively attributed to mega-iceberg scours. In the adjacent Kveithola trough, a fresher morphology includes mega-scale glacial lineations overprinted by transverse grounding-zone wedges, diagnostic of episodic ice stream retreat. A 15 m thick glacimarine drape suggests an high post-deglaciation sedimentation rate. Preliminary interpretation suggests that the retreat of the Svalbard/Barents Sea Ice Sheet was highly dynamic and that grounded ice persisted on Spitsbergen Bank for some thousands years after the main Barents Sea deglaciation, likely until the end of Younger Dryas. The Storfjorden continental slope is divided into three wide lobes. Opposite the two northernmost lobes the slope is dominated by straight gullies in the upper part, and deposition of debris lobes on the mid and lower parts. In contrast, the southernmost lobe is characterized by widespread occurrence of submarine landslides. Sediment failure has accompanied the evolution of the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola margin throughout the Late Neogene, with very large mass transport deposits up to 200 m thick in the early phases of the development of the glacially influenced margin. Conversely, the central and northern parts of the Storfjorden margin have prograded without appreciable episodes of mass failure. Sedimentation has occurred through alternate layering of decimeter-thick glacial debris flows deposits, with laminated and acoustically transparent interglacial sediment drape. Gullies and paleo-gullies incise the glacial debris flows and are covered by the interglacial drape. They are formed early during each deglaciation phase, most likely by the erosive action of short-lived hyperpycnal flows generated by sediment-laden subglacial meltwater discharge. In sediment cores thick finely-laminated sedimentary beds on the upper continental slope of the southern part of the margin indicate preferential deposition by settlement of meltwater sediment plumes. High sedimentation rates of plumites may contribute to the slope instability and suggest that meltwater discharge was focused on the southern Storfjorden and Kveithola paleo-ice streams.
Deep-sea Research Part Ii-topical Studies in Oceanography, 2003
The Wilkes Land continental rise is characterised by mounds and channels with approximately a nor... more The Wilkes Land continental rise is characterised by mounds and channels with approximately a north-south elongation, perpendicular to the margin. Proximal mound relief is up to 1000 m, decreasing to about 300 m in the central part. During the geophysical and geological survey conducted on in February-March 2000 by the joint Italian and Australian WEGA Project, onboard R/V Tangaroa, 11 piston cores were collected along two transects crossing the channel-mound system. All cores were logged for physical (magnetic susceptibility and density) and acoustic properties (P-wave velocity). Split cores were X-rayed and samples were analysed for clay mineral assemblages, chemical and micropaleontological (diatoms, foraminifera and nannofossils) content.
The SEDANO Project recovered 19 gravity cores on sediment drifts from the Pacific continental mar... more The SEDANO Project recovered 19 gravity cores on sediment drifts from the Pacific continental margin of the Antarctic Peninsula High-resolution terrigenous sedimentary record of the sediment drifts on the Antarctic Peninsula Pacific margin. In: Ricci, C.A. (Ed.), The Antarctic region. Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide, Siena, pp. 705^710]. Fifteen cores were sampled with the aim of developing an integrated biostratigraphy and palaeoecology based on calcareous nannofossils, diatoms, planktonic and benthic foraminifera, framed in a depositional process reconstruction. Barren gray laminated and brown bioturbated hemipelagic sediments characterize glacial and interglacial cycles, respectively. Analyses from both intervals allow comparison between microfossil occurrence in glacial and interglacial cycles. The unit boundaries were drawn more accurately by means of the microfossil distribution. On the basis of micropalaeontological and sedimentological evidence, Interglacial Unit C is correlated to Oxygen Isotope Stage 5, thus dating the unit boundaries at 127 and 70 ka. Peaks in diatom abundance correlate well with interglacial units and indicate high productivity and an open ocean environment. A calcareous nannofossil cold-taxa association is present in most cores examined, and its consistent distribution within Interglacial Unit C indicates key environmental relationships. The occurrence of calcareous nannofossils has been related to temperature tolerance, sea-ice cover reduction, nutrient availability, and factors limiting primary productivity. Our results confirm that coccolithophorids occurred at southern high latitudes, in the western marginal basins of the Antarctic Peninsula, during short periods of the Late Quaternary. A foraminiferal assemblage, made up of sinistral Neogloboquadrina pachyderma and few benthics, occurs only in interglacial units. Correlation of microfossil occurrences with climatic cycles adds information on their palaeoecology and palaeoproductivity in the southern high latitudes. ß
A high-resolution paleomagnetic and rock magnetic study has been carried out on sediment cores co... more A high-resolution paleomagnetic and rock magnetic study has been carried out on sediment cores collected in glaciomarine silty-clay sequences from the continental shelf and slope of the southern Storfjorden trough-mouth fan, on the northwestern Barents Sea continental margin. The Storfjorden sedimentary system was investigated during the SVAIS and EGLACOM cruises, when 10 gravity cores, with a variable length from 1.03 m to 6.41 m, were retrieved. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C analyses on 24 samples indicate that the cores span a time interval that includes the Holocene, the last deglaciation phase and in some cores the last glacial maximum. The sediments carry a well-defined characteristic remanent magnetization and have a valuable potential to reconstruct the paleosecular variation (PSV) of the geomagnetic field, including relative paleointensity (RPI) variations. The paleomagnetic data allow reconstruction of past dynamics and amplitude of the geomagnetic field variations at high northern latitudes (75°-76° N). At the same time, the rock magnetic and paleomagnetic data allow a high-resolution correlation of the sedimentary sequences and a refinement of their preliminary age models. The Holocene PSV and RPI records appear particularly sound, since they are consistent between cores and they can be correlated to the closest regional stacking curves (UK PSV, FENNOSTACK and FENNORPIS) and global geomagnetic model for the last 7 ka (CALS7k.2). The computed amplitude of secular variation is lower than that outlined by some geomagnetic field models, suggesting that it has been almost independent from latitude during the Holocene.
Several submarine landslides were identified on the Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan (TMF) to the sou... more Several submarine landslides were identified on the Storfjorden Trough Mouth Fan (TMF) to the southwest of the Svalbard Islands during two recent research cruises carried out within the International Polar Year (IPY). The Spanish SVAIS and the Italian EGLACOM cruises, respectively in the summer of 2007 and of 2008, both contributed to IPY Activity 367 NICE-STREAM (Neogene ice streams and sedimentary processes on high-latitde continental margins) aimed at understanding erosion and depositional systems associated with ice streams. Thin-skinned modern landslides, visible on both swath bathymetry data and on sub-bottom and multichannel seimic reflection profiles, are composed by a long, sharp-edged, straight channel developed downslope of the head scars, which lie on the upper-middle continental slope. Giant paleo landslides, detected only on multichannel seimic reflection profiles, are characterized by thick (up to over 200 ms thick) chaotic deposits on the lower part of the continental slope. Both modern and paleo landslides are focused in the southern part of the Storfjorden TMF, towards the northern border of the Bear Island TMF. The area is peculiar because of the presence of a large deep-sea channel system, the INBIS channel system (Vorren et al., 1998)). Channel systems in fact are rare on the Norwegian margin and confined to the INBIS and Lofoten Basin channels. Also peculiar of this area is the presence on continental shelf of a sharp, narrow cross-shelf trough, the Kveithola Trough, which shows glacial growes and boundles produced by fast-flowing grounded ice. This evidence suggests to us that the abundance of basal meltwater beneath the ice, a key factor for the lubrication and motion of ice-streams, is also crucial for the inception of mass-movements along the INBIS Channel and for the genesis of the landslides indentified in this sector of the margin. References: Vorren, T.O., Laberg, J.S., Blaumme, F., Dowdeswell, J.A., Kenyon, N.H., Mienert, J., Rumohr, J., Werner, F., 1998. The Norwegian-Greenland Sea continental margins: morphology and Late Quaternary sedimentary processes and environment. Quat. Sci. Rev. 17, 273-302.
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