From Prydz Bay shelf to the deep sea - insights into 1.3 Ma history of bottom-water formation and ice-rafting inferred from sediment cores recovered in the Prydz Bay region.

TL;DRAbstract

The Prydz Bay represents the third largest shelf area in Antarctica and is bounded to the south by the outlet of Lambert Glacier. The latter drains about 20 % of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Fluctuations in the extent and configuration of shelf ice and sea ice are known to be of wide influence on bottom-water formation in Antarctica. They are thus of global impact as Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is a driving force of Thermohaline Circulation. We apply sedimentological, mineralogical and geochemical methods on sediment cores retrieved from Prydz Bay, MacRobertson Shelf, the continental slope off MacRobertson Land, and from the East Kerguelen Drift deposit to reconstruct past variations in the formation of bottom-water and calving of icebergs.A depth transect of sediment cores from the continental slope off MacRobertson Land enables us to distinguish between periods of contourite and/or turbidity current activity and ice-rafting events. We use this information to draw conclusions on th

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