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Seismic stratigraphy of the late Quaternary sedimentary infill of Lac d'Armor (Kerguelen archipelago): a record of glacier retreat, sedimentary mass wasting and southern Westerly intensification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2012

Katrien Heirman ,
Marc De Batist ,
Fabien Arnaud  and
Jacques-Louis De Beaulieu
Katrien Heirman*
Affiliation:
Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Department of Geology and Soil Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science, Geological Survey of Belgium, Jennerstraat 13, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Marc De Batist
Affiliation:
Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Department of Geology and Soil Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Fabien Arnaud
Affiliation:
UMR CNRS 5204, Environment Dynamique et Territoires de Montage, Bât. Belledonne, Université de Savoie, Technolac, F-73370 Le Bourget du Lac Cedex, France
Jacques-Louis De Beaulieu
Affiliation:
IMEP, UMR 6116 CNRS, case 451, Faculté Saint Jérôme, F-13397 Marseille, France
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Lac d'Armor (49°27′S, 69°42′E) is a medium-sized, fjord-type lake located on the ‘Grande Terre’ island of the Kerguelen archipelago. A dense grid of high-resolution reflection seismic profiles was collected from this lake basin. The seismic stratigraphic facies reveal a last deglaciation to Holocene infill comparable to the seismic facies found in other glacigenic lakes all over the world. Remarkable features in the seismic stratigraphy are mounded structures found at the southern edge of both sub-basins. The sediment mounds can be interpreted as sediment drifts created by wind-induced bottom currents. The onset of the build-up of these drifts initiated at some point in the Holocene and indicates a strengthening of the southern Westerlies, which are currently the dominant winds on this island.

Keywords

drift depositglacial sedimentationlacustrine sedimentationwind-driven currents
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 24 , Issue 6 , December 2012 , pp. 608 - 618
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012

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