The Middle and Late Pleistocene evolution of the Bear Island Trough Mouth Fan

The evolution of a submarine fan, the Bear Island Trough Mouth Fan, is outlined using high-resolution seismic data. Fight seismic units are identified. The identified units comprise sediments of Middle and Late Pleistocene age. They were probably deposited during eight glacial advances of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet to the shelf break. The units are dominated by a chaotic seismic signature on the upper fan and a mounded seismic facies further downslope. The mounded signature is inferred to reflect large submarine debris flow deposits, probably generated by oversteepening of the upper slope. Unlike many other passive margin fans, glacigenic sediments derived from an ice sheet at the shelf break were the primary sediment input. During interstadials and interglacials the sedimentation rate was reduced markedly. Three large sliding events also influenced the Middle and Late Pleistocene fan growth.