Fig. 4: Conceptual model showing formation of the sediment drift on the ASE shelf. | Communications Earth & Environment

Fig. 4: Conceptual model showing formation of the sediment drift on the ASE shelf.

From: Deep water inflow slowed offshore expansion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet at the Eocene-Oligocene transition

Fig. 4

Upwelled deep water DW (red arrow) flows southwards into the trough in the shelf break and then is steered by the eastward rising sea floor carrying/picking up sedimentary material. The DW is then deflected to the left in relation to the flow direction due to Coriolis effect (black arrow C)33,34. There, the flow velocity is reduced and the material is deposited thus forming a plastered sediment drift against the sloping seafloor. With the onset of cooling, deep water is upwelled less vigorously only into the outer trough (purple dashed arrow) and then flows back into the deeper ocean.

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