Fig. 2: Architecture of the sediment drift at the eastern flank of PIT as imaged by seismic reflection profiles.

Seismic profiles AWI-20100122 (a), -20100137 (b), and -20170012 (c) show the sediment drift (the top is marked by the thick blue horizon) lying above horizon ASS-u2 (cyan). The thin blue horizons mark internal reflections of the sediment drift separating convex-up mounded subunits. Small red arrows mark reflector terminations. PS104_21-3 marks the location of the seabed drill site, where Early Oligocene sediments were recovered38,72. Seismic profile AWI-20170012 further shows that the sediment drift still influences the present day seabed morphology (mounded structure above thick blue horizon). Circles with a dot in dashed ellipse mark the inferred flow direction of the deep water out of the figure plane, i.e., southwards (blue refers to flow in Early Oligocene, yellow in Pliocene/Quaternary). Seismic sections are shown in two-way travel time (TWT). The data gap in (b) results from an interruption in data acquisition due to the occurrence of marine mammals. For information on the ghost reflection see ‘Methods’. For location of seismic lines see enlarged map in Fig. 1. The uninterpreted version of the profiles can be found in Supplementary Fig. 1.