| Title | Enigmatic deep-water mounds on the Orphan Knoll, Labrador Sea |
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| Author | Meredyk, S P; Edinger, E; Piper, D J W ; Huvenne, V A I; Hoy, S; Ruffman, A |
| Source | Frontiers in Marine Science vol. 6, 744, 2020 p. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00744  Open Access |
| Year | 2020 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20190257 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Newfoundland and Labrador; Eastern offshore region |
| Area | Orphan Knoll; Atlantic Ocean |
| Lat/Long WENS | -47.0000 -45.0000 51.5000 50.0000 |
| Subjects | marine geology; surficial geology/geomorphology; mineralogy; geophysics; Nature and Environment; Science and Technology; submarine features; seafloor topography; morphology; bedrock geology; structural
features; faults; faults, block; horsts; bedding planes; lithology; sedimentary rocks; limestones; geophysical surveys; acoustic surveys, marine; sonar surveys; side-scan sonar; geophysical interpretations; seismic profiles; photography; grab
samples; marine sediments; muds; nodules; detritus; landslide deposits; boulders; tectonic history; crustal uplift; faulting; rifting; mass wasting; thin section microscopy; x-ray diffraction analyses; Neogene; Miocene; Paleogene; Eocene; Ocean /
Deep Sea Drilling Program Site 111; Corals; Scleractinian Corals; Discoasters; Gorgonian Corals; Stony Corals; Hexacorallia; Black-Wire Corals; Sea Pens; Soft Corals; glaciomarine sediments; Biology; Videorecordings; Phanerozoic; Cenozoic;
Quaternary; Tertiary |
| Illustrations | location maps; geoscientific sketch maps; tables; photographs; photomicrographs; seismic profiles; histograms; rose diagrams; bathymetric profiles |
| Program | Offshore Geoscience |
| Released | 2020 01 30 |
| Abstract | Deep-sea mounds can have a variety of origins and may provide hard-substrate features in depths that are normally dominated by mud. Orphan Knoll, a 2 km high bedrock horst off northeast Newfoundland,
hosts more than 200 mounds, or mound complexes, of unknown composition, in water depths of 1720-2500 m. Most mounds are 10-600 m high, with average mound height 187 m, and 1-3 km wide. The study objective was to characterize the size, shape,
orientation, and composition of the enigmatic Orphan Knoll mounds, in order to determine their age and origin. Archival ship-based side-scan sonar, multibeam sonar, airgun, high-resolution sparker and 3.5 kHz acoustic sub-bottom profiling, and newly
acquired ship-based multibeam sonar, video transects by remotely operated vehicle (ROV), rock samples, and near-bottom multibeam sonar data were analyzed. Four mounds were studied during two ROV dives. Archival sidescan sonar data show > 200 mounds.
Sparker profiles show that the mound crests are covered by condensed stratified Quaternary sediment and airgun seismic data show faults reaching near the seafloor. New multibeam sonar data show mounds are dominantly conical to elliptical in shape,
but without preferred orientation or alignment. Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) transects and near-bottom multibeam showed that three mounds were rounded and symmetrically arranged, while a fourth was more asymmetrical, with steep faces on the
southwestern and southeastern flanks, where finely bedded to massive sedimentary bedrock outcropped dipping 15-45 SW. Rock samples from the mounds include Eocene calcareous ooze and mid-Miocene bedded pelagic limestone. Thick ferromanganese crusts
were found on many surfaces, obscuring possible outcrops from physical sampling. Polymetallic nodules were found on the slope of one mound. Ice-rafted detritus, including igneous and metamorphic rocks and Paleozoic limestone and dolostone, was common
in the sediments immediately surrounding the mounds. Quaternary sub-fossil solitary scleractinian corals accumulated over a span of at least 0.18 Ma at the base of one mound. The presence of uplifted condensed Eocene-Miocene rocks on the mounds and
faulting in seismic profiles suggest uplift during reactivation of old rift-related faults during the Neogene, with seabed mass wasting creating residual mounds, which were then draped by Quaternary proglacial muds. Sculpting of hemipelagic
Quaternary sediment by bottom currents probably contributed to mound morphology. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
A review of unusual sea-floor mounds on the top of Orphan Knoll, including their geological origin and their implications for biota. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 314869 |
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