Sedimentology of cores from the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctic

Sedimentation rates are 3.0-5.5 cm/ka. Cores on the steep sides of the drift recovered a condensed section with thinner cycles and hiatuses. Fine grain size, very poor sorting and the absence of a mode in the silt size range indicate deposition from suspension with only weak current activity, There is little evidence for cyclic changes in bottom current strength.

Supply of sediment to the benthic nepheloid layer was by entrainment ofmud from turbidity currents, and by settling ofpelagic material (biogenic grains, IRD, sediment suspended in meltwater plumes). Cyclic changes in sediment supply include more biogenic supply in interglacials with less sea ice cover, more terrigenous supply from turbidites in glacials with ice sheets grounded to the shelf edge, and changes in IRD content.