Late Cenozoic paleoenvironments in the Veslemøy High area, SW Barents Sea based on 3D- and 2D- seismic data

Abstract

The aim of this master thesis has been to interpret the Late Cenozoic paleo-environments and the sedimentary processes in the Veslemøy High area, southwestern Barents Sea. Six seismic units and eight seismic unconformities, including the seafloor, are identified in the study area and correlated with previous work in the Sørvestnaget Basin. Submarine channels with a downslope (E-W) orientation suggest a glacimarine environment, i.e. the channels are inferred to have been formed by turbidity currents originating from glacial meltwater on the deepest reflector. On shallower reflectors, megascale glacial lineations, ridges and parts of hill-hole pairs indicate that grounded ice reached the paleo-shelf edge at least six times in the last 1.5 Ma. Moreover, two of the shallower seismic units show indications of sediment blocks that are inferred to have been subglacially eroded, transported and deposited by ice streams. The influence of the ice stream flowing from the Bjørnøyrenna in the last 330 ka is evident in the Veslemøy High; however, the origin of the ice streams is unclear on older paleo-surfaces.