The Quaternary NE Atlantic continental margin – configuration, depositional environment, sedimentary processes and glacial dynamics

SUPERVISION

Professor Berit Oline Hjelstuen (UiB-GEO), Professor Hans Petter Sejrup (UiB-GEO), Professor Xu Zhang (Lanzhou University/Alfred Wegener Institute)

PROJECT FUNDING

University of Bergen

PROJECT PERIOD

October 2018 - August 2023

RESEARCH GOALS, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This PhD project is divided into three parts where the overall aim is to produce new knowledge about late Cenozoic depositional environments, sedimentary processes and glaciation history of the NE Atlantic continental margin. The aim of the three sub-projects is to:

1.    Couple the late Plio-Pleistocene sediment package and sub-units along the entire NE Atlantic margin and examine spatial and temporal variations in source to sink patterns. The influence of changes in bathymetry through time on ocean circulation and climate, will also be investigated.

2.    Improve the age control of the late Plio-Pleistocene sediment package along the Mid-Norwegian margin, the Naust Fm, by utilizing Sr isotope analysis based on drill cuttings from various wells. If successful, this information will help obtain further insights into the development of the Norwegian margin, as well as the uplift/erosion history of the Norwegian mainland.

3.    Create a new detailed seismo- and chronostratigraphic framework of the North Sea TMF region.  A main task of this study will be to couple the North Sea TMF with the sedimentary succession in the Norway Basin and the northern North Sea.  With this newly established stratigraphic framework, we aim to shed new light on the spatial distribution of sediments, how the depositional environment within the studied area relates to glaciation cycles and the impact of the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream.