CONTOURITE DRIFTS IN ROMANCHE FRACTURE ZONE (EQUATORIAL ATLANTIC)
- Authors: Popov M.S.1, Borisov D.G.1, Ivanova E.V.1, Levchenko O.V.1
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Affiliations:
- Институт Океанологии РАН им. П.П. Ширшова
- Issue: Vol 526, No 2 (2026)
- Section: OCEANOLOGY
- Submitted: 28.08.2025
- Accepted: 06.10.2025
- Published: 18.11.2025
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/2686-7397/article/view/307012
- ID: 307012
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Abstract
The seismic structure of three contourite drifts (sedimentary bodies formed by bottom currents), first identified in the Romanche Fracture Zone, is described. One of these drifts is the deepest known in the World Ocean. The drifts were formed by the flow of the Antarctic Bottom Water and are considered potential natural archives of the history of bottom water circulation in the Central Atlantic. Each of the identified drifts is separated from the fracture zone wall by an erosional contourite moat. The contourite moats were excavated by the current simultaneously with the formation of the drifts.
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About the authors
Mikhail Sergeevich Popov
Институт Океанологии РАН им. П.П. Ширшова
Author for correspondence.
Email: mihael.popov99@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1225-6735
Инженер, лаборатория палеоокеанологии
Russian FederationDmitriy Gennadievich Borisov
Email: dborisov@ocean.ru
Elena Vladimirovna Ivanova
Email: e_v_ivanova@mail.ru
Oleg Vsevolodovich Levchenko
Email: olevses@mail.ru
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