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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1990; v. 53; p. 349-362;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1990.053.01.20
© 1990 Geological Society of London

Glacially-influenced sedimentation on the Hebridean slope, northwestern United Kingdom continental margin

M. S. Stoker

British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3LA, UK

Pleistocene sediments on the northern Hebrides Slope form a localized, mounded slope-front deposit up to 200 m thick of limited downslope and alongslope extent. In seismic profiles, this slope-front deposit is characterized by a prograding, oblique-parallel reflection configuration. The bulk of the succession is characterized by three distinct depositional packages, each comprising an amalgamated sequence of mass flow deposits consisting primarily of debris flow diamicts with turbidite sands and muds. They represent re-sedimented glacimarine deposits. The mass flow packages are bounded by discrete, slope-wide, moderate-to high-amplitude reflectors. These reflections may be due to different degrees of consolidation of the sediments and/or the presence of thin, interbedded units of glacimarine dropstone mud. They indicate periods of reduced sediment supply to the slope. The slope facies interdigitate with a submarine end-moraine at the shelf-edge, and deposition probably occurred during a single glacial cycle. The restricted occurrence of the debris flows is thus attributed to a local source reflecting the shelf-edge position of an ice-sheet in this area at the time of sedimentation. Fluctuations in the sedimentation rate, independent of major climatic variation, suggest that the ice-sheet may have experienced alternate periods of basal melting and freezing. Ice-marginal processes have contributed significantly to the construction of the slope apron on the northern Hebrides Slope. During this period of sedimentation, the shelf-edge has prograded seaward, to the NW, by up to 5 km.





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