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Research around the North Pole
Date:10/20/2008

ditional acoustic (seismic) data show that the East-Siberian Shelf was covered with ice over the last three million years only during a few glacial periods.

Further investigations are necessary to confirm this finding and particularly to time the reported events chronologically. The scientists have brought material in the form of sediment cores to Bremerhaven to achieve this. 16 soil samples could be taken on a transect of 700 kilometres from the Canada Basin via the Mendeleev Ridge into the Makarov Basin. The analysis will allow for the first time to compare the glacial history of the Northern USA and Canada with Siberia and to elaborate differences and parallels in detail. Furthermore, the data from the sediment cores can deliver information on the temporal and spatial changes of ocean currents and the extent of sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean. "We expect from these investigations important new insights into the control procedures of long and short term climate changes in the Arctic", says a delighted Stein.

Another focal point of this cruise was on the geological development of the Arctic Ocean during the last 90 million years. Seismic, an acoustic measurement method, allows peeking into the deep layers under the ocean floor down to 4.000 metres depth. "The collected data show that the ocean basin between the two Arctic ridge systems, the Lomonossov and the Mendeleev Ridge, are considerably older than estimated so far. Thus, the basins in the old part of the Arctic Ocean, the Makarov and the Canada Basin, have developed at about the same", reports Jokat. "The following detachment of the Lomonossov Ridge from the East-Siberian Shelf took place 60 million years ago not without massive changes to the environment. The data present evidence of strong relocation processes in the deep-sea sediments", continues the geophysicist. "Many model representations about the development of the Arctic Ocean must be rethought on the basis of the new data", conc
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Contact: Dr. Wilfried Jokat
Wilfried.Jokat@awi.de
49-471-483-11211
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Source:Eurekalert  

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Research around the North Pole
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