Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
4533458 Continental Shelf Research 2008 5 Pages PDF
Abstract
Riverine waters bring to seas a variety of suspended materials, which are ultimately deposited on the shelf or exported to the deep ocean. Investigation of the mineralogical contents of these continental-borne constituents on seafloors may reveal valuable information about the environmental conditions in the drainage basin. In this note we report results of X-ray diffraction and other analysis of sediments in bottom samples collected on the continental shelf under influence of the Plata River and the Patos Lagoon, in South America. The analysis reveals that non-clay materials are mostly concentrated south of 33°S, while clay sediments are relatively more abundant further north. We propose that such distributions are controlled by the circulation pattern and water mass distribution of the lower and upper layers, respectively.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Earth and Planetary Sciences Geology
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