Contourites offshore Pantelleria Island (Sicily Channel, Mediterranean Sea): depositional, erosional and biogenic elements

High-resolution seismic reflection profiles and multibeam bathymetry data collected in 2006 and 2008 around Pantelleria Island show the widespread occurrence of contourite drifts and erosional elements ~30?km from the narrowest part (~145?km) of the Sicily Channel, where water masses from the Eastern Mediterranean flow towards the Western Mediterranean. The contourite drifts are rather small (up to 10?km long and 3.3?km wide), at water depths of ~250?C750?m. Most are elongated separated drifts with quite well-developed moats and crests, aligned roughly parallel to the regional bathymetric contours. Erosional elements include abraded surfaces, moats, scours and sub-circular depressions. In addition, a wide sector of the seafloor adjacent to a seamount located SW of Pantelleria Island is characterized by numerous biogenic build-ups colonized by deep-water corals (Madrepora oculata). The spatial distribution of sediment drifts, erosional features and biogenic build-ups suggests an origin from a north-westward-flowing bottom current, in this case the outflow of Levantine Intermediate Water and transitional Eastern Mediterranean Deep Water via the Sicily Channel. These findings for the Pantelleria offshore sector demonstrate that contourite processes are able to concentrate a high variety of closely spaced depositional and erosional features even in small areas (in this case, about 2,000?km²). This Pantelleria focusing can plausibly be related to a particular configuration of the prevailing bottom-current regime in complex interaction with an uneven bathymetry shaped mainly by tectonic and volcanic activity. The distribution of bottom currents seems to be strongly influenced by morphological features ranging from major seabed obstacles, such as the Pantelleria volcanic complex and the so-called southwest seamount, to smaller-scale escarpments and banks. This is consistent with previous findings for Mediterranean and other settings characterized by neotectonics and large topographic features.     

Reconstructions of the Mediterranean Outflow Water during the quaternary based on the study of changes in buried mounded drift stacking pattern in the Gulf of Cadiz

Contourite deposits in the central sector of the middle slope of the Gulf of Cadiz have been studied using a comprehensive acoustic, seismic and core database. Buried, mounded, elongated and separated drifts developed under the influence of the lower core of the Mediterranean Outflow Water are preserved in the sedimentary record. These are characterised by depositional features in an area where strong tectonic and erosive processes are now dominant. The general stacking pattern of the depositional system is mainly influenced by climatic changes through the Quaternary, whereas changes in the depositional style observed in two, buried, mounded drifts, the Guadalquivir and Huelva Drifts, are evidence of a tectonic control. In the western Guadalquivir Drift, the onset of the sheeted drift construction (aggrading QII unit) above a mounded drift (prograding QI unit) resulted from a new Lower Mediterranean Core Water hydrodynamic regime. This change is correlated with a tectonic event coeval with the Mid Pleistocene Revolution (MPR) discontinuity that produced new irregularities of the seafloor during the Mid- to Late-Pleistocene. Changes in the Huelva Drift from a mounded to a sheeted drift geometry during the Late-Pleistocene, and from a prograding drift (QI and most part of QII) to an aggrading one (upper seismic unit of QII), highlight a new change in oceanographic conditions. This depositional and then oceanographic change is associated with a tectonic event, coeval with the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 discontinuity, in which a redistribution of the diapiric ridges led to the development of new local gateways, three principal branches of the Mediterranean Lower Core Water, and associated contourite channels. As a result, these buried contourite drifts hold a key palaeoceanographic record of the evolution of Mediterranean Lower Core Water, influenced by both neotectonic activity and climatic changes during the Quaternary. This study is an example of how contourite deposits and erosive elements in the marine environment can provide evidence for the reconstruction of palaeoceanographic and recent tectonic changes.     

Imaging the recent sediment dynamics of the Galicia Bank region (Atlantic,NW Iberian Peninsula)

Multibeam bathymetry, high resolution multi-channel, and very high resolution single-channel (3.5 kHz) seismic records were used to depict the complex geomorphology that defines the Galicia Bank region (Atlantic, NW Iberian Peninsula). This region (≈620–5,000 m water depth) is characterized by a great variety of features: structural features (scarps, highs, valleys, fold bulges), fluid dynamics-related features (structural undulations and collapse craters), mass-movement features (gullies, channels, mass-flow deposits, slope-lobe complexes, and mass-transport deposits), bottom-current features (moats, furrows, abraded surface, sediment waves, and drifts), (hemi)pelagic features, mixed features (abraded surfaces associated to mixed sediments) and bioconstructions. These features represent architectural elements of four sedimentary systems: slope apron, contouritic, current-controlled (hemi)pelagic, and (hemi)pelagic. These systems are a reflection of different sedimentary processes: downslope (mass transport, mass flows, turbidity flows), alongslope (bottom currents of Mediterranean Outflow Water, Labrador Sea Water, North Atlantic Deep Water, and Lower Deep Water), vertical settling, and the interplay between them. The architectural and sediment dynamic complexities, for their part, are conditioned by the morphostructural complexity of the region, whose structures (exposed scarps and highs) favor multiple submarine sediment sources, affect the type and evolution of the mass-movement processes, and interact with different water masses. This region and similar sedimentary environments far from the continental sediment sources, as seamounts, are ideal zones for carrying out submarine source-to-sink studies, and can represent areas subject to hazards, both geologic and oceanographic in origin.     

Along-slope oceanographic processes and sedimentary products around the Iberian margin

This contribution to this special volume represents the first attempt to comprehensively describe regional contourite (along-slope) processes and their sedimentary impacts around the Iberian margin, combining numerically simulated bottom currents with existing knowledge of contourite depositional and erosional features. The circulation of water masses is correlated with major contourite depositional systems (CDSs), and potential areas where new CDSs could be found are identified. Water-mass circulation leads to the development of along-slope currents which, in turn, generate contourite features comprising individual contourite drifts and erosional elements forming extensive, complex CDSs of considerable thickness in various geological settings. The regionally simulated bottom-current velocities reveal the strong impact of these water masses on the seafloor, especially in two principal areas: (1) the continental slopes of the Alboran Sea and the Atlantic Iberian margins, and (2) the abyssal plains in the Western Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. Contourite processes at this scale are associated mainly with the Western Mediterranean Deep Water and the Levantine Intermediate Water in the Alboran Sea, and with both the Mediterranean Outflow Water and the Lower Deep Water in the Atlantic. Deep gateways are essential in controlling water-mass exchange between the abyssal plains, and thereby bottom-current velocities and pathways. Seamounts represent important obstacles for water-mass circulation, and high bottom-current velocities are predicted around their flanks, too. Based on these findings and those of a selected literature review, including less easily accessible ??grey literature?? such as theses and internal reports, it is clear that the role of bottom currents in shaping continental margins and abyssal plains has to date been generally underestimated, and that many may harbour contourite systems which still remain unexplored today. CDSs incorporate valuable sedimentary records of Iberian margin geological evolution, and further study seems promising in terms of not only stratigraphic, sedimentological, palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatological research but also possible deep marine geohabitats and/or mineral and energy resources.     

西太平洋雅浦-卡罗琳海区海山多尺度地形特征

海山地形的多尺度特征研究,有助于理解海山形成与演化过程中的地貌过程,并为深入认识俯冲带地球动力过程提供新的线索。本文基于中国科学院海洋研究所“科学”号科考船近年来在雅浦-卡罗琳海区采集的高分辨率海底地形数据,利用统计学及频谱分析等方法,分析了研究区42座海山的形态及地形粗糙度特征,并对海山地形多尺度特征及其成因开展研究。结果表明,雅浦-卡罗琳海区不同构造环境下形成的海山群,在海山的形态参数和多尺度地形特征等方面存在显著差异。相比于索罗尔海槽,帕里西维拉海盆中的海山具有更大的宽高比与更小的平坦度。两区域内海山形态参数具有不同的线性相关关系,表明区域内海山存在不同的形态演化过程。对帕里西维拉海盆中海山地形的频谱分析显示,其大尺度特征信号不显著,意味着该区域内海山地形受小尺度地貌过程的影响更大。索罗尔海槽中海山的粗糙度与海山体积具有线性相关性,可能与不同海山形成过程的差异有关,较早形成的海山受到了更多构造活动及小尺度地貌过程的影响,进而形成了更加粗糙的表面特征。     

Pockmarks, collapses and blind valleys in the Gulf of Cádiz

Herein we describe a suite of fluid escape depression features, including pockmarks and collapse structures, discovered in the Gulf of Cádiz (Spain) during several recent cruises. We also establish an evolutionary model for these depressions and discuss the generation of bottom undercurrent furrows from fluid-flow structures, considering the oceanographic and tectonic framework and gas expulsion mechanisms. We describe for the first time blind valleys, which we define as giant, elongated (3 to 10 km long), collapsed and complex fault-strike features comprising mega-collapses and mega-pockmarks, generated in gas-venting areas and not associated to the collapse of mud-volcano complexes. We detected the blind valleys above diapiric structures. The collapse processes associated to blind valleys result from fluid escape through migration pathways which, in turn, are created by distension due to diapiric activity or to later tectonic reactivation of these diapirs. The evolution of these blind valleys, and their present-day morphology as furrows, derives from progressive fluid migration as well as from interaction of Mediterranean Outflow Water with the seafloor.

Vertical distribution of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the Western Mediterranean Sea in relation to the hydrological characteristics

Vertical profiles of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from eight hydrological stations in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Sardinia Channel and Algerian Sea, are reported. DOC exhibits concentrations ranging from 58 to 88 μM in surface water, 43–57 μM in the intermediate layer and 49–63 μM in deep waters. The assessment of the hydrological characteristics allows different water masses in the study area to be identified; moreover, different hydrological processes are observed in the Tyrrhenian and Algerian basins. DOC exhibits different values in the different water masses. The lowest DOC concentrations (43–46 μM) were found in the Tyrrhenian Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW). Correlations between DOC and apparent oxygen utilization (AOU), investigated within each water mass, exhibit different behaviors in the intermediate and deep waters, suggesting the occurrence of different processes of oxygen consumption in the different water masses.     

The large deep water transient in the Eastern Mediterranean

The recent changes in the thermohaline circulation of the Eastern Mediteranean caused by a transition from a system with a single source of deep water in the Adriatic to one with an additional source in the Aegean are described and assessed in detail. The name Cretan Sea Overflow Water (CSOW) is proposed for the new deep water mass. CSOW is warmer (θ>13.6°C) and more saline (S>38.80) than the previously dominating Eastern Mediterranean Deep Water (EMDW), causing temperatures and salinities to rise towards the bottom. All major water masses of the Eastern Mediterranean, including the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW), have been strongly affected by the change. The stronger inflow into the bottom layer caused by the discharge of CSOW into the Ionian and Levantine Basins induced compensatory flows further up in the water column, affecting the circulation at intermediate depth. In the northeastern Ionian Sea the saline intermediate layer consisting of Levantine Intermediate Water and Cretan Intermediate Water (CIW) is found to be less pronounced. The layer thickness has been reduced by factor of about two, concurrently with a reduction of the maximum salinity, reducing advection of saline waters into the Adriatic. As a consequence, a salinity decrease is observed in the Adriatic Deep Water. Outside the Aegean the upwelling of mid-depth waters reaches depths shallow enough so that these waters are advected into the Aegean and form a mid-depth salinity-minimum layer. Notable changes have been found in the nutrient distributions. On the basin-scale the nutrient levels in the upper water column have been elevated by the uplifting of nutrient-rich deeper waters. Nutrient-rich water is now found closer to the euphotic zone than previously, which might induce enhanced biological activity. The observed salinity redistribution, i.e. decreasing values in the upper 500–1400 m and increasing values in the bottom layer, suggests that at least part of the transition is due to an internal redistribution of salt. An initiation of the event by a local enhancement of salinity in the Aegean through a strong change in the fresh water flux is conceivable and is supported by observations.     

Pb and other ore metals in modern seafloor tectonic environments: Evidence from melt inclusions

Many modern seafloor tectonic environments are host to hydrothermal systems and associated polymetallic sulfide deposits. Metal transport and precipitation are controlled by magmatic processes such as pre-eruptive degassing and the hydrothermal cycle. The original availability of Pb and other ore metals in a given setting is dependent on concentrations in the original magmatic source or additional enrichment processes. We have examined the Pb budget of melt inclusions from nine modern seafloor settings representing back-arcs, mid-ocean ridges and seamounts. Melt inclusions provide information on the characteristics of parental magmas, including insights into metal budgets. Trace element data in melt inclusions hosted in plagioclase, olivine and pyroxene were obtained by laser-ablation inductively-coupled mass-spectrometry.Results from back-arcs emphasize the impact of slab-subduction and dehydration processes on the chemical characteristics of generated magmas. Volatile- and fluid-mobile element-rich melt inclusions at Manus basin and Okinawa trough reflect a robust contribution of elements from the subducting slab as evidenced by relatively low Ce/Pb ratios. At Bransfield strait, on the other hand, melt inclusions are volatile poor, and fluid-mobile element ratios are similar to mid-ocean ridge values indicating little or no contribution from the slab. High Cu concentrations at Manus basin and Okinawa trough can be explained by fluxing of ferric iron from the subducting slab benefiting the production of sulfate over sulfide.Metal budgets for seamounts located on and nearby the axis of mid-ocean ridge segments appear to be independent of any input of mantle plume material. Results from the southern Explorer ridge (strong lower mantle influence, transitional- and enriched-MORBs), Pito and Axial seamounts (moderate lower mantle influence, transitional-MORBs) and a Foundation near-ridge seamount (little to no mantle influence, normal-MORB) show that, despite similar tectonic environments and varying contributions of mantle plume material, Cu, Zn and Pb values do not vary significantly between the enriched and non-enriched magma components of a given setting.     

Erratic continental rocks on volcanic seamounts off the US west coast

Sampling of volcanic seamounts with dredges and the remotely operated vehicle Tiburon recovered erratic rocks in surprising abundance as far as 500km offshore of the US West coast. The erratics usually have continental lithologies and appear to have been weathered in nearshore environments. They are probably transported by kelp holdfasts, drift logs, and pinnipeds to the seamounts, where they accumulate over time. The erratics are concentrated as lag deposits and kept from becoming buried in sediment by currents that sweep the seamounts. The erratics often have thinner manganese-oxide crusts than rocks of the seamounts because they were delivered to the seafloor more recently and manganese-oxide crusts precipitate over time. The thinner crusts make erratics easier to collect. While most of the erratics clearly did not originate by the volcanic processes that formed the seamounts, careful evaluation of some is necessary to distinguish them as erratics. Failure to recognize the presence of erratics may result in unrealistically complex interpretations of regional geology.     

Co–rich Mn crusts from the Magellan Seamount cluster: the long journey through time

The Magellan seamounts began forming as large submarine shield volcanoes south of the equator during the Cretaceous. These volcanoes formed as a cluster on the small Pacific plate in a period when tectonic stress was absent. Thermal subsidence of the seafloor led to sinking of these volcanoes and the formation of guyots as the seamounts crossed the equatorial South Pacific (10–0°S) sequentially and ocean surface temperatures became too high for calcareous organisms to survive. Guyot formation was completed between about 59 and 45 Ma and the guyots became phosphatized at about 39–34 and 27–21 Ma. Ferromanganese crusts began formation as proto-crusts on the seamounts and guyots of the Magellan Seamount cluster towards the end of the Cretaceous up to 55 Ma after the formation of the seamounts themselves. The chemical composition of these crusts evolved over time in a series of steps in response to changes in global climate and ocean circulation. The great thickness of these crusts (up to 15–20 cm) reflects their very long period of growth. The high Co contents of the outer parts of the crusts are a consequence of the increasing deep circulation of the ocean and the resulting deepening of the oxygen minimum zone with time. Growth of the Co-rich Mn crusts in the Magellan Seamount cluster can be considered to be the culmination of a long journey through time.     

Contourite identification along Italian margins: The case of the Portofino drift (Ligurian Sea)

A brief review of the published evidence of current deposits around Italy is the occasion to test the robustness of matching bottom current velocity models and seafloor morphologies to identify contourite drifts not yet documented. We present the result of the regional hydrodynamic model MARS3D in the Northern Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Sea with horizontal resolution of 1.2 km and 60 levels with focus on bottom current: data are integrated over summer and winter 2013 as representative of low and high intensity current conditions.The Eastern Ligurian margin is impacted by the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) with modeled mean velocity of bottom current up to 20 cm s⁻¹ in winter 2013 and calculated bottom shear stress exceeding 0.2 N m⁻² in water depth of 400–800 m. By crossing this information with seafloor morphology and geometry of seismic reflections, we identify a sediment drift formerly overlooked at ca 1000 m water depth. The Portofino separated mounded drift has a maximum thickness of at least 150 m and occurs in an area of mean current velocity minimum. Independent evidence to support the interpretation include bottom current modelling, seafloor morphology, seismic reflection geometry and sediment core facies. The adjacent areas impacted by stronger bottom currents present features likely resulted from bottom current erosion such as a marine terrace and elongated pockmarks.Compared to former interpretation of seafloor morphology in the study area, our results have an impact on the assessment of marine geohazards: submarine landslides offshore Portofino are small in size and coexist with sediment erosion and preferential accumulation features (sediment drifts) originated by current-dominated sedimentary processes. Furthermore, our results propel a more general discussion about contourite identification in the Italian seas and possible implications.     

Results of a known seafloor instability event

A submarine sediment instability event (landslide) occurred at Kitimat, British Columbia, in 1975. Recent high-resolution surveys provide details of the resulting seafloor morphology. The effects of the slide include modification of the fjord head delta-front slopes, transport of delta sediments into deep water and mixing with deep water, fjord bottom clays. Distinctive features include the results of shallow rotational sliding, tearing and shearing, compressional folding and long distance block gliding at the downslope slide terminus.     

Seamounts an additional tool to confirm the nature of the crust and to locate possible mineral resources for dredging

Study of bathymetric data for the distal Bengal Fan reveals the presence of positive topographic features resembling seamounts. These features exhibit a relief of about 800 m above the surrounding seafloor at 4,400 m and are associated with large‐amplitude magnetic and gravity anomalies. Magnetic model studies suggest that one of the seamounts evolved along with the oceanic crust represented by the magnetic isochron A32 (～ 72 My), while the other seamount was emplaced over the Cretaceous Quiet Zone Crust with reversed polarity. The seamounts studied provide an environment for possible locations of polymetallic encrustations. Morphology of the seamounts depends on several factors, including physical and chemical composition of the magma, eruption style, sediment thickness, maturity of underlying crust, and time of origin. Studying the seamounts together with integrated geophysical and physical data gave useful indications of their evolution and the existence of possible mineral deposits.     

Mediterranean shelf-edge muddy contourites: examples from the Gela and South Adriatic basins

We present new evidence of shallow-water muddy contourite drifts at two distinct locations in the central Mediterranean characterized by a relatively deep shelf edge (between 170 and 300 m below sea level): the south-eastern Adriatic margin and the north-western Sicily Channel. The growth of these shelf-edge contourite drifts is ascribed to the long-term impact of the Mediterranean themohaline circulation. The Levantine Intermediate Water flows continuously, with annual or inter-annual variations, and affects the shelf edge and the upper slope in both study areas. In addition, the SW Adriatic margin is impinged by the seasonally modulated off-shelf cascading of North Adriatic Dense Water. This water mass has formed ever since the large Adriatic continental shelf was drowned by the post-glacial sea-level rise. It energetically sweeps the entire slope from the shelf edge to the deep basin. These bottom currents flow parallel or oblique to the depth contours, and are laterally constricted along markedly erosional moats aligned parallel to the shelf edge where they increase in flow velocity. The internal geometry and growth patterns of the shelf-edge contourites reflect changes in oceanographic setting affecting the whole Mediterranean Sea. In particular, seismic correlation with published sediment cores documents that these deposits are actively growing and migrating during the present interglacial, implying an enhancement in bottom-water formation during intervals of relative sea-level rise and highstand. Regardless of the specific mechanisms of formation, sediment drifts in both study areas have been affected by widespread thin-skinned mass-wasting events during post-glacial times. Repeated mass-transport processes have affected in particular the downslope flank of the shelf-edge contourite drifts, indicating that these muddy deposits are prone to failure during, or soon after, their deposition.     

Recent structures in the Alboran Ridge and Yusuf fault zones based on swath bathymetry and sub-bottom profiling: evidence of active tectonics

The seafloor of the Alboran Sea in the western Mediterranean is disrupted by deformations resulting from convergence between the African and Eurasian plates. Based on a compilation of existing and new multibeam bathymetry data and high-resolution seismic profiles, our main objective was to characterize the most recent structures in the central sector, which depicts an abrupt morphology and was chosen to investigate how active tectonic processes are shaping the seafloor. The Alboran Ridge is the most prominent feature in the Alboran Sea (>130 km in length), and a key element in the Gibraltar Arc System. Recent uplift and deformation in this ridge have been caused by sub-vertical, strike-slip and reverse faults with associated folding in the most recent sediments, their trend shifting progressively from SW–NE to WNW–ESE towards the Yusuf Lineament. Present-day transtensive deformation induces faulting and subsidence in the Yusuf pull-apart basin. The Alboran Ridge and Yusuf fault zones are connected, and both constitute a wide zone of deformation reaching tens of kilometres in width and showing a complex geometry, including different active fault segments and in-relay folds. These findings demonstrate that Recent deformation is more heterogeneously distributed than commonly considered. A narrow SSW–NNE zone with folding and reverse faulting cuts across the western end of the Alboran Ridge and concentrates most of the upper crustal seismicity in the region. This zone of deformation defines a seismogenic, left-lateral fault zone connected to the south with the Al Hoceima seismic swarm, and representing a potential seismic hazard. Newly detected buried and active submarine slides along the Alboran Ridge and the Yusuf Lineament are clear signs of submarine slope instability in this seismically active region.     

Deep-water Circulation: Processes & Products (16�C18 June 2010, Baiona): introduction and future challenges

Deep-water circulation is a critical part of the global conveyor belt that regulates Earth??s climate. The bottom (contour)-current component of this circulation is of key significance in shaping the deep seafloor through erosion, transport, and deposition. As a result, there exists a high variety of large-scale erosional and depositional features (drifts) that together form more complex contourite depositional systems on continental slopes and rises as well as in ocean basins, generated by different water masses flowing at different depths and at different speeds either in the same or in opposite directions. Yet, the nature of these deep-water processes and the deposited contourites is still poorly understood in detail. Their ultimate decoding will undoubtedly yield information of fundamental importance to the earth and ocean sciences. The international congress Deep-water Circulation: Processes & Products was held from 16?C18 June 2010 in Baiona, Spain, hosted by the University of Vigo. Volume 31(5/6) of Geo-Marine Letters is a special double issue containing 17 selected contributions from the congress, guest edited by F.J. Hernández-Molina, D.A.V. Stow, E. Llave, M. Rebesco, G. Ercilla, D. Van Rooij, A. Mena, J.-T. Vázquez and A.H.L. Voelker. The papers and discussions at the congress and the articles in this special issue provide a truly multidisciplinary perspective of interest to both academic and industrial participants, contributing to the advancement of knowledge on deep-water bottom circulation and related processes, as well as contourite sedimentation. The multidisciplinary contributions (including geomorphology, tectonics, stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleoceanography, physical oceanography, and deep-water ecology) have demonstrated that advances in paleoceanographic reconstructions and our understanding of the ocean??s role in the global climate system depend largely on the feedbacks among disciplines. New insights into the link between the biota of deep-water ecosystems and bottom currents confirm the need for this field to be investigated and mapped in detail. Likewise, it is confirmed that deep-water contourites are not only of academic interest but also potential resources of economic value. Cumulatively, both the congress and the present volume serve to demonstrate that the role of bottom currents in shaping the seafloor has to date been generally underestimated, and that our understanding of such systems is still in its infancy. Future research on contourites, using new and more advanced techniques, should focus on a more detailed visualization of water-mass circulation and its variability, in order to decipher the physical processes involved and the associations between drifts and other common bedforms. Moreover, contourite facies models should be better established, including their associations with other deep-water sedimentary environments both in modern and ancient submarine domains. The rapid increase in deep-water exploration and the new deep-water technologies available to the oil industry and academic institutions will undoubtedly lead to spectacular advances in contourite research in terms of processes, morphology, sediment stacking patterns, facies, and their relationships with other deep-marine depositional systems.     

Seismic evidence of small-scale lacustrine drifts in Lake Baikal (Russia)

High resolution, single-channel seismic sparker profiles across the Akademichesky Ridge, an intra-basin structural high in Lake Baikal (Russia), reveal the presence of small sediment mounds and intervening moats in the upper part of the sedimentary cover. Such features interrupt the generally uniform and even acoustic facies and are not consistent with the hemipelagic sedimentation, which is expected on such an isolated high and which would produce a uniform sediment drape over bottom irregularities. The influence of turbidity currents is excluded since the ridge is an isolated high elevated more than 600-1000 m above adjacent basins. The mounded seismic facies, including migrating sediment waves and non-depositional/erosional incisions, strongly suggest that sediment accumulation was controlled by bottom-current activity. We interpret the mounds as small-scale (< few tens of km² in area) lacustrine drifts. Four basic types of geometry are identified: 1) slope-plastered patch sheets; 2) patch drifts; 3) confined drifts; 4) fault-controlled drifts. The general asymmetry in the sedimentary cover of the ridge, showing thicker deposits on the NW flank, and the common location of patch drifts on the northeast side of small basement knolls indicate that deposition took preferentially place at the lee sides of obstacles in a current flowing northward or sub-parallel to the main contours. Deep-water circulation in the ridge area is not known in detail, but there are indications that relatively cold saline water masses are presently flowing out of the Central Basin and plunging into the deep parts of the North Basin across the ridge, a process that appears to be driven mainly by small differences in salinity. We infer that the process responsible for the observed bottom-current-controlled sedimentary features has to be sought in these large-scale water-mass movements and their past equivalents. The age of the onset of the bottom-current-controlled sedimentation, based on an average sedimentation rate of 4.0 cm/ky, is roughly estimated to be as least as old as 3.5 Ma, which is generally regarded as the age of the onset of the last major tectonic pulse of rift basin development in the Baikal region.