Submerged terraces in the southwestern Barents Sea: origin and implications for the late Cenozoic geological history

Based on high-resolution seismics, submerged terraces have been identified and mapped. They constitute two semi-continuous terrace zones that can be followed for up to about 350 km along the bank flanks, at more or less uniform depths of ca. 150 m and ca. 220 m, respectively. The features are interpreted as wave-cut platforms, and thus indicate a submergence of as much as 220 m after they formed. Several arguments suggest that they were probably not formed during glaciation maxima, but rather during interglacials or parts of glacials with restricted glaciation. Consequently, only a smaller part of their submergence may be due to glacial eustasy. A signigicant tectonic related subsidence is inferred. Relatively young ages are indicated since they are so lightly eroded by the Plio-Pleistocene ice sheets. A maximum age in the order of 0.8 Ma and a minimum age of 0.2 Ma is tentatively suggested. One implication is that subsidence rates for this part of the Barents Sea margin are in the range 0.2–0.9 m/kyr.