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 identi fied and mapped. They constitute two semicontinuous 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 su bmergence of as much as 220 m after they formed. Several arguments sug gest that they were probably not formed during glaciation maxima, but rather during interglacials or parts of glacials with restricted glaci ation. Consequently, only a smaller part of their submergence may be d ue to glacial eustasy. A significant tectonic related subsidence is in ferred. 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 i mplication is that subsidence rates for this part of the Barents Sea m argin are in the range 0.2-0.9 m/kyr.