CONTRIBUTION OF THE VERY HIGH-RESOLUTION SEISMIC STRATIGRAPHY TO THE GENETIC INTERPRETATION OF A CELTIC SEA SAND BANK

Analysis of the geometry of sedimentary bodies from very high-resoluti on sparker seismic investigations carried out during the oceanographic cruise Sedimanche 2 (February 1993) led to a new genetic interpretati on of the southern Celtic Sea sand banks. The bathymetric high forming the Kaiser-I-Hind bank is composed of two units, the only upper unit appears to be deposited offshore. The lower unit represents the top of the Western Approaches paleovalley system, and is thought to be estua rine. We therefore propose that the first growth stage of the Kaiser-I -Hind bank is at least as old as 140,000 BP, and not Weichselian as pr eviously thought.