Ice Gouging on Russia’s Arctic Shelf

Abstract

Abstract—The results of recent geological and geophysical expeditions indicate the activation of hazardous natural phenomena associated with ice gouging and representing a geohazard for almost all activities, including operation of the Northern Sea Route. The underwater parts of ice formations plow up the seabed. Within the Barents Sea and the western part of the Kara Sea, modern ice gouging is mainly associated with icebergs formed as a result of the breakup of glaciers of Novaya Zemlya and the Svalbard and Franz Josef Land archipelagos, while on the eastern shelf it is caused by the destruction of seasonal or perennial ice fields. Fixed furrows can be divided into modern coastal gouges or deep water plowmarks. All deep water gouges within the periglacial and glacial shelf are of paleogeographical origin, but with different mechanisms of action on the seabed. These furrows were formed by floating ice on the periglacial shelf; on the glacial shelf, deep-water plowmarks were formed by large icebergs, which were able to cause gouging even on the continental slope and deep-sea ridges of the Arctic Ocean.