The shallow-water contourite drift formation in the Kara Sea

The bottom sediments of the upper part of the contourite drift located in a narrow linear depression belonging to the central part of the Kara Sea shelf were studied for the first time. According to the grain size distribution of the sediments, the drift belongs to the muddy contourites. Three main horizons of sedimentation were identified in three sediment cores up to 7 m long. The previously dated magnetic susceptibility peak at the base of the sediment cores indicates that the formation of the drift began in the postglacial period, more than 10 kyr ago. Local sedimentation conditions during the Holocene were influenced by repeated increases in river discharge, as indicated by the presence of desalination-tolerant species in the benthic foraminiferal assemblages. The increase in thickness of sediment core layers and drift deposits in general from south to north indirectly indicates the presence of a general submeridional trend in the Holocene and earlier bottom current.