Abstract
Regional circulation patterns in the deep sea are very difficult to determine because of time constraints on the acquisition of large physical-oceanographic data sets from abyssal depths; in addition, the large number of long-term (⩾1 yr) current-meter arrays needed to delineate bottom-current pathways are extremely costly. An alternative method for inferring benthic flow patterns, described here, is to map the mean size of the silt fraction of sediment on the sea floor. Because of the availability of a large number of core samples in the Argentine Basin, the particle-size approach provides a useful method for determining bottom-current pathways in that deep basin.
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Ledbetter, M. Bottom-current pathways in the Argentine Basin revealed by mean silt particle size. Nature 321, 423–425 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/321423a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/321423a0
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