Contourite Drifts in the Romanche Fracture Zone (Equatorial Atlantic)

This work focuses on a seismic structure of three contourite drifts (depositional bodies formed under the influence of bottom currents). These depositional features were identified for the first time in the Romanche Fracture Zone. One of the drifts is the deepest known in the World Ocean. The drifts were formed by the Antarctic Bottom Water current and are considered as potential natural archives of the history of bottom water circulation in the Central Atlantic. Each of the discovered drifts is associated with an contourite moat. The moats were excavated by the bottom current simultaneously with the formation of the drifts.