Contour current driven sandwaves on the upper slope of the continental margin offshore northern Norway - setting and morphometrics

Abstract

Sandwaves are common on many continental shelves and slopes around the w<Jr'l<t.l()ften their dynamic nature poses challenges for maritime installations such as pipelines and other constructions on the seafloor. Sand waves and sandwave fields are indicative of strong currents causing erosion, sediment transport and deposition on the seabed. Several sandwave fields have recently been identified on the Norwegian continental slope in the Eggakanten mapping area, SW Barents Sea through the MAREANO programme (www.mareano.no). It is in this Eggakanten area that we investigate sandwaves further in the present project, with a view to raising the understanding of sandwave evolution and sand transport along the Norwegian continental slope.