Siginificance

Contourites and bottom currents have a fundamental role in the construction and evolution of continental margins worldwide, in providing a key link to our understanding of the ocean-climate nexus, and in influencing the global environment and deep-ocean ecosystems. Their study has been one of the most active lines in marine geoscience research over the last decade and often needs a truly interdisciplinary approach that encompasses sedimentology, stratigraphy, biogeochemistry, paleoceanography and paleoclimatology.