North-East Atlantic

The Marine Geosciences Department has performed a bathymetric synthesis of the NE Atlantic and Bay of Biscay, which includes all the available single- or multibeam bathymetric data. This map is published as a foldout of a paper which appears in the Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France (see below).

Bathymetry of the North-East Atlantic

Map of the multibeam profiles.

The origin of data, the procedures to obtain the digital terrane model (DTM) and the characteristics of this DTM are explained in this paper. The 1-km space grid is available in compressed ascii format (see below) and can be used freely by referring to this paper. A jpeg version in A0 format of the bathymetric map and of the multibeam trackline controls used in this compilation is also available.

The plate kinematic implications of this bathymetric synthesis are discussed in two papers which can be downloaded from below as pdf files. In the Journal of Geophysical Research paper, plate kinematics consequences on the Pyrenean orogeny are examined. In the Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France paper, plate kinematics consequences on the ages of the end of the rifting period concerning the Bay of Biscay margins are examined.

Articles (PDF format) :

Sibuet J.-C., Monti S., Loubrieu B., Mazé J.-P. and Srivastava S., 2004. Carte bathymétrique de l'Atlantique nord-est et du golfe de Gascogne : implications cinématiques. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 175, 5, 429-442. (PDF - 48 Mo)
Sibuet J.-C., Srivastava S. and Spakman W., 2004. Pyrenean orogeny and plate kinematics. J. Geophys. Res., 109, B8, B0804, 10.1029/2003JB002514. (PDF - 2500 ko)

Download :

A0 file - jpeg format - 1900 ko
A0 file - jpeg format - 9700 ko	Digital terrane model (DTM) Compressed ascii format (48 Mo)

Contacts :

Jean-Claude Sibuet (Ifremer Géosciences Marines) : scientific supervision
Benoît Loubrieu (Ifremer Géosciences Marines) : technical supervision