A conceptual geological model for offshore wind sites in palaeo ice stream settings: The Utsira Nord site, North Sea

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Authors

Hannah Elizabeth Petrie, Christian Haug Eide, Haflidi Haflidason, Timothy Watton

Abstract

Conceptual geological models of the shallow subsurface which integrate geological and geotechnical information are important for more strategic data acquisition and engineering at offshore wind sites. Utsira Nord is an offshore wind site in the Norwegian North Sea. It covers an area of 23 km x 43 km within the Norwegian Channel palaeo ice stream, with an average water depth of 267 m making the site a candidate for floating offshore wind. The goal of this study is to present a preliminary conceptual geological model for the site, which combines an overview of previous knowledge about the complex ice streaming history of the Norwegian Channel with key observations from high resolution bathymetric data, 2D acoustic data, and shallow cores. Despite limited data, four geotechnical provinces can be defined: 1) exposed glacimarine to marine sediments, 2) buried to exposed subglacial traction till, 3) buried lodgment till and 4) shallowly buried to exposed crystalline bedrock. The model serves as a basis for planning site surveys at Utsira Nord and as a reference for offshore wind sites on other formerly glaciated coasts where palaeo ice stream systems are common, such as the northern coastlines of the United States and the United Kingdom.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X53D0G

Subjects

Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Keywords

Floating offshore wind, Utsira Nord, paleo ice streams, Norwegian Channel, ground model, marine ground conditions, soil conditions

Dates

Published: 2021-12-06 14:48

Last Updated: 2021-12-06 22:48

License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International

Additional Metadata

Data Availability (Reason not available):
None of the data used in this study were collected by the authors