Large carbonate mound structures have been discovered in the northern Porcupine Seabight (Northeast Atlantic) at depths between 600 and 1000 m. These mounds are associated with the growth of deep-sea corals Lophelia pertusa and Madrepra oculata. In this study, three sediment cores have been analysed. They are from locations close to Propeller Mound, a 150 m high ridge-like feature covered with a cold-water coral ecosystem at its upper flanks. The investigations are concentrated on grain-size analyses, carbon measurements and on the visual description of the cores and computer tomographic images, to evaluate sediment content and structure.The cores portray the depositional history of the past ~31 kyr BP, mainly controlled by sea-level fluctuations and the climate regime with the advance and retreat of the Irish Ice Sheet onto the Irish Mainland Shelf. A first advance of glaciers is indicated by a turbiditic release slightly older than 31 kyr BP, coherent with Heinrich event 3 deposition. During Late Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) and MIS 2 shelf erosion prevailed with abundant gravity flows and turbidity currents. A change from glaciomarine to hemipelagic contourite sedimentation during the onset of the Holocene indicates the establishment of the strong, present-day hydrodynamic regime at intermediate depths.The general decrease in accumulation of sediments with decreasing distance towards Propeller Mound suggests that currents (turbidity currents, gravity flows, bottom currents) had a generally stronger impact on the sediment accumulation at the mound base for the past ~31 kyr BP, respectively.

For carbonate concentrations and further Ca-counts see Dorschel et al. (2007) datasets: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.712028

Supplement to: Rüggeberg, Andres; Dorschel, Boris; Dullo, Wolf-Christian; Hebbeln, Dierk (2005): Sedimentary patterns in the vicinity of a carbonate mound in the Hovland Mound Province, northern Porcupine Seabight. In: Freiwald, A & Roberts, JM (eds.), 2005, Cold-water Corals and Ecosystems, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, Part I, 87-112