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sedi ment was bei ng eroded in the region of the Cai CDS Outer<br />

Ridge at the same time that deposition was initiated on the<br />

237<br />

western Greater Antilles Outer Ridge. The thin sediment cover<br />

on the sill south of the Silver Abyssal Plain may also be a<br />

result of erosion or nondeposition by the Western Boundary<br />

Undercurrent. Very slow deposition or erosion is indicated<br />

by the presence of the Datum A outcrop (Fig. 3.3) and the<br />

Oligocene/Miocene core (CH57-13) recovered from this area<br />

(see Chapter V).<br />

A decrease in current velocities shortly after this<br />

time may have been responsible for sediment deposition on<br />

the Caicos Outer Ridge and increased sedimentation on the<br />

weakly developed western section of the Greater Antilles<br />

Outer Ri dge. Golovchenko and others (1973) found that the<br />

Bahama Outer Ridge to the northwest began to develop above a<br />

late Miocene turbidite sequence, and they attribute its<br />

formation to deposition caused by decreased current<br />

velocities. Rapid sedimentation (19 cm/1000 yr) also<br />

occurred on the Bl ake Outer Ri dge duri ng the 1 ate Mi ocene<br />

(Ewing and Hollister, 1972), and the source of the sediment<br />

was the northeastern continental margin of North America<br />

(Habib, 1972).<br />

The time of initial formation of the Caicos Outer<br />

Ridge, the Bahama Outer Ridge, and the western sector of<br />

the Greater Antilles Outer Ridge is roughly the same, and<br />

it is suggested here that all three features resulted from<br />

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