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What types of sediment are found on the floor of the Drake Passage?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Map showing the Drake Passage, the body of water between the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. The passage is labeled in orange and is situated between Cape Horn and Antarctica, with surrounding seas and islands such as the South Shetland Islands and South Georgia also marked. A small inset map in the upper right highlights the location of the Drake Passage relative to the continent of Antarctica.
Drake Passage

The sediments on the seafloor of the Drake Passage vary. Immediately south of Tierra del Fuego, the sediments are composed of sandy to clayey silts. As one moves closer to Antarctica, there is an increasing prevalence of ice-rafted materials, which are sediments dropped by icebergs. The origin of these sediments reflects contributions from both South America and Antarctica, along with planktonic materials that have settled from the water column.1