A data-base of Antarctic pre-Pleistocene sediment cores

Abstract

A listing of high southern latitude (>30° S) pre-Pleistocene sediment cores is given for samples obtained by the coring and drilling programs of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, the Antarctic Program of the Florida State University, the French Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, and the Deep Sea Drilling Program. Information on geologic age, core length, lithology, bathymetry, and geographic location are given for each sediment sample. Ages of cores are given whenever possible to the nearest sub-epoch (middle Miocene, etc), together with (when known) the fossils used to determine the age, and the source of the age determination. Many core ages are from previously unpublished sources. The listing provides information on approximately 500 different cores. A computer-searchable version of the database may be obtained by writing to the senior author. A brief analysis of latitudinal and bathymetric patterns of sedimentation is also given for the Paleogene, Miocene, and Pliocene of the Southern Ocean. Throughout the Neogene, an essentially modern pattern of sedimentation is seen, with carbonate ooze predominating north of the present-day position of the polar front, siliceous ooze between the polar front and approximately 65° S, and clay near the Antarctic continent and in water depths >4 km. Paleogene and Cretaceous patterns of sedimentation appear to be different, but are difficult to distinguish due to plate motion and subsidence, and also because of the relatively small number of available pre-Neogene sediment cores.