Sedimentology of ODP Leg 119 samples

Cretaceous to Quaternary sediments recovered at Leg 119 Sites 738 and 744 on the southern tip of the Kerguelen Plateau were studied in order to determine the depositional environment and the paleoceanography of the southern Indian Ocean and especially the long-term glacial history of East Antarctica. Emphasis is given to bulk-sediment composition, grain-size data, and clay mineralogy. The sediment sequence at the two sites is generally of a highly pelagic character, with nannofossil oozes, chalks, and limestones dominant from the Turanian to upper Miocene and diatom oozes dominant within the uppermost Miocene to Holocene interval. The first indication of glaciation at sea level is the occurrence of isolated gravel and terrigenous sand grains, which indicate ice rafting in the middle Eocene interval of 45.0-42.3 Ma. A major intensification of glaciation, probably the onset of continental East Antarctic glaciation, is recorded in sediments of early Oligocene age (36.0 Ma). All major sediment parameters document this event. The clay mineralogy changes from smectite-dominated assemblages, typical of moderately warm and humid climatic conditions in which chemical weathering processes are prevalent, to illite- and chlorite-dominated assemblages, indicative of cooler climates and physical weathering. Ice-rafted debris of both gravel and sand size occurs in large quantities in that interval and coincides with a change in the mode of carbonate deposition. Carbonate contents are relatively high and uniform (90%-95%) in strata younger than early Oligocene; in Oligocene to upper Miocene strata they fluctuate between 65% and 95%. Oligocene and Neogene hiatuses reflect an intensification of oceanic circulation and the increased erosional force of Circumpolar Deep Water. The long-term Cenozoic cooling trend was interrupted by a phase of early Miocene warming indicated by maximum Neogene smectite concentrations. Although ice-rafted debris is present only in minor amounts and mainly in the silt fraction of early Oligocene to late Miocene age, it shows that glaciers advanced to the East Antarctic shoreline throughout that time. Ice-rafting activity drastically increased in latest Miocene time, when carbonate deposition decreased and diatom ooze sedimentation started. This suggests a pronounced intensification of Antarctic glaciation combined with a northward migration of the Polar Front.