Abundance of ostracoda in sediment cores CRP-1 and CRP-2

Sparse, poorly preserved late Oligocene (3 species) and early Miocene (4 species) ostracod faunas have been recovered from CRP-2A, while relatively more abundant Quaternary faunas occur in CRP-1 (24 species). All taxa are marine. No definitive age assignments can be made on the two older faunas, which are not considered to be in situ, although the taxa identified are not at variance with sediment ages determined on other grounds. The Oligocene ostracods (Lithostratigraphical Unit, LSU 9.4) suggest deposition in cold, relatively shallow, shelf waters with faunal connections to the Antarctic Peninsula and South America, while the Miocene fauna (LSU 5.1) is considered to be a cool-cold, deeper water (?outer shelf) association with faunal connections to both New Zealand and the Antarctic Peninsula. The Quaternary faunas are primarily from LSU 3.1 (carbonate-rich layer), and suggest deposition in very cold, relatively quiet water that was at least 100 m, and possibly 130-200 m deep. None of the taxa are known from pre-Pleistocene sediments, and all occur in modern Antarctic/sub-Antarctic regimes, predominantly from south of 60° S. Specimens in the "carbonate-rich layer" probably have suffered minor penecontemporaneous fractionation, while the fauna in LSU 2.2 has suffered more extensive post-mortem transportation and possible reworking (though not necessarily from pre-Quaternary sources).

Grain size analysis on core plugs of sediment core CRP-1 (Table 1, 2)

Twenty four core samples from CRP-1, seven from Quaternary strata (20-43.55 meters below sea floor or mbsf) and seventeen from early Miocene strata (43.55 to 147.69 mbsf), have been analysed for their grain-size distribution using standard sieve and Sedigraph techniques. The results are in good agreement with estimates of texture made as part of the visual core description for the 1 :20 core logs for CRP-1 (Cape Roberts Science Team, 1998). Interpretation of the analyses presented here takes into account the likely setting of the site in Quaternary times as it is today, with CRP-1 high on the landward flank of a well-defined submarine ridge rising several hundred metres above basins on either side. In contrast, seismic geometries for strata deposited in early Miocene times indicate a generally planar sea floor dipping gently seaward. Fossils from these strata indicate shallow water depths (< 100 m), indicating the possibility that waves and tidal currents may have influenced sea floor sediments. The sediments analysed here are considered in terms of 3 textural facies: diamict, mud (silt and clay) and sand. Most of the Quaternary section but only 30% of the early Miocene section is diamict, a poorly sorted mixture of sand and mud with scattered clasts, indicating little wave or current influence on its texture. Although not definitive, diamict textures and other features suggest that the sediment originated as basal glacial debris but has been subsequently modified by minor winnowing, consistent with the field interpretation of this facies as ice-proximal and distal glaciomarine sediment. Sediments deposited directly from glacier ice appear to be lacking. Mud facies sediments, which comprise only 10% of the Quaternary section but a third of the early Miocene section, were deposited below wave base and largely from suspension, and show features (described elsewhere in this volume) indicative of the influence of both glacial and sediment gravity flow processes. Sand facies sediments have a considerable proportion of mud, normally more than 20%, but a well-sorted fine-very fine sand fraction. In the context of the early Miocene coastal setting we interpret these sediments as shoreface sands close to wave base.

Sample information and classification of lower Miocene gravity-flow types of sediment core CRP-1 (Table 1)

Nineteen samples of the Cape Roberts-1 drillcore were taken from Miocene- age deposits, from 90.25 - 146.50 metres below seafloor (mbsf) for thin section and laser grain-size analysis. Using the grain-size distribution, detailed core logging, X-radiography and thin-section analysis of microstructures, coupled with a statistical grouping of the grain-size data, three main styles of gravity-flow sedimentation were revealed. Thin (centimetre-scale) muddy debris-flow deposits are the most common and are possibly tirggered by debris rain-out from sea-ice These deposits are characterised by very poorly sorted, faintly laminated muddy sandstones with coarse granules toward their base. Contacts are gradational to sharp. Variations on this style of mass-wasting deposit are rhythmically stacked sequences of pebbly-coarse sandstones representing successive thin debris-flow events. These suggest very high sedimentation rates on an unstable slope in a shallow-water proximal glacimarine environment. Sandy-silty turbidites appear more common in the lower sections of the core, below approximately 141.00 mbsf, although they occur occasionally with the debris flow deposits The turbidites are characterised by inversely to normally graded, well-laminated siltstones with occasional lonestones, and represent a more distal shallow-water glacimarine environment.

Ice rafted debris distribution in sediment core CRP-1

Lonestone abundances in CRP-1 were investigated using three methods: core examination at Cape Roberts Camp, analysis of digital core images and follow-up core examination. For all images of split-core, we determined size and depth of every detectable lonestone larger than 3 mm. Lonestone abundance decreases exponentially with clast size. Although no significant depth-dependent variations in lonestone size distribution were detected, a strong 0.5-0.7 m abundance periodicity, of unknown origin, is evident within diamicts. Lonestone volume percentage was estimated from size distribution: most size classes contribute approximately the same volume to the total. Sizes >16 mm have rare enough lonestones that their counts are nonrepresentative when based on short intervals of split core. This problem does not affect total counts significantly, but the volume analysis needs to be confined to <= 6 mm lonestones to avoid instability induced by rare and nonrepresentative larger lonestones. If lonestone abundance can be used as an indicator of glacial proximity, then our CRP-1 lonestone abundance logs confirm the overall character of previously inferred variations in relative distance to the ice margin. Large-scale changes in lonestone abundance also reflect the CRP-1 sequence stratigraphy, with individual sequences generally characterised by basal lonestone-rich diamict overlain by lonestone-poor sands and muds. The relationship between glacial proximity and lonestone abundance within diamicts and within sand-mud intervals is, however, less certain. For example, two or three gradual lonestone increases may indicate regressions during glacial advances, in contrast to the more common CRP-l pattern of dominantly transgressive sequences.

Petrographical classification and mineral assemblage of basement clasts from the Quaternary and Miocene sections of sediment core CRP-1 (Table 1)

Petrographical and mineral chemistry data are described for the mist representative basement lithologies occurring as clasts (pebble grain-size class) from the CRP-1 drillhole. Most pebbles consits of either undeformed or foliated biotite with or without hornblende monzogranites. Other rock types include biotite with or without garnet syenogranitr, biotite-hornblende granodiorite, tonalite, monzogranitic porphyries, haplogranite, quartz-monzonite (restricted to the Quaternary section), Ca-silicate rocks and biotite amphibolite (restricted to the Miocene strata). The common and ubiquitous occurence of biotite with or without hornblende monzogranite pebbles, in both the Quaternary and Miocene sections, apparently mirrors the dominance of these rock types in the granitoid assemblages which are presently exposed in the upper Precambrian-lower Paleozoic basement of the south Victoria Land. The other CRP-1 pebble lithologies show petrographical features which consitently support a dominant supply from areas of the Transantarctic Mountains located to the west and south-west of the CRP-1 site, and they thus furthercorroborate a model of local provenance for the supply of basement clasts to the CRP-1 sedimentary strata.

Carbonate content of sediment core CRP-1 (Table 1)

Determinations of total carbonate content yield additional information, in the context of integrated investigations, thus enabling or enhancing the interpretation and characterisation of the depositional environment, the processes of sedimentation and the diagenesis of sediments. In the case of drillcores, they help us to discern vertical gradations of facies sequences that have repeating patterns or show changes through time. This report presents initial results of carbonate investigations on a total of 32 bulk samples from the Quaternary and Miocene strata of the CRP-1 borehole, which reached a final depth of 147.69 metres below sea floor (mbsf). Fifteen out of a total of 18 lithostratigraphic units in the core were sampled (Tab. 1). Fourteen samples (24.85-43.85 mbsf) belong to the Quaternary, whereas 18 samples (44.53-146.51 mbsf) originate from the Miocene strata. The sampling intervals varied from 1-5 m for the Quaternary, and 1-15 m for the Miocene. All the samples originated from sections of core representing not more than 1 cm thickness.

Investigation of Miocene foraminifera in sediment core CRP-1 from the Ross Sea, Antarctica

A faunal comprising 18 foraminiferal taxa wa recovered from a suite of 52 core samples from lower Miocene sandstone, claystone and diamictite in the CRP-1 drillhole, Cape Roberts, Antarctica. The fauna is characterised by low foraminiferal abundance and diversity, the absence of planktics, and typically, the presence of Cribroelphidium sp. and/or Melonis spp. These factors indicate deposition in an inner shelf or nearshore environment. Many of the foraminifers found in CRP-1 also occure in the upper Oligocene-Miocene sequences in CIROS-1 and DSDP-270, but the fauna provides no precise indication of age. Typical and distinctive species from CRP-1 are illustrated with SEM photomicrographs.

Description of lithofacies associations and their interpreted settings from sequences of sediment core CRP-1 (Table 2)

Cape Roberts Project drillcore 1 was obtained from Roberts Ridge, a sea-floor high located at 77°S, 16 km offshore from Cape Roberts in western McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The recovered core is about 147 m long with the upper 43.15 metres below the sea floor (revised figure) being dated as Quarternary and the older part of the sequence being Miocene. The core includes nine facies: sandy diamict, muddy diamict, gravel/conglomerate, mud(stone), clay(stone) and carbonate. These facies occure in associations that are repeated in particulare sequences throughout the core, and are interpreted as representing different depositional environments through time. Seven lithofacies associations are interpreted as representing offshore shelf, ice protected/below wave-base; prodeltaic/offshore shelf; delta front/sandy shelf; ice system; subglacial till/rainout diamict/debris flow diamicts singly or in combination; and a carbonate-rich shelf bank. The facies associations are used to infer that the Quaternary section represents deposition on a polar shelf with perhaps two or three glacial fluctuations. The Quaternary carbonate unit indicates a period of ice sheet retreat, but local glacial activity may have increased with an increase in costal precipitation. The Miocene section represents polythermal glacial systems. The older Miocene section is glacially dominated whereas the younger section is much less so. The glacially dominated section may provide evidence for a major glacial advance thar resulted un a low stand of global eustatic sea level at that time. After the low stand, eustatic sea level was gradually rising during deposition of the younger section dominated more by non-glacial processes.

Selected major elements and trace elements of ferrar dolerite clasts from sediment core CRP-1 (Table 1,2)

One of the objectives of the Cape Roberts Project is to study the tectonic history of the western Ross Sea region. Timing of the uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains, which are adjacent to the drillsite, will be a component of the tectonic studies (International Steering Committee, 1994; Cale Roberts Science Team, 1998a). The study of the clast samples from the core will be an important means of providing insight into the timing of uplift of the Transantarctic Mountains. Tholeiitic igneous rocks of the Jurassic (180 Ma) Ferrar large igneous province (FLIP) are widespreaded along the Transantarctic Mountains and have the potential to provide distinct indicators of erosion during uplift of the mountains. In the Transantarctic Mountains adjacent to the Cape Roberts drill site the FLIP is represented by lavas and pyroclastic of the Kirkpatrick basalts and by thick Ferrar dolerite sills which intrude the Beacon Supergroup sediments and, occasionally, the granitic basement rocks. In the Prince Albert Mountains, the youngest Kirkpatrick basalt lava is over 150 m thick, and has a very distinct high TiO2 chemical composition which is unique in the FLIP. If such rocks can be identified in the core they may provide precise timing of the initiation of uplift and denudation of the Transantarctic Mountains. Here we report on an examination of 20 Ferrar dolerite clasts. This brief report is intended as a pilot study to the examination of FLIP clasts from older drillcore.