Mineralogy and diagenesis of slope sediments at DSDP Leg 84 holes

The distribution and composition of minerals in the silt and clay fraction of the fine-grained slope sediments were examined. Special interest was focused on diagenesis. The results are listed as follows. (1) Smectite, andesitic Plagioclase, quartz, and low-Mg calcite are the main mineral components of the sediment. Authigenic dolomite was observed in the weathering zones of serpentinites, together with aragonite, as well as in clayey silt. (2) The mineralogy and geochemistry of the sediments is analogous to that of the andesitic rocks of Costa Rica and Guatemala. (3) Unstable components like volcanic glass, amphiboles, and pyroxenes show increasing etching with depth. (4) The diagenetic alteration of opal-A skeletons from etching pits and replacement by opal-CT to replacement by chalcedony as a final stage corresponds to the typical opal diagenesis. (5) Clinoptilolite is the stable zeolite mineral according to mineral stability fields; its neoformation is well documented. (6) The early diagenesis of smectites is shown by an increase of crystallinity with depth. Only the smectites in the oldest sediments (Oligocene and early Eocene) contain nonexpanding illite layers.

(Table 22-30) Revised composite depth scales of IODP Sites 320-U1331, U1332, U1333, U1334 and ODP Sites 199-1218, 199-1219, 199-1220

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 320 recovered high-quality paleomagnetic records with over 800 dated reversals and decimeter-scale cyclic sediments which provide an outstanding framework to inter-calibrate major fossil groups and refine magnetic polarity chrons for the early Miocene, the entire Oligocene and the late Eocene Epoch. In order to reconstruct the climate history of the Equatorial Pacific one of the major objectives of the Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT) is the compilation of a Cenozoic Megasplice which integrates all available bio-, chemo-, and magnetostratigraphic data including key records from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 199. Here we present extended post-cruise refinements of the shipboard composite depth scales and composite records of IODP Expedition 320 Sites U1331, U1332, U1333, U1334 as well as ODP Leg 199 Sites 1218, 1219 and 1220. The revised composite records were used to perform a site-to-site correlation and integration of Leg 199 and Exp. 320 sites. Based on this decimeter scale correlation a high resolution integrated paleomagnetic and biostratigraphic framework for the Equatorial Pacific is established covering the time from 20 to 40 Ma. This unprecedented sedimentary compendium from the Equatorial Pacific will be the backbone for paleoceanographic reconstructions for the late Paleogene.

Paleointensity record of Site 320-U1336

We present a high-resolution magnetostratigraphy and relative paleointensity (RPI) record derived from the upper 85 meters of IODP Site U1336, an equatorial Pacific early to middle Miocene succession recovered during Expedition 320/321. The magnetostratigraphy is well resolved with reversals typically located to within a few centimeters resulting in a well-constrained age model. The lowest normal polarity interval, from 85 to 74.87 meters, is interpreted as the upper part of Chron C6n (18.614-19.599 Ma). Another 33 magnetozones occur from 74.87 to 0.85 m, which are interpret to represent the continuous sequence of chrons from Chron C5Er (18.431-18.614 Ma) up to the top of Chron C5An.1n (12.014 Ma). We identify three new possible subchrons within Chron C5Cn.1n, Chron 5Bn.1r, and C5ABn. Sedimentation rates vary from about 7 to 15 m/Myr with a mean of about 10 m/Myr. We observe rapid, apparent changes in the sedimentation rate at geomagnetic reversals between ~16 and 19 Ma that indicate a calibration error in geomagnetic polarity timescale (ATNTS2004). The remanence is carried mainly by non-interacting particles of fine-grained magnetite, which have FORC distributions characteristic of biogenic magnetite. Given the relative homogeneity of the remanence carriers throughout the 85-m-thick succession and the quality with which the remanence is recorded, we have constructed a relative paleointensity (RPI) record that provides new insights into middle Miocene geomagnetic field behavior. The RPI record indicates a gradual decline in field strength between 18.5 Ma and 14.5 Ma, and indicates no discernible link between RPI and either chron duration or polarity state.

Mineralogy and geochemistry of weathered serpentinites in DSDP Leg 84 sediments

At Sites 566, 567, and 570 of Leg 84, ophiolitic serpentinite basement was covered by a sequence of serpentinitic mud that was formed by weathering of the serpentinites under sea- or pore-water conditions. Several mineralogical processes were observed: (1) The serpentinitic mud that consists mainly of chrysotile was formed from the lizardite component of the serpentinites by alteration. (2) Slightly trioctahedral smectites containing nonexpandable mica layers, trioctahedral smectites containing nonexpandable chlorite layers, and swelling chlorites were presumably formed from detrital chlorite and/or serpentine. (3) The occurrence of tremolite, chlorite, analcime, and talc can be attributed to reworking of gabbroic ophiolite rocks. (4) Dolomite, aragonite, and Mg-calcite, all authigenic, occur in the serpentinitic mud.