Geochemisty at DSDP Hole 62-465A

Very significant enhancements of the element iridium have been observed in association with the Cretaceous/ Tertiary boundary in marine sediments laid down 65 m.y. ago and subsequently uplifted above the ocean's surface. If our hypothesis for the origin of the iridium and the cause of the Cretaceous/Tertiary life extinctions (the asteroid-impact theory) (Alvarez et al., 1980) is correct, the Ir anomaly should be associated with the Cretaceous/ Tertiary boundary region wherever it is intact. The present work was undertaken to search for the Ir anomaly in a deep-sea-drilling core, in order to check this aspect of the asteroid-impact theory.

Global cooling during the Eocene Oligocene Transition

About 34 million years ago, Earth's climate shifted from a relatively ice-free world to one with glacial conditions on Antarctica characterized by substantial ice sheets. How Earth's temperature changed during this climate transition remains poorly understood, and evidence for Northern Hemisphere polar ice is controversial. Here, we report proxy records of sea surface temperatures from multiple ocean localities and show that the high-latitude temperature decrease was substantial and heterogeneous. High-latitude (45 degrees to 70 degrees in both hemispheres) temperatures before the climate transition were ~20°C and cooled an average of ~5°C. Our results, combined with ocean and ice-sheet model simulations and benthic oxygen isotope records, indicate that Northern Hemisphere glaciation was not required to accommodate the magnitude of continental ice growth during this time.

Benthic foraminifera in Lower Cretaceous sediments from various DSDP samples

From the DSDP Legs 1, 11, 13, 17, 25, 27, 32, 36, 41, 43, 44, 50, and 62 the Lower Cretaceous foraminifers have been investigated for biostratigraphical, taxonomical, and palaeoecological purposes. An overview of the cored Lower Cretaceous sections of Leg 1-80 is given. In the Northern Atlantic Ocean characteristic foraminiferal faunas are missing from the Upper Tithonian to the Valanginian due to a marked regression which caused hiatuses. In areas without black shale conditions Valanginian to Barremian medium rich to poor microfaunas with Praedorothia ouachensis (Sigal) of the Praedorothia ouachensis Zone (Valanginian-Hauterivian). The Hauterivian-Aptian interval is characterized by zones of Gavelinella barrerniana, Gaudryina dividens, and Conorotalites aptiensis. During the Albian a world-wide fauna consisting of agglutinated and calcareous foraminifers of the Pseudoclavulina gaultina Zone is established in areas lacking the wide-spread black-shale conditions. The Upper Albian and the Cenomanian are represented by the Gavelinella eenomanica Zone. Some ornamented species of the nodosariids (Citharina, Lenticulina), Gavelinella, Conorotatites, Pleurostomella, Vatvulineria, and Osangularia are of some importance for the biostratigraphy of the Berriasian-Albian interval. The Berriasian to Albian zones introduced for the Tethys and the DSDP by Moullade (1984) could only be of some local importance due to the long stratigraphical range of the foraminiferal species used. In the Indian Ocean an exact stratigraphical age cannot be assigned to the few Neocomian foraminiferal faunas of a cooler sea water (Site 261). These faunas mainly contain primitive agglutinated foraminifers, because in most cases the calcareous tests are dissolved or redeposited. In the Pacific Ocean most of the Berriasian to Aptian microfaunas are of minor biostratigraphical and palaeoecological importance for reasons of poor core recoveries, contaminations or original foraminiferal poverty (black shales). Since the Albian there are somewhat higher-diverse faunas of calcareous and agglutinated foraminifers with index species of the Pseudoclavulina gaultina Zone. As a rule, the boundary Albian/Cenomanian is set by means of planktonic foraminifers because no other foraminifer has its first appearance datum during this interval, except Gavelinella cenornanica. During the Albian very uniform, world-wide foraminiferal faunas without a marked provincialism are obvious.

Composition of phyllosilicates from hydrothermally altered basalts of DSDP Hole 83-504B, Costa Rica Rift, Pacific Ocean

Phyllosilicates occurring as replacements of olivine, clinopyroxene and interstitial materials and as veins or fracture-fillings in hydrothermally altered basalts from DSDP Hole 504B, Leg 83 have been studied using transmission and analytical electron microscopy. The parageneses of phyllosilicates generally change systematically with depth and with the degree of alteration, which in turn is related to permeability of basalts. Saponite and some mixed-layer chlorite/smectite are the dominant phyllosilicates at the top of the transition zone. Chlorite, corrensite, and mixed-layer chlorite/corrensite occur mainly in the lower transition zone and upper levels of the sheeted dike zone. Chlorite, talc, and mixed-layer talc/chlorite are the major phyllosilicates in the sheeted dike zone, although replacement of talc or olivine by saponite is observed. The phyllosilicates consist of parallel or subparallel discrete packets of coherent layers with packet thicknesses generally ranging from < 100 A to a few hundred A. The packets of saponite layers are much smaller or less well defined than those of chlorite, corrensite and talc, indicating poorer crystallinity of saponite. By contrast, chlorite and talc from the lower transition zone and the sheeted dike zone occur in packets up to thousands of A thick. The Si/(Si + A1) ratio of these trioctahedral phyllosilicates increases and Fe/(Fe + Mg) decreases in the order chlorite, corrensite, saponite, and talc. These relations reflect optimal solid solution consistent with minimum misfit of articulated octahedral and tetrahedral sheets. Variations in composition of hydrothermal fluids and precursor minerals, especially in Si/(Si+A1) and Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios, are thus important factors in controlling the parageneses of phyllosilicates. The phyllosilicates are generally well crystallized discrete phases, rather than mixed-layered phases, where they have been affected by relatively high fluid/rock ratios as in high-permeability basalts, in veins, or areas adjacent to veins. Intense alteration in basalts with high permeability (indicating high fluid/rock ratios) is characterized by pervasive albitization and zeolitization. Minimal alteration in the basalts without significant albitization and zeolitization is characterized by the occurrence of saponite ± mixed-layer chlorite/smectite in the low-temperature alteration zone, and mixed-layer chlorite/corrensite or mixed-layer talc/chlorite in the high-temperature alteration zone. Textural non-equilibrium for phyllosilicates is represented by mixed layering and poorly defined packets of partially incoherent layers. The approach to textural equilibrium was controlled largely by the availability of fluid or permeability.

Late Pliocene stratigraphic distribution of Globoconella taxa in the North Atlantic

Quantitative records of Globorotalia puncticulata and Globorotalia inflata, the last two members of the Globorotalia (Globoconella) lineage, obtained from North Atlantic sediments collected at DSDP Site 552, ODP Site 659 and ODP Site 665, are used to examine fluctuations in the biogeographic distribution of these species in the Late Pliocene between 3 and 2 Ma. Abundance data indicate that prior to the expansion of Northern Hemisphere glaciation at about 2.5 Ma, Gr. puncticulata was an important component of the planktonic foraminiferal fauna and had a geographic distribution ranging from 2°N to at least 56°N in the North Atlantic. A previously undescribed 6 chambered variant of Gr. puncticulata is found at both Sites 659 and 665. The stratigraphic distribution of this morphotype is restricted, first occurring at 2.9 Ma and then disappearing when glacial intensity increased at 2.75 Ma (isotope stage 110). Similar declines in Gr. puncticulata abundances occurred during glacial isotope stages 102, 100, and 98 immediately prior to the extinction of Gr. puncticulata during glacial isotope stage 96. It appears that this extinction event was latitudinally diachronous within the North Atlantic, occurring earliest in the north at Site 552 (2.453 Ma), then at Site 659 (2.443 Ma) and later still in the Site 665 equatorial record (2.438 Ma). At Site 665 the first record of Gr. inflata occurs during glacial isotope stage 94 (2.416 Ma), shortly after the extinction of Gr. puncticulata. In the mid latitude North Atlantic there was a 340,000 year period following the disappearance of Gr. puncticulata when the Globoconella lineage was absent (the Gr. inflata gap). The Gr. inflata population found in the equatorial Atlantic must therefore have been introduced from the South Atlantic, probably by the South Equatorial Current. Faunal records from Sites 552 and 659 show that it was not until glacial isotope stage 78 (2.10 Ma) that Gr. inflata became widely established in the North Atlantic. Prior to this large-scale migration event, there were two limited colonisation events during glacial isotope stages 86 and 82 when Gr. inflata populations reached as far as Site 659 in the eastern North Atlantic. These incursions are believed to be reflect the entrainment of Gr. inflata within South Atlantic Central Water and the northward subsurface transport of individuals to the coastal upwelling zone off northwest Africa. It seems likely that the same mechanism was responsible for the re-establishment of the Globoconella lineage in the North Atlantic at 2.10 Ma, but in this instance additional factors, such as enhanced glacial circulation patterns and ecological changes within planktonic foraminiferal faunas, resulted in the successful expansion of Gr. inflata across the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Chemistry of igneous rocks of DSDP Leg 30 holes

Igneous rock units were encountered at four of the five sites drilled on Leg 30 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. These units uncluded a diabase sill at Site 285, a basalt underlain by a gabbro at 286, two basalt flows at 287, and a basalt flow at 289. Site 285 is located approximately in the center of the South Fiji Basin, Site 286 is adjacent to a filled portion of the New Hebrides Trench, Site 287 is adjacent to a basement high in the Coral Sea Basin, and Sites 288 and 289 are located on the Ontong-Java Plateau north of the Solomon Islands (Figure 1). Figure 2 presents generalized lithologic columns for the igneous rock units found at these sites. When a unit number is given, e.g., Site 286, Unit 4 basalt, this number conforms with the unit number assigned to it in the overall stratigraphic sequence of that hole as defined in the individual Site Reports in this volume. Unless otherwise stated, depths are given as measured from the sediment-igneous rock contact rather than the mudline.