Coordinates of multichannel seismic line GeoB05-004

Major plastered drift sequences were imaged using high-resolution multichannel seismics during R/V Meteor cruises M63/1 and M75/3 south of the Mozambique Channel along the continental margin of Mozambique off the Limpopo River. Detailed seismic-stratigraphic analyses enabled the reconstruction of the onset and development of the modern, discontinuous, eddy-dominated Mozambique Current. Major drift sequences can first be identified during the Early Miocene. Consistent with earlier findings, a progressive northward shift of the depocenter indicates that, on a geological timescale, a steady but variable Mozambique Current existed from this time onward. It can furthermore be shown that, during the Early/Middle Miocene, a coast-parallel current was established off the Limpopo River as part of a lee eddy system driven by the Mozambique Current. Modern sedimentation is controlled by the interplay between slope morphology and the lee eddy system, resulting in upwelling of Antarctic Intermediate Water. Drift accumulations at larger depths are related to the reworking of sediment by deep-reaching eddies that migrate southward, forming the Mozambique Current and eventually merging with the Agulhas Current.

Ages, lithologie descriptions and mineral analyses from different DSDP holes in the Indian Ocean

The present work is based on mineralogical studies of sand and silt layers from a number of Deep Sea Drilling Project sites in the Indian Ocean belonging to different physiographic provinces of different ages. The minerals can be grouped into two major associations: a hornblende-opaque association with varying amounts of pyroxene, garnet, epidote, zircon, etc. and a biotite-chlorite-muscovite assemblage. The dominance of unstable minerals indicates a first generation, though evidence of reworking is reflected in the zircon and tourmaline grains at some sites. A large variety of minerals at some sites indicates a complex source. The mineral composition is nearly homogeneous at different sites for the entire length of the core, indicating that they have been derived from the same source during the deposition of that interval. However, the provenance changed by tectonic activity, the effect of which has been reflected in the mineralogy of some sites. An attempt was made to describe the mineralogic characteristics and their tectonic interpretations in the Pliocene and Miocene periods in the Ganges and Indus fan sites and also in the Wharton and Mozambique basin sites. Similar attempts could not be made for other ages in other physiographic provinces as the numbers of samples were too few. Within the limited scope, some idea about the mineralogical character of different basins and different physiographic provinces can be obtained from the present study. Mineralogical evidence also suggests very long transport of sediments in the deep sea. Regional variation of mineralogy has resulted due to source, sea-floor configuration, selective removal, reworking by different agencies and the processes operating in the ocean. There is no relation between a particular age and a set mineral assemblage for the Cenozoic sediments of the Indian Ocean.