(Table 1) Non-arboreal and arboreal pollen spectra at DSDP Holes 75-532 and 75-530A

Some samples from DSDP Holes 530A and 532 were analyzed for their fossil pollen content. The sites are located in the southeastern corner of the Angola Basin, about 200 km west of the present coastline. Fossil pollen assemblages of Holocene to Miocene age were compared with present-day pollen deposition in the arid Namib sand sea. The strong resemblance of all the pollen spectra indicates that very arid conditions existed in the coastal region of Namibia in Quaternary and Pliocene times. These data are in agreement with the late Miocene origin of the coastal aridity and with the conception that upwelling of cold water was responsible for these desert conditions.

(Table 2) Actual and synthetic mass accumulation rate data and their absolute differences for ODP Site 115-707

Synthetic mass accumulation rates have been calculated for ODP Site 707 using depth-density and depth-porosity functions to estimate values for these parameters with increasing sediment thickness, at 1 Ma time intervals determined on the basis of published microfossil datums. These datums were the basis of the age model used by Peterson and Backman (1990, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.115.163.1990) to calculate actual mass accumulation rate data using density and porosity measurements. A comparison is made between the synthetic and actual mass accumulation rate values for the time interval 37 Ma to the Recent for 1 Myr time intervals. There is a correlation coefficient of 0.993 between the two data sets, with an absolute difference generally less than 0.1 g/cm**2/kyr. We have used the method to extend the mass accumulation rate analysis back to the Late Paleocene (60 Ma) for Site 707. Providing age datums (e.g. fossil or magnetic anomaly data) are available the generation of synthetic mass accumulation rates can be calculated for any sediment sequence.

IR spectra from mapping of diamond sample JH7b

This data set contains 1851 infrared (IR) spectra, forming a single IR map of diamond sample JH7b. This data set is used to show the application of DiaMap, a computer routine written using PERL, to automatically process diamond IR spectra to obtain quantitative impurity data from them. Full abstract will be added after acceptance of publication.

Dissolution rate spectra data of calcite single crystal and micrite material

The large discrepancy between field and laboratory measurements of mineral reaction rates is a long-standing problem in earth sciences, often attributed to factors extrinsic to the mineral itself. Nevertheless, differences in reaction rate are also observed within laboratory measurements, raising the possibility of intrinsic variations as well. Critical insight is available from analysis of the relationship between the reaction rate and its distribution over the mineral surface. This analysis recognizes the fundamental variance of the rate. The resulting anisotropic rate distributions are completely obscured by the common practice of surface area normalization. In a simple experiment using a single crystal and its polycrystalline counterpart, we demonstrate the sensitivity of dissolution rate to grain size, results that undermine the use of "classical" rate constants. Comparison of selected published crystal surface step retreat velocities (Jordan and Rammensee, 1998) as well as large single crystal dissolution data (Busenberg and Plummer, 1986) provide further evidence of this fundamental variability. Our key finding highlights the unsubstantiated use of a single-valued "mean" rate or rate constant as a function of environmental conditions. Reactivity predictions and long-term reservoir stability calculations based on laboratory measurements are thus not directly applicable to natural settings without a probabilistic approach. Such a probabilistic approach must incorporate both the variation of surface energy as a general range (intrinsic variation) as well as constraints to this variation owing to the heterogeneity of complex material (e.g., density of domain borders). We suggest the introduction of surface energy spectra (or the resulting rate spectra) containing information about the probability of existing rate ranges and the critical modes of surface energy.

Iron X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scannings of ODP Holes 165-1001A and 171-1050C

Abstract: Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1001A (Caribbean Sea) and 1050C (western North Atlantic) display obliquity and precession cycles throughout polarity zone C27 of the late Danian stage (earliest Cenozoic time). Sliding-window spectra analysis and direct cycle counting on downhole logs and high-resolution Fe variations at both sites yield the equivalent of 35-36 obliquity cycles. This cycle-tuned duration for polarity chron C27 of 1.45 Ma (applying a modern mean obliquity period of 40.4 ka) is consistent with trends from astronomical tuning of early Danian polarity chron C29 and 40Ar/39Ar age calibration of the Campanian-Maastrichtian magnetic polarity time scale. The cycle-tuned Danian stage (sensu Berggren et al. 1995, in SEPM Special Publications, 54, 129-212) spans 3.65 Ma (65.5-61.85 Ma). Spreading rates on a reference South Atlantic synthetic profile display progressive slowing during the Maastrichtian to Danian stages, then remained relatively constant through late Palaeocene and early Eocene time.