(Table 2) Details of laminated intervals of ODP Leg 158 holes

Scanning electron microscope (SEM)-based analyses of the laminated diatom oozes encountered during Leg 138 reveal three major laminae types. The first lamina type is composed of multiple layers of ~20-?m-thick diatom mats, which form laminae dominated by assemblages of the pennate diatom, Thalassiothrix longissima. More than one variety/subspecies of T. longissima occurs within these laminae (referred to as the T. longissima Group). The second lamina type is composed of a mixed-assemblage of several species of diatoms (centric and pennate varieties), calcareous nannofossils, and subordinate quantities of radiolarians, silicoflagellates and foraminifers. The third lamina type is dominated by an assemblage of nannofossils and minor amounts of those fossil components mentioned above. This last form of lamination is compositionally similar to the background sediment type, foraminifernannofossil ooze (F-NO). Two lamina associations occur within the laminated intervals; the first comprises alternations of T. longissima Group and mixed-assemblage laminae (average thickness is ~6 mm) and the second is composed of T. longissima and nannofossil-rich laminae (average thickness is ~3.5 mm). The arrangement of laminae probably originates from the deposition of multiple layers of 20-?m-thick mats from one mat-flux episode. The much thinner nannofossil-rich laminae are interpreted to represent periods of more ônormalö deposition between mat-flux episodes. The occurrence of several varieties/subspecies of T. longissima within individual mat layers is consistent with observations of Rhizosolenia diatom mats in the modern world ocean.

(Table 1) Occurrence of Pithonella species in DSDP Leg 74 Holes

Two new species, three new forms in open nomenclature and two previously known species of the genus Pithonella (sensu Bolli, 1974), attributed to the dinoflagellate family Peridiniaceae are described from Upper Cretaceous to lower Pleistocene sediments of the Walvis Ridge, southeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is the first time that pithonelloid calcareous dinoflagellates are described from sediment younger than early Paleocene.

(Table 1) Compressional- and share-wave velocieties at elevated confining pressure of ODP Holes 136-842C and 136-843A

Identification of a sediment/basement contact using seismic reflection recordings has proven to be extremely difficult in wide areas of the North Pacific Ocean owing to the presence of massive, highly reflective chert layers within the sediment column. Leg 136 of the Ocean Drilling Program recovered coherent pieces of chert of sufficient size for the first comprehensive laboratory measurements of the seismic properties of this material. Compressional-wave velocities of six samples at 40-MPa confining pressure averaged 5.33 km/s, whereas shear-wave velocities at the same pressure averaged 3.48 km/s. Velocities were independent of porosity, which ranged from 5% to 13%, suggesting that pores within the samples were mostly high aspect ratio vugs as opposed to low aspect ratio cracks. Back-scattered electron images made with a scanning electron microscope confirmed this observation. Acoustic impedances were calculated for the chert samples and from shipboard measurements of the red clay sediment overlying the chert layers. An extremely large compressional-wave reflection coefficient (0.73) characterized the interface between the two lithologies. A synthetic seismogram was calculated using chert and typical pelagic carbonate properties to illustrate the influence of chert layers on a marine seismic-reflection section. Compressional-wave to shear-wave velocity ratios of the chert samples (Vp/Vs =1.53) are close to that of single-crystal quartz in spite of variable porosity. Shear-wave reflection coefficients are estimated to be approximately 0.94. A compressional-wave reflection coefficient for a basement/sediment (carbonate) interface is estimated to be approximately 0.50, significantly less than that of sediment/chert.

(Table 1) Textural characteristics of sediments at DSDP Leg 71 Holes

In conjunction with a study of ice-rafted detritus (IRD), textural analyses were carried out on Miocene to Quaternary sediments at Sites 511, 512, 513, and 514. Grain-size statistics were computed for the <62.5 µm fraction in order to identify changes in current velocity; the sand fraction was omitted from these determinations because it consists primarily of ice-raft and biogenic components. The contributions by terrigenous sediment in the 62.5-250 µm and the >250 µm fractions were determined.