Organic carbon, freely extractable lipids and ketone recovery of ODP Leg 199 sediments

Six samples from Sites 1219 and 1221 ranging in age from early Eocene to early Oligocene were analyzed for freely extractable lipids to determine whether the low organic carbon (Corg) sediments of the Eocene equatorial Pacific (Corg content typically 0.03%) are appropriate for biomarker studies. Only one sample from the Oligocene equatorial Pacific (Sample 199-1219A-13H-3, 50-54 cm) contained any biomarkers of interest to paleoceanography. The only lipids identified in the remaining samples appear to be contaminants from drilling or subsequent handling. Sample 199-1219A-13H-3, 50-54 cm, contained alkenone biomarkers specific to haptophyte algae that are used for estimating past mean annual sea-surface temperature (maSST). If the Holocene calibration of maSST is appropriate for the Oligocene, the estimated equatorial temperature is >=28.3°C, or at least 3°C warmer than modern equatorial maSST at a similar longitude.

(Table T1) Mineralogy of ODP Leg 199 and DSDP Hole 16-162 sediments - comparison of methods

During Ocean Drilling Program Leg 199 in the equatorial Pacific, visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (VNIS) was used to measure the reflectance spectra (350-2500 nm) of 1343 sediment samples. Reflectance spectra were also measured for a suite of 60 samples of known mineralogy, thereby providing a local ground-truth calibration of spectral features to percentages of calcite, opal, smectite, and illite. The associated algorithm was used to calculate mineral percentages from the 1343 spectra. Using multiple regression and VNIS mineralogy, multisensor track physical properties and light spectroscopy data were then converted into continuous high-resolution mineralogy logs.

Late Eocene-early Oligocene radiolarian events and abundances in ODP Leg 199 sediments

During Ocean Drilling Program Leg 199, eight sites (Sites 1215-1222) were cored in the Central Pacific. Late Eocene-early Oligocene thick radiolarian-rich biogenic sediments were collected from Holes 1218A, 1219A, and 1220A. This is the first attempt to calibrate the ages of Paleogene radiolarian events using magnetostratigraphy in this region. A total of 107 species and species groups, which are valuable for stratigraphic correlation, are listed with numeric data and figures. Among these three holes, a total of 77 radiolarian events were recognized and their ages were calibrated by correlation with paleomagnetic events recorded in Hole 1220A.

Accumulation rates, carbon composition and Eocene carbonate compensation depths of ODP Sites 199-1218 and 199-1219

CaCO3, Corg, and biogenic SiO2 were measured in Eocene equatorial Pacific sediments from Sites 1218 and 1219, and bulk oxygen and carbon isotopes were measured on selected intervals from Site 1219. These data delineate a series of CaCO3 events that first appeared at ~48 Ma and continued to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Each event lasted 1-2 m.y. and is separated from the next by a low CaCO3 interval of a similar time span. The largest of these carbonate accumulation events (CAE-3) is in Magnetochron 18. It began at ~42.2 Ma, lasted until ~40.3 Ma, and was marked by higher than average productivity. The end of CAE-3 was abrupt and was associated with a large-scale carbon transfer to the oceans prior to warming of high-latitude regions. Changes in carbonate compensation depth associated with CAE excursions were small in the early part of the middle Eocene but increased to as much as 800 m by the late middle Eocene before decreasing into the late Eocene. Oxygen isotope data indicate that the carbonate events are associated with cooling conditions and may mark small glaciations in the Eocene.