(Table 2) Weight percent organic carbon from ODP Site 138-847

As the length of marine cores increases and sampling intervals decrease, the need for rapid and inexpensive means of determining sediment composition has become apparent. In this study we examine one potentially useful technique for assessing compositional changes in marine cores, diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry. We examined near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared reflectance spectra from five data sets. Each data set consists of calibration samples and test samples. The calibration samples' spectra were related to a sediment component using multiple linear regression. The resulting regression or calibration equations were then evaluated using the test samples. Calibration equations were written relating spectra to several sediment components incduding carbonate (Atlantic and east Pacific Rise ODP Site 847), organic carbon content (Atlantic and east Pacific Rise), and opal content (east Pacific Rise). The correlation coefficients for the regression equations ranged from a high of 0.99 for carbonate and opal at ODP Site 847 to a low of 0.97 for Atlantic carbonate indicating that spectral variations are highly correlated to sediment composition. All of the equations include a substantial number of variables from shorter visible and longer near ultraviolet wavelengths suggesting that these wavelengths are especially important for devices designed specifically to scan marine cores. Although equations for estimating organic and carbonate content appear independent of other sediment components, the opal equation is strongly dependent on carbonate content indicating that opal concentration is correlated to carbonate content. Tests of the calibration equations indicated that all our equations reasonably estimate the pattern of changes, either down core or in surface sediments. Where our spectral estimates have difficulty is with absolute values, frequently over or underestimating observed values by a substantial amount. Within these limitations diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry can be a useful tool for characterizing marine cores and as our understanding of the relationship between spectra and mineralogy improves so will estimates of absolute values.

Pleistocene stable isotope record of planktonic foraminifera of ODP Site 138-847

We present Pleistocene oxygen and carbon isotope records from two planktonic foraminifer species (Globigerinoides sacculifer and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei) from Ocean Drilling Program Site 847 (0°16'N, 95°19'W; 3334 m water depth). An average sample resolution of 4500 yr was obtained by sampling at an interval of 15 cm through a continuous 35-m section from 0 to 1.15 Ma. Our d18O-based chronology is similar to that derived independently by astronomically tuning the gamma-ray attenuation porosity evaluator (GRAPE) record (Shackleton et al., 1995), though offsets as large as ± 30 k.y. occur on occasion. The surface waters at eastern equatorial Pacific Site 847, 380 km west of the Galapagos, are characterized by strong and constant upwelling, elevated nutrient concentrations, and high productivity. The isotopic composition of G. sacculifer (300-355 µm) reflects conditions in the thin-surface mixed layer, and the composition of N. dutertrei (355-425 µm) monitors the subsurface waters of the permanent shallow (10-40 m) thermocline. The Pleistocene d18O difference (N. dutertrei minus G. sacculifer, Dd18Od-s) averages 0.9 per mil and ranges from 0 per mil to 1.7 per mil. Neglecting species effects and shell size, the average Pleistocene d13C difference (G. sacculifer minus N. dutertrei, Dd13Cs-d) is 0.0 per mil and ranges from -0.5 per mil to 0.5 per mil. The Dd18Od-s and Dd13Cs-d records are used to infer vertical contrasts in upper ocean water temperature and nutrient concentration, though d13C may also be influenced by other factors, such as CO2 gas exchange. Variations in the isotopic differences are often synchronous with glacial/interglacial climate change. Glacial periods are characterized by smaller vertical contrasts in both temperature and nutrient concentration, and by notably greater accumulation rates of N. dutertrei and CaCO3. We attribute these responses to greater upwelling at the equatorial divergence. Superimposed on the glacial/interglacial Dd18Od-s pattern is a long-term trend possibly associated with the advection of Peru Current waters. The temporal fluctuations in the isotopic contrasts are strikingly similar to those observed at Site 851 (Ravelo and Shackleton, this volume), suggesting that the inferred changes in thermal and chemical profiles occurred over a broad region in the equatorial Pacific.