During International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 397, we recovered a total of 6176.7 m of core (104.2% recovery) at four sites (U1586, U1587, U1385, and U1588) from the Promontório dos Principes de Avis (PPA) (Figure F1), a plateau located on the Portuguese continental slope that is elevated above the Tagus Abyssal Plain and isolated from the influence of turbidites. The drill sites are arranged along a bathymetric transect (4691, 3479, 2590, and 1339 meters below sea level [mbsl], respectively) to intersect each of the major subsurface water masses of the eastern North Atlantic (Figures F2, F7). Multiple holes were drilled at each site to ensure complete spliced composite sections (Figure F3; Table T1), which will be further refined postcruise by a campaign of X-ray fluorescence core scanning.
At Site U1586 (4691 mbsl), the deepest and farthest from shore, a 350 m sequence was recovered in four holes that extend as far back as the middle Miocene (14 Ma), which is nearly twice as old as initially predicted from seismic stratigraphy. Sedimentation rates are lower (averaging 5 cm/ky in the Quaternary) at Site U1586 than other Expedition 397 sites (Figure F4), and a few slumped intervals were encountered in the stratigraphic sequence. Despite these limitations, Site U1586 anchors the deep end-member of the bathymetric transect and provides an important reference section to study deepwater circulation, ventilation and carbon storage in the deep eastern North Atlantic.
At Site U1587 (3479 mbsl), the second deepest site along the depth transect, we recovered a 567 m sequence of late Miocene to Holocene sediments that accumulated at rates between 6.5 and 11 cm/ky (Figure F4). The high sedimentation rates and long continuous record at this site will permit climate reconstruction at high temporal resolution (e.g., millennial) for the past 7.8 My. A complete Messinian Stage (7.246–5.333 Ma) was recovered, which provides a valuable opportunity to study the Messinian Salinity Crisis in an open marine setting adjacent to the Mediterranean.
Site U1385 (Shackleton site) was a reoccupation of a position previously drilled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 339. Expedition 339 Site U1385 has yielded a remarkable record of millennial-scale climate change for the past 1.45 My (Marine Isotope Stage [MIS] 47) (Figure F6). During Expedition 397, we deepened the site from 156 to 400 meters below seafloor (mbsf), extending the basal age into the early Pliocene (4.5 Ma). Sedimentation rates remained high, averaging between 11 and 9 cm/ky throughout the sequence (Figure F4). The newly recovered cores at Expedition 397 Site U1385 will permit the study of millennial climate variability through the entire Quaternary and into the Pliocene, prior to the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation.
Site U1588 is the shallowest, closest to shore, and youngest site drilled during Expedition 397 and is also the one with the highest sedimentation rate (20 cm/ky). The base of the 412.5 m sequence is 2.2 Ma, providing an expanded Pleistocene sequence of sediment deposited under the influence of the lower core of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW). Together with other Expedition 339 sites, Site U1588 will be important for determining how the depth and intensity of the MOW has varied on orbital and millennial timescales. In addition, it also provides a marine reference section for studying Quaternary climate variability at very high temporal resolution (millennial to submillennial).
A highlight of the expedition is that sediment at all sites shows very strong cyclicity in bulk sediment properties (color, magnetic susceptibility, and natural gamma radiation). Particularly notable are the precession cycles of the Pliocene that can be correlated peak-for-peak among sites (Figure F10). These cyclic variations will be used to derive an orbitally tuned timescale for Expedition 397 sites and correlate them into classic Mediterranean cyclostratigraphy.
The cores recovered during Expedition 397 will form the basis of collaborative postcruise research to produce benchmark paleoclimate records for the late Miocene through Quaternary using the widest range of proxy measurements. It will take many years to complete these analyses, but the records will lead to major advances in our understanding of millennial and orbital climate changes and their underlying causes and evolving contextuality.
Outreach during Expedition 397 was highly productive, reaching a record number of students and the general public across the world through several diverse platforms, including live ship-to-shore events, webinars, social media, videos, radio pieces, blog posts, and in-person activities.
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Combined Magnetostratigraphy From Three Localities of the Rainstorm Member of the Johnnie Formation in California and Nevada, United States Calibrated by Cyclostratigraphy: A 13 R/Ma Reversal Frequency for the Ediacaran
A combined magnetostratigraphy for the Rainstorm Member of the Ediacaran Johnnie Formation was constructed using the sediment accumulation rates determined by rock magnetic cyclostratigraphy for three localities of the Rainstorm Member to provide a high resolution, time-calibrated record of geomagnetic field reversal frequency at a critical time period in Earth history. Two previously reported magnetostratigraphy records from Death Valley, California, the Nopah Range and Winters Pass Hills ( Minguez et al., 2015 ), were combined with new paleomagnetic and cyclostratigraphic results from the Desert Range locality of the Rainstorm Member in south central Nevada, United States . The Johnnie oolite marker bed is at the base of each of the three sections and allows their regional correlation. The Nopah Range and Desert Range localities have similar sediment accumulation rates of ∼5 cm/ka, so their stratigraphic sections can be combined directly. The Winters Pass Hills locality has a higher sediment accumulation rate of 8.4 cm/ka, therefore its stratigraphic positions are multiplied by 0.6 to combine with the Desert Range and Nopah Range magnetostratigraphy. The thermal demagnetization results from the Desert Range locality isolates characteristic remanent magnetizations that indicate two nearly antipodal east-west and shallow directions and a mean paleopole (11.7˚N, 348.4˚E) that is consistent with “shallow” Ediacaran directions. The Desert Range also yields a magnetic susceptibility rock magnetic cyclostratigraphy that records short eccentricity, obliquity, and precession astronomically-forced climate cycles in the Ediacaran. The high-resolution combined magnetostratigraphy with nearly meter-scale stratigraphic spacing (nominally 23 ka, based on the Desert Range sediment accumulation rate), indicates 11 polarity intervals in a cyclostratigraphy-calibrated duration of 849 ka, indicating a reversal frequency of 13 R/Ma. The Rainstorm Member records the Shuram carbon isotope excursion, hence its age is ∼574 Ma. Given the recent cyclostratigraphy-calibrated reversal frequency of 20 R/Ma from the Zigan Formation ( Levashova et al., 2021 ) at 547 Ma, our results show that reversal frequency was high but fluctuated during the Ediacaran.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1828825
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10316662
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Earth Science
- Volume:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 2296-6463
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The James Ross Basin, in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, exposes which is probably the world thickest and most complete Late Cretaceous sedimentary succession of southern high latitudes. Despite its very good exposures and varied and abundant fossil fauna, precise chronological determination of its infill is still lacking. We report results from a magnetostratigraphic study on shelfal sedimentary rocks of the Marambio Group, southeastern James Ross Basin, Antarctica. The succession studied covers a ~1,200 m‐thick stratigraphic interval within the Hamilton Point, Sanctuary Cliffs and Karlsen Cliffs Members of the Snow Hill Island Formation, the Haslum Crag Formation, and the lower López de Bertodano Formation. The basic chronological reference framework is given by ammonite assemblages, which indicate a Late Campanian – Early Maastrichtian age for the studied units. Magnetostratigraphic samples were obtained from five partial sections located on James Ross and Snow Hill islands, the results from which agree partially with this previous biostratigraphical framework. Seven geomagnetic polarity reversals are identified in this work, allowing to identify the Chron C32/C33 boundary in Ammonite Assemblage 8‐1, confirming the Late Campanian age of the Hamilton Point Member. However, the identification of the Chron C32/C31 boundary in Ammonite Assemblage 8‐2 assigns the base of the Sanctuary Cliffs Member to the early Maastrichtian, which differs from the Late Campanian age previously assigned by ammonite biostratigraphy. This magnetostratigraphy spans ~14 Ma of sedimentary succession and together with previous partial magnetostratigraphies on Early‐Mid Campanian and Middle Maastrichtian to Danian columns permits a complete and continuous record of the Late Cretaceous distal deposits of the James Ross Basin. This provides the required chronological resolution to solve the intra‐basin and global correlation problems of the Late Cretaceous in the Southern Hemisphere in general and in the Weddellian province in particular, given by endemism and diachronic extinctions on invertebrate fossils, including ammonites. The new chronostratigraphic scheme allowed us to calculate sediment accumulation rates for almost the entire Late Cretaceous infill of the distal James Ross Basin (the Marambio Group), showing a monotonous accumulation for more than 8 Myr during the upper Campanian and a dramatic increase during the early Maastrichtian, controlled by tectonic and/or eustatic causes.
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Abstract Forward modeled, balanced cross sections that account for the flexural response to thrust loading and erosional unloading can verify and refine the kinematic sequence of deformation in fold‐thrust belts as well as help assess the validity of a balanced cross section. Results from flexural‐kinematic reconstructions that indicate either the cross section, the kinematic order or both are invalid include: (a) a predicted final topography that is dramatically different from the actual topography; (b) large normal fault or thrust fault bounded synorogenic basins that are not present in the mapped geology; and/or (c) an exhumation history that is not consistent with provenance records in the basin or measured thermochronometers. Where detailed measured foreland basin sections exist, flexural‐kinematic modeling of fold‐thrust belt deformation, including out‐of‐sequence (OOS) faults can predict a foreland basin evolution that can be compared to measured data. The modeling process creates a “pseudostratigraphy” in the modeled foreland. The pseudostratigraphy and predicted provenance of each modeled stratigraphic increment can be directly compared to measured stratigraphic sections. We present a case study using two cross sections through the Himalaya of far western Nepal (Api and Simikot) to assess the validity of the section geometries and the resulting kinematic histories, displacement rates, flexural wave response and predicted provenance for both sections. Insights from combining the flexural‐kinematic models with existing stratigraphic data include: (a) Changing the order of proposed OOS and normal faults to earlier in the evolution of the fold‐thrust belt was necessary to reproduce the foreland provenance data. We argue that OOS thrust and normal faults in the Api section occurred between 11 and 4 Ma. (b) Published shortening estimates for the Simikot cross section are too high (>50 km), resulting in unrealistic shortening rates up to 80 mm/yr between 25 and 20 Ma. (c) Flexural forward models with and without an additional sediment loading modeling step indicate that while sediment loading does not have a measurable effect on the magnitude and location of erosion within the fold‐thrust belt, it does have a small effect on accumulation rates and thus the predicted age of stratigraphic boundaries when compared to measured stratigraphic thicknesses and age. Thickness difference range from 0.2 to 0.5 km and can result in predicted age differences of ca. 1 Ma. Accounting for both flexural isostacy and erosion can eliminate unviable kinematic sequences and when combined with provenance data from measured stratigraphic sections, can provide insight into the order, age and rate of deformation.
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Abstract The Colorado Plateau Coring Project Phase 1 (CPCP‐1) acquired three continuous drill cores from Petrified Forest National Park (PFNP), Arizona, U.S.A., two of which (CPCP‐PFNP13‐1A and CPCP‐PFNP13‐2B) intersected the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation, Lower(?)‐Middle Triassic Moenkopi Formation (MF) and Permian Coconino Sandstone. We examined both cores to construct a high‐resolution magnetostratigraphy of MF strata, and progressive demagnetization data yield well‐defined, interpretable paleomagnetic results. Each lithostratigraphic member of the MF (Wupatki, Moqui, and Holbrook members) contains authigenic and detrital hematite as the dominant magnetic carrier with distinguishing rock magnetic characteristics. Magnetostratigraphy of MF strata in both CPCP‐1 cores consists of six normal and six reverse polarity magnetozones, from the youngest to the oldest, MF1n to MF6r. Recent single‐crystal chemical abrasion–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA‐TIMS) U‐Pb data from a sample in magnetozone MF1n yield a latest Anisian/earliest Ladinian (241.38 ± 0.43 Ma) age. Correlation of the CA‐TIMS‐calibrated magnetostratigraphy with the astronomically tuned polarity timescale for the Middle Triassic deep‐marine Guandao (GD) section of South China ties the magnetozone MF1n with GD8 and MF6r with GD2r, and implies that the MF spans, at most, the earliest Anisian (Aegean) to latest Anisian (Illyrian)/earliest Ladinian stages (ca. 246.8 to 241.5 Ma). This age estimate for the MF suggests that the timespan of the regional, pre‐Norian disconformity is about 17 Ma, which demonstrates that MF vertebrate fossil assemblages in east‐central Arizona are millions of years (minimally 3–4 Ma) younger than previously suggested and are all Anisian in age, with no indications of substantial hiatuses in the MF section.
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Abstract. We report the results of amino acid racemization (AAR) analyses of aspartic acid (Asp)and glutamic acid (Glu) in the planktic Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, and the benthic Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi, foraminifera species collected from sediment cores from the Arctic Ocean. The cores were retrieved at various deep-sea sites of the Arctic, which cover a large geographical area from the Greenland and Iceland seas (GIS) to the Alpha and Lomonosov ridges in the central Arctic Ocean. Age models for the investigated sediments were developed by multiple dating and correlation techniques, including oxygen isotope stratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, and cyclostratigraphy. The extent of racemization (D/L values) was determined on 95 samples (1028 subsamples) and shows a progressive increase downcore for both foraminifera species. Differences in the rates of racemization between the species were established by analysing specimens of both species from the same stratigraphic levels (n=21). Aspartic acid (Asp) and glutamic acid (Glu) racemize on average 16 ± 2 % and 23 ± 3 % faster, respectively, in C. wuellerstorfi than in N. pachyderma. The D/L values increase with sample age in nearly all cases, with a trend that follows a simple power function. Scatter around least-squares regression fits are larger for samples from the central Arctic Ocean than for those from the Nordic Seas. Calibrating the rate of racemization in C. wuellerstorfi using independently dated samples from the Greenland and Iceland seas for the past 400 ka enables estimation of sample ages from the central Arctic Ocean, where bottom water temperatures are presently relatively similar. The resulting ages are older than expected when considering the existing age models for the central Arctic Ocean cores. These results confirm that the differences are not due to taxonomic effects on AAR and further warrant a critical evaluation of existing Arctic Ocean age models. A better understanding of temperature histories at the investigated sites, and other environmental factors that may influence racemization rates in central Arctic Ocean sediments, is also needed.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.764714
