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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Early Miocene Antarctic Glacial History: New Insights From Heavy Mineral Analysis From Andrill And–2a Drill Core Sediments, Francesco Iacoviello, Giovanna Giorgetti, Isabella Turbanti Memmi, Sandra Passchier Apr 2015

Early Miocene Antarctic Glacial History: New Insights From Heavy Mineral Analysis From Andrill And–2a Drill Core Sediments, Francesco Iacoviello, Giovanna Giorgetti, Isabella Turbanti Memmi, Sandra Passchier

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The present study deals with heavy mineral analysis of late Early Miocene marine sediments recovered in the McMurdo Sound region (Ross Sea, Antarctica) during the ANDRILL— SMS Project in 2007. The main objective is to investigate how heavy mineral assemblages reflect different source rocks and hence different provenance areas. These data contribute to a better understanding of East Antarctica ice dynamics in the Ross Sea sector during the Early Miocene (17.6–20.2 Ma), a time of long-term global warming and sea level rise. The AND-2A drill core recovered several stratigraphic intervals that span from Early Miocene to Pleistocene and it collected …


Aptian To Santonian Foraminiferal Biostratigraphy And Paleoenvironmental Change In The Sverdrup Basin As Revealed At Glacier Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Claudia J. Schröder-Adams, Jens O. Herrle, Ashton F. Embry, James W. Haggart, Jennifer M. Galloway, Adam T. Pugh, David M. Harwood Nov 2014

Aptian To Santonian Foraminiferal Biostratigraphy And Paleoenvironmental Change In The Sverdrup Basin As Revealed At Glacier Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Claudia J. Schröder-Adams, Jens O. Herrle, Ashton F. Embry, James W. Haggart, Jennifer M. Galloway, Adam T. Pugh, David M. Harwood

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Exceptional exposures of a High Arctic Cretaceous sedimentary record were studied at Glacier Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island. The succession reveals a complex Aptian to Santonian paleoenvironmental history of the Sverdrup Basin that documents several global events. Foraminiferal faunas in combination with rare macrofossil occurrences permit the distinction of nine zones that facilitate biostratigraphic correlations to other High Arctic locales, the Beaufort Mackenzie Basin and the Western Interior Sea. The depositional environment as exposed in the Christopher, Hassel, Bastion Ridge and Kanguk formations changed frequently from a shelf to a shoreface setting. Most sequence boundaries appear to be conformable where shoaling …


New Insights Into Skeletal Morphology Of The Oldest Known Silicoflagellates : Variramus, Cornua And Gleserocha Gen. Nov. = Nouvelles Connaissances Sur La Morphologie Du Squelette Des Plus Anciennes Silicoflagellés Connus : Variramus, Cornua Et Gleserocha Gen. Nov., Kevin Mccartney, Jakub Witkowski, David M. Harwood Jun 2014

New Insights Into Skeletal Morphology Of The Oldest Known Silicoflagellates : Variramus, Cornua And Gleserocha Gen. Nov. = Nouvelles Connaissances Sur La Morphologie Du Squelette Des Plus Anciennes Silicoflagellés Connus : Variramus, Cornua Et Gleserocha Gen. Nov., Kevin Mccartney, Jakub Witkowski, David M. Harwood

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Two of the oldest known silicoflagellate-bearing sediments, lower Albian at Ocean Drilling Program Site 693 in the Weddell Sea of Antarctica and Santonian in the Devon Island sequence of the Canadian Archipelago, are re-examined with a focus on silicoflagellate genera Variramus, Cornua, and Gleserocha that lack basal rings, a feature appearing during late Santonian/early Campanian time within the genus Corbisema. The extraordinary variability of Variramus aculeifera is studied, and a new genus Gleserocha is proposed for taxa with apical structures made of three struts, but without pikes. This new genus includes previously described Variramus wisei and Cornua …


Rapid Fluctuations In Mid-Latitude Siliceous Plankton Production During The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (Odp Site 1051, Western North Atlantic), Jakub Witkowski, Steven M. Bohaty, Kirsty M. Edgar, David M. Harwood Jan 2014

Rapid Fluctuations In Mid-Latitude Siliceous Plankton Production During The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (Odp Site 1051, Western North Atlantic), Jakub Witkowski, Steven M. Bohaty, Kirsty M. Edgar, David M. Harwood

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO; ~ 40 million years ago [Ma]) is one of the most prominent transient global warming events in the Paleogene. Although the event is well documented in geochemical and isotopic proxy records at many locations, the marine biotic response to the MECO remains poorly constrained. We present new high-resolution, quantitative records of siliceous microplankton assemblages from the MECO interval of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1051 in the subtropical western North Atlantic Ocean, which are interpreted in the context of published foraminiferal and bulk carbonate stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) records. …


Chemostratigraphy Of The Early Pliocene Diatomite Interval From Mis And-1b Core (Antarctica): Paleoenvironment Implications, Giovanna Scopelliti, Adriana Bellanca, Donata Monien, Gerhard Kuhn Jan 2013

Chemostratigraphy Of The Early Pliocene Diatomite Interval From Mis And-1b Core (Antarctica): Paleoenvironment Implications, Giovanna Scopelliti, Adriana Bellanca, Donata Monien, Gerhard Kuhn

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The AND-1B drill core (1285 m-long) was recovered, inside the ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) Program, during the austral summer of 2006/07 from beneath the floating McMurdo Ice Shelf. Drilling recovered a stratigraphic succession of alternating diamictites, diatomites and volcaniclastic sediments spanning about the last 14 Ma. A core portion between 350 and 480 mbsf, including a 80 m-thick diatomite interval recording the early Pliocene warming event, was investigated in term of opal biogenic content and element geochemistry. Across the diatomite interval, in spite of the lithological uniformity, a fluctuating biogenic opal profile mirrors the δ18O record, testifying a decrease in …


Evolution With Depth From Detrital To Authigenic Smectites In Sediments From And-2a Drill Core (Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica), Francesco Iacoviello, Giovanna Giorgetti, Fernando Nieto, Isabella Turbanti Memmi Jan 2012

Evolution With Depth From Detrital To Authigenic Smectites In Sediments From And-2a Drill Core (Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica), Francesco Iacoviello, Giovanna Giorgetti, Fernando Nieto, Isabella Turbanti Memmi

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We have examined the nature and origin of smectites in glaciomarine sediments of the AND-2A drill core (McMurdo Sound, Antarctica) by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses on the clay fraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations and SEM-EDS microanalyses on smectite particles. Relying on the smectite variation throughout the drill core it was possible to split the sequence into three units. Smectites throughout the core are either detrital or authigenic. Detrital smectites are close to montmorillonite-beidellite in composition while newly-formed smectites frequently have higher Fe-Mg contents and intermediate compositions between the saponite and nontronite …


Fragilariopsis Tigris Sp. Nov., A New Late Pliocene Antarctic Continental Shelf Diatom With Biostratigraphic Promise, Christina R. Riesselman Jan 2012

Fragilariopsis Tigris Sp. Nov., A New Late Pliocene Antarctic Continental Shelf Diatom With Biostratigraphic Promise, Christina R. Riesselman

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Anew species within the genus Fragilariopsis, F. tigris, is described and illustrated using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. This species is restricted to a single 8-meter-thick diatom unit within the 585-meter-long section of alternating diatomites and diamictites recovered in the upper portion of the ANtarctic geological DRILLing (ANDRILL) McMurdo Ice Shelf Project (MIS) AND-1B marine sediment core. This new taxon from a diverse, well-preserved diatom assemblage is inferred to be the youngest member of the well-documented, biostratigraphically useful F. praeinterfrigidariaF. interfrigidariaF. weaveri lineage and may represent a near-shore corollary to the open-ocean species …


Diatom Evidence For The Onset Of Pliocene Cooling From And-1b, Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica, Christina R. Riesselman, Robert B. Dunbar Jan 2012

Diatom Evidence For The Onset Of Pliocene Cooling From And-1b, Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica, Christina R. Riesselman, Robert B. Dunbar

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The late Pliocene, ~3.3–3.0 Ma, is the most recent interval of sustained global warmth in the geologic past. This window is the focus of climate reconstruction efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Pliocene Research, Interpretation, and Synoptic Mapping (PRISM) Data/Model Cooperative, and may provide a useful climate analog for the coming century. Reconstructions of past surface ocean conditions proximal to the Antarctic continent are essential to understanding the sensitivity of the cryosphere to this key interval in Earth’s climate evolution. An exceptional marine sediment core collected from the southwestern Ross Sea (78° S), Antarctica, during ANDRILL’s McMurdo Ice Shelf Project …


A Diatom Record Of Late Pliocene Cooling From The Ross Sea Continental Shelf, And-1b, Antarctica, Charlotte Sjunneskog, Diane Winter Jan 2012

A Diatom Record Of Late Pliocene Cooling From The Ross Sea Continental Shelf, And-1b, Antarctica, Charlotte Sjunneskog, Diane Winter

ANDRILL Research and Publications

A late Pliocene – early Pleistocene, 2.9–2.0Ma, diatom record from the Antarctic Geological Drilling Program (ANDRILL) MIS drillcore AND-1B is presented. This core, recovered from beneath the Ross Ice Shelf south of Ross Island, comprises multiple diatomaceous-sediment units deposited during interglacial periods with open water over the core site. These represent interglacial phases of orbitally paced climate cycles and are punctuated by glacial advances. Extant diatom assemblages have limited presence in the late Pliocene record, which makes environmental interpretation less straight forward. We employ modern ecological data in combination with late Pliocene to present variation in diatom assemblages across the …


Fragilariopsis Diatom Evolution In Pliocene And Pleistocene Antarctic Shelf Sediments, Charlotte Sjunneskog, Christina R. Riesselman, Diane Winter, Reed Scherer Jan 2012

Fragilariopsis Diatom Evolution In Pliocene And Pleistocene Antarctic Shelf Sediments, Charlotte Sjunneskog, Christina R. Riesselman, Diane Winter, Reed Scherer

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The late Pliocene – early Pleistocene sediment record in the AND-1B core from the McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, Antarctica, displays a rich diversity and high abundance of diatoms, including several new morphologies within the genus Fragilariopsis. These new morphologies exhibit similarities to the extinct late Miocene/early Pliocene species Fragilariopsis aurica Gersonde and Fragilariopsis praecurta Gersonde, as well as to the modern sea ice-associated species Fragilariopsis ritscheri Hustedt and Fragilariopsis obliquecostata van Heurck. From the diverse morphologies present, we use light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to identify and describe the characteristics of three new taxa, Fragilariopsis laqueata Riesselman, Fragilariopsis …


Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Andrill And-2a Drillcore, Antarctica: A Long-Term, Ice-Proximal Record Of Early To Mid-Miocene Climate, Sea-Level And Glacial Dynamism, Christopher R. Fielding, Greg H. Browne, Brad Field, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, L. A. Krissek, Richard Levy, K. Panter, Sandra Passchier, Stephen F. Pekar Jan 2011

Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Andrill And-2a Drillcore, Antarctica: A Long-Term, Ice-Proximal Record Of Early To Mid-Miocene Climate, Sea-Level And Glacial Dynamism, Christopher R. Fielding, Greg H. Browne, Brad Field, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, L. A. Krissek, Richard Levy, K. Panter, Sandra Passchier, Stephen F. Pekar

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Present understanding of Antarctic climate change during the Early to Mid-Miocene, including major cycles of glacial expansion and contraction, relies in large part on stable isotope proxies from deep sea core drilling. Here, we summarize the lithostratigraphy of the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project drillcore AND-2A. This core offers a hitherto unavailable ice-proximal stratigraphic archive from a high-accommodation continental margin setting, and provides clear evidence of repeated fluctuations in climate, ice expansion/contraction and attendant sea-level change over the period c. 20.2–14.2 Ma, with a more fragmentary record of Late Miocene and Pliocene time. The core is divided into seventy-four high-frequency …


Late Cenozoic Oscillations Of Antarctic Ice Sheets Revealed By Provenance Of Basement Clasts And Grain Detrital Modes In Andrill Core And-1b, Franco M. Talarico, Robert M. Mckay, Ross D. Powell, Sonia Sandroni, Tim Naish Jan 2011

Late Cenozoic Oscillations Of Antarctic Ice Sheets Revealed By Provenance Of Basement Clasts And Grain Detrital Modes In Andrill Core And-1b, Franco M. Talarico, Robert M. Mckay, Ross D. Powell, Sonia Sandroni, Tim Naish

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Petrological investigations of the sand fraction and of granule- to cobble-sized clasts in the Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary cycles of the AND-1B drill core at the NW edge of the Ross Ice Shelf (McMurdo Sound) highlight significant down-core modal and compositional variations. These variations provide: (i) direct information about potential source regions during both glacial maxima and minima; and (ii) evidence of an evolving provenance, documented by long-term shifts in compositional patterns that can be interpreted as reflecting variations in ice volume and ice sheet thermal regimes and changes in paleogeography related to the emergence of several volcanic centers during the deposition …


New Integrated Data Analyses Software Components, Ronald Conze, Frank Krysiak, Josh Reed, Yu-Chung Chen, Hans-Joachim Wallrabe-Adams, Colin Graham, New Jersey Shallow Shelf Science Team, Volker Wennrich, Lake El’Gygytgyn Science Team Mar 2010

New Integrated Data Analyses Software Components, Ronald Conze, Frank Krysiak, Josh Reed, Yu-Chung Chen, Hans-Joachim Wallrabe-Adams, Colin Graham, New Jersey Shallow Shelf Science Team, Volker Wennrich, Lake El’Gygytgyn Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Data management in scientific drilling programs such as the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), and the Antarctic Drilling Program (ANDRILL) performs two functions: firstly, the capture of drilling and scientific data during an expedition, and secondly, the long-term storage and dissemination of these data. Here we describe the progress in linking data management with stand-alone data capture and visualization applications. This provides a two-way flow of data between the database and the applications, and a more integrated data environment for scientists. The new system has been tested, so far, with cores from the …


Selection Of Andrill Papers Jan 2010

Selection Of Andrill Papers

ANDRILL Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Heat Flow And Hydrologic Characteristics At The And-1b Borehole, Andrill Mcmurdo Ice Shelf Project, Antarctica, Roger H. Morin, Trevor Williams, Stuart A. Henrys, Diana Magens, Frank Niessen, Dhiresh Hansaraj Jan 2010

Heat Flow And Hydrologic Characteristics At The And-1b Borehole, Andrill Mcmurdo Ice Shelf Project, Antarctica, Roger H. Morin, Trevor Williams, Stuart A. Henrys, Diana Magens, Frank Niessen, Dhiresh Hansaraj

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The Antarctic Drilling Program (ANDRILL) successfully drilled and cored
a borehole, AND-1B, beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf and into a flexural moat basin that surrounds Ross Island. Total drilling depth reached 1285 m below seafloor (mbsf) with 98 percent core recovery for the detailed study of glacier dynamics. With the goal of obtaining complementary information regarding heat flow and permeability, which is vital to understanding the nature of marine hydrogeologic systems, a succession of three temperature logs was recorded over a five-day span to monitor the gradual thermal recovery toward equilibrium conditions. These data were extrapolated to true, undisturbed temperatures, …


40Ar–39Ar Dating Of Volcanogenic Products From The And-2a Core (Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica): Correlations With The Erebus Volcanic Province And Implications For The Age Model Of The Core, Gianfranco Di Vincenzo, Laura Bracciali, Paola Del Carlo, Kurt Panter, Sergio Rocchi Jan 2010

40Ar–39Ar Dating Of Volcanogenic Products From The And-2a Core (Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica): Correlations With The Erebus Volcanic Province And Implications For The Age Model Of The Core, Gianfranco Di Vincenzo, Laura Bracciali, Paola Del Carlo, Kurt Panter, Sergio Rocchi

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The AND-2A drillcore (Antarctic Drilling Program—ANDRILL) was successfully completed in late 2007 on the Antarctic continental margin (Southern McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea) with the aim of tracking ice proximal to shallow marine environmental fluctuations and to document the 20-Ma evolution of the Erebus Volcanic Province. Lava clasts and tephra layers from the AND-2A drillcore were investigated from a petrographic and stratigraphic point of view and analyzed by the 40Ar–39Ar laser technique in order to constrain the age model of the core and to gain information on the style and nature of sediment deposition in the Victoria Land …


The Upper Lithostratigraphic Unit Of Andrill And-2a Core (Southern Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica): Local Pleistocene Volcanic Sources, Paleoenvironmental Implications And Subsidence In The Southern Victoria Land Basin, Paola Del Carlo, Kurt Panter, Kari Bassett, Laura Bracciali, Gianfranco Di Vincenzo, Sergio Rocchi Nov 2009

The Upper Lithostratigraphic Unit Of Andrill And-2a Core (Southern Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica): Local Pleistocene Volcanic Sources, Paleoenvironmental Implications And Subsidence In The Southern Victoria Land Basin, Paola Del Carlo, Kurt Panter, Kari Bassett, Laura Bracciali, Gianfranco Di Vincenzo, Sergio Rocchi

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We report results from the study of the uppermost 37 m of the Southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) AND-2A drill core, corresponding to the lithostratigraphic unit 1 (LSU 1), the most volcanogenic unit within the core. We present data on the age, composition, volcanological and depositional features of the volcanic sedimentary and tephra deposits of LSU 1 and discuss their source, mechanisms of emplacement and environment of deposition.

Sedimentary features and compositional data indicate shallow water sedimentation for the whole of LSU 1. Most of LSU 1 deposits are a mixture of near primary volcanic material with minor exotic clasts derived …


Provenance Signatures Of The Antarctic Ice Sheets In The Ross Embayment During The Late Miocene To Early Pliocene: The Andrill And-1b Core Record, Franco M. Talarico, Sonia Sandroni Nov 2009

Provenance Signatures Of The Antarctic Ice Sheets In The Ross Embayment During The Late Miocene To Early Pliocene: The Andrill And-1b Core Record, Franco M. Talarico, Sonia Sandroni

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Significant down-core modal and compositional variations are described for granule- to cobble-sized clasts in the Early Pliocene to Middle/Late Miocene sedimentary cycles of the AND-1B drill core at the NW edge of the Ross Ice Shelf (McMurdo Sound).

Long-term shifts in compositional patterns outline an evolving provenance which is interpreted as reflecting the combined effects and complex interactions among variations in ice volume, ice flow patterns and paleogeographic changes linked to the local tectonic and volcanic activity. High-frequency variations and the petrological features of the basement clast fraction provide direct information about the potential source regions during both glacial maxima …


Modeling West Antarctic Ice Sheet Growth And Collapse Through The Past Five Million Years, David Pollard, Robert M. Deconto Mar 2009

Modeling West Antarctic Ice Sheet Growth And Collapse Through The Past Five Million Years, David Pollard, Robert M. Deconto

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS), with ice volume equivalent to ~5 m of sea level, has long been considered capable of past and future catastrophic collapse. Today, the ice sheet is fringed by vulnerable floating ice shelves that buttress the fast flow of inland ice streams. Grounding lines are several hundred meters below sea level and the bed deepens upstream, raising the prospect of runaway retreat. Projections of future WAIS behavior have been hampered by limited understanding of past variations and their underlying forcing mechanisms. Its variation since the Last Glacial Maximum is best known, with grounding lines advancing …


New Seismic Methods To Support Sea-Ice Platform Drilling, M. A. Speece, Richard Levy, D. M. Harwood, Stephen F. Pekar, R. D. Powell Jan 2009

New Seismic Methods To Support Sea-Ice Platform Drilling, M. A. Speece, Richard Levy, D. M. Harwood, Stephen F. Pekar, R. D. Powell

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The ANtarctic geological DRILLing Program (ANDRILL) is currently a consortium of five nations (Germany, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America). By drilling, coring and analyzing stratigraphic archives along the Antarctic continental margin, ANDRILL pursues its primary goal of better understanding the role the Antarctic cryosphere plays in the global climate system (Harwood et al., 2006). The ANDRILL drilling system was developed to operate on both ice shelf and sea-ice platforms (Harwood et al., 2006; Falconer et al., 2007; Naish et al., 2007; Florindo et al., 2008). While thick multiyear sea ice provides stable and …


Provenance Of Pleistocene Sediments In The Andrill And-1b Drillcore: Clay And Heavy Mineral Data, Giovanna Giorgetti, Franco M. Talarico, Sonia Sandroni, Antonio Zeoli Jan 2009

Provenance Of Pleistocene Sediments In The Andrill And-1b Drillcore: Clay And Heavy Mineral Data, Giovanna Giorgetti, Franco M. Talarico, Sonia Sandroni, Antonio Zeoli

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The cryosphere in the McMurdo Sound region has undergone significant modifications during the last 1 Ma. Consequently, the sedimentary sequences underlying the modern McMurdo Ice-Shelf provide geological data to reconstruct variations in transport and depositional mechanisms of terrigenous material due to variations in ice sheet extension, grounding line position and main icestream flow directions during glacial and interglacial periods. The present study aims to investigate the clay and heavy mineral assemblages of the late Pleistocene subglacial and glaciomarine sediments recovered during the ANDRILL-McMurdo Ice Shelf Project in Windless Bight (South of Ross Island). The analyses show that the sediments are …


Significance Of The Trace Fossil Zoophycos In Pliocene Deposits, Antarctic Continental Margin (Andrill 1b Drill Core), Molly F. Miller, Ellen A. Cowan, Simon H. H. Nielsen Jan 2009

Significance Of The Trace Fossil Zoophycos In Pliocene Deposits, Antarctic Continental Margin (Andrill 1b Drill Core), Molly F. Miller, Ellen A. Cowan, Simon H. H. Nielsen

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Zoophycos is a complex three dimensional trace fossil that is abundant in deep ocean sediments worldwide, but has not been described previously from Cenozoic continental margin deposits of Antarctica. In the ANDRILL 1B core drilled through the north-west McMurdo ice shelf, Zoophycos occurs in a 17m thick unit of interglacial sediments bounded above and below by glacial surfaces of erosion. This unit was deposited during the transition from the relatively warm Early Pliocene characterized by productive open waters to the cooler Late Pliocene with fluctuating subpolar ice sheets. Globally, Late Cenozoic Zoophycos are most abundant at great depths (.1000 m), …


Andrill’S Success During The 4th International Polar Year, Fabio Florindo, David M. Harwood, Richard Levy, Sms Project Science Team Jul 2008

Andrill’S Success During The 4th International Polar Year, Fabio Florindo, David M. Harwood, Richard Levy, Sms Project Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

One of the scientific programs of the Fourth International Polar Year (Allison et al., 2007;www.ipy.org), the ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) Program demonstrated ability to recover high quality marine and glacimarine sedi­mentary drill cores from high latitude ice-covered areas. ANDRILL’s inaugural 2006 and 2007 drilling seasons resulted in the two deepest drill holes on the Antarctic conti­nental margin, recovering 2,400 meters of high-quality and nearly continuous sediment core. A chief scientific objective of this collaborative effort of scientists, engineers, techni­cians, students, educators, drillers and support personnel from Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States is the recovery of sedimentary archives …


Sediment Cores Reveal Antarctica’S Warmer Past, Quirin Schiermeier May 2008

Sediment Cores Reveal Antarctica’S Warmer Past, Quirin Schiermeier

ANDRILL Research and Publications

A unique drilling project in the western Ross Sea has revealed that Antarctica had a much more eventful climate history than previously assumed. A new sediment core hints that the western part of the now-frozen continent went through prolonged ice-free phases — presumably offering a glimpse of where our warming world might be heading. Researchers reported initial results from ANDRILL, a US$30-million international drilling project, on April 16 at the assembly of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna. During the past two years, the team has extracted two cores, each containing some 1,200 meters of sediment, from the seabed below …


Preliminary Integrated Chronostratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, J. Crampton, G. Di Vincenzo, Christopher R. Fielding, F. Florindo, M. Hannah, D. M. Harwood, S. Ishman, K. Johnson, L. Jovane, Richard Levy, B. Lum, M. C. Marcano, S. Mukasa, C. Ohneiser, M. P. Olney, C. Riesselman, L. Sagnotti, C. Stefano, E. Strada, M. Taviani, E. Tuzzi, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, M. Zattin, Andrill-Sms Science Team Jan 2008

Preliminary Integrated Chronostratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, J. Crampton, G. Di Vincenzo, Christopher R. Fielding, F. Florindo, M. Hannah, D. M. Harwood, S. Ishman, K. Johnson, L. Jovane, Richard Levy, B. Lum, M. C. Marcano, S. Mukasa, C. Ohneiser, M. P. Olney, C. Riesselman, L. Sagnotti, C. Stefano, E. Strada, M. Taviani, E. Tuzzi, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, M. Zattin, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We use all available chronostratigraphic constraints – biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, radioisotopic dates, strontium-isotope stratigraphy, and correlation of compositional and physical properties to well-dated global or regional records – to construct a preliminary age model for ANDRILL SMS Project’s AND-2A drillcore (77°45.488’S, 165°16.605’E, 383.57 m water depth). These diverse chronostratigraphic constraints are consistent with each other and are distributed throughout the 1138.54 m-thick section, resulting in a well-constrained age model. The sedimentary succession comprises a thick early and middle Miocene section below 224.82 mbsf and a condensed middle/late Miocene to Recent section above this. The youngest sediments are Brunhes age (<0.781 Ma), as confirmed by a radioisotopic age of 0.691±0.049 Ma at 10.23 mbsf and the occurrence of sediments that have normal magnetic polarity down to ~31.1 mbsf, which is interpreted to be the Brunhes/Matuyama reversal (0.781 Ma). The upper section is punctuated by disconformities resulting from both discontinuous deposition and periods of extensive erosion typical of sedimentary environments at the margin of a dynamic ice sheet. Additional breaks in the section may be due to the influence of tectonic processes. The age model incorporates several major hiatuses but their precise depths are still somewhat uncertain, as there are a large number of erosional surfaces identified within the stratigraphic section. One or more hiatuses, which represent a total 7 to 8 million years of time missing from the sedimentary record, occur between about 50 mbsf and the base of Lithostratigraphic Unit (LSU) 3 at 122.86 mbsf. Similarly, between about 145 mbsf and the base of LSU 4 at 224.82 mbsf, one or more hiatuses occur on which another 2 to 3 million years of the sedimentary record is missing. Support for the presence of these hiatuses comes from a diatom assemblage that constrains the age of the core from 44 to 50 mbsf to 2.06-2.84 Ma, two radioisotopic dates (11.4 Ma) and a Sr‑isotope date (11.7 Ma) that indicate the interval from 127 to 145 mbsf was deposited between 11.4 and 11.7 Ma, and three diatom occurrence datums from between 225.38 and 278.55 mbsf that constrain the age of this upper part of Lithostratigraphic Unit (LSU) 5 to 14.29 - 15.89 Ma. Below the boundary between LSU 5 and 6 sedimentation was relatively continuous and rapid and the age model is well-constrained by 9 diatom datums, seven 40 …


Operations Overview For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, T. Falconer, A. Pyne, D. Wilson, Richard Levy, S. Nielsen, S. Petrushak, Andrill-Sms Science Team Jan 2008

Operations Overview For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, T. Falconer, A. Pyne, D. Wilson, Richard Levy, S. Nielsen, S. Petrushak, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the austral spring of 2007-08, a 1138 metre (m)-long rock and sediment core (ANDRILL [AND]-2A) was recovered from beneath the land-fast sea-ice in southern McMurdo Sound (SMS) in 384 m of water. A custom-built drilling system comprising an UDR-1200 rig, jack-up platform, hot water drill, sea riser, and diamond-bit wireline coring string was set up on the sea-ice approximately 32 kilometres (km) from Scott Base (NZ) and McMurdo Station (USA). The drilling system employed technology developed to handle challenging environmental conditions, including drilling from an 8 metre-thick sea-ice ‘platform’ that moved both laterally and vertically, tidal currents, and high …


Physical Properties Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Gavin B. Dunbar, C. Atkins, D. Magens, F. Niessen, Andrill-Sms Science Team Jan 2008

Physical Properties Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Gavin B. Dunbar, C. Atkins, D. Magens, F. Niessen, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

Whole-core measurements of Wet Bulk Density (WBD), compressional (P)-wave velocity (Vp), and Magnetic Susceptibility were measured at a sampling interval of 1 or 2 centimetres (cm) throughout the AND-2A drill core for initial core characterisation and on-site correlation with seismic modeling to predict target-reflector depth. Measurements were made using a GEOTEK (Multi-Sensor-Core-Logger MSCL). Density and velocity standards were measured together with core runs of 3-6 metres (m) (and occasionally up to 18 m) throughout the entire depth range to monitor data quality. Drift of the magnetic susceptibility sensor was also monitored and corrected where necessary. These physical properties show a …


Palaeomagnetism Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, F. Florindo, L. Jovane, B. Lum, C. Ohneiser, L. Sagnotti, E. Strada, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, Andrill-Sms Science Team Jan 2008

Palaeomagnetism Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, G. Acton, F. Florindo, L. Jovane, B. Lum, C. Ohneiser, L. Sagnotti, E. Strada, K. L. Verosub, G. S. Wilson, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

We conducted initial palaeomagnetic studies on cores from site AND-2A (77°45.488’S, 165°16.605’E, ~383.57 metres water depth). A total of 813 samples were collected that span from the top of the section down to the base at 1138.54 metres below sea floor (mbsf). Samples were collected every one or two metres down the core, with paired (pilot) samples being collected about every ten to twenty metres to allow us to assess the demagnetisation behaviour of the samples using either alternating field (AF) or thermal demagnetisation. With the exception of only a few intervals, AF demagnetisation was observed to resolve a characteristic …


Sedimentology And Stratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Christopher R. Fielding, C. B. Atkins, K. N. Bassett, G. H. Browne, G. B. Dunbar, B. D. Field, Tracy D. Frank, L. A. Krissek, K. S. Panter, S. Passchier, S. F. Pekar, S. Sandroni, F. Talarico, Andrill-Sms Science Team Jan 2008

Sedimentology And Stratigraphy Of The And-2a Core, Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, Christopher R. Fielding, C. B. Atkins, K. N. Bassett, G. H. Browne, G. B. Dunbar, B. D. Field, Tracy D. Frank, L. A. Krissek, K. S. Panter, S. Passchier, S. F. Pekar, S. Sandroni, F. Talarico, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

During the 2007 – 2008 austral spring season, the ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project recovered a core 1138 metres long (AND-2A) from a location in the southern McMurdo Sound near the Dailey Islands. This core contains a range of lithologies, including various types of terrigenous clastic diamictite, conglomerate and breccia, sandstone and mudrocks, volcanic lava, pyroclastic and reworked volcanic sedimentary rocks, and diatomite. The succession is divided into fourteen lithostratigraphic units (LSUs), two of which (LSUs 1 and 8) are further subdivided into three and four sub-units, respectively, based on changes in abundance of lithologies. Thirteen lithofacies are recognized, ranging …


Explanatory Notes For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, Richard Levy, G. Acton, Christopher R. Fielding, K. Panter, T. Paulsen, F. Sangiorgi, F. Talarico, M. Taviani, V. Willmott, Andrill-Sms Science Team Jan 2008

Explanatory Notes For The Andrill Southern Mcmurdo Sound Project, Antarctica, F. Florindo, D. M. Harwood, Richard Levy, G. Acton, Christopher R. Fielding, K. Panter, T. Paulsen, F. Sangiorgi, F. Talarico, M. Taviani, V. Willmott, Andrill-Sms Science Team

ANDRILL Research and Publications

This Explanatory Notes section complements and supports four other documents, which collectively describe the process and procedures of scientific investigations employed during the ANDRILL SMS Project: (1) ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project - Scientific Prospectus (ANDRILL contribution 5 - Harwood et al., 2005); (2) a Science Plan summary of SMS Project research compiled from research proposals of Science Team menbers (available on the SMS Project ‘Science Drive’ – Harwood et al., 2007); (3) SMS Project Science Logistics Implementation Plan (SLIP) - draft documents developed and distributed to SMS team members prior to deployment; (4) Operations overview – Falconer et al., …