Late Oligocene to Pliocene sea-level cycle events in the Baltimore Canyon Trough and Western North Atlantic Basin

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:6904298

Melillo, A J

Biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic analyses are used to construct a record of sea-level cycle events and to determine the relationship between these events and /sup 18/O inferred paleotemperature changes. Upper Oligocene to lower Miocene marine sediments in the Baltimore Canyon Trough off New Jersey are overlain by a middle(.) Miocene to upper Pliocene deltaic complex. A late Oligocene decrease in paleobathymetry in the Baltimore Canyon Trough may correspond to a glacial ice-volume inferred ..delta../sup 18/O increase in planktic and benthic foraminifera at DSDP Site 563. An early Miocene rise of sea-level in the Baltimore Canyon Trough is correlated with a decrease in foraminiferal ..delta../sup 18/O values at Site 563. A sea-level fall allows this event in the Baltimore Canyon Trough during the late early Miocene. A hiatus corresponding to this interval is present at Site 563. A decrease in ..delta../sup 18/O values at Site 563 in the upper middle Miocene suggests a decrease in glacial ice-volume. A corresponding marine incursion in the upper middle Miocene interrupted deltaic deposition in the distal parts of the Baltimore Canyon Trough. A gradual change in the benthic foraminiferal assemblage at Site 563 begins prior to, and continues after, a major increase in benthic ..delta../sup 18/O values in the early middle Miocene and, thus, does not appear to have been initiated by the shift. Increases in the abundance of the mid-latitude planktic foraminifer Globorotalia miozea at Site 563 are inversely correlated with changes in surface water paleo-temperatures inferred from /sup 18/O data.

• Research Organization: Rutgers--the State Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6904298
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580500* -- Oceanography-- (1980-1989)
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BALTIMORE CANYON
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FOSSILS
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGY
GLACIERS
ICE
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LITHOLOGY
NUCLEI
OCEANOGRAPHY
OXYGEN 18
OXYGEN ISOTOPES
PALEONTOLOGY
PALEOTEMPERATURE
SEAS
SEDIMENTS
STABLE ISOTOPES
STRATIGRAPHY
SURFACE WATERS