Skeletal and isotopic composition and paleoclimatic significance of late Pleistocene carbonates, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Journal of Sedimentary Petrology; (United States)

OSTI ID:6427865

Taviani, M ^[1]; Reid, D E; Anderson, J B ^[2]

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1. Ist. per la Geologia Marina, Bologna (Italy)
2. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)

Carbonates cover an extensive area of the northwestern Ross Sea continental shelf. Radiocarbon dates yield late Pleistocene (stage 3) ages for these deposits, hence the carbonates appear to be correlative with widespread tills and glacial marine deposits in the region. Four carbonate facies are recognized on the basis of skeletal composition: a barnacle/foraminifer facies, a muddy bryozoan facies, a bryozoan/barnacle/pelecypod/foraminifer facies, and a planktonic foraminiferal facies. These deposits occur on the shelf and upper slope, while carbonate turbidities derived from them occur on the adjacent continental slope and rise. Compositional analyses of Ross Sea carbonates lend support to previously recognized criteria for identifying cold water carbonates. These include: (1) the presence of an associated ice-rafted component (including dropstones); (2) a dominance of calcite relative to other carbonate minerals (the remaining fraction consists solely of aragonite); (3) allochems that are entirely skeletal; and (4) heavy oxygen isotopic compositions (in the range of +3.0 to +5.1% PDB).

• OSTI ID: 6427865
• Journal Information: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology; (United States), Vol. 63:1; ISSN 0022-4472
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
ANTARCTICA
CONTINENTAL SHELF
CARBONATE ROCKS
GEOCHEMISTRY
ISOTOPE DATING
STRATIGRAPHY
BRYOZOA
DEPOSITION
FORAMINIFERA
FOSSILS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
ISOTOPE RATIO
MOLLUSCS
OXYGEN ISOTOPES
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
PLANKTON
PLEISTOCENE EPOCH
SEDIMENTS
AGE ESTIMATION
ANIMALS
ANTARCTIC REGIONS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CENOZOIC ERA
CHEMISTRY
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CRYOSPHERE
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGY
INVERTEBRATES
ISOTOPES
MICROORGANISMS
PALEONTOLOGY
POLAR REGIONS
PROTOZOA
QUATERNARY PERIOD
ROCKS
SARCODINA
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
580000* - Geosciences