Reed Scherer, Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, Diane Winter, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Geosciences, Lincoln, NE 68588, Charlotte Sjunneskog, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, and Paola Maffioli, Department of Geological Sciences and Geotechnologies, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
The inaugural drilling season of ANDRILL, recovered a 1,285 m core, AND-1B, with ~99% recovery. The core contains a superb record of Antarctic continental shelf sediments, providing an unparalleled record of climate change through a critical interval in Earth history. The upper c. 600m of core, reflecting Pliocene and early Pleistocene deposition, is composed of alternating glacial diamictites and diatomites, with episodic volcanic facies. The diatomites document extended periods of open marine conditions with reduced ice, in an area currently covered by a thick ice shelf. The diatomites reflect high biosiliceous productivity, and most reflect warmer than present conditions with variable sea ice and ice rafting. Many likely represent an absence of a large ice shelf, whereas diamictites reflect glacial advances. Analysis of the diatom assemblages will result in a new biostratigraphic zonation and high resolution paleoenvironmental reconstructions.
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