Monday, 27 August 2007
1.PS-16
Early Pliocene circum-Antarctic warming between 3.5 and 3.7Ma recorded in sediments from ODP Sites 1165 (prydz Bay) and 1095 and 1096 (Antarctic Peninsula)
Carlota Escutia1, Maria Angeles Barcena2, Renata Lucchi3, Oscar Romero1, and Anne Marie Ballageer2. (1) Instituto Anadaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Fuentenueva s/n, Granada, Spain, (2) Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain, (3) GRC Geociències Marines, Departament d'Estratigrafia, P. i Geociències Marines, Universidad de Barcelona, C/ Martí i Franquès, s/n, Barcelona, Spain
Preliminary results from diatom sedimentological and biostratigraphic analyses conducted in cores recovered from the continental rise during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Legs 178 (Antarctic Peninsula) and 188 (Prydz Bay) show evidence for warming intervals between 3.6 and 3.8 Ma. Our preliminary results confirm the warming event previously reported from Prydz Bay at 3.7 Ma and show evidence for the same event in the Antarctic Peninsula, which implies the event was of continent-wide significance. Results from ongoing analyses of opal, clay mineralogy and elemental analysis, will likely give us a further insight into the nature of this warming event.