Cold-water coral mound genesis: IODP Leg 307 and Pleistocene Mediterranean occurrences

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For the first time, sedimentary sequences through a giant carbonate mound and adjacent off-mound areas were drilled on IODP Exp. 307 ¿Modern Carbonate Mounds: Porcupine Drilling¿. Preliminary results show that the mound evolution is enhanced by the presence of sediment-trapping cold-water corals from the beginning of mound growth in the Early Pleistocene. Indications for hydrocarbon seepage on mound evolution are weak so far. This proposal intends to investigate coral mound evolution as a mirror of biological, sedimentological and palaeoceanographic interactions during the past 2 Ma years based on on-mound and off-mound IODP core sections. For comparison, the excellently preserved La Montagna Mound, Sicily (Plio-Pleistocene) will be included in this study. By applying microfacies, XRD, stable isotope analyses added by biostratigraphic and ESRdating techniques, a first sequence-stratigraphic model for the deep cold-water carbonate factory will be developed as endproduct.