Collaborative Research: Initial Palynological Characterization of Cape Roberts Drill Cores

摘要Cape Roberts项目（CRP）旨在对罗斯海西部海底沉积物进行岩心取心，其年龄范围为中晚白垩世-中新世早期。四个500米长的钻井岩心将从一个漂浮在水深100至500米的年度海冰平台上取下。这些岩心将在两个为期45天的钻探季节（1996年10月至11月和1997年11月）对1500米厚的复合地层剖面进行取样。船载地球物理调查发现了一套被解释为白垩纪-中新世的倾斜沉积地层。一层薄薄的较年轻的沉积物覆盖在这些岩层上。这个年龄范围的岩石在罗斯海、横贯南极山脉或东南极洲的其他地方都没有发现。因此，这一时代的沉积物对于解释白垩纪-新生代的南极地质、生物、气候和构造历史具有重要意义。CRP的目标包括获得晚白垩世-新生代古气候记录，研究冰川-去冰旋回和游鼓旋回，确定罗斯海海湾的冈瓦纳破裂和裂谷史。每个钻探地点将进行岩心描述和井下实验。一个由生物地层学家、沉积学家、磁地层学家、岩石学家等组成的国际团队将在南极洲罗斯岛麦克默多站设备齐全的克拉瑞科学与工程中心（CSEC）进行钻探期间和之后的岩心及其成分的初步表征。对在罗斯海海湾钻探的较年轻的罗斯海序列进行生物地层学和古环境解释，礁岩已被证明是非常宝贵的工具。它们既有海相（藻囊）类型，也有非海相（孢子、花粉）类型，记录了广泛多样的地质信息，保存在不同古环境下形成的多种岩相中。该奖项支持该公司与新西兰孢粉学家合作，对CRP钻芯进行初步孢粉学表征。所有样品将在CSEC中使用聚焦微波消化装置进行处理，以达到最大的安全性和效率。分析将集中在提供孢粉学输入，以所有微化石群为基础，建立一个综合的生物地层学和古环境框架。这一关键框架对于未来在岩心和钻探区域进行的所有地质、地球物理和古生物学研究都具有根本性的重要性。孢粉学也将为CRP的主要目标提供重要的数据：气候变化、海平面上升、热史和构造史。未来的孢粉学研究将包括古环境、植被和气候变化、分类、南方海洋和陆地植物区系的演化、特有、扩散和古生物地理以及灭绝事件等主题。

Wrenn OPP 9527075 Askin OPP 9527013 Abstract The Cape Roberts Project (CRP) is designed to core submarine deposits in the western Ross Sea that range in age from middle Late Cretaceous-early Miocene. Four, 500m long drillcores will be taken from a platform of annual sea ice floating in water depths ranging from 100 to 500m. The cores will sample a composite stratigraphic section 1500m thick during two, 45-day-long drilling seasons (October-November 1996 and 1997). Shipboard geophysical surveys have identified a package of dipping sedimentary strata interpreted to be Cretaceous-Miocene in age. A thin blanket of younger sediments overlies these beds. Rocks of this age range are not known from the Ross Sea, the Transantarctic Mountains or elsewhere in East Antarctica. Thus, recovered sediments of this age have prime importance for interpreting Antarctic geologic, biologic, climatic and tectonic history during the Cretaceous-Cenozoic. Objectives of CRP include obtaining a late Cretaceous-Cenozoic paleoclimatic record, studying glacial-deglacial and eustasy cycles, and determining the Gondwana breakup and rifting history of the Ross Sea embayment. Core description and downhole experiments will be conducted at each drill site. An international team of biostratigraphers, sedimentologists, magnetostratigraphers, petrologists, etc. will conduct initial characterization of the cores and their constituents during and immediately following drilling at the fully equipped Crary Science and Engineering Center (CSEC), McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica. Palynomorphs have proven to be invaluable tools for biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental interpretation of younger Ross Sea sequences drilled in the Ross Sea Embayment. They include both marine (dinocysts) and nonmarine (spores, pollen) types, record extensive and diverse geologic information, and are preserved in a wide variety of lithofacies formed in various paleoenvironments. This award suppor ts initial palynological characterization of the CRP drillcores, in collaboration with New Zealand palynologists. All samples will be processed in the CSEC using a focused mircowave digestion unit for maximum safety and effieciency. Analyses will focus on providing palynological input for an integrated biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental framework based on all microfossils groups present. This critical framework is of fundamental importance to all future geologic, geophysical and paleontologic studies conducted on the cores and in the drilling area. Palynology will also provide vital data for prime CRP objectives: climate change, eustasy, and thermal and tectonic history. Future palynologic studies of the cores include such topics as paleoenvironments, vegetational and climatic change, taxonomy, evolution of southern marine and terrestrial floras, endemism, dispersal and paleobiogeography, and extinction events.