Detrital age spectra and petrological analysis of gravel-size clasts of the Oligocene-early Miocene glaciomarine sediments of the DSDP drilling Site 270, Central Ross Sea, Antarctica

Cite as:

Olivetti, Valerio; Balestrieri, Maria Laura; Chew, David; Zurli, Luca; Zattin, Massimiliano; Pace, Donato; Drakou, Foteini; Cornamusini, Gianluca; Perotti, Matteo (2023): Detrital age spectra and petrological analysis of gravel-size clasts of the Oligocene-early Miocene glaciomarine sediments of the DSDP drilling Site 270, Central Ross Sea, Antarctica. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/fidgeo.2022.040

Status

I N R E V I E W : Olivetti, Valerio; Balestrieri, Maria Laura; Chew, David; Zurli, Luca; Zattin, Massimiliano; Pace, Donato; Drakou, Foteini; Cornamusini, Gianluca; Perotti, Matteo (2023): Detrital age spectra and petrological analysis of gravel-size clasts of the Oligocene-early Miocene glaciomarine sediments of the DSDP drilling Site 270, Central Ross Sea, Antarctica. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/fidgeo.2022.040

Abstract

This data-set contains provenance detrital data from the glacimarine sequence of Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 270. The 270 site was cored on a flank of the Central High in the central Ross Sea and recovered a thick Oligocene to lower Miocene glacimarine sequence, overlain by ~20 m of Pliocene to Recent strata. This site provides important temporal constraints on regional stratigraphy and insights into late Oligocene to early Miocene ice sheet dynamics. We analyzed eight detrital samples of glaciomarine sediments distributed along the core and two from the basement rocks recovered during coring, by using an integrated single-grain provenance approach. This multi-proxy provenance study employs conventional U-Pb detrital zircon dating integrated with apatite U-Pb and fission-track dating and trace element analysis of detrital apatite and clast petrology. The data-set suggests a general evolution from local erosion due to small ice caps to far-travelled glacial detritus responding to the continuous sea floor subsidence. The detrital age spectra of a late Oligocene diamicitite is consistent with far travelled grains from southern West Antarctica (WA), suggesting an expansion of the WA ice sheet that should be the oldest and first evidence of ice sheet growth on the WA.

Authors

Olivetti, Valerio;Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
Balestrieri, Maria Laura;CNR, Institute of Geoscience and Earth Resources
Chew, David;Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Ireland
Zurli, Luca;Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena
Zattin, Massimiliano;Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
Pace, Donato;Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena
Drakou, Foteini;Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Ireland
Cornamusini, Gianluca;Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena
Perotti, Matteo;Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena

Contact

Balestrieri, Maria Laura (Senior Researcher) ; CNR, Institute of Geoscience and Earth Resources;

Keywords

Provenance analysis, Apatite and zircon U-Pb dating, Antarctica, Ice Sheet evolution, compound material > rock, compound material > sedimentary material, Phanerozoic > Cenozoic > Neogene