Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
Date of this Version
1984
Abstract
Three of the six Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Leg 77 sites drilled in the western approaches to the Straits of Florida yielded thick sequences of Cenozoic sediment rich in calcareous nannofossils. Hiatuses are prominent in each of these continuously cored intervals. A prominent upper Oligocene hiatus, observed at each of these three sites, can be correlated to a large-scale "global" regression event. Other disconformable horizons present in the study area cannot be positively related to sealevel fluctuations and may be caused by a number of factors including local tectonic activity. Paleogene sections are generally marked by thick accumulations within the upper Oligocene Sphenolithus ciperoensis Zone and by a pronounced braarudosphaerid-holococcolith bloom recorded in the lower Oligocene and upper Eocene. This bloom is particularly well developed at Site 540. All samples examined contain abundant nannofossils. Preservation fluctuates throughout the sections from good to poor.
Comments
Published in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (1984) 77: 629-648. Paper number 26. Copyright 1984, Deep Sea Drilling Project. Used by permission.