Cenozoic Cool-water Carbonates of the Great Australian Bight : Reading the Record of Southern Ocean Evolution, Sealevel, Paleoclimate, and Biogenic Production : Revised ODP Proposal - December 1994

• Other Authors: Australian Geological Survey Organisation (publisher), Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) (distributor), Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) (owner), Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) (pointOfContact), ED (hasAssociationWith), Feary, D.A. (author), James, N.P. (author), Manager Client Services (custodian), McGowran, P. (author), PRODUCTS (custodian)
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: geoscientificInformation; GA Publication; Record; geology; marine; EARTH SCIENCES; Published_External; Southern Ocean
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/cenozoic-cool-water-december-1994/688746; https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/14784

Maintenance and Update Frequency: unknown Statement: Legacy product, lineage not available This proposal advocates the drilling of a transect of holes across the southern continental margin of Australia; the largest cool-water carbonate shelf on Earth today. This latitude-parallel shelf along the northern margin of the Southern Ocean contains fundamental geological and paleoceanographic information of global geodynamic, sedimentological, paleobiological, and paleoclimatological importance. The major objectives of this proposal are: 1) to ascertain the way in which a large, high- to mid-latitude shelf carbonate platform evolved throughout the past 65 m.y. in response to oceanographic and biotic change; and 2) to extract information contained in the carbonate sediments detailing global sealevel fluctuations, physical and chemical paleo-ocean dynamics, biotic evolution, hydrology, and diagenesis. Furthermore, because of architectural and compositional similarities with many older Phanerozoic carbonate platforms, the results from the proposed drilling would be of tremendous importance for the actualistic modelling of ancient open platforms and ramps. Offshore seismic data and limited drillhole information indicate that the margin has been the site of dominantly cool-water carbonate shelf deposition since the Eocene, and show a detailed accretionary history of progradation, erosion, and biogenic mound growth. The subsidence history is relatively simple, resulting in a 1 km-thick Cenozoic section. Onshore exposures provide a basis for predictive analysis of the offshore sequences identified in seismic sections, and confirm that the sediments are predominantly soft, friable, and abundantly fossiliferous. A shallow shelf to deep continental rise transect of 12 holes is proposed, located to penetrate inner shelf, outer shelf, upper slope, upper slope terrace, and continental rise settings. The primary drilling objective is a more detailed understanding of global environmental change in high- to mid-latitude settings. ...