8. DISTRIBUTION OF CLAY MINERALS IN DRIFT SEDIMENTS ON THE CONTINENTAL RISE WEST OF THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

• Main Authors: Claus-dieter Hillenbr, Werner Ehrmann
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Arctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.457.8560; http://epic.awi.de/4538/1/Hil2001a.pdf

The clay mineral compositions of upper Miocene to Quaternary sedi-ments recovered at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 178, Sites 1095 and 1096, from the continental rise west of the Antarctic Peninsula were analyzed in order to reconstruct the Neogene and Quaternary Ant-arctic paleoclimate and ice dynamics. The clay mineral assemblages are dominated by smectite, illite, and chlorite. Kaolinite occurs only in trace amounts. Analysis of a surface-sample data set facilitates the as-signment of these clay minerals to particular source areas on the Ant-arctic Peninsula and, thus, the reconstruction of transport pathways. In the ODP cores, clay mineral composition cyclically alternates between two end-member assemblages. One assemblage is characterized by <20 % smectite and>40 % chlorite. The other assemblage has>20% smectite and <40 % chlorite. Illite fluctuates between 30 % and 50% without a significant affinity to one end-member assemblage. By com-