Neogene planktonic foraminifera from the southern Kerguelen Plateau

• Main Author: Berggren, William A
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 1992
• Subjects: 120-747A; 120-748B; 120-751A; DRILL; Drilling/drill rig; Joides Resolution; Leg120; Ocean Drilling Program; ODP; South Indian Ridge; South Indian Ocean; Neogloboquadrina pachyderma; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.728761; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.728761

With the exception of a brief (2 m.y.) late Miocene-early Pliocene hiatus, an essentially complete Neogene record was recovered on the Kerguelen Plateau in a calcareous biofacies. The stratigraphic distribution of about 30 taxa of Neogene planktonic foraminifers recovered at Sites 747, 748,and 751 (Central and Southern Kerguelen plateaus; approximately 54°-58°S) is recorded. Faunas are characterized by low diversity and high dominance and exhibit a gradual decline in species numbers (reflecting a concomitant increase in biosiliceous forms, particularly diatoms) from about 10 in the early Miocene to 5-8 in the middle Miocene, 3-4 in the late Miocene, to essentially a lone (Neogloboquadrina pachyderma) form in the Pliocene-Pleistocene. A provisional sevenfold biostratigraphic zonation has been formulated that, together with the recovery of a representative Neogene magnetostratigraphic record, may ultimately lead to a correlation with low-latitude magnetobiostratigraphies. The initial appearance of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma is associated with magnetic polarity Chron (MPC) 4 (~7 Ma) and MPC 4A (>8 Ma) at Sites 747 and 751, respectively.