Environmental rock-magnetism of Cenozoic red clay in the South Pacific Gyre

Abstract

Nonfossiliferous red clay can be used for elucidating long-range environmental changes, although such studies were limited so far because of the difficulty in precise age estimation and extremely low sedimentation rates. We conducted an environmental rock-magnetic study of Cenozoic red clay at the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1365 in the South Pacific Gyre. Magnetostratigraphy could be established only above 14;6 m below the seafloor (mbsf) (14;5 Ma). Below 14;6 mbsf, the ages of the cores were transferred from the published ages of nearby Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 596, which is based mainly on a constant Cobalt flux model, by intercore correlation using magnetic susceptibility and rare earth element content variation patterns. Rock-magnetic analyses including first-order reversal curve diagrams, the ratio of anhysteretic remanent magnetization susceptibility to saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM), and IRM component analyses revealed that magnetic minerals consist mainly of biogenic magnetite and terrigenous maghemite, and that the proportion of the terrigenous component increased since 14;23 Ma. We consider that the increase reflects a growth of eolian dust flux associated with a northward shift of Australia and the site to an arid region of the middle latitudes. The increase of the terrigenous component accelerated after 14;5 Ma, which may be associated with a further growth of the Antarctic glaciation at that time. This is coeval with the onset of the preservation of magnetostratigraphy, suggesting that the primary remanent magnetization is carried by the terrigenous component.