Implications of sediment composition on the southern Kerguelen Plateau for paleoclimate and depositional environment

Abstract

The first indication of glaciation at sea level is the occurrence of isolated gravel and terrigenous sand grains, which indicate ice rafting in the middle Eocene interval of 45.0-42.3 Ma. A major intensification of glaciation, probably the onset of continental East Antarctic glaciation, is recorded in sediments of early Oligocene age (36.0 Ma). All major sediment parameters document this event. The long-term Cenozoic cooling trend was interrupted by a phase of early Miocene warming indicated by maximum Neogene smectite concentrations. Ice-rafting activity drastically increased in latest Miocene time, when carbonate deposition decreased and diatom ooze sedimentation started. -from Author