scholarly journals Foraminiferal Analysis of the Late Miocene- Early Pleistocene Mangaopari Mudstone, South Wairarapa, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shelby Stoneburner

<p>The foraminiferal content of thirty-two samples from the late Miocene-early Pleistocene Mangaopari Mudstone within the southern Wairarapa region have been examined with the aim of determining the age and depositional environment of the unit. In particular the study addressed whether or not there were glacioeustatic cycles present in the unit. Integrating foraminiferal faunal distributions and sedimentological analysis provided geological, paleoclimactic, and paleoceanographic evidence to aid in the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment. The data was then compared with conclusions from previous studies.  The section was divided into two different parts (upper and lower) based on changes in foraminiferal assemblages and grainsize distributions. The age and depositional environment of the Mudstone is suggested by the presence of several genera and species of foraminifera which is supported by grainsize analysis. The presence of Martinottiella communis and Karreriella cylindrica between 0-157.1m stratigraphically suggest that accumulation began in bathyal conditions at depths greater than 400m between. This is supported by grainsize analysis which indicates a medium silt with a high percent mud content ranging from 91.5-100%. This demonstrates deposition beginning in the late Miocene-early Pliocene at bathyal depths greater than 400m. The upper part of the mudstone (157.6-216.3) illustrates a regressive sequence with a distinctive shift to a much shallower depositional environment at outermost shelfal depths likely of 150-200m. This is represented with the presence of Truncorotalia sp. and Zygochlamys delicatula. Grainsize also support this discovery with a shift to very fine sandy silts with a percent mud content ranging from 83-93%.  Previous findings conclude that this distinctive shift was caused by glacioeustatic cycles yet our data do not correlate with our glacioeustatic findings. Therefore, this shift is believed to be triggered by a tectonic event.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shelby Stoneburner

<p>The foraminiferal content of thirty-two samples from the late Miocene-early Pleistocene Mangaopari Mudstone within the southern Wairarapa region have been examined with the aim of determining the age and depositional environment of the unit. In particular the study addressed whether or not there were glacioeustatic cycles present in the unit. Integrating foraminiferal faunal distributions and sedimentological analysis provided geological, paleoclimactic, and paleoceanographic evidence to aid in the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment. The data was then compared with conclusions from previous studies.  The section was divided into two different parts (upper and lower) based on changes in foraminiferal assemblages and grainsize distributions. The age and depositional environment of the Mudstone is suggested by the presence of several genera and species of foraminifera which is supported by grainsize analysis. The presence of Martinottiella communis and Karreriella cylindrica between 0-157.1m stratigraphically suggest that accumulation began in bathyal conditions at depths greater than 400m between. This is supported by grainsize analysis which indicates a medium silt with a high percent mud content ranging from 91.5-100%. This demonstrates deposition beginning in the late Miocene-early Pliocene at bathyal depths greater than 400m. The upper part of the mudstone (157.6-216.3) illustrates a regressive sequence with a distinctive shift to a much shallower depositional environment at outermost shelfal depths likely of 150-200m. This is represented with the presence of Truncorotalia sp. and Zygochlamys delicatula. Grainsize also support this discovery with a shift to very fine sandy silts with a percent mud content ranging from 83-93%.  Previous findings conclude that this distinctive shift was caused by glacioeustatic cycles yet our data do not correlate with our glacioeustatic findings. Therefore, this shift is believed to be triggered by a tectonic event.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitale Stefano ◽  
Prinzi Ernesto Paolo ◽  
Francesco D'Assisi Tramparulo ◽  
Sabatino Ciarcia

&lt;p&gt;We present a structural study on late Miocene-early Pliocene out-of-sequence thrusts affecting the southern Apennine chain. The analyzed structures are exposed in the Campania region (southern Italy). Here, leading thrusts bound the N-NE side of the carbonate ridges that form the regional mountain backbone. In several outcrops, the Mesozoic carbonates are superposed onto the unconformable wedge-top basin deposits of the upper Miocene Castelvetere Group, providing constraints to the age of the activity of this thrusting event. We further analyzed the tectonic windows of Giffoni and Campagna, located on the rear of the leading thrust. We reconstructed the orogenic evolution of this part of the orogen. The first was related to the in-sequence thrusting with minor thrusts and folds, widespread both in the footwall and in the hanging wall. A subsequent extension has formed normal faults crosscutting the early thrusts and folds. All structures were subsequently affected by two shortening stages, which also deformed the upper Miocene wedge top basin deposits of the Castelvetere Group. We interpreted these late structures as related to an out-of-sequence thrust system defined by a main frontal E-verging thrust and lateral ramps characterized by N and S vergences. Associated with these thrusting events, LANFs were formed in the hanging wall of the major thrusts. Such out-of-sequence thrusts are observed in the whole southern Apennines and record a thrusting event that occurred in the late Messinian-early Pliocene. We related this tectonic episode to the positive inversion of inherited normal faults located in the Paleozoic basement. These envelopments thrust upward crosscut the allochthonous wedge, including, in the western zone of the chain, the upper Miocene wedge-top basin deposits. Finally, we suggest that the two tectonic windows are the result of the formation of an E-W trending regional antiform, associated with a late S-verging back-thrust, that has been eroded and crosscut by Early Pleistocene normal faults.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
Aurélie M.R. Aubry ◽  
Anne de Vernal ◽  
Paul C. Knutz

Analyses of marine and terrestrial palynomorphs of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 645 in Baffin Bay led us to define a new biostratigraphical scheme covering the late Miocene to Pleistocene based on dinocyst and acritarch assemblages. Four biozones were defined. The first one, from 438.6 m below sea floor (mbsf) to 388 mbsf, can be assigned a late Miocene to early Pliocene age (>4.5 Ma), based on the common occurrence of Cristadinium diminutivum and Selenopemphix brevispinosa. Biozone 2, spanning from an erosional unconformity to a recovery hiatus, is marked by the highest occurrences (HOs) of Veriplicidium franklinii and Cristadinium diminutivum, which suggest an early Pliocene age >3.6 Ma (∼4.5 to ∼3.6 Ma). Biozone 3, above the recovery hiatus and up to 220.94 mbsf, corresponds to a late Pliocene or early Pleistocene age based on occurrences of Bitectatodinium readwaldii, Cymatiosphaera? icenorum, and Lavradosphaera canalis. Finally, between 266.4 and 120.56 mbsf, Biozone 4, marked by the HO of Filisphaera filifera, Filisphaera microornata, and Habibacysta tectata, has an early Pleistocene age (>1.4 Ma). Our biostratigraphy implies that horizon b1 of the Baffin Bay seismic stratigraphy corresponds to the recovery hiatus at ODP Site 645, which suggests a very thick Pliocene sequence along the Baffin Island slope. Dinocyst assemblages and terrestrial palynomorphs in our records indicate that the late Miocene and (or) early Pliocene were characterized by relatively warm coastal surface waters and boreal forest or forested tundra vegetation over adjacent lands. In contrast, the early Pleistocene dinocyst assemblages above the recovery hiatus indicate cold surface waters, while pollen data suggest reduced vegetation cover on adjacent lands.


1984 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. F. Ballance ◽  
M. R. Gregory ◽  
G. W. Gibson ◽  
G. C. H. Chaproniere ◽  
A. P. Kadar ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Joy Drury ◽  
Thomas Westerhold ◽  
Ana Christina Ravelo ◽  
Ivano Aiello ◽  
Roy Wilkens ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;As the largest modern reservoir of oceanic heat, the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) plays an important role in atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. Little is known about how regional deposition patterns have changed over the past 10 Ma. To understand the interplay between regional processes and global climate evolution in the WPWP, we explore the late Neogene evolution of biogenic (carbonate/siliceous) versus terrigenous deposition.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We collected high-resolution (2 cm/~0.5 kyr) X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning data at IODP Site U1488 (Exp. 363) in the central WPWP. These data were especially useful for estimating the carbonate, siliceous and terrigenous components below 65 m CCSF, where the shipboard track data were less robust. The shipboard splice was verified and revised using the Ba/Sr ratio to ensure a continuous composite section down to ~330 m revised CCSF-A at Site U1488. Fe and Si likely reflect terrigenous and partially biogenic silica components. We calibrated the high-resolution ln(Ca/K) record to %CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; using discrete shipboard %CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fe and Si decrease, whilst ln(Ca/K) increases downcore, in agreement with shipboard data showing increasing %CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; and decreasing terrigenous/siliceous input&amp;#173;. During the late Pleistocene, the site shows high amplitude %CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, Fe and Si cycles superimposed on low carbonate. The amplitude decreases during the early Pleistocene-mid Pliocene, although clear variability remains. The early Pliocene-late Miocene is dominated by high CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; (80-90%). The %CaCO&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;, Fe and Si variability is considerably reduced, although clear obliquity-precession interference patterns are visible, in addition to longer-term ~400 kyr eccentricity modulation. The high-carbonate interval at IODP Site U1488 likely reflects the early Pliocene to late Miocene Biogenic Bloom (LMBB). The expression of the LMBB in the WPWP is distinctly different to the Atlantic and eastern equatorial Pacific. This indicates that although productivity was enhanced during the late Miocene-early Pliocene, regional processes determined the exact expression and timing of the LMBB in different areas.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Corradino ◽  
F. Pepe ◽  
P. Burrato ◽  
M. Kanari ◽  
N. Parrino ◽  
...  

Diagnostic morphological features (e.g., rectilinear seafloor scarps) and lateral offsets of the Upper Quaternary deposits are used to infer active faults in offshore areas. Although they deform a significant seafloor region, the active faults are not necessarily capable of producing large earthquakes as they correspond to shallow structures formed in response to local stresses. We present a multiscale approach to reconstruct the structural pattern in offshore areas and distinguish between shallow, non-seismogenic, active faults, and deep blind faults, potentially associated with large seismic moment release. The approach is based on the interpretation of marine seismic reflection data and quantitative morphometric analysis of multibeam bathymetry, and tested on the Sant’Eufemia Gulf (southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea). Data highlights the occurrence of three major tectonic events since the Late Miocene. The first extensional or transtensional phase occurred during the Late Miocene. Since the Early Pliocene, a right-lateral transpressional tectonic event caused the positive inversion of deep (&gt;3 km) tectonic features, and the formation of NE-SW faults in the central sector of the gulf. Also, NNE-SSW to NE-SW trending anticlines (e.g., Maida Ridge) developed in the eastern part of the area. Since the Early Pleistocene (Calabrian), shallow (&lt;1.5 km) NNE-SSW oriented structures formed in a left-lateral transtensional regime. The new results integrated with previous literature indicates that the Late Miocene to Recent transpressional/transtensional structures developed in an ∼E-W oriented main displacement zone that extends from the Sant’Eufemia Gulf to the Squillace Basin (Ionian offshore), and likely represents the upper plate response to a tear fault of the lower plate. The quantitative morphometric analysis of the study area and the bathymetric analysis of the Angitola Canyon indicate that NNE-SSW to NE-SW trending anticlines were negatively reactivated during the last tectonic phase. We also suggest that the deep structure below the Maida Ridge may correspond to the seismogenic source of the large magnitude earthquake that struck the western Calabrian region in 1905. The multiscale approach contributes to understanding the tectonic imprint of active faults from different hierarchical orders and the geometry of seismogenic faults developed in a lithospheric strike-slip zone orthogonal to the Calabrian Arc.


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