Ocean Drilling Program cores from Legs 119 (1988) and 188 (2000) provide direct evidence for Cenozoic paleoenvironmental changes in the Prydz Bay region of East Antarctica. The cores reveal transitions from Late Cretaceous alluvial plains to cooler Eocene rainforest scrub and the first advance of the ice sheet onto the shelf in the Oligocene. The dataset is managed by the Australian Ocean Data Network.
Use Cases
- Modeling Cenozoic paleoenvironmental transitions based on sediment core stratigraphy.
- Analyzing the timing of Antarctic ice sheet advance based on glacial sediment layers.
- Studying preglacial terrestrial ecosystems based on pollen and grain texture evidence.
- Correlating marine seismic data with physical core evidence for shelf progradation.
Strengths
- Data originates from direct physical evidence from Ocean Drilling Program cores.
- Cores cover two distinct drilling campaigns (Leg 119 in 1988 and Leg 188 in 2000).
- Description provides specific temporal context (Late Cretaceous to Oligocene).
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Cores do not exist for the early Oligocene to early Miocene period, requiring inference from seismic data.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Drilling and coring during Ocean Drilling Program Legs 119 and 188.
- Time Range
- Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic (Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene)
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-05 01:30:22.794227; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Prydz Bay region, East Antarctica