ODP Leg 188: Cenozoic Glacial Transitions in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica

Drilling during Leg 119 (1988) and Leg 188 (2000) of the Ocean Drilling Program provides direct evidence for long- and short-term changes in Cenozoic paleoenvironments in the Prydz Bay region. Cores from across the continental margin reveal transitions from an alluvial plain with conifer woodland in the Late Cretaceous to a marine shelf environment by the early Oligocene. The dataset, published by Geoscience Australia, synthesizes evidence from these drilling campaigns and seismic data to document the onset and evolution of Antarctic glaciation.

Use Cases

• Modeling the onset of Antarctic glaciation based on sediment core evidence from the late Eocene.
• Reconstructing paleoenvironmental transitions from fluvio-deltaic to marine shelf systems described in the synthesis.
• Analyzing the relationship between mountain glaciation and continental ice sheet advance inferred from grain textures and overcompacted sediments.
• Correlating seismic stratigraphy with core gaps for the early Oligocene to early Miocene period.

Strengths

• Direct evidence from two Ocean Drilling Program legs (119 and 188) spanning over a decade.
• Synthesis covers a long temporal range from the Late Cretaceous to the Miocene.
• Integrates physical core data with seismic interpretation for periods with core gaps.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Core data is unavailable for the early Oligocene to early Miocene, requiring inference from seismic data.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data, Ocean Drilling Program

Collection Method

Ocean drilling cores and seismic data interpretation.

Time Range

Late Cretaceous to Miocene (Cenozoic Era)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 19:23:34.589017; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Prydz Bay region, East Antarctica