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 Sites 1165-1167 reveal transitions from an alluvial plain with conifer woodland to a marine shelf environment, with evidence of mountain glaciation. The dataset is hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network and was last updated on 2026-06-27.

Use Cases

• Modeling the transition from fluvio-deltaic to marine shelf environments based on core and seismic data.
• Analyzing the timing and evidence of early mountain glaciation based on late Eocene grain textures.
• Reconstructing paleovegetation changes from austral conifer woodland to Nothofagus rainforest scrub.
• Studying ice sheet advance onto the continental shelf based on overcompacted glacial sediment layers.

Strengths

• Direct evidence from two Ocean Drilling Program legs (119 and 188) spanning over a decade.
• Cores from multiple sites (1165, 1166, 1167) across the continental margin.
• Combines physical core data with seismic data for inference where cores are absent.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Cores do not exist for the early Oligocene to early Miocene period, requiring reliance on seismic inference.

Provenance

Source

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), Legs 119 and 188.

Collection Method

Ocean drilling and core analysis, supplemented by seismic data interpretation.

Time Range

Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic (likely focusing on late Eocene to Oligocene transitions).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 18:49:12.830740; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Prydz Bay region, East Antarctica.