ODP Leg 189 Sediment Cores: Tasmanian Gateway Opening and Climate History

4539 meters of marine sediment core were recovered from five sites in the Tasmanian Gateway by the Ocean Drilling Program Leg 189. The cores provide a largely continuous record from the upper Maastrichtian to the Holocene, with an 89% recovery rate. The data, hosted by Geoscience Australia, document the region's transition from shallow marine mudstones to pelagic carbonates, linked to the opening of the gateway and the onset of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing paleoceanographic conditions based on microfossil assemblages (palynomorphs, diatoms, nannofossils, foraminifers) described in the sediment.
• Modeling the timing and climatic impact of the Tasmanian Gateway opening based on the described sedimentological and paleontological shifts.
• Analyzing the transition from siliciclastic to carbonate sedimentation as a proxy for changing ocean circulation and climate isolation of Antarctica.

Strengths

• 4539 meters of core material provides substantial physical data for analysis.
• An 89% recovery rate suggests a high-quality, continuous sedimentary record.
• Cores cover a long temporal span from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to the Holocene.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified despite the listed update date of 2026-04-20.

Provenance

Source

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 189, aggregated by Geoscience Australia Data.

Collection Method

Scientific ocean drilling and core recovery from five bathyal sites.

Time Range

Upper Maastrichtian to Holocene (approximately 72 million years ago to present).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 01:51:32.715924; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Tasmanian Gateway, on submerged continental blocks south of Tasmania.