Cretaceous-Holocene Sediment Cores from the Tasmanian Gateway

Five ocean drilling sites in the Tasmanian Gateway recovered 4539 meters of marine sediment cores spanning from the upper Maastrichtian to the Holocene, with an 89% recovery rate. The dataset, managed by the Australian Ocean Data Network, documents the region's sedimentary and paleoenvironmental history. It was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyzing sediment composition sequences (mudstones, siltstones, carbonates) to reconstruct paleoenvironmental transitions.
• Correlating microfossil assemblages (palynomorphs, diatoms, nannofossils, foraminifers) with age models for biostratigraphic dating.
• Investigating the timing of unconformities and condensed sections to infer past current strength and tectonic subsidence events.
• Using core recovery depth and lithology data to model sedimentation rates across the late Eocene to Oligocene boundary.

Strengths

• 4539 meters of largely continuous core material recovered
• 89% core recovery rate across five drilling sites
• Temporal coverage spans from the upper Maastrichtian to the Holocene

Limitations

• Specific row and column counts for structured data are unknown
• Core data is presented in an HTML format, not a structured data table
• Geographic scope is limited to five specific sites in the Tasmanian Gateway

Provenance

Source

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 189

Collection Method

Marine sediment coring from five bathyal-depth drill sites

Time Range

Upper Maastrichtian to Holocene

Freshness

null

Geography

Tasmanian Gateway, submerged continental blocks south of Tasmania