Site U1503

Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2002

Calculating elemental mass balance across subduction zones enhances our understanding of global geochemical budgets and large-scale Earth processes. However, to accurately constrain the input flux, it is critical to know the lithological diversity and chemical characteristics of the downgoing oceanic plate. The west Pacific altered ocean crust that was drilled during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 185 represents a significant component of the input to the Mariana Subduction Factory. The lithological sequence in Hole 801C consists of aphyric basalt, occurring as thick massive units, pillow units, and breccia units. The shallowest basalts are intercalated with sediments and two hydrothermal deposits. Core recovery was good for a basement hole (average 47%); however, over half the lithological section was unaccounted for. Downhole logging data provide a continuous record of physical, chemical, and structural properties of the rocks at the borehole wall, thus, when calibrated using available cored material, they can be used to reconstruct lithology in unrecovered intervals. Core-log integration results reveal a significant bias in core recovery, with infrequent retrieval of delicate breccia units and preferential recovery of more massive, competent, and less altered flow units. This is important because the breccia units are host to many of the key tracer elements used in mass balance calculations. The massive basalts exhibit high density, resistivity and velocity values and low porosity and gamma ray values. Formation MicroScanner (FMS) images of massive basalts are bright (reflecting their resistive nature) with a homogenous texture and regular fracture pattern. Breccia or pillow basalts are characterised by low resistivity, density and velocity, and high porosity and gamma ray values and unrecovered intervals displayed these same characteristics. The reconstructed log-based lithological sequence consists of thick massive flow units (27.4%), pillow units (33%), breccia units (31%), sediments (1.4%), and hydrothermal deposits (1.3%), with 5.9% unclassified due to unreliable tool response in intervals where hole conditions were poor. These findings have a significant bearing on the Subduction Factory recycling equation. The proportion of pillow basalts doubled and the amount of breccia increased six-fold from that reported using core description alone, demonstrating convincingly that core-log integration is essential to provide an accurate representation of the input flux. The log-based stratigraphy reconstructed for Hole 801C represents the first example of Jurassic fast-spread (160 km/m.y.) ocean crust and provides constraints on the relationships between crustal structure, age, alteration, and spreading rate.

Journal of Geophysical Research, 1998

A new seismic reflection survey around Hole 504B, the deepest borehole in ocean crust, reveals active faulting, possible volcanic centers, and a lateral change in the relationship of heat flow and basement structure near the borehole. Migration of single channel and multichannel seismic profiles collected in a 25 by 25 km grid with a 1 km line spacing significantly improved the resolution of basement structure and sediment thickness. West of Hole 504B, heat flow is high above east-west lineated basement ridges, whereas heat flow to the east is normal above ridges and high above two buried basement knolls. The difference is probably due to lateral variations in sediment thickness. Small, buried basement knolls are common and may have been point sources for lava flows. Hole 504B lies in a flat-floored basin that slopes gently upward to the west. A recently active fault 1.1-1.2 km south of Hole 504B is indicated by sediment reflector discontinuities that extend up to the seafloor. The fault strikes east-west and crosses a buried volcanic knoll where Holes 678B and 896A were drilled. Regionally, basement relief north of Hole 504B is 100 to 150 m lower than to the south, which we attribute to an increased spreading rate obtained from dating published local magnetic anomaly patterns with a recent timescale. We f'md at least five graben structures resembling failed rifts which may have formed in response to asymmetric spreading or to the change in tectonic stress accompanying the spreading rate change. South facing scarps on basement ridges are as common as north facing scarps. Sediment thickness is highly correlated to basement depth due to preferential deposition in topographic lows when the crust was 1-2 Ma old and to later winnowing.

2000

Massive Miocene gravity-flow deposits, recovered at Site 391 between 150 and 650 meters sub-bottom. About 500 meters of turbidites and debris flows including intraclastic chalk breccias (shown) accumulated in less than 12 million years. The green and brown clasts are radiolarian-rich clay and were apparently lifted from pre-existing deposits and carried in a viscous slurry to their present resting places. (Section 391A-12-3)

Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 1990

The reduction of six wide-angle reflection profiles shot within the two fault blocks visited by Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 116 in combination with the ODP sonic logs has produced a velocity-depth structure for this area. The sediment velocity increases from 1.6-1.7 km/s in the near surface to 3.4-3.5 km/s immediately above basement with a velocity gradient of 0.75/s. A depth converted seismic reflection profile suggests that the pre-deformational basement surface was similar to the abyssal hill topography developed in the Pacific Ocean. A velocity for the top of oceanic layer 2 of 4.1 km/s was identified as layer 2A. Assuming a velocity gradient of 0.7/s, an estimate of layer 2 thickness was obtained of 1.5 km. It is possible to interpret residual depth anomalies in terms of a layer 3 that may be thinner than for normal oceanic crust.

2012

ABSTRACT Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 317 was devoted to understanding the relative importance of global sea level (eustasy) versus local tectonic and sedimentary processes in controlling continental margin sedimentary cycles. The expedition recovered sediments from the Eocene to recent period, with a particular focus on the sequence stratigraphy of the late Miocene to recent, when global sea level change was dominated by glacioeustasy. Drilling in the Canterbury Basin, on the eastern margin of the South Island of New Zealand, takes advantage of high rates of Neogene sediment supply, which preserves a high-frequency (0.1-0.5 m.y.) record of depositional cyclicity. The Canterbury Basin provides an opportunity to study the complex interactions between processes responsible for the preserved stratigraphic record of sequences because of the proximity of an uplifting mountain chain, the Southern Alps, and strong ocean currents. Currents have locally built large, elongate sediment drifts within the prograding Neogene section. Expedition 317 did not drill into one of these elongate drifts, but currents are inferred to have strongly influenced deposition across the basin, including in locations lacking prominent mounded drifts. Upper Miocene to recent sedimentary sequences were cored in a transect of three sites on the continental shelf (landward to basinward, Sites U1353, U1354, and U1351) and one on the continental slope (Site U1352). The transect provides a stratigraphic record of depositional cycles across the shallow-water environment most directly affected by relative sea level change. Lithologic boundaries, provisionally correlative with seismic sequence boundaries, have been identified in cores from each site and provide insights into the origins of seismically resolvable sequences. This record will be used to estimate the timing and amplitude of global sea level change and to document the sedimentary processes that operate during sequence formation. Sites U1353 and U1354 provide significant, double-cored, high-recovery sections through the Holocene and late Quaternary for high-resolution study of recent glacial cycles in a continental shelf setting. Continental slope Site U1352 represents a complete section from modern slope terrigenous sediment to hard Eocene limestone, with all the associated lithologic, biostratigraphic, physical, geochemical, and microbiological transitions. The site also provides a record of ocean circulation and fronts during the last approximately 35 m.y. The early Oligocene ( approximately 30 Ma) Marshall Paraconformity was the deepest drilling target of Expedition 317 and is hypothesized to represent intensified current erosion or nondeposition associated with the initiation of thermohaline circulation following the separation of Australian and Antarctica. Expedition 317 set a number of scientific ocean drilling records: (1) deepest hole drilled in a single expedition and second deepest hole in the history of scientific ocean drilling (Hole U1352C, 1927 m); (2) deepest hole and second deepest hole drilled by the R/V JOIDES Resolution on a continental shelf (Hole U1351B, 1030 m; Hole U1353B, 614 m); (3) shallowest water depth for a site drilled by the JOIDES Resolution for scientific purposes (Site U1353, 84.7 m water depth); and (4) deepest sample taken by scientific ocean drilling for microbiological studies (1925 m, Site U1352). Expedition 317 supplements previous drilling of sedimentary sequences for sequence stratigraphic and sea level objectives, particularly drilling on the New Jersey margin (Ocean Drilling Program [ODP] Legs 150, 150X, 174A, and 174AX and IODP Expedition 313) and in the Bahamas (ODP Leg 166), but includes an expanded Pliocene section. Completion of at least one transect across a geographically and tectonically distinct siliciclastic margin was the necessary next step in deciphering continental margin stratigraphy. Expedition 317 also complements ODP Leg 181, which focused on drift development in more distal parts of the Eastern New Zealand Oceanic Sed im ntary System (ENZOSS).

1992

Journal of Geography (Chigaku Zasshi)

2006

The original objective of this leg was to drill a deep hole (planned as ENA-3D) through sediments at the foot of the continental rise and to sample Jurassic basement. It was hoped that one reentry hole would obtain a complete sedimentary record dating from the initial opening of the North Atlantic to the present, showing the development and sedimentation processes of the North American Basin. Drilling in Hole 603B recovered strata of Miocene to Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) age, but because of operations difficulties the last few hundred meters of Jurassic sediments above basement were not cored. At Site 603, Glomar Challenger rotary drilled and cored Holes 603 and 603B (a reentry hole), and used the variable length hydraulic piston corer (VLHPC) and extended core barrel (XCB) to recover the uppermost 366.0 m of the section in Hole 603C. No sediment was recovered in the unsuccessful attempt to emplace a reentry cone and casing in Hole 603A (Table 1, Fig. 2).

2015

The South China Sea (SCS) provides an outstanding opportunity to better understand complex patterns of continental margin breakup and basin formation. The SCS is situated at the junction of the Eurasian, Pacific, and Indo-Australian plates and is a critical site linking some of the major western Pacific tectonic units. Despite extensive studies, sampling of basement rock and directly overlying basal sediment in the deep basin is lacking. This leaves a large margin of error in estimated ages of the SCS opening and closing, rendering various hypotheses regarding its opening mechanism and history untested. This also hampers understanding of East Asian tectonic and paleoenvironmental evolution. We drilled five sites in the deep basin of the SCS. Three of these sites (U1431, U1433, and U1434) cored into oceanic basement near the fossil spreading center. The two remaining sites (U1432 and U1435) are located proximal to the northern continent/ocean boundary. We recovered a total of 1524 m ...

Proceedings of the IODP, 2009