Holocene chronology for the unconsolidated sediments at Hole 740A: Prydz Bay, East Antarctica

Unconsolidated sediments recovered at Site 740 include approximately 23m of interbedded siliceous ooze and silty clay (pebbly mud), which was tentatively assigned a late Pliocene to Quaternary age by shipboard scientists. In order to clarify the chronology of this sequence, six samples of siliceous ooze were analyzed for their ¹⁴C content using the University of Arizona Tandem Accelerator Mass-Spectrometer (TAMS) facility. Uncorrected ages ranged from 1915 to 11 140 yr BP. These ages provide estimates for interval sedimentation rates of the siliceous ooze, which varied from 0.150 to 0.067 cm/yr. Open-marine conditions with seasonal sea ice have apparently been in existence near Site 740 for approximately the last 3800 yr. -from Authors