Understanding the rates, magnitude, and timing of sea-level change is a research priority for the Ocean Drilling Program (e.g., Imbrie et al., 1987; Watkins and Mountain, 1990; National Research Council, 1990; JOIDES Long Range Plan, 1996). The Bahamas Transect (Leg 166; Eberli, Swart, Malone, et al., 1997) was drilled to recover the sea-level record over the past 25 m.y. in a passive continental margin setting dominated by carbonate sedimentation. The sedimentary record of sea-level changes over this interval is characterized by large (>30 m), rapid (<0.5 m.y.) events (e.g., Miller et al., 1996). The most likely mechanism for these sea-level changes is glacio-eustasy because it can account for the magnitude and abruptness of these changes.
One of the primary objectives of Leg 166 was to document the timing, rates, and magnitudes of glacio-eustatic changes recorded in the sedimentary sequences along the leeward side of the Great Bahama Bank. Large-scale sea-level fluctuations over the past 25 m.y. (e.g., Haq et al., 1987) produced a series of prograding sedimentary sequences that resulted in the large carbonate platform that exists today. Five sites (Sites 1003-1007) recovered Neogene carbonate sediments along a transect in the Florida Straits designed to date the sedimentary sequences observed in seismic records (Fig. 1) (Eberli, Swart, Malone, et al., 1997). Sites 1003 and 1007 were drilled on the distal portion of the GBB slope and contain almost complete Neogene sequences. Sites 1004 and 1005 were drilled on the middle and upper slopes, respectively. Upper Pliocene to Holocene sediments were recovered from Site 1004, whereas an upper middle Miocene to Holocene sequence was recovered from Site 1005. A complete middle Miocene to Holocene sequence was recovered from Site 1006, which was drilled in the Florida Straits. Sites 1008 and 1009 were drilled to the south and were positioned to meet the fluid-flow objective of Leg 166.