Ocean Drilling Program Leg 177 was designed to study the evolution of the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean on tectonic to millennial timescales. Toward this end, we recovered high-quality sedimentary sequences at seven sites between 41° and 53°S, which constitute the raw material for studying the Cenozoic history of the high-latitude South Atlantic Ocean. Here we summarize the principal findings made by shipboard scientists that have been reported in numerous publications since the completion of Leg 177 and provide a historical summary of the development of this sector of the Southern Ocean.
1Hodell, D.A., Gersonde, R., and Blum, P., 2002. Leg 177 synthesis: insights into Southern Ocean paleoceanography on tectonic to millennial timescales. In Gersonde, R., Hodell, D.A., and Blum, P. (Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 177 [Online]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/177_SR/synth/synth.htm>.
2Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, 241 Williamson Hall, PO Box 112120, Gainesville FL 32611-2120, USA. dhodell@geology.ufl.edu
3Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse, PO Box 120161, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany.
4Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, 1000 Discovery Drive, College Station TX 77845-9547, USA.
Initial receipt: 12 December 2001
Acceptance: 10 September 2002
Web publication:
20 December 2002
Ms 177SR-101