Three sites from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 183 (Kerguelen Plateau) have been analyzed to document faunal change in high-latitude radiolarians and to compare the faunal change to Eocene-Oligocene climatic deterioration. Radiolarians are not preserved in Eocene sediments. In Oligocene sediments, radiolarian preservation improves in a stepwise manner toward the Miocene. A total of 115 species were found in lower Oligocene samples from Site 1138; all are documented herein. Radiolarian preservation is presumably linked to productivity triggered by climatic cooling during the early Oligocene. Similar patterns of improving preservation through the Eocene/Oligocene boundary are documented from several Deep Sea Drilling Project and ODP sites in the Southern Ocean, indicating a general pattern. In contrast to the Southern Kerguelen Plateau, however, proxies for productivity are more divergent at Site 1138 (Central Kerguelen Plateau). Whereas carbonate dissolution, as indicated by poor preservation of foraminifers and common hiatuses, is very pronounced in the upper Eocene-lowermost Oligocene, the quality of radiolarian and diatom preservation does not significantly increase until the uppermost lower Oligocene. Multiple measures of radiolarian diversity in the Oligocene from Site 1138 closely parallel radiolarian preservation, indicating that preserved radiolarian diversity is controlled by productivity.
1Apel, M., Kiessling, W., Böhm, F., and Lazarus, D., 2002. Radiolarian faunal characteristics in Oligocene sediments of the Kerguelen Plateau, Leg 183, Site 1138. In Frey, F.A., Coffin, M.F., Wallace, P.J., and Quilty, P.G. (Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 183 [Online]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/183_SR/002/002.htm>. [Cited YYYY-MM-DD]
2Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Institut für Paläontologie, Museum für Naturkunde, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Correspondence author: marcus.apel@rz.hu-berlin.de
3University of Chicago, Dept. of Geophysical Science, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago IL, 60637, USA.
4GEOMAR, Forschungszentrum für Marine Geowissenschaften, Wischhofstrasse, 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany.
Initial receipt: 14 June 2001
Acceptance: 16 May 2002
Web publication:
18 October 2002
Ms 183SR-002