The high sedimentation rates from the middle Miocene through the mid-Oligocene, the lack of appreciable chert within the section, and the presence of multiple groups of reasonably well preserved siliceous and calcareous microfossils deposited well above the calcite compensation depth give this site potential for more detailed paleoceanographic study in the future. Such study would require the coring of multiple holes using higher-quality core-recovery assemblies (such as the advanced piston corer and extended core barrel).
An SEM study revealed that diagenetic etching, apparently of gephyrocapsids, caused small members of this group to superficially resemble E. huxleyi at stratigraphic levels in the Quaternary well below the evolutionary FO of this taxon (i.e., in Zone NN19). Other larger specimens of etched gephyrocapsids and/or reticulofenestrids resembled P. lacunosa. These observations suggest that caution should be taken when age dating Quaternary sediments not necessarily rich in carbonate.
An unusual Braarudosphaera bloom recorded in the upper Oligocene sediments has been reported previously from the Northern Kerguelen Plateau (Wei and Thierstein, 1991) and may correlate with other such occurrences of this age in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We date a foraminiferal nannofossil chalk at the base of the pelagic section (Section 183-1139-40R-6) as earliest Oligocene in age by nannofossils and foraminifers (within the 32.8- to 34.3-Ma interval; Subzone CP16a/b and basal AP13).