This research used data provided by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP). ODP is sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and participating countries under management of Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), Inc. Funding for this research was provided by the Italian Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA) trough the projects SEdiment Drifts of the ANtarctic Offshore (SEDANO) and ODP Leg 178. Jens Grützner is sincerely thanked for having provided essential information on the spectral and compositional analyses. Carl Richter and an anonymous reviewer are acknowledged for their helpful comments and accurate suggestions, which improved this manuscript.