
Figure F12.
Sedimentation rates at Leg 194 sites. Trends at Sites 1195 and 1192 are similar
and represent distal, drift-dominated deposition at rates of ~30 m/m.y. during
the Miocene and 15 m/m.y. during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. The decrease in
depositional rates at ~5 Ma probably reflects the decrease in nearby carbonate
shedding. Carbonate platform Site 1193 shows a dramatic increase in depositional
rates from 15 to 150 m/m.y. in the late early Miocene. Sedimentation rates in
the overlying platform (initiated at ~16 Ma) are not directly defined. At Site
1196 (and Site 1199, not shown), platform growth rates of at least 80 m/m.y. are
documented for an ~140 m thick middle Miocene interval, but subsequent growth
rates could not be constrained. Adjacent slope Site 1197 shows increased
depositional rates in the late middle Miocene, which is interrupted near the
middle late Miocene boundary (11.1-? Ma; hiatus at 175 mbsf), a time of inferred
sea level rise at Site 1194. Subsequent late Miocene (and early Pliocene?)
platform shedding is only roughly constrained in time at Site 1197 (5-11 Ma);
however, Site 1198 documents increased platform shedding (~50 m/m.y.) during the
middle late Miocene, a time of apparent nondeposition at Sites 1193 and 1194.
Deposition at Site 1198 ended at ~7.8 Ma (hiatus at 200 mbsf), which likely
marks the end of carbonate growth at Site 1196. This starvation, lasting several
million years, probably also occurred at Site 1197 (hiatus at 59 mbsf). The
shaded area in the top left corner of the diagram highlights the records of the
hemipelagic seismic Megasequence D, which fills in the topography created by the
Miocene carbonate buildup. The oldest Megasequence D records (7.2-7.8 Ma) were
recovered at Sites 1192, 1194, and 1195. This time coincides with the starvation
of periplatform deposition at Site 1198 and could mark the onset of widespread
drowning of the carbonate factory.

