Benguela Current
Staff Scientist: Carl Richter
Co-Chief Scientists: Wolfgang Berger & Gerold Wefer
Abstract
The individual transects reflect examinations of specific"endmember" upwelling environments, which collectively comprise one of the most concentrated centers of ocean productivity. One of the major aims will be to monitor the evolution of the Benguela Current system and its relationship with the onset of Northern Hemisphere and Antarctic glacial cycles. Many of the proposed sites are expected to have high-sedimentation rates, offering an opportunity to develop very detailed paleoceanographic records, and all proposed sites will expand and refine the partial record of the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes since the early Miocene provided by DSDP Sites 362 and 532. Sediments will be largely diatomaceous and carbonate rich clays with variable, and occasionally very high, organic-carbon contents.
To Leg 175 Proposed Site Information