Hiatuses in the late Pliocene–Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Ioffe calcareous contourite drift, western South Atlantic

Abstract

Abstract The Ioffe Drift located in the Antarctic Bottom Water pathway from the Vema Channel to the Brazil Basin provides a suitable site to study past variations in bottom contour currents and their contribution to erosion and accumulation of deep-sea sediments. Our previous study of the reference core AI-2436 from the drift summit (Ivanova et al., 2016a) documented the stratigraphic sequence of the uppermost part of the sedimentary cover ranging from the recent through upper Pliocene, the reduced thickness and/or absence of biostratigraphic zones, and the occurrence of several hiatuses. Here, we provide the multi-proxy biostratigraphic, magnetic susceptibility (MS), color reflectance and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data in the sediment cores AI-3318 from the summit and AI-3316 from the NE slope of the Ioffe Drift. The new data report numerous long- and short-term stratigraphic gaps over the last ~3 Ma. An interval of specific high-amplitude peaks representing abrupt changes in volume MS and XRF variability is identified from 2.51/2.59 to ~1.9 Ma which can likely serve as a regional stratigraphic benchmark in the future studies of deep-sea contourites. The correlation of three sediment records from the drift suggests that the most pronounced series of hiatuses, associated with enhanced AABW flow intensity occurred from 1.6 to ~0.81 Ma (i.e. roughly, during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition), and from 2.51/2.59 to ~1.9 Ma (i.e. covers the onset of the modern-type deep-water circulation in the South Atlantic (Turnau and Ledbetter (1989)). Comparison of the studied sediment records with DSDP Site 516 reveals reduced thickness of all recovered biostratigraphic zones and more often occurrence of hiatuses in the Ioffe Drift than on the Rio Grande Rise suggesting more vigorous contour currents in the former area.