Latest Quaternary sedimentation in the northern Gulf of Mexico intraslope basin province: II — Stratigraphic analysis and relationship to glacioeustatic climate change

Abstract

Stratigraphic zonation of 139 piston cores from the intraslope basin province of the northern Gulf of Mexico based on the Globorotalia menardii complex and calcium carbonate fluctuations shows that the vast majority of the cores contain sediments only of Holocene (Z zone) and Late Wisconsin (Y zone, Last Glacial) age. Only 13 widely spaced cores penetrate sediments of Last Interglacial (X zone) age. Overall, sedimentation rates average approximately 13 cm for the Holocene, but they range up to 600 cm. Redeposited sediments (mass-transport deposits and/or turbidites) occur in cores from the Rio Grande Submarine Fan, the East Breaks Slide Complex, the Trinity-Brazos Turbidite System, and the Bryant Canyon Turbidite System. Stratigraphic zonation of suites of cores from these areas shows that nearly all of these deposits were emplaced during Late Wisconsin (Y zone, Last Glacial). Redeposited sediments in the Holocene (Z zone) are rare.