Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T02:27:14.267Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Absolute Ages of Quaternary Radiolarian Datum Levels in the Equatorial Pacific

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David A. Johnson
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA
Andrew H. Knoll
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA

Abstract

Radiolarian assemblages were examined in two Quaternary cores (V24-58; RC11-209) from the tropical Padific Ocean. Eight radiolarian datum levels were identified in each core, and “absolute” ages were estimated for these levels by interpolation between paleomagnetic reversal boundaries previously established for the cores. The tropical radiolarian zonation for the Quaternary proposed by Nigrini (1971) appears to be most useful in terms of the reliability and ease of identification of the proposed zonal boundaries. Our estimated ages for the base of each of these zones are: Buccinosphaera invaginata Zone (Zone 1): 210,000 yr BP; Collosphaera tuberosa Zone (Zone 2): 370,000 yr BP; Amphirhopalum ypsilon Zone (Zone 3): 940,000 yr BP; Anthocyrtidium angulare Zone (Zone 4): 1,700,000 yr BP.

A comparison of our age estimates with those of Quaternary radiolarian datum levels in cores from other regions suggests that significant diachroneity on a scale of up to several hundred thousand years may exist for some (and perhaps all) of these “events.” Diachroneity is most readily studied and documented in late Neogene cores where the absolute ages of the magnetic polarity reversals are known most precisely, but may also exist (though difficult to recolve) in earlier Cenozoic sediments. The existence of such diachroneity, if demonstrated through further studies, would have significant implications for our understanding of evolutionary patterns of planktonic communities in different biogeographic regions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blow, W.H., (1970). Validity of biostratigraphic correlations based on the Globigerinacea. Micropaleontology 16, 257 268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dinkelman, M.G., (1973). Radiolarian stratigraphy: Leg 16, Deep Sea Drilling Project. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 16, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 747 813.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T., (1970). Genetics of the Evolutionary Process. Columbia University Press, New York 505.Google Scholar
Gates, W.L., (1974). Numerical simulation of ice-age climate. EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 55, 259.Google Scholar
Goll, R.M., (1972). Leg 9 synthesis radiolaria. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 9, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 947 1058.Google Scholar
Goll, R.M., (1972b). Systematics of eight Tholospyris taxa (Trissocyclidae, Radiolaria). Micropaleontology 18, 443 475.Google Scholar
Haeckel, E., (1887). Report on the Radiolaria collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–1876. Reports on the Voyage of “Challenger,” Zool Vol. 18, clxxxviii+1803 p., 140 pls., 1 map.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., (1965). Radiolaria and late Tertiary and Quaternary history of Antarctic seas. Biology of Antarctic Seas II. American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Series 5 125 184.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., (1967). Quaternary sediments of the Antarctic Ocean. Progress in Oceanography Vol. 4, Pergamon Press, New York 117 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hays, J.D., (1970). Stratigraphy and evolutionary trends of Radiolaria in North Pacific deepsea sediments. In Geological Investigations of the North Pacific. Hays, J.D., Geological Society of America Memoir 126, Geological Society of America, New York 185 218.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Opdyke, N.D., (1967). Antarctic Radiolaria, magnetic reversals and climatic change. Science 158, 1001 1011.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Saito, T., Opdyke, N.D., Burckle, L.H., (1969). Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments of the equatorial Pacific: their paleomagnetic, biostratigraphic and climatic record. Geological Society of America Bulletin 80, 1481 1513.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Berggren, W.A., (1971). Quaternary boundaries and correlations. In The Micropaleontology of Oceans Funnell, B.M., Riedel, W.R., Cambridge University Press 669 691.Google Scholar
Johnson, D.A., (1974). Radiolaria from the eastern Indian Ocean, DSDP Leg 22. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 22, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 521 575.Google Scholar
Johnson, D.A., Knoll, A.H., (1974). Radiolaria as paleoclimatic indicators: Pleistocene climatic fluctuations in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Quaternary Research 4, 206 216.Google Scholar
Keany, J., Kennett, J.P., (1972). Pliocene-early Pleistocene paleoclimatic history recorded in Arctic-Subantarctic deep-sea cores. Deep-Sea Research 19, 529 548.Google Scholar
Kling, S.A., (1971). Radiolaria: Leg 6 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 6, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 1069 1117.Google Scholar
Kling, S.A., (1973). Radiolaria from the eastern North Pacific, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 18. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 18, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 617 671.Google Scholar
Knoll, A.H., Johnson, D.A., (1973). Late Pleistocene evolution of the collosphaerid Buccinosphaera invaginata Haeckel. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Technical Report 69–73, 22.Google Scholar
Knoll, A. H., Johnson, D. A., (in press). Late Pleistocene evolution of the collosphaerid Buccinosphaera invaginata Haeckel.. Micropaleontology (in press)..Google Scholar
Moore, T.C. Jr., (1973). Late Pleistocene-Holocene oceanographic changes in the north-eastern Pacific. Quaternary Research 3, 99 109.Google Scholar
Nigrini, C.A., (1967). Radiolaria in pelagic sediments from the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Bulletin of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography 11, 1 106.Google Scholar
Nigrini, C.A., (1970). Radiolarian assemblages in the North Pacific and their application to a study of Quaternary sediments in core V20-130. In Geological Investigations of the North Pacific. Hays, J.D., Geological Society of America Memoir 126, Geological Society of America, New York 139 183.Google Scholar
Nigrini, C.A., (1971). Radiolarian zones in the Quaternary of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Funnell, B.M., Riedel, W.R., The Micropalaeontology of Oceans Cambridge University Press 443 461.Google Scholar
Opdyke, N.D., (1972). Paleomagnetism of deep-sea cores. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics 10, 213 249.Google Scholar
Renz, G.W., (1973). The distribution and ecology of radiolaria in the central Pacific-plankton and surface sediments. Ph.D. dissertationUniv. California, San Diego 251.Google Scholar
Riedel, W.R., (1957). Radiolaria: a preliminary stratigraphy. Reports of the Swedish Deep-Sea Expedition 6, 59 96.Google Scholar
Riedel, W.R., (1971). Occurrence of pre-Quaternary Radiolaria in deep-sea sediments. In The Micropaleontology of Oceans. Funnell, B.M., Riedel, W.R., Cambridge University Press 567 594.Google Scholar
Riedel, W.R., Sanfilippo, A., (1970). Radiolaria, Leg 4, Deep Sea Drilling Project. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 4, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 503 575.Google Scholar
Riedel, W.R., Sanfilippo, A., (1971). Cenozoic Radiolaria from the western tropical Pacific, Leg 7. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 7, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 1529 1672.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.R., McIntyre, A., (1973). Time-transgressive deglacial retreat of polar waters from the North Atlantic. Quaternary Research 3, 117 130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachs, H.M., (1973a). North Pacific radiolarian assemblages and their relationship to oceanographic parameters. Quaternary Research 3, 73 88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachs, H.M., (1973b). Late Pleistocene history of the North Pacific: evidence from a quantitative study of radiolaria in core V21-173. Quaternary Research 3, 89 98.Google Scholar
Sanfilippo, A., Riedel, W.R., (1974). Radiolaria from the west-central Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, DSDP Leg 24. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project Vol. 24, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 997 1035.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., (1973). Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 yr and 106 yr scale. Quaternary Research 3, 39 55.Google Scholar
Watkins, N.D., (1972). Review of the development of the geomagnetic polarity time scale and discussion of prospects for its finer definition. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83, 551 574.Google Scholar