Radiolarian Biostratigraphy and Paleoceanographic Study from the Northeast Equatorial Pacific

북동태평양지역의 방산충 생층서 및 고해양환경 연구

Radiolarian assemblages from KODOS area were analyzed in order to understand the biostratigraphy and paleoceanography of deep-sea sediment from the Northeast Equatorial Pacific. The sediment core was divided into two or three units on the basis of the chemical and physical properties. In the upper sediment, mixtures of Quaternary and Tertiary radiolarians are found indicating active reworking processes. Dissolution of radiolarians seem to increase with depth. Radiolarians are seldom in Unit III presumably due to dissolution and corrosion. The middle part of unit I appears to correspond to Collosphaera invaginata Zone (0.21 Ma). Unit II belongs to Collosphaera tuberosa Zone. Based on the absence of Stylatractus universus, we estimate its age to be younger than 0.42 Ma. Based on our analyses of radiolarians in Unit I and II, we estimated the age of unit III as Tertiary, particularly from Oligocene to Miocene. There may to be hiatuses of more than 3 My from late Miocene to Pliocene, which probably resulted from erosion and dissolution by the Antarctic Bottom Water Sedimentation rates during Quaternary range from 0.15 to 0.50 mm/ky with significant variabilities among stations. Radiolarians in the study area were mostly warm-water species.