Fig. 3: Early Pliocene glacial-interglacial cyclicity in sediment composition between 80 and 210 mbsf and sediment provenance changes in Hole U1533B.
From: West Antarctic ice retreat and paleoceanography in the Amundsen Sea in the warm early Pliocene
Panel (a) a* color photospectrometry record of Site U1533, with low values indicating green and high values red hues40, (b) Al/Ti ratios derived from XRF scanner data, (c) Ba/Rb ratios derived from XRF scanner data, (d) Cerium anomaly values derived from bulk sample ICP-MS analysis, (e) % Smectite and (f) % Kaolinite in the clay fraction <2 µm, (g) chondrite-normalized Gd/Yb ratios and (h) Europium anomaly, derived from bulk sample ICP-MS analysis, (i) mean sortable silt grain size, and (j) linear sedimentation rates (LSR). Magn. strat. = shipboard interpreted magnetic polarity and chronostratigraphy. Greenish grey glacial retreat facies have high Ba/Rb, smectite and Cerium anomaly values, and Al/Ti ratios. Mean sortable silt grain size (\(\overline{{SS}}\)) maxima are higher in the upper and lower portions of the displayed interval and contrast with the linear sedimentation rates (LSR). Kaolinite contents show variations in clay mineral provenance, with higher kaolinite contents indicating more detrital supply from the Thwaites Glacier basin. Higher GdN/YbN ratios of the bulk sediment are also indicative of the Thwaites Glacier supply. The Europium anomaly is exceptionally low for the interval with common color-banded facies between ~110 and 170 mbsf. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
