Paleontological Analyses of North Pacific Ocean-Bottom Cores

Abstract

Three North Pacific ocean-bottom cores were studied. Core No.1 was taken on the rim of the Aleutian Trench, south of Attu Island; core NO.2, about 140 miles south of Attu Island; and core No.8, on the Marcus-Necker Ridge. The upper 40 em of core No. 1 is almost entirely organic material and the remainder of the 315-cm core is predominantly glacial marine sediments. Climatic conditions and source of clastics are inferred. Core No. 2 was of virtually no stratigraphic value, due to the reworking of the sediments. The upper 200 cm of core No. 8 were analyzed, dated, and correlated with other low-latitude cores, with core NO.1, and with cores from the central Arctic Ocean studied by Soviet scientists. A foraminiferan generally believed to be Tertiary was found in association with Pleistocene foraminiferan species. The analyses confirm the basic premise of the Ewing and Donn theory of ice ages, and suggest that stadial intervals are mainly ones of slow glacial wastage.