The state of a sediment undergoing deformation depends upon its initial properties at the time of deposition and its subsequent stress history (including diagenetic changes) during burial. Sediment facies classification can be used to determine the variation in initial properties and the relative control this variation has on properties during burial. On the Peru continental margin, three main facies have been identified: laminated diatomaceous mud, massiveto-bioturbated diatomaceous mud, and terrigenous mud. These facies exhibit a gradation in properties, with the laminated diatomaceous mud having very high liquid limit, water content, and shear strength, compared to the terrigenous facies, and with the massive-to-bioturbated facies showing intermediate properties. The properties of the diatomaceous sediments are interpreted to result from a strong particle framework provided by the diatom frustules, which support a high proportion of the sediment load. Dolomitization during burial appears to enhance particle framework strength and results in a heterogeneous sediment column. The development of numerous rupture or fault surfaces, as commonly observed in upper-slope cores from Leg 112, is interpreted as the result of strain-softening during deformation. Scaly cleavage, observed at depth in lower-slope cores, is interpreted to result from strain-hardening behavior that takes place during deformation at greater burial depth.

The Ontong Java Plateau, a large, deep-water carbonate plateau in the western equatorial Pacific, is an ideal location for studying responses of carbonate sedimentation to the effects of changing paleoceanographic conditions. These carbonate responses are often reflected in the physical properties of the sediment, which in turn control the appearance of seismic reflection profiles. Seismic stratigraphy analyses, correlating eight reflector horizons to each drill site, have been conducted in an attempt to map stratigraphic data. Accurate correlation of seismic stratigraphic data to drilling results requires conversion of traveltime to depth in meters. Synthetic seismogram models, using shipboard physical properties data, have been generated in an attempt to provide this correlation.Physical properties, including laboratory-measured and well-log data, were collected from sites drilled during Deep Sea Drilling Project Legs 30 and 89, and Ocean Drilling Program Leg 130, on the top and flank of the Ontong Java Plateau. Laboratory-measured density is corrected to in-situ conditions by accounting for porosity rebound resulting from removal of the sediment from its overburden. The correction of laboratory-measured compressional velocity to in situ appears to be largely a function of increases in elastic moduli (especially shear rigidity) with depth of burial, more than a function of changes in temperature, pressure, or density (porosity rebound). Well-log velocity and density data for the ooze intervals were found to be greatly affected by drilling disturbance; hence, they were disregarded and replaced by lab data for these intervals.Velocity and density data were used to produce synthetic seismograms. Correlation of seismic reflection data with synthetic data, and hence with depth below seafloor, at each drill site shows that a single velocity-depth function exists for sediments on the top and flank of the Ontong Java Plateau. Seismic reflection profiles down the flank of the plateau undergo three significant changes: (1) a drastic thinning of the sediment column with depth, (2) changes in the echo-character of the profile (development of seismic facies), and (3) loss of continuous, coherent reflections. Sediments on the plateau top were largely deposited by pelagic processes, with little significant postdepositional or syndepositional modification. Sediments on the flank of the plateau are also pelagic, but they have been modified by faulting, erosion, and mass movement. These processes result in disrupted and incoherent reflectors, development of seismic facies, and redistribution of sediment on the flank of the plateau.Seismic stratigraphic analyses have shown that the sediment section decreases in thickness by as much as 65% between water depths of 2000 m water depth (at the top of the plateau) and 4000 m (near the base of the plateau). Thinning is attributed to increasing carbonate dissolution with depth. If this assumption is correct, then changes in the relative thicknesses of seismostratigraphic units a...

Consolidation tests were performed on 19 samples of calcareous ooze from the Ontong Java Plateau, obtained during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 130. Rebound curves from consolidation tests on Ontong Java Plateau samples yield porosity rebounds of 1 %-4% for these sediments at equivalent depths up to 1200 mbsf. The exception is a radiolarian-rich sample that has 6% rebound. A rebound correction derived from the porosity rebound vs. depth data has been combined with a correction for pore-water expansion to correct the shipboard laboratory porosity data to in-situ values. Comparison of the laboratory porosity data corrected in this manner with the downhole log data shows good agreement.

Based on index properties measurements made on board the JOIDES Resolution, we studied porosity changes with depth in the fairly homogeneous deep-sea calcareous sediments cored during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 130 on the Ontong Java Plateau.Using Leg 130 data, we present evidence that the rate of porosity decrease with burial in calcareous oozes and chalks is related to the depth of deposition and thus probably depends on the "conditioning" of calcareous sediments by winnowing or dissolution processes during the time of deposition. The ooze-to-chalk transition is not clearly reflected in porosity profiles. In the ooze-chalk sections studied (the upper 600 mbsf), mechanical compaction is most likely the major process controlling the porosity decrease with depth of burial, whereas the chalk-limestone transition (at about 1100 mbsf at Site 807) is characterized by an intense chemical compaction leading to a drastic decrease in porosity values within 100 m.In oozes and chalks, porosity values were corrected to "original" (uncompacted) values using site-specific empirical regression equations. When plotted vs. age, corrected porosity profiles appear to correlate quite well from site to site in the sediments deposited during the last 15 m.y. This observation has considerable implications for seismic stratigraphy.Our attempt to correlate variations in porosity (or wet-bulk density) profiles with changes in carbonate content remained unsatisfactory. Index properties changes are likely caused by changes in the foraminifer content. If this is the case, we propose that large-scale porosity fluctuations that correlate from site to site are the result of changes in the surface productivity that lead to changes in the foraminifers-to-nannofossils ratio.

No abstract