Data Report: A Search for Deposits of the late Pliocene Impact of the Eltanin Asteroid in Rise Sediments from the Antarctic Peninsula, Site 1096

Abstract

Concentrations of Ir have been measured in 87 sediment samples from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1096 in search of evidence of fallout from the impact of the Eltanin asteroid, which occurred at 2.15 Ma, -1300 km northwest of the site. An additional six samples were measured from a unique sand layer and adjacent sediments that are dated at -1.6 Ma. These 93 sediment samples are all silts and muds that were deposited on a continental rise drift of the Antarctic Peninsula. No evidence of the Eltanin impact deposit was found in this study.

Evolución paleoceanográfica del Oceáno Austral (sectores subantárticos del Atlántico y Pacífico) durante el Plioceno tardio-Pleistoceno

“…A study of the sediment cores of the Bellinghausen Sea, made by Flores et al (2002), did not reveal signifi cant changes in the calcareous plankton association for the interval immediately after the impact, but relatively low sedimentation rates compared to the interval before the impact and the appearance of extensive bioturbation after the impact may be indicative of certain paleoenvironmental changes immediately after the impact. ODP Site 1096 (at 1300 km of the impact site) Eltanin impact site Antarctica So uth ern Oce an South America was examined to fi nd traces of the impact, but in this case no strong evidence related to this impact was found (Kyte, 2001). The consequences of this impact on the climate have not been quantifi ed and it has not been demonstrated to which extent this impact had a global effect on the Pliocene climate (Flores et al, 2002;Gersonde et al, 1997;Gersonde et al, 2005).…”