Antarctic environmental variability since the late Miocene: ODP Site 745, the East Kerguelen sediment drift

Characterization of sediment from Ocean Drilling Program Site 745, representing the East Kerguelen Ridge sediment drift, addresses important issues surrounding the timing of Miocene to present East Antarctic ice sheet stability and oceanic environmental change. Our results show three periods of greatly enhanced accumulation of Antarctic-derived sediment, at 6.4–5.9 Ma, 4.9–4.4 Ma and 1.1–0.8 Ma, potentially indicative of warmer, less stable ice sheets at these times. Conversely, the accumulation of Antarctic-derived material is comparatively less during the middle of the Pliocene warm epoch (4.8–3.2 Ma). The deep flow forming the Kerguelen drift was stronger during the latest Miocene and earliest Pliocene and has decreased in intensity continuously since then.