Description: The magnetic polarity stratigraphy at Site 907 obtained from the shipboard pass-through magnetometer and from discrete samples is readily interpretable back to the onset of the Gilbert Chron (5.89 Ma). From this level to the base of the section at ~14 Ma, the interpretation is corroborated by silicoflagellate datums with predictable correlation to polarity chrons. The resulting magnetostratigraphic interpretation differs from those proposed in the Leg 151 (Hole 907A) and 162 (Holes 907B and 907C) Initial Reports volumes. An important hiatus in the 7-10 Ma interval at Site 907 caused sedimentation to slow or cease for ~2.7 m.y. We have revised the shipboard correlation among the three holes at Site 907, resulting in a new composite section splice and recalculation of composite depths. For Site 985, magnetostratigraphic interpretation is possible down to ~150 meters below seafloor (mbsf) (C3An/C3Ar) at ~6 Ma. There are no useful biostratigraphic datums from Site 985 to support this interpretation; however, the interpretation is supported by the correlation of Sites 985 and 907 using natural gamma data from the shipboard multisensor track. Below ~150 mbsf at Site 985, drilling-related deformation at the onset of extended core barrel drilling precluded magnetostratigraphic interpretation.

Description: Cores recovered at Sites 986 and 987 comprise glacial fan sedimentation associated with the Svalbard-Barents Sea and Greenland Ice Sheets, respectively. At Site 986, the top 150 m and the basal 250 m yielded interpretable magnetic stratigraphies. The record from the intervening 550 m is compromised by drilling-related core deformation, poor recovery, and numerous debris flows. The uppermost 150 m appears to record the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary and the Jaramillo Subchron. The base of the drilled section (at ~950 meters below seafloor [mbsf]) is interpreted to lie within the Matuyama Chron (age 〈2.58 Ma) with an apparent normal polarity interval in the ~730-750 mbsf interval. Dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy and Sr isotopic ratios are consistent with a Matuyama age for the base of the drilled section and with the normal polarity interval as the Olduvai Subchron. On the other hand, the last occurrence of Neogloboquadrina atlantica (sinistral) and the last common occurrence of the warm-dwelling Globigerina bulloides at 647-650 mbsf in Hole 986D indicate an age for this level of ~2.3 Ma, inconsistent with the designation of the Olduvai Subchron in the ~730-750 mbsf interval. If the age at 647-650 mbsf in Hole 986D is taken as 2.3 Ma and the base of the hole lies within the Matuyama Chron, then the sedimentation rate in the basal 300 m of the cored section averages 1 m/k.y. At Site 987, the magnetic stratigraphy is fairly unambiguous throughout the section and yields an age of 7.5 Ma (Chron 4n) for the base of the drilled section. The paucity of calcareous and siliceous microfossils precludes biostratigraphic corroboration of the magnetostratigraphic interpretation, although dinoflagellate cysts provide general support, particularly at the base of the section. The age model indicates relatively low sedimentation rates (~5 cm/k.y.) at the base of the section with rates at least four to five times greater during intervals of debris flows at ~5-4.6 and ~2.6 Ma.

Description: At ODP Site 983, relative geomagnetic paleointensity and planktic and benthic delta18O records have been acquired for the last 350 kyr. The mean sedimentation rate in this interval is 11.3 cm/kyr. Magnetic properties and hysteresis ratios indicate that pseudo-single domain magnetite is the remanence carrier. Volume susceptibility (kappa), anhysteretic (ARM) and isothermal (IRM) remanence values vary by a factor of 3-4, well within the criteria usually cited for paleointensity studies. Natural remanent magnetization (NRM) is normalized by ARM and IRM to acquire the paleointensity proxy. Arithmetic means of NRM/ARM and NRM/IRM, calculated for five demagnetization steps in the 25-45 mT range, constitute the relative paleointensity estimates. Some paleointensity lows (particularly those at ~40, ~120 and ~188 ka) are associated with directional excursions of the field, especially the event at ~188 ka (referred to here as the Iceland Basin Event) that constitutes a short-lived polarity reversal. For the last 200 kyr, the records can be correlated with other high-resolution paleointensity records such as those from the Labrador Sea, Mediterranean/Somali Basin and Sulu Sea, implying that the millennial scale features are globally synchronous. A labeling system for paleointensity features is proposed that ties prominent highs and lows to oxygen isotope stages.

Description: Magnetic polarity stratigraphies for Sites 980-984 are based on shipboard measurements from the pass-through magnetometer after alternating field (AF) demagnetization at a peak field of 25 mT and shore-based stepwise AF demagnetization of discrete samples. The characteristic magnetization component was determined after AF demagnetization removed the steep downward drill-string-related magnetic overprint. Peak AF fields in the 20-30 mT range were required to resolve the component, carried by magnetite, that was used to produce unambiguous Pliocene-Pleistocene magnetic stratigraphies at all five sites. At Sites 980 and 983, magnetic stratigraphies were resolved to the base of the recovered advanced hydraulic piston corer (APC) section, which lies in the Matuyama Chron (1r.2r) and Olduvai Subchron (2n), respectively. At Sites 981 and 982, magnetization intensities decrease sharply in the normal polarity zone corresponding to the Gauss Chron (2An), and magnetic stratigraphies below this level could not be resolved. At Site 984, the resolution of magnetic stratigraphy was curtailed at ~250 meters below seafloor (Olduvai Subchron) by core deformation at the base of the APC section and in the underlying extended core barrel section. As the magnetic stratigraphies at all four sites are unequivocal, polarity chron interpretations can be made without aid from the biostratigraphy. Mean sedimentation rates within polarity chrons have been calculated and Pliocene-Pleistocene biomagnetostratigraphic correlations tested.