Description: Surface and deep water circulation patterns in the eastern Indian Ocean during the Paleocene Epoch are inferred based on an integrated magnetobiostratigraphic and stable isotope investigation of Ocean Drilling Program Hole 761B, drilled on the Wombat Plateau. A combination of magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and isotope stratigraphy demonstrates that numerous deep sea sites that have been considered to show continuous, or nearly continuous sedimentation through the Paleocene are punctuated by a series of hiatuses, some of which exceeding a duration of 1 Myr. Therefore, our study is based on a detailed temporal interpretation of the stratigraphic successions we used for paleoceanographic reconstructions. We compare detailed planktonic and benthic foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotope records from Hole 761B with several temporally correlative records published from different oceanic provinces in order to distinguish between local and global patterns within the eastern Indian Ocean. Although Site 761 was situated at low latitudes during the Paleocene, its surface waters were predominantly influenced by circulation originating from the Southern Ocean as indicated by inferred cool sea surface temperatures and reduced surface to deep water temperature gradients. We suggest that deep waters in the eastern Indian Ocean were not directly fed by the Southern or Tethys Oceans. Rather, the more negative delta13C composition of the bottom waters recorded by benthic foraminifera implies the presence and/or active contribution of aged deep waters from the Pacific during this time, at least prior to ~60.2 Ma and subsequent to ~59.0 Ma. The Indian continent, Ninetyeast Ridge, Kerguelen Plateau and Broken Ridge may have played a significant role as submarine barriers to deep water circulation during the Paleocene.

Description: A record based on counts of the relative abundance of the dominant calcareous nannofossil taxa Coccolithus pelagicus and Reticulofenestra spp. in sediments recovered from Ocean Drilling Program Hole 747A (Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Indian Ocean) is established in this paper. This record (17 m.y. long) virtually spans the entire Miocene. Broad, steplike variations in the abundance of C. pelagicus range between 0% and 96%. Based on these variations, five stratigraphic units characterized by high abundance in C. pelagicus are delineated. We suggest that these variations are caused by water-mass movements (such as the north/south shifting of a front). This pronounced signal is compared with paleoceanographic events revealed by isotopic (d18O and d13C) studies. The five defined units are tentatively correlated to well-known global isotopic events. In particular, Units A and D correlate respectively with the Oligocene/Miocene boundary glaciation and the middle Miocene cooling event. Time-series analysis indicates the presence of the three main periodic components of the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit. A 200-k.y. cycle is also present. The stratigraphic and paleoceanographic significance of this record is discussed.