25th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry IMOG 2011

P-039
Organic carbon content and character of Holocene–Eocene
sediments recovered during IODP Expedition 317, Canterbury
Basin, New Zealand
Simon George 1 , Julius Lipp 2 , George Claypool 3 , Toshihiro Yoshimura 4 , Expedition 317
Shipboard Scientific Party, Integrated Ocean Drilling Program 5
1 Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 2 University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, 3 Lakewood, Colorado,
United States of America, 4 The University of Tokyo, Chiba, Japan, 5 Texas A&M University, College Station,
United States of America (corresponding author:Simon.George@mq.edu.au)
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP)
Expedition 317 aimed to derive an understanding of
the relative importance of global sea level changes
versus local tectonic and sedimentary processes in
controlling continental margin sedimentary cycles [1].
Four shelf-upper slope sites were cored in the
Canterbury Basin on the eastern margin of the South
Island of New Zealand in water depths of 85-344 m.
Eocene to recent sedimentary sequences, influenced
by a high rate of sediment supply from the uplifting
Southern Alps, were cored in a transect of three sites
on the continental shelf (landward to basinward, Sites
U1351, U1353, U1354) and one site on the
continental slope (U1352). More than 530 core
samples were analysed on-board ship by elemental
analysis, coulometer for carbonate content and
pyrolysis (source rock analyser). This dataset
provides an unparalleled opportunity to understand
organic matter content, character, preservation and
the influence of increasing thermal maturity in a
terrestrially-influenced basin.
Organic carbon content was generally low (1% TOC.
Analyses of sediment samples at Site U1352 also
distinguished the clay-rich lithostratigraphic Unit I from
the carbonate-dominated Unit II. The organic matter is
mainly terrestrial plant in origin, based on the majority
of hydrogen indices