IODP workshop: developing scientific drilling proposals for the Argentina Passive Volcanic Continental Margin (APVCM) – basin evolution, deep biosphere, hydrates, sediment dynamics and ocean evolution

VIOLANTE, ROBERTO A.; GRÜTZNER, JENS; BIDDLE, JENNIFER; GORGAS, THOMAS; UENZELMANN-NEBEN, GABRIELE; ST-ONGE, GUILLAUME; FLOOD, ROGER D.; SCHWARZ, ERNESTO; HERNÁNDEZ-MOLINA, F. JAVIER; AND APVCM WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS

Scientific Drilling

Copernicus Publications

Año: 2017 vol. 22 p. 49 - 61

The Argentine margin contains important sedimentological, paleontological and chemical records ofregional and local tectonic evolution, sea level, climate evolution and ocean circulation since the opening ofthe South Atlantic in the Late Jurassic?Early Cretaceous as well as the present-day results of post-depositionalchemical and biological alteration. Despite its important location, which underlies the exchange of southern- andnorthern-sourced water masses, the Argentine margin has not been investigated in detail using scientific drillingtechniques, perhaps because the margin has the reputation of being erosional. However, a number of papers publishedsince 2009 have reported new high-resolution and/or multichannel seismic surveys, often combined withmulti-beam bathymetric data, which show the common occurrence of layered sediments and prominent sedimentdrifts on the Argentine and adjacent Uruguayan margins. There has also been significant progress in studying theclimatic records in surficial and near-surface sediments recovered in sediment cores from the Argentine margin.Encouraged by these recent results, our 3.5-day IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) workshop inBuenos Aires (8?11 September 2015) focused on opportunities for scientific drilling on the Atlantic margin ofArgentina, which lies beneath a key portion of the global ocean conveyor belt of thermohaline circulation. Significantopportunities exist to study the tectonic evolution, paleoceanography and stratigraphy, sedimentology,and biosphere and geochemistry of this margin.