Data report: revised composite depth scale and splice for IODP Site U1406: Expedition 342

Abstract

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 342 recovered exceptional Paleogene to early Neogene sedimentary archives from clay-rich sediments in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. These archives present an opportunity to study Cenozoic climate in a highly sensitive region at often unprecedented resolution. Such studies require continuous records in the depth and time domains. Using records from multiple adjacent drilled holes, intervals within consecutive cores are typically spliced into a single composite record on board the R/V JOIDES Resolution using high-resolution physical properties data sets acquired before the cores are split. The highly dynamic nature of the sediment drifts drilled during Expedition 342 and the modest amplitude of variance in the physical property records made it possible to construct only highly tentative initial working splices, which require extensive postexpedition follow-up work. Postexpedition, high-resolution X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning data enabled the construction of a preliminary composite depth scale and splice. Here, we present the revised composite depth scale and splice for IODP Site U1406, predominantly constructed using detailed hole-to-hole correlations of newly generated high-resolution XRF data and revisions of the initial XRF data set. The revised composite depth scale and splice serve as a reference framework for future research on Site U1406 sediments.