Large scale excavation of outer shelf sediments by bottom currents during the Late Miocene in the SE Atlantic

Deep Sea Drilling Project cores collected at site 362/362A suggest the time of initiation of the Benguela upwelling system off northern Namibia. Studies of sediment accumulation rates, diatom abundances, microfossil temperature preferences (for planktic foraminifers, calcareous nannoplankton, and silicoflagellates), productivity (expressed as the organic carbon content), and phosphorus incorporation in calcareous skeletons all suggest that major, sustained upwelling began in the early late Miocene. Upwelling brought cold, nutrient-rich waters to the surface, and the modern Benguela system dates from this time (about 10 million years before the present).