Report and Preliminary results of Meteor cruise M49/1 Cape Town (South Africa) - Montevideo (Uruguay) 04.01.2000 - 10.02.2000.

Abstract

METEOR cruise M49/1 lasted from 04.01.2001 - 10.02.2001. The cruise started in Cape Town (South Africa) and ended in Montevideo (Uruguay). The aim of METEOR Cruise M49/1 was to support the proposal 'Early Cenozoic Extreme Climates - The Walvis Ridge Transect' for scientific drilling by the Ocean Drilling program. The main objectives of the ODP proposal are extreme climatic conditions in the Paleogene, dating utilizing astronomical cycles, and the reconstruction of the paleocanographic development. Poor recovery and drilling disturbances made previous drilling campaigns in the area (Leg 40, 1974; Leg 74, 1980) an only limited success, but the sediments recovered during these 1egs document the high quality of sediment cores and paleoceanographic records obtainable in the area. Primary targets of the new drilling proposa1 are the Latest Paleocene Thermal Maximum (55.5 Ma), the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (51 Ma), and the Earliest Oligocene Glacial Maximum (33.4 Ma).