Proceedings, initial reports, Ocean Drilling Program, Leg 167, California Margin, parts 1 and 2

During ODP Leg 167, April-June 1996, JOIDES Resolution sailed from Acapulco, Mexico, to San Francisco, California. Drilling took place at Sites 1010-1022. These sites are arrayed in a series of depth and latitudinal transects to reconstruct the Neogene history of deep, intermediate, and surface ocean circulation and to understand the paleoclimatic and geochemical history of this region. Leg 167 sites provide an opportunity to address paleoceanographic questions about the evolution of the California Current and the links between high and low latitudes from millennial and orbital to tectonic time scales. Shipboard results document the suitability of these sediments for addressing these questions. Sites have continuous sedimentation records with high deposition rates. Calcium carbonate is present throughout the records, and foraminifers for oxygen and carbon isotopic studies are generally common to abundant. Pioneering biostratigraphy will refine the chronostratigraphic control for this otherwise poorly constrained oceanic regime. Magnetostratigraphy constrains the age models at many sites, and advances in understanding magnetic reversals and the effects of sediment diagenesis on magnetic signals will be possible from these sediments. Significant variations occur in sediment properties on all time scales. Key topics for investigation include variations in productivity, upwelling, sea surface temperature, hydrography, sedimentation fluxes, and carbon and nutrient budgets.