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Ninety-six samples of the uppermost 3 cm of sediment were taken from the Big Bay section of the Bay of Quinte. The samples were analyzed for grain size, Eh, pH, organic C, and inorganic C. The Big Bay section contains three depositional basins and has a mean depth of 4.7 m. The sediment distribution was mapped by conventional echosounding and showed that the coarser sediments, sands and gravels, occurred on the northern shore and in the eastern part of the study area, with clayey silts and silty clays offshore in the three depositional basins. This distribution was confirmed by the grain size analyses.The textural properties of the sediments, mean grain size, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis, are related to the variable mixing of three populations comprising gravel, sand, and silt/clay. Trends in the grain-size statistics related to sediment distribution suggested that the distribution observed is a result of increasing energy levels downwind under prevailing westerly and southwesterly winds.

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section, indicating reducing conditions. Nanno chalk layers of Middle Miocene age are intercalated within the basalt below 566.5 meters. Sedimentation rates are thought to be approximately 51 m/m.y. in the Pliocene and Pleistocene and about 38 m/m.y. in late Miocene. However, these differences could reflect the increasing compaction and consolidation of the sediment with age. Site 232 Site 232 is located at the lip of the western flank of the Alula-Fartak Trench, a north-northeast, south-southwesttrending feature at the eastern entrance to the Gulf of Aden. Coring was completed to 434 meters and within this section six lithologic units were distinguished. Unit 1 ranges in age from late Miocene to Recent whereas Units 2 to 6 are all late Miocene in age. Units 1, 4, and 6 comprised a rather monotonous sequence of olive-gray to dusky yellow-green nanno oozes with occasional thin quartzose sand layers, some of which are pyritiferous. Two acid volcanic ash layers occur at 164 and 165 meters. The general uniformity of this lithologic unit suggests rather constant conditions of water depth, pelagic carbonate production, and detrital sediment input to have held sway since the late Miocene. Lithologic Units 2, 3, and 5 are well-lithified, calcite-cemented, quartz siltstones and sandstone, and seem exotic in this otherwise rather typical hemipelagic section. An origin as fault or slide blocks derived from a shallower-water, near-shore environment to the north or northwest is suggested for these rocks. Alternatively, the clastic grains themselves may have slumped unlithified into this location, and later calcite cementation has ensued because the high porosity of the sediments has allowed ready passage of carbonate precipitating pore waters through them. Average sedimentation rate during the Recent/Pleistocene/Pliocene was 55 m/m.y. and for the upper part of the late Miocene approximately 89 m/m.y. The higher sedimentation rate for the lower lithologic units may be caused by slumping.

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