Principal results: Site 680 is centered on an east-west transect of three sites across the coastal upwelling deposits of the Peruvian outer shelf and upper slope. Coring at Site 680 provided a detailed record of coastal upwelling sediments for investigating vertical shifts in depth of the oxygen-minimum layer through time. In addition, seawardlandward shifts of upwelling centers in response to Pleistocene sealevel fluctuations were also studied. Three holes were drilled at Site 680. Hole 680A, with a total depth of 93.8 mbsf, recovered 81.2 m of thinly laminated, upper Quaternary, organic-rich, dark olive green, foraminifer-diatomaceous muds and sandy silts. In Hole 680B the same sequence was pistoncored with excellent recovery to a depth of 92 mbsf. The Brunhes/ Matuyama boundary was identified at 38 mbsf. Core recovery was 249 SITE 680 poor during XCB drilling in lower Pliocene strata at the bottom of Hole 680B (195.5 m). Clastic feldspar sediments associated with beds of phosphatic conglomerates and sands are characteristic lithologies of the Pliocene unit. Four cores were drilled in Hole 680C with 100% recovery before the hole was abandoned because of failure of a sand line. We froze the samples from this hole for geomicrobiological and organic-geochemical studies.At Site 680 all stages of dolomite, calcite, and phosphate forma tion and replacement are common. Dolomite is the predominant au thigenic phase and first was found as disseminated rhombs in the diatomaceous mud at 0.79 mbsf. Phosphates occur in all units as thinly laminated beds of friable carbonate-fluor apatite, concen trated in diatom-rich laminae, and as dark, dense peloids typically in sandy and conglomeratic strata. Bedded opal-CT chert, pyrite, and calcite are minor authigenic phases. The sediments, their pore water, and their dissolved-gas chemistries reveal considerable early diagenetic activity, which is uniquely affected by hypersaline pore fluids discovered at Site 680. Salinities, chloride, and other dissolved ma jor ions of these fluids increase to about twice the concentrations of normal seawater at 195.5 mbsf. Replenishment of dissolved sulfate from this source inhibits microbial methane formation and promotes microbial sulfate reduction much beyond the depth normally seen in organic-rich sediments. Thus, these phenomena are responsible for the unexpectedly low biogenic methane contents of these sediments. This brine replenishes magnesium, calcium, and sulfate and also af fects dolomitization.The cores from Site 680 contain all components of a well-devel oped upwelling facies, provide an expanded record of the late Qua ternary period, and reveal low-temperature diagenetic reactions driven by hypersaline subsurface waters.
BACKGROUND AND SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVESSite 680 is located in the center of the east-west transect of three sites across the Peruvian upper-slope and outer-shelf areas (Fig. 1). We targeted this site to address paleoceanographic ob jectives. These objectives relate to the history and geological ex pression of coastal ...