CLASTIC COMPONENTS IN QUATERNARY SEDIMENTS OF THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND THEIR PALEO-OCEANIC SIGNIFICANCE

Ninety-seven mineral analyses (for the total 0.05-0.1 mm fraction and its heavy subfraction) are given of Late Pleistocene to Holocene sedim ents from the northwestern (subarctic) Pacific, including the Kuril an d Aleutian Trenches and Bering Sea. Heavy mineral assemblages indicati ng ice-rafted debris and its main provenance were defined. The assembl ages are derived mainly from the northeastern Bering Sea shelf where l arge-scale generation of sea-ice is presumed. Temporal and spatial cha nges of the mineral suites also suggest intermediate to deep water flo w along the eastern flank of the Emperor chain during glaciation. The flow might penetrate the Northwest Pacific Basin to the south of 45-de grees-N. It was traced by the fine- and medium-grained terrigenous deb ris in a core from 38-degrees-N and 165-degrees-E.