EXCEPTIONALLY WELL-PRESERVED EARLY OLIGOCENE DIATOMS FROM GLACIAL SEDIMENTS OF PRYDZ BAY, EAST ANTARCTICA

An exceptionally well-preserved early Oligocene diatom assemblage is d ocumented and illustrated from the internal sediment of a gastropod sh ell, which was collected from glacial sediments recovered at Ocean Dri lling Program Site 739 on the continental shelf in Prydz Bay, Antarcti ca. The diatoms were deposited between 35.9 and 34.8 Ma according to d iatom and calcareous nannofossil stratigraphy, apparently soon after a period of major ice sheet advance across the Prydz Bay continental sh elf. The diatom assemblage is neritic in character, but it can readily be correlated with open ocean assemblages from the Southern Ocean as well as with similar material recovered from the CIROS-1 drillhole in the Ross Sea.