(Table 2) Biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic age model for ODP Sites 165-998A and 165-1000A@en

Carbonate content and mass accumulation rate (MAR) were determined for Holes 998A, 999A, and 1000A recovered during the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 165 in the Yucatan Basin (3101 m), the Colombian Basin (2839 m), and the Pedro Channel (927 m), respectively, for an interval spanning most of the middle Miocene and the early part of the late Miocene. Aragonite MAR was analyzed in Hole 1000A to detect dissolution of metastable carbonates at subthermocline depths in addition to sea-level variations. Oxygen and carbon stable isotope composition of benthic foraminifers are used as a proxy for sea-level fluctuations and as a record for the chemistry variations of deep and intermediate water, respectively. The middle to late Miocene transition in the Caribbean was characterized by massive increase of carbonate dissolution. Five well-defined dissolution episodes between 12 and 10 Ma are characterized by dramatic reductions in carbonate content and MAR. This interval is referred to as the Caribbean carbonate crash. The term \"carbonate crash\" was borrowed from ODP Leg 138 published results (Lyle et al., 1995, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.138.157.1995). The timing and periodicity of four of the five carbonate-dissolution episodes in the Caribbean basins appear to correspond to the late middle Miocene production peaks of the North Component Water (Wright and Miller, 1996, doi:10.1029/95PA03696), equivalent to the modern North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). […]