Integrated stratigraphy of ODP Site 1115 (Solomon Sea, southwestern equatorial Pacific) over the past 3.2 Ma

We provide an integrated stratigraphy for the southern margin of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool back to 3.2 million years ago (Ma) from ODP Site 1115, Hole B (9 degrees 11'S, 151 degrees 34'E, water depth 1149 m, 0-217 m below sea floor), the only hole with core recovery beyond 4.4 m. An initial age model based on 14 calcareous nannofossil datums, 5 planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphic events and 12 magnetic polarity reversals is refined by planktonic foraminiferal Globigerinoides sacculifer (300-355 mu m) delta O-18 stratigraphy. The planktonic delta O-18 record with an average 3-4 kyr resolution matches the global stack LR04 (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005). The 41-kyr obliquity and 100-kyr eccentricity patterns show good correlation between the LR04 and the dataset presented herein. The precession amplitude matches eccentricity, supporting the established stratigraphy. Sedimentation rates at Hole 1115B have decreased from 9.3 to 4.5 cm/kyr during the past 3.2 Ma toward present, mainly due to the gradual deepening of the Woodlark Basin. The planktonic delta O-18 record from Site 1115 matches the global climate evolution well.