Trench floor depositional response to glacio-eustatic changes over the last 45 ka, northern Hikurangi subduction margin, New Zealand

Glacio-eustatic cycles lead to changes in sedimentation on all types of continental margins. There is, however, a paucity of sedimentation rate data over eustatic sea-level cycles in active subduction zones. During International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 375, coring of the upper ∼110 m of the northern Hikurangi Trough Site U1520 recovered a turbidite-dominated succession deposited during the last ∼45 kyrs (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1–3). We present an age model integrating radiocarbon dates, tephrochronology, and δ18O stratigraphy, to evaluate the bed recurrence interval (RI) and sediment accumulation rate (SAR). Our analyses indicate mean bed RI varies from ∼322 yrs in MIS1, ∼49 yrs in MIS2, and ∼231 yrs in MIS3. Large (6-fold) and abrupt variations in SAR are recorded across MIS transitions, with rates of up to ∼10 m/kyr occurring during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and