Carbonate sediments: oriented lithified samples from the north atlantic

Indurated carbonate samples, obtained from the North Atlantic sea floor with a deep-sea drill coring apparatus, suggest that the phenomenon of deep-sea carbonate lithification is more complex than had been thought previously. Lithified-nonlithified couplets can now be related in age and orientation. Age determinations based on the method of carbon-14 dating show that adjacent nonlithified-lithified layers may differ in age by more than 30,000 years.