Similar to Site 1082, the lighter colored cycles are more calcium carbonate rich compared to the adjacent, more clay-rich, darker colored cycles. Clay-rich intervals are generally 60 to 150 cm thick and occur approximately every 2 to 5 m. Muscovite and biotite are present in trace amounts. Grain sizes of identifiable detrital components are relatively constant. Authigenic minerals, such as framboidal pyrite and dolomite rhombs, are rare or present in trace abundances only.
Carbonate minerals are generally rare to frequent in abundance and, at times, are common.
The biogenic fraction of the sediment revealed abundant to very abundant nannofossils, abundant to common foraminifer fragments, rare siliceous sponge spicules, and trace amounts of radiolarians and silicoflagellates. Diatom abundances vary from common to barren. The relative abundances of the biogenic components change frequently within one core. An integrated biostratigraphic framework composed of both calcareous and siliceous microfossils was established, resulting in a well-constrained age model for Site 1083. Preservation of nannofossil specimens is good to very good.