The upper Pleistocene record apparently is missing. Most of the sediment is moderately bioturbated, and burrows range in diameter from 1 mm to over 1 cm. Authigenic minerals are rare or present in trace abundances. Pyrite is present as silt-sized aggregates of euhedral crystals or as framboids. The biogenic component in all smear slides consists of abundant to very abundant nannofossils.
Foraminifers are abundant to common.
Calcareous nannofossils and planktonic foraminifer datums are in good agreement. Siliceous microfossils are rare or absent in much of the core. A significant amount of tropical to subtropical planktonic foraminifer species between 140 and 150 mbsf may indicate a warming event or increased input from the warm Aghulhas Current. Except for the uppermost 30 mbsf, the cores show significant coring-induced remagnetization. Detailed comparisons between the magnetic susceptibility records generated on the MST and color reflectance measured with the Minolta spectrophotometer demonstrated complete recovery of the sedimentary sequence down to 232 mcd.