Data report: X-ray fluorescence scanning of sediment cores, IODP Expedition 390/393 Site U1557, South Atlantic Transect

Site U1557 is the deepest and one of the oldest sites drilled during International Ocean Discovery Program Expeditions 390C, 395E, 390, and 393 on the South Atlantic Transect. It differs from the nearby Site U1556, which also sits on early Paleocene crust, by its stratigraphically expanded Paleocene–Eocene section. Here, we present the results of programmatic X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning of the entire thickness of the sedimentary section at Site U1557. We find a major shift in XRF geochemistry at the boundary between Lithologic Units I and II, coincident with a shift in spectral gamma ray and magnetic susceptibility, as well as a shift from alternating pelagic carbonate and pelagic clay in Unit I to pelagic carbonate in Unit II. Within Unit I, shifts in major elemental composition of core material track alternations between carbonate-rich and clayrich intervals.