3d stratigraphic forward modelling for analysis and prediction of carbonate platform stratigraphies in exploration and production abstract stratigraphic forward modelling sfm has been used to answer important questions in stratigraphic analysis this has been demonstrated through generic modelling of synthetic data and numerous two dimensional 2d real data case studies but the method has rarely been used to further our understanding of specific real three dimensional 3d carbonate data sets by quantitative comparison this paper applies carbonate 3d a sfm program to a hydrocarbon reservoir and outcropping carbonate platforms at both exploration and production scales we show the value of sfm in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons through predicting facies distributions and stratigraphic geometries between wells and by analysing and answering fundamental questions about the formation of specific carbonate strata first the model is tested using the 3d outcrops of a miocene attached carbonate platform at nijar se spain where 78 of mapped facies are matched in the simulations second sfm of an 80 000 km 2 jurassic ramp in ne spain exploration scale predicts new facies in areas without data leads to an improved understanding of ramp evolution modification of the interpreted sea level curve and re interpretation of the main sediment transport direction application to the isolated platform reservoir judy creek devonian canada exemplifies the advantages of applying sfm at reservoir scale the simulations yield information on platform geometries and facies distributions an improved understanding of the factors that control platform evolution and propose a revised sea level history wider applications of sfm in exploration include assessment of the possibilities and probabilities of facies distributions and evaluation and ranking of different interpretations of platform evolution at the reservoir scale facies probability distributions and layer geometries derived from sfm can serve as input into static reservoir models to guide geostatistical simulations

the nature of shallow water carbonate lithofacies thickness distributions carbonate lithofacies thickness distributions are of fundamental importance to understanding shallow water carbonate deposystems because they record evidence of the lateral distribution and migration of lithofacies elements as well as evidence for the various other intrinsic and extrinsic controls on stratal geometries and accumulation rates previous analyses of lithofacies thickness data led to the suggestion that exponential distributions are ubiquitous in the ancient record this has been interpreted to indicate deposition by stochastic poisson process lithofacies mosaics to further investigate these ideas statistical analysis of 56 outcrop and core examples was performed the kolmogorov smirnov test was used to identify the degree to which measured lithofacies thicknesses are well represented by a theoretical exponential distribution results from this analysis show that 16 of the 56 examples can be confidently shown to be exponential while 28 are very probably not exponential this indicates that stochastic poisson processes are a plausible explanation for many carbonate successions but they do not explain all of those tested here suggesting that other non poisson processes either stochastic or deterministic in nature or both must also be important thus lithofacies planform geometries and the processes controlling vertical stacking in ancient carbonate platform top deposystems were likely more diverse than has been suggested requiring significant further quantitative analysis and numerical forward modeling to properly understand

nd and sr isotopic variations in chinese eolian deposits during the past 8 ma implications for provenance change a record of changes in nd and sr isotopic composition of the eolian deposits from the central loess plateau has been determined for the past 8 ma the isotopic records of the silicate fraction of the quaternary and tertiary eolian deposits allow interpreting the interplay between the sr isotopic variations in the eolian deposits and the late cenozoic tectonic and climatic changes the results indicate that the temporal variations of nd and sr isotopes show remarkable changes around the beginning of the quaternary the lower values of the 143 nd 144 nd and the decreasing trend of the 87 sr 86 sr ratios after 2 58 ma ago are attributed to the additions of relatively younger crust materials in response to the climatic cooling and the late cenozoic uplift induced glacial grinding in the high orogenic belts in central asia in this context the substantial changes in climate and tectonics have modified dust sources significantly and the quaternary loess forming processes are preferentially sampling relatively younger and high relief crust materials than that of the tertiary red clay d 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

the paleoclimatic record provided by eolian deposition in the deep sea the geologic history of wind the mineral component of pelagic sediment is brought to the deep sea by transport in the wind extraction and analysis of this dust allows estimation of the past aridity of the eolian source region via flux determinations and of the intensity of the transporting winds from grain size data these two parameters the grain size and mass flux of dust vary independently there are three significant sources of modern dust eastern and central asia northwest africa and arabia all in the northern hemisphere as the rainfall associated with the intertropical convergence zone is an effective barrier to southerly transport of dust the northern hemisphere is an order of magnitude more dusty than is the southern an asymmetry that has characterized most of the cenozoic eolian flux data show that most of the northern hemisphere was more arid during glacial maxima with 3 to 5 times as much dust transported during glacial stages than during interglacials only northwestern south america varied in the opposite sense the periodicity of quaternary variation in both eolian flux and eolian grain size data is strongly influenced by the milankovitch cycles of orbital variability wind intensities vary on a shorter time scale than the general 100 kyr cycles of glaciation and general aridity eolian grain sizes display forcing at precessional 19 and 23 kyr tilt 41 kyr and at approximately 30 kyr periodicities as a result the generalization that winds are uniformly stronger during glacial times is not valid whole cenozoic records show that the largest change in dust flux an order of magnitude increase occurred in the northern hemisphere and reflects continental drying associated with the late pliocene onset of northern hemisphere glaciation southern hemisphere eolian records show no sign of paleoclimatic changes in the late pliocene the most important change in cenozoic atmospheric circulation was a severalfold reduction in wind intensity that occurred at the time of the paleocene eocene boundary before then latest cretaceous and paleocene winds were essentially as strong as those of the late cenozoic this shift appears to be one of several climatic responses to a change in the nature and amount of global heat transport at about 55 ma

the origins of shallow water carbonate lithofacies thickness distributions one dimensional forward modelling of relative sea level and production rate control the observation that shallow marine carbonate strata often have exponential lithofacies thickness distributions is one of the most fundamental results in carbonate stratigraphy in recent years because it is an observation that can be tested for its repeatability in various outcrop and subsurface examples and also because it raises the question of what sedimentary processes and climatic and oceanographic settings might lead to formation of a particular lithofacies thickness distribution this observation in turn links to the significant issue of how carbonate strata record climatic and oceanographic change through geological time this study applies a simple one dimensional numerical stratigraphic forward model of carbonate platform strata dougal to study how relative sea level oscillations could control lithofacies distribution dougal records platform top carbonate accumulation influenced by water depth dependent sediment production in euphotic oligophotic and aphotic production profiles with a lag depth controlling onset of production results from five single model runs highlight the issue of non stationary behaviour where statistical properties of the strata change with elevation up the section and show that exponential lithofacies thickness distributions can be generated from an entirely deterministic model results of multiple model runs 27 200 in total spanning a range of production and accommodation creation rates demonstrate that the three main controls on carbonate lithofacies distribution in this one dimensional model are i complex variations in the rate of creation of accommodation here due to high frequency glacio eustatic oscillations ii rate of sediment production dominated in these model runs by euphotic production rates and iii operation of autocyclic oscillations in deposition driven by a lag depth effect and formed during certain high frequency rising limbs on the glacio eustatic curve in these multiple model runs only ca 13 of the total runs created exponential distributions compared with 28 in the documented outcrop examples suggesting that other processes not included in this model play an important role more work is required to determine what these processes might be obvious candidates would be the various sedimentary processes that occur in three dimensions on platform tops such as sediment transport and variations in rate and type of sediment production related to biological variability and other process that occur in other different depositional settings for example sediment transport on slopes

nd and pb isotope time series from atlantic ferromanganese crusts implications for changes in provenance and paleocirculation over the last 8 myr high resolution nd and pb isotope time series for the last 8 myr are reported for four atlantic ferromanganese crusts dated by 10be 9be chronology these are compared to new high resolution and high precision pb isotope time series and recently published nd isotope time series for two previously studied crusts from the nw atlantic ocean these records allow a more detailed examination of atlantic deepwater variability over the time period of intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation nhg changes in the pb isotope time series started after 3 ma but were most dramatic over the last 1 8 myr coinciding with changes of pb isotopes in the arctic ocean this latter change post dates the intensification of nhg at 3 1 to 2 5 ma and reflects an increase in the input of material eroded from the archean shield of canada and greenland shifts in nd and pb isotope compositions in a crust from the blake plateau occur before 5 ma and most prominent at 8 ma suggest that water masses from either the pacific or southern ocean influenced the isotope composition of this crust the relatively high end values around 8 ma recorded by the blake plateau crust are explained by a contribution of eastward flowing pacific water through the panama gateway into the caribbean sea this high end signal decreased between 8 and 5 ma suggesting that the supply of pacific water into the caribbean became restricted this is earlier than the caribbean seawater salinity increase at 4 2 ma deduced from 18o data and may indicate that there was only a surface water connection between the caribbean and pacific between 5 and 4 2 ma the closure of the panama gateway to intermediate and deep water exchange 200 m depth apparently occurred much earlier than the intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation at 3 1 2 5 ma and cannot therefore have been a direct cause of this climatic change but may as recently argued only have been a necessary precondition

differing controls over the cenozoic pb and nd isotope evolution of deepwater in the central north pacific ocean dissolved pb and nd isotope ratios of seawater as recorded by chemical marine precipitates such as hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts have been used as paleoenvironmental proxy tracers for the north pacific however all ferromanganese crusts studied so far have either been subject to phosphatization or hydrothermal influence in their old part or only the young parts have been analyzed thus the pb and nd isotope compositions of north pacific deep waters prior to 20 ma are not well constrained we present new results for three ferromanganese crusts one of which cj01 shows no phosphatization and is located far away from the epr its age is inferred to be 75 ma and thus provides for the first time an opportunity to trace the nd and pb isotope evolution of central north pacific seawater back to the latest cretaceous the three crusts no matter whether phosphatized or not display very similar pb and nd isotope trends with age suggesting no modification of the pb and nd isotope distribution by post depositional phosphatization our data suggest that dissolved pb in deep waters of the central north pacific over the cenozoic and latest cretaceous has mainly been derived from eolian dust and only to a minor extent from weathering of island arcs for pb these trends broadly resemble the pb isotope evolution of the eolian silicate dust fraction of core ll44 gpc3 in the central north pacific we suggest that the isotope evolution of dissolved pb in central north pacific seawater has been mainly controlled by pb released from eolian dust from north america prior to 50 ma and after 40 ma from asia in contrast the nd isotope time series of the crusts are by no means similar to the nd isotope evolution of the silicate dust fraction in core gpc3 suggesting a decoupling from the pb and negligible contributions from dust to the dissolved nd in the central north pacific deep water the rise of nd isotope ratios of pacific seawater during the cenozoic has most likely been caused by the increasing volcanic activity and erosion of the volcanic arcs around the pacific

pb isotopes in surficial pelagic sediments from the north atlantic we measured pb isotopic composition and concentration in sediment samples close to the sea water interface in 6 box cores from the ne atlantic 2 box cores from the sargasso sea and one from the us continental shelf the anthropogenic pb input to marine sediments due to the increase of pb contamination over the ocean during the last century can be identified in all these cores in the eastern part of the atlantic i e in regions under aeolian influence from europe pb pollution can be recognized using its distinctive unradiogenic composition clearly different from the upper crustal values commonly found in pre holocene sediments in contrast pb pollution in regions influenced by north american sources can be identified only in detailed concentration profiles because the american pb pollution has an isotopic composition much closer to that of the natural detrital pb input coming from weathering of the continental crust pb excess inventories are in good agreement with fluxes estimated from sedimenttrap data and with the time record of pb contamination increase given by analyses in coral growth bands inventories of pb contamination to the sediments of the mud patch american shelf are tenfold higher 84 g cm2 than those to hatteras and bermuda abyssal plains 4 3 and 2 8 g cm2

the tectonic development of the western margin of the gulf of elat aqaba rift abstract along the western coast of the gulf of elat a 30 km wide shear belt of subparallel faults trending n s to ne sw is developed this shear belt is observed mainly within the precambrian basement terrain sinistral movements on these faults have been recognized based on offsets of magmatic bodies and lithological contacts in rocks of precambrian age the cumulative displacement measured independently at several localities across the belt attains a total of 24 km early neogene volcanism in the form of long dikes trending nw se is known from the eastern desert of egypt of the gulf of suez and along the red sea coast of saudi arabia volcanic bodies of a similar pattern have been identified in eastern sinai these bodies mainly dolerites and basalts intruding mesozoic sediments are parallel to each other and to the gulf of suez they are tens to hundreds of kilometers long and spaced several tens of kilometers apart dating k ar of bodies in sinai saudi arabia and in the eastern desert of egypt suggest an age of 20 22 m y for this extensive volcanism all the dikes are sinistrally displaced by the individual faults of the eastern sinai shear belt the amount of movement recorded using the precambrian markers is identical to movement recorded by offsets of the early neogene dikes this proves that the total 24 km shear of this fault system postdates the 20 22 m y volcanic phase it is assumed that the recorded movements are part of the 105 110 km shear persumed to exist along the gulf of elat which is also younger than 20 22 m y preliminary results suggest that a similar amount of movement is observable along a shear zone developed on the eastern coast of the gulf of elat thus only some 60 km movement are taken up by faults in the gulf itself the evolving model suggests that 1 a the intrusion of very long basaltic dikes in a nw se direction on both sides of the red sea accompanied the initial stage of development of the red sea gulf of suez rift valley 2 b a basic change in the geotectonic regime occurs after the intrusion of this volcanic suite large scale horizontal movements are initiated being recorded as a 105 110 km sinistral movement along the arava jordan rift this movement implies a synchronous opening of the red sea

lead isotope provinciality of central north pacific deep water over the cenozoic understanding the pre anthropogenic pb cycle of central north pacific deep water has attracted a lot of attention in recent years partly because of its unique geographical location in that it is a remote gyre system characterized by high dust fluxes and sluggish overturning circulation however the factors controlling pb isotope evolution in this area over the cenozoic are still controversial and various mechanisms have been proposed in previous studies here we report new pb and nd isotope time series of four ferromanganese crusts two from the western pacific near the mariana arc and the other two from the central pacific together with previously published records we discuss for the first time the significance of a persistent and systematic pb isotopic provinciality recorded by central north pacific crusts over the cenozoic we propose that globally well mixed stratosphere volcanic aerosols could contribute pb but have not been the major factors controlling the pb isotope distribution in the central north pacific over time island arc input and probably enhanced hydrothermal input between about 45 and 20 ma likely controlled the pb isotope provinciality and evolution prior to 20 ma when coeval pb isotope records in different crusts showed large differences and atmospheric silicate dust flux was extremely low after the eocene in particular after 20 ma asian dust input has become an isotopically resolvable source while island arc derived pb has remained important to balance the dust input and to produce the observed pb isotope distribution in the central north pacific during this period

depositional facies and stratal geometry of an upper carboniferous prograding and aggrading high relief carbonate platform cantabrian mountains n spain seismic scale continuous exposures of an upper carboniferous bashkirian moscovian carbonate platform n spain provide detailed information about the lithofacies and stratal geometries quantified with differential global positioning system measurements of microbial boundstone dominated steep prograding and aggrading platform margins progradational and aggradational platform to slope transects are characterized by distinct lithological features and stratal patterns that can be applied to the understanding of geometrically comparable high relief depositional systems the bashkirian is characterized by rapid progradation at rates of 415 970 m my 1 characteristic outerplatform facies are high energy grainstones with coated intraclasts ooids and pisoids moderate energy algal skeletal grainstones to packstones and lower energy algal packstone and boundstone units the moscovian aggradational phase is characterized by aggradation rates of 108 m my 1 coated grain shoals are less common whereas crinoidal bars nucleated in well circulated settings below wave base boundstones form a belt 30 300 m wide at the platform break and interfinger inwards with massive algal skeletal wackestones mud rich banks the progradational phase has divergent outer platform strata with basinward dips of 12 to 2 steep clinoforms with dips of 20 28 are 650 750 m in relief and possibly sigmoidal to concave in the lower part the basinward dipping outer platform strata might be depositional for less than 6 consistent with lithofacies deepening seaward the basinward dip is attributed to the downward shift of upperslope boundstone forced by late highstand and relative sea level fall and to compaction induced differential subsidence during progradation the aggradational phase is characterized by horizontally layered platform strata clinoforms steepen to 30 45 reaching heights of 850 m and are planar to concave the evolution from progradation to aggradation at the bashkirian moscovian boundary is attributed to increased foreland basin subsidence and decreased boundstone accumulation rates progradation was primarily controlled by boundstone growth rather than by highstand shedding from the platform top within the major phases aggradational progradational increments are produced by third to fourth order relative sea level

boundary scavenging in the pacific ocean a comparison of 10be and 231pa concentrations of u th 231pa and 10be were measured in holocene sediments from two cores collected off the west coast of south america two cores from the east pacific rise two from the equatorial pacific and one from the south pacific central gyre our results together with data from 5 cores reported in the literature show that boundary scavenging plays a major role in the removal of 10be from the pacific ocean deposition rates of 10be at three margin sites are more than an order of magnitude greater than at sites of red clay accumulation in the deep central pacific deposition of 231pa is 4 to 5 fold greater at the margin sites the residence time of 10be with respect to chemical scavenging defined as its inventory in the water column divided by its rate of removal to the sediments varies regionally from 1000 years at the red clay sites in the deep central pacific to 100 years at the margin sites different factors control boundary scavenging of pa and be for example scavenging of 231pa is enhanced by metal oxide coatings of particles whereas this seems to have little influence on the scavenging of 10be 1990

subtidal carbonate cycles implications for allocyclic vs autocyclic controls thick successions of repetitive metre scale subtidal carbonate cycles require that short term sedimentation rates approximate long term accumulation rates in order to maintain submergence below peritidal depths intrinsic processes such as storm and wave reworking and redistribution may act to inhibit aggradation into the zone of optimal carbonate production the presence of subtidal vs peritidal carbonate cycles may be a function of energy regime that in turn may relate to platform morphology the ultimate control on stacked subtidal cycles appears to be eustasy acting in concert with intrinsic processes such as storm and wave reworking

radiogenic isotopic mapping of late cenozoic eolian and hemipelagic sediment distribution in the east central pacific pelagic clay of the east central pacific province is shown to be a mixture of three primary detrital components reflecting continental source areas in asia north america and central and south america relative contributions from each source area are a function of geography and this distribution appears to have remained constant over the past five million years despite changing flux rates a q mode factor analysis of downcore records for pb sr and nd isotopes identified three factors that account for 98 of the total variance these factors represent the radiogenic isotopic signatures of 1 late cenozoic asian dust which dominates in the central north pacific 2 north american continental hemipelagic eolian sources restricted mainly to the easternmost north pacific at 30 n latitude and 3 central and south american sources restricted to areas east of 100 w longitude south of the intertropical convergence zone 6 n the asian dust signature diminishes abruptly we conclude that late cenozoic asian dust sources can be isotopically differentiated downcore from both north american and south and central american sources in the eastcentral pacific this approach has a utility for identifying changes in long term cenozoic atmospheric circulation patterns

asian continental nature of87sr 86sr ratios in north central pacific sediments strontium isotopic compositions were determined for silicate detritus in 152 deep sea and continental shelf surface sediment samples from the pacific ocean to trace their provenance the major characteristics of the spatial variation of the sr isotopes and the interpretation of this variation may be summarized as follows 1 sediments in the pacific have a lower average87sr 86sr ratio 0 7112 with a narrower range 0 703 0 724 than in the atlantic 0 7166 0 704 0 743 many western pacific volcanoes together with young continental crust supply material with low87sr 86sr ratios to the pacific in contrast to the large old cratonic crust that supplies material with high sr ratio to the atlantic 2 the87sr 86sr ratio is high in the north central pacific 0 711 0 719 the izu ogasawara and mariana arcs supply low87sr 86sr material to the western pacific but farther to east the abundant supply of loess carried by middle latitude westerlies from the asian continent 87sr 86sr ca 0 720 dominates the north central pacific

pb isotope variations in hydrogenetic fe mn crusts from the izu bonin fore arc abstract fe mn crusts were recovered from the western escarpment of the bonin ridge in the izu bonin fore arc region dive site 824 28 612 n 141 803 e at water depths of c 2900 m using the shinkai 6500 submersible during cruise yk 04 05 major and trace element data and xrd mineralogy indicate that the crusts are hydrogenetic in origin we present profiles of variations in pb isotope composition measured in situ by laser ablation mc icp ms across two of the crusts the isotopic variations are systematic and can be matched up between the two crusts indicating similar growth rates the crust pb isotope composition rules out any local source for pb from within the izu bonin mariana arc system either from hydrothermal activity or through leaching of volcanic detritus input of a globally well mixed volcanic pb component either from aerosols or as an absorbed component on aeolian dust has been proposed as a mechanism to explain the pb isotope composition of central pacific deep water however the izu bonin crusts are displaced to lower 206 pb 204 pb and higher 208 pb 204 pb which requires an additional pb source one possibility is that as water is advected from the south outboard of the luzon ryukyu honshu arc system it is progressively polluted by pb derived by weathering and erosion of these young island arc volcanic systems using a constant co flux model growth rates are estimated at 7 13 mm ma which would suggest that these crusts provide a record of changes in the composition of deep water in the izu bonin fore arc region of the western pacific ocean over the last 4 8 ma over this interval the main feature has been a progressive decrease in 207 pb 206 pb 0 843 to 0 839 and 208 pb 206 pb 2 088 to 2 080 with time the interior parts have compositions similar to those of crusts from the izu bonin fore arc while the rims have compositions similar to crusts from the central western pacific

nd and pb isotopes in atlantic and pacific water masses before and after closure of the panama gateway two nd and pb isotope time series of hydrogenous ferromanganese crusts one from the tehuantepec ridge in the deep eastern equatorial pacific and the other from blake plateau in the shallow northwestern atlantic which cover the past 7 8 m y show no variations coincident with the final closure of the panama gateway estimated as ca 3 5 ma the record of the atlantic crust located in the present day gulf stream shows a shift in isotope composition from ca 8 to 5 ma that is explained by a diminishing supply of pacific water it is argued that the major restriction of water mass exchange through the panama gateway occurred before 5 ma and thus cannot serve as a direct cause of the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation the absence of a significant signature in the isotope records from the pacific crust suggests that the volume of water exchanged with the atlantic through shallow archipelagic straits of the gateway during the 3 4 m y prior to closure was too small to influence the radiogenic isotope composition of pacific deep water

distribution and sources of pre anthropogenic lead isotopes in deep ocean water from fe mn crusts abstract the lead isotope composition of ocean water is not well constrained due to contamination by anthropogenic lead here the global distribution of lead isotopes in deep ocean water is presented as derived from dated ca 100 ka surface layers of hydrogenetic fe mn crusts the results indicate that the radiogenic lead in north atlantic deep water is probably supplied from the continents by river particulates and that lead in pacific deep water is similar to that characteristic of island and continental volcanic arcs despite a short residence time in deep water 80 100 a the isotopes of lead appear to be exceedingly well mixed in the pacific basin there is no evidence for the import of north atlantic deep water derived lead into the pacific ocean nor into the north indian ocean this implies that the short residence time of lead in deep water prohibits advection over such long distances consequently any climate induced changes in deep water flow are not expected to result in major changes in the seawater pb isotope record of the pacific ocean

isotopic equilibration between dissolved and suspended particulate lead in the atlantic ocean evidence from 210pb and stable pb isotopes decreased consumption of leaded gasoline in the united states over the past two decades has drastically altered the flux and isotopic composition of pb entering the western north atlantic from the atmosphere here we exploit the resulting temporal changes in the distribution and isotopic composition of oceanic pb to investigate interactions between dissolved and particulate pb in the oceanic water column measurements of dissolved pb isotopic composition on samples collected in 1987 in the upper water column near bermuda demonstrate that surface water 206pb 207pb decreased from 1 203 to 1 192 since 1983 and that a measurable change propagated to 300 500 m since the 1984 profile of shen and boyle 1988 the first accurate measurements of suspended particulate pb in an open ocean profile show concentrations of 1 3 pmol l equal to 2 4 of total pb vertical profiles of 1 the stable lead isotopic composition and 2 the ratio of total pb to 210pb in suspended particles closely track contemporaneous depth variations in these ratios for dissolved pb throughout the upper 2000 m of the sargasso sea near bermuda thus suspended particles reach isotopic equilibrium with ambient sea water pb on a time scale which is shorter than their residence time with respect to vertical removal in agreement with equilibrium scavenging hypotheses based on interpretations of th isotope distributions a simple flux model suggests that the effect of deep ocean scavenging processes on the flux and isotopic composition of pb sinking on large particles was minor throughout the preanthropogenic and most of the anthropogenic era but has become important as surface inputs decrease to pre leaded gasoline levels and may exceed the contribution of surface derived pb flux in the next decade

sea level curve for pennsylvanian eustatic marine transgressive regressive depositional cycles along midcontinent outcrop belt north america at least 55 cycles of marine inundation and withdrawal are recognized in the mid desmoinesian to mid virgilian midcontinent outcrop sequence in north america they range from widespread major cycles classic cyclothems with deep water facies extending across the northern shelf through intermediate cycles persisting as marine horizons across the shelf to minor cycles developed on the lower shelf or as parts of major cycles biostratigraphic differentiation of the cycles should establish interbasinal correlation on a scale fine enough to allow evaluation of differential tectonics and sedimentation sequential groupings of cycles are more irregular than proposed megacyclothems or mesothems but they may be obscured by the distinctness of the major cyclothems estimates of cycle periods range from about 40 to 120 x 10 sup 3 yr for the minor cycles up to about 235 to 400 x 10 sup 3 yr for the major cyclothems the range for all cycles corresponds well to the range of periods of earth s orbital parameters that constitute the milankovitch insolation theory for the pleistocene ice ages and it further supports gondwanan glacial control for the pennsylvanian cycles even though the dominant period of the major pennsylvanian cyclothems is up to four times longer than the dominant 100 000 yr period inmore the pleistocene the shapes of both curves display rapid marine transgression rapid melting of ice caps and slow interrupted regression slow buildup of ice caps which suggest similar linkages between the climatic effects of the orbital parameters and ice cap formation and melting at the two different scales widely separated in time 28 references 3 figures less

estimating carboniferous sea level fluctuations from gondwanan ice extent the magnitude of carboniferous sea level fluctuations is not well known but the estimates are important for constraining cyclothem models in this paper we apply area volume relations developed for quaternary ice sheets to estimate the glacio eustatic component of sea level fluctuations in the carboniferous utilizing the best estimate of gondwanan ice area at the time of its greatest extent we arrive at a figure of 60 15 m for the isostasy corrected glacio eustatic component this value is nearer the lower limit of sea level estimates for cyclothem fluctuations from other sources

accumulation rates of carbonate platforms the growth potential of carbonate platforms i e the maximum rate at which they can aggrade vertically is difficult to assess to estimate the growth potential from the conservative side and search for variations with time we have compiled published accumulation rates from the phanerozoic accumulation rates vary in a pattern with maximum rates up to 200 m ma or more not corrected for compaction in the late devonian permian late triassic late jurassic and mid cretaceous separated by intervals of reduced rates e g carboniferous early jurassic and late cretaceous the most dramatic drop occurs at the permo triassic boundary after which there is no documented platform growth this pattern resembles the evolutionary rhythm of bloom and demise of reefs and reef builders the observed maximum accumulation rate of 200 m ma over 10 6 10 7 yr is probably imposed by the maximum rate of long term relative sea level rise on passive margins the most favorable site for carbonate platform deve

accommodation and supply a dual control on stratigraphic sequences abstract it is widely accepted that both eustatic and tectonically controlled regional changes of sea level have contributed to the record of stratigraphic sequences i suggest that environmental change be added as a third autonomous control sedimentologic principles clearly indicate that sequences and their systems tracts are controlled by the interplay of two rates the rate of change in accommodation space available for sedimentation and the rate of sediment supply sea level has direct control on accommodation but its influence on sediment supply is remote and easily overshadowed by environmental factors for instance the record of the most recent sea level rise is a transgressive systems tract where supply is low it is a prograding highstand systems tract in deltas where the supply is high examples of sequence boundaries generated by changes in sediment supply include tectonically driven shifts in sediment input into basins changes in ocean currents pulsating supply from failure of submarine slopes and drowning of carbonate platforms by environmental stress furthermore the stratigraphic sequences in fluviatile continental basins are physically removed from sea level induced changes in accommodation and must have formed by changes in the rate and pattern of supply subaerial exposure of marine sediments at the sequence boundary is a most important criterion for recognizing sea level cycles as opposed to supply cycles other criteria include downstepping of shelf breaks and characteristic patterns in the spacing of time lines within sequences some third order cycles ca 0 5 3 ma duration meet these criteria others do not cycle stacking patterns and the shifting facies belts on cratons indicate that many second and third order cycles lack pronounced exposure unconformities and represent gradual changes superimposed on more rapid shorter oscillations seismic data yield poor images of these gradational changes because they lack resolution seismic models of outcrops show that near the limits of resolution the seismic tool tends to portray rapid changes in facies and bed thickness i e lateral variations in supply as unconformities seismic unconformities do not necessarily correspond to unconformities in outcrop the succession of stratigraphic sequences is best considered a composite record of sea level and environmental change separating the various controls requires carefully planned experiments work on the oxygen isotope curve another proxy for sea level has set an example in this respect

geomorphic tectonic control of sediment discharge to the ocean the importance of small mountainous rivers analysis of data from 280 rivers discharging to the ocean indicates that sediment loads yields are a log linear function of basin area and maximum elevation of the river basin other factors controlling sediment discharge e g climate runoff appear to have secondary importance a notable exception is the influence of human activity climate and geology on the rivers draining southern asia and oceania sediment fluxes from small mountainous rivers many of which discharge directly onto active margins e g western south and north america and most high standing oceanic islands have been greatly underestimated in previous global sediment budgets perhaps by as much as a factor of three in contrast sediment fluxes to the ocean from large rivers nearly all of which discharge onto passive margins or marginal seas have been overestimated as some of the sediment load is subaerially sequestered in subsiding deltas before the proliferation of dam construction in the latter half of this century rivers

hydrothermal versus active margin sediment supply to the eastern equatorial pacific over the past 23 million years traced by radiogenic pb isotopes paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic implications we investigated the evolution of the pb isotopic composition of bulk sediments on the cocos plate in sedimentary successions of deep sea drilling project dsdp site 495 and ocean drilling program odp site 1256 over the past 23 million years of depositional history our study addresses the relationship of the sediment pb isotope record to plate tectonics weathering inputs and paleoceanography it is the first effort to characterize the pb isotopic evolution of eastern equatorial pacific sedimentation covering the entire tectonic pathway of the cocos plate from its formation at the east pacific rise to its arrival at the central american subduction zone the sites 495 and 1256 bulk sediment pb isotope records are fully consistent over time despite distinct differences between the type of sediment deposited at both locations a systematic and continuous trend from 23 to 6 4 ma toward more radiogenic pb isotopic compositions e g 206pb 204pb ratios increase from 18 29 to 18 81 reflects a decrease in the contribution of hydrothermal particles from the east pacific rise and an increase in the predominantly eolian contribution of mixed weathering products from the continental arcs of the northern and south central andes as well as from southern mexico surprisingly both the pb isotopic composition of the detrital fraction and that of past seawater indicate that inputs from nearby central america and the galapagos archipelago did not significantly contribute to the sediments of our core locations but were overwhelmed by other sediment sources a systematic change to less radiogenic pb isotope ratios in sediments younger than 4 3 ma reaching present day 206pb 204pb values near 18 70 reflects a reduction of the continental input from the south central volcanic zone of the andean arc and increased contributions from southern mexican igneous complexes this isotopic trend reversal took place as a consequence of changes in atmospheric circulation when the studied sites crossed the intertropical convergence zone due to tectonic drift and concurrent climate cooling eolian transport has played a major role in the supply of detrital material over the entire neogene and quaternary the delivery of hydrothermal pb originating from the east pacific rise to the easternmost tropical pacific has been a persistent feature that is attributed to a remarkably stable central and eastern pacific deep water flow pattern over millions of years thus deep ocean circulation did not change significantly as a consequence of either 1 the early miocene closure of the deep gateway between the caribbean and eastern central pacific or 2 the late pliocene complete closure of the central american seaway

lead nd and sr isotope records of pelagic dust source indication versus the effects of dust extraction procedures and authigenic mineral growth abstract eolian silicate dust of the 328 cm long piston core kodos 02 01 02 from the northeast equatorial pacific was analyzed for chemical compositions and nd sr and pb isotopic ratios to evaluate their use as hemispheric dust source discriminator and to examine the potential influence of authigenic smectite on these source signals neodymium and sr isotope ratios of the core determine a change from southern to northern hemisphere dust deposition at about 7 6 ma samples deposited between 15 5 and 7 6 ma resemble southeast equatorial pacific surface and down core dust values while younger samples correspond to signatures typical for dust derived from central asia the 15 5 to 7 6 ma lower interval of the core is smecite rich however previously proposed chemical fingerprints for authigenic smectite such as positive eu anomalies or high fe al ratios are not observed in the kodos samples the up to 40 smectite in the kodos core dust are thus interpreted to represent largely detrital smectite and no evidence is found for authigenic modification of nd sr isotopic or element ratio source signals of the dust records lead isotope results of the core lack prominent down core variation with changing source regimes as reported above a compilation of pacific pb isotope dust records reveals that pb isotope ratios vary as a function of silicate dust extraction procedures the step of removing biogenic silica thereby appears critical use of naoh appears most effective while minimally attacking eolian silicate material it is concluded that of the pb isotopic dust records published so far only a few are useful for dust source identification however once the silicate dust extraction procedure is further optimized for retrieving the pristine silicate dust pb isotopic composition specific source signatures should become well resolvable

sequential leaching of marine ferromanganese precipitates genetic implications abstract sequential leaching experiments were carried out on twenty one hydrogenetic crust samples from different locations in the central pacific and the results are compared with four crust and nodule samples of different genetic origin fe vernadite mno2 is the most important minor and trace metal bearing mineral phase and shows high concentrations of co ni cd ti ba zn and cu which are present in seawater mainly as hydrated and labile complexed cations elements forming carbonate and hydroxide complexes and oxyanions in seawater like pb mo v and minor proportions of cu and zn are bound in the fe00h fraction the ca carbonate phase and the residual fraction which consists of aluminosilicates and crystalline oxides show only minor heavy metal associations e g cu and zn only a small part of the high ti concentrations in hydrogenetic crusts is of detrital origin ti mainly forms a hydrogenetic phase probably consisting of ti02 2h20 intergrown with the amorphous fe00h phase analyses of different sample types and crust layers show that aging and diagenetic effects can change the phase associations of some elements the most notable change was observed for pb which during phosphatization of crusts is transferred from the mn fe oxide fraction to the apatite fraction a colloid chemical model for the hydrogenetic precipitation of ferromanganese crusts on seamounts is proposed in the first stage mn2 rich water from the oxygen minimum zone is mixed with oxygen rich deep water and oxidized mn iv and other metals like fe ti al and si form oxide and hydroxide colloids these form mixed colloidal phases and scavenge trace metals by sorptive processes which are dominated by coulombic and chemical interactions between colloid surfaces and dissolved metal species in stage two the colloidal phases precipitate on the substrate rocks of the seamounts as ferromanganese oxide encrustations incorporating the sorbed heavy metals into the mineral phases

the signal and the noise forward modeling of allocyclic and autocyclic processes influencing peritidal carbonate stacking patterns recent carbonate sequence stratigraphic models suggest that the degree of order present in successions of carbonate parasequences is determined by temporal variations in eustatic amplitude and by varying levels of autocyclicity ordered parasequence stacking is suggested to occur during greenhouse periods dominated by low amplitude eustatic oscillations conversely disordered vertical successions are said to occur when amplitudes of eustatic oscillations are high or when autocyclic processes dominate and thus drown the periodic external signal these assertions of causal mechanism are tested here by application of a three dimensional stratigraphic forward model the three dimensional model generates parasequences via a ginsburg type mechanism of sediment transport and shoreline progradation parasequence stacking is controlled by a superimposed longer term eustatic oscillation and parasequences generated are analyzed using runs analysis and durbin watson autocorrelation results from the modeling suggest that autocyclic parasequences generated by shoreline progradation form ordered vertical successions when accommodation changes driven by a low amplitude relative sea level oscillation suggesting that partly autocyclic strata may not be inherently any less ordered than entirely allocyclic strata addition of stochastic processes such as mosaic carbonate production and fluctuations in regional sediment transport direction tend to decrease the level of measurable order present in the autocyclic strata increasing the frequency and amplitude of relative sea level oscillations also tends to decrease the measurable order in stacked autocyclic peritidal parasequence thicknesses these results suggest that controls on parasequence stacking patterns are likely to be more complex and varied than suggested by recent sequence stratigraphic models more outcrop and modeling investigation is required with appropriately circumspect interpretations applied

computer modeling the internal architecture of carbonate platforms a numerical computer model is described that calculates the internal architecture of carbonate platforms in response to varying values of carbonate production subaerial and submarine erosion sediment redeposition and sea level changes the computer generated sections closely resemble large scale outcrops and interpreted seismic profiles through carbonate platforms stillstand and transgressive sequences have prograding and downlapping platform geometries with lagoons developing in transgressive systems regressive sequences have downlapping clinoforms and erosional upper surfaces glacioeustatic scale cycles have a major control on platform geometry with erosional sequence boundaries developing during low stands and platform drowning occurring during transgressive periods lowstand downlapping wedges are minor features when compared with clastic systems and major progradation and downlap of slope deposits develop with transgressions and flooding of platform tops carbonate erosion rates are varied and have an important effect on the morphology of foodback surfaces which have a major control on platform top production the computer program contributes to the analysis of carbonate systems in two ways it gives a visual picture of the quantitative effects of the many parameters controlling carbonate geometries and it aids quantitative analysis of the architectures and time scales of ancient outcrop or seismic sequences

temporal variations in pb isotopes and trace element concentrations within chinese eolian deposits during the past 8 ma implications for provenance change article i nfo the pb isotopes and trace element compositions of the silicate fraction of airborne dust from the chinese loess plateau were analyzed to infer provenance change during the past 8 ma the results indicate that the composition of eolian dust changed at 2 6 ma coincident with initiation of the northern hemisphere ice sheet the change in trace element composition at 2 6 ma indicates that a larger component of the eolian dust was derived from felsic rocks after this time pb isotopic evidence demonstrates that the source material of tertiary red clay differs to some extent from that of quaternary eolian deposits although chemical weathering may result in compositional changes in eolian deposits such a scenario is not supported by the present evidence given that glacial grinding and frost weathering processes have been active in the peaks of high mountains during the quaternary eolian dust of this age contains a large proportion of material derived from areas of high topographic relief and relatively little material from low lying cratonic regions such alpine processes played an important role in controlling the distinct changes in pb isotopes and trance element concentrations recorded at around 2 6 ma 2010 published by elsevier b v

late cenozoic changes in atmospheric circulation deduced from north pacific eolian sediments abstract isolation and analysis of the eolian component of late cenozoic pelagic sediments from the north pacific provides direct information concerning changes in atmospheric circulation a 50 increase in intensity of both the prevailing westerlies and the tradewinds coincides with increasing pole to equator temperature gradients resulting from the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation at the same time the mass flux of dust from continents to the north pacific increased by a factor of 4 5 apparently reflecting significantly increased continental aridity associated with the late cenozoic glacial ages

effects of phosphatization on the geochemical and mineralogical composition of marine ferromanganese crusts most hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts in the central pacific consist of two growth generations a phosphatized older growth generation that is impregnated with carbonate fluorapatite cfa and a younger non phosphatized growth generation geochemical and mineralogical investigations of non phosphatized and phosphatized crust layers revealed significant differences that are not simply dilution effects by cfa certain elements are depleted in old crusts compared to young crusts in the order si fe al ti co mn pb others like ni zn cu y and rees rare earth elements are mostly enriched suboxic conditions in the phosphate rich water of the oxygen minimum zone that infiltrated the crusts caused a partial redissolution of crust phases resulting in mobilization of associated elements a partial recrystallization of more stable phases and a secondary input of nutrient type elements the frequent occurrence of todorokite in phosphatized crust layers indicates that mn mobilized from the vernadite crust phase was partially recrystallized as todorokite which is more stable under suboxic conditions incorporating ni cu and zn into the crystal lattice but rejecting co other metals like pb y and rees probably form stable phosphate phases in phosphatized crusts our investigations emphasize that under the influence of phosphatization diagenetic remobilization and reorganization in fe mn crusts took place in contrast to non phosphatized crusts the older phosphatized crust generation no longer represents a complete primary crust precipitate therefore young non phosphatized and old phosphatized crust generations should be considered as two different sample types with respect to geochemical composition mineralogy and evolution we also suggest that most methods for age determination like the 87sr86sr isotopic dating method or co chronometry cannot be used for phosphatized crusts without caution

aphotic zone carbonate production on a miocene ramp central apennines italy the lower miocene latium abruzzi platform was a low angle ramp that developed under tropical to subtropical conditions but was dominated by bryomol and rhodalgal sediment associations the aquitanian to serravallian sequence described here paraconformably overlies the cretaceous limestones it consists of a lowstand systems tract a transgressive systems tract and a highstand systems tract based on facies analysis and on the light dependence of biotic associations the ramp is divided into three parts an inner ramp a middle ramp and an outer ramp the inner ramp facies are represented by a few metres of coral framestone rhodolith floatstone rudstone and balanid macroids floatstone without wave related structures the middle ramp consists of structureless bioclastic grainstone to packstone floatstone and rudstone with rhodoliths and larger foraminifera the outer ramp facies proximal sector are composed of crudely stratified bryozoan dominated packstone to floatstone which extend over the whole platform the outer ramp facies intermediate sector are represented by wackestone packstone and rarely grainstone with foraminifera and echinoid fragments the final depositional profile of the ramp was strongly influenced by the main organisms producing sediment during the lowstand the resulting profile is a ramp type during the transgressive phase the rapid spreading of the outer ramp facies belt as a consequence of the enhanced productivity of the light independent biota is believed to be promoted by a change from oligotrophic to eutrophic conditions climate and or tectonics are presumed to have played an important role in continental runoff and then in the nutrients delivery during the highstand phase the system returns to rates of production uniform throughout the platform the high rates of carbonate production occurring in the aphotic zone are quite unusual in tropical settings and represent a provocative trend in apparent contrast with the common idea about the locus of the most significant carbonate production as derived from the tropical model the example described here shows that carbonate production and accumulation below the photic zone might be higher than in the shallow euphotic zone even in tropical conditions d 2003 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

temporal variability of lead in the western north atlantic consumption of alkyl leaded gasoline has decreased considerably in the united states over the last 15 years in order to evaluate the chemical response of the ocean to decreased atmospheric deposition of anthropogenic lead new 210pb and stable pb data have been obtained near bermuda june 1983 to december 1984 concentrations of these tracers in the mixed layer are highly variable during the period of observations 25 from june through september soluble eolian deposits accumulate in the shallow mixed layer because mixing and productivity are inhibited by the seasonal thermocline in the fall these enriched surface waters mix with upper thermocline waters and surface pb concentrations decrease in the winter storms from the east coast of north america cause local episodes of high pb and 210pb input into the ocean surface the resulting areally limited high pb concentrations are dispersed within less than 2 weeks by vertical and horizontal mixing pb 210pb ratios in surface waters are almost invariant over this period averaging 669 pmol dpm ranging from 564 to 718 pmol dpm surface pb 210pb appears to have declined by a factor of 2 since 1979 similar to the 2 6 fold decrease in u s leaded gasoline consumption during this period a substantial fraction on the order of 10 of gasoline pb is transported into the ocean pb concentrations in the upper thermocline may have declined by about 15 from 1979 to 1984 the helium tritium thermocline ventilation model of jenkins 1980 coupled with boundary conditions appropriate for pb and 210pb shows that the supply of pb and 210pb to the thermocline is dominated by lateral isopycnal ventilation the shape of the vertical profile is dominated by this physical ventilation near surface biological removal processes in situ scavenging and for stable lead time dependent input vertical transport by particles is responsible for minimal transport of dissolved lead into the upper ocean similar processes are likely to account for the plutonium maximum in the thermocline of the north pacific observations of pb and other reactive species in winter surface outcrops of thermocline isopycnals would provide valuable constraints on chemical processes within the thermocline

a proposed integrated multi signature model for peritidal cycles in carbonates abstract a new integrated multi signature model for meter scale peritidal carbonate cycles presented here is relevant to the interpretation of these cycles in the stratigraphic record meter scale shallowing upward micro facies cycles are the most common type of peritidal parasequence peritidal parasequences are a fundamental component of carbonate sequence stratigraphic models however the existence of meter scale cycles in the geological record has been questioned owing to the failure to prove statistically the existence of these cycles using data on micro facies and stacking pattern taken from previous studies nevertheless the shallowing upwards micro facies interpretive template remains widely used to identify these cycles and parasequences we propose that the sedimentary signatures of meter scale peritidal cycles vary systematically during the various phases of an underlying 3rd order relative sea level cycle although during specific phases of a 3rd order relative sea level cycle meter scale peritidal cycles may be characterized by shallowing upward units e g early transgressive systems tract during other periods the stratigraphic signal of cyclicity may be more cryptic and complex causing them to be overlooked e g late transgressive systems tract and highstand systems tract we also propose that there is a half cycle phase shift in periods of deposition and the formation of drowning surfaces relative to 4th to 5th order relative sea level cycles over the course of a 3rd order relative sea level cycle these points have ramifications for defining parasequences and using stacking patterns to determine peritidal cycle periodicity specifically parasequences defined using flooding surfaces identify sedimentary units that inconsistently partition 4th to 5th order relative sea level cycles at different stages of a 3rd order relative sea level cycle we propose testable new physical stratigraphic signatures for identifying meter scale cycles that have consistent genetic significance each cycle recording a relative sea level cycle characterized by a 4th to 5th order relative sea level rise and fall meter scale peritidal cycles are recorded by an ordered pattern of systematically varying micro facies signatures related to their position within a 3rd order relative sea level cycle the integrated multi signature model of meter scale peritidal carbonate cycles we propose here may assist in explaining the apparently contradictory evidence both for and against their existence in the geological record as a result of the detailed consideration in this paper of the nature of parasequences and their variations with 3rd order relative sea level changes a redefinition of parasequence is required and one is presented here

lead concentrations in the northeast pacific evidence for global anthropogenic perturbations lead concentrations were determined by isotope dilution mass spectrometry in 34 surface and deep water samples collected in the northeast pacific between hawaii and california and off the california coast using a deep water sampler protected against fouling by contamination from the ship and hydrowire measured concentrations lie more than one order of magnitude below previously published open ocean values and they show that in most cases 90 or more of the total lead is in a dissolved form lead concentrations are about 10 fold higher in surface and thermocline waters than in deep waters values drop as low as 1 ng kg 5 pmol kg below 3500 m depth lead profiles thus appear different compared to those of most trace metals which show enrichment in deep waters compared to surface concentrations lead concentrations in surface waters increase from 5 to 15 ng kg 25 to 75 pmol kg along a transect starting from a location 200 km off the california coast and continuing towards the center of the north pacific gyre this increase is congruent with that observed for 210 pb concentrations in the same waters sampled at the same time lead is supplied to the open north pacific largely from the atmosphere at a rate of about 60 ng cm 2 yr which exceeds the prehistoric oceanic output flux of authigenic lead recorded in pelagic sediments about tenfold this excess originates from emissions from smelters and combustion of leaded gasoline overwhelming natural lead inputs that entered the ocean during prehistoric time probably largely through rivers vertical lead concentration profiles below the surface mixed layer are probably not in steady state there concentrations must be increasing in response to the increase of anthropogenic inputs because the estimated lead residence times are more than 20 years in the thermocline and about 80 years in deep waters based on an estimated 10 fold input and concentration increase since the mid eighteenth century in the surface mixed layer in the central northeast pacific it is calculated that the 10 ng kg average concentration between 100 and 900 m is 2 to 5 times larger and the 1 8 ng kg average concentration between 900 and 5000 m depth is about 2 times larger than it was in the mid eighteenth century profiles of lead concentrations in the north atlantic are expected to be shifted generally to larger values by a factor of 2 to 3 compared to those in the north pacific because of the effects of greater industrial lead contamination while lead concentration profiles in the south pacific are expected to be shifted generally to lower values compared to the north pacific by about this same factor because of the effects of lesser industrial lead contamination

closure of the central american isthmus and its effect on deep water formation in the north atlantic modern ocean thermohaline driven circulation influences global climate by transporting heat to high latitudes1 2 and by affecting the exchange of co2 between ocean and atmosphere3 north atlantic deep water nadw plays a key role in this circulation and quaternary climate cycles have been linked to changes in nadw flow4 general circulation model simulations indicate that before closure some 3 4 million years ago of the central american isthmus the narrow strip of land linking north and south america the direct flow of low salinity water from the pacific to the atlantic ocean would have led to a smaller nadw flow5 6 sedimentation patterns7 and nutrient proxies8 11 support these model results by indicating an increase in nadw flow around the time of isthmus closure but these records do not allow changes in different nadw sources to be distinguished and the overall effect of closure on global ocean circulation is poorly known here we present nd pb and sr isotope records preserved by a hydrogenous ferromanganese crust from the nadw flow path in the western north atlantic ocean these records indicate that the isotopic signal associated with nadw strengthened around 3 4 million years ago showing that deep water that formed in the labrador sea made a gradually increasing contribution to nadw flow these data taken together with those from the central pacific ocean12 indicate an increased nadw flow since isthmus closure and suggest that the closure established today s general pattern of ocean circulation

evaluating the tephra input into pacific ocean sediments distribution in space and time we studied the volcanic contribution to the global sediment budget in the pacific ocean basin it is the world s oldest 174 m y and largest 49 of earth s surface area ocean basin and has had a high and continuous tephra influx from intraplate and convergent margin volcanoes through time computerized shipboard data from 65 legs of the deep sea drilling project dsdp and the ocean drilling program odp were screened for the presence of volcaniclastic components tephra bearing and tephra free core sections standard 1 5 and 0 30 m core catcher sections were separated regardless of the mass fraction of tephra present the percentage of tephra bearing core sections tephra frequency per site and time span age unit was calculated the age units were the quaternary the subepochs of the tertiary and the stages of the cretaceous a total of 424 drill sites yielded 1433 usable stratigraphic units fifty percent are younger than 13 m y corresponding to only approximately 10 of the total interval studied 124 5 m y the percentage of tephra bearing age units is high throughout 83 6 and correlates linearly with the total number of age units r 2 0 998 n 17 the average tephra frequency 30 50 fluctuates because the abundance of age units of different tephra frequency classes 0 1 33 34 67 68 100 tephra frequency varies with time this indicates that the cenozoic increase in tephra production results from increase in volcanicity and not spatial extension of volcanic source areas the cenozoic sediments that were recovered are dominated by distal tephra from explosive arc volcanism pulses of arc volcanism occurred in the pliocene quaternary since 5 m y and mid miocene 12 15 m y however the record of explosive arc volcanism in paleogene and cretaceous sediments was either not drilled or has been destroyed by subduction except for the cretaceous 70 110 m y volcanic pulse intraplate volcanism is poorly represented in the tephra record because the drill sites are outside the proximal range 500 1000 km of the sources thus the tephra record drilled contains significant gaps that bias the estimate of tephra volume towards the less voluminous distal deposits most of the volcaniclastic volume accumulated by mass wasting as volcaniclastic aprons surrounding ocean island volcanoes volcaniclastic production rates range from 10 000 to 41 800 km3 m y for large intraplate volcanoes and approximately 10 13 km3 km arc length per million years for oceanic island arcs extrapolation over the lifetime of major pacific arcs and hotspot chains combined with a volume estimate of the distal tephra component indicates a minimum of 9 3 106 km3 of tephra corresponding to 23 vol of the existing pacific oceanic sediments at least two thirds of the tephra volume was deposited in the proximal range and at least half of it is derived from intraplate sources the large proportion of tephra its composition and its localized accumulation causes significant spatial and temporal variation in pacific oceanic sediments that should have a perceptible impact on the elemental fluxes between ocean crust and mantle

accommodation and sedimentary architecture of isolated icehouse carbonate platforms insights from forward modeling with carb3d abstract a fundamental control on the evolution of carbonate platforms is accommodation the space available for sediment deposition here we adopt a sensitivity analysis approach using the process based forward model carb3d to quantitatively investigate the sedimentary response of isolated carbonate platforms to individual accommodation drivers of eustasy subsidence and surface dissolution sediment production the mechanism invoked to fill accommodation is also investigated fourth order milankovich driven sea level cycles dominate icehouse carbonate sedimentology with 400 ky cycles modulating the effect of 100 ky cycles of comparable magnitude when both cycles are present both overwhelm higher frequency lower amplitude fifth order cycles which are rarely preserved on the platform top subsidence is a fundamental control on sedimentary stacking patterns sequence boundary frequency sbf and platform geometry with rapid subsidence increasing the preservation of platform top sequences most icehouse platforms are subject to extended periods of platform top exposure missed beats when the platform top remains emergent at a sea level maximum are common and create non milankovich sbfs furthermore during platform emergence surface lowering via surface dissolution also creates accommodation for the subsequent platform flooding event with surface dissolution rates in humid climates comparable to moderate rates of subsidence however accommodation generation by surface dissolution is self limiting in as much as accommodation generated by dissolution is rapidly refilled on flooding sediment production is a key control on unfilled accommodation which our simulations suggest is considerable on icehouse platforms increased shallow water 3 m depth sediment production enhances intra platform bathymetric relief between the margin and interior this is driven in large part by a higher sedimentation rate at the margin than in the interior platforms can be flooded to depths up to 45 m during marine transgressions and accommodation often remains unfilled there are two distinct phases of platform top sedimentation during the transgression and early highstand platform margins accumulate at a greater rate than interior sediments generating differential intra platform bathymetry subsequently accommodation in the interior fills by forced regression and progradation from the margins into the platform interior numerical forward models can augment our understanding of icehouse carbonate platform evolution by identifying the nature of the sedimentary response to individual controls they can thus contribute to improving characterization of carbonate reservoirs in icehouse platforms such as the large hydrocarbon fields in the north caspian and s e asia

pb sr and nd isotopes in basalts and sulfides from the juan de fuca ridge pb sr and nd isotopes of seven basalt glasses collected by the submersible alvin from the southern juan de fuca ridge sjfr are almost identical 206pb 204pb 18 45 207pb 204pb 15 47 208pb 204pb 37 81 87sr 86sr 0 70249 143nd 144nd 0 51315 whereas all basalts appear cogenetic four of the samples have uniform abundances of u th rb nd sm pb and sr indicating that they are also comagmatic two basalt glasses dredged previously at the sjfr have similiar isotopic compositions but higher concentrations of u th and pb the 206pb 204pb ratios are intermediate between generally less radiogenic ridge basalts from south of the juan de fuca ridge jfr and often more radiogenic basalts from the northern jfr and ne pacific seamounts sr and nd isotopic compositions closely resemble data of other ridge basalts from the northernmost east pacific rise and are intermediate between isotopically more diverse seamount basalts produced nearby eight sulfides collected from three hydrothermal vent sites at sjfr have very similar pb isotopic compositions to that of the associated basalts sr and nd isotopic ratios of a single sulfide sample lie on a mixing curve between seawater and basalt data indicating that the sulfide precipitated after mixing of hydrothermal solutions and ambient seawater

ecological control of sedimentary accommodation evolution from a carbonate ramp to rimmed shelf upper miocene balearic islands abstract stratal patterns and facies architecture develop in response to sediment flux and the available space for sediment accumulation accommodation in siliciclastic systems these two parameters are independent in carbonates however they are highly interdependent 1 sediment input production highly depends on biological systems and consequently on intrabasinal conditions nutrients temperature salinity etc 2 sediment dispersal depends on the production loci and on the interaction between the amount and type of sediment being produced and the hydraulic energy additionally biological processes binding baffling framework construction and even cementation frequently modify it 3 accommodation is not an independent factor with respect to sediment input type efficiency and area of the carbonate factory depend on sea level changes and sea floor morphology the base level for sediment to accumulate accommodation depends on the type and locus of sediment being produced the upper miocene carbonate platforms of the balearic islands illustrate how changes in intrabasinal environmental conditions nutrients and or temperature produce changes in stratal patterns and facies architecture if they affect the biological system during early tortonian carbonate production occurred both in the shallow euphotic zone foramol and in the deeper oligophotic zone rhodalgal originating a distally steepened ramp during late tortonian and early messinian carbonate production mainly occurred in the euphotic zone where framework producing biota coral reefs formed a rimmed platform although deposited under similar conditions of high frequency sea level fluctuations these two types of platforms exhibit different internal facies architecture and distribution of heterogeneities because of differences in base level in carbonates base level for sediment accumulation depends on the type and amount of sediment being produced on the production loci and on the processes controlling sediment dispersal base level for the loose foramol rhodalgal sediment associations of the ramp was controlled by wave and storm base and the associated currents whereas base level for the framework dominated reef complex was sea level furthermore the increase on effective accommodation space to allow the reef rimmed shelf to prograde onto the distally steepened ramp both platforms being depositional sequences resulted from an ecological change rather than significant relative sea level change namely by the shift from grain to framework producing biota the euphotic framework producing biota was able to fill the accommodation space existing between wave and storm base level and sea level that was not previously filled by the loose bioclasts

provenance of dust in the pacific ocean eolian dust preserved in deep sea sediment cores provides a valuable indicator of past atmospheric circulation and continental paleoclimate in order to identify the provenance of eolian dust nd and sr isotopic compositions and rb sr and rare earth element ree concentrations have been determined for the silicate fractions of deep sea sediments from the north and central pacific ocean different regions of the pacific ocean are characterized by distinct air borne inputs producing a large range in end 10 to 1 stsr 86sr 0 705 0 721 la yb 5 15 eun eu 0 6 1 0 and sr nd 4 33 the average nd isotopic composition of pacific deep sea sediments eno 6 is more radiogenic than the average from the atlantic ena 8 in contrast the average 1475m 14and ratio for pacific sediments 0 114 is identical to that of atlantic sediments and to that of global average riverine suspended material the values of ena and 147sm 144nd are positively correlated for the pacific samples but negatively correlated for atlantic samples reflecting a fundamental difference between the dominant components in the end members with radiogenic nd island arc components in the pacific and lree enriched intraplate ocean island components in the atlantic samples from the north central pacific have distinctive unradiogenic end values of 10 87sr 86sr 0 715 high la yb 12 and low eun eu 0 6 and sr nd 3 6 these data are virtually identical to the values for loess from asia and endorse the use of these sediments as indicators of asian paleoclimate and paleowind directions island arc contributions appear to dominate in the northwest pacific resulting in higher end 1 to 1 and lower 87sr 86sr 0 705 and la yb 5 sediments from the eastern pacific tend to have intermediate sr and nd isotopic compositions but regionally variable sr nd and ree patterns they appear to be derived from the west margin of the north and south american continents rather than from asia our results confirm that dust provenance can be constrained by isotopic and geochemical analyses which will facilitate reconstructions of past atmospheric circulation and continental paleoclimate

sedimentary indicators of atmospheric activity in the northern hemisphere during the cenozoic abstract the concentrations and accumulation rates of eolian phases and the mineralogy of sediments from a north pacific core ll44 gpc3 have been used to evaluate changes in eolian sedimentation and atmospheric activity during the cenozoic the quartz content and clay mineralogy of the sediments reflect changing source areas for eolian material whereas the accumulation rates of eolian phases reflect climatic variation and wind intensity eolian sedimentation decreased from 70 to 50 m y ago at the site as it moved north out of the equatorial pacific where it was supplied with eolian debris from north america and africa low rates of eolian sediment accumulation 50 to 25 m y ago reflect the temperate humid environment of the early tertiary and the lack of vigorous atmospheric circulation at that time from 25 to 7 m y ago eolian accumulation increased as the site moved into the influence of the westerlies from 7 to 3 m y ago there was a more rapid increase in accumulation of eolian material at the site which was not accompanied by changes in mineralogy or quartz content and was therefore related to climatic change and more vigorous atmospheric circulation about 2 5 m y ago a dramatic increase in eolian sedimentation accompanied the onset of dry northern hemisphere glaciation

87sr 86sr variation in north pacific sediments a record of the milankovitch cycle in the past 3 million years abstract temporal variations of sr isotopic compositions in the detrital component of north pacific sediments have been precisely examined the sr isotopic composition is controlled by the flux of eolian material from the asian continent with a high 87 sr 86 sr ratio 0 724 0 726 relative to volcanic material with a low ratio 0 703 0 705 from the izu ogasawara mariana arc and oceanic islands such as the hawaiian islands assuming that the volcanic flux is constant the temporal variation in sr isotopic ratio reflects the amount of eolian input from the continent the major characteristics of the temporal variations and the interpretation of them are summarized as follows 1 the 87 sr 86 sr records show cyclic fluctuations of 400 ky and 100 ky periodicities which are associated with the eccentricity of the earth s orbit milankovitch cycle 2 between 3 and 0 8 ma the 87 sr 86 sr ratio in the north central pacific sediment increases gradually this reflects an increased eolian input from the arid region in east asia the increase must be related to aridification of the asian continent 3 the decreased 87 sr 86 sr ratio during the past 0 8 m y implies a decreased eolian input the age of 0 8 ma may relate to the climatic event known as the middle pleistocene shift all of these phenomena reflect a fluctuation of the eolian flux corresponding to the paleoclimatic cycle of aridity in the asian continent the sr isotopic composition of pelagic sediment in the north pacific is sensitive to changes in the eolian input reflecting to the aridity of the asian continent

evolution of nd and pb isotopes in central pacific seawater from ferromanganese crusts abstract hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts incorporate elements from ambient seawater during their growth on seamounts by analysing nd pb and be isotope profiles within crusts it is possible to reconstruct seawater tracer histories depth profiles of 10be 9be ratios in three pacific ferromanganese crusts have been used to obtain growth rates which are between 1 4 and 3 8 mm ma nd and pb isotopes provide intact records of isotopic variations in pacific seawater over the last 20 ma or more there were only small changes in pb isotope composition in the last 20 ma this indicates a constant pb composition for the erosional sources and suggests further that erosional nd inputs may have been uniform too end values vary considerably with time and most probably reflect changes in ocean circulation the end values of the crusts not only vary as a function of age but also as a function of water depth from 25 to 0 ma crust va13 2 from 4 8 km water depth has a similar pattern of end variation to the two shallower crusts from 1 8 and 2 3 km but about 1 0 to 1 5 units more negative this suggests that end stratification in pacific seawater as demonstrated for the present day has been maintained for at least 20 ma each crust shows a decrease in end from 3 5 ma to the present which is interpreted in terms of an increase in the nadw component present in the pacific from 10 to 3 5 ma ago the crusts show an increase in end this suggests a decreasing role for a deep water source with end less than circum pacific sources in this regard the panamanian gateway restriction from 10 ma with final closure at 3 5 ma may have played an important role in reducing access of atlantic derived nd to the pacific

lead isotopes in north pacific deep water implications for past changes in input sources and circulation patterns the sources of non anthropogenic pb in seawater have been the subject of debate here we present pb isotope time series that indicate that the non anthropogenic pb budget of the northernmost pacific ocean has been governed by ocean circulation and riverine inputs which in turn have ultimately been controlled by tectonic processes despite the fact that the investigated locations are situated within the asian dust plume and proximal to extensive arc volcanism eolian contributions have had little impact we have obtained the first high resolution and high precision pb isotope time series of north pacific deep water from two ferromanganese crusts from the gulf of alaska in the ne pacific ocean and from the detroit seamount in the nw pacific ocean both crusts were dated applying 10be 9be ratios and yield continuous time series for the past 13 5 and 9 6 myr respectively lead isotopes show a monotonic evolution in 206pb 204pb from low values in the miocene 18 57 to high values at present day 18 84 in both crusts even though they are separated by more than 3000 km along the aleutian arc the variation exceeds the amplitude found in equatorial pacific deep water records by about three fold there also is a striking similarity in 207pb 204pb and 208pb 204pb ratios of the two crusts indicating the existence of a local circulation cell in the sub polar north pacific where efficient lateral mixing has taken place but only limited exchange in terms of pb with deep water from the equatorial pacific has occurred both crusts display well defined trends with age in pb pb isotope mixing plots which require the involvement of at least four distinct pb sources for north pacific deep water the pb isotope time series reveal that eolian supplies volcanic ash and continent derived loess have only been of minor importance for the dissolved pb budget of marginal sites in the deep north pacific over the past 6 myr the two predominant sources have been young volcanic arcs one located in the northeastern part and one located in the northwestern part of the pacific margin from where material has been eroded and delivered to the ocean most likely via riverine pathways

210pb activities in and fluxes to sediments of the washington continental slope and shelf abstract surface sediments of the washington coast have 210 pb activites which average 104 48dpm g for submarine canyon and slope regimes and 18 12dpm g for the continental shelf regime 210 pb sedimentary fluxes are also higher in canyons averaging 18 13dpm cm 2 per yr compared to 5 2 3 1 dpm cm 2 per yr for slope and 4 8 1 8dpm cm 2 per year for shelf regions these 210 pb activities and fluxes are 2 7 times greater than those reported for other coastal regions inputs from the atmosphere and the columbia river are not sufficient to supply the 210 pb but advection of seawater containing dissolved 210 pb produced in situ from 226 ra provides an input several times larger than the sedimentary fluxes the sedimentary 210 pb flux is limited by scavenging reactions rather than by supply of dissolved 210 pb calculations of maximum biological uptake and fluxes of 210 pb and selective chemical leaching experiments all show that the primary scavenging processes are due to hydrous mn and fe oxides rather than biological phases the pattern of higher 210 pb depositional fluxes in canyons than in nearby open slope areas of comparable water depth is most reasonably explained by enhanced scavenging of dissolved 210 pb near the sea floor rather than by processes operating throughout the water column relatively rapid removal of dissolved 210 pb from the near bottom nepheloid layer to slope and canyon sediments is shown by its mean residence time of less than two years in this layer

temporal changes in the lead isotopic composition of red clays comparison with ferromanganese crust records abstract a record of changes in pb and sr isotopic composition of two cores dsdp 86 576a and ll44 gpc3 from the red clay region of the central north pacific has been determined for the past 60 65 million years the isotope records of the eolian silicate fraction of the red clays reflect the change in source area as the core sites migrated under different wind systems the sr isotope compositions of eolian silicate material are consistent with asian loess and north american arc volcanism that has been recognized from mineralogical studies the silicate bound eolian pb isotopic compositions similarly reflect asian loess and arc volcanism the isotope records of three ferromanganese crusts from similar locations in the central pacific are similar to the eolian component of red clays but offset to less radiogenic values this may be due to two mechanisms 1 pb that can be removed from eolian material by seawater is much less radiogenic or less likely 2 hydrothermal pb can be transported further away from venting sites through particle exchange with seawater despite hydrothermal venting acting as a net sink of oceanic pb the temporal changes in pb isotopes in the ferromanganese crusts bulk red clays and eolian silicates are similar although offset from each other suggesting that eolian deposition is an important source of pb to seawater and to ferromanganese crusts this contrasts with the atlantic and southern ocean where more intense deep water flow leads to isotopic gradients in femn crusts that do not reflect surface water conditions immediately above the crust a mechanism is proposed which accounts for pacific deepwater pb being isotopically influenced by eolian deposition

benthic carbonate factories of the phanerozoic marine carbonate precipitation occurs in three basic modes abiotic or quasi abiotic biotically induced and biotically controlled on a geologic scale these precipitation modes combine to form three carbonate production systems or factories in the benthic environment 1 tropical shallow water factory dominated by biotically controlled mainly photo autotrophic and abiotic precipitates 2 cool water factory dominated by biotically controlled mainly heterotrophic precipitates and 3 mud mound factory dominated by biotically induced mainly microbial and abiotic precipitates sediment accumulations of the factories differ in composition geometry and facies patterns and some of these differences appear prominently in seismic data thus facilitating subsurface prediction the characteristic accumulation of the tropical factory is the flat topped often reef rimmed platform in cool water systems reefs in high energy settings are scarce and hydrodynamic influence dominates producing seaward sloping shelves and deep water sediment drifts often armored by skeletal framework the typical accumulation of the mud mound factory is groups of mounds in deeper water where the mud mound factory expands into shallow water it forms rimmed platforms similar to the tropical factory the tropical factory is most productive the mud mound factory reaches 80 90 and the cool water factory 20 30 of the tropical growth rate the three factories represent end members connected by transitions in space transitions in time are linked to biotic evolution

sr nd elements and isotopes as tracers of dust input in a tropical soil chronosequence abstract although hainan island is located in one of the relative least dusty regions in china asian dust has been identified in hainan soils we used sr and nd isotopes of soils saprolite bedrocks and asian dust to not only identify long range transported dust but also quantify the dust contribution to hainan soils sr and nd isotopic compositions of the soils are clearly affected by dust deposition the soils in near surface horizons have 87 sr 86 sr values as high as 0 7193 that are more radiogenic than the basalts indicating involvement of asian dust whereas deep horizons show a dominantly basaltic signature 87 sr 86 sr 0 7038 the e nd 0 values for hainan soils range from 6 46 to 1 85 the higher value closely approximates the values measured for the hainan lava and the lower value indicates the fingerprint of the asian dust the 87 sr 86 sr and e nd 0 values for soils also show a progressive trend with time which implies that dust accumulates with soil age we calculated the dust accretion rates for sr based and nd based to quantify the dust contributions to soils the estimate of dust accreted shows an approximate increasing trend with the ages of soils for sr based and nd based methods the soils in the old sites are likely to have undergone long term dust input and accumulated high dust levels we also find excellent agreement in the amount of dust present and dust accretion rates based on the two tracers at the 300 ka site and the 1120 ka site respectively besides lower dust deposition in the pliocene epoch than the late quaternary over eastern eurasian the loss of mineralogical and geochemical tracers over million year time scales also may lead to underestimates of time averaged dust deposition rates in the old sites therefore the young sites 180 ka and 300 ka should provide more realistic estimates of average dust accretion rates the importance of dust in the tropical hainan soil chronosequence highlights the significance of dust accretion to soils globally

strontium lead and zinc isotopes in marine cores as tracers of sedimentary provenance a case study around taiwan orogen abstract the active collision zone around taiwan orogen receives a variety of sedimentary inputs including terrigenous flux from taiwan and chinese rivers oceanic currents and atmospheric dust in order to determine the present day respective contributions of these different sources we analysed the pb and sr isotopic compositions of late quaternary sediments accumulated offshore east taiwan samples from the taiwan coastal range andesites sandstones conglomerate and peinan river terraces and suspended loads have also been analysed to constrain the mean taiwan isotopic signature mixing lines between the different sources of material indicate that the core located in the okinawa trough represents a mixture of about 60 of taiwan 30 of chinese loess and 10 of yangtze river contributions the southernmost core located close to luzon arc is influenced by taiwan 60 and volcanic material 40 the sr and pb isotopic compositions of samples cored in the manila trench and in the huatung basin are strongly influenced by the taiwan signature while the ryukyu trench core samples point to significant but variable contributions of chinese loess and yangtze river this work also reports zn isotopic variations in the silicate fraction of these marine core samples the overall variation in zn isotopic compositions expressed as 66zn is greater than 0 3 per mil for an analytical precision of 0 05 the zn isotopic signal for most of the marine core samples is similar to the literature data measured on sedimentary material except for the manila trench core samples and the older sample from the huatung basin they present values heavier by 0 2 0 3 close to those obtained on all taiwan rocks and peinan river particulates these results show 1 the particular characteristics of taiwan zn isotopic compositions on a large scale and 2 the possible use of zn isotopes as a tracer of material sources

eolian inputs of lead to the north pacific we evaluate the importance of natural eolian pb to the dissolved oceanic pb budget by measuring the isotopic composition of pb in 35 holocene and late quaternary sediment samples from the north pacific and in 10 samples of chinese loess when the pacific is divided into sediments provinces based on published end and sedimentological data pb from the central north pacific tends to be the most radiogenic and homogeneous due to the dominance of eolian chinese loess lead from the marginal north pacific and the sparsely sampled regions south of 5 n are less radiogenic and more variable owing to hemipelagic inputs from various volcanic arcs and older continental crust located around the pacific rim 208pb 204pb ratios provide the most distinctive provenance information due to the relatively high ratios in chinese loess the chinese loess samples come from 3 localities and span up to 2 myr of time acetic acid leachate bulk loess and loess silicate fractions were analyzed separately leachate pb is considerably less radiogenic than silicate pb the isotopic composition of the silicate component closely matches the sediment data from the central north pacific confirming the dominance of eolian loess in this region we divided up a suite of published hydrogenous pb isotope data from the pacific ocean according to their locations within the three independently defined sediment provinces these data define three distinct fields differentiated primarily by their 206pb 204pb ratios which increase going from the central to southern to marginal provinces this relationship with sediment province strongly suggests that natural eolian and probably hemipelagic inputs significantly impact the seawater pb budget direct support for the dominance of eolian chinese loess in the central north pacific dissolved pb budget comes from the close match between loess leachate pb and the central province hydrogenous pb data eolian inputs are likely to dominate local seawater pb budgets only where eolian pb fluxes are high relative to hemipelagic pb fluxes and where the flux of pb carried by deep water advection is low

provenance weathering and erosion records in southern okinawa trough sediments since 28ka geochemical and sr nd pb isotopic evidences abstract geochemical and sr nd pb isotopic compositions of the detrital sediments from odp hole 1202b and taiwan rivers were measured in this study aiming to reveal changes in sediment provenance in the southern okinawa trough sot since 28 ka and to examine the weathering and sediment transport processes in response to monsoon climate variability large variations in sr nd pb isotopic ratios at 11 9 ka suggest changes in detrital sediment provenance in the sot from a dominance of the paleo changjiang yangtze river and or continental shelf sediment during the late deglaciation and to west taiwan rivers since 9 5 ka volcanic rocks and eastern taiwan sediments have not significantly contributed to the sot the large shift in sediment provenance during the early holocene marks a major change in oceanic circulation mainly caused by the intrusion of the kuroshio current into the trough clay mineral and geochemical proxies suggest that the taiwan derived sediments accumulated during the early mid holocene climate optimum ca 9 5 4 ka might be tightly related to the reworking of older altered sediments from terraces and floodplains rather than having experienced more intense silicate weathering than in the late holocene 4 0 ka overall silicate weathering in taiwan was greatly inhibited by accelerating sediment production and transfer from land to ocean caused by monsoon intensification in holocene our study illustrates that the radiogenic isotopic and geochemical compositions of fine grained detrital sediments are sensitive tools for fingerprinting sediment sources and for reconstructing changes in oceanic currents and monsoon climate in river dominated east asian continental margin

accretion rate of extraterrestrial matter iridium deposited 33 to 67 million years ago iridium measured in 149 samples of a continuous 9 meter section of pacific abyssal clay covering the time span 33 to 67 million years ago shows a well defined peak only at the cretaceous tertiary boundary in the rest of the section iridium ranges from a minimum concentration near 0 35 nanograms per gram in the paleocene to a maximum near 1 7 in the eocene between 63 and 33 million years ago the mean iridium accumulation rate is approximately 13 nanograms per square centimeter per million years correction for terrestrial iridium leads to an extraterrestrial flux of9 3 nanograms of iridium per square centimeter per million years and an estimated annual global influx of 78 billion grams of chondritic matter consistent with recent estimates of the influx of dust meteorites and crater producing bodies with masses ranging from 10 13 to 1018 grams combining the recent flux of objects ranging in mass from 106 to 107 grams with the flux of 1014 to 1015 gram objects indicates that the number of objects is equal to 0 54 divided by the radius in kilometers to the 2 1 power periodic comet showers should increase the cometary iridium flux by a factor of 200 to 600 on a time scale of 1 to 3 million years the predicted iridium maxima more than 30 times background are not present in the intervals associated with the cretaceous tertiary boundary or the tektiteproducing late eocene events

modeling carbonate platform sedimentation lag comes naturally sedimentation on carbonate platforms is commonly found to lag relative sea level change particularly when platforms reestablish themselves after emersion models of platform sedimentation usually reproduce this lag with the help of special lag parameters a cellular automaton is used here to model the way that platforms are colonized by carbonate producing organisms this model shows that lag is a natural result of colonization and is considerably more complex than allowed for by other sedimentation models the model predicts that there are two types of platform one in shallow water the other in deeper water which are cross coupled dynamical attractors

the marine187os 186os record of the past 80 million years we report new187os 186os data and re and os concentrations in metalliferous sediments from the pacific to construct a composite os isotope seawater evolution curve over the past 80 m y analyses of four samples of upper cretaceous age yield187os 186os values of between 3 and 6 5 and187re 186os values below 55 mass balance calculations indicate that the pronounced minimum of about 2 in the os isotope ratio of seawater at the k t boundary probably reflects the enormous input of cosmogenic material into the oceans by the k t impactor s following a rapid recovery to187os 186os of 3 5 at 63 ma data for the early and middle part of the cenozoic show an increase in187os 186os to about 6 at 15 ma variations in the isotopic composition of leachable os from slowly accumulating metalliferous sediments show large fluctuations over short time spans in contrast analyses of rapidly accumulating metalliferous carbonates do not exhibit the large oscillations observed in the pelagic clay leach data these results together with sediment leaching experiments indicate that dissolution of non hydrogenous os can occur during the hydrogen peroxide leach and demonstrate that os data from pelagic clay leachates do not always reflect the os isotopic composition of seawater new data for the late cenozoic further substantiate the rapid increase in the187os 186os of seawater during the past 15 ma we interpret the correlation between the marine sr and os isotope records during this time period as evidence that weathering within the drainage basin of the ganges brahmaputra river system is responsible for driving seawater sr and os toward more radiogenic isotopic compositions the positive correlation between87sr 86sr and u concentration the covariation of u and re concentrations and the high dissolved re u and sr concentrations found in the ganges brahmaputra river waters supports this interpretation accelerating uplift of many orogens worldwide over the past 15 ma especially during the last 5 ma could have contributed to the rapid increase in187os 186os from 6 to 8 5 over the past 15 ma prior to 15 ma the marine sr and os record are not tightly coupled the heterogeneous distribution of different lithologies within eroding terrains may play an important role in decoupling the supplies of radiogenic os and sr to the oceans and account for the periods of decoupling of the marine sr and os isotope records