geochemical characteristics of deep sea sediments from the arabian sea a high resolution study abstract five deep sea cores from the arabian sea covering a time interval of 170 ky were sampled at high resolution and analysed for major and trace elements the stratigraphy of the cores was obtained by comparing the ba al ratio with the specmap data this method is based on the close correlation between ba concentrations or ba al ratios and oxygen isotope ratios 18o of foraminifera in arabian sea sediments ba al ratios used as a productivity proxy are variable but high in all deep sea cores of the arabian sea indicating a basin wide influence of nutrient rich water masses compared to glacial intervals the warmer periods are characterised by higher element al ratios of proxies which are directly ba ca sr p i e hard parts of organisms or indirectly u 230thex related to biological productivity 230thex provides evidence for intense boundary scavenging caused by high productivity due to enhanced upwelling and terrigenous input from the indus fan the mn distribution in a core from the western arabian sea shows enrichments during interglacial periods and may indicate mn export owing to the presence of a stronger oxygen minimum zone several processes limit the applicability of proxies intercalated turbidites in the deep sea cores can be identified by means of si al ti al and zr al ratios versus depth due to the enrichment of quartz ti minerals and zircon in the basal layer these elements are also important for the reconstruction of the history and extent of the eolian dust input diagenetic redistribution of redox sensitive elements occurs at the boundaries between turbidites and normal pelagic sedimentation and may mask or destroy primary signals

ultrahigh temperature metamorphism and decompression history of sapphirine granulites from rajapalaiyam southern india implications for the formation of hot orogens during gondwana assembly sapphirine bearing mg al granulites from rajapalaiyam in the southern part of the madurai block provide critical evidence for late neoproterozoic cambrian ultrahigh temperature uht metamorphism in southern india poikiloblastic garnet in quartzo feldspathic and pelitic granulites contain inclusions of fine grained subidioblastic to xenoblastic sapphirine associated with quartz suggesting that the rocks underwent t 1000 c peak metamorphism quartz inclusions in spinel within garnet are also regarded as clear evidence for a uht condition inclusions of orthopyroxene within porphyroblastic garnet in the sapphirine bearing rocks show the highest al 2 o 3 content of up to 10 3 wt suggesting t 1050 1070 c and p 8 5 9 5 kbar temperatures estimated from ternary feldspar and other geothermometers t 950 1000 c further support extreme thermal metamorphism in this region xenoblastic spinel inclusions in sapphirine coexisting with quartz suggest that the spinel quartz assemblage pre dates the sapphirine quartz assemblage probably implying a cooling from t 1050 c or an anticlockwise p t path the fmas reaction sapphirine quartz garnet orthopyroxene sillimanite indicates a cooling from the sapphirine quartz stability field after the peak metamorphism corona textures of orthopyroxene cordierite sapphirine orthopyroxene sapphirine cordierite and cordierite spinel around garnet suggest subsequent near isothermal decompression followed by decompressional cooling toward t 650 750 c and p 4 5 5 5 kbar the sapphirine quartz association and related textures described in this study have an important bearing on the uht metamorphism and exhumation history of the madurai block as well as on the tectonic evolution of the continental deep crust in southern india our study provides a typical example for extreme metamorphism associated with collisional tectonics during the late neoproterozoic cambrian assembly of the gondwana supercontinent

radionuclide and biomarker proxies of past ocean circulation and productivity in the arabian sea we present new excess 231 pa 23 0 th activity ratios and lipid biomarker results from northeastern arabian sea sediments core 93kl spanning the past 50 ka in an effort to constrain further the relationship between climate at low and high latitudes 231 pa 230 th activity ratios are maintained at values significantly higher than the water column production ratio of 0 093 average 231 pa 230 th activity ratios are lower during the last glacial period than during the holocene the lowest 231 pa 230 th activity ratios coincide with the timing of heinrich events 1 5 profiles of lipid biomarker fluxes and 231 pa 230 th activity ratios from 32 to 12 ka show similar patterns suggesting that 231 pa is more efficiently scavenged relative to 230 th at times when diatoms make up a proportionally larger part of the primary biomass signal in the holocene high 231 pa 230 th activity ratios may indicate enhanced 231 pa export from the southern to the northern indian ocean via intensified thermohaline circulation

thorium 230 profiling in deep sea sediments high resolution records of flux and dissolution of carbonate in the equatorial atlantic during the last 24 000 years variations in carbonate flux and dissolution which occurred in the equatorial atlantic during the last 24 000 years have been estimated by a new approach that allows the point by point determination of paleofluxes to the seafloor an unprecedented time resolution can thus be obtained which allows sequencing of the relatively rapid events occurring during deglaciation the method is based on observations that the flux of unsupported 230th into deep sea sediments is nearly independent of the total mass flux and is close to the production rate thus excess 230th activity in sediments can be used as a reference against which fluxes of other sedimentary components can be estimated the study was conducted at two sites ceara rise western equatorial atlantic and sierra leone rise eastern equatorial atlantic in cores raised from three different depths at each site from measurements of 230th and caco3 changes in carbonate flux with time and depth were obtained a rapid increase in carbonate production starting at the onset of deglaciation was found in both areas this event may have important implications for the postglacial increase in atmospheric co2 by increasing the global carbonate carbon to organic carbon rain ratio and decreasing the alkalinity of surface waters and possibly the north atlantic deep water increased carbonate dissolution occurred in the two regions during deglaciation followed by a minimum during mid holocene and renewed intensification of dissolution in late holocene during the last 16 000 years carbonate dissolution was consistently more pronounced in the western than in the eastern basin reflecting the influence of antarctic bottom water in the west this trend was reversed during stage 2 possibly due to the accumulation of metabolic co2 below the level of the romanche fracture zone in the eastern basin

particulate removal of230th and231pa in the biologically productive northern north pacific settling particles were collected by sediment traps at four stations in the high latitudes of the north pacific and analyzed for234th 232th 230th 228th and231pa in the northern north pacific including the bering sea the average activity ratio of unsupported230th to231pa in settling particles was 5 5 whereas that in the gulf of alaska in the eastern north pacific was about 14 the northern north pacific may be an efficient sink for231pa relative to230th because the average ratio in the world ocean is equal to the production ratio of 10 8 in seawater the activity ratios of230th 231pa of the settling particles agree well with those of the surface sediments at the respective stations this indicates that both nuclides in the surface sediments originated from settling particles and their dissolution or uptake during early diagenesis are not effective the ratio of the particulate nuclide flux f to the overlying water column production rate p did not correlate well with the total mass flux for230th however that for231pa increased almost linearly with increase in total mass flux and reached unity when the total mass flux was about 110 mg m2 d this suggests that231pa transported from oligotrophic regions is being actively removed in the biologically productive northern north pacific

authigenic 10be 9be ratios and 10be fluxes 230thxs normalized in central baffin bay sediments during the last glacial cycle paleoenvironmental implications abstract authigenic 10 be 9 be ratios and 10 be fluxes reconstructed using the 230 th xs normalization proxies of the cosmogenic radionuclide 10 be production rate in the atmosphere have been measured in a sedimentary core from baffin bay north atlantic spanning the last 136 ka bp the normalization applied on the exchangeable authigenic 10 be concentrations using the authigenic 9 be isotope and 230 th xs methods yield equivalent results strongly correlated with sedimentological parameters grain size and mineralogy lower authigenic beryllium be concentrations and 10 be 9 be ratios are associated with coarse grained carbonate rich layers while higher authigenic be values are related to fine grained felspar rich sediments this variability is due to i sediment composition control over beryllium scavenging efficiency and ii glacial history that contributed to modify the 10 be concentration in baffin bay by input and boundary scavenging condition changes most paleo denudation rates inferred from the 10 be 9 be ratio vary weakly around 220 76 tons km 2 yr 1 0 09 0 03 mm yr 1 corresponding to relatively steady weathering fluxes over the last glacial cycle except for six brief intervals characterized by sharp increases of the denudation rate these intervals are related to ice surging episodes coeval with heinrich events and the last deglaciation period an average freshwater flux of 180 6 km 3 yr 1 0 006 sv consistent with recent models has been calculated in order to sustain glacially derived 10 be inputs into baffin bay it is concluded that in such environments the authigenic 10 be measured mainly depends on climatic effects related to the glacial dynamics which masks the 10 be production variation modulated by geomagnetic field changes altogether these results challenge the simple interpretation of 10 be concentration variation as a proxy of interglacial glacial interstadial stadial cycles in arctic and sub arctic regions they rather suggest the effect of higher frequency paleoclimatic changes and local glacial dynamics on 10 be signature

210po and210pb distributions in the central and eastern indian ocean abstract disequilibrium between 210 po and 210 pb and between 210 pb and 226 ra has been mapped in the eastern and central indian ocean based on stations from legs 3 and 4 of the geosecs indian ocean expedition 210 po 210 pb activity ratios are less than 1 0 in the surface mixed layer and indicate a residence time for po of 0 6 years 210 po and 210 pb are generally in radioactive equilibrium elsewhere in the water column except at depths of 100 500 m where po may be returned to solution after removal from the surface water and in samples taken near the bottom at a few stations 210 pb excesses relative to 226 ra are observed in the surface water but these excesses are not as pronounced as in the north pacific and north atlantic the difference is attributable to a lower flux of 210 pb from the atmosphere to the indian ocean below the main thermocline 210 pb activities increase with depth to a broad maximum before decreasing to lower values near the bottom departures from this pattern are especially evident at stations taken in the bay of bengal where 210 pb 226 ra activity ratios as low as 0 16 are observed and near the mid indian ridge the data suggest that removal of 210 pb at oceanic boundaries coupled with eddy diffusion along isopycnals can explain gradients in 210 pb near the boundary application of a simple model including isopycnal diffusion chemical removal production and radioactive decay produces fits the observed 210 pb 226 ra gradients for eddy diffusion coeffients of 10 7 cm 2 s high productivity in surface waters of the bay of bengal makes this region a sink for reactive nuclides in the northern indian ocean

late pleistocene continental climate and oceanic variability recorded in northwest pacific sediments core v21 146 provides a continuous record of northwest pacific pelagic sedimentation spanning the past 530 000 years downcore variations of 18o from benthic foraminiferal calcite were correlated to the specmap record to provide an age model for late pleistocene paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic variation fluxes of caco3 and eolian material have been determined by combining information about linear sedimentation rates bulk densities and component percentages the mass accumulation rate mar of caco3 varies from 58 to 1435 mg cm kyr 1 and exhibits the pacific ocean pattern of higher accumulation associated with glacial periods for the younger portion of the record however the pattern of caco3 accumulation appears to shift during the mid brunhes so that prior to 350 000 years ago it exhibits an opposite pattern of greater accumulation during interglacial periods the flux of eolian dust is a proxy measure of the source area aridity and correlates well to the loess soil stratigraphy in china dust fluxes range from 43 to 718 mg cm kyr 1 and are greater by a factor of about 4 during glacial times cross spectral analysis of the eolian flux and oxygen isotope records shows an inphase and coherent relationship at each of the major orbital periodicities of 100 41 and 19 kyr eolian grain sizes generally used as a proxy record of wind intensity range from 8 4 2 9 m to 6 2 13 6 m a change in grain size variability occurs near about 300 ka such that the older portion is characterized by lower frequency and higher amplitude fluctuations than the younger portion power spectra for the eolian grain size record show dominant peaks at 100 and 50 kyr and a broad 25 35 kyr peak but coherency to the oxygen isotope curve at only the 100 and 33 kyr periodicities the phase relationship for eccentricity between the eolian grain size and 18o records suggests that at the 100 kyr frequency the smallest grain sizes are associated with glacial conditions

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

the record of late pleistocene biogenic sedimentation in the eastern tropical pacific ocean we have generated 300 kyr records of biogenic opal calcite and organic carbon corg for three cores in the eastern and central equatorial pacific ocean and have compared the records to determine whether common periods of biogenic sedimentation have occurred throughout the region we find that corg has been deposited in common pulses throughout the area while opal has a much more local pattern of variation calcite varies regionally but the record is shaped by superimposed dissolution and productivity processes the most intense corg peak occurs at 18 ka and can have greater than 2 times the holocene corg content other major corg peaks occur 150 ka and perhaps at 280 ka we have compared the corg record in one of the cores v19 28 to a model deepwater oxygen record developed from 13c data in the nearby v19 30 to test whether the corg record has been mostly shaped by degradation or by the rain of organic matter from the euphotic zone we found no coherence between the two records implying that the corg record is primarily a measure of productivity by comparing the opal calcite and corg records in v19 28 a core which is at or above the lysocline we found that both increased calcite and opal deposition matches high corg accumulation we also found however that the calcite and opal records were uncorrelated so that episodes of high opal deposition do not necessarily accumulate calcite rapidly we hypothesize that at least two different plankton communities have been dominant in the waters above this site one rich in opal secreting plankton and one more dominated by calcite producers the opal rich plankton community was dominant during the intervals 10 15 ka and 35 60 ka supplement data table 2 is available with entire articleon microfiche order from american geophysical union 2000 florida avenue n w washington dc 20009 document p88001 2 50 payment must accompany order

excess sediment 230th transport along the sea floor or enhanced water column scavenging 1 the sedimentary inventory of 230th is often employed to distinguish between areas which receive excess sediment as the result of along bottom transport from those which lose sediment as a result of winnowing this process is referred to as focusing a case is made here that at least in the western equatorial pacific the excess 230th in on equator sediment is more likely scavenged from the overlying water column by the rain of organic matter than retransported along the bottom if so lateral variations in biological productivity may well contribute to the excess 230th inventories elsewhere as well

late pleistocene paleoclimatology of the central equatorial pacific flux patterns of biogenic sediments high resolution records of the concentration and mass accumulation rate mar or flux of biogenic sediments from core rc11 210 in the central equatorial pacific are compared for the entire late pleistocene the fluxes of calcium carbonate and organic carbon correlate well the opal flux pattern shows no direct correlation with the other two rather opal flux maxima correlate with slopes of i e both precede and follow the organic carbon and carbonate mar peaks organic carbon and calcite therefore may both be better indicators of past productivity than opal which is an indicator of transition at this location we interpret the sequence low biogenic fluxes high opal fluxes high carbonate carbon and opal fluxes as representing the transition from low to high sea surface biological productivity the phase relationships for eccentricity of the biogenic sedimentation records were compared to those of other climatic indications including the oxygen isotope record of ice volume the ice core co2 record the pacific 13c record the deep nutrient cd ca record and the eolian grain size record of wind intensity we find that starting from maximum ice volume phase angle of 0 the phase relationships of the 100 000 year periodicity show in the first quadrant maximum wind intensity 30 and maximum calcite and carbon flux 45 occurring first followed by maximum opal flux 75 and then maximum deep nutrients 95 minimum pacific 13c occurs at a phase angle of 155 the maximum co2 in the vostok record and minimum ice volume is at 180 thus in the eccentricity climate cycle glacial conditions lead to stronger wind driven circulation which enhances productivity which in turn results in enhanced oceanic and atmospheric carbon dioxide and minimum ice volume

glacial to interglacial changes in carbonate and clay sedimentation in the atlantic ocean estimated from 230th measurements abstract the cause of the climatically controlled fluctuations in the carbonate content of deep sea sediments remains the subject of uncertainty and debate three variables are involved supply of biogenic carbonate loss by dissolution and dilution by non carbonate phases it is suggested that 230 th which is produced in the ocean at a constant rate provides a reliable reference for measuring variations in rate of sedimentation on a regional scale results of a preliminary analysis based on published data indicate that for depths at and above the lysocline the carbonate fluctuations observed in cores from the north atlantic ocean are due primarily to variations in the terrigenous clay input which was 2 5 times higher during glacials than during interglacials carbonate deposition appears to have been somewhat reduced during glacials but probably not by more than a factor of 2 from published 230 th 232 th profiles it appears that the south atlantic ocean also received increased inputs of terrigenous clay during glacial periods

glacial to holocene changes in carbonate and clay sedimentation in the equatorial pacific ocean estimated from thorium 230 profiles uranium series nuclide concentrations have been measured on sediments from five box cores from an equatorial pacific transect 230thexcess activities show discontinuities at the holocene glacial boundary as dated by 14c the glacial sedimentation rates determined by 230th and 14c are 2 5 3 0 cm kyr the holocene rates from 230th are much lower than those dated by 14c 1 9 2 3 cm kyr because of carbonate dissolution 230th sedimentation fluxes exceed water column supply by factors of 1 2 1 8 in the holocene and 1 8 3 0 in the glacial sections a number of models have been applied to calculate carbonate dissolution rates the results show that carbonate dissolution rates in the holocene in g cm kyr equal 1 5 10 3 exp 1 4d where d is water depth in kilometers a point by point estimation of sediment fluxes through time show that clay accumulation rates in the area have been near constant at 0 1 0 2 g cm kyr over the past 20 kyr whereas carbonate accumulation rates have decreased dramatically from 0 6 1 0 g cm kyr in the glacial sections of the cores to 0 2 0 6 g cm kyr in the holocene the errors caused by the uncertainties in the age of the termination of the last glacial period have been investigated and results show that a range of 11 14 kyr leads to an error upper limit of about 30 in the estimation of caco3 dissolution rates the response time of caco3 and 230thex concentrations in the mixed layer of sediments due to an impulse of change in caco3 dissolution rate has also been discussed showing that the observed changes in carbonate dissolution may be explained in terms of a single or a continuous change depending upon the thickness of the mixed layer

wisconsin holocene paleoenvironment of the bering sea evidence from diatoms pollen oxygen isotopes and clay minerals abstract a core from the southeastern bering sea contains a depositional record of the wisconsin glacial interval and the holocene four lithologic units show distinctive changes in diatom species palynomorphs oxygen isotopes in diatom silica and clay minerals unit 4 the oldest probably represents the glacial advance of the early wisconsin and records extensive sea ice cover and a soggy herbaceous tundra on the exposed continental shelf unit 3 represents the stades and interstades of the middle wisconsin including an early period of high seasonal variability and a later period with expansion of winter sea ice in the basin and of tundra onshore unit 2 represents the late wisconsin glacial maximum and subsequent deglaciation with a tundra covered shelf sea ice cover increased to a maximum during which the surface waters were probably covered by sea ice throughout the year subsequent to the sea ice maximum the isotope ratios record a major meltwater event unit 1 represents the holocene with expansion of shrub tundra or scrub forest in the coastal upland and waters of increased temperature and salinity in the bering sea

dissolved and particulate 231 pa and 230 th in the atlantic ocean constraints on intermediate deep water age boundary scavenging and 231 pa 230 th fractionation 231pa and 230th concentrations were determined in filtered seawater and suspended particulate matter collected from the labrador sea and the equatorial and south atlantic to constrain their application as tracers of intermediate deep water age and atlantic thermohaline circulation distributions of total 231pa and 230th indicate the influence of recently formed north atlantic deep water as evidenced by nearly invariant concentrations below 1000 m in the labrador sea and increasing 231pa and 230th concentrations as deep waters progress southward from northern source regions application of a scavenging mixing model to both tracer distributions indicates an intermediate deep water age of 12 yr in the labrador sea and a 30 140 yr transit time to the low latitude stations we attribute a striking increase in total 230th in the labrador sea from 1993 to 1999 to aging of intermediate waters as a consequence of the cessation of deep convection in the labrador sea since 1993 the temporal change in the 230th age of these waters is consistent with the 6 yr time interval between the observations the average particulate 231pa 230th activity ratio in the labrador sea and low latitude deep waters is 0 057 0 003 significantly below the 231pa 230th production ratio 0 093 and in agreement with excess 231pa 230th ratios in holocene sediments 0 060 0 004 and sediment trap material 0 034 0 012 from the atlantic and model simulations this observation is consistent with the southward transport of deep water strongly attenuating boundary scavenging in the atlantic a latitudinal dependence in particle fractionation of these tracers is also evident with elevated fractionation factors fth pa observed near the equator and south atlantic gyre 11 compared to low values in the labrador sea 3 and southern ocean 2 there also exists a depth dependence in fth pa characterized by low values in surface waters a broad mid depth maximum and decreasing values towards the sea floor the latitudinal and depth variations in fth pa are suggested to reflect differences in the chemical composition of marine particles

biogeography in 231pa 230th ratios and a balanced 231pa budget for the pacific ocean the ratio of unsupported protactinium 231 to thorium 230 in marine sediments pa th xs is potentially sensitive to several processes of oceanographic and climatological interest deep ocean circulation marine biological productivity as it relates to total particle flux and particle composition specifically biogenic opal and authigenic mn in order to attribute variations in pa th xs observed in sediment records to changes in specific processes through time a better understanding of the chemical cycling of these elements in the modern ocean is necessary to this end a survey was undertaken of pa th xs in surface sediments from the subarctic pacific so202 inopex expedition in combination with a pacific wide compilation of published data throughout the pacific pa th xs is robustly correlated with the opal content of sediments in the north and equatorial pacific simultaneous positive correlations with productivity indicators suggest that boundary scavenging and opal scavenging combine to enhance the removal of pa in the eastern equatorial pacific and subarctic pacific deep ocean water mass ageing 3 5 km 3 5 km associated with the pacific overturning appears to play a secondary role in determining the basin scale distribution of pa th xs a basin wide extrapolation of pa removal is performed which suggests that the pacific pa budget is nearly in balance we hypothesize that through time pa th xs distributions in the pacific could define the evolving boundaries of contrasting biogeographic provinces in the north pacific while the influence of hydrothermal scavenging of pa potentially confounds this approach in the south pacific

planktonic foraminifera in the western north pacific during the past 150 000 years comparison of modern and fossil assemblages abstract planktonic foraminiferal abundance variations in 186 deep sea piston core tops from the western north pacific were used to create a calibration set to characterize the present day kuroshio gyre system q mode factor analysis helped identify six faunal assemblages 93 variance related to modern water masses two tropical assemblages differing in relative dissolution three assemblages representing subtropical subpolar and transitional conditions and a gyre margin assemblage lying between the kuroshio current and the mainland of asia multivariate regression produced transfer functions relating observed summer august and winter february sea surface temperatures sst to the assemblages with standard errors of estimate of 1 5 c and 2 5 c respectively data from 24 piston cores was used to interpret variations of the kuroshio gyre system during the past 150 000 yr stratigraphic control is based on oxygen isotopic measurements the extinction of pink pigmented globigerinoides ruber at 120 000 b p coiling direction changes in neogloboquadrina pachyderma north of 30 n and dissolution variations between resistant and fragile taxa major dynamic changes in the circulation of the kuroshio gyre occurred during the last two glacial maxima at 15 20 000 b p isotopic stage 2 and at 140 150 000 b p isotopic stage 6 these intervals are characterized by 1 lowered sea levels which reduced flow into the sea of japan and sea of okh okhotsk 2 advance of the polar front from its modern position at about 42 n to 35 38 n 3 southward penetration of the oyashio current along the pacific coast of japan to tokyo 4 2 3 c lowered sst in tropical areas little or no change in subtropical areas and a 4 6 c decrease in transitional areas and 5 an overall decrease in carbonate dissolution relative to interglacial stages the maximum interglacial at 120 000 b p isotopic substage 5e shows a retreat of the polar front north of its modern position and an overall relative increase in interglacial carbonate dissolution that does not become severe until substage 5d

removal of230th and231pa from the open ocean concentrations of230th and231pa were measured in particulate matter collected by sediment traps deployed in the sargasso sea site s2 the north equatorial atlantic site e and the north equatorial pacific site p as well as in particles collected by in situ filtration at site e concentrations of dissolved th and pa were determined by extraction onto manganese dioxide adsorbers at site p and at a second site in the sargasso sea site d dissolved230th 231pa activity ratios were 3 6 at sites p and d in contrast for all sediment trap samples from greater than 2000 m unsupported230th 231pa ratios were 22 35 average 29 7 ratios were lower in particulate matter sampled at shallower depths particles filtered at 3600 m and 5000 m at site e had ratios of 50 and 40 results show that suspended particulate matter in the open ocean preferentially scavenges th relative to pa most of the230th produced by decay of234u in the open ocean is removed by adsorption to settling particulate matter in contrast less than 50 of the231pa produced by decay of235u is removed from the water column by this mechanism mixing processes transport the remainder to other sinks

beryllium 10 thorium 230 and protactinium 231 in galapagos microplate sediments implications of hydrothermal activity and paleoproductivity changes during the last 100 000 years biogenic particle fluxes from highly productive surface waters boundary scavenging and hydrothermal activity are the main factors influencing the deposition of radionuclides in the area of the galapagos microplate eastern equatorial pacific in order to evaluate the importance of these three processes throughout the last 100 kyr concentrations of the radionuclides 10be 230th and 231pa and of mn and fe were measured at high resolution in sediment samples from two gravity cores klh 068 and klh 093 high biological productivity in the surface waters overlying the investigated area has led to 10be and 231pa fluxes exceeding production during at least the last 30 kyr and probably the last 100 kyr however during periods of high productivity at the up welling centers off peru and extension of the equatorial high productivity zone a relative loss of 10be and 231pa may have occurred in these sediment cores because of boundary scavenging the effects of hydrothermal activity were investigated by comparing the 230thex concentrations to the mn fe ratios and by comparing the fluxes of 230th and 10be which exceed production the results suggest an enhanced hydrothermal influence during isotope stages 4 and 5 and to a lesser extent during isotope stage 1 in core klh 093 during isotope stages 2 and 3 the hydrothermal supply of mn was deposited elsewhere probably because of changes in current regime or deep water oxygenation a strong increase of the mn fe ratio at the beginning of climatic stage 1 which is not accompanied by an increase of the 230thex concentration is interpreted to be an effect of mn remobilization and reprecipitation in the sediment

biogenic flux of al to sediment in the central equatorial pacific ocean evidence for increased productivity during glacial periods we examined the flux of al to sediment accumulating beneath the zone of elevated productivity in the central equatorial pacific ocean along a surface sediment transect at 135 w as well as downcore for a 650 kyr record at 1 3 n 133 6 w across the surface transect a pronounced broadly equatorially symmetric increase in al accumulation is observed relative to ti with al ti ratios reaching values 3 4 times that of potential detrital sources the profile parallels biogenic accumulation and the modeled flux of particulate 234th suggesting rapid and preferential adsorptive removal of al from seawater by settling biogenic particles normative calculations confirm that most al is unsupported by the terrigenous fraction the observed distributions are consistent with previous observations of the relative and absolute behavior of al and ti in seawater and we can construct a reasonable mass balance between the amount of seawater sourced al retained in the sediment and the amount of seawater al available in the overlying column the close tie between al ti and biogenic accumulation as opposed to concentration emphasizes that biogenic sedimentary al ti responds to removal transport phenomena and not bulk sediment composition thus in these sediments dominated by the biogenic component the bulk al ti ratio reflects biogenic particle flux and by extension productivity of the overlying seawater the downcore profile of al ti at 1 3 n displays marked increases during glacial episodes similar to that observed across the surface transect from a background value near al ti of average upper crust the excursions in al ti are stratigraphically coincident with maxima in both bulk and caco3 accumulation and the excess al appears to not be preferentially affiliated with opaline or organic phases consistent with the similar behavioral removal of al and 234th the latter of which responds to the total particle flux the al flux reflects carbonate accumulation only because carbonate comprises the dominant flux in these particular deposits these results collectively indicate that 1 al in biogenic sediment and settling biogenic particles is strongly affected by a component adsorbed from seawater therefore the common tenet that al is dominantly associated with terrestrial particulate matter and the subsequent use of al distributions to calculate the abundance and flux of terrestrial material in settling particles and sediment needs to be reevaluated 2 the al ti ratio in biogenic sediment can be used to trace the productivity of the overlying water providing a powerful new paleochemical tool to investigate oceanic response to climatic variation 3 the close correlation between the al ti productivity signal and carbonate maxima downcore at 1 3 n suggests that the sedimentary carbonate maxima in the central equatorial pacific ocean record increased productivity during glacial episodes

oceanic 231pa 230th ratio influenced by particle composition and remineralization abstract we have investigated the role of particle compositions in affecting the distribution of 231pa and 230th in the ocean by separating sediments collected by sediment traps and cores into three size fractions and analyzed for their excess 231pa 231paex excess 230th 230thex and major chemical components the samples came from stations along 140 w in the equatorial pacific and from the blake outer ridge in the north atlantic results indicate that aluminosilicates clays are the major carrier of 231pa and 230th and the ratio 231paex 230thex in marine particulates decreases with increasing 232th concentration model simulation shows that sea floor sediments and trap collected particles have similar 231paex 230thex ratios in their biogenic components which are very close to the seawater ratio but are about one order higher than the ratios in coexisting clays preferential scavenging of 230th over 231pa by clays is primarily responsible for the 231pa 230th fractionation in the ocean the fractionation factor between 230th and 231pa fth pa varies from 10 for aluminosilicates to 1 for biogenic 232th free particles changes in fth pa as a function of particle composition exert primary controls on 231paex 230thex in marine particulates and bottom sediments and on the boundary scavenging of pa remineralization of biogenic particles in the water column may result in a decrease of 231paex 230thex our observations place an important constraint on the use of sediment 231paex 230thex as a paleoproductivity proxy namely in order to use down core variations of 231paex 230thex to assess past changes in surface productivity one must either verify or assume that the lithogenic particle flux and water column particle remineralization have remained essentially constant at the core site

the mechanical interaction between the propagating north anatolian fault and the back arc extension in the aegean we use fracture mechanics concepts to analyse the large scale deformation of anatolia and the aegean our purpose is to characterize the process of propagation of the north anatolian fault naf our approach incorporates long term geological constraints in dislocation modelling of present day gps velocities that allows for internal deformation in regions between major structures unravelling the superposition of two deformation fields now interacting in the aegean propagating naf and back arc extension permits us to characterise the large scale damage zone at the western end of the naf and to determine slip rates for the main structures the contemporary slip rate profile of the naf shows that it apparently behaves like a transform fault for 75 of its length the process zone corresponds to a rapid southwestward tapering of the naf slip rate modelling slip rate distributions for the naf under stress free conditions shows that the development of the process zone depends on the boundary conditions imposed at the hellenic arc our stress free modelling suggests a scenario for the evolution of the naf 1 at an earlier stage before the naf had reached the aegean it was not under the influence of hellenic arc pull its slip rate profile is modelled to have a half elliptical shape corresponding to a crack in elastic solid and an elastically strained anatolian lithosphere 2 the present day naf penetrates the aegean and a large process zone has developed due to interaction with the aegean extension and the hellenic arc pull elastic strains in the anatolian lithosphere are relaxed and the naf resembles a transform fault the models that we present suggest that changes in subduction zone behaviour should influence all of the boundaries associated with anatolian extrusion

accumulation rates of th 230 pa 231 and some transition metals on the bermuda rise abstract measurements of 238u 234u 230th 232th 231pa mn fe co ni cu and zn were made on 23 samples from core gpc 5 a 29 m giant piston core from a water depth of 4583 m on the northeastern bermuda rise 33 41 2 n 57 36 9 w this area is characterized by rapid deposition of sediment transported by abyssal currents unsupported 230th and 231pa are present throughout the core but because of large variations in the sedimentation rate show marked departures from exponential decay with depth the trend with depth of the 231 pa ex 230 th ex ratio is consistent with the average accumulation rate of 36 cm 1000 y reported earlier on the basis of radiocarbon dating and caco3 stratigraphy when expressed on a carbonate free basis concentrations of mn co ni cu zn 230thex and 231paex all show cyclic variations positively correlated with those of caco3 the correlations can be explained by a model in which all of these constituents including caco3 are supplied to the sediments from the water column at a constant rate concentration variations are controlled mainly by varying inputs of terrigenous detritus with low inputs occurring during interglacials and high inputs during glacials relationships between the metal and 230thex concentrations permit estimates of the rates at which the metals are removed to the sediment by scavenging from the water column the results in g cm2 1000 y are 4300 1100 for mn 46 16 for ni and 76 26 for cu these rates are somewhat larger than ocean wide averages estimated by other methods and the absolute rate of 230th accumulation in gpc 5 averages about nine times higher than production in the overlying water column this part of the bermuda rise and similar bottom current deposits may act as important accumulators of elements scavenged from seawater

210pb scavenging in the north atlantic and north pacific oceans the radionuclide210pb shows significant geographic variations in the extent of its removal from the open ocean water column this texture of scavenging is defined by mapping 1 the integrated deficiency of210pb in the water column relative to its supply from the atmosphere and from in situ decay of dissolved226ra and 2 inventories of excess210pb in deep sea sediments the ratio of210pb deficiency to its supply termed the scavenging effectiveness is 20 in the north equatorial pacific and 50 in the north atlantic this variation is related to the combined effects of uptake of210pb onto sinking particles and lateral transport of210pb to areas of more intense removal sediment inventories of excess210pb normalized to the210pb deficiency in the overlying water column permit evaluation of the relative importance of these effects in the north equatorial pacific virtually all of the210pb removed from the water column is present in the underlying sediments but in the mid latitude north atlantic the sediments comprise only about 50 of the210pb removed the deficiencies of210pb in the mid latitude north atlantic sediments south of 50 n are qualitatively offset by surpluses in high latitude sediments north of 50 n higher primary productivity and new production in the surface waters of the high latitude north atlantic and north equatorial pacific relative to the oligotrophic central north atlantic may account for the greater fluxes of210pb to bottom sediments in those areas

geochemistry of eolian dust in pacific pelagic sediments implications for paleoclimatic interpretations geochemical data rees th sc were determined for the operationally defined eolian dust oded fraction 63 m of late quaternary sediment samples n 57 from the north and equatorial pacific ocean paleoclimate studies commonly have assumed that this sediment fraction represents eolian materials from continental source regions this study shows on the basis of geochemical data published mineralogical data and mixing models that the oded fraction actually is a mixture of materials from two endmember sources the continental crust eolian transported weathering products and the oceanic crust primarily volcanogenic material mixing model results show that the average ash content is significant in the oded fraction equatorial pacific 43 north pacific 24 we have used this information to reconsider and refine the results of previous paleoclimate studies in the northwest pacific the flux of the eolian fraction is greater during glacial stages and shows a latitudinal maximum between 35 n and 42 n eolian fluxes are greatest during interglacial periods in the equatorial pacific these results are consistent with previous interpretations in contrast to previous assumptions eolian mass accumulation rates may not be a valid indicator of paleo aridity because they are correlated with grain size furthermore the relative abundance of the two endmembers is correlated with the average grain size of the dust fraction the continental crust component is associated with larger grains this compositional effect should be considered in future studies which commonly utilize grain size as a proxy indicator of paleo wind intensity

advection and scavenging effects on 230th and 231pa distribution off southwest africa we investigated the controls of hydrography and of scavenging on the distribution of the particle reactive radionuclides 231pa and 230th in the water column and in surface sediments off southwest africa angola and cape basins based on a vertical section of total 230thex concentrations in the water column we show that small differences in the salinity between the north atlantic deep water nadw in the angola basin and the nadw in the cape basin as well as the advection of nadw associated with the namib col current are reflected in total 230thex concentrations these variable total concentrations are believed to reflect the flow path and mixing history of nadw with the nadw in the angola basin being relatively older and 230th enriched compared to the nadw in the cape basin in the area investigated we found high 231paex 230thex ratios 231paex 230thex 0 093 in surface sediments at the continental margin and lower ones 231paex 230thex 0 093 in the open ocean such a distribution is normally interpreted to result from high particle flux at ocean margins boundary scavenging however the lack of any significant depletion of dissolved 230th and 231pa in the water column does not indicate extensive scavenging at the continental margin high 231paex 230thex ratios are constrained to shallow waters depths 2000 m only and coincide with low fractionation between 231pa and 230th indicating that preferential scavenging of 231pa on opal may have caused high 231paex 230thex ratios in the sediments the observed close negative correlation r2 0 82 between 231paex 230thex ratios in sediments and water depths is believed to reflect changes in the particle composition i e a decrease in opal content with water depth in the angola and cape basins the total 231paex concentrations in nadw were the highest observed so far in the atlantic ocean and they are attributed to the meridional export of 231pa from the north atlantic this caused the average dissolved 231pa 230th in the southeast atlantic to be about a factor 2 higher when compared to the north atlantic labrador sea these differences in the dissolved 231pa 230th were not reflected in 231pa 230th ratios of surface sediments because the fractionation is lower in the labrador sea compared to the southeast atlantic i e fractionation counteracts changes in the dissolved 231pa 230th this suggests that fractionation is more important for the determination of 231paex 230thex ratios in sediments than the meridional export of 231pa from the north atlantic

the accretion rate of extraterrestrial 3he based on oceanic 230th flux and the relation to os isotope variation over the past 200 000 years in an indian ocean core abstract in the eastern equatorial indian ocean the flux of extraterrestrial 3 he a proxy of interplanetary dust particles idps has been relatively constant over the past 200 ka the flux is equal to 1 1 0 4 10 12 cm 3 stp cm 2 ka 1 a value obtained using the xs 230 th profiling method variations in mass accumulation rates mars derived assuming a constant extraterrestrial 3 he flux have a 40 ka periodicity similar to that observed in the 18 o derived mars this frequency is similar to that of the earth s obliquity measured 187 os 188 os ratios are less radiogenic than present day seawater 0 49 0 98 reflecting the mixing of os derived from extraterrestrial terrigenous and hydrogenous sources when coupled with he data measured on the same samples os isotope data yield important information about the terrigenous component supplied to the eastern equatorial indian ocean the amount of os in the sample derived from the extraterrestrial component can be deduced with the help of the helium systematics once corrected for the extraterrestrial component of os os isotope signatures in conjunction with the 4 he concentrations suggest a supply of terrigenous material from indonesian ultramafic and himalayan crustal sources that clearly varies through time

removal of 230th and 231pa at ocean margins abstract uranium thorium and protactinium isotopes were measured in particulate matter collected by sediment traps deployed in the panama basin and by in situ filtration of large volumes of seawater in the panama and guatemala basins concentrations of dissolved th and pa isotopes were determined by extraction onto mno 2 adsorbers placed in line behind the filters in the in situ pumping systems concentrations of dissolved 230 th and 231 pa in the panama and guatemala basins are lower than in the open ocean whereas dissolved 230 th 231 pa ratios are equal to or slightly greater than ratios in the open ocean particulate 230 th 231 pa ratios in the sediment trap samples ranged from 4 to 8 in contrast to ratios of 30 or more at the open ocean sites previously studied particles collected by filtration in the panama basin and nearest to the continental margin in the guatemala basin contained 230 th 231 pa ratios similar to the ratios in the sediment trap samples the ratios increased with distance away from the continent suspended particles near the margin show no preference for adsorption of th or pa and therefore must be chemically different from particles in the open ocean which show a strong preference for adsorption of th ocean margins as typified by the panama and guatemala basins are preferential sinks for 231 pa relative to 230 th furthermore the margins are sinks for 230 th and to a greater extent 231 pa transported by horizontal mixing from the open ocean

thorium 230 normalized particle flux and sediment focusing in the panama basin region during the last 30 000 years 1 application of the 230 th normalization method to estimate sediment burial fluxes in six cores from the eastern equatorial pacific eep reveals that bulk sediment and organic carbon fluxes display a coherent regional pattern during the holocene that is consistent with modern oceanographic conditions in contrast with estimates of bulk mass accumulation rates mars derived from core chronologies two nearby sites less than 10 km apart which have different mars show nearly identical 230 th normalized bulk fluxes focusing factors derived from the 230 th data at the foot of the carnegie ridge in the panama basin are 2 in the holocene implying that lateral sediment addition is significant in this part of the basin new geochemical data and existing literature provide evidence for a hydrothermal source of sediment in the southern part of the panama basin and for downslope transport from the top of the carnegie ridge the compilation of core records suggests that sediment focusing is spatially and temporally variable in the eep during oxygen isotope stage 2 ois 2 from 13 27 ka bp focusing appears even higher compared to the holocene at most sites similar to earlier findings in the eastern and central equatorial pacific the magnitude of the glacial increase in focusing factors however is strongly dependent on the accuracy of age models we offer two possible explanations for the increase in glacial focusing compared to the holocene the first one is that the apparent increase in lateral sediment redistribution is partly or even largely an artifact of insufficient age control in the eep while the second explanation which assumes that the observed increase is real involves enhanced deep sea tidal current flow during periods of low sea level stand

the scavenging of u 230th and 231pa during pulsed hydrothermal activity at 20 s east pacific rise abstract uranium th and pa isotopes were measured in eight box cores from two transects to the west of the east pacific rise at 10 s and 20 s sediment geochemistry al ca fe mn and water column paniculates mn suggest that highly metalliferous plumes rich in fe and mn are emanating from the rise crest at 19 s measurements of 230thxs and 231paxs indicate decreasing sediment accumulation rates from the rise flank 0 4 cm ky 1 to the tiki basin 0 23 cm ky 1 over this geographical area al is found to have a constant flux of 3 6 10 4 g cm 2 ky 1 application of an al constant flux model to ridge crest metalliferous sediment reveals two 1 000 year pulses of hydrothermal activity during the holoccne since 11 000 y bp these hydrothermal pulses are characterised by hydrothermal fe mn ratios 3 5 1 enhanced 230th and 231pa scavenging and low 230thxs 231paxs ratios 3 4 the similarity of the 230thxs and 231paxs ratio to the dissolved seawaterrauo suggests that in fracuonation of the isotopes occurs during scavenging supplementary supply of dissolved 230th and 231pa in a westwards moving water mass is suggested

equatorial pacific calcite preservation cycles production or dissolution in the equatorial pacific ocean the depth and shape of the calcite lysocline appears to have changed significantly in response to climate forcing farrell and prell 1989 taking the farrell and prell record at face value the lysocline apparently became steeper during each of the last eight glacial stages also the accumulation rate of calcite during the last glacial maximum was 2 4 times higher than it was during the previous interglacial arrhenius 1952 1988 broecker 1971 farrell 1991 a numerical model for calcite dissolution in sediment is used to interpret these observations the model was validated by comparison with observations from the present day ocean these results are presented elsewhere if the lysocline fluctuations in the equatorial pacific are primarily a dissolution record then changes in the glacial pacific co3 of 20 40 m can be inferred here i offer the alternative explanation that cycles in equatorial production are responsible for the observations higher rates of calcite and organic carbon rain to the sediment in the equatorial region would have depressed the calcite lysocline and increased the calcite accumulation rate as observed a twofold increase in glacial production appears to be adequate to explain the observations but a precise determination is prevented by uncertainties in some of the model parameters

transuranic nuclides in two coastal marine sediments off peru the fluxes of plutonium isotopes as well as their depth profiles are similar for northern and southern hemispheric varved sediments taken off western american coasts the inventories are in excess of the values predicted for atmospheric fallout in these anoxic sediments there is a general increase in concentration from depths to the near surface these observations are explainable on the bases that anoxic deposits have a substantially higher retentivity of sedimented materials compared to that of their bioturbated oxic counterparts and that there are inputs of resuspended materials previously deposited in the marine environment the 241am distributions are explained by ingrowth from 241pu assuming a substantial input of the parent from the u s thermonuclear tests during the 1950 s and the immobilization of both pu and am in the deposits

increased production of cosmogenic 10be during the last glacial maximum beryllium 10 half life 1 5 myr is produced by spallation of nitrogen and oxygen atoms by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere its production rate is proportional to the flux of cosmic rays which is modulated by solar activity and the strength of the earth s magnetic field1 2 weakening of the magnetic field allows more cosmic rays to impinge on the earth s atmosphere thereby increasing 10be production here we report that the ocean wide average accumulation rate of 10be in pacific sediments which reflects the global average production rate of 10be ref 3 was at least 25 greater during the height of the most recent ice age 24 000 16 000 yr ago than during the holocene the past 10 000 yr the higher production rate of 10be records the lower intensity of the geomagnetic field during that period and is consistent with the hypothesis developed to explain the younger 14c ages of fossil corals compared with ages obtained by u th dating4 these results also point to a more general need to consider variations in production rate in geochronological studies using other cosmogenic nuclides

the distribution and behaviour of 230th and 231pa at an ocean margin baja california mexico uranium th and pa isotopes were measured in sediments collected by box core along a transect normal to the baja california continental margin six cores were analyzed ranging in depositional environment from manganese nodule bearing pelagic red clay to hemipelagic sediments displaying mn reduction in the upper 5 cm in the hemipelagic cores solid phase mn peaks due to diagenetic remobilization occur within the upper layers which are well mixed with respect to unsupported sup 230 th and sup 231 pa the fact that sup 230 th and sup 231 pa are not concentrated at the mn peaks suggests that little mobility of these nuclides occurs within the sediment column unsupported sup 230 th sup 231 pa activity ratios in the biomixed layer of the sediments range from 10 9 to 6 6 generally decreasing towards the inshore stations the flux of sup 230 th and sup 231 pa across the sediment water interface is almost in balance with the theoretical water column supply in the most distal core but rapidly increases inshore this evidence from the sediment column confirms that enhanced sup 230 th and sup 231 pa removal occurs at ocean margins and that sup 231 pa is removed from the water column to the sediments in preference to sup 230 th

enhanced sedimentation along the equator in the western pacific measurements on cores from the ontong java plateau demonstrate that on equator sediment accumulates more 230th than is produced in the overlying water column in contrast cores from 3 8 n accumulate an amount of excess 230th more nearly equal to that produced in the overlying water column taken together with the observation that both the caco3 and non caco3 components of the sediment accumulate at approximately twice the rate in on equator than in off equator cores broecker et al 1999 this requires either that the rain of the larger amount of organic matter generated above the equatorial upwelling plume entrains excess clay and 230th during its fall to the sea floor or that physical transport processes either in the upper ocean or near the sea bed redistribute sediments in such a way that they preferentially accumulate in a narrow 1 latitude equatorial centered belt

the distribution of 230th and 231pa in the deep sea surface sediments of the pacific ocean in order to determine the areal extent and distribution of 231pa sinks in the pacific ocean we have analyzed 34 deep sea surface sediment samples from widely distributed locations for their pa th and u isotopes while the 230thxs content varies by more than a factor often the 231paxs content is confined in a relatively narrow range with a mean value of 2 8 1 4 dpm g there is a positive correlation between 230thxs and 231paxs and using the regression line it is possible to calculate the 230thxs231paxs activity ratios in samples for which only 230th data are available we then constructed a map of 230thxs231paxs distribution using 230paxs231paxs 11 the production ratio in the water column as a criterion for identifying preferential 231pa sinks we have identified an area covering 30 40 of the pacific ocean this area includes most of the pacific margins the northwest pacific the antarctic ocean and perhaps the mid ocean ridge regions and is nearly coincident with that of high sediment accumulation rates this suggests that the paniculate flux is important for the removal of 231pa from the ocean two models for the removal of 231pa produced in the open ocean are 1 1 lateral transport into the vertical flux in regions of high particulate flux damaster 1979 andersonet al 1983a b or 2 2 uptake at the sediment water boundary the second model is more likely to be correct to distinguish unequivocally between the two proposed models we would need sediment trap data for the western north pacific

variations in productivity and eolian fluxes in the northeastern arabian sea during the past 110 ka abstract high resolution one to two samples ka radionuclide proxy records from core 93kl in the northeastern arabian sea provide evidence for millennial climate variability over the past 110 ka we interpret 230th normalized 232th fluxes as a proxy for eolian input and authigenic uranium concentrations as a proxy for past productivity we attribute orbital and suborbital variations in both proxies to changes in the intensity of the southwest indian ocean monsoon the highest 230th normalized 232th fluxes occur at times that are consistent with the timing of the younger dryas heinrich events 1 7 and cold dansgaard oeschger stadial events recorded in the gisp2 ice core such high dust fluxes may be due to a weakened southwest monsoon in conjunction with strengthened northwesterlies from the arabian peninsula and mesopotamia authigenic uranium concentrations on the other hand are highest during warm dansgaard oeschger interstadials when the southwest monsoon is intensified relative to the northwesterly winds our results also indicate that on orbital timescales maximum average eolian fluxes coincide with the timing of marine isotopic stage mis 2 and 4 while minimum fluxes occur during mis 1 3 and 5 although the forcing mechanism s controlling suborbital variabilities in monsoonal intensity is still debated our findings suggest an atmospheric teleconnection between the low latitude southwest monsoon and north atlantic climate

asian aridity and the zonal westerlies late pleistocene and holocene record of eolian deposition in the northwest pacific ocean rea d k and leinen m 1988 asian aridity and the zonal westerlies late pleistocene and holocene record of eolian deposition in the northwest pacific ocean palaeogeogr palaeoclimatol palaeoecol 66 1 8 a 30 000 year record of eolian deposition in the northwestern pacific ocean provides a history of the aridity of the asian source region and information on the changing latitude and intensity of the zonal westerlies the position of the maximum in eolian flux to the deep sea remained unchanged at 38 to 40 n during this entire time period but the dust flux record of aridity is greatest 6000 years ago at the holocene climatic optimum eolian grainsize data indicate that the northern margin of the westerly jet stream retreated northward during the holocene to a poleward extreme at about 6000 years ago and then moved back toward the equator the change in wind intensity across this margin was continually reduced throughout the holocene these sorts of data enhance our understanding of the behavior of the atmosphere during times of climate change and can be used to test computer generated models of past climatic conditions

paleoproductivity and carbon burial across the california current the multitracers transect 42 n the multitracers experiment studied a transect of water column sediment trap and sediment data taken across the california current to develop quantitative methods for hindcasting paleoproductivity the experiment used three sediment trap moorings located 120 km 270 km and 630 km from shore at the oregon california border in north america we report here about the sedimentation and burial of particulate organic carbon corg and caco3 in order to observe how the integrated caco3 and corg burial across the transect has changed since the last glacial maximum we have correlated core from the three sites using time scales constrained by both radiocarbon and oxygen isotopes by comparing surface sediments to a two and a half year sediment trap record we have also defined the modern preservation rates for many of the labile sedimentary materials our analysis of the corg data indicates that significant amounts 20 40 of the total corg being buried today in surface sediments is terrestrial at the last glacial maximum the terrestrial corg fraction within 300 km of the coast was about twice as large such large fluxes of terrestrial corg obscure the marine corg record which can be interpreted as productivity when we corrected for the terrestrial organic matter we found that the mass accumulation rate of marine corg roughly doubled from the glacial maximum to the present because preservation rates of organic carbon are high in the high sedimentation rate cores corrections for degradation are straightforward and we can be confident that organic carbon rain rate new productivity also doubled as confirmation the highest burial fluxes of other biogenic components opal and ba also occur in the holocene productivity off oregon has thus increased dramatically since the last glacial maximum caco3 fluxes also changed radically through the deglaciation however they are linked not to caco3 production but rather to changes in deepwater carbonate chemistry between 18 ka and now

a 150 000 year climatic record from antarctic ice during much of the quaternary the earth s climate has undergone drastic changes most notably successive glacial and interglacial episodes the past 150 kyr includes such a climatic cycle the last interglacial the last glacial and the present holocene interglacial a new climatic time series for this period has been obtained using 18 o data from an antarctic ice core

variabilities of particulate flux and 210pb in the southern east china sea and western south okinawa trough abstract variabilities of the particulate mass flux and associated 210 pb activity were examined on samples collected from time series sediment traps deployed in the continental slope area of the east china sea off northeast taiwan and in the western south okinawa trough sot as a part of the keep program the particulate flux decreases laterally from the continental slope toward the trough increases vertically toward the bottom at most of the mooring sites and shows fairly synchronous temporal variations among the traps in each mooring for most of the deployments the temporal variation of 210 pb is generally smaller than that of the particulate flux in terms of relative change as expressed in standard deviation of the mean of each trap in the lower slope area the mean particulate flux varies between 9 5 and 79 g m 2 d and the mean 210 pb varies between about 44 and 81 dpm g in the trough the mean particulate flux has the smallest values from 0 06 to 5 7 g m 2 d while the mean 210 pb has the highest from 82 to 192 dpm g the particulate flux decreases while the 210 pb activity increases from the slope toward the trough in the trough 210 pb increases with depth while the particulate flux may show a mid depth maximum of a nepheloid layer although the 210 pb activity increases from the slope toward the trough the 210 pb flux decreases toward the trough because of much greater particulate flux in the slope area within the trough the 210 pb flux as determined from the traps is comparable to that determined from the underlying sediments but on the lower slope the 210 pb flux determined from the traps is much higher than that obtained from the underlying sediments thus a large portion of the particulates and the associated 210 pb may have been transported laterally from elsewhere to the slope area in transit without depositing onto the underlying sediments plots of the mean 210 pb flux versus the mean mass flux for each of the traps show positive linear correlation with four distinctive slopes each representing a mean 210 pb activity of a particular area or a group of traps in the mien hua canyon the mean activity is about 40 dpm g in the sot the mean value is about 130 dpm g on the lower slope the mean values fall in between those of the canyon and the trough in the middle traps where the mass flux is higher in a nepheloid layer the mean activity is about 47 dpm g while the remaining traps yield a mean of about 65 dpm g taking the mean activity of the canyon and that of the trough as the two end member values the slope with a nepheloid layer is a mixture of about 90 canyon and 10 trough materials indicating the canyon as the major particulate provider for the nepheloid layer the slope without a nepheloid layer is a mixture of about 70 canyon and 30 trough materials

sediment focusing in the central equatorial pacific ocean at four sites in the central equatorial pacific ocean the flux of extraterrestrial he determined using the excess 230th profiling method is 8 10 13 cm stp cm 2 ka 1 this supply rate is constant to within 30 at these same sites however the burial rate of he determined using chronostratigraphic accumulation rates varies by more than a factor of 3 the lowest burial rates which occur north of the equator at 1 n 139 w are lower than the global average rate of supply of extraterrestrial he by 20 and indicate that sediment winnowing may have occurred the highest burial rates which are recorded at the equator and at 2 s are higher than the rate of supply of extraterrestrial he by 100 and these provide evidence for sediment focusing by analyzing several proxies measured in core pc72 sediments spanning the past 450 kyr we demonstrate that periods of maximum burial rates of 230th he 10be ti and barite with a maximum peak to trough amplitude of a factor of 6 take place systematically during glacial time however the ratio of any one proxy to another is constant to within 30 over the entire length of the records given that each proxy represents a different source 234u decay in seawater interplanetary dust upper atmosphere continental dust or upper ocean our preferred interpretation for the covariation is that the climate related changes in burial rates are driven by changes in sediment focusing

boundary scavenging and deep sea sediment dating constraints from excess 230th and 231pa apparent sedimentation rates derived from excess 230th and 231pa in deep sea sediments accumulated during the last 25 000 years in the pacific ocean are mostly lower than the average rates determined by other independent such as 14c and 18o dating methods which may be a consequence of generally higher accumulation rates of aluminosilicate and carbonate during the last glacial that diluted the excess 230th and 231pa activities in glacial sediments the pattern of enhanced scavenging of nuclides in ocean margin areas i e boundary scavenging also changed from the glacial to the holocene fluxes of 230th and 231pa throughout the ocean varied over time responding to changes in the nature and intensity of boundary scavenging which in turn were influenced by changes in particle flux and particle composition the lower intensity of boundary scavenging of 231pa during the last glacial may also have contributed to the lower apparent sediment accumulation rates based on excess 231pa for cores in ocean margin areas