controls of eustasy and diagenesis on the 238u 235u of carbonates and evolution of the seawater 234u 238u during the last 1 4 myr using a leaching protocol designed for the study of u isotopes in recent carbonates we measured the u isotope composition both 238 u 235 u and 234 u 238 u of modern and ancient corals n 6 a limestone and a dolostone as well as 43 shallow water carbonate sediments from the odp leg 166 site 1009 drill core on the slope of the bahamas platform although bulk corals record the seawater 238 u value within 0 02 differences of up to 0 30 in the 238 u of individual leachates suggest a control of the coral structure and a more positive 238 u 235 u ratio in the centers of calcification the drill core 238 u data shows that the 238 u 235 u ratio of shallow water carbonates is controlled mainly by 1 variations in sea level through the mixing of different amounts of platform derived sediments with 238 u 0 50 0 60 heavier than seawater and pelagic sediments with seawater like 238 u values 2 authigenic u enrichment via pore watercirculation and u reduction both on the platform and down to 5 m below the surface mbsf after deposition of the sediment and to a lesser extent by 3 early diagenetic processes i e carbonate dissolution and or recrystallization during sediment burial the global effect of these processes leaves the 238 u values of shallow water carbonates offset relative to that of seawater by carbonates sw 0 24 0 06 95 ci including all samples this shift can be used in seawater paleoredox reconstructions based on carbonates deposited on shallow water platform shelf and slope environments i e most of the carbonate sedimentary record prior to the mesozoic to account for the average effect of carbonate diagenesis assuming that the 238 u 235 u ratio of carbonate platform sediments directly records the seawater 238 u 235 u ratio would underestimate the extent of ocean seafloor anoxia by at least a factor 10 the rapid fluctuations in 238 u values due to sea level changes i is a factor that should be considered before interpreting 238 u variations as reflecting changes in oceanic paleoredox conditions and ii reinforces the need for statistically meaningful data sets the 234 u data suggest that the 234 u 238 u ratio of the seawater has remained within 20 of the modern seawater value during the last 1 1 4 myr furthermore we find that small scale 1 15 variations in seawater 234 u mirror sea level changes during the penultimate glacial interglacial period 140 to 200 ka thus confirming the record of lower 234 u sw during periods of low sea level stand and expanding it to at least the last two glacial interglacial events i e 0 23 ma such fluctuations in 234 u initial values should be taken into account when screening carbonate sediments u th ages on the basis of the initial 234 u 238 u ratios of the samples

electron microprobe study of mg distribution in recent mg calcites and recrystallized equivalents from the pleistocene and tertiary abstract the effect of early freshwater diagenesis on mg distributions in former mg calcite cements was determined by electron microprobe analysis of two major groups of samples 1 mg calcites in recent limestones not yet exposed to freshwater and 2 tertiary recent mg calcites and recrystallized equivalents which have undergone freshwater exposure pristine mg calcites are characterized by a uniform mg concentration in contrast former mg calcites from the miocene of enewetak atoll most of which are now radiaxial prismatic calcites have a much greater variation in mg content and traverses across the calcites reveal definite trends mg content of the calcite is inversely correlated with abundance of inclusions some of the cloudy growth layers are due to infestation by endolithic organi ms fungi the small variation in mg content in original mg calcite cements is a valuable starting point to be aware of when interpreting mg trends in recrystallized equivalents mg content can be related to inclusion abundance in recrystallized former mg calcites but not in pristine mg calcites therefore mg trends in altered materials most likely reflect dissolution reprecipitation processes not original mg trends a likely cause for the low mg content associated with inclusion rich growth layers is relatively high rates of dissolution and reprecipitation in these relatively permeable layers in some cases the increased permeability is the result of infestation by endoliths such organisms may cause the cloudiness observed in some other radiaxial calcites

carbonate recrystallization in shallow marine environments a widespread diagenetic process forming micritized grains abstract integrated morphologic petrographic and mineralogic analyses of sediment grains of the miliolid foraminifer archaias and the green alga halimeda from shallow marine environments in florida the bahamas and belize document pervasive syndepositional recrystallization in these grains scanning electron microscopy shows that original skeletal rods and needles recrystallize on the sea floor to a variety of equant micritic fabrics in thin section this textural alteration corresponds to progressive micritization with loss of the familiar golden brown color exhibited by fresh miliolids and halimeda and gradual development of gray cryptocrystalline carbonate x ray diffraction and electron microprobe studies show that this textural alteration may be accompanied by mineralogical changes from mg calcite to aragonite or from aragonite to mg calcite our findings support petrographic studies that reported syndepositional recrystallization in a wide variety of carbonate grains about thirty years ago but which have been largely ignored together these studies indicate that carbonate recrystallization is a widespread process of early diagenesis extensive recrystallization in shallow tropical seas challenges basic principles regarding the setting and timing of textural and mineralogic alteration of metastable carbonate grains in addition recognition of recrystallization as an important process of micritization contradicts prevailing theories that micritization results solely by infilling of microborings finally our findings raise fundamental questions concerning the nature of carbonate crystal structure mechanisms of crystal growth and driving forces for recrystallization answering these questions will require sedimentologists to step beyond traditional bounds into fields such as biomineralization and materials science

organic matter oxidation and aragonite diagenesis in a coral reef abstract a combination of field and theoretical work is used to study controls on the saturation state of aragonite inside a coral reef framework a closed system ion speciation model is used to evaluate the effect of organic matter oxidation on the saturation state of aragonite the aragonite saturation state initially drops below 1 but becomes oversaturated during sulfate reduction the c n ratio of the organic matter affects the degree of oversaturation with n poor organic material resulting in a system more corrosive to aragonite precipitation of sulfide as fes strongly affects the aragonite saturation state and systems with much fes formation will have a stronger tendency to become oversaturated with respect to aragonite both precipitation and dissolution of aragonite are predicted at different stages of the organic reaction pathway if the model system is maintained at aragonite saturation field data from a coral reef framework indicate that the system maintains itself at aragonite saturation and model predicted changes in dissolved calcium follow those observed in the interstitial waters of the reef aragonite probably acts as a solid phase buffer in regulating the ph of interstitial waters because interstitial water in the reef has a short residence time the observed equilibration suggests rapid kinetics

recognition of non milankovitch sea level highstands at 185 and 343 thousand years ago from u th dating of bahamas sediment abstract thirty one new bulk sediment u th dates are presented together with an improved 18o stratigraphy for odp site 1008a on the slopes of the bahamas banks these ages supplement and extend those from previous studies and provide constraints on the timing of sea level highstands associated with marine isotope stages mis 7 and 9 ages are screened for reliability based on their initial u and th isotope ratios and on the aragonite fraction of the sediment twelve reliable dates for mis 7 suggest that its start is concordant with that predicted if climate is forced by northern hemisphere summer insolation following the theory of milankovitch but u th and 18o data indicate the presence of an additional highstand which post dates the expected end of mis 7 by up to 10 ka this event is also seen in coral reconstructions of sea level it suggests that sea level is not responding in any simple way to northern hemisphere summer insolation and that tuned chronologies which make such an assumption are in error by 10 ka at this time u th dates for mis 9 also suggest a potential mismatch between the actual timing of sea level and that predicted by simple mid latitude northern hemisphere forcing four dates are earlier than that predicted for the start of mis 9 although the most extreme of these dates may not be reliable based on the low aragonite content of the sediment the other three appear robust and suggest that full mis 9 interglacial conditions were established at 343 ka this is 8 ka prior to the date expected if this warm period were driven by northern hemisphere summer insolation

early diagenesis of shallow water periplatform carbonate sediments leeward margin great bahama bank ocean drilling program leg 166 mineralogic petrographic and geochemical analyses of sediments recovered from two leg 166 ocean drilling program cores on the western slope of great bahama bank 308 m and 437 m water depth are used to characterize early marine diagenesis of these shallow water periplatform carbonates the most pronounced diagenetic products are well lithified intervals found almost exclusively in glacial lowstand deposits and interpreted to have formed at or near the seafloor i e hardgrounds hardground cements are composed of high mg calcite 14 mol mgco 3 and exhibit textures typically associated with seafloor cementation geochemically hardgrounds are characterized by increased 18 o and mg contents and decreased 13 c sr and na contents relative to their less lithified counterparts despite being deposited in shallow waters that are supersaturated with the common carbonate minerals it is clear that these sediments are also undergoing shallow subsurface diagenesis calculation of saturation states shows that pore waters become undersaturated with aragonite within the upper 10 m at both sites dissolution and likely recrystallization of metastable carbonates is manifested by increases in interstitial water sr and sr ca profiles with depth we infer that the reduction in mineral saturation states and subsequent dissolution are being driven by the oxidation of organic matter in this fe poor carbonate system precipitation of burial diagenetic phases is indicated by the down core appearance of dolomite and corresponding decrease in interstitial water mg and the presence of low mg calcite cements observed in scanning electron microscope photomicrographs

gravity waves generated by a tropical cyclone during the step tropical field program a case study overflights of a tropical cyclone during the australian winter monsoon field experiment of the stratosphere troposphere exchange project step show the presence of two mesoscale phenomena a vertically propagating gravity wave with a horizontal wavelength of about 110 km and a feature with a horizontal scale comparable to that of the cyclone s entire cloud shield wavelength of 250 km or greater the larger feature is fairly steady though its physical interpretation is ambiguous the 110 km gravity wave is transient having maximum amplitude early in the flight and decreasing in amplitude thereafter its scale is comparable to that of 100 to 150 km diameter cells of low satellite brightness temperatures within the overall cyclone cloud shield these cells have lifetimes of 4 5 to 6 hours aircraft flights through the anvil show that these cells correspond to regions of enhanced convection higher cloud altitude and upwardly displaced potential temperature surfaces a three dimensional transient linear gravity wave simulation shows that the temporal and spatial distribution of meteorological variables associated with the 110 km gravity wave can be simulated by a slowly moving transient forcing at the anvil top having an amplitude of 400 600 m a lifetime of 4 5 6 hours and a size comparable to the cells of low brightness temperature the forcing amplitudes indicate that the zonal drag due to breaking mesoscale transient convective gravity waves is definitely important to the westerly phase of the stratopause semiannual oscillation and possibly important to the easterly phase of the quasi biennial oscillation there is strong evidence that some of the mesoscale gravity waves break below 20 km as well the effect of this wave breaking on the diabatic circulation below 20 km may be comparable to that of above cloud diabatic cooling

controls on carbonate mineral accumulation in bahamian basins and adjacent atlantic ocean sediments abstract carbonate mineralogical studies of surface bahamian periplatform ooze containing pelagic calcite as well as bank derived aragonite and magnesian calcite were coupled with studies of the carbonate chemistry of the waters overlying these sediments the presence of metastable aragonite and magnesian calcite in the periplatform ooze presents a unique opportunity to assess the relation between the extent of carbonate saturation in the water column and the disappearance of metastable carbonate minerals in an area of the north atlantic ocean where intermediate and deep waters are saturated with respect to calcite aragonite is present in the fine fraction of the surface sediment to a water depth of 4 800 m but decreases sharply below 4 000 m this is also the depth limit of the occurrence of pteropod tests and fragments in the coarse fraction of the sediment the aragonite compensation depth should be by extrapolation between 5 000 and 5 200 m the saturation depth with respect to aragonite was estimated to be located between 3 800 and 4 500 m this corresponds fairly well with the depth of a sharp decrease of the fine aragonite as well as the depth of pteropod disappearance magnesian calcite in the fine fraction of the sediment decreases irregularly with depth and disappears between 3 700 and 4 000 m the calculated saturation depth with respect to magnesian calcite 13 mole mgco3 is between 900 and 1 500 m at this depth a significant drop in the concentration of magnesian calcite occurs this decrease of magnesian calcite from 25 to 15 percent could be caused by both dissolution and the increasing distance of deeper waters from the banks however the higher values of specific alkalinity of the waters ranging between 750 and 2 000 m when compared with the alkalinity values of the sargasso sea at the same latitude are interpreted to be indicative that some dissolution of magnesian calcite occurs in the bahamian basins at these water dept s our results show depressed levels by 500 m or more of the aragonite saturation depth in the water column as well as of the depth of aragonite disappearance in the surface sediment when compared with open ocean studies in the northwest atlantic in addition our results indicate that fine magnesian calcite 12 to 13 mole mgco3 disappears 1 200 to 1 500 m above the extrapolated disappearance depth of aragonite this observation is consistent with results for experimental studies showing that aragonite is more stable in seawater than a magnesian calcite of 12 to 13 mole mgco3

on the role of coastal troughs in the circulation of warm circumpolar deep water on antarctic shelves abstractoceanic exchanges across the continental shelves of antarctica play an important role in biological systems and the mass balance of ice sheets the focus of this study is on the mechanisms responsible for the circulation of warm circumpolar deep water cdw within troughs running perpendicular to the continental shelf this is examined using process oriented numerical experiments with an eddy resolving 1 km 3d ocean model that includes a static and thermodynamically active ice shelf three mechanisms that create a significant onshore flow within the trough are identified 1 a deep onshore flow driven by the melt of the ice shelf 2 interaction between the longshore mean flow and the trough and 3 interaction between a rossby wave along the shelf break and the trough in each case the onshore flow is sufficient to maintain the warm temperatures underneath the ice shelf and basal melt rates of o 1 m yr 1 the third mechanism in particular reproduces several features revealed by moorings from m

multispectral high resolution satellite observations of plumes on top of convective storms abstract multispectral high resolution imagery from the advanced very high resolution radiometer of noaa polar orbiting satellites is used to analyze the cloud top structure of convective storms that develop a cirrus feature above the anvil referred to as a plume whose origin remains unclear images from the radiometer s channels 2 3 and 4 and a combination of any two of these suggest a relationship between the emergence of such plumes and a source of small ice particles diameter around 3 7 m channel 3 wavelength at the cloud top unique observations of deep convective storms over europe are presented and discussed the paper does not provide an exhaustive explanation of the phenomenon but contributes original material to the study of convective storm cloud top structure which is far from being completely described

deepwater carbonate deposition in response to re flooding of carbonate bank and atoll tops at glacial terminations the late quaternary has experienced large glacial interglacial climatic variations and related 10 s to 100 meters high amplitude sea level fluctuations at milankovich frequencies from 10 s to 100 kyr during which carbonate platform tops have been exposed and re flooded in many occasions this study focuses on the accumulation of calci turbidites the aragonite onset sharp increase in fine sediments and their timing in deep basins adjacent to carbonate platforms a particular emphasis is developed on the occurrence of the first gravity flow event and aragonite onset sharp increase and their linkage to the initial re flooding of the platform tops during deglaciations three basins adjacent to isolated platforms in the bahamas the northern nicaragua rise and the gulf of papua were selected to represent pure carbonate versus mixed systems in quiescent versus tectonically active settings and various carbonate bank top morphologies ranging from atoll to relatively deeply and narrowly flooded flat top banks in spite of these differences each record illustrates a clear relationship between the timing of platform top re flooding and initiation of significant carbonate export by gravity flows and low density plumes into the surrounding basins the concept of re flooding window is introduced to characterize the prolific period of time during which bank and atoll tops are flooded enough to produce large export of bank derived aragonite and of calci turbidites in adjacent basins according to our datasets the main re flooding windows have occurred mainly on the last part of the sea level rise at each glacial termination t those periods being marked by some of the highest rates of sea level rise the analysis of a long piston core from the earthquakes prone walton basin northern nicaragua rise demonstrates that sea level not seismic activities played a major role as trigger mechanism for the initiation of gravity flows since the last four glacial interglacial transitions and supports the existence of an extra glacial termination during the early portion of the transition from mis 7 4 to mis 7 3 tiiia

mg ca temperature proxy in benthic foraminifera new calibrations from the florida straits and a hypothesis regarding mg li 1 over the past decade the ratio of mg to ca in foraminiferal tests has emerged as a valuable paleotemperature proxy however large uncertainties remain in the relationships between benthic foraminiferal mg ca and temperature mg ca was measured in benthic foraminifera from 31 high quality multicore tops collected in the florida straits spanning a temperature range of 5 8 to 18 6 c new calibrations are presented for uvigerina peregrina planulina ariminensis planulina foveolata and hoeglundina elegans the mg ca values and temperature sensitivities vary among species but all species exhibit a positive correlation that decreases in slope at higher temperatures the decrease in the sensitivity of mg ca to temperature may potentially be explained by mg ca suppression at high carbonate ion concentrations it is suggested that a carbonate ion influence on mg ca may be adjusted for by dividing mg ca by li ca the mg li ratio displays stronger correlations to temperature with up to 90 of variance explained than mg ca alone these new calibrations are tested on several last glacial maximum lgm samples from the florida straits lgm temperatures reconstructed from mg ca and mg li are generally more scattered than core top measurements and may be contaminated by high mg overgrowths the potential for mg ca and mg li as temperature proxies warrants further testing

sedimentary dynamics and high frequency sequence stratigraphy of the southwestern slope of great bahama bank abstract new geophysical data from the leeward slope of great bahama bank show how contour currents shape the slope and induce re sedimentation processes along slope segments with high current control drift migration and current winnowing at the toe of slope form a deep moat here the slope progradation is inhibited by large channel incisions and the accumulation of large mass transport complexes triggered by current winnowing in areas where the slope is bathed by weaker currents the accumulation of mass transport complexes and channel incision is rather controlled by the position of the sea level large slope failures were triggered during the mid pleistocene transition and mid brunhes event both periods characterized by changes in the cyclicity or the amplitude of sea level fluctuations within the seismic stratigraphic framework of third order sequences four sequences of higher order were identified in the succession of the upper pleistocene these higher order sequences also show clear differences in function of the slope exposure to contour currents two stochastic models emphasize the role of the contour currents and slope morphology in the facies distribution in the upper pleistocene sequences in areas of high current influence the interplay of erosional and depositional processes form a complex facies pattern with downslope and along strike facies alterations in zones with lower current influence major facies alternations occur predominately in downslope direction and a layer cake pattern characterizes the along strike direction therefore this study highlights that contour currents are an underestimated driver for the sediment distribution and architecture of carbonate slopes

dynamics of advection driven upwelling over a shelf break submarine canyon 1 the response over a submarine canyon to a several day upwelling event can be separated into three phases an initial transient response a later much longer steady advection driven response and a final relaxation phase for the advection driven phase over realistically steep deep and narrow canyons with near uniform flow and stratification at rim depth we have derived scale estimates for four key quantities observations from 5 real world canyon studies and 3 laboratory studies are used to validate the scaling and estimate the scalar constant for each scale based on 4 geometric parameters of the canyon the background stratification the coriolis parameter and the incoming current we can estimate 1 the depth of upwelling in the canyon to within 15 m 2 the deep vorticity to within 15 and 3 the presence absence of a rim depth eddy can be determined based on laboratory data 4 the total upwelling flux can also be estimated the scaling analysis shows the importance of a rossby number based on the radius of curvature of isobaths at the upstream mouth of the canyon this rossby number determines the ability of the flow to cross the canyon isobaths and generate the pressure gradient that drives upwelling in the canyon other important scales are a rossby number based on the length of the canyon which measures the ability of the flow to lift isopycnals and a burger number based on the width of the canyon that determines the likelihood of an eddy at rim depth generally long canyons with sharply turning upstream isobaths strong incoming flow small coriolis parameter and weak stratification have the strongest upwelling response

enhanced ventilation of the north atlantic subtropical gyre thermocline during the last glaciation the ocean s intermediate1 6 and deep7 8 circulation are both known to have differed during the last glaciation from those of today but little is known about the history of the subtropical gyres variations in gyre processes should be closely linked to variations in global climate as gyre circulation is driven by air sea interactions and reflects the climate at the ocean surface the gyres are also a significant reservoir of carbon and nutrients so that gyre processes affect the distribution of carbon and nutrients in the oceans and thus atmospheric co2 here we use measurements of 13c and 18o in foraminifera from the bahamas to produce a detailed reconstruction of nutrient and temperature profiles in the thermocline during the last glaciation the thermocline of the glacial north atlantic subtropical gyre lacked the oxygen minimum that is characteristic of the modern ocean and was depleted in nutrients indicating greater more uniform thermocline ventilation at that time thus not only intermediate waters1 5 but the entire upper water column within the glacial north atlantic was depleted of nutrients moreover glacial thermocline waters were cooler had a steeper temperature gradient and a shallower base both the ventilation and the thermal structure of the glacial thermocline are consistent with what is known of the glacial climate9 14

a first description of the antarctic peninsula coastal current abstract we present hydrographic and shipboard adcp data collected during the fall april june and winter july august and moored velocity observations collected from 2001 to early 2002 on the west antarctic peninsula wap shelf during the southern ocean global ecosystems dynamics so globec program in fall a geostrophically balanced buoyant current flows southward along the coast this antarctic peninsula coastal current apcc forms during the ice free season and extends from adelaide island to alexander island although its path inside marguerite bay is uncertain during the fall of 2001 the apcc had a volume transport of 0 32 0 13 sv and a freshwater transport relative to a reference salinity of 34 4 of 126 50 km 3 yr 1 from early july to late october the apcc disappears from the coast as the freshwater input from the coast diminishes and sea ice forms on the shelf an examination of the relative sizes of the freshwater sources suggests runoff from land and precipitation over the ocean are the primary sources for the apcc

new insights into the morphology and sedimentary processes along the western slope of great bahama bank new high quality multibeam and seismic data image the western slope of the great bahama bank and the adjacent floor of the straits of florida the extensive survey reveals several unexpected large and small scale morphologies these include bypass areas channel leveelobe systems gullied slopes and products of slope instabilities at various scales including long slump scars at the lower slope and mass transport complexes that extend 30 km into the adjacent basin floor the toe of the slope is irregularly covered with deep water carbonate mounds the abundance of the individual morphological features varies from north to south from 26 00 n to 25 20 n the slope is dissected by numerous deep canyons that abruptly end southward where the slope is characterized by a smooth lower portion and small regularly spaced furrows in its upper part further south two long 25 50 km scars document instability at the lower slope one of these scars is the source area of a large mass transport complex in addition to this large scale feature several types of gravity induced sedimentary processes are revealed most of the morphologies and inferred processes of this carbonate system are similar to those observed in siliciclastic systems including mass transport complexes gravity currents initiated by density cascading and overspilling channeled turbidity currents for the first time a clear asymmetric channel levee system has been identified along the slope suggesting similitude in sorting processes between carbonate and siliciclastic systems and enhancing the reservoir bearing potential of carbonate slopes notable differences with siliciclastic systems include the lack of connection with the shallow and emerged part of the system i e bank top and the small size of the sedimentary system 2012 geological society of america

diagenetic processes in holocene carbonate sediments florida bay mudbanks and islands the sedimentology mineralogy and pore fluid chemistry of seven cores from the holocene sediments of florida bay were studied to determine the physical processes and diagenetic reactions affecting the sediments the cores were taken in a transect from a shallow mudbank onto a small adjacent island jimmy key steady state models of pore fluid chemistry are used to estimate the rates of various reactions in the mudbank sediments little carbonate mineral diagenesis is taking place no change in sediment mineralogy is detectable and pore water profiles of ca2 mg2 and sr2 show only minor variation chloride concentrations indicate substantial biological mixing of seawater from the bay into the sediments in one of the cores pore water analyses of sulphate and alkalinity show only a low degree of sulphate depletion and a decreasing extent of sulphate reduction downcore models of sulphate reduction in the mudbank show that there is substantial chemical exchange between the sediment pore fluids and water from the bay probably as a result of bio irrigation the sulphate and alkalinity data also suggest that the underlying pleistocene rocks contain water of near normal seawater composition stratigraphic analysis and 13c analyses of the organic carbon in the sediments of the island cores show that the sediments were primarily deposited in a subtidal mudbank setting only the upper 20 30 cm is supratidal in origin nevertheless island formation had a significant effect on pore fluid chemistry and the types of diagenetic reactions throughout the sediment column chloride in the sediment pore fluids is more than twice the normal seawater concentrations over most of the depth of the cores the constant elevated chloride concentrations indicate that hypersaline fluids which formed in ponds on the island are advected downward through the sediments models of the chloride profiles yield an estimate of 2 5 cm yr 1 as a minimum advective velocity changes in pore water chemistry with depth are interpreted as indicating the following sequence of reactions 1 minor high mg calcite dissolution and low mg calcite precipitation from 0 to 35 cm 2 ca or mg sulphate dissolution and low mg calcite precipitation from 5 to 35 cm 3 dolomite or magnesite precipitation together with sulphate reduction from 35 to 55 cm and 4 little reaction below 55 cm in addition one or more as yet unidentified reactions must be taking place from 5 to 55 cm depth as an imbalance in possible sources and sinks of alkalinity is observed the imbalance could be explained if chloride is not completely conservative despite the pore fluid chemical evidence for diagenetic reactions involving carbonate minerals no changes in sediment mineralogy were detected in x ray diffraction analyses probably because of the comparatively young age of the island

shallow subsurface diagenesis of pleistocene periplatform ooze northern bahamas previous studies on early submarine diagenesis of periplatform carbonates have implied that these originally polymineralic aragonite magnesian calcite calcite sediments are susceptible to early diagenesis only in current swept open seaways or where surficially exposed by erosion on the seafloor it has also been proposed that while in the shallow subsurface periplatform oozes retain their original mineralogy for at least 200 000 400 000 yr and remain unlithified for tens of millions of years evidence is reported here for extensive calcitization and selective lithification of periplatform oozes of late pleistocene age in two piston cores collected from water depths of 1 000 m north of little bahama bank it is shown that shallow 30 m subsurface diagenesis can significantly alter the original mineralogy of periplatform oozes to predominantly calcite in less than 440 000 yr and that cementation by calcite can produce chalk ooze sequences within the same time frame periplatform oozes that originally contain a high percentage of bank derived magnesian calcite appear to have a higher diagenetic potential than those originally low in magnesian calcite shallow subsurface calcitization and fithification greatly reduce the diagenetic potential of periplatform carbonates and chalk ooze sequences apparently can persist for tens of millions of years and to burial depths of at least 300 m shallow subsurface diagenesis at water depths 1 000 m proceeds via dissolution of magnesian calcite and aragonite and reprecipitation of calcite as allochem fillings exterior overgrowths and cement it is speculated that density driven kohout convection where seawaters under saturated with respect to magnesian calcite and aragonite and saturated supersaturated with respect to calcite flow through the margins of carbonate platforms is the primary driving mechanism for shallow subsurface diagenesis removal of mg during early stages of deep seafloor and shallow subsurface diagenesis should increase the mg content of interstitial waters which is likely to increase the dolomitizing potential of kohout convection fluid flow

early diagenesis of carbonates on a cool water carbonate shelf southern australia abstract the southern australian continental margin is an immense cool water carbonate factory the high energy open shelf is blanketed by heterozoan carbonates of both holocene and late pleistocene age three distinct grain types have been identified and radiocarbon dated these include 1 relict grains highly abraded iron stained intraclasts formed during the intermediate sea level stands of marine isotope stages 3 and 4 2 stranded grains gray and buff colored abraded biofragments and intraclasts marooned during the sea level rise associated with marine isotope stage 2 and 3 holocene grains unaltered biofragments formed during marine isotope stage 1 optical mineralogical and chemical characterization of grains of each age has revealed pathways of early diagenesis in this realm both calcitic and aragonite biogenic grains undergo dissolution while dissolution of calcitic components is minor and incomplete relict sediments are predominantly mg calcite aragonitic skeletons undergo significant dissolution within 30 000 years in contrast to early dissolution of aragonite micritic calcite cement with 12 mol mgco3 is a significant diagenetic phase in these sediments infilling many stranded and most relict skeletons similar cement precipitates between grains forming small numbers of cemented grain aggregates in most samples microprobe and icp ms analysis demonstrates fe oxides mn oxides and associated clay minerals discolor stranded and relict grains by coating grain surfaces and infesting micropores such coatings begin to form on holocene grains during or soon after formation the oxides scavenge trace elements including v ti cr and ree altering the elemental compositions of biogenic carbonate

where has all the aragonite gone mineralogy of holocene neritic cool water carbonates southern australia abstract surficial carbonate sediments on the southern continental shelf of australia are cool water in aspect and composed of biogenic particles produced largely during the late quaternary current understanding is that such sediments are calcite dominated as were their older cenozoic counterparts the holocene fraction of these sediments in modern open shelf neritic environments between 30 and 350 meters water depth is however 50 to 80 aragonite scant evidence of significant former aragonite in many cool water carbonate sedimentary rocks implies that most aragonite is lost before such sediments exit the marine diagenetic environment although marine dissolution must be taking place in such settings the conundrum is exacerbated because seawater over the shelf in southern australia is saturated with respect to aragonite it is proposed that the aragonite from skeletons of gastropods infaunal bivalves and certain bryozoans is dissolved in the shallow subsurface probably as the byproduct of bacterial degradation of sedimentary organic matter as a consequence the geological and paleontological record of many cool water carbonates is strongly biased and the inferred original calcitic composition of such sediments is the product of early diagenetic taphonomic loss not selective biogenic productivity the net result is not only dissolution of aragonite but also neomorphism of mg calcite to calcite with a marine geochemical signature synsedimentary aragonite loss by removing caco3 that is usually available for calcite cementation during meteoric diagenesis leads to retarded lithification of these cool water carbonates until deeply buried such removal of a significant carbonate fraction during deposition likely contributes to the low rates of cool water sediment accumulation

carbonate crusts around volcanic islands composition origin and their significance in slope stability abstract extensive carbonate crusts discovered forming on the slopes of seamounts in many parts of the world s oceans are providing extra stability to the volcanic edifices these crusts are hardgrounds composed of mixtures of volcaniclastic debris and bioclastic material in most cases cemented by calcite in the form of isopachous coatings around grains and pore filling spar such crusts which have been collected by a remotely operated vehicle rov are described here from moderate depth to deeper water slopes 180 820 m around the volcanic island of montserrat in the caribbean and from the nearby kick em jenny submarine volcano off grenada radiogenic 87sr 86sr isotope ratios from the carbonates give an indication of age up to 0 4 ma years old but they also demonstrate that some samples have been altered by hydrothermal volcanic processes to give ages much older than expected 14 to 18 ma based on the foraminifera present such alteration is also supported by carbon and oxygen isotope 13c and 18o ratios although most samples retain typical marine values in many cases 18o is usually a little more positive than expected from modern caribbean shallow water carbonates likely reflecting cooler water at their moderate depths of lithification just one sample from kick em jenny has very negative 13c 42 indicating methanogenesis crusts are also reported here from the mediterranean sea with an example described from kolumbo submarine volcano northeast of the santorini volcanic complex in the hellenic subduction zone that are similar in many respects to those from the caribbean typically the biota of the crusts consists of calcareous red algae commonly encrusting volcanic clasts foraminifera benthic some also encrusting and planktic subordinate serpulids bivalves pteropods and heteropods and rare deeper water corals some bioclasts are derived from shallower water others from the moderate depths of the slope itself and planktic fallout in addition there is evidence for the former presence of microbes from the occurrence of calcified filaments and peloids in intragranular cavities several generations of sponge borings are usually present as well as calcite cement dissolution and calcite replacement of aragonitic bioclasts and cement and sponge spicules originally opaline silica have taken place the carbonate crusts are attributed to seawater circulating within the surficial sediment in some cases mixing with hydrothermal fluid driven by geothermal and volcanic processes submarine volcanic slopes clearly provide a location for moderate depth carbonate production and cementation but a further significance of these hardgrounds is in stabilising seamounts enabling their slopes to avoid frequent collapse dissection and readjustment however when failure does occur larger scale submarine landslides involving coherent slabs are more likely

on the characteristics of circumpolar deep water intrusions to the west antarctic peninsula continental shelf 1 hydrographic and current velocity observations collected from march 2001 to february 2003 on the west antarctic peninsula shelf as part of the southern ocean global ecosystems dynamics program are used to characterize intrusions of upper circumpolar deep water ucdw and lower circumpolar deep water lcdw onto the shelf and marguerite bay ucdw is found on the middle and outer shelf along marguerite trough which connects the shelf break to marguerite bay and at another location farther south ucdw intrudes in the form of frequent four per month and small horizontal scales 4 km warm eddy like structures with maximum vertical scales of a few hundred meters however no evidence of ucdw intrusions was found in marguerite bay lcdw was found in several deep depressions connected to the shelf break including marguerite trough forming a tongue of relatively dense water 95 m thick on average that reaches into marguerite bay through marguerite trough a steady advective diffusive balance for the lcdw intrusion is used to make an estimation of the average upwelling rate and diffusivity in the deep layer within marguerite trough which suggest the lcdw layer is renewed approximately every six weeks

coherence of antarctic sea levels southern hemisphere annular mode and flow through drake passage 1 it is known from small sets of tide gauges that sub surface pressure sea level corrected for the inverse barometer effect around antarctica varies coherently around about half of the continent and that this coherent signal is related to atmospheric forcing in the form of the antarctic oscillation or southern hemisphere annular mode we here confirm that this coherence extends to a more extensive network of tide gauges and to parts of the continental shelf far from the shore as measured by bottom pressure gauges we use time series from an eddy permitting ocean model with realistic forcing to relate the coherent mode to fluctuations in transport through drake passage and confirm using a 1 resolution barotropic model that the fluctuations are predominantly due to barotropic dynamics although baroclinic dynamics are expected to play an increasing role at interannual timescales

dissolution of calcite in deep sea sediments ph and o2 microelectrode results abstract we present microelectrode profiles of oxygen ph and porosity measured at in situ depth across the sediment water interface from stations above and below the calcite saturation horizon in the equatorial atlantic resistivity electrode data indicate that the diffusion coefficient for solutes is attenuated by nearly a factor of two within the top centimeter of the sediment lattice oxygen and porosity data are used to estimate that the organic carbon respiration rate of the sediment is 10 15 mol cm 2 yr 1 in these locations comparison of the ph data with numerical model results reveals that sedimentary calcite dissolves in response to respiration in the top few centimeters of sediment even above the saturation horizon we calculate that the effective in situ dissolution rate constant for calcite required to explain these data is the neighborhood of 10 100 d 1 although more data are needed to confirm this result it appears to be at least an order of magnitude less than the rate observed in laboratory stirred reactor experiments

glacial interglacial differences in circulation and carbon cycling within the upper western north atlantic we investigated glacial interglacial changes in the circulation and carbon cycling in the western north atlantic subtropical gyre using hydrographic data and downcore records of the stable isotopic compositions of individual shells of bahamian benthic foraminifera potential temperature salinity depth relations show that modern thermocline 200 1000 m and deep 1000 2000 m waters in the providence channels bahamas originate in the sargasso sea and are typical of the subtropical gyre gradients in the stable isotopic compositions of late holocene planulina and cibicidoides species from the bank margins 400 to 1500 m depth reflect temperature nutrient and isotopic gradients of modern subtropical gyre waters the difference between the 18o of glacial maximum and late holocene foraminifera is 2 1 for the upper 900 m of the water column and 1 6 for deeper waters indicating that these waters were 4 c and 2 c cooler respectively during glacial time the glacial temperature gradient dt dz was similar to today while the base of the thermocline was 100 m shallower these results differ significantly from our earlier results from multiple shell 18o analyses which implied upper thermocline waters were only 1 c cooler and dt dz was greater during the glacial maximum the difference occurs because bioturbation adversely affects multiple shell analyses of glacial aged samples from shallow water depths at all depths above 1500 m foraminiferal 13c are greater during the glacial maximum than the late holocene by at least 0 1 to 0 2 as much as 0 6 in the lower thermocline indicating that nutrient concentrations throughout the thermocline were reduced and there was no oxygen minimum zone during the glacial maximum this suggests greater more uniform ventilation of the thermocline results of single and multiple shell 13c analyses of glacial age foraminifera compare favorably because samples most affected by mixing correspond to water depths where the glacial interglacial change of 13c was small cooler upper ocean waters during the glacial maximum reflect cooler temperatures at the ocean surface where isopycnal surfaces outcrop including large areas of the subtropical ocean a shallower thermocline base is consistent with southward migration of the northern edge of the subtropical gyre or increased mode water production enhanced thermocline ventilation is consistent with more vigorous winds and all isopycnal surfaces outcropping in the area of ekman downwelling

water mass properties and circulation on the west antarctic peninsula continental shelf in austral fall and winter 2001 abstract hydrographic measurements made during the us southern ocean global ocean ecosystem dynamics cruises which took place from april to june and july to september 2001 provide a description of changes in water mass distributions and circulation patterns in the marguerite bay region of the west antarctic peninsula continental shelf that result from seasonal variability and offshore forcing by the southern boundary of the antarctic circumpolar current acc the primary seasonal change in water mass properties is the reduction in antarctic surface water and replacement by a thick winter water layer the primary effect of the acc is to pump warm 1 5 c salty 34 65 34 7 and nutrient rich circumpolar deep water cdw onto the continental shelf below 200 m at specific sites that correspond to bathymetric features such as marguerite trough the cdw intruded onto the continental shelf moved across shelf and entered marguerite bay this flow pattern was observed during both cruises suggesting that onshelf intrusions of cdw are a regular occurrence on this shelf the number of cdw intrusions observed suggests that 4 6 events can occur in a year regions where cdw intrusions occur are characterized by surface waters that are above freezing in winter diffusive heat fluxes based on estimated diffusivities are insufficient for the observed rate of temperature decay of cdw intrusions localized bathymetrically controlled vertical mixing is suggested as the primary heat transfer mechanism the hydrographic and acoustic doppler current profiler measurements show a southwesterly flowing coastal current along adelaide island that enters the north side of marguerite bay and exits around alexander island this current which may result from seasonal coastal buoyancy forcing was present in fall and winter but was better developed in fall this current may be part of a larger cyclonic gyre that overlies the northern part of the area surveyed during the two cruises

clinoptilolite as a new proxy of enhanced biogenic silica productivity in lower miocene carbonate sediments of the bahamas platform isotopic and thermodynamic evidence abstract massive clinoptilolite authigenesis was observed at about 1105 meters below sea floor mbsf in lower miocene well compacted carbonate periplatform sediments from the great bahama bank ocean drilling program odp leg 166 site 1007 the diagenetic assemblage comprises abundant zeolite crystallized within foraminifer tests and sedimentary matrix as well as mg smectites in carbonate rich deposits the formation of the zeolite requires a supply of silica thus the objective of the study is to determine the origin of the silica supply its diagenetic evolution and consequently the related implications on interpretation of the sedimentary record in terms of local or global paleoceanographic change for lack of evidence for any volcaniclastic input or traces of si enriched deep fluids circulation an in situ biogenic source of silica is validated by isotopic data and chemical modeling for the formation of such secondary minerals in shallow water carbonate sequences geochemical and strontium isotopic data clearly establish the marine signature of the diagenetic zeolite as well as its contemporaneous formation with the carbonate deposition sr model ages of 19 6 23 2 ma the test of saturation for the pore fluids specifies the equilibrium state of the present mineralogical assemblage seawater rock modeling specifies that clinoptilolite precipitates from the dissolution of biogenic silica which reacts with clay minerals the amount of silica opal a involved in the reaction has to be significant enough at least 10 wt to account for the observed content of clinoptilolite occurring at the most zeolite rich level modeling also shows that the observed amount of clinoptilolite 19 reflects an in situ and short term reaction due to the high reactivity of primary biogenic silica opal a until its complete depletion the episodic occurrence of these well lithified zeolite rich levels is consistent with the occurrence of seismic reflectors particularly the p2 seismic sequence boundary located at 1115 mbsf depth and dated as 23 2 ma the age range of most zeolitic sedimentary levels biostratigraphic ages of 21 5 22 ma correlates well with that of the early miocene glaciation mi 1 and mi 1a global events thus the clinoptilolite occurrence in the shallow carbonate platform environment far from volcanogenic supply or in other sensitive marine areas is potentially a significant new proxy for paleoproductivity and oceanic global events such as the miocene events which are usually recognized in deep sea pelagic sediments and high latitude deposits

morphometric analysis of plunge pools and sediment wave fields along western great bahama bank abstract a systematic assessment of morphometric parameters of over 200 plunge pools along the steep escarpment base of western great bahama bank and 2000km2 of sediment wave fields of upslope migrating cyclic steps documents the importance of cascading density currents for sedimentation on the slope the abrupt downslope termination of the holocene mud wedge with the cyclic steps shows that strike parallel bottom currents interacting with the off bank currents are responsible for slope sediment distribution the plunge pools and sediment waves were generated by density cascading and both are related to a hydraulic jump caused by two gradient changes along the slope profile the bedforms highlight both the erosional and depositional nature of this current regime which is controlled by slope gradient and the directional confinement by either grooves on the steep escarpment or gullies on the middle to lower slope the 20 m deep plunge pools are ellipsoidal with an average width of 211 m and length of 283 m but variations between 80 360 m and 100 650 m for width and length occur they are caused by an average gradient break of 16 on the cemented upper slope gradient breaks of as low as 2 are reported to be sufficient to scour a plunge pool like the ones in the study area but higher gradient breaks between 10 and 20 are quite common for consistent plunge pool development a second gradient break further down slope changes flow conditions for the generation of cyclic steps with asymmetric waveforms of 4 m high average in large wave fields in the entire the study area orientation is mainly orthogonal to the main slope direction but wave lengths and sinuosity vary depending on the morphologic location of the wave field the comparison with sediment wave fields with similar geometries or in similar environments shows that flow reconstruction based on the wave height and wave length alone along with a characterization of sediment grain size however yields non unique results and is site specific

highstand versus lowstand deposition on carbonate platform margins insight from quaternary foreslopes in the bahamas abstract examples of both highstand and lowstand deposition have been identified on the upper platform slopes of the tongue of the ocean bahamas highstand deposits consist of a thick wedge of fine grained skeletal and non skeletal sands and carbonate muds derived predominantly from the platform and deposited on slopes of 25 28 these sediments were deposited subsequent to platform flooding and may be more than 30 m thick along open leeward margins in contrast lowstand deposits consists of coarse skeletal sands gravels and boulders deposited on primary depositional slopes of 35 45 these sediments were derived from fringing reefs along the marginal escarpment and deposited during the initial rise of sea level following the last lowstand these variations in depositional character result in a distinctive signature of highstand versus lowstand deposition for steep sided platforms and further elucidate the response of carbonate platforms to high magnitude 5th order scale 20 000 yrs fluctuations in sea level

the use of paleoceanographic proxies in carbonate periplatform settings opportunities and pitfalls in a sediment core from the leeward side of the great bahama bank ocean drilling program odp leg 166 1006a 24h early pliocene several paleoceanographic proxies were compared with carbonate mineralogy the proxies measured on the planktonic foraminifera species globigerinoides sacculifer are mg ca and sr ca elemental ratios and 18o values these proxies are widely used in pelagic sediments to derive parameters of water masses such as paleo temperature and salinity to produce quantitative estimates it is necessary to verify that the primary shell mineralogy of the foraminifera was not altered diagenetically diagenetic alteration can be rapid in periplatform settings relative to pelagic deep sea sediments since the meta stable carbonate phases provide an additional driving force for recrystallisation we show that the sr ca ratio of foraminiferal calcite can be used to assess the degree of diagenetic alteration of their shell chemistry using this method we demonstrate that the primary signal in the oxygen isotope ratios is preserved in the studied core in the mg ca record the relative change of foraminiferal mg ca ratios seems to be preserved but absolute values are influenced by diagenesis the second set of proxies comprises 13c and c n ratios of organic carbon these are used in pelagic sediments in order to assess the origin of organic carbon terrestrial or marine phytoplankton it is demonstrated here that a simple two end mixing model cannot explain the observed co occurrence of relatively high 13corg and c n values as the 13corg values co vary with the aragonite content we attribute this signature to varying contribution of organic carbon from benthic algae which are also the major aragonite producers on the platform top

in situ measurements of calcium carbonate dissolution rates in deep sea sediments benthic fluxes of alkalinity carbon dioxide and oxygen have been measured using an in situ incubation chamber at three sites manop sites c and s and pacflux site sc in the central equatorial north pacific at two carbonate rich sites c and sc a budget for oxygen alkalinity and tco2 fluxes indicate a net caco3 dissolution rate of approximately 0 4 mmol m 2 day 1 this rate is only 20 of previous estimates but is consistent with a dissolution rate constant predicted from laboratory experiments with deep sea sediments and derived from in situ flux measurements in sediments of the southern california borderland organic matter oxidation in the sediment column provides the acid for 60 100 of the calcium carbonate dissolution occurring at these sites with the remainder derived from undersaturated bottom water at a low carbonate site s no carbonate dissolution in the sediment or on the sea floor is apparent although sediment traps indicate a rain of caco3 through 3400 m the rates of remineralization relative to resuspension or erosion at this site must differ for organic carbon and calcium carbonate so that carbonate grains reaching the sea floor are physically removed by erosion or resuspension before they dissolve while organic carbon is largely oxidized before it can be physically removed

high resolution stratigraphic forward modeling of a quaternary carbonate margin controls and dynamic of the progradation abstract the relationships between the margin sedimentary regime and the platform progradation are studied using forward stratigraphic numerical simulations on the leeward western prograding margin of the great bahama bank gbb during the quaternary 1 7 0 ma the corresponding sedimentary regime in the slope and the platform is well known from the odp leg 166 and bahamas drilling project wells located along the western line seismic transect however the sedimentary regime on the margin is not well established the coral reefal margin observed before between 1 7 and 0 8 ma in the well clino is not active anymore at present day and the holocene sedimentary regime is geometrically unable to account alone for the progradation this study is based on three 2d high resolution forward stratigraphic numerical modeling experiments with the software dionisosflow that include the platform margin and slope domains on the western line section in the same sedimentary models the results are compared to the six sedimentary cores and to the present day bathymetry in order to identify the more realistic scenario the three experiments test different models of carbonate sediment production and transport experiment 1 shows that the highstand shedding of the fine grained uncemented platform production is unable to reproduce the progradation and the present day profile experiments 2 and 3 incorporate cemented facies in the margin with the best results obtained with the cemented marginal wedges produced in experiment 2 during platform emersion from these results a high resolution interpretation of the margin seismic section is proposed this study shows that the platform progradation can be decoupled from the highstand shedding of the fine grained platform production it is dependent on the accumulation in front of the steep margin of coarse or cemented material before 0 8 ma this corresponds to the coral reef identified in clino the transition after 0 45 ma to 100 kyr large eustatic cycles with total platform flooding created two distinct marginal regimes 1 during platform flooding aggrading accumulation of non skeletal sands and 2 during platform emersion prograding cemented marginal wedges produced in situ

controls and development of late quaternary periplatform carbonate stratigraphy in walton basin northeastern nicaragua rise caribbean sea the late quaternary sedimentary record in periplatform oozes and muds deposited on the northern nicaragua rise results from the interplay of four main controls 1 input of pelagic carbonates and bank derived fine aragonite and magnesian calcite 2 input of siliciclastic sediments 3 dispersal and removal of sediments by the caribbean current and 4 partial seafloor dissolution of metastable carbonates high accumulation rates of the calcite coarse sediment fraction throughout the study area demonstrate that planktonic foraminiferal productivity peaked during interglacial stages neritic carbonate productivity also peaked during interglacial stages when bank and shelf tops along the nicaragua rise were submerged within the photic zone because the bank and shelf tops remained mostly exposed during glacial stages the surface area available for the neritic carbonate productivity was drastically reduced to a narrow band along the margins of pedro bank and the southern shelf of jamaica a large volume of siliciclastic sediments transported from the coastal area of south america and the eastern and western regions of jamaica were deposited during glacial stages within the eastern and western deep extensions of walton basin this finding contrasts with the input pattern of siliciclastic sediments in walton basin itself where the largest input of siliciclastic sediments occurred at each of the interglacial climatic optima corresponding to intervals of maximum sea level transgression finally cores in water depths exceeding 1100 m display during interglacial stages aragonite accumulation rates systematically lower than rates in cores from water depths shallower than 1100 m this indicates that some bank derived aragonite and magnesian calcite has been partially removed by seafloor dissolution in areas from water depths exceeding 1100 m results from this study on the northeastern nicaragua rise indicate that not only do offbank transport and water column saturation state influence the late quaternary record but also that the variable strength of the caribbean current and the proximity of sources for siliciclastic sediments have played a major role in the development of the late quaternary periplatform high resolution stratigraphy

petrography and environmental controls on the formation of phanerozoic marine carbonate hardgrounds early marine seafloor lithification of carbonate sediments leads to the formation of hardgrounds and is known from rocks as old as the proterozoic hardground surfaces however are more commonly recorded in the phanerozoic sedimentological archive while ecological studies of hardground biota abound the environmental and physico chemical parameters leading to the development of seafloor lithification remain in many cases poorly understood and documented this paper reviews published evidence on the petrography mineralogy and geochemistry of phanerozoic carbonate hardgrounds within a process oriented context of their environmental controls hardgrounds typically develop in warm and shallow agitated tropical waters that are saturated with respect to caco3 but are also reported from hemi pelagic to bathyal realms and from cool water temperate settings a range of early marine cement types are documented from present day hardgrounds whereas preserved cement fabrics and related mineralogies are less diverse in early phanerozoic hardgrounds carbonate hardgrounds are widespread during calcite sea periods e g ordovician and cretaceous as opposed to some preservation bias ancient aragonite seas e g permian and triassic obviously the relation between seawater chemistry and hardground abundance and attributes is not an easy one here the concept of aragonite versus calcite seas serves as a first order template for the sake of a structured discussion whereas modern aragonite mode oceans document a significant diversity in spatial and bathymetric seawater properties this spatio temporal complexity is perhaps reflected in the scarce record of calcite sea hardgrounds from the devonian or paleogene rock record contrasted by the abundance in aragonite holocene and recent seas holocene hardgrounds allow for the direct assessment of rates of and reasons for early subaquatic lithification and in most cases escaped subsequent non marine diagenetic overprint conversely studies of ancient hardgrounds are often biased by early biological and mechanical erosion the degree of diagenetic overprint and tectonic to orogenic processes the formation distribution and physical properties of hardgrounds depend on the global climatic context greenhouse icehouse modes on sea level changes on ocean stratification on the spatial extent of epicontinental seas and carbonate depositional environments and on the spatially different mineralogies and rates of carbonate production the fabrics and mineralogies of early hardgrounds cement seem to substantially hinge on variations in atmospheric co2 thus the application of lessons from modern to ancient hardground case examples is not straightforward a holistic model explaining the full variability of controls on submarine hardground formation and their cement petrography throughout the phanerozoic is as yet lacking a more critical view on secular changes in hardground formation patterns is clearly needed future work should rely on the combination of sedimentological stratigraphic palaeoecological petrographic and geochemical approaches specific emphasis should be given to time intervals triassic carboniferous cambrian etc where the bulk of reported case studies is at best scarce

u th dating of marine isotope stage 7 in bahamas slope sediments in order to understand the driving forces for pleistocene climate change more fully we need to compare the timing of climate events with their possible forcing in contrast to the last interglacial marine isotope stage mis 5 the timing of the penultimate interglacial mis 7 is poorly constrained this study constrains its timing and structure by precise u th dating of high resolution n 18 o records from aragonite rich bahamian slope sediments of odp leg 166 sites 1008 and 1009 the major glacial interglacial cycles in n 18 o are distinct within these cores and some mis 7 substages can be identified these sediments are well suited for u th dating because they have uranium concentrations of up to 12 ppm and very low initial 230 th contributions with most samples showing 230 th 232 th activity ratio of s 75 u and th concentrations and isotope ratios were measured by thermal ionisation mass spectrometry and multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with the latter providing dramatically better precision twenty nine of the 41 samples measured have a n 234 u value close to modern seawater suggesting that they have experienced little diagenesis ages from 27 of the 41 samples were deemed reliable on the basis of both their u and their th isotope ratios ages generally increase with depth although we see a repeated section of stratigraphy in one core extrapolation of constant sedimentation rate through each substage suggests that the peak of mis 7e lasted from v237 to 228 ka and that 7c began at 215 ka this timing is consistent with existing low precision radiometric dates from speleothem deposits the beginning of both these substages appears to be slightly later than in orbitally tuned timescales the end of mis 7 is complex but also appears to be somewhat later than is suggested by orbitally tuned timescales although this event is not particularly well defined in these cores fl 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

sedimentary patterns and geometries of the bahamian outer carbonate ramp miocene lower pliocene great bahama bank core logging and high resolution seismic data from odp leg 166 were used to analyse deposits of the neogene miocene lower pliocene bahamian outer carbonate ramp ramp sediments are cyclic alternations of light and dark grey wackestones packstones with interbedded calciturbidite packages and minor slumps cyclicity was driven by high frequency sea level changes light grey layers containing shallow water bioclasts were formed when the ramp exported material whereas the dark grey layers are dominantly pelagic calciturbidites are arranged into mounded lobes with feeder channels internal bedding of the lobes shows a north directed shingling as a result of the asymmetrical growth of these bodies calciturbidite packages occur below and above sequence boundaries indicating that turbidite shedding occurred during third order sea level highstands and lowstands highstand turbidites contain shallow water components such as green algal debris and epiphytic foraminifera whereas lowstand turbidites are dominated by abraded bioclastic detritus gravity flow depocentres shifted from an outer ramp position during the early miocene to a basin floor setting during the late miocene to early pliocene this change was triggered by an intensification of the strength of bottom currents during the tortonian which was also responsible for shaping the convex morphology of the outer ramp the miocene and lower pliocene of the leeward flank of great bahama bank provides an example of the poorly known depositional setting of the outer part of distally steepened carbonate ramps the contrast between its sedimentary patterns and the well known upper pliocene quaternary slope facies associations of the flat topped great bahama bank shows the strong control that the morphology of a carbonate platform exerts on the depositional architecture of the adjacent slope and base of slope successions

formation of bed scale spatial patterns in dolomite abundance during early dolomitization part i mechanisms and feedbacks revealed by reaction transport modelling dolomites of varied ages exhibit metre scale nested patterns of lateral periodic variation in permeability and porosity and by inference dolomite abundance as most examples are 100 dolomite two dimensional reaction transport modelling simulations of bed scale dolomitization were used to assess whether those patterns in dolomite abundance could form during near surface replacement dolomitization simulations used a 2 m high and 18 m long model domain a low mg calcite grainstone precursor and an evaporated mississippian seawater brine 430 parts per thousand salinity as the dolomitizing fluid the domain was initially populated with random variations in porosity and or grain size results reveal that spatial patterns in dolomite abundance emerge when there is as little as 1 dolomite formed with similarities between the modelled patterns and outcrop documented patterns the nested patterns include a near random component that constitutes 40 of the total variance short range correlation ranging from 1 5 to 3 3 m and a longer range periodic trend with a wavelength up to 6 5 m the emergence of pattern in dolomite abundance is the result of an autogenic self organizing phenomenon it is triggered by variation in initial calcite reactive surface area that occurs due to the random heterogeneities in initial porosity and or grain sizes the pattern develops due to a combination of kinetic disequilibrium reactions dolomite precipitation and calcite dissolution and positive feedbacks between dolomite growth calcite dissolution and fluid flow flow is around loci of higher dolomite lower porosity and higher reactive surface areas but through loci of lower dolomite higher porosity and lower reactive surface areas the resulting less porous more dolomite and more porous less dolomite structures at the metre scale arise from those localized interactions this self organizing mechanism for pattern formation constitutes a new model for geochemical self organization during dolomitization and is the only self organization model that is proven applicable to the formation of metre scale patterns during early near surface dolomitization this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

shallow burial diagenesis of deep water carbonates northern bahamas results from deep ocean drilling transects rates of burial diagenesis and subsurface distribution of chalk and limestone in modern deep water carbonate slopes were little known prior to 1985 when the ocean drilling program established two drill transects in the northern bahamas north of little bahama bank and in southwestern exuma sound from these transects different shallow burial along the accretionary north margin of little bahama bank the amount of lithified strata decreases seaward because of a decreasing volume of bank derived aragonite the rate of bulk carbonate calcitization increases seaward as the rate of diagenesis begins to match then exceed the rate of burial mineral controlled diagenesis is of little consequence below about 20 m subsurface only 30 km seaward of the bank margin along the bypass margin in exuma sound the extent of lithification increases downslope toward preferential accumulation of bank derived aragonite much higher accumulation rates and high percentages of aragonite along this margin sustain a still present mineral controlled diagenetic potential in limestone at 300 m from analogy of modern bahama slopes considerable diagenetic heterogeneity within the shallow burial realm may be expected along some ancient carbonate margins our results serve to illustrate carbonate mineral stabilization and early limestone formation with secondary porosity in a sea water mediated environment and they further highlight the high diagenetic potential of periplatform carbonates

satellite observed characteristics of midwest severe thunderstorm anvils abstract this paper presents analyses of the cloud top and anvil structure of severe thunderstorms as observed by goes for five sesame cases during 1979 and four non sesame cases during 1980 82 emphasis was placed on comparison of these observations with previous models and hypotheses for the so called v feature and thermal couplets in the infrared ir observations thermal couplets are comprised of a low temperature region generally at or upwind of the cloud summit old point near the vertex of the v and one or more higher temperature regions downshear of the cloud summit warm points within the interior of the v statistics of the various cloud top and anvil features were compiled and the different cases were compared all studied except one 8 june 1979 had the v feature the temperature difference between the claw in warm and cold points comprising the thermal couplet ranged from 7 to 17 c and the mean separation distance between these points was 21 44 km the observations also indicated th

coherent sea level response to the antarctic oscillation 1 large scale sea level variations around antarctica were studied and their relationship with atmospheric variations was investigated tide gauge data at five coastal stations were used coherent sea level variations were clearly detected for all stations on intraseasonal time scales the coherent variations had significant negative correlations with an index of the atmospheric annular mode variation antarctic oscillation coherence was significant for periods from 10 to 100 days with negligible time lag the negative correlation is consistent with the mechanism that a high low westerly anomaly leads to a stronger weaker northward ekman drift and causes divergence convergence around antarctica

adjustment of the southern ocean to wind forcing on synoptic time scales abstract this study addresses the response of the southern ocean to high frequency wind forcing focusing on the impact of several barotropic modes on the circumpolar transport a suite of experiments is performed with an unstratified model of the southern ocean forced with a stochastic wind stress that contains a large range of frequencies with synoptic time scales the southern ocean adjustment displays a different character for frequencies below and above 0 2 cpd the low frequency range is dominated by an almost free mode response in the region where contours of f h are obstructed by only a few bathymetric features the truly free mode only plays a minor role topographic form stress rather than friction is the dominant decay mechanism of the southern mode it leads to a spindown time scale on the order of 3 days for the high frequency range the circumpolar transport is dominated by the resonant excitation of oscillatory modes the active response of the ocean leads to strong changes and eve

coupling between sulfur recycling and syndepositional carbonate dissolution evidence from oxygen and sulfur isotope composition of pore water sulfate south florida platform u s a sulfur cycling in fe poor organic rich shelf carbonates known to have rapid rates of so4 2 reduction remains poorly studied despite the volumetric significance of shelf deposits in modern and ancient carbon budgets we investigated sulfur cycling in modern carbonates of the florida platform from end member depositional environments muddy sands from the atlantic reef tract and finer grained mudbank and island flank deposits from florida bay relations between pore water chemistry so4 2 co2 ca 2 cl and oxygen and sulfur stable isotope compositions of so4 2 require direct coupling between sulfur redox cycling and syndepositional carbonate dissolution oxygen isotope compositions of pore water sulfate were remarkably shifted away from the established value for marine so4 2 9 5 despite near normal so4 2 cl ratios chemical evolution was least in reef tract pore waters and greatest in florida bay relative to overlying seawater mudbank sediments exhibited sulfate depletion with 18oso4 and 34sso4 values both increasing by about 7 more bioturbated island flank sediments colonized by thalassia grass had a 5 increase in 18oso4 variable 34sso4 values 17 7 to 23 3 and exceptionally high ca 2 cl ratios the large excess of ca 2 up to 1 7 mm requires a much larger acid source than the amounts derived from utilization of dissolved o2 0 3 mm and small degrees of net so4 2 reduction 0 5 mm reduced a conceptual model was constructed using chemical and isotopic data on natural pore waters and on sulfate isotope fractionation factors obtained from sediment incubation experiments the model outputs show that pore water compositions can be explained by a redox cycle where microbial so4 2 reduction is followed by very efficient h2s oxidation thus maintaining virtually invariant so4 2 cl ratios the enhanced o2 transport may be driven by associated marine grass rhizome systems and microbial communities established in bioturbated sediments the net result of the cycle is that the rate of sulfide oxidation which is largely balanced by the rate of microbial sulfate reduction is stoichiometrically related to the rate of carbonate dissolution this is consistent with previously reported rates of carbonate dissolution 400 mol cm2 yr and average rates of sulfate reduction 200 mol cm2 yr from the florida platform and a 2 1 stoichiometry

microspar development during early marine burial diagenesis a comparison of pliocene carbonates from the bahamas with silurian limestones from gotland sweden comparison of ultrastructures in pliocene periplatform carbonates from the bahamas with silurian limestones from gotland sweden reveals that despite the differences in primary sediment composition and age they reflect a similar mechanism of lithification in both sequences calcite microspar was formed as a primary cement at an early stage of marine burial diagenesis neither significant compression nor meteoric influence are necessary for the formation of calcite microspar a model is proposed for the process of microsparitic cementation of fine grained aragonite needle muds comprising four stages 1 unconsolidated aragonite dominated carbonate mud 2 precipitation of microspar that engulfs aragonite needles 3 dissolution of aragonite resulting in pitted surfaces of the microspar crystals and 4 slight recrystallization our results contradict the widespread opinion that microspar necessarily is a product of secondary recrystallization of a previously lithified micrite

accumulation of bank top sediment on the western slope of great bahama bank rapid progradation of a carbonate megabank high resolution seismic profiles and submersible observations along the leeward slope of western great bahama bank show large scale export of bank top sediment and rapid progradation of the slope during the holocene a wedge shaped sequence up to 90 m thick is present along most of the slope and consists of predominantly aragonite mud derived from the bank since flooding of the platform 6 8 ka total sediment volume of the slope sequence is 40 80 that of holocene sediment currently retained on the bank maximum rates of vertical accumulation and lateral progradation are 11 15 m ka and 80 110 m ka respectively 10 to 100 times greater than previously known for periplatform muds slope deposition of exported mud during sea level highs appears to have been a major mechanism for the westward progradation of great bahama bank throughout the quaternary this may provide a critical modern analogue for ancient progradational margins

the relationship between overshooting tops in a tornadic supercell and its radar observed evolution abstractthis is a study of a tornadic supercell in kansas on 14 may 2018 in which data of relatively high spatiotemporal resolution from a mobile polarimetric x band doppler radar were integrate

formation of the enhanced v infrared cloud top feature from high resolution three dimensional radar observations the responsible mechanism for the formation of the enhanced v infrared cloud top feature observed above tropopause penetrating thunderstorms is not well understood a new method for the combination of volumetric radar reflectivity from individual radars into three dimensional composites with high vertical resolution 1km is introduced and used to test various formation mechanisms proposed in the literature for analysis a set of 89 enhanced v storms over the eastern continental united states are identified in the 10 yr period from 2001 to 2010 using geostationary satellite data the background atmospheric state from each storm is determined using the interim ecmwf re analysis era interim and radiosonde observations in conjunction with the infrared temperature fields analysis of the radar data in a coordinate relative to thelocationoftheovershootingconvectivetopandinaltitudesrelativetothetropopausesuggeststhataboveanvil stratospheric cirrus clouds are the most likely mechanism for the formation of the enhanced v

seismic expression of quarternary climatic cycles in the peri platform carbonate ooze of the northern bahamas stratigraphic physical and acoustic properties of peri platform carbonate sediments in an 18 m long piston core core 2218 655 m from northwest providence channel bahamas have been investigated the sediments range in age from recent to about 1 m y old there is a close correlation between changes of compressional wave velocity and quaternary climate as indicated by 18 o velocity correlates negatively to aragonite content water content and porosity whereas it correlates positively to grain size saturated bulk density and observed degree of cementation changes in the degree of cementation exert a particularly strong influence on velocity variations all parameters correlate to quaternary climate sea level fluctuations during glacial low sea level stages the aragonite content water content water content and porosity decrease but grain size saturated bulk density and the degree of cementation increase all of these increase velocity in general water content porosity and the aragonite content decrease slightly with core depth but grain size saturated bulk density degree of cementation and velocity increase slightly two processes may contribute to these trends 1 shallow subsurface diagenesis upon burial and 2 variations of both the interglacial production of bank top sediments and the intensity of glacial sea floor diagenesis major changes in velocity are associated with transitions from glacial to interglacial stages acoustic reflectors correlate one to one with the velocity changes occurring at isotopic stage boundaries 7 8 9 10 and 11 12 at the site of core 2218 deeper reflectors have an interference origin because velocity changes are more closely spaced the reflectors that correlate with isotopic stage boundaries can be used to study the detailed history of quaternary peri platform carbonate deposition and place it into the context of global climate sea level cycles

mg ca temperature calibration for the benthic foraminifer cibicidoides pachyderma 1 the recent development of foraminiferal mg ca as a paleotemperature proxy has enabled the extraction of global ice volume and local salinity from the more traditional paleotemperature proxy 18o the benthic foraminiferal genus cibicidoides is widely used in paleoceanographic reconstructions because of its epifaunal habitat and cosmopolitan distribution and it has received early attention in mg ca work however existing temperature calibrations for cibicidoides rely heavily on c pachyderma core top data from one location little bahamas bank where authigenic processes and or reworking may result in elevated warm water mg ca values here we present new c pachyderma mg ca data from a series of 29 high quality multicore tops collected in the florida straits spanning a temperature range of 5 8 18 6 c in contrast to previous calibrations we find no evidence for a strongly exponential response to temperature the data are best explained by a linear relationship with a sensitivity of 0 12 mmol mol 1 per c

aragonite loss in a cold water coral mound mechanisms and implications selective dissolution of aragonitic grains is emerging as a volumetrically significant process that affects a broad range of modern carbonate settings this study explores mechanisms and implications of aragonite loss in challenger mound a giant cold water coral lophelia pertusa mound of pleistocene age which lies on the continental slope off south west ireland a comprehensive sampling scheme allowed the integration of petrographic data with geochemical analyses of sediment and pore water the mound remains virtually unlithified and consists of stacked fining upward cycles of silty coral floatstone rudstone and bafflestone grading into wackestone whereas calcitic grains appear unaltered aragonitic grains are corroded and fragmented aragonite dissolution is attributed to organic matter oxidation at near the sediment water interface and at greater depths to the initial stages of bacterially mediated sulphate reduction when alkalinity production is outpaced by the generation of h pore water profiles indicate that undersaturated waters are diffusing towards the mound interior from two centres of sulphate reduction one located in the upper 10 m of the sediment column and a second that lies below an erosional unconformity which marks the base of the mound continued aragonite dissolution is expected to gradually lower the diagenetic potential of the challenger mound and delay lithification until deep burial when solution compaction processes come into play despite a fundamental role in predestining the final taphonomic and textural characteristics of challenger mound the processes described here are expected to leave little trace in the geological record due to a lack of cementation and calcitization assuming that similar processes have been active throughout the phanerozoic results imply that the understanding of diagenetic processes in carbonate systems may be incomplete

fluid flow through carbonate platforms constraints from 234u 238u and cl in bahamas pore waters the geometry timing and rate of fluid flow through carbonate margins and platforms is not well constrained in this study we use u concentrations and isotope ratios measured on small volumes of pore water from bahamas slope sediment coupled with existing chlorinity data to place constraints on the fluid flow in this region and by implication other carbonate platforms these data also allow an assessment of the behaviour of u isotopes in an unusually well constrained water rock system we report pore water u concentrations which are controlled by dissolution of high u organic material at shallow depths in the sediment and by reduction of u to its insoluble 4c state at greater depths the dominant process influencing pore water 234 u 238 u is alpha recoil in holocene sediments the increase of pore water 234 u 238 u due to recoil provides an estimate of the horizontal flow rate of 11 cm year but with considerable uncertainty at depths in the sediment where conditions are reducing features in the u concentration and 234 u 238 u profiles are offset from one another which constrains the effective diffusivity for u in these sediments to be1 2 10 8 cm 2 s 1 at depths between the holocene and these reducing sediments pore water 234 u 238 u values are unusually low due to a recent increase in the dissolution rate of grain surfaces this suggests a strengthening of fluid flow probably due to the flooding of the banks at the last deglaciation and the re initiation of thermally driven venting of fluid on the bank top and accompanying recharge on the slopes interpretation of existing chlorinity data in the light of this change in flow rate constrain the recent horizontal flow rate to be 10 6 3 4 cm year estimates of flow rate from 234 u 238 u and cl are therefore in agreement and suggest flow rates close to those predicted by thermally driven models of fluid flow this agreement supports the idea that flow within the bahamas banks is mostly thermally driven and suggests that flow rates on the order of 10 cm year are typical for carbonate platforms where such flow occurs 1999 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

sensitivity of circumpolar deep water transport and ice shelf basal melt along the west antarctic peninsula to changes in the winds circumpolardeepwater cdw can be found near the continental shelfbreak around most of antarctica advection of this relatively warm water up to 28c across the continental shelf to the base of floating ice shelves is thought to be a critical source of heat for basal melting in some locations a high resolution 4 km regional ocean sea ice ice shelf model of the west antarctic peninsula wap coastal ocean was used to examine the effects of changes in the winds on across shelf cdw transport and ice shelf basal melt increases and decreases in the strength of the wind fields were simulated by scaling the present day winds by a constant factor additional simulations considered effects of increased antarctic circumpolar current acc transport increased wind strength and acc transport increased the amount of cdw transported onto the wap continental shelf but did not necessarily increase cdw flux underneath the nearby ice shelves the basal melt underneath some of the deeper ice shelves actually decreased with increased wind strength increased mixing over the wap shelf due to stronger winds removed more heat from the deeper shelf waters than the additional heat gained from increased cdw volume transport the simulation results suggest that the effect on the wap ice shelves of the projected strengthening of the polar westerlies is not a simple matter of increased winds causing increased or decreased basal melt a simple budget calculation indicated that iron associated with increased vertical mixing of cdw could significantly affect biological productivity of this region

isotopic signature of burial diagenesis and primary lithological contrasts in periplatform carbonates miocene great bahama bank the stable isotope geochemistry of miocene sediments from the leeward margin of the great bahama bank was examined to investigate burial diagenetic processes in periplatform carbonates data indicate that in addition to differences in bulk proportions of neritic and pelagic carbonate along the slope rhythmic variation in primary carbonate content has controlled patterns of burial diagenesis and associated geochemical signatures throughout much of the succession examined the present study focuses on ocean drilling program sites 1006 and 1007 the most distal of five sites drilled from marginal to deep basin environments during leg 166 these miocene sections are characterized by their cyclic appearance manifest as decimeter to meter scale alternations between light colored ooze chalk limestone and dark colored marl marlstone the section at site 1006 contains a high proportion of pelagic carbonate and is unlithified to a subbottom depth of 675 m fluctuations in 18 o and 13 c values at this site are independent of lithological variation and reflect primary conditions at site 1007 located at the toe of slope and composed of a mixture of bank derived and pelagic carbonate limestones are densely cemented show little evidence of compaction and have 18 o values up to 2 higher than coeval sediments at site 1006 marlstones at site 1007 are poorly cemented exhibit an increase in compaction related features with depth and have lower and more variable 18 o values that are similar to those of coeval sediments at site 1006 isotopic and petrographic characteristics of limestone interbeds result from cement precipitation from cold sea water during the first 100 m of burial higher proportions of insoluble materials and pelagic carbonate seem to have inhibited diagenetic alteration in adjacent marlstones in spite of significant compaction and pressure solution during burial original isoto pic compositions appear to be best preserved in these intervals at site 1007 the documented contrasts in petrographic and isotopic patterns illustrate the role of primary sediment composition in controlling lithification processes in periplatform carbonates and stress the importance of consid ering such factors when interpreting geochemical data from ancient shelf and slope limestones

regions of rapid sea ice change an inter hemispheric seasonal comparison this bi polar analysis resolves ice edge changes on space time scales relevant for investigating seasonal iceocean feedbacks and focuses on spatio temporal changes in the timing of annual sea ice retreat and advance over 1979 80 to 2010 11 where arctic sea ice decrease is fastest the sea ice retreat is now nearly 2 months earlier and subsequent advance more than 1 month later compared to 1979 80 resulting in a 3 month longer summer ice free season in the antarctic peninsula and bellingshausen sea region sea ice retreat is more than 1 month earlier and advance 2 months later resulting in a more than 3 month longer summer icefree season in contrast in the western ross sea antarctica region sea ice retreat and advance are more than 1 month later and earlier respectively resulting in a more than 2 month shorter summer ice free season regardless of trend magnitude or direction and at latitudes mostly poleward of 70 n s there is strong correspondence between anomalies in the timings of sea ice retreat and subsequent advance but little correspondence between advance and subsequent retreat these results support a strong ocean thermal feedback in autumn in response to changes in spring sea ice retreat further model calculations suggest different net ocean heat changes in the arctic versus antarctic where autumn sea ice advance is 1 versus 2 months later ocean atmosphere changes particularly in boreal spring and austral autumn i e during march may are discussed and compared as well as possible inter hemispheric climate connections

multidecadal warming of antarctic waters decadal trends in the properties of seawater adjacent to antarctica are poorly known and the mechanisms responsible for such changes are uncertain antarctic ice sheet mass loss is largely driven by ice shelf basal melt which is influenced by ocean ice interactions and has been correlated with antarctic continental shelf bottom water asbw temperature we document the spatial distribution of long term large scale trends in temperature salinity and core depth over the antarctic continental shelf and slope warming at the seabed in the bellingshausen and amundsen seas is linked to increased heat content and to a shoaling of the mid depth temperature maximum over the continental slope allowing warmer saltier water greater access to the shelf in recent years regions of asbw warming are those exhibiting increased ice shelf melt

influence of the southern annular mode on the sea ice ocean system 1 the global sea ice ocean model orca2 lim driven by the ncep ncar national centers for environmental prediction national center for atmospheric research reanalysis daily 2 m air temperatures and 10 m winds and by monthly climatologies for precipitation cloud cover and relative humidity is used to investigate the impact of the southern annular mode sam on the antarctic sea ice ocean system our results suggest that the response of the circumpolar southern ocean consists of an annular and a nonannular component for the sea ice cover the non annular component seems to be the most important the annular component strongly affects the overall patterns of the upper ocean circulation when the sam is in its positive phase a northward surface ekman drift a downwelling at about 45 degreess and an upwelling in the vicinity of the antarctic continent are simulated the non annular component has a significant impact at the regional scale especially in the weddell ross amundsen and bellingshausen seas in those regions the pressure pattern associated with the sam induces meridional winds which advect warmer air in the weddell sea and around the antarctic peninsula and colder air in the amundsen and ross seas this implies a dipole response of sea ice to the sam with on average a decrease in ice area in the weddell sea and around the antarctic peninsula and an increase in the ross and amundsen seas during years with a high sam index the long term trend in the observed sea ice area does not appear to be related to the trend in the sam index

crystal habit geochemistry and cathodoluminescence of magnesian calcite marine cements from the lower slope of little bahama bank the petrography and geochemistry of marine magnesian calcite cements recovered from the sea floor on the lower thermocline lower slope of little bahama bank address three issues concerning inorganic carbonates 1 crystal habit of marine magnesian calcite cements 2 cation composition of marine precipitates and 3 origins of cathodoluminescence in calcite bladed and blocky limpid spar cements formed contemporaneously within the same intraparticle pore as shown by banded cathodoluminescence traced without interruption through both cement habits bladed and blocky cements exhibit a positively covariant linear relationship for mg and sr having low proximal early formed compositions and high distal late formed compositions linear covariance of mg and sr is interpreted to indicate that the concentrations of these cations were controlled by kinetic effects as they formed with early precipitation occurring more rapidly than later precipitation precipitation rates apparently did not affect cement habit limpid isopachous bladed spar cements the distal third of which are brightly cathodoluminescent have a wide range of mg and sr compositions which is almost completely spanned by both distal cathodoluminescent and proximal noncathodoluminescent parts of cements occurring within the same pore mg and sr do not have a linear relationship these cements are interpreted to have recrystallized in deep cool sea water during recrystallization magnesium was lost and in some cases manganese the principal cathodoluminescence excitor was presumably gained

sedimentary dynamics along carbonate slopes bahamas archipelago hydroacoustic and sedimentological data in the santaren channel covering both the leeward slope of great bahama bank and the windward slope of cay sal bank allow new insights into carbonate platform slope sedimentation the data document the interplay between depositional and erosive processes on both slopes through time and provide information on the current regime and its influence on the slope sedimentary processes this study emphasizes the diversity and complexity of the slope morphology and the sediment distribution of the youngest high frequency sequence which has developed since the last glacial maximum the processes triggering slope failures and the formation of channels and gullies differ on both slopes at the leeward slope of the great bahama bank extensive slope failures occurred primarily during sea level lowering following an interglacial these slope failures created a slope morphology that channelizes the exported platform sediments during the subsequent highstand at the windward slope of cay sal bank contour currents and the local tectonic regime are responsible for slope failures during sea level lowstands downwelling induces turbidity currents the interaction of turbidity and contour currents leads to the formation of a system of furrows and slope parallel sediment ridges the discovered heterogeneities in slope sedimentation improve the understanding of carbonate slope sedimentation and provide implications for sequence stratigraphic interpretation of carbonate platform slopes

size fraction analysis of fish derived carbonates in shallow sub tropical marine environments and a potentially unrecognised origin for peloidal carbonates abstract marine bony fish are now known as primary producers of calcium carbonate furthermore within the shallow sub tropical platform settings of the bahamas this production process has been shown to occur at rates relevant to carbonate sediment production budgets fish excrete these carbonates as loosely aggregated pellets which post excretion exhibit a range of distinctive crystal morphologies and have mineralogies ranging from low 0 4 mol mgco 3 to high 4 40 mol mgco 3 mg calcites aragonite and amorphous carbonate phases here we provide the first quantitative assessment of the size fractions of the carbonates produced by a range of tropical fish species and document the extent of post excretion carbonate pellet break down under a range of physical agitation conditions specifically we document the morphologies and size fractions of i intact pellets at the point of excretion ii intact pellets after agitation in seawater and iii the particles released from pellets post disaggregation results indicate that fish derived pellets initially fall within the very fine to very coarse sand fractions exposure to conditions of moderate seawater agitation for 30 days results in significant pellet diminution 66 of initial pellet mass being released as individual particles whilst 34 is retained as partially intact pellets that are smaller fine sand grade and more rounded than initial pellets in contrast pellets exposed to very gently agitated conditions for up to 200 days show little change where pellet disaggregation does occur particles are commonly released as individual clay and silt grade crystals however some morphotypes e g polycrystalline spheres can be intergrown and are released as strongly cohesive particle clusters falling within the coarse silt to fine sand fractions only very vigorous agitation may disaggregate such particles resulting in the release of their component clay grade crystals we conclude that fish derived carbonates may thus contribute not only to the mud fraction of marine carbonates but also to the fine sand fraction as intergrown particles and to the fine to coarse sand fractions as intact and partially intact pellets these experimental data indicate that hydrodynamic regimes local to sites of excretion will influence the generation of carbonates with different size fraction ranges rapid pellet disaggregation is more likely in high energy settings hypothesised to result in redistribution of liberated mud grade particles to lower energy platform top settings and or off platform in contrast pellets excreted in lower energy settings are more likely to be preserved intact and are thus proposed as a previously unrecognised source of pelletal and peloidal carbonate sediments

preservation state of metastable magnesian calcite in periplatform sediments from the caribbean sea over the last million years carbonate rich periplatform sediments represent an active carbon reservoir containing metastable aragonite and magnesian calcite mg calcite 4 mol mgco3 since mg calcite is highly soluble the preservation state of this mineral provides information on past carbonate systems at water depths shallower than the lysocline the mineralogy and geochemistry of the carbonate rich fine fraction 63 m was determined for the last 940 ka in a sediment core collected from the walton basin northern caribbean sea 846 m water depth mg ca ratios for mg calcite showed clear glacial interglacial cycles with high values 12 mol mgco3 during interglacials glacial mg ca ratios were approximately 8 mol mgco3 for the period from 940 ka to 400 ka and approximately 10 mol mgco3 for the last 400 ka the mg ca shift is concomitant with a preferential loss of mg calcite relative to aragonite the preservation state of mg calcite revealed that the bottom water mass of the studied site was slightly more corrosive for the earlier period possibly relating to a composition change in intermediate water and or to the ventilation rate in the atlantic ocean

drifter measurements of surface currents near marguerite bay on the western antarctic peninsula shelf during austral summer and fall 2001 and 2002 abstract we deployed 24 satellite tracked surface drifters near marguerite bay on the western antarctic peninsula shelf during march may 2001 and february april 2002 the woce style drifters featured holey sock drogues centered at 15 m and were located about 20 times per day by service argos analyses of the drifter tracks show a coastal current that flows toward the southwest along the west coast of adelaide island and into marguerite bay near the southern tip of adelaide island then flows clockwise around the bay near the coast and finally exits the bay near alexander island this coastal current flowed along the eastern boundary of marguerite bay in 2001 but across the central part of the bay in 2002 due to the early presence of sea ice in the southern half of the bay the outflow from the bay continued along the coast of alexander island toward the southwest in 2001 but was directed northwestward across the shelf in 2002 due to the sea ice coverage to the south a mean drifter current speed of about 10 cm s 1 was observed in the coastal current with a maximum speed of about 20 cm s 1 during periods of strong wind stress an intermittent northeastward current was observed near the shelf break the drifter tracks also show that intermittent near inertial currents are common in marguerite bay and over the adjacent shelf during ice free conditions these counterclockwise oscillations had periods near the local inertial period roughly 13 0 h and speeds of 5 20 cm s 1 with a tendency for smaller amplitudes within marguerite bay

the calcium isotopic composition of carbonate hardground cements a new record of changes in ocean chemistry abstract reconstructing changes in the calcium isotopic composition 44ca of the ocean over earth history has been challenging this difficulty is due to the large range of calcium isotope fractionation factors during mineral precipitation and the potential for overwriting the initial 44ca of minerals during shallow marine diagenesis we present a new 44ca record measured in carbonate hardground cements an inorganic carbonate mineral precipitate that rapidly forms at or near the sediment water interface the range in the 44ca for any particular carbonate hardground cements is between 0 05 and 0 56 in some cases the progressive increase in the 44ca during precipitation can be observed consistent with precipitation in a closed system our data show an average calcium isotope fractionation during carbonate hardground cement precipitation that is 0 57 0 27 similar to the calcium isotope fractionation factor for inorganic calcite precipitates in previous laboratory and modelling studies and closer to what is considered a kinetic end member calcium isotope fractionation than growth at equilibrium this is consistent with the rapid carbonate mineral precipitation expected for carbonate hardground cements our 44ca record over the phanerozoic is similar to other calcium bearing mineral records over the same time interval with average 44ca becoming lower going back in time by about 0 5 to 0 7 our results add further support for the evolution of seawater 44ca over time and we discuss the possible causes of these changes with suggestions for future studies

rapid burial diagenesis of deep water carbonates exuma sound bahamas well lithified deep water periplatform limestones of late miocene age occur at subsurface depths from 113 m to total depth of 283 m at ocean drilling program odp site 632 in exuma sound bahamas this occurrence marked by a dramatic increase in compressional wave velocities up to 5 0 km s represents the most rapid transformation of ooze to limestone yet discovered in either periplatform or open ocean settings the burial diagenetic pathway is similar to those for meteoric and deep burial diagenetic environments aragonite dissolves magnesian calcites exsolve or dissolve low mg calcite precipitates as cement and secondary moldic vuggy porosity develops stable isotope ratios suggest precipitation of low mg calcite from cold marine derived pore waters accelerated diagenesis is a response to the influx of large quantities up to 80 of bank derived metastable carbonates and rapid burial via high accumulation rates up to 210 m m y our findings 1 document carbonate mineral stabilization and lithification in a seawater mediated shallow burial diagenetic environment 2 highlight the very high diagenetic potential of periplatform carbonates and 3 call into question the use of seismic velocities as support for the bahama megabank hypothesis

whitings a sedimentologic dilemma whitings drifting clouds of water milky because of suspended carbonate have been claimed to originate from either the action of bottom feeding fish or direct precipitation of calcium carbonate five cruises during different seasons were made to the great bahama bank to collect data pertinent to the controversy measurements of particulate concentrations average 10 mg liter with a maximum of 20 mg liter of carbonate sediment suspended in whiting water compared with an average of 1 5 mg liter for clear water outside the whitings the particles are dominantly acicular aragonite but mg calcite composes as much as 20 percent of some whitings sedimentation rates measured with fixed and drifting sediment traps were as great as 34 g m 2 hr sediment suspended in whitings aggregated into silt and sand size fioccules and settled to the bottom of settling tanks within six hours even on a rocking ship sediment in artificial whitings created by stirring sediment from the bottom with a shrimp trawl settled to the bottom in about the same time natural whitings on the other hand were never observed to dissipate because sedimentation from whitings occurs at rates sufficient to cause dissipation of the whitings within six hours we conclude that the natural whitings are continually replenished by direct precipitation the search for fish in whitings utilized sidescan sonar and fathometer imaging shrimp trawls rotenone remote video and direct scuba observation these methods and 25 years of casual observations leading to this study indicate that fish are not involved in the formation of most bahamian whitings several whitings were found over rocky or sandy bottoms where there was no mud available for fish to suspend the distance of these whitings from areas of muddy bottom precluded their having been made elsewhere by fish stable carbon and oxygen isotopic analyses and delta 14 c activity are interpreted to indicate that the suspended sediment in whitings contains some precipitated calcium carbonate and is not merely bottom sediment stirred into suspension estimates indicate that the amount of new carbonate produced in whitings on the great bahama bank is substantially higher than that arising from algal production consequently the amount of sediment transported to deep water may be much greater than previously thought

sr concentrations and isotope ratios as tracers of ground water circulation in carbonate platforms examples from san salvador island and long island bahamas abstract the depth to which seawater and fresh water circulate through modern carbonate platforms may be estimated with 87 sr 86 sr isotope ratios of dissolved sr 2 that is enriched through carbonate mineral dissolution and recrystallization in 23 water samples from onshore san salvador island and long island bahamas carbonate mineral dissolution and aragonite to calcite transformations elevate sr 2 concentrations to twice seawater values in water with near seawater salinity and to about 130 times the expected value for seawater that has been mixed with fresh water carbonate mineral dissolution enriches ca 2 concentrations to around 30 times seawater concentrations only in the mixed waters water with seawater salinity has approximately seawater ca 2 concentrations assuming two end member mixing between seawater sr 2 and mineral derived sr 2 model estimates indicate that mineral derived sr 2 of 19 samples have 87 sr 86 sr ratios equivalent to modern seawater within error of the measurement indicating alteration of shallow buried late pleistocene to holocene carbonate minerals four samples have mineral derived sr 2 with 87 sr 86 sr ratios lower than modern seawater value these low ratios reflect alteration of carbonate minerals that were deposited around 1 mybp although the measured 87 sr 86 sr values could reflect ages as great as 4 6 ma considering the analytical uncertainty of the measurements these estimated ages are likely to be minimum values because alteration of modern carbonate minerals at the surface would provide an unknown but probably large amount of sr 2 with modern seawater isotope signatures thereby overprinting any low 87 sr 86 sr ratios of non modern mineral derived sr 2 three of the four samples with low 87 sr 86 sr ratios have high salinities and were collected from the interior of the islands they reflect seawater flow paths at least tens of meters deep may link the ocean to water several kilometers inland the fourth sample is from the fresh water lens below a pleistocene beach ridge 125 ka only 100 m from the shore line this sample suggests the lens may be thicker than expected based on estimates of recharge hydraulic conductivity and size of the ridge

a model study of circumpolar deep water on the west antarctic peninsula and ross sea continental shelves abstract transport of relatively warm nutrient rich circumpolar deep water cdw onto continental shelves around antarctica has important effects on physical and biological processes however the characteristics of the cdw along the shelf break as well as what happens to it once it has been advected onto the continental shelf differ spatially in the present study high resolution 4 5 km regional models of the ross sea and the west antarctic peninsula coastal ocean are used to compare differences in cdw transport the models compared very well with observations from both regions examining the fluxes not only of heat but also of a simulated dye representing cdw shows that in both cases cdw crosses the shelf break in specific locations primarily determined by the bathymetry but eventually floods much of the shelf the frequency of intrusions in marguerite trough was ca 2 3 per month similar to recent mooring observations a significant correlation between the along shelf break wind stress and the cross shelf break dye flux through marguerite trough was observed suggesting that intrusions are at least partially related to short duration wind events the primary difference between the cdw intrusions on the ross and west antarctic peninsula shelves is that there is more vigorous mixing of the cdw with the surface waters in the ross sea especially in the west where high salinity shelf water is created the models show that the cdw moving across the antarctic peninsula continental shelf towards the base of the ice shelves not only is warmer initially and travels a shorter distance than that advected towards the base of the ross ice shelf but it is also subjected to less vertical mixing with surface waters which conserves the heat available to be advected under the ice shelves this difference in vertical mixing also likely leads to differences in the supply of nutrients from the cdw into the upper water column and thus modulates the impacts on surface biogeochemical processes