assessing the reliability of magnesium in foraminiferal calcite as a proxy for water mass temperatures though many studies on the mg contents in the calcitic tests of foraminifers exist the processes controlling its uptake are still a matter of debate laboratory cultures offer an excellent opportunity to reveal these mechanisms the mg concentrations within single chambers of the planktic foraminifer globigerinoides sacculifer brady maintained under controlled laboratory conditions were measured 1 at variable temperatures 19 5 29 5 c and constant salinity and 2 at variable salinity 22 45 and constant temperature the experimental results suggest that under natural conditions temperature is the leading mechanism controlling the mg ca ratio temperature and magnesium are related proportionally a temperature increase of ca 10 c gives rise to an increase of the magnesium concentrations of ca 130 drastic unnatural salinity changes dominate the effects of temperature a 110 change in the mg ca ratio was observed when salinity was elevated or reduced by more than ca 10 specimens which underwent gametogenesis reveal significantly higher mg concentrations than specimens that did not release gametes partition coefficients for mg in foraminiferal calcite are orders of magnitude lower than values from inorganically precipitated calcite when comparing observed mg ca ratios of foraminiferal tests with predicted mg ca ratios calculated according to empirical equations it becomes evident that foraminiferal tests are undersaturated with respect to mg for the water temperature they have experienced apparently foraminifers are capable of controlling their mg concentration the physiological processes presumably responsible for such depressed mg ca ratios appear to be temperature controlled as deduced from the close relationship of the observed mg ca ratios and water temperature this study demonstrates that variations in temperature and salinity are definitely reflected in the mg content of foraminiferal tests magnesium may thus serve as a paleo proxy for past surface water temperatures as long as postdepositional changes and salinity variations are of subordinate importance or can be excluded

geochemical implications of sulfate in sedimentary carbonates abstract sulfate content reaches maximum partitioning in inorganically deposited mn calcite from aqueous solution when the carbonate contains 4 wt mno similar partitioning was also found for sr which rises to a maximum when calcite sediments contain 0 5 wt mno the behavior of the sulfate is explicable in terms of substitution of co 2 3 by so 2 4 this argument for the distribution of so 2 4 in inorganically formed carbonates is also consistent for sulfate in marine carbonates ir spectra of recent biogenic carbonates revealed no organic but only inorganic sulfate indicating that the sulfate occupies lattice sites in the carbonates total sulfate content of recent calcitic marine carbonates and pleistocene limestones increases with increasing mg content up to a maximum near 2 3 wt mg and decreases at larger mg contents this decrease in the sulfate content of these marine carbonates from that incorporated originally into the carbonate lattices is attributed to gradual exsolution during diagenesis in subaerial fresh water or on the sea floor in low so 2 4 waters the sulfate in coralline algae apparently increases the mg content above that predicted from observed shifts in the x ray diffraction peaks based upon so 2 4 free calcites

vanadium in foraminiferal calcite evaluation of a method to determine paleo seawater vanadium concentrations we assess the potential of using foraminiferal calcite as a paleoceanographic indicator of seawater v concentrations laboratory culture experiments show that living benthic and planktonic foraminifera incorporate v into their test in direct proportion to seawater concentrations distribution coefficients relative to the culture solution are d 2 1 10 3 and 2 8 10 3 for g calida and a lobifera respectively we use a cleaning procedure that effectively removes most v rich contaminant phases from foraminiferal calcite preserved in the fossil record including organic matter and mn fe oxyhydroxides mnco3 overgrowths cannot be eliminated since v is conservative in the ocean foraminiferal calcite recently accreted and found in surface sediment samples should have the same v content if this tracer accurately reflects seawater concentrations v ca values for the same species of foraminifera are constant for core top samples collected above the foraminiferal lysocline in different ocean basins the mean distribution coefficients relative to seawater are d 5 8 1 0 10 3 10 3 0 7 10 3 and 32 2 5 x 10 3 for g sacculifer g tumida and c wuellerstorfi respectively these differences suggest that v incorporation is species dependent core top analyses along two submarine rises in the equatorial atlantic and pacific oceans indicate significant dissolution effects with increasing depth of deposition and thus more extensive partial dissolution of the test vca decreases by a factor of three in g tumida increases by up to a factor of four in g sacculifer and increases by a factor of two in c wuellerstorfi no exchange between foraminiferal v and detrital v in sediments is observed over an interval of 200 kyr

factors controlling the fluoride content of planktonic foraminifera an evaluation of its paleoceanographic applicability abstract this work is an assessment of the effects of seawater salinity and temperature on the incorporation of fluoride into calcitic shells of planktonic foraminifera and of the subsequent modification of shell chemistry by postdepositional dissolution a strong correlation between the fluoride content of most planktonic species and their calcification depth was observed deeper calcifying foraminifera have lower fluoride content and heavier 18o composition perhaps suggesting a temperature control on the partition coefficient however species deviations from this general trend and the absence of correlation between fluoride and sea surface temperature within an individual species suggest that the coprecipitation of fluoride in foraminiferal calcite is more strongly controlled by biological processes rather than by simple chemical relationships foraminiferal fluoride shows weak or no correlation with sea surface salinity core top planktonic foraminifera from the eastern equatorial atlantic sierra leone rise show a substantial decrease of fluoride and to a lesser extent mg content with increasing water depth 2931 5104 m these decreasing trends with depth are attributed to selective dissolution i e removal of the more dissolution susceptible fraction with a different chemical composition than the residual a process which previously has been suggested to account for variations in the isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera these findings indicate that foraminiferal fluoride cannot serve as a reliable tracer of oceanic paleo temperature or salinity it is possible however that fluoride may be useful for the study of dissolution in deep sea sediments

cadmium chemical tracer of deepwater paleoceanography the oceanic distribution of cadmium resembles that of phosphorus because the cadmium content of foraminiferal shells is governed by the cadmium content of seawater planktonic and benthic fossil shells can be used to infer nutrient distributions within ancient oceans empirical studies demonstrate that cadmium in benthic foraminiferal shells is related to the bottom water composition through a proportionality constant d 2 9 this constant is the same for each of the species studied cibicidoides wuellerstorfi cibicidoides kullenbergi nuttallides umbonifera and uvigerina spp downcore cadmium data from high quality pacific and atlantic sediment cores suggest that the cadmium inventory of the ocean did not change significantly between the most recent glacial maximum and the present hence changes in the cadmium content of fossils at a site directly reflect changes in nutrient distributions due to altered oceanic circulation patterns studies of cadmium in pleistocene sediments show that deep ocean circulation patterns were significantly different during the most recent glacial maximum in the western north atlantic ocean the nutrient content of waters from 2500 to 3500 m was twice as high during glacials as during interglacial periods signifying an increase in the proportion of waters of antarctic origin in this depth interval and a decrease but not a cessation in the flux of north atlantic deep waters through this depth range below 3500 m the nutrient increase was greater indicating a higher proportion of antarctic bottom water above 2500 m the nutrient content was lower during glacial periods than it has been during interglacial times the cd content of high latitude north atlantic and southern ocean surface waters does not show a significant glacial interglacial change which argues against theories for changes atmospheric carbon dioxide that require changes in high latitude nutrient concentrations

comparison of atlantic and pacific paleochemical records for the last 215 000 years changes in deep ocean circulation and chemical inventories abstract detailed cd ca and 13 c data have been obtained for benthic foraminifera from western north atlantic and equatorial pacific sediment cores in the modern ocean both tracers are closely linked to nutrient distributions the sedimentary records for both tracers indicate that bottom waters overlying the atlantic site have been nutrient depleted relative to those at the pacific site over the last 215 000 years from this evidence it is reasonable to infer that there has been a continuous net flux of nutrient depleted water from the western north atlantic into the pacific this exchange has undergone significant fluctuations with the export of nutrient depleted atlantic water diminishing by about a factor of two relative to the inflow from southern ocean sources over the last 215 000 years carbon isotope fluctuations in both regions are dominated by variable storage of isotopically light carbon on continents with a lesser contribution from these deep ocean circulation changes the cadmium signal in the north atlantic is dominated by changes in deep ocean circulation patterns cadmium shows less variability in the pacific which may reflect changes in the global average cadmium content or minor changes in deep pacific circulation patterns using these records to estimate global averages it appears that glacial ocean water had 22 more cd and 0 46 less 13 c than the modern ocean these numbers are estimates which may be revised as more data become available although they are not likely to be as much as 20 in error for cd or 0 2 for 13 c relative north atlantic deep water nadw formation rates are modulated with a significant 41 kyr periodicity linked to obliquity induced variations in high latitude insolation nadw lags 8 2 kyr behind insolation however

variations in mg ca and sr ca ratios of planktonic foraminifera caused by postdepositional dissolution evidence of shallow mg dependent dissolution a comparative study has been made of two species of planktonic foraminifera g tumida and g sacculifer in a depth transect on the ontong java plateau western equatorial pacific g tumida tests from core top sediments showed decreasing mg ca 2 65 1 25 mmol mol and sr ca 1 50 1 16 mmol mol ratios with increasing water depth 1600 4400 m while no such variation was found in g sacculifer tests in excess of 355 m average mg ca 3 6 mmol mol sr ca 1 4 mmol mol artificial dissolution of g tumida tests led to a decrease in both mg ca and sr ca but in g sacculifer there was no significant change in the ratios analyses by electron microprobe revealed that mg ca of the inner chamber calcite in g tumida tests was much higher than that of the calcite crust keel whereas sr ca was only slightly elevated there were no consistent spatial differences in either mg ca or sr ca for g sacculifer tests dissolution in the oceans gives rise to the removal of the chamber calcite in g tumida about 30 of the total calcite leaving the keel calcite although g tumida is thought of as a dissolution resistant form the majority of mg ca and sr ca depletion and chamber loss occurs above the lysocline it is also possible that much of the mg enriched gametogenic calcite has been lost by dissolution from g sacculifer above 1600 m mg content has a significant effect on the dissolution susceptibility of planktonic foraminifera calculations show that the saturation horizon for mg rich parts of tests may be elevated by several hundred meters compared with normal calcite

trace metals in contemporary and seventeenth century galapagos coral records of seasonal and annual variations we report trace element calcium ratios for modern cuca mnca cdca and pbca and seventeenth century cuca mnca and pbca specimens of pavona clavus collected in the galapagos islands these data include the first reliable measurements of cuca ratios in coralline aragonite we estimate that the ratio of cuca in the lattice to that in seawater i e the effective distribution coefficient is 0 3 lower than the value of 1 observed for several other divalent elements we estimate the effective distribution coefficient for mn is 1 distribution coefficients in coral aragonite for 8 divalent metals are near unity despite different ionic radii and chemical speciation in seawater investigation of where these substituents are incorporated in the aragonite lattice is clearly warranted in a modern hood island coral quarter annually sampled from 1964 73 cuca ratios decrease twofold from the late 1960s to early 1970s mnca and cdca ratios vary seasonally with upwelling and the generic el nino the el nino southern oscillation enso events of 1965 1969 and 1972 are marked by suppression of cdca ratios by about 2 5 nmol mol while the mnca ratio is highest during the strong 1972 enso pbca ratios were relatively constant throughout this period from the cuca record of a seventeenth century urvina bay coral annually sampled from 1600 1725 and the estimated cu distribution coefficient surface seawater cu concentrations at galapagos during the seventeenth century were similar to present day at 0 7 1 4 nmol kg estimated pb concentrations were lower at 5 20 pmol kg and mn concentrations were slightly higher at 1 6 2 8 nmol kg

the cause of the glacial to interglacial atmospheric co2 change a polar alkalinity hypothesis in an attempt to create a scenario for the cause of the glacial to interglacial co2 change recorded in air trapped in polar ice we call on an increase in the alkalinity of polar surface waters in this way we circumvent a major deficiency of the polar nutrient scenarios of sarmiento and toggweiler 1984 siegenthaler and wenk 1984 and knox and mcelroy 1984 namely our scenario does not require a drop in the nutrient content of polar surface waters in conformity with the demonstration by boyle 1988a b that the cadmium content of planktonic foraminifera from polar regions did not decrease from late glacial to holocene time the rise in alkalinity required by our model is a natural consequence of the demise during glacial time of north atlantic deep water as a major force in ocean circulation and of the nutrient maximum deepening of boyle 1988b rather than being original our hypothesis builds on the concept basic to the polar nutrient hypotheses namely that the co2 partial pressure in polar waters controls that for both the atmosphere and warm surface ocean it also requires the alkalinity increase in surface waters produced by boyle s nutrient deepening

heavy metal sex and granites crustal differentiation and bioavailability in the mid proterozoic biogeochemical and genomic studies have suggested that the availability of trace metals has been essential to the progressive evolution of life on earth in particular the evolution of eukaryotes to diverse complex multicellular life has been related to the availability of trace metals the radiation of eukaryotes and the evolution of sex is timed as mesoproterozoic but at that time the metals may have been preferentially sequestered in a sulfidic deep ocean however the addition of a huge volume of new crust to form a supercontinent ca 1 9 ga including an unprecedented episode of within plate anorogenic magmatism led to an extraordinary new flux of metals to the upper crust in the late paleoproterozoic mesoproterozoic the appearance of sulfate evaporites from ca 1 7 1 6 ga indicates extensive weathering of metallic sulfides erosion of the supercontinent into mesoproterozoic sediments introduced key metals to near surface reservoirs providing an enhanced biogeochemical environment conducive to the expansion of an evolving biota

cadmium zinc copper and barium in foraminifera tests the concentrations of cadmium zinc copper and barium have been determined on 2 mg samples of single species foraminifera populations cleaning techniques were tested using north atlantic core tops and followed by a detailed downcore study for the last 30 000 years in south atlantic core v22 174 raw foram tests cleaned by crushing followed by ultrasonic removal of fine grained material and dissolved in a ph 5 5 acetate buffer contain appreciable amounts of trace elements associated with ferromanganese and alumino silicate contaminants a reductive complexing cleaning treatment reduces ferromanganese contamination by 1 2 orders of magnitude acetate buffers at ph 5 5 complex iron and raise the solubility of ferromanganese oxides these buffers are unsuitable for separating carbonate lattice bound trace elements from the fraction associated with ferromanganese phases improved mechanical and ultrasonic reductive cleaning combined with a mild dissolution in distilled water under 1 atm pco2 reduces contaminant levels another order of magnitude the cd and zn concentrations order 10 8 mole cd mole ca and 10 5 mole zn mole ca of species with low surface area show an increase with decreasing isotopic temperatures this increase is consistent with the increasing concentrations of these metals from low values in surface waters to higher values at depth the variance of cd and zn over the last 30 000 years in the central south atlantic is consistent with the probable variability of the dissolved trace elements at the calcification levels of the species analyzed cu and ba are irreproducible and probably sensitive to residual contaminant phases the trace element content of the tests differs from levels observed in a recent coprecipitation study foraminifera may be a significant vector in zinc cycling in the ocean

a biomineralization model for the incorporation of trace elements into foraminiferal calcium carbonate measurements of srca of benthic foraminifera show a linear decrease with water depth which is superimposed upon significant variability identified by analyses of individual foraminifera new data for cdca support previous work in defining a contrast between waters shallower and deeper than 2500 m measured element partition coefficients in foraminiferal calcium carbonate relative to sea water d have been described by means of a one box model in which elements are extracted by rayleigh distillation from a biomineralization reservoir that serves for calcification with a constant fractionation factor such that d 1 f 1 f where f is the proportion of ca remaining after precipitation a modification to the model recognises differences in element speciation the model is consistent with differences between dsr dba and dcd in benthic but not planktonic foraminifera depth variations in d for sr and ba are consistent with the model as are differences in depth variation of dcd in calcitic and aragonitic benthic foraminifera the shallower depth variations may reflect increasing calcification rates with increasing water depth to an optimum of about 2500 m observations of unusually lower dcd for some deep waters not accompanied by similar dsr or dba may be because of dissolution or a calcification response to a lower carbonate saturation state

dissolved vanadium in rivers and estuaries abstract new measurements of dissolved vanadium in a variety of rivers and estuaries are presented here the data indicate that the average concentration of dissolved vanadium in major rivers entering the ocean is 15 nmol kg weathering rate and type of source rock rather than solution chemistry or anthropogenic influences appear to be the important factors in determining fluvial dissolved vanadium concentrations laboratory experiments suggest that in oxic waters vanadium is found predominantly in its most oxidized anionic form v v complexation with organic matter and formation of large colloidal species appear to be unimportant adsorption also appears to be a less important influence for vanadium than for some other trace elements such as zinc in estuaries vanadium behaves as a bioactive element showing a close correspondence with the distribution of phosphate the extent of estuarine vanadium removal is presently uncertain but may be low due to rapid remineralization of this element based on the river flux the oceanic residence time for dissolved vanadium is estimated to be 100 000 years

manganese carbonate overgrowths on foraminifera tests below the zone where manganese is remobilized as mn2 aq reductively cleaned foraminifera in deep sea sediments have much higher mnca than those in core tops and sediment traps mnca ranges from less than 20 10 6 in and above the mno2 maximum to as high as 700 10 6 in reducing panama basin sediments the most plausible explanation for this enrichment is that the tests are coated with mn carbonate overgrowths these coatings can account for a significant proportion of the mn in reduced deep sea sediments uptake of manganous ion by carbonate may explain the absence of mn nodules in areas of high carbonate accumulation extreme degrees of overgrowth can alter foram trace element values but this artifact can be avoided by avoiding foraminifera with high mn ca

the geochemistry of manganese carbonate in panama basin sediments abstract the mn distribution in panama basin area sediments and interstitial waters is discussed striking surficial mn enrichments produced by a well known diagenetic recycling process characterize the sediments of the region thermodynamic solubility calculations indicate that in at least one core interstitial waters approach saturation with respect to mnco3 a mixed carbonate phase of composition mn48 ca47 mg5 co3 was recovered from an ash band in the same core the association of this material with the coarse volcaniclastic debris is thought to result from facile manganous carbonate precipitation in sediment horizons of coarser mean grain size since sulphate reduction in the upper two metres of panama basin sediments is fairly minor little increase in alkalinity is observed and it is postulated that significant production of carbonate alkalinity is not a prerequisite for manganous carbonate generation in hemipelagic sediments a more important factor appears to be the availability of mn oxides for solution during early diagenesis stable c isotopic analyses indicate that little c of organic origin is used in the precipitation reaction in either panama basin or loch fyne scotland sediments

uranium in foraminiferal calcite as a recorder of seawater uranium concentrations abstract we present results of an investigation of uranium calcium ratios in cleaned foraminiferal calcite as a recorder of seawater uranium concentrations for accurate reconstruction of past seawater uranium content shell calcite must incorporate uranium in proportion to seawater concentration and must preserve its original uranium composition over time laboratory culture experiments with live benthic amphistegina lobifera and live planktonic globigerinella calida foraminifera show that the u ca ratio of cleaned calcite tests is proportional to the concentration of uranium in solution after correcting results for the presence of initial calcite the apparent distribution coefficient d u ca calcite u ca solution 10 6 0 3 10 3 for a lobifera and d 7 9 0 1 10 3 for g calida u ca ratios in planktonic foraminifera from core tops collected above 3900 m in the equatorial atlantic and above 2100 m in the pacific ocean show no significant difference among the species analyzed d estimated from core top samples ranges from 7 6 0 4 10 3 for o universa to 8 4 0 5 10 3 for g ruber in benthic species c wuellerstorfi d 7 0 0 8 10 3 u ca and mg ca in g tumida and g sacculifer from core tops taken near and below the regional lysocline decrease with water depth smaller decreases in u ca and mg ca with depth were observed in c wuellerstorfi in the planktonic species we believe that u ca and mg ca are lower in the more dissolution resistant fraction of calcite leading to lower u ca in more highly dissolved samples

lead in corals reconstruction of historical industrial fluxes to the surface ocean twentieth century environmental lead chronologies for the western north atlantic pacific and indian oceans have been reconstructed from annually banded scleractinian corals measurements of lattice bound pb in sequential coral bands reveal temporal changes in surface water pb concentrations and pb isotopic distributions perturbations are observable in all specimens studied attesting to global augmentation of environmental pb by industrialization in the western north atlantic pb perturbations have occurred in direct response to the american industrial revolution and the subsequent introduction and phasing out of alkyl pb additives in gasoline surface ocean conditions near bermuda may be reliably reconstructed from the coral data via a lead distribution coefficient of 2 3 for the species diploria strigosa based on210pb measurements a similar distribution coefficient may be characteristic of corals in general surface pb concentrations in the pre industrial sargasso sea were about 15 20 pm concentrations rose to near 90 pm by 1923 as a result of metals manufacture and fossil fuel combustion beginning in the late 1940 s increased utilization of leaded gasoline eventually led to a peak concentration of 240 pm in 1971 representing an approximate 15 fold increase over background surface ocean concentrations are presently declining rapidly 128 pm in 1984 as a result of curtailed alkyl pb usage lead isotopic shifts parallel the concentration record indicating that characteristic industrial and alkyl pb source signatures have not changed appreciably in time industrial releases recorded in the florida keys reflect a weaker source and evidence of recirculated pb 5 6 years old from the north atlantic subtropical gyre an inferred background concentration of 38 pm suggests influence of shelf and or resuspended inputs of pb to these coastal waters in remote areas of the south pacific and indian oceans industrial signals are fainter and the corals studied much younger than their atlantic counterparts contemporary pb concentrations implied by coral measurements assumingkd 2 3 are 40 50 pm for surface waters near tutuila and galapagos in the south pacific and 25 29 pm near mauritius in the indian ocean a single coral band from fiji 1920 5yr implies a pre industrial surface water concentration of 16 19 pm pb for the south pacific in view of reported surface water measurements and the north atlantic coral data the pacific coral extrapolations may be slightly high this could be a result of small variations inkd among different coral genera or incorporation of diagenetic pb by corals sampled in coastal environments

li sr mg and na in foraminiferal calcite shells from laboratory culture sediment traps and sediment cores abstract constant temperature laboratory culture experiments of the planktonic foraminiferal species globigerinoides sacculifer brady suggest that the ratios of li and sr to ca in the shells are a function of these ratios in the culture solutions mg ca and na ca in the shells did not vary with changes of these ratios in the culture solution these are the first direct determinations of the relationship between foraminiferal shell chemistry and solution composition the possibility of temperature dependence for the minor elemental composition of foraminiferal shells was also investigated in the laboratory and by analysis of several planktonic and one benthic foraminiferal species from sediment trap and sediment core samples the sr ca mg ca and na ca ratios in the natural samples roughly correlate with calcification temperature whereas differences in the li ca ratios are small and not systematically related to temperature however laboratory culture experiments at 20 c and 30 c showed no variation in the li ca sr ca mg ca and na ca ratios with calcification temperature for the planktonic foraminifera g sacculifer and orbulina universa therefore observed differences in the sr ca mg ca and na ca ratios for the sediment trap and core foraminiferal samples cannot be ascribed to direct effects of calcification temperature but may be due to some other environmental factor which is correlated with temperature

the age and origin of the younger dryas climate event in greenland ice cores 230th 234u and 14c dating of barbados corals has extended the calibration of 14c years b p to calendar years b p beyond the 9200 year tree ring series bard et al 1990 this now permits the conversion of 14c chronozones which delimit major climate shifts in western europe to calendar years the younger dryas chronozone defined as 11 000 to 10 000 14c years b p corresponds to 13 000 to 11 700 calendar years b p this calibration affects the interpretation of an intensely studied example of the younger dryas climate event the 18o anomaly between 1785 and 1793 m in dye 3 ice core the end of the 18o anomaly in dye 3 ice core has been dated by measurements of 14c in air bubbles andree et al 1984 1986 and by annual layer counting hammer et al 1986 the older 14c dates fall out of the range of the tree ring calibration series but can now be calibrated to calendar years using the barbados 230th 234u calibration the 14ccorrected age for the end of the 18o event is 10 300 400 calendar years b p compared to the annual layer counting age of 10 720 150 years b p thus the younger dryas event in the dye 3 ice core ends in the preboreal chronozone 11 700 to 10 000 calendar years b p and is not correlative with the end of the younger dryas event identified in pollen records marking european vegetation changes the end of the dye 3 18o event is however correlative with the end of meltwater pulse ib fairbanks 1989 marking a period of intense deglaciation with meltwater discharge rates exceeding 13 000 km yr

palaeomagnetism of late cenozoic fossiliferous sediments from barranca de los lobos buenos aires province argentina the magnetic age of the south american land mammal ages abstract palaeomagnetic data for a sequence of late cenozoic sediments exposed at bajada martinez de hoz and el muelle barranca de los lobos atlantic coastal area buenos aires province are reported the sequence comprises sediments assigned to the chapadmalal formation montehermosense land mammal age barranca de los lobos vorohue and san andres formations uquiense land mammal age miramar formation ensenadense land mammal age and arroyo seco and arroyo loberia formations lujanense land mammal age the magnetostratigraphy recorded in the sequence suggests a brunhes magnetic age 3 15 ma for the chapadmalal formation it also suggests a brunhes to late matuyama magnetic age for the lujanense land mammal age a matuyama magnetic age for the ensenadense land mammal age a gauss magnetic age for the uquiense land mammal age and an early gauss to gilbert magnetic age for the montehermosense land mammal age finally the results obtained suggest that the panama isthmus was formed at an age earlier than 3 0 ma possibly 4 0 3 5 ma ago

late quaternary carbonate sedimentation at the sierra leone rise eastern equatorial atlantic ocean abstract in the eastern equatorial atlantic ocean changes in the concentration of carbonate in late quaternary sediments resulted from reduced production of carbonate in surface waters and increased dilution with non carbonate sediments during glacial maxima during glacial stages production of carbonate in surface water measured as its accumulation rate in shallow undissolved cores decreased by one half the glacial accumulation rate of non carbonate components increased 1 5 to 4 times over holocene values the greatest increases occurred in the deepest cores carbonate dissolution during stages 2 3 and 4 increased the proportion of foraminiferal fragments and decreased the accumulation rate of susceptible species in the deep sites in shallow sites slightly increased dissolution can be detected during stage 3 while greatly increased dissolution occurred during stage 4 bathymetric profiles of foraminiferal fragmentation and accumulation document a shoaling of the foraminiferal lysocline by 1000 m during glacial isotopic stages we present a mass balance model of sediment accumulation for carbonate and insoluble components and from this model we estimate the rate of downslope transport and dissolution of carbonate at the sierra leone rise our results show that during stage 4 the rate of carbonate loss to dissolution was greater than the rate observed today or during other interglacial stages the calculated rates of dissolution for stages 2 and 3 are not significantly different from those calculated for stage 1