circulation mixing and production of antarctic bottom water abstract the antarctic source of bottom water to the abyssal layer of the world ocean is examined as well as its large scale flow pattern and ultimate entrainment rate into the deep water above we make use of the available high quality station data in the southern ocean to construct bottom maps of neutral density and mean property maps including chlorofluorocarbon cfc for the abyssal layer underneath a selected neutral density surface the maximum density at the sill depth of drake passage is used to distinguish between the voluminous deep water mass that is a continuous component of the antarctic circumpolar current from the relatively denser bottom water originated along the antarctic continental margins based on water density antarctic bottom water aabw is defined here generically to include all volumes of non circumpolar water of antarctic origin over the shelf regime multiple localized sources of specific aabw types contribute to the abyssal layer of the adjacent antarctic basins characteristics of these dense bottom waters reflect closely those observed on the parent shelf water mass spreading paths of newly formed deep and bottom waters over the slope regime and their subsequent oceanic circulation patterns are analyzed on the basis of global property maps for the aabw layer interior mixing and interbasin exchanges of aabw are deduced from mean characteristic curves following the southern streamline of the antarctic circumpolar current outflow and mixing of aabw from the weddell sea to the argentine basin is depicted using density and cfc distributions of two zonal hydrographic lines recirculation and mixing of deep and bottom waters within the weddell gyre are also detailed using a meridional section along the greenwich meridian the strength of all localized sources of aabw combined is estimated by two independent approaches an estimate of the total production rate of aabw is calculated based on the oceanic cfc budget for the aabw layer offshore of the 2500 m isobath the sum of all downslope inputs of well ventilated bottom water types underneath the top isopycnal must account for the measured cfc content in the bottom layer the resulting total aabw production rate is about 8 sv which is a conservative figure that neglects the loss of cfc bearing waters across the top isopycnal in recent years whereas about 9 5 sv is calculated assuming a well mixed bottom layer making use of their transient nature cfc distributions at the top of the aabw layer indicate that more direct and rapid entrainment of cfc rich bottom waters below occurs over localized areas with relatively strong upwelling rates and enhanced vertical mixing a second more ad hoc but independent oceanic mass budget of the bottom layer is also constructed a typical basin wide rate of deep upwelling of 3 10 7 m s 1 requires 10 sv 1 sv 106 m3 s 1 of newly formed aabw to sink down the slope around antarctica we have also formulated a spatial distribution of deep upwelling on the isopycnal at the top of the aabw it is expressed as a combination of wind topographic and turbulent components which in turn are functions of the isopycnal depth bottom depth and bottom layer thickness this non uniform upwelling field yields about 12 sv of aabw exported across the top isopycnal fortuitously the overall average of upward speed at the top isopycnal 3 7 10 7 m s 1 compares well with previous estimates of deep upwelling in the northern basins a series of likely sites for strong vertical entrainment of aabw are clearly identified in the modeled distribution of deep upwelling consonant with the observed cfc distributions on the top isopycnal altogether regions with relatively high upwelling rates 5 10 7 m s 1 occupy only a quarter of the total areal extent of the top isopycnal but they account for as much as 45 of the total vertical transport

neritic and pelagic carbonate sedimentation in the marine environment ignorance is not bliss synthesis of available data allows us to define general patterns of late quaternary carbonate production and sedimentation in the global ocean during high stands of sea level the neritic and pelagic environments appear to sequester approximately similar amounts of carbonate whereas during low stands of sea level the decreased neritic zone produces and accumulates approximately an order of magnitude less carbonate assuming that global accumulation of deep sea carbonates remains more or less constant during glacially induced changes in sea level the ocean becomes depleted with respect to calcium carbonate during high stands and recharges during low stands before we can achieve a better understanding of the global carbonate system however we need a better understanding of key environments and processes a production and accumulation on continental shelves both as potential sinks accumulation and as sources export to the deep sea b a better measure of pelagic carbonate production and c late quaternary late pleistocene and holocene mass accumulation rates in the deep sea

sediment redistribution versus paleoproductivity change weddell sea margin sediment stratigraphy and biogenic particle flux of the last 250 000 years deduced from 230thex 10be and biogenic barium profiles high resolution 230thex and 10be and biogenic barium profiles were measured at three sediment gravity cores length 605 850 cm from the weddell sea continental margin applying the 230thex dating method average sedimentation rates of 3 cm kyr for the two cores from the south orkney slope and of 2 4 cm kyr for the core from the eastern weddell sea were determined and compared to 18o and lithostratigraphic results strong variations in the radionuclide concentrations in the sediments resembling the glacial interglacial pattern of the 18o stratigraphy and the 10be stratigraphy of high northern latitudes were used for establishing a chronostratigraphy biogenic ba shows a pattern similar to the radionuclide profiles suggesting that both records were influenced by increased paleoproductivity at the beginning of the interglacials however 230thex0 fluxes 0 stands for initial exceeding production by up to a factor of 4 suggest that sediment redistribution processes linked to variations in bottom water current velocity played the major role in controlling the radionuclide and biogenic barium deposition during isotope stages 5e and 1 the correction for sediment focusing makes the true vertical paleoproductivity rates deduced from the fluxes of proxy tracers like biogenic barium much lower than previously estimated very low 230thex0 concentrations and fluxes during isotope stage 6 were probably caused by rapid deposition of older resedimented material delivered to the weddell sea continental slopes by the grounded ice shelves and contemporaneous erosion of particles originating from the water column

inverse multiparameter modeling of paleoclimate carbon cycle indices abstract a simple linear response model describing the functional relationship between ocean carbon cycle parameters and paleoclimate tracers atmospheric p co2 13c caco3 saturation was derived from a set of sensitivity experiments performed previously using a three dimensional carbon cycle model the linear model is optimally fitted to ice and marine sediment core records for the last 120 000 yr to estimate the carbon cycle parameter changes that could have caused the observed reduction of atmospheric co2 partial pressure during the last glaciation the analysis indicates that the glacial pco2 reduction was primarily caused by a strengthening of the biological poc pump and a retardation of the oceanic circulation an increase in deep sea alkalinity and a change in the advective pattern of the ocean circulation have a smaller impact on atmospheric co2 but are necessary to explain the full set of paleoclimate tracers

the salinity temperature and δ18o of the glacial deep ocean we use pore fluid measurements of the chloride concentration and the oxygen isotopic composition from ocean drilling program cores to reconstruct salinity and temperature of the deep ocean during the last glacial maximum lgm our data show that the temperatures of the deep pacific southern and atlantic oceans during the lgm were relatively homogeneous and within error of the freezing point of seawater at the ocean s surface our chloride data show that the glacial stratification was dominated by salinity variations in contrast with the modern ocean for which temperature plays a primary role during the lgm the southern ocean contained the saltiest water in the deep ocean this reversal of the modern salinity contrast between the north and south atlantic implies that the freshwater budget at the poles must have been quite different a strict conversion of mean salinity at the lgm to equivalent sea level change yields a value in excess of 140 meters however the storage of fresh water in ice shelves and or groundwater reserves implies that glacial salinity is a poor predictor of mean sea level

atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last glacial maximum the circulation of the deep atlantic ocean during the height of the last ice age appears to have been quite different from today we review observations implying that atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last glacial maximum was neither extremely sluggish nor an enhanced version of present day circulation the distribution of the decay products of uranium in sediments is consistent with a residence time for deep waters in the atlantic only slightly greater than today however evidence from multiple water mass tracers supports a different distribution of deep water properties including density which is dynamically linked to circulation

calcium carbonate as ikaite crystals in antarctic sea ice 1 we report on the discovery of the mineral ikaite caco3 6h2o in sea ice from the southern ocean the precipitation of caco3 during the freezing of seawater has previously been predicted from thermodynamic modelling indirect measurements and has been documented in artificial sea ice during laboratory experiments but has not been reported for natural sea ice it is assumed that caco3 formation in sea ice may be important for a sea ice driven carbon pump in ice covered oceanic waters without direct evidence of caco3 precipitation in sea ice its role in this and other processes has remained speculative the discovery of caco3 6h2o crystals in natural sea ice provides the necessary evidence for the evaluation of previous assumptions and lays the foundation for further studies to help elucidate the role of ikaite in the carbon cycle of the seasonally sea ice covered regions

the present and past bottom current flow regime around the sediment drifts on the continental rise west of the antarctic peninsula throughout the last decade large sediment drifts located on the upper continental rise west of the antarctic peninsula were the target of oceanographic measurements bathymetric mapping seismic investigations shallow sediment coring and deep sea drilling by ocean drilling program odp leg 178 these studies concluded that for most of the late neogene and quaternary a generally sw ward directed bottom current affected the deposition on the drifts in particular during glacial periods the deposition was additionally influenced by nw ward directed transport of terrigenous detritus supplied by turbidity currents from the antarctic peninsula continental slope in a recent study however the palaeomagnetic signal of the drift sediments recovered at two odp leg 178 sites 1095 and 1101 was interpreted to provide spatial and directional information on the physical record of the ne ward flowing antarctic circumpolar current acc here we investigate the link between the clockwise flowing acc and the generally sw wards flowing near bottom contour current we show that at the odp leg 178 sites on the western antarctic peninsula continental margin the acc only affects the ocean circulation above ca 1000 m water depth therefore the signal of acc flow might only be archived in the ice rafted debris ird content of the drift sediments however the ird from the leg 178 sites accounts for only a small proportion of the drift sediments and is dominantly of local origin past variability of bottom water flow around the sediment drifts was reconstructed on the basis of seismic studies and clay mineralogical and grain size analyses these reconstructions provide useful information about both downstream direction and velocity changes of the bottom current and point to its sw ward flow along the upper rise during at least the last 9 4 ma

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

radiocarbon constraints on ice sheet advance and retreat in the weddell sea antarctica we report here the results of a study aimed at providing radiometric age control on glacial events in the weddell sea during the late quaternary sediment cores from the eastern continental shelf where the east antarctic ice sheet was grounded have recovered glacial marine sediments resting on tills and the latter deposits predate the isotope stage 2 last glacial maximum sediment cores from the continental slope and rise sampled a prominent ice rafted debris layer and radiocarbon ages indicate that this ice rafting event took place prior to 26 000 yr b p thus the combined data indicate that significant deglaciation of the weddell sea continental shelf took place prior to the last glacial maximum our data also suggest that the ice masses that border the weddell sea are more extensive than they were during the previous glacial minimum

glacial interglacial changes in subarctic north pacific stratification since the first evidence of low algal productivity during ice ages in the antarctic zone of the southern ocean was discovered there has been debate as to whether it was associated with increased polar ocean stratification or with sea ice cover shortening the productive season the sediment concentration of biogenic barium at ocean drilling program site 882 indicates low algal productivity during ice ages in the subarctic north pacific as well site 882 is located southeast of the summer sea ice extent even during glacial maxima ruling out sea ice driven light limitation and supporting stratification as the explanation with implications for the glacial cycles of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration

reduced north atlantic deep water flux to the glacial southern ocean inferred from neodymium isotope ratios the global circulation of the oceans and the atmosphere transports heat around the earth broecker and denton1 suggested that changes in the global ocean circulation might have triggered or enhanced the glacial interglacial cycles but proxy data for past circulation taken from sediment cores in the south atlantic ocean have yielded conflicting interpretations of ocean circulation in glacial times 13c variations in benthic foraminifera2 3 4 5 6 support the idea of a glacial weakening or shutdown of north atlantic deep water production whereas other proxies such as cd ca ba ca and 231pa 230th ratios show little change from the last glacial maximum to the holocene epoch7 8 9 here we report neodymium isotope ratios from the dispersed fe mn oxide component of two southeast atlantic sediment cores both cores show variations that tend towards north atlantic signatures during the warm marine isotope stages 1 and 3 whereas for the full glacial stages 2 and 4 they are closer to pacific ocean signatures we conclude that the export of north atlantic deep water to the southern ocean has resembled present day conditions during the warm climate intervals but was reduced during the cold stages an increase in biological productivity may explain the various proxy data during the times of reduced north atlantic deep water export

climatic change and caco3 preservation an 800 000 year bathymetric reconstruction from the central equatorial pacific ocean sixteen deep sea cores from the central equatorial pacific are used to reconstruct a continuous 800 000 year 800 kyr record of bathymetric variations in carbonate preservation as measured by calcium carbonate caco3 content the depth of the sedimentary lysocline has fluctuated markedly in conjunction with late pleistocene climate cycles while the carbonate critical depth ccrd which is the water depth where the sediments contain 10 caco3 has remained relatively constant as a result the depth of the lysocline controls the bathymetric position and thickness of the caco3 transition zone defined as the depth from the lysocline to the ccrd modern and interglacial aged sediments show poor caco3 preservation and thick caco3 transition zones glacial aged sediments show good preservation and deep thin zones due to the deepening of the lysocline detailed comparison of the caco3 preservation and oxygen isotope records from the central equatorial pacific confirms the observation that preservation maxima and minima tend to occur during the latter half of glacial and interglacial stages and on climate transitions rather than during the middle of climatic stages during the nine major glacial stages of the last 800 kyr the lysocline deepened by at least 400 to 800 m this deepening indicates an increase in the abyssal carbonate ion concentration co3 and a depression of the calcite saturation horizon best explained by the deeper presence of a more carbonate saturated water mass the bottom of the transition zone has remained at a relatively constant depth during the brunhes chron indicating a balance between caco3 sedimentation and dissolution in the deepest waters of the central equatorial pacific

coccolith chemistry reveals secular variations in the global ocean carbon cycle the mismatch between the 100 and 400 k y components of pleistocene climate and the relative power of those terms from the eccentricity of the earth s orbit remains a challenge to the milankovitch hypothesis coccolithophores have the potential to respond to parameters of orbital forcing other than insolation and as a critical component of the ocean carbon cycle can act to modify the climate response the first direct comparison of coccolith fraction sr ca alkenone abundance and automated coccolithophore counts shows that cf sr ca is largely driven by changing production of bloom species with unusually high sr ca ratios the periods of high cf sr ca and high bloom production mark periods of high global coccolithophore production which correlate inversely with the low amplitude 100 and higher amplitude 400 k y eccentricity orbital frequency 400 k y cycles of coccolithophore bloom production correspond to periods of enhanced carbonate accumulation in some parts of the ocean deep ocean dissolution in others positive shifts in global ocean 13c and acmes of gephyrocapsa caribbeanica and emiliania huxleyi the link between production of coccolithophore blooms and eccentricity may be due to orbital control of silica leakage from the southern ocean to the orbitally defined inverse correlation between insolation and growing season length and the asymptotic growth response to these parameters or to changes in nutrient input from weathering during the pleistocene the eccentricity induced coccolithophore acmes have no apparent influence on atmospheric carbon dioxide pco2 due to the shift towards small bloom coccolithophores or to coupling with increased diatom productivity or the ballast effect of the calcium carbonate rain such that pleistocene climate has no significant variance at the largest amplitude eccentricity forcing of 400 k y coccolithophores and their influence on the carbon cycle may act as a filter between the incident orbital forcing and resultant climate

sedimentary patterns in the late quaternary southern ocean the spatial and temporal distribution of biogenic and lithogenic sediments in the late quaternary southern ocean reflects the zonal character of the antarctic circumpolar current and is basically controlled by glacial dynamics in antarctica sea ice distribution temperature gradients wind patterns and thermohaline ocean circulation carbonate patterns in most places reveal a decline in biogenic carbonate preservation during glacial periods mainly attributed to a reduced influx of north atlantic deep water and increased ocean stratification which modified deep water chemistry towards more corrosivity an important lithological feature of the southern ocean is the circumpolar opal belt which today is situated between the polar front and the seasonal sea ice limit to the south during the glacial periods the opal belt shifted to the north in response to a wider sea ice extension that reduced light availability and diatom productivity to the south biosiliceous productivity to the north likely was fueled by detrital iron supplied by aeolian dust input and or hemipelagic processes lithogenic fluxes generally increased during the glacial periods provenance studies on the origin and dispersal of detrital materials suggest combined effects of low sea level stands increased glaciogenic input and enhanced current transport to have caused elevated detrital fluxes the relative and absolute contribution of aeolian dust is difficult to decipher and awaits further clarification by integrated provenance studies of both marine sediments and more reference materials from the potential terrestrial source areas ice rafted debris ird represents a minor fraction of lithogenic sediments but can be used to infer both antarctic ice sheet dynamics and the fate of both sea ice and iceberg survival in the distal southern ocean future work should be concentrated on a better identification of ird origin in terms of volcaniclastic influences the distinction of east and west antarctic sediment sources and sea ice versus iceberg transportation

biogenic budgets of particle rain benthic remineralization and sediment accumulation in the equatorial pacific abstract budgets of organic c corg cac03 and opal have been constructed for the palisades ny pacific equatorial region at 140 w between 5 n and 5 s measurements of the rain and benthic remineralization rate of biogenic materials have been adjusted and normalized to account for sampling biases sea surface temperature serves as a master variable in normalizing sediment trap and benthic remineralization data to average conditions the rain and remineralization rates for corg are nearly equal 0 40 0 05 and 0 46 0 06 mmol m 2 d 1 respectively thus only a minor fraction of this constituent is buried rain and dissolution rates for biogenic opal are similarly balanced 0 3 0 06 and 0 36 0 01 mmol m 2 d 1 and consistent with the value for opal burial 0 0 0 004 the cac03 budget appears to have changed during the holocene the best estimates of modern cac03 dissolution 0 58 0 03 mmol m 2 d 1 and rain rate 0 61 0 06 are consistent with230th normalized carbonate accumulation rates for the late holocene 0 1 mmol m 2 d 1 however the balance between dissolution and rain is not consistent with early holocene carbonate accumulation 0 3 mmol m 2 d 1 and this imbalance suggests 1 a recent increase in the rate of cac03 dissolution on the sea floor or 2 a decrease in the rain rate of carbonate particles modeling230th profiles in sediments from this region define the last 3000 years as the duration of increased dissolution or decreased particle rain 231pa 230th ratios in sediments indicate that particle rain rates have remained constant or possibly increased slightly through the holocene two potential causes for increased dissolution were investigated a change in deep water carbonate saturation or a change in co g cac03 rain ratios a model describing carbonate dissolution as a function of the degree of undersaturation and the amount of organic carbon oxidation within sediments indicates that the recent increase in dissolution is more likely due to changes in bottom water chemical composition we propose that pacific ocean bottom water carbonate ion concentration has decreased by 10 15 m over the last 3000 years

mg ca in the benthic foraminifera cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and cibicidoides mundulus temperature versus carbonate ion saturation magnesium calcium mg ca ratios in two widely used benthic foraminiferal species cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and cibicidoides mundulus cibicidoides kullenbergi picked from global ocean core tops and from six cores in the north atlantic ocean have been measured to investigate mg ca variability cleaning effect and influences from bottom water temperature bwt and deep water carbonate ion saturation co32 replicate measurements of the two species reveal mg ca variability of 0 07 0 07 mmol mol compared with mg ca in samples cleaned by oxidative cleaning mg ca ratios are significantly lowered by 0 10 0 09 mmol mol in samples cleaned by reductive cleaning likely due to preferential leaching during the reductive cleaning step the cleaning influence is large relative to glacial interglacial mg ca changes 0 05 0 31 mmol mol by this study regression of core top data from a wide range of locations show that c wuellerstorfi mg ca is strongly affected by deep water co32 with a sensitivity of 0 009 mmol mol per mol kg when bwt is included in regressions the correlation is slightly more significant with a weak bwt sensitivity on mg ca of between 0 03 0 01 and 0 07 0 02 mmol mol per c because co32 and bwt co vary for most core top samples an alternate method of separating the two effects was made by comparing glacial to interglacial changes in mg ca from a depth transect of north atlantic cores where the bwt and carbonate ion histories since the last glacial period have been well constrained results from this transect suggest that the bwt effect is 0 03 mmol mol per c weaker than inferred from the core top study therefore core top and down core data suggest that c wuellerstorfi mg ca is insensitive to bwt changes the weak bwt effect when compared with natural variability complicates the use of mg ca in this species to reconstruct past bwt taking all measured samples from various environments into account c mundulus mg ca ratios show no correlation with bwt or deep water co32

late pleistocene evolution of the ocean s carbonate system abstract we demonstrate that the carbonate record from a single site ocean drilling program site 1089 in the deep south atlantic represents a qualitative high resolution record of the temporal evolution of the carbonate saturation state of the deep sea the record is especially notable because it is free from many of the complications that limit other records low sedimentation rates blurring by chemical erosion bioturbation etc the pattern of carbonate variability is characteristic of indo pacific cores with high carbonate glacials and low carbonate interglacials wt carbonate lags changes in benthic 18 o by an average of 7 6 kyr and carbonate variations are in phase with the rate of change first derivative of benthic 18 o intense dissolution occurs at the transition from interglacial to glacial periods and increased preservation occurs during deglaciations these observations represent two fundamentally different responses of the marine carbonate system the lagged response of carbonate to 18 o reflects a steady state mass balance process whereby the lysocline adjusts to maintain alkalinity balance between riverine input and marine burial the site 1089 carbonate signal is remarkably similar to inferred changes in the sr ca of seawater for the past 250 kyr which implies that both carbonate dissolution and seawater sr ca may be controlled by sea level induced changes in the location of carbonate deposition shelf basin fractionation during glacial to interglacial cycles the transient change in preservation during the transitions into and out of glacial stages reflects a response of the carbonate system to a redistribution of alkalinity and dic in the ocean i e carbonate compensation comparison of the site 1089 carbonate and vostok p co 2 records suggests a role of deep sea co 3 2 variations for governing at least some second order features of the atmospheric p co 2 signal in order to quantify this role however measurement of indices of dissolution along a true depth transect will be required to estimate the magnitudes of changes in deep sea co 3 2

influence of variable rates of neritic carbonate deposition on atmospheric carbon dioxide and pelagic sediments short term imbalances in the global cycle of shallow water calcium carbonate deposition and dissolution may be responsible for much of the observed pleistocene change in atmospheric carbon dioxide content however any proposed changes in the alkalinity balance of the ocean must be reconciled with the sedimentary record of deep sea carbonates the possible magnitude of the effect of shallow water carbonate deposition on the dissolution of pelagic carbonate can be tested using numerical simulations of the global carbon cycle boundary conditions can be defined by using extant shallow water carbonate accumulation data and pelagic carbonate deposition dissolution data on timescales of thousands of years carbonate deposition versus dissolution is rarely out of equilibrium by more than 1 5 x 10 13 mole yr 1 results indicate that the carbonate chemistry of the ocean is rarely at equilibrium on timescales less than 10 ka this disequilibrium is probably due to sea level induced changes in shallow water calcium carbonate deposition dissolution an interpretation that does not conflict with pelagic sedimentary data from the central pacific

the calcite lysocline as a constraint on glacial interglacial low latitude production changes we investigate the response of the calcite lysocline to changes in the export production of the low latitude surface ocean the combined equatorial tropical and subtropical regions we employ different caco3 throughput schemes in a time dependent ocean carbon cycle model to separate the caco3 production lysocline balance from the other components of the model response and to estimate the effect of dissolution driven by organic matter decomposition in surface sediments with this model we carry out three experiments based on previous hypotheses for the cause of glacial interglacial atmospheric co2 variations 1 a simple increase in low latitude production 2 a decrease in its caco3 organic carbon rain ratio and 3 an increase in the depth of organic carbon regeneration none of these changes when taken alone can lower atmospheric co2 to glacial levels without violating observations of the glacial lysocline depth if a low latitude production increase were accompanied by a decrease in the caco3 organic carbon rain ratio then these simultaneous changes could lower atmospheric co2 to observed glacial levels without causing a significant change in the ocean average depth of the lysocline however even with these simultaneous changes the required increase in production is 50 or more of the modern rate of production

glacial to holocene redistribution of carbonate ion in the deep sea we have reconstructed the glacial age distribution of carbonate ion concentration in the deep waters of the equatorial ocean on the basis of differences in weight between glacial and holocene foraminifera shells picked from a series of cores spanning a range of water depth on the western atlantic s ceara rise and the western pacific s ontong java plateau the results suggest that unlike today s ocean sizable vertical gradients in the carbonate ion concentration existed in the glacial age deep ocean in the equatorial pacific the concentration increased with depth and in the atlantic it decreased with depth in addition the contrast between the carbonate ion concentration in deep waters produced in the northern atlantic and deep water in the pacific appears to have been larger than in today s ocean

silicic acid leakage from the southern ocean a possible explanation for glacial atmospheric pco2 1 using a simple box model we investigate the effects of a reduced si n uptake ratio by antarctic phytoplankton on the marine silica cycle and atmospheric pco2 recent incubation experiments demonstrate such a phenomenon in diatoms when iron is added hutchins and bruland 1998 takeda 1998 franck et al 2000 the southern ocean may have supported diatoms with reduced si n uptake ratios compared to today during the dustier glacial times petit et al 1999 a similar reduction in the uptake ratio may be realized with an increased production of nondiatom phytoplankton such as phaeocystis our model shows that reduced si n export ratios in the southern ocean create excess silicic acid which may then be leaked out to lower latitudes any significant consumption of the excess silicic acid by diatoms that leads to an enhancement in their growth at the expense of coccolithophorids diminishes caco3 production and therefore diminishes the carbonate pump in our box model the combination of a reduced carbonate pump and an open system carbonate compensation draw down steady state atmospheric co2 from the interglacial 277 to 230 242 ppm depending on where the excess silicic acid is consumed by comparison the atmospheric pco2 sensitivity of general circulation models to carbonate pump forcing is 3 5 fold greater which combined with carbonate compensation can account for peak glacial atmospheric pco2 we discuss the importance of the initial rain ratio of caco3 to organic carbon on atmospheric pco2 and relevant sedimentary records that support and constrain this silicic acid leakage scenario

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

a geostrophic transport estimate for the florida current from the oxygen isotope composition of benthic foraminifera we present a new method for the quantitative reconstruction of upper ocean flows for during times in the past for the warm t 5 c surface ocean density can be accurately reconstructed from calcite precipitated in equilibrium with seawater as both of these properties increase with decreasing temperature and increasing salinity vertical density profiles can be reconstructed from the oxygen isotopic composition of benthic foraminifera the net volume transport between two vertical density profiles can be calculated using the geostrophic method using benthic foraminifera from surface sediment samples from either side of the florida straits florida keys and little bahama bank we reconstruct two vertical density profiles and calculate a volume transport of 32 sv using this method this agrees well with estimates from physical oceanographic methods of 30 32 sv for the mean annual volume transport we explore the sensitivity of this technique to various changes in the relationship between temperature and salinity as well as salinity and the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater

production and accumulation of calcium carbonate in the ocean budget of a nonsteady state present day production of caco3 in tne world ocean is calculated to be about 5 billion tons bt per year of which about 3 bt accumulate in sediments the other 40 is dissolved nearly half of the carbonate sediment accumulates on reefs banks and tropical shelves and consists largely of metastable aragonite and magnesian calcite deep sea carbonates predominantly calcitic coccoliths and planktonic foraminifera have orders of magnitude lower productivity and accumulation rates than shallow water carbonates but they cover orders of magnitude larger basin area twice as much calcium is removed from the oceans by present day carbonate accumulation as is estimated to be brought in by rivers and hydrothermal activity 1 6 bt suggesting that outputs have been overestimated or inputs underestimated that one or more other inputs have not been identified and or that the oceans are not presently in steady state one missing calcium source might be groundwater although its present day input is probably much smaller than that of rivers if as seems likely caco3 accumulation presently exceeds terrestial and hydrothermal input this imbalance presumably is offset by decreased accumulation and increased input during lowered sea level shallow water accumulation decreases by an order of magnitude with a 100 m drop in sea level while groundwater influx increases because of heightened piezometric head and the diagenesis of metastable aragonite and magnesian calcite from subaerially exposed shallow water carbonates

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

the sequence of events surrounding termination ii and their implications for the cause of glacial interglacial co2 changes events surrounding termination ii as preserved in the vostok ice core provide a number of clues about the mechanisms controlling glacial to interglacial climate change antarctic temperature and the atmosphere s co2 content increased together over a period of 8000 years this increase is bounded by a drop in dust flux at its onset and by a drop in the 18o of trapped air at its finish a similar lag between dust flux and foraminiferal 18o is seen in a southern ocean marine record suggesting that the 18o in air trapped in vostok ice is a valid proxy for ice volume the synchronous change of atmospheric co2 and southern hemisphere temperature thus preceded the melting of the northern hemisphere ice sheets this observation coupled with the fact that nutrient reorganization in the north atlantic occurs with or after the sea level rise eliminates many scenarios proposed to explain the co2 rise including those which rely on sea level change conveyor related nutrient redistribution or north atlantic cooling southern ocean scenarios become the front runners but the most popular mechanism iron fertilization has two problems in explaining the co2 rise before termination ii first much of the dust demise occurs prior to the change in co2 so if iron is the villain a threshold value of its supply must be called upon above which productivity does not continue to increase second the co2 rise continues for some 4 5 kyr after the dust flux has fallen to close to zero these problems may be solved if the increased iron supply in dust caused higher rates of nitrogen fixation during the glacial periods in this case the residence time of oceanic nitrate of a few thousand years would enable decreasing productivity to be a global rather than a local phenomenon and would explain the slow rampup of atmospheric co2

assessing the effect of dissolution on planktonic foraminiferal mg ca ratios evidence from caribbean core tops in order to assess the dissolution effect on foraminiferal mg ca ratios we analyzed mg ca of seven planktonic foraminiferal species and four of their varieties from caribbean core tops from 900 4700 m water depth depending on the foraminiferal species and variety mg ca start to decline linearly below co32 levels of 18 26 mol kg by 0 04 0 11 mmol mol per 1 mol kg co32 similar to decreases of 0 5 0 8 mmol mol per kilometer below 2500 3000 m water depth above these species specific critical levels mg ca remains stable with higher intraspecific mg ca variability than below we developed routines to correct mg ca from below these critical thresholds for dissolution effects which reduce the overall intraspecific variability by 24 64 and provide dissolution corrected mg ca appropriate to calculate holocene paleotemperatures when taking into account only dissolution unaffected mg ca from 2000 m the systematic succession of foraminiferal species according to their mg ca reflects expected calcification depths

palaeoproductivity at the antarctic continental margin opal and barium records for the last 400 ka abstract records of biogenic opal and barium were measured in sediment cores at the antarctic continental margin in the area of the weddell lazarev and cosmonaut seas these records provide a qualitative and quantitative tool to estimate changes in palaeoproductivity over the last 400 ka the stratigraphy of the investigated cores is calibrated to a lithostratigraphy adjusted to a stable isotope record from the eastern weddell sea which is supported by a th dating method we present evidence that interglacial productivity along the antarctic continental margin is twice as high compared to subantarctic sites near south orkney a glacial interglacial pattern with high productivity during peak warm stages can be observed back to 400 ka high interglacial productivity is linked to a reduced sea ice coverage which is regulated by the heat flux introduced by north atlantic deep water nadw to the antarctic ocean generally good correlations between the barium and opal records of the sediment cores indicate that dissolution of opal in the water column and the sediment does not obscure the surface productivity signal therefore in this area biogenic opal in combination with other proxies can be used for palaeoproductivity estimates palaeoproductivity is also assessed quantitatively from the barium record using the approaches of dymond et al dymond j suess e lyle m 1992 barium in deep sea sediments a geochemical proxy for paleoproductivity paleoceanography 7 163 181 and francois et al francois r honjo s manganini s j ravizza g e 1995 biogenic barium fluxes to the deep sea implications for paleoproductivity reconstructions glob biochem cycles 9 2 289 303 palaeoproductivity rates obtained by both methods show a good temporal correspondence in peak warm stages higher values are computed with the approach of dymond et al 1992 though some barium may be provided by lateral advection of material as indicated by th data near south orkney both methods provide values which are representative of a high productivity area they are drastically reduced during glacial times the extent and duration of sea ice coverage and the persistence of coastal polynyas is considered to be of primary importance in controlling the flux of biogenic material to sediments of the antarctic continental margin

biometry of emiliania huxleyi and its biostratigraphic significance in the eastern north atlantic ocean and western mediterranean sea in the last 20 000 years abstract a detailed biometric study of coccoliths of emiliania huxleyi has been performed on 34 samples from three sediment cores of the north atlantic ocean and the western mediterranean sea su90 08 m39029 7 and md95 2043 all three cores contain the last glacial interglacial transition marine isotopic stages 1 2 enabling us to study in detail the morphology of this taxon during this period of change one hundred coccoliths of e huxleyi were randomly chosen in each sample distal shield length and width measurements were performed on each of the individuals selected the data show that e huxleyi specimens larger than 4 m are frequent in glacial samples and that these larger forms decreased sharply in abundance during the deglaciation and holocene smaller forms are more abundant in this latter group of samples the decrease in larger forms seems to be time transgressive since it is recorded between 12 and 11 kyr cal bp in southern locations alboran sea and gulf of cadiz and around 8 4 kyr cal bp in the central north atlantic scanning electron microscope analyses indicated that the two forms have the same degree of calcification and hence this parameter should not be used in taxonomic classifications we suggest that the larger coccoliths belong to a cold water variety of e huxleyi which can be distinguished from the small coccolith variety in light microscope analyses by its distal shield length the decrease in the abundance of this larger variety during the deglaciation period could be used as a biostratigraphic event in the north atlantic and mediterranean areas

temporal relationships of carbon cycling and ocean circulation at glacial boundaries evidence from high sedimentation rate south atlantic deep sea cores indicates that global and southern ocean carbon budget shifts preceded thermohaline circulation changes during the last ice age initiation and termination and that these were preceded by ice sheet growth and retreat respectively no consistent lead lag relationships are observed during abrupt millennial warming events during the last ice age allowing for the possibility that ocean circulation triggered some millenial climate changes at the major glacial interglacial transitions the global carbon budget and thermohaline ocean circulation responded sequentially to the climate changes that forced the growth and decline of continental ice sheets

the role of vertical chemical fractionation in controlling late quaternary atmospheric carbon dioxide the 30 decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide during glacial maxima must be driven by some change in the chemical circulation of the ocean here a new model for late quaternary co2 variability is presented which resolves some problems occurring in previous models including the timing of carbon dioxide response and changes in the oxygen content of the deep ocean the primary driving factor in this model is a rearrangement of chemical distributions in the ocean whereby labile nutrients and metabolic co2 are concentrated in deep waters rather than in intermediate waters as observed in the modern ocean this new bottom heavy chemical structure does not affect atmospheric carbon dioxide directly instead co2 induced acidity lowers the deep ocean carbonate ion concentration and temporarily increases carbonate dissolution rates oceanic alkalinity then rises until the deep ocean carbonate ion is restored to its steady state value the resulting increase in oceanic alkalinity draws co2 out of the atmosphere into the ocean alkalinity and atmospheric co2 lag several thousand years behind the change in oceanic chemical structure this delayed response is determined by the limited rate of continental weathering and deep ocean carbonate dissolution relative to the oceanic alkalinity inventory it is proposed that characteristic deglacial and preglacial states of the ocean are leading factors driving glacial interglacial climate changes this concept reinterprets the carbon isotope contrast between surface water and deep waters 13c p b as due to a shift of light metabolic carbon from intermediate waters into deep waters the process is illustrated here by a simple equilibrium five box ocean model the observed intermediate depth nutrient depletion is not sufficient in itself to determine which of several possible mechanisms are operating and some mechanisms are not as effective in changing atmospheric co2 as others the largest response is seen from deepening the regeneration cycle of organic carbon the least response is seen from converting north atlantic deep water into intermediate water

a calcite dissolution pulse in the norwegian greenland sea during the last deglaciation carbonate preservation profiles in the atlantic ocean and the norwegian greenland sea seem to be out of phase during the last deglaciation a possibly time transgressive deglacial preservation spike in the n atlantic overlaps with a major calcite dissolution pulse in the norwegian sea contemporaneously major changes in surface and bottom water circulation of the norwegian greenland sea occurred isotopic and sedimentological evidence suggests that bottom water formation in the norwegian greenland sea was almost shut down during the last maximum glaciation and probably also during the first part of the last deglaciation during that time corrosive bottom waters might have filled the norwegian sea deep sea basins causing carbonate dissolution at the sea floor subsequently the reinitiation of deep water formation could have been coupled with increased resuspension of organic matter and or reworking of older organic matter rising the p co2 of bottom waters and contributing to carbonate dissolution at the sea floor additionally large volumes of atmospheric co2 stored before the younger dryas might have been pumped into the deep sea possibly by downwelling of surface waters and been neutralized against carbonate at the sea floor

modeled estimates of global reef habitat and carbonate production since the last glacial maximum estimated changes in reef area and caco3 production since the last glacial maximum lgm are presented for the first time based on a model reefhab which uses measured environmental data to predict global distribution of reef habitat suitable reef habitat is defined by temperature salinity nutrients and the depth attenuated level of photosynthetically available radiation par caco3 production is calculated as a function of par when minimum par levels were chosen to restrict reef growth to 30 m depth and less modern reef area totaled 584 746 10 km global carbonate production which takes into account topographic relief as a control on carbonate accumulation was 1 00 gt yr 1 these values are close to the most widely accepted estimates of reef area and carbonate production and demonstrate that basic environmental data can be used to define reef habitat and calcification to simulate reef habitat changes since the lgm the model was run at 1 kyr intervals using appropriate sea level and temperature values these runs show that at the lgm reef area was restricted to 20 of that today and carbonate production to 27 due primarily to a reduction in available space at the lower sea level and secondarily to lower sea surface temperatures nonetheless these values suggest that reef growth prior to shelf flooding was more extensive than previously thought a crude estimate of reef released co2 to the atmosphere since the lgm is of the same order of magnitude as the atmospheric co2 change recorded in the vostok ice core which emphasizes the role of neritic carbonates within the global carbon cycle this model currently addresses only the major physical and chemical controls on reef carbonate production but it provides a template for estimating shallow tropical carbonate production both in the present and in the past as such the model highlights several long standing issues regarding reef carbonates particularly in terms of better defining the roles of light temperature aragonite saturation state and topography on reef calcification

benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the eastern weddell sea between 68 and 73 s distribution ecology and fossilization potential surface sediment samples taken with a vented box corer from the eastern weddell sea on four profiles perpendicular to the continental margin have been investigated for their benthic foraminiferal content the live fauna was differentiated from empty tests comprising the foraminiferal death assemblage based on the dead assemblages potential fossil assemblages were calculated to facilitate the analogy with late neogene core material five distinct live assemblages inhabit the continental margin today six dead assemblages and five potential fossil assemblages respectively correspond to these biocoenoses a predominantly calcareous live fauna dominated by trifarina angulosa is correlated with strong bottom currents and sandy sediments at the shelf break and on the uppermost continental slope below this on the upper slope down to 2000 m water depth the predominantly calcareous bulimina aculeata assemblage coincides with the core of warm 0 c weddell deep water and with fine and more organic rich sediments these calcareous live assemblages completely change composition during early diagenesis because of calcite dissolution within the uppermost sediment which depends largely on the grain size distribution of the sediment and the fluxes of organic matter therefore a still calcareous t angulosa dominated fossil assemblage indicates the sandy substrates on the shelf break and the upper slope whereas the deeper slope with hemipelagic calm sedimentation and with high fluxes of organic matter is indicated by martinottiella nodulosa the characteristic arenaceous fossil remnant of the former predominantly calcareous live b aculeata fauna on a continental terrace between 2500 and 3500 m water depth cribrostomoides subglobosus dominates the live fauna but because of rapid disintegration of the empty tests of this agglutinated species a predominantly calcareous fauna characterized by oridorsalis umbonatus and epistominella exigua comprises the dead assemblage and the potential fossil assemblage respectively on the lower continental slope between the carbonate lysocline 3500 m and the carbonate compensation depth 4000 m tests of nuttallides umbonifer are the characteristic dead and potential fossil remnants of a former predominantly arenaceous live fauna which is associated with the lower part of the antarctic bottom water aabw this corroborates earlier investigations suggesting a relationship between the carbonate corrosiveness of water masses and the distribution of n umbonifer this is important for inferring paleo routes and estimates of paleo production rates of aabw during the neogene

shallow remineralization in the weddell gyre 1 the region influenced by the polar front in the southern ocean is characterized by relatively high productivity which is mirrored in strong depletions of 234th in the surface water a good tracer of export production and by high accumulation rates on the underlying seabed farther south the weddell sea is generally considered a low productivity region with very low export fluxes this finding is based on satellite observations sediment accumulation rates trap deployments and phytoplankton distribution if this would be true 234th should be close to equilibrium with its parent however in a series of high resolution transects of 234th 238u across the antarctic circumpolar current acc 234th was found to be depleted by 10 15 throughout the clear weddell gyre only to reach equilibrium in sea ice covered regions of the coastal zone vertical profiles showed that the depletion was limited to the upper mixed layer and was balanced by an enrichment of similar magnitude at 100 250m depth this implies that the export of particles below 250 m is negligible such shallow remineralization is in line with the discrepancies between biogenic silica production rates and sediment trap data observed in the weddell and ross seas these observations in the weddell sea are fully consistent with our inverse modeling results for both organic carbon and opal and they are not inconsistent with tco2 and oxygen sections that show a tco2 enriched oxygen reduced shallow subsurface layer this blue ocean characterized by upwelling of co2 enriched deep waters supports sufficient productivity to be a net sink for co2 to abyssal depths hoppema et al 1999 no record of this productivity and export is stored in the underlying sediment which has important palaeoceanographic consequences

record of a mid pleistocene depositional anomaly in west antarctic continental margin sediments an indicator for ice sheet collapse abstract modern global warming is likely to cause future melting of earth s polar ice sheets that may result in dramatic sea level rise a possible collapse of the west antarctic ice sheet wais alone which is considered highly vulnerable as it is mainly based below sea level may raise global sea level by up to 5 6 m despite the importance of the wais for changes in global sea level its response to the glacial interglacial cycles of the quaternary is poorly constrained moreover the geological evidence for the disintegration of the wais at some time within the last ca 750 kyr possibly during marine isotope stage mis 11 424 374 ka is ambiguous here we present physical properties palaeomagnetic geochemical and clay mineralogical data from a glaciomarine sedimentary sequence that was recovered from the west antarctic continental margin in the amundsen sea and spans more than the last 1 myr within the sedimentary sequence proxies for biological productivity such as biogenic opal and the barium aluminum ratio and the supply of lithogenic detritus from the west antarctic hinterland such as ice rafted debris and clay minerals exhibit cyclic fluctuations in accordance with the glacial interglacial cycles of the quaternary a prominent depositional anomaly spans mis 15 mis 13 621 478 ka the proxies for biological productivity and lithogenic sediment supply indicate that this interval has the characteristics of a single prolonged interglacial period even though no proxy suggests environmental conditions much different from today we conclude that if the wais collapsed during the last 800 kyr then mis 15 mis 13 was the most likely time period apparently the duration rather than the strength of interglacial conditions was the crucial factor for the wais drawdown a comparison with various marine and terrestrial climate archives from around the world corroborates that unusual environmental conditions prevailed throughout mis 15 mis 13 some of these anomalies are observed in the pelagic southern ocean and the south atlantic and might originate in major ice sheet drawdown in antarctica but further research is required to test this hypothesis

benthic foraminiferal b ca ratios reflect deep water carbonate saturation state boron calcium ratios were measured in four benthic foraminiferal species three calcitic cibicidoides wuellerstorfi cibicidoides mundulus and uvigerina spp and one aragonitic hoeglundina elegans from 108 core top samples located globally comparison of coexisting species shows b ca of c wuellerstorfi c mundulus h elegans uvigerina spp suggestive of strong vital effects on benthic foraminiferal b ca a dissolution effect on benthic b ca is not observed core top data show large intra species variations 50 130 mol mol in b ca within a single species benthic foraminiferal b ca show a simple linear correlation with deep water co32 providing a proxy for past deep water co32 reconstructions empirical sensitivities of co32 on b ca have been established to be 1 14 0 048 and 0 69 0 072 mol mol per mol kg for c wuellerstorfi and c mundulus respectively the uncertainties associated with reconstructing bottom water co32 using b ca in c wuellerstorfi and c mundulus are about 10 mol kg a preliminary application shows that the last glacial maximum lgm b ca ratios were increased by 12 at 1 2 km and decreased by 12 at 3 5 4 0 km relative to holocene values in the north atlantic ocean this implies that the lgm co32 was higher by not vert similar 25 30 mol kg at intermediate depths and lower by not vert similar 20 mol kg in deeper waters consistent with glacial water mass reorganization in the north atlantic ocean inferred from other paleochemical proxies

a 1 3 myr palaeoceanographic record from the continental margin off dronning maud land antarctica a 12 5 m long core was retrieved from the continental margin off dronning maud land antarctica magnetostratigraphy stable isotopes 14 c accelerator mass spectrometer and amino acid analyses indicate a continuous sediment record going back 1 3 myr comparison of caco 3 results with those from odp site 1089 and an index of north atlantic deep water nadw influence in surface waters indicate that nadw upwelled along the antarctic continental margin during the whole of this period the midpleistocene transition 1 0 0 6 ma was accompanied by an apparent decline in the nadw influence and was followed by extended carbonate dissolution during the interglacials of marine isotope stages mis 13 and 11 less extensive periods of dissolution occur at the end of the interglacials younger than mis 11 while interglacial dissolution is characteristic of the pacific and indian oceans the carbon isotopes return to pre transition values indicative of renewed nadw upwelling the concentration of ice rafted debris may reflect changes in the relative rate of interglacial sedimentation it is speculated that the high ice rafted debris ird concentrations during interglacials younger than 400 kyr may be due to a reduced relative sedimentation rate of other interglacial components whereas the low concentrations during interglacials before the mid pleistocene transition may be due to a higher relative sedimentation rate of these

evidence for elevated alkalinity in the glacial southern ocean an increase in whole ocean alkalinity during glacial periods could account in part for the drawdown of atmospheric co2 into the ocean such an increase was inevitable due to the near elimination of shelf area for the burial of coral reef alkalinity we present evidence based on downcore measurements of benthic foraminiferal b ca and mg ca from a core in the weddell sea that the deep ocean carbonate ion concentration co32 was elevated by similar to 25 mu mol kg during each glacial period of the last 800 kyr the heterogeneity of the preservation histories in the different ocean basins reflects control of the carbonate chemistry of the deep glacial ocean in the atlantic and pacific by the changing ventilation and chemistry of weddell sea waters these waters are more corrosive than interglacial northern sourced waters but not as undersaturated as interglacial southern sourced waters our inferred increase in whole ocean alkalinity can be reconciled with reconstructions of glacial saturation horizon depth and the carbonate budget if carbonate burial rates also increased above the saturation horizon as a result of enhanced pelagic calcification the weddell records display low co32 during deglaciations and peak interglacial warmth coincident with maxima in percent caco3 in the atlantic and pacific oceans should the burial rate of alkalinity in the more alkaline glacial deep waters outstrip the rate of alkalinity supply then pelagic carbonate production by the coccolithophores at the end of the glacial maximum could drive a decrease in ocean co32 and act to trigger the deglacial rise in pco 2

a simple model for the caco3 saturation state of the ocean the strangelove the neritan and the cretan ocean 1 a simple model of the caco3 saturation state of the ocean is presented it can be solved analytically and is intended to identify the fundamental controls on ocean carbonate ion concentration it should also attract researchers unfamiliar with complex biogeochemical models despite its limitations the model calculated caco3 saturation state of today s ocean agrees well with observations in general the model reveals three distinctly different modes of operation the strangelove ocean of high supersaturation which is dominated by inorganic caco3 precipitation 2 the neritan ocean of indefinite saturation dominated by biogenic shallow water caco3 precipitation and 3 the cretan ocean of low saturation dominated by biogenic pelagic caco3 precipitation in the latter mode the deep ocean co32 is remarkably stable provided that the biogenic production of caco3 exceeds the riverine flux of ca2 and co32 this explains the overall constancy of the saturation state of the ocean documented over the last 100 ma the model is then used to address diverse questions one important result is that the recovery of the oceanic carbonate chemistry from fossil fuel neutralization in the future will be accelerated due to expected reduced biogenic calcification

sedimentation on the continental rise west of the antarctic peninsula over the last three glacial cycles abstract the continental rise west of the antarctic peninsula includes a number of large sediment mounds interpreted as contourite drifts cores from six sediment drifts spanning some 650 km of the margin and 4 of latitude have been dated using chemical and isotopic tracers of palaeoproductivity and diatom biostratigraphy interglacial sedimentation rates range from 1 1 to 4 3 cm ka glacial sedimentation rates range from 1 8 to 13 5 cm ka and decrease from proximal to distal sites on each drift late quaternary sedimentation was cyclic with brown biogenic burrowed mud containing ice rafted debris ird in interglacials and grey barren laminated mud in glacials foraminiferal intervals occur in interglacial stages 5 and 7 but not in the holocene processes of terrigenous sediment supply during glacial stages differed meltwater plumes were more important in stages 2 4 turbidity currents and ice rafting in stage 6 the terrigenous component shows compositional changes along the margin more marked in glacials the major oxides al2o3 and k2o are higher in the southwest and cao and tio2 higher in the northeast there is more smectite among the clay minerals in the northeast magnetic susceptibility varies along and between drifts these changes reflect source variations along the margin interglacial sediments show less clear trends and their ird was derived from a wider area downslope processes were dominant in glacials but alongslope processes may have attained equal importance in interglacials the area contrasts with the east antarctic continental slope in the se weddell sea where ice rafting is the dominant process and where interglacial sedimentation rates are much higher than glacial the differences in glacial setting and margin physiography can account for these contrasts

increase of atmospheric co2 during deglaciation constraints on the coral reef hypothesis from patterns of deposition 1 the coral reef hypothesis asserts that carbonate production on newly flooded shelves contributes importantly to the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide during deglaciation we seek to constrain the timing and strength of such carbon dioxide flux by re assessing reef and platform distribution in the world ocean the pattern of reef growth that emerges suggests that emission of co 2 resulting from carbonate production was important particularly during the late stages of deglaciation the effect peaked during the early holocene and presumably contributed to the warming in the climatic optimum

late quaternary caco3 production and preservation in the southern ocean implications for oceanic and atmospheric carbon cycling recent geochemical models invoke ocean alkalinity changes particularly in the surface southern ocean to explain glacial age pco2 reduction in such models alkalinity increases in glacial periods are driven by reductions in north atlantic deep water nadw supply which lead to increases in deep water nutrients and dissolution of carbonate sediments and to increased alkalinity of circumpolar deep water upwelling in the surface southern ocean we use cores from the southeast indian ridge and from the deep cape basin in the south atlantic to show that carbonate dissolution was enhanced during glacial stages in areas now bathed by circumpolar deep water this suggests that deep southern ocean carbonate ion concentrations were lower in glacial stages than in interglacials rather than higher as suggested by the polar alkalinity model broecker and peng 1989 our observations show that changes in southern ocean caco3 preservation are coherent with changes in the relative flux of nadw suggesting that southern ocean carbonate chemistry is closely linked to changes in deepwater circulation the pattern of enhanced dissolution in glacials is consistent with a reduction in the supply of nutrient depleted water nadw to the southern ocean and with an increase of nutrients in deep water masses carbonate mass accumulation rates on the southeast indian ridge 3200 3800 m and in relatively shallow cores 3000 m from the kerguelen plateau and the south pacific were significantly reduced during glacial stages by about 50 the reduced carbonate mass accumulation rates and enhanced dissolution during glacials may be partly due to decreases in caco3 corg flux ratios acting as another mechanism which would raise the alkalinity of southern ocean surface waters the polar alkalinity model assumes that the ratio of organic carbon to carbonate production on surface alkalinity is constant even if overall productivity in the southern ocean were held constant a decrease in the caco3 corg ratio would result in increased alkalinity and reduced pco2 in southern ocean surface waters during glacials this ecologically driven surface alkalinity change may enhance deepwater mediated changes in alkalinity and amplify rapid changes in pco2

comments on mount sedom salt diapir source for sulphate replenishment and gypsum supersaturation in the last glacial dead sea lake lisan by levy ej sivan o antler g lazar b stein m yechieli y gavrieli i abstract the paper under discussion ignores a published very large new data set charrach 2018a b which is multi disciplinary and integrates the most recent research the detailed study of the geology of mt sedom raises many questions regarding the interpretation and models presented in the paper the analysis of the new data set from mt sedom gathered from measured evidence with an analysis of the hydro geochemistry of the dead sea basin regarding the different sources of sulphate ions could considerably improve their paper

decoupling of δ13cσco 2 and phosphate in recent weddell sea deep and bottom water implications for glacial southern ocean paleoceanography

global deep sea burial rate of calcium carbonate during the last glacial maximum global databases concentrations rates in holocene and last glacial of calcium carbonate and mass accumulation maximum sediments were used to estimate the deep sea sedimentary calcium carbonate burial rate during these two time intervals sparse calcite mass accumulation rate data were extrapolated across regions of varying calcium carbonate concentration using a gridded map of calcium carbonate concentrations and the assumption that accumulation of noncarbonate material is uncorrelated with calcite concentration within some geographical region mean noncarbonate accumulation rates were estimated within each of nine regions determined by the distribution and nature of the accumulation rate data for core top sediments data coverage 67 of the high calcite the regions of reasonable encompass 75 sediments globally and within these regions we estimate an accumulation rate of 55 9 3 6x1011 mol yr 1 the same regions cover 48 of glacial high caco3 sediments the smaller fraction is due to a shift of calcite deposition to the poorly sampled south pacific and total 44 1 6 0x1011 mol yr 1 projecting to 100 coverage south and total 44 1 6 0x1011 both estimates yields accumulation estimates of 8 3x1012 mol yr 1 today and 9 2x1012 mol yr 1 during glacial time this is little better than a guess given the incomplete data coverage but it suggests that glacial deep sea calcite burial rate was probably not considerably faster than today in spite of a presumed decreasein shallow water burial during glacial time

determination of multiple element calcium ratios in foraminiferal calcite by quadrupole icp ms a method has been developed for rapid and precise simultaneous determination of nine element ca ratios in foraminiferal tests directly from intensity ratios using external matrix matched standards on a quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer icp ms all quantification isotopes are determined in pulse mode to avoid cross calibration small argide 40ar26mg interferences on 66zn are corrected by using two additional mg and zn standards a stable signal conducive for high precision measurements is obtained by cone conditioning variable calcium concentration has negligible effect on li al mn and sr but ca concentrations for standards and samples need to be constrained at a similar level for precise measurements of zn cd and u aliquots of samples are first analyzed for ca concentrations on an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer icp aes and the remaining solutions are diluted to ca concentration of 100 ppm for ratio measurements to assure data quality the long term reproducibility of the method yielded precisions of li ca 2 4 b ca 4 2 mg ca 1 4 al ca 14 mn ca 0 9 zn ca 2 8 1 2 7 8 mol mol and 5 1 0 5 1 2 mol mol sr ca 0 9 cd ca 2 4 0 07 0 24 mol mol and 4 8 0 01 0 07 mol mol and u ca 2 5 for foraminiferal samples as small as 60 g

investigating the reliability of h v spectral ratio and image entropy for quantifying the degree of disintegration of weak rocks abstract characterization and quantification of disintegration behavior of weak rocks such as shales claystones mudstones and siltstones are usually a difficult task because of their extremely diverse nature these rocks present numerous stability problems along cut slopes around the world because they can change rapidly from rock like to soil like materials upon exposure to natural climatic conditions engineers often overestimate the design parameters for cut slopes in these rocks when laboratory tests are performed on fresh samples adjusting the design parameters for the anticipated amount of disintegration can be problematic because of the complex and time dependent nature of disintegration behavior in this study we investigate the reliability of using microtremor h v spectral ratio derived from microtremor signals and image entropy obtained from image analysis techniques for quantifying the varying degrees of disintegration during 2011 2014 both techniques were used to study disintegration of slopes cut through claystones mudstones and limestones along the 80 km stretch of a highway between bogota and tunja in central colombia for image analysis a new algorithm was developed to discriminate between varying degrees of disintegration across the complete color structure of the image avoiding the gray scale transformation that is usually time consuming the results indicate significant correlations between the degree of disintegration of the cut face the dominant frequency estimated from the microtremor h v ratio and the image entropy values suggesting that h v ratio and image entropy can be reliable techniques for quantifying the degree of disintegration