mobility and fractionation of rare earth elements in argillaceous sediments implications for dating diagenesis and low grade metamorphism abstract we report sm nd and rb sr data for the fine fractions of lower paleozoic argillaceous rocks from wales uk and new york usa spanning the range of low grade metamorphic conditions from the diagenetic zone zeolite facies to the epizone greenschist facies in all cases leaching of the fine fractions results in a high 147 sm 144 nd 0 09 0 29 acid soluble component and a complementary low 147 sm 144 nd 0 05 0 14 residual component the observed fractionation is an ancient feature related to diagenesis burial and metamorphism the magnitude of sm nd fractionation between leachates and residues as well as the resulting sm nd ages vary as a function of grain size and metamorphic grade uncleaved welsh mudrocks of the diagenetic zone yield sm nd leachate residue ages of 453 484 ma in agreement with their llanviian to caradocian biostratigraphic ages whereas higher grade rocks of the anchizone and epizone yield sm nd ages as young as 413 ma these ages are transitional between the time of deposition and the time of regional deformation related to the acadian orogeny at 390 ma distinct convex upward rare earth element ree patterns of the leachates suggest that the precipitation of early diagenetic apatite controls the trace element budget of the rock forcing a depletion of middle rees on the subsequently formed diagenetic phyllosilicates the amount of organic matter present and the extent of later prograde reactions are probable modifiers of this fractionation process ordovician and devonian clastic rocks associated with the trenton and onondaga limestones of new york yield single sample and multi sample sm nd isochron ages that agree well with their biostratigraphic ages of 454 ma and 390 ma respectively the ree fractionation observed in shale leachates of the ordovician utica formation is related to ca mg of the bulk rock and hence to the composition of the diagenetic carbonate cement in all cases the sm nd system remained closed subsequent to the peak of diagenesis or metamorphism including the north american rocks that show no evidence of being isotopically reset during widespread remagnetization of the subjacent limestone units in the late paleozoic

a diatom and benthic foraminiferal record from the south tasman rise southeastern indian ocean implications for palaeoceanographic changes for the last 200 000 years abstract the last two glacial interglacial cycles represented in core md88 779 in the southeastern indian ocean over the south tasman rise 47 50 69 s 146 32 75 e 2260 m water depth have been analysed an oceanographic reconstruction for this region is presented based principally on the recovery of benthic foraminiferal and diatom assemblages the most striking feature of the microfossil record from core md88 779 is the lack of diatoms during glacials despite evidence of high oceanic productivity benthic foraminiferal data suggest significant increases in ocean surface productivity during glacial periods and in particular during isotopic stages 2 late 3 and 6 for these periods of elevated surface productivity substantial and at times total dissolution of diatom frustules occurred we propose that increased influx of aeolian dust and especially associated iron during glacial periods may have reduced the intake of silica in diatoms thus resulting in less silicified diatoms additionally winnowing is suggested to have removed remaining frustules from the sedimentary record increased productivity at the sea surface is indicative that both the subtropical front and the subantarctic front may have shifted northward during glacial periods and that the subantarctic front was near the coring site on the south tasman rise for these periods we also postulate based on diatom floral evidence that southward moving eddies generated by the subtropical east australian current may have intermittently reached the coring site even during glacial periods

saharan wind regimes traced by the sr nd isotopic composition of subtropical atlantic sediments last glacial maximum vs today new nd sr isotopic data on the 30 m lithic particles of surface and last glacial maximum sediments recovered along the african margin between the equator and the gibraltar strait are presented in combination with grain size measurements this 30 m size fraction allows us to eliminate any hemipelagic contribution that could occur in the coarser fractions in the eolian fraction both sr and nd isotopic tracers reveal the same major northwestern origin mauritania mali southern algeria and morocco the archaean formations of the western saharan shield could be the source of the very unradiogenic ratios observed here the more southern regions senegal guinea act only as secondary sources a similar pattern is observed for the lgm lithic particles are mostly transported by both trade and saharan air layer sal winds along an approximate ne sw axis this main feature matches the southern plume characterizing the dust transport observed during winter no significant latitudinal shift of the belt winds is observed between the lgm and today at the lgm however dust fluxes were 2 4 times higher than today leading to a more archaean type imprint in the deposits we do not observe any clear relationship between the latitudinal variability of the upwelling systems identified in this region at the lgm and the location of the major wind systems both enhanced aridity on the continent and increased wind speed probably occurred together over western tropical africa during the last glacial period

exchange of neodymium and its isotopes between seawater and small and large particles in the sargasso sea the concentrations and isotopic ratios of nd were measured in small 1 53 m and large 53 m in situ filtered particles sediment trap material sediment and aerosol samples collected during oligotrophic and productive conditions in the sargasso sea atmospheric input is the main source of exogeneous nd into the sargasso sea based on ndal ratios in trapped material we suggest that up to 50 of atmospheric nd could dissolve at the air sea interface the concentration and isotopic composition of nd vary with both depth and the particle size neodymium concentrations of small and large particles increase with depth from 2 9 12 g g and 5 8 11 8 g g respectively at 40 m the nd signature of large particles is significantly more negative nd 0 13 1 0 2 than that of the small ones nd 0 11 7 0 3 and the particles filtered deeper below 237 m the nd 0 values for small particles match the seawater whereas the nd 0 values of large particles remain less radiogenic these differences are related to the different behaviors of the particulate fractions small particles apparently exchange nd with seawater and then sink rapidly to depth as biologically formed aggregates large particles these aggregates isolate the small particles slowing the exchange with the water to produce different signatures between large particles and seawater since these exchange processes modify the particulate nd signature the shallow radiogenic nd 0 signature observed in the surface and subsurface waters in the nw atlantic is not due to external contributions and is likely of advective origin at depth below 800 m the magnitude of the aggregation disaggregation process varies significantly with season the fraction of small particles repackaged into large aggregates can vary from 0 8 to 80 100 in productive and oligotrophic conditions respectively this seasonal variation may correspond to sinking particles of different zooplanktonic origin vertical fluxes of nd into and out of the sargasso sea as well as exchange fluxes in the water column are examined about 50 of the particulate flux from the surface is remineralized at depth a net scavenging flux of 0 8 10 4 g m2 y is required this value corresponds to a scavenging nd residence time of 1900 y considerably longer than previous estimates of global oceanic residence time of nd on the order of 400 y

the hafnium neodymium isotopic composition of atlantic seawater the first full water column hafnium isotopic compositions of atlantic seawater have been obtained at seven locations from the labrador sea to the drake passage despite subpicomolar concentrations in seawater a precision of the hf isotopic measurements of 03 epsilon hf units was achieved an overall epsilon hf range between 3 1 in the labrador sea and 4 4 in antarctic bottom water was determined the distribution of which broadly reflects continental weathering inputs within particular water column profiles significant differences of up to 4 epsilon hf units occur combined with nd isotope data of the same samples it is evident that the hf isotopic composition of seawater is too radiogenic for a given nd isotopic composition and that the largest difference between expected and measured hf isotopic compositions in seawater occurs near the oldest continental crust in the labrador sea this corroborates the previous proposition which was mainly based on ferromanganese crust data that the hf isotopic composition of seawater is controlled by incongruent weathering of continental crust and possibly to some extent by hydrothermal contributions hafnium concentrations in the ocean do not increase along the deep ocean conveyer indicating an oceanic residence time of only a few hundred years which is significantly shorter than previously assumed the hf isotopic composition of past seawater can therefore serve as a proxy for short distance basin scale mixing processes and the regime and intensity of nearby continental weathering processes c 2009 elsevier b v all rights reserved

the enigma of a late pleistocene wetland in the flinders ranges south australia abstract lying in a semi arid region the flinders ranges have rocky weathering limited hillslopes and streams within the ranges are active only during rare downpours when they transport boulders gravel and coarse sand however silt and clay rich valley fill deposits incised by present streams occur as terraces and terrace remnants such deposits are not accumulating today in and upstream of brachina gorge in the central ranges these remnant valley fills are exposed in bank sections up to 18 m high at some localities exposures show horizontal centimetre scale beds of fine sand and clayey silt that can be traced for several hundred metres and contain gastropods diatoms and phytoliths consistent with sluggish shallow water flow under fresh to brackish conditions ams 14 c and osl dating shows that these valley fill deposits accumulated between 33 and 17 ka an interval that embraces the last glacial maximum lgm formerly thought to be lake beds aust j earth sci 46 1999 61 the valley fills are shown here to have accumulated in a fluvial wetland that extended westward from the middle reaches of brachina creek through brachina gorge and joined with aggraded fan deposits beyond the ranges aggradation of this wetland requires a substantial reduction of both rainfall variability and evaporation which would be favoured by the low temperatures and reduced incursions of summer rainfall this is consistent with climatic reconstructions by miller et al nature 385 1997 241 and johnson et al science 284 1999 1150 for lake eyre north of the flinders ranges at the lgm demise of the wetland was heralded by a major influx of coarse alluvium followed by channelling and dissection erosion was interrupted by an episode of aggradation and floodplain widening represented by remnants of a wide terrace inset below the primary wetland surface this episode which is interpreted as a return to lower climatic variability ceased with establishment of the present climatic regime which has resulted in stripping of the late pleistocene deposits from much of the brachina valley

new constraints on the sources and behavior of neodymium and hafnium in seawater from pacific ocean ferromanganese crusts the behavior of dissolved hf in the marine environment is not well understood due to the lack of direct seawater measurements of hf isotopes and the limited number of hf isotope time series obtained from ferromanganese crusts in order to place better constraints on input sources and develop further applications a combined nd hf isotope time series study of five pacific ferromanganese crusts was carried out the samples cover the past 38 myr and their locations range from sites at the margin of the ocean to remote areas sites from previously unstudied north and south pacific areas and water depths corresponding to deep and bottom waters for most of the samples a broad coupling of nd and hf isotopes is observed in the equatorial pacific end and ehf both decrease with water depth similarly end and ehf both increase from the south to the north pacific these data indicate that the hf isotopic composition is in general terms a suitable tracer for ocean circulation since inflow and progressive admixture of bottom water is clearly identifiable the time series data indicate that inputs and outputs have been balanced throughout much of the late cenozoic a simple box model can constrain the relative importance of potential input sources to the north pacific assuming steady state the model implies significant contributions of radiogenic nd and hf from young circum pacific arcs and a subordinate role of dust inputs from the asian continent for the dissolved nd and hf budget of the north pacific some changes in ocean circulation that are clearly recognizable in nd isotopes do not appear to be reflected by hf isotopic compositions at two locations within the pacific ocean a decoupling of nd and hf isotopes is found indicating limited potential for hf isotopes as a stand alone oceanographic tracer and providing evidence of additional local processes that govern the hf isotopic composition of deep water masses in the case of the southwest pacific there is evidence that decoupling may have been the result of changes in weathering style related to the buildup of antarctic glaciation

the estuarine chemistry of rare earth elements comparison of the amazon fly sepik and the gulf of papua systems abstract a comparison of the amazon fly gulf of papua and sepik river systems has shown that there are two distinct processes operating on dissolved rare earth elements ree in estuaries large scale salt induced coagulation in the low salinity region and small to extensive release in the mid to high salinity region fractionation of the ree occurs during both removal and release the order of removal follows lree mree hree and the order of release follows hree mree lree where l m and h refer to light middle and heavy ree respectively hence estuarine reactions can modify the relative abundance of dissolved ree reaching the oceans operating in tandem the removal and release lead to the preferential removal of the lree and the preferential release of hree during estuarine mixing this combination in turn results in an effective river water flux river flux after modifications by estuarine chemistry which is evolved toward the ree composition of seawater which has a heavy ree enriched composition when normalized against the ree composition of rivers or the earth s continental crust the increase of dissolved ree in the mid to high salinity waters of the amazon and fly estuaries suggests a sediment and or suspended sediment source the lack of ree increases in the sepik river estuary strengthens this explanation as the mixing zone of this estuary is located over a deep shelf where there is little physical contact between bottom sediment and estuarine waters in marked contrast the amazon and fly estuaries are dominated by the active resuspension and deposition of bottom sediments the resupply of ree accompanied by fractionation may result from ree carbonate complexation during the reaction of seawater with suspended particles and or bottom sediment estuarine and shelf sediments may be important sources of dissolved nd to the oceans thereby helping to maintain the inter ocean differences in the nd isotopic composition of seawater by reducing the residence time of nd in the oceans

aeolian dust deposition rates particle sizes and contributions to soils along a transect in semi arid new south wales australia the entrainment transport and deposition of aeolian dust are important processes affecting soil development at the margins of deserts to assess accurately the impact of deposited aeolian dust on soil development it is important not only to measure total dust deposition rates but to distinguish additions of remotely and regionally sourced dust from locally derived material as well which should not be viewed as new soil material as it is derived from aeolian re mobilization of an existing soil because of the well established relationship between dust particle size and distance travelled from source the particle size distribution of deposited dusts can be used to identify the distance to probable source regions in addition to identifying matching topsoil particle populations three dust traps were located along a transect of semi arid south eastern australia to measure aeolian dust deposition rates between late 2000 and late 2001 the particle size distributions of selected dust deposits were measured and with the aid of meteorological data probable dust source regions determined particle size distributions of the topsoils at each dust trap location were also measured to determine if any dust and soil particle populations matched although the sampling period was relatively short and there was relatively little dust storm activity in this part of australia during this time a clear pattern of diminishing total dust deposition was measured downwind along the south east dust path dust deposition rates were also moderate to low by global standards source regions of deposited dust were interpreted as being i a combination of south western and local sources ii a combination of north western and local sources and iii a mixed source where dust was rained out the relative importance of these sources was correlated strongly with seasonal weather conditions although the proportion of local dust in each deposit was greater at the arid western end of the transect the effects of deposited dust on soil profile development are greatest at the western and central transect locations at the western location a fine grained particle population distinctive of the south western and north western regional dusts and a coarse silt sized particle population characteristic of local dusts are also present in the topsoil altering the texture of this arenosol derived from dune sand at the central location where a calcisol has formed in lacustrine lunette sediment local dust of the same size as the dominant silt population of the topsoil continues to be deposited while minor topsoil populations of very fine grained silt match regional and long distance dusts deposited at the site deposited dust appears to have been a less important soil development factor at the more humid eastern site because of the much smaller rates of dust deposition there nevertheless a minor population of very fine silt particles in the vertisol topsoil matches long distance dusts deposited at the site suggesting a small input of dust to this alluvial soil the particle size methodology used here has applications in other studies of dust contributions to peri desert soils in particular particle size distribution smoothness may provide an indication of whether soils have simple or complex origins

the hafnium isotope composition of pacific ocean water the first hf isotope data for seawater are reported for a series of stations in the northwestern pacific and define a range from epsilon hf 3 5 1 4 to 8 6 1 6 most samples have values within error of the average of epsilon hf 5 9 but significant variations are found in intermediate waters at a depth of 600 m as well as in deep waters the nd and hf isotope compositions of the deep waters fall within the range of values found for surfaces of hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts in the region confirming that hf in the fe mn crusts has been derived from the overlying water column which thus provide an archive of past seawater compositions although the seawater samples are generally close to the global epsilon nd epsilon hf correlation obtained from ferromanganese crusts there are significant deviations from this correlation indicating that there is some additional decoupling between nd and hf isotope signals most likely caused by local water mass mixing and differences in residence times this is not resolved in the crust samples which integrate seawater signals over 10 4 years the combined use of these two isotope systems in seawater therefore provides an additional dimension for tracing water masses in the oceans studies of the distribution of oceanic hf isotope compositions that have been confined to deep water and boundary waters as recorded in seafloor ferromanganese crusts can now be extended and aimed at characterising the entire present day water column average hf concentrations measured in this study are somewhat lower than previously reported suggesting a shorter residence time for hf in the global oceans although the uncertainty in the extent of hf removal from the water column during estuarine mixing as well as a lack of data on hydrothermal and dust inputs remains a limit on how well the residence time can be defined c 2008 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

a new approach to the nd residence time in the ocean the role of atmospheric inputs concentrations of rare earth elements ree and nd isotopic ratios were analyzed for seawater filtered suspension and sediment trap samples collected in the tropical atlantic ocean eumeli program eutrophic mesotrophic and oligotrophic sites 20 n 18 21 w this is the first ree nd dataset on solution and different sized particles collected at the same site we present direct evidence of the nd isotopic exchange between particulate lithogenic fraction and seawater without significant mass transfer this exchange is probably one of the main factors that simultaneously constrains the nd concentration and isotopic ratio budget we propose a new approach to estimate the residence time of nd in the ocean nd based on isotopic exchange 200 yr nd 1000 yr the exchange requires a partial dissolution of lithogenic nd we estimate that the fraction of soluble nd proportion in atmospheric dust is of the order of 20 based on the isotopic ratios we suggest that the partial dissolution of atmospheric fallout is probably one of the main ree sources of the ocean

the hf isotopic composition of ferromanganese nodules and crusts and hydrothermal manganese deposits implications for seawater hf we present hf and pb isotopic data and chemical compositions of the outermost layers of marine ferromanganese deposits of different types hydrogenous and hydrothermal with a worldwide distribution the hf isotopic compositions display a broad range and refine previously reported regional differences as follows atlantic ocean hf 4to 2 indian ocean hf 2to 4 pacific ocean hf 3to 10 the most radiogenic hf isotopic compositions in the pacific samples are for hydrothermal manganese deposits that also have low 207pb204pb demonstrating that this signature reflects a contribution from hydrothermal venting of hf leached from oceanic volcanic rocks rather than from riverine inputs volcanic ash or eolian dust hafnium concentrations in the deposits increase from 20 ppb to 20 ppm with decreasing hf the hf and pb isotopic compositions for ferromanganese crusts define an apparent mixing trend between literature values of average continental crust and morb the range in hf for ferromanganese crusts is narrower than it is for 206pb204pb compared to the differences in isotopic composition of the sources of hf and pb this is consistent with hf having a longer residence time than pb the concentration of hf in ferromanganese crusts has been found to co vary with growth rate and inversely correlates with hf isotopic compositions hf isotope ratios may be used to determine not only the source of hf but possibly the source of fe and mn measurements of hf and hf concentrations in nodule tops bottoms and associated sediments show that the hf of nodules is sensitive to sedimentary oxic and sub oxic diagenetic processes and thus most nodules may not reliably reflect the isotopic composition of hf in seawater

26al 10be dating of an aeolian dust mantle soil in western new south wales australia abstract aeolian dust mantle soils are an important element of many landscapes in south eastern australia though the age of these aeolian deposits has not been radiometrically determined at fowlers gap in western new south wales surface cobbles of silcrete and quartz overlie a stone free aeolian dust mantle soil which has a thickness of about 1 6 m the clay rich aeolian dust deposit in turn lies upon a buried silcrete and quartz stone layer modelling in situ cosmogenic 26 al and 10 be concentrations measured in both the surface quartz stones and in the buried quartz layer of rocks reveals that each has experienced a complex exposure burial history due to the absence of quartz stones or sand at intermediate depths our cosmogenic 26 al and 10 be modelling was not able to determine a definitive mechanism of stone pavement formation and stone burial various scenarios of stone formation transport burial and exhumation were tested that constrain the age of the deposit to range from 0 9 0 2 ma to 1 8 0 2 ma based largely on different assumptions taken for the time dependency of the net sedimentation rate this corresponds with the initiation of the simpson desert dune fields and the deflation of lakes in central australia which probably responded to the shift to longer wavelength larger amplitude quaternary glacial cycles at around 1 ma sensitivity analyses were carried out to identify those parameters which better constrained model outputs within model errors which largely are the result of analytical errors in measured 26 al and 10 be concentrations all three competing theories of colluvial wash upward displacement of stones and cumulic pedogenesis are possible mechanisms for the formation of the surface stone pavement

rare earth element composition of precipitation precipitation particles and aerosols we report the rare earth element ree composition of aerosols and precipitation dissolved and particle phases from bermuda lewes delaware and woods hole massachusetts there is large scale fractionation of rees between the continents atmosphere and the oceans the ree compositions of atmospheric samples are highly fractionated relative to 1 each other e g aerosol precipitation pairs 2 the upper crust of the earth and 3 seawater precipitation samples exhibit markedly convex up shale normalized patterns large negative eu anomalies and large and systematic depletions in the heavy ree lu yb er dy aerosols are strongly depleted in the heavy ree which dissolutions experiments show are attributable to the presence of hree enriched refractory minerals we argue that in situ selective dissolution of mineral aerosol particles is responsible for the unusual ree composition of precipitation this has major implications for the interpretation of the biogeochemical cycles of rees in the oceans particularly the partitioning between solution and particle phases residence times and the composition of seawater

a new coral reef province in the gulf of carpentaria australia colonisation growth and submergence during the early holocene abstract multibeam sonar mapping drill cores and underwater video data have confirmed the existence of a previously unknown coral reef province in the gulf of carpentaria australia seven reefs comprised of coral limestone that support living corals have been mapped so far and as many as 50 other reefs may exist in the region u th ages show that reef growth commenced shortly after limestone pedestals were submerged by rising sea level around 10 5 kyr bp making them the oldest holocene reefs known in australia reef growth persisted for 2 0 kyr but it had ceased at most locations by 7 0 kyr bp measurements of reef growth rates 0 95 to 4 m kyr 1 indicate that the reefs were unable to keep pace with contemporaneous rapid sea level rise 10 m kyr 1 which is consistent with a give up reef growth history core samples from reef platforms demonstrate that pleistocene limestone is exposed at depths of 27 and 30 m below present mean sea level these depths represent regionally significant phases of reef growth during a prolonged sea level still stand we conclude that the reefs are therefore mostly relict features whose major phase of growth and development relates to an earlier pre holocene sea level still stand

neodymium isotopes as tracers in marine sediments and aerosols north atlantic nd and sm concentrations and nd isotopic compositions were measured on the detrital fraction of deep sea surface sediments and on aerosols sampled over the north atlantic and mediterranean sea the data expressed asend 0 and as model ages ranged from 14 5 end 0 4 9 and from 0 01 to 2 21 ga respectively two areas where the sediments contain relatively less radiogenic nd are to the west off north africa and eastward of the canadian shield this distribution is consistent with other tracers in suggesting that a significant fraction of the sediments are derived from aeolian material transported by major wind systems saharan dust transported in the equatorial trade winds belt and north american soil material transported in the latitudes of the westerlies between these aeolian dominated belts along an axis from the azores to gibraltar and the mediterranean lies a zone of more radiogenicend 0 values in sediments and aerosols influenced by the recent volcanism of this region previously reported distributions of nd isotopes in bottom formed iron manganese crusts and coatings are similar to distributions of nd isotope values in detrital sediments and aerosols this suggests that the detrital fraction has undergone partial dissolution and desorption in the water column and or in the pore waters of near surface sediments and that a significant proportion of nd in the authigenic ferromanganese phases is derived from this source and may therefore not represent strictly dissolved seawater nd isotope ratios useful as watermass tracers

quantitative estimates of the effect of climate change on dust storm activity in australia during the last glacial maximum quantitative estimates are made of the effect of climate change upon dust activity during the last glacial maximum lgm which peaked 18 000 years ago using present day measurements of the occurrence of dust storms recalculated in the light of information on lgm climatic change dust activity was increased by 57 in northeast australia and by 52 in the southeast in relation to present day dust storm seasons were lengthened and dust paths were modified estimates based upon climate alone without considering the increased supplies of sediment to dust source areas during the lgm however probably underestimate lgm dust activity

the contemporary physical and chemical flux of aeolian dust a synthesis of direct measurements of dust deposition abstract the deposition of aeolian or windblown dust is widely recognized as an important physical and chemical flux to ecosystems dust deposition adds exogenous mineral and organic material to terrestrial surfaces and can be important for the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients there have been many studies that characterize the physical and chemical composition of dust however few studies have synthesized these observations in order to examine patterns geochemical fluxes we have compiled observations of dust deposition rates particle size distributions psd mineralogy and bulk elemental and organic chemistry the rates of dust deposition observed across the globe vary from almost 0 to greater than 450 g m 2 yr 1 sites receiving dust deposition can be partitioned into broad categories based on there distance from dust source regions when compared to global dust models our results suggest some models may underestimate dust deposition rates at the regional and local scales the distance from the source region that dust is deposited also influences the particle size distributions mineralogy and chemical composition of dust however more consistent dust sampling and geochemical analyses are needed to better constrain these spatial patterns on average the concentrations of most major elements si al fe mg ca k in aeolian dust tend to be similar 20 to the composition of the upper continental crust ucc but there is substantial variability from sample to sample in contrast some elements tend to be depleted na or enriched ti in dust likely as a result of soil weathering processes prior to dust emissions trace elements especially heavy metals are consistently enriched in dust relative to the ucc ecologically important nutrients such as n and p are also present in dust deposition the geochemical flux attributable to dust deposition can be substantial in ecosystems located proximal to dust source regions we calculate estimates of elemental flux rates based on the average chemical composition of aeolian dust and varying rates of deposition these estimated flux rates are useful as a rough gauge of the degree to which dust deposition may influence biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and should be utilized to better constrain deposition estimates of global dust models

estuarine distributions of zr hf and ag in the hudson river and the implications for their continental and anthropogenic sources to seawater 1 zirconium and hf in seawater are derived from continental weathering and are transported to the oceans by rivers but the modification of this flux with estuaries is largely unknown furthermore there is no information as to whether there is a pollutant source of these metals that might affect their budget calculations in the modern ocean to address the riverine flux and potential anthropogenic sources the distributions of dissolved zr and hf have been measured in surface and bottom water through the hudson river estuary the distribution of ag is included because it is sensitive to urban sources and has partial similarities in its distribution to those of zr and hf there is about 50 removal of zr and hf in surface water relative to their freshwater end member concentrations of 243 and 3 1 pmol kg as salinity starts to increase but an urban source of these metals midestuary may obscure greater removal silver concentrations in surface water are below the detection limit until salinity of 3 5 is reached the concentrations of zr and hf 0 5 m above the bottom are 1 5 to 3 times higher than their surface water concentrations throughout the estuary and may result from input of groundwater diffusion from pore fluids or inclusion of colloidal phases in our analyses downstream of the turbidity maximum bottom water ag concentrations are high due to release from particles that originally formed within the estuary and were moved inland following the spring freshet this process may also affect zr and hf the increase in the freshwater atomic zr hf ratio from 70 to 80 characteristic of terrestrial rocks to the elevated zr hf 110 ratio of seawater takes place at middle to high salinity due to enhanced release of zr from resuspended particles and slower removal rates compared to hf a main implication of this study is that estuaries are a sink for zr and hf the reduction of the predicted export of continental zr and hf to the oceans increases their previously calculated seawater residence by as much as 2 to 4 times assuming rivers dominate the supply of zr and hf to seawater

the late cenozoic uplift climate change paradox the geologic evidence for worldwide uplift of mountain ranges in the neogene is ambiguous estimates of paleoelevation vary according to whether they are based on the characteristics of fossil floras on the masses and grain sizes of eroded sediments or on calculations of increased thickness of the lithosphere as a result of faulting detrital erosion rates can be increased both by increased relief in the drainage basin and by a change to more seasonal rainfall patterns the geologic record provides no clear answer to the question whether uplift caused the climatic deterioration of the neogene or whether the changing climate affected the erosion system in such a way as to create an illusion of uplift we suggest that the spread of c4 plants in the late miocene may have altered both the erosion and climate systems these changes are responsible for the apparent contradictions between data supporting uplift and those supporting high elevations in the past

distribution transport and deposition of mineral dust in the southern ocean and antarctica contribution of major sources 1 a model based investigation of the transport distribution and deposition of mineral dust in the southern hemisphere sh is performed by using the gfdl atmospheric model am2 the study represents an attempt to quantify the contribution of the major sources by tagging dust based on its origin we evaluate the contribution of each source to the emission distribution mass burden and deposition of dust in the southern ocean and antarctica and show that each source produces distinctive meridional transport vertical distribution and deposition patterns the dust in sh originates primarily from australia 120 tg a 1 patagonia 38 tg a 1 and the inter hemispheric transport from northern hemisphere 31 tg a 1 a small fraction of it 7 tg a 1 is transported and deposited in the southern ocean and antarctica where dust from south america australia and northern hemisphere are essentially located in the boundary layer mid troposphere and upper troposphere respectively these three sources contribute to nearly all the dust burden in the southern ocean and antarctica south america and australia are the main sources of the dust deposition but they differ zonally with each one dominating half of a hemisphere along 120 e 60 w the half comprising the atlantic and indian oceans in the case of the south american dust and the pacific half in the case of the australian dust our study also indicates a potentially important role of northern hemisphere dust as it appears to be a significant part of the dust burden but contributing little to the dust deposition in antarctica

late pleistocene river morphological change southeastern australia the conundrum of sinuous channels during the last glacial maximum abstract early and mid glacial palaeochannels and the present post glacial maximum channel form in southeastern australia reflect catchment climatic and vegetation states palaeochannels that span the last glacial maximum however maintain a sinuous form in spite of conditions to be conducive to a straighter morphology increased deposition of aeolian clay and silt in catchments and their remobilisation in unstable periglacial and deforested conditions may have resulted in a high suspended load in streams at this time deposition of this material on banks and bars in low winter flows and by aggregation in saline waters may have stabilised channel boundaries causing development of the sinuous channel form

hafnium isotope stratigraphy of ferromanganese crusts a cenozoic record of hafnium isotopic compositions of central pacific deep water has been obtained from two ferromanganese crusts the crusts are separated by more than 3000 kilometers but display similar secular variations significant fluctuations in hafnium isotopic composition occurred in the eocene and oligocene possibly related to direct advection from the indian and atlantic oceans hafnium isotopic compositions have remained approximately uniform for the past 20 million years probably reflecting increased isolation of the central pacific the mechanisms responsible for the increase in87sr 86sr in seawater through the cenozoic apparently had no effect on central pacific deep water hafnium

a routine high precision method for lu hf isotope geochemistry and chronology a method for chemical separation of lu and hf from rock meteorite and mineral samples is described together with a much improved mass spectrometric running technique for hf this allows i geo and cosmochronology using the176lu 176hf decay scheme and ii geochemical studies of planetary processes in the earth and moon chemical yields for the three stage ion exchange column procedure average 90 for hf chemical blanks are 0 2 ng for lu and hf from 1 g of hf a total ion current of 0 5 10 11 ampere can be maintained for 3 5 h yielding 0 01 0 03 precision on the ratio176hf 177hf normalisation to179hf 177hf 0 7325 is used extensive results for the johnson matthey hf standard jmc 475 are presented and this sample is urged as an international mass spectrometric standard suitable aliquots prepared from a single batch of jmc 475 are available from denver lu hf analyses of the standard rocks bcr 1 and jb 1 are given the potential of the lu hf method in isotope geochemistry is assessed

clay mineral distribution in surface sediments of the south atlantic sources transport and relation to oceanography abstract surface samples mostly from abyssal sediments of the south atlantic from parts of the equatorial atlantic and of the antarctic ocean were investigated for clay content and clay mineral composition maps of relative clay mineral content were compiled which improve previous maps by showing more details especially at high latitudes large scale relations regarding the origin and transport paths of detrital clay are revealed high smectite concentrations are observed in abyssal regions primarily derived from southernmost south america and from minor sources in southwest africa near submarine volcanoes of the antarctic ocean south sandwich bouvet island smectite contents exhibit distinct maxima which is ascribed to the weathering of altered basalts and volcanic glasses the illite distribution can be subdivided into five major zones including two maxima revealing both south african and antarctic sources a particularly high amount of mg and fe rich illites are observed close to east antarctica they are derived from biotite bearing crystalline rocks and transported to the west by the east antarctic coastal current chiorite and well crystallized dioctaedral illite are typical minerals enriched within the subantarctic and polarfrontal zone but of minor importance off east antarctica kaolinite dominates the clay mineral assemblage at low latitudes where the continental source rocks west africa brazil are mainly affected by intensive chemical weathering surprisingly a slight increase of kaolinite is observed in the enderby basin and near the filchner ronne ice shelf the investigated area can be subdivided into ten large scale clay facies zones with characteristic possible source regions and transport paths clay mineral assemblages of the largest part of the south atlantic especially of the western basins are dominated by chlorite and illite derived from the antarctic peninsula and southernmost south america and supported by advection within the circumantarctic deep water flow in contrast the east antarctic provinces are relatively small assemblages of the eastern basins north of 30 s are strongly influenced by african sources controlled by weathering regimes on land and by a complex interaction of wind river and deep ocean transport the strong gradient in clay mineral composition at the brazilian slope indicate a relatively low contribution of tropically derived assemblages to the western basins

the hf isotope composition of global seawater and the evolution of hf isotopes in the deep pacific ocean from fe mn crusts this paper presents a revised chemical purification method of hf for the measurement of hf isotope ratios of fe mn crusts on a new generation of double focusing multiple collector plasma source mass spectrometer mc icp ms by measuring surface scrapings of hydrogenetic fe mn crusts distributed over the three major ocean basins the present day hf isotope distribution of oceanic deep water is assessed in detail the results show an ehf provinciality correlated with those of other radiogenic isotope tracers such as nd and pb in agreement with previous studies this supports the use of hf isotopes as tracer of element source provenance and water masses fe mn crusts display the same present day hf nd isotope array as given before for mn nodules the smaller isotopic variability of hf compared with nd may either be caused by a more efficient mixing of hf than nd in the ocean due to a longer residence time or may be a consequence of a systematically more radiogenic hf than nd isotope signature delivered to the oceans by weathering of continental crust a hf isotope time series was measured on crust va13 2 to assess the hf isotope compositions of the central pacific deep water over the past 26 ma no consistency is observed between the hf and pb isotope time series in contrast hf and nd isotope time series display similar patterns which are however apparently offset by 2 ma prior to 14 ma differential diffusion of hf and nd does not explain this offset the smaller amplitude in the hf isotope variations compared with the nd isotopes rather argues for more efficient mixing of hf in the ocean we suggest that both isotope systems have responded in a similar way to the processes affecting the dissolved radiogenic isotope composition of pacific deep water during this time interval the parallel increase in ehf and end observed between 14 and 3 ma may probably be attributed to the increased inputs of hf and nd into the central pacific ocean derived from the weathering of the pacific islands arcs over the past 3 ma an increased aeolian continental input derived from asia most likely caused negative shifts in end and ehf recorded by va13 2 the fact that hf and nd isotope compositions plot along the present day array for fe mn crusts and mn nodules over the entire past 26 ma suggests that aeolian supply of hf to the pacific ocean has been a long term important feature

a soil chronosequence on lake mega frome beach ridges and its implications for late quaternary pedogenesis and paleoenvironmental conditions in the drylands of southern australia abstract the terminal lake systems of central australia are key sites for the reconstruction of late quaternary paleoenvironments paleoshoreline deposits around these lakes reflect repeated lake filling episodes and such landforms have enabled the establishment of a luminescence based chronology for filling events in previous studies here we present a detailed documentation of the morphology and chemistry of soils developed in four well preserved beach ridges of late pleistocene and mid to late holocene age at lake callabonna to assess changes in dominant pedogenic processes all soil profiles contain evidence for the incorporation of eolian derived material likely via the formation of desert pavements and vesicular horizons and limited illuviation due to generally shallow wetting fronts even though soil properties in the four studied profiles also provide examples of parent material influence or site specific processes related to the geomorphic setting there is an overall trend of increasing enrichment of eolian derived material since at least 33 ka compared to the holocene profiles the derived average accumulation rates for the late pleistocene profiles are significantly lower and may suggest that soils record important regional changes in paleoenvironments and dust dynamics related to shifts in the southern hemisphere westerlies

quaternary aeolian dust processes and sediments in the australian region abstract aeolian dust processes have played an important role in the evolution of the australian landscape yet little is known of the processes and their sediments two major dust transport pathways are described based upon paleo dune patterns and present day dust storms and related processes these dust pathways have been fed by alluvium deposited in internally draining river basins during the period leading up to and including the late pleistocene aridity rates of dust entrainment transport and deposition were significantly higher than at present the ocean sediments of the tasman sea the pacific and indian oceans received massive amounts of aeolian sediment dust contributions to some australian soils have also been considerable

geomorphology how tibet might keep its edge the stability of the margins of the himalayan tibetan mountain belt constitutes a puzzle repeated damming of major tibetan rivers by glaciers so controlling river erosion is a possible explanation much attention has focused on how and when the tibetan plateau formed but far less research has been done on the controls on river incision into the plateau itself oliver korup and david montgomery address this issue which also relates to the question of why the tibetan plateau is still there at all despite hosting one of the deepest gorges on earth the plateau edge is extremely well defined and according to widely accepted stream power theory should be heavily dissected by one of asia s most powerful rivers the yarlung tsangp or yarlung zangbo korup and montgomery propose that the southeastern edge of the plateau was preserved in part by the presence of glaciers that were large enough during the holocene to stall aggressive river downcutting along the plateau margin

vostok ice core a continuous isotope temperature record over the last climatic cycle 160 000 years a continuous deuterium profile along the 160 000 year vostok ice core antarctica is interpreted in terms of atmospheric temperature changes this climatic record is the awaited terrestrial complement of the deep sea records supporting the existence of a relation between the pleistocene climate and orbital forcing

the mineral dust aerosol cycle during the last glacial maximum the canadian centre for climate modelling and analysis general circulation model gcm is used to investigate the factors influencing the mineral dust distribution at the time of the last glacial maximum lgm simulated deposition rates are used in conjunction with existing paleoclimate data to infer likely characteristics of the mineral dust conditions at that time and identify contributions to the pattern of enhanced dustiness of the lgm relative to the present indicated by ice core and loess data maximal consistency between the gcm the climate long range investigation mapping and prediction climap data set and the ice core data requires approximately a 15 to 30 fold increase in dust production globally during the last glacial maximum relative to the preindustrial holocene in particular regional 10 to 50 fold and 20 fold lgm increases are indicated in eastern asia and south america respectively these implied source enhancements are quite insensitive to the details of the dust model analysis of the contributing factors suggests an increase in fine particle availability in the source regions

auslem australian land erodibility model a tool for identifying wind erosion hazard in australia we present auslem australian land erodibility model a land erodibility modelling system that utilizes a rule set of surficial and climatic thresholds applied through a geographic information system gis modelling framework to predict landscape susceptibility to wind erosion auslem is distinctive in that it quantitatively assesses landscape susceptibility to wind erosion at a 5 x 5 km spatial resolution on a monthly time step across australia the system was implemented for representative wet 1984 dry 1994 and average rainfall 1997 years with corresponding low high and moderate dust storm day frequencies results demonstrate that auslem can identify landscape erodibility and provide an interpretation of the physical nature and distribution of erodible landscapes in australia further results offer an assessment of the dynamic tendencies of erodibility in space and time in response to the el nino southern oscillation enso and seasonal synoptic scale climate variability a comparative analysis of auslem output with independent national and international wind erosion atmospheric aerosol and dust event records indicates a high level of model competency c 2006 elsevier b v all rights reserved

surface currents in the canary basin from drifter observations satellite tracked drifting buoys deployed in the canary basin as part of the subduction experiment between july 1991 and october 1993 and the french semaphore experiment during october 1993 were used to obtain a description of surface currents and temperature in the canary basin the study focuses on surface water convergence eddy energy production and heat transport the azores current associated with the subtropical convergence zone is clearly visible at 34 n and bifurcates around 22 w with the major branch of the current circling the madeira plateau and joining the canary current along the continental slope eddy kinetic energy maxima are found along the azores current the mean current revealed a region of maximum convergence north of the azores current around longitude 29 w occurring with a negative heating anomaly and positive work done by the reynolds stress the southward meridional temperature fluxes in the ekman layer 0 50 m between 37 w and the african and european coast are estimated between 0 076 0 022 l015 w produced by mean southward volume transport in our study area the residual between local surface heat fluxes and horizontal convergence of heat implies a vertical heat convergence process associated with mesoscale temperature and flow fields

contemporary glacigenic inputs to the dust cycle the importance of glacigenic dust in the earth s system during glacial periods is widely acknowledged under contemporary conditions the world s largest dust sources are in low lying hot arid regions and this is where most aeolian research is focused however the processes of dust production and emissions are still operating in cold climate regions particularly in proglacial areas this paper assesses current understanding of the relationship between glacierised landscapes and dust emissions and inputs to the global dust cycle it focuses on how elements in the glacial and aeolian geomorphic sub systems interact to determine the magnitude frequency and timing of aeolian dust emissions and on feedback mechanisms between the systems where they have been measured dust emission intensity and deposition rates in glacierised catchments are very high in some cases far exceeding those in lower latitudes however few studies span long time scales the impact of future glacier retreat on the balance between sediment supply availability and aeolian transport capacity and implications for glacigenic dust emissions is also considered this balance depends on relative spatial and temporal changes in meltwater suspended sediment concentration and wind strengths which promote dust emissions and patterns and rates of soil development and vegetation succession on recently deglaciated terrain which protect sediments from deflation retreat of the antarctic ice sheet could mean that in future glacigenic contributions to the dust cycle exceed those of non glacigenic sources in the southern hemisphere copyright 2012 john wiley sons ltd

hafnium and neodymium isotope variations in ne atlantic seawater the 176hf 177hf ratio of seawater is measured directly with 143nd 144nd in a composite vertical profile in the ne atlantic the value of hf of intermediate and deep water exhibits little variation and averages 1 0 0 8 surface water shows a wider range 5 7 to 3 3 while intermediate and deep water samples plot on or close to the seawater hf nd isotope array defined by ferromanganese deposits near surface seawater samples plot between the seawater and terrestrial rock hf nd arrays it is likely that the shallow water variability in hf arises from a short residence time of hf in surface water and isotopically heterogeneous inputs the difference between surface and intermediate deep water hf may be maintained by the release of surface scavenged hf at depth from a subset of sinking particles the composition of end at middepths reflects overlying surface water and water advected along isopycnals from areas where they outcrop in winter uniform hf values below 1000 m suggest the residence time of hf may be longer than that of nd the radiogenic isotopic composition of seawater hf relative to nd and terrestrial rocks suggests that minerals with high lu hf ratios may be preferentially weathered providing a source of radiogenic hf to the oceans

rare earth element distributions among minerals in a granodiorite and their petrogenetic implications a study of the distribution of lanthanide rare earths in a granodiorite from the eastern peninsular ranges batholith southern california reveals that a large fraction of the ree in this rock resides in the accessory phases sphene and allanite the minerals plagioclase alkali feldspar biotite epidote and apatite each contribute approximately 1 or less of each ree to the whole rock with the exception of eu for which plagioclase contributes 7 sphene and allanite together contain 80 to 95 of each ree each of these phases is zoned in ree concentration with substantial decreases from core to margin textural observations argue for relatively early saturation and precipitation of sphene and allanite in the magma ree zoning trends in sphene and allanite and unexpectedly low ree concentrations in largely later crystallizing minerals such as feldspar indicate that the precipitation of sphene and allanite significantly reduced ree concentrations in residual melts these results illustrate the potential that sphene and allanite have for controlling the behavior of ree in granitic magmas available information collectively suggest that the sampled granodiorite existed as a complete melt that the ree contained in the assemblage of phases were derived by direct crystallization from the melt and that the melt behaved essentially as a closed system once crystallization of the phases now present began close correspondences between the major and trace element chemistries of the granodiorite and phenocryst poor lavas from similar tectonic settings support these conclusions the ree pattern of the granodiorite melt appears to have originated at depth and is characteristic of its source regions and derivation mechanism the high liquidus temperature of a granodiorite melt 1000 c indicates the importance of mantle derived components within the sources of batholithic magmas in the peninsular ranges

hafnium and neodymium isotopes in surface waters of the eastern atlantic ocean implications for sources and inputs of trace metals to the ocean we present hafnium hf and neodymium nd isotopic compositions and concentrations in surface waters of the eastern atlantic ocean between the coast of spain and south africa these data are complemented by hf and nd isotopic and concentration data as well as rare earth element ree concentrations in saharan dust hafnium concentrations range between a maximum of 0 52 pmol kg in the area of the canary islands and a minimum value of 0 08 pmol kg in the southern angola basin neodymium concentrations also show a local maximum in the area of the canary islands 26 pmol kg but are even higher between 20n and 4n reaching maximum concentrations of 35 pmol kg these elevated concentrations provide evidence of inputs from weathering of the canary islands and from the partial dissolution of dust from the sahara sahel region the inputs from ocean island weathering are also reflected in radiogenic hf and nd isotopes the hf isotopic compositions of dust samples themselves are highly variable ranging between ehf 20 and 0 6 the combined hf and nd isotopic compositions of dust plot close to the terrestrial array during periods of appreciable dust load in the atmosphere during low atmospheric dust loading combined hf and nd isotopic compositions similar to seawater are observed most of the variability can be explained in terms of variable degrees of zircon loss from the dust samples which in turn is linked to sorting during atmospheric transport to the eastern atlantic ocean and possibly presorting by sedimentary redistribution on the continent in addition increasing relative proportions of radiogenic clay minerals with decreasing grain size may contribute to the radiogenic hf isotopic compositions observed while the nd isotopic composition in the surface ocean reflects the nd isotopic composition of the saharan dust adjacent to the sahara sahel region the release of hf from that dust appears to be incongruent and results in surface ocean hf isotopic compositions which are 10 ehf more radiogenic than the bulk dust radiogenic hf appears to be released from clays and possibly from trace apatite rare earth element patterns of dust samples indicate the presence of apatite but provide no evidence for ferromanganese grain coatings suggesting that such coatings are insignificant in the release of hf and nd from saharan dust to the surface ocean the nd isotopic composition of the surface waters becomes less radiogenic south of the equator most likely reflecting the release of nd from congo river sediments the release of hf from saharan dust and the congo river sediments however does not produce distinct hf isotopic signatures in the surface ocean implying that the mobile fraction of hf integrated over large continental areas is isotopically uniform the hf isotopic uniformity in the surface ocean means that the limited variability in deep water isotopic compositions is consistent with a short deep water residence time and reflects homogenous continental inputs rather than efficient deep water homogenization

radiogenic hf isotopic compositions of continental eolian dust from asia its variability and its implications for seawater hf the inorganic silicate fraction extracted from bulk pelagic sediments from the north pacific ocean is eolian dust it monitors the composition of continental crust exposed to erosion in asia 176lu 177hf ratios of modern dust are sub chondritic between 0 011 and 0 016 but slightly elevated with respect to immature sediments modern dust samples display a large range in hf isotopic composition ic 4 70 hf 16 45 which encompasses that observed for the time series of dsdp cores 885 886 and piston core ll44 gpc3 extending back to the late cretaceous hafnium and neodymium isotopic results are consistent with a dominantly binary mixture of dust contributed from island arc volcanic material and dust from central asia the hf nd isotopic correlation for all modern dust samples hf 0 78 nd 5 66 n 22 r2 0 79 is flatter than those reported so far for terrestrial reservoirs moreover the variability in hf of asian dust exceeds that predicted on the basis of corresponding nd values 4 7 hf 2 5 10 9 nd 10 1 this is attributed to 1 the fixing of an important unradiogenic fraction of hf in zircons balanced by radiogenic hf that is mobile in the erosional cycle 2 the elevated lu hf ratio in chemical sediments which given time results in a hf signature that is radiogenic compared with hf expected from its corresponding nd isotopic components and 3 the possibility that diagenetic resetting of marine sediments may incorporate a significant radiogenic hf component into diagenetically grown minerals such as illite together these processes may explain the variability and more radiogenic character of hf isotopes when compared to the nd isotopic signatures of asian dust the hf nd isotope time series of eolian dust are consistent with the results of modern dust except two samples that have extremely radiogenic hf for their nd hf 8 6 and 10 3 nd 9 5 and 9 8 these data may point to a source contribution of dust unresolved by nd and pb isotopes the hf ic of eolian dust input to the oceans may be more variable and more radiogenic than previously anticipated the hf signature of pacific seawater however has varied little over the past 20 myr especially across the drastic increase of eolian dust flux from asia around 3 5 ma therefore continental contributions to seawater hf appear to be riverine rather than eolian current predictions regarding the relative proportions of source components to seawater hf must account for the presence of a variable and radiogenic continental component data on the ic and flux of river dissolved hf to the oceans are urgently required to better estimate contributions to seawater hf this then would permit the use of hf isotopes as a monitor of past changes in erosion

changes in erosion and ocean circulation recorded in the hf isotopic compositions of north atlantic and indian ocean ferromanganese crusts abstract high resolution hf isotopic records are presented for hydrogenetic fe mn crusts from the north atlantic and indian oceans bm1969 from the western north atlantic has previously been shown to record systematically decreasing nd isotopic compositions from about 60 to 4 ma at which time both show a rapid decrease to unradiogenic nd composition thought to be related to the increasing influence of nadw or glaciation in the northern hemisphere during the oligocene north atlantic hf became progressively less radiogenic until in the mid miocene 15 ma it reached 1 it then shifted gradually back to an hf value of 3 at 4 ma since when it has decreased rapidly to about 1 at the present day the observed shifts in the hf isotopic composition were probably caused by variation in intensity of erosion as glaciation progressed in the northern hemisphere ferromanganese crusts ss663 and 109d are from about 5500 m depth in the indian ocean and are now separated by 2300 km across the mid indian ridge they display similar trends in hf isotopic composition from 20 to 5 ma with the more northern crust having a composition that is consistently more radiogenic by 2 hf units paradoxically during the last 20 ma the hf isotopic compositions of the two crusts have converged despite increased separation and subsidence relative to the ridge a correlatable negative excursion at 5 ma in the two records may reflect a short term increase in erosion caused by the activation of the himalayan main central thrust changes to unradiogenic hf in the central indian ocean after 5 ma may alternatively have been caused by the expanding influence of nadw into the mid indian basin via circum antarctic deep water or a reduction of pacific flow through the indonesian gateway in either case these results illustrate the utility of the hf isotope system as a tracer of paleoceanographic changes capable of responding to subtle changes in erosional regime not readily resolved using other isotope systems

australian dust deposits modern processes and the quaternary record abstract dust raising and transport are common and important processes in australia today the aridity of the australian continent and high climatic variability result in widespread dust raising in the arid and semi arid areas and transport to the humid margins and surrounding oceans the supply of erodible particles appears to be the greatest limitation on total flux of transported dust dust raising is greatest in the lake eyre basin including the simpson desert and murray darling basin where internal drainage renews supplies of fine particles to the arid zone in the west and northwest dust entrainment is low despite considerable aridity the marine record of dust flux shows at least a threefold increase in dust flux compared with the holocene in the last glacial maximum in both tropical and temperate australia driven by weakened australian monsoon rains and drier westerly circulation respectively despite the widespread confirmation of aeolian dust deposits in southeastern and southwestern australia dated or quantified records are extremely rare the dominant model of australian dust deposits the clay rich parna is shown to be poorly substantiated while modern and ancient dust deposits examined in detail are shown to bear a strong similarity to conventional definitions of loess