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

deposition of harmattan dust and its influence on base saturation of soils in northern ghana ferruginous soils formed from volta shale deposits in northern ghana are highly weathered have high iron and aluminium oxide contents and a mineralogy dominated by quartz and low activity clays with low effective cec despite their advanced weathering state base saturation values of top soils are generally above 80 and deficiencies of basic cations are uncommon we postulated that the annual deposition of dust from the sahara carried by the harmattan weather system may be responsible for the high base saturation therefore we collected dust material for two entire dry seasons at nyankpala surrounded by highly weathered volta shale deposits and during several events of harmattan and local dust storms at bolgatanga surrounded by a variety of parent materials long distance harmattan dust had a clearly finer particle size distribution than dust collected during local storms but angularity and evidence of weathering on dust particles did not distinguish dust from different sources in bolgatanga soils contained unweathered minerals derived from local parent materials and both local storm and harmattan dust contained large amounts of bases significant amounts of micas and feldspars and k contents up to 3 in the dust collected at nyankpala showed harmattan dust to be the source of k and other bases found on volta shale soils short distance dust in nyankpala was mostly quartz and vegetation ashes dust deposition during one harmattan season at nyankpala amounted to about 15 g m 2 and carried a total of 140 400 300 and 60 mg m 2 of mg ca k and na respectively these amounts could account for the high base saturation of the low cec in volta shale soils

evidence of sea ice driven terrigenous detritus accumulation and deep ventilation changes in the southern okhotsk sea during the last 180 ka abstract sediment core os03 1 retrieved from the akademia nauk rise in southern okhotsk sea was analyzed for the contents of rare earth elements rees and combined with carbon isotope 13c time series of benthic foraminifera to infer changes in terrigenous accumulation and bottom water ventilation on glacial interglacial timescales in the study area the age model of os03 1 was constructed by a combination of foraminifer 18o stratigraphy and 14c ams dating revealing that the 380 cm long core provides a window on climate change in the southern okhotsk sea since 180 ka a grain size controlled ree content shows strong glacial interglacial changes the cerium and europium anomalies vary from 0 89 to 1 32 and from 1 14 to 1 37 respectively the la yb n values range between 0 55 to 0 92 both results suggest a significant contribution of volcanic debris in the core sediments in addition the relationships between sm vs nd suggest main contribution origin from the amur river and sea ice during warm intervals and from the sea ice during cold intervals indicating that the sea ice played an important role in transporting terrigenous materials to the study site in the southern okhotsk sea during the last 180 ka the mass accumulation rates mar of rees are relatively higher during glacials and lower during interglacials with a peak accumulation during the early deglacial period we infer that an intensified mongolia high is responsible for the first order accumulation pattern of rees in the southern okhotsk sea by mediating the dynamic changes in sea ice extent furthermore six 13c minima are associated with intensified asian monsoon am precipitation and maximum mars of rees indicating that the dominance of barrier layer effects by high fresh water input through sea ice melting the maximum mar of rees during the marine isotope stage mis 5c coincides with the minimum of benthic foraminiferal 13c indicating a major interruption of ventilation in the bottom water in the okhotsk sea the major low ventilation event in the deep water of the okhotsk sea appears to be dampened by a cooling condition and a major blooming of surface productivity preceded the event

tracing dust sources and transport patterns using sr nd and pb isotopes continental dust transported through the atmosphere can be a tracer of atmospheric circulation and transport as well as being a source of information about climate in the dust s source area this information about the provenance of dust transported from desert areas and deposited elsewhere on the oceans and continents can be evaluated using several observational techniques satellite imagery has been used to this end in recent decades and air mass back trajectories have been calculated to trace dust deposits back to their source area another method consists of analysis of the concentration and composition of certain tracers in the dust itself and comparing them to soils and sediments from possible source areas this method has the advantage of being useable for paleo atmospheric circulation and paleo dust transport studies whereas satellite imagery and air mass back trajectories are restricted to relatively recent times we review here different kinds of isotopic tracers that have been used to trace dust provenance but special attention is focused on the use of sr nd and pb isotopes we evaluate their use in studies of both spatially as well as temporally varying continental dust source and transport

metal accumulation rates in northwest atlantic pelagic sediments measurements of 230th 87sr86sr and twenty four metals were made on cores from the nares abyssal plain the sediment is characterized by slowly accumulating 0 3 0 7 g cm2 103 yr pelagic red clays and rapidly deposited grey clays transported by turbidity currents despite their colour differences and the enrichment of mn fe cu co ni zn v and to a lesser degree the rare earths in the red clays sr isotope evidence demonstrates that the clays have the same terrigenous origin the excesses of metals in the red clays have been attributed to metal removal from the water column and a comparison with the grey clays has enabled the authigenic fluxes of metals to be estimated the fluxes obtained are in the ranges 20 50 mol cm2 103 yr for mn and fe 0 1 0 4 mol cm2 103 yr for cu co ni zn v sr and ce 10 20 nmol cm2 103 yr for la and nd and 0 5 3 nmol cm2 103 yr for sm eu gd dy er and yb authigenic fluxes of y nb cr zr rb u and th were not resolvable fluxes appear to be near constant on the plain but comparison with other areas shows that they are quite variable both between and within ocean basins the chief factor controlling authigenic fluxes is the geochemical abundances of the elements but fractionation within both the transition element and rare earth series can be recognized from inter element comparisons and from differences in fluxes between atlantic and pacific red clays corresponding to the oceanic reactivities of the elements

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

may 18 1980 mount st helens deposits in south coldwater creek washington beginning at 0832 pacific daylight time pdt mount st helens washington produced a rockslide debris avalanche and a lateral explosion blast that generated a laterally directed pyroclastic surge called here a blast surge the resulting deposits are thickest in the east west trending valley of north fork toutle river immediately north of the volcano but are almost as thick in south coldwater creek a small tributary of the toutle river in the lee of an east west trending ridge johnston ridge just north of the north fork toutle river the avalanche surmounted johnston ridge 300 m relief and flowed down the valley of south coldwater creek closely following the avalanche and in part contemporaneously with it the blast surge left thin up to 0 5 m deposits on johnston ridge and thick up to 15 m deposits in south coldwater creek these deposits have a lower layer layer a1 which is friable massive poorer in fines particles 1 16 mm and more poorly sorted than the upper layer layer a2 layer a2 is less friable because it contains more silt and clay sized material beneath layer a1 is a zone containing a small percentage of debris from the blast surge mixed with products eroded from the underlying surface this zone designated as layer a0 is a poorly mixed layer containing schlieren of soil shattered volcanic fragments and considerable quantities of organic material layer a1 is strongly sorted and fines depleted and is interpreted to have been deposited from just behind the turbulent head of the blast surge layer a2 is interpreted to have been deposited from the body of the blast surge which is believed to have been less turbulent than the head layer a0 is interpreted to have formed by shearing at the base of the head of the blast surge in the region between the front and the back of the head of the blast surge it is concluded that a strongly fines depleted basal layer of a pyroclastic flow or surge deposit underlain by a thin sheared zone is the signature of an extremely high velocity particulate density current

sedimentary fe mn oxyhydroxides as paleoceanographic archives and the role of aeolian flux in regulating oceanic dissolved ree in the marine environment authigenic ferromanganese fe mn oxides precipitate from seawater incorporating many dissolved trace elements such as nd pb whose isotopic composition is a direct proxy for ambient seawater thus isotopic studies of the fe mn oxyhydroxide component leached from sedimentary records can provide information on changes in erosional input or ocean circulation changes such studies may be complicated however by the presence of detrital material containing a fe mn oxide component which may mask the true seawater signal in addition the formation of fe mn oxyhydroxides in the marine environment remains poorly understood in particular the phase carbonates detrital particles that controls the delivery of authigenic fe mn oxides to the sediments has not yet been determined in this study we have analysed the ree and nd isotopic compositions of fe mn oxyhydroxide fractions dispersed in marine sediment cores from the cape and angola basins in the se atlantic cruise images ii for the angola basin deep sea core located at 1000 km south of the congo river mouth both the ree and nd isotopic compositions nd measured in recent fe mn oxyhydroxide fractions are typical of congo river borne fe mn oxides this shows that preformed fe mn oxides associated with detrital fractions can locally contaminate the seawater signal recorded by authigenic oxyhydroxides by contrast examination of ree distributions nd isotope data and mass accumulation rates in cape basin sediments shows paradoxically that the flux of fe mn oxides to sediments is controlled by aeolian particles from the nearby namib desert even though their ree and nd compositions point clearly to an authigenic origin it is proposed that partial dissolution of aeolian dust occurs in the water column releasing into solution its easily leachable fe mn component the dissolved fe2 and mn2 would then fuel the reprecipitation of authigenic fe mn oxyhydroxides scavenging additional dissolved trace elements from the ocean most probably from deep water masses in this case calculations suggest that aeolian deposition acts as a net sink for dissolved nd in the cape basin rather than a source and allows us to estimate the rate of removal of dissolved nd associated with atmospheric deposition yielding a global oceanic residence time for nd nd of between 500 and 1400 years

high speed impacts by ash particles in the 1982 eruption of el chichon mexico 1 a steel basketball pole was the only object left standing 3 5 km from the crater in esquipula guayabal one of the villages that were completely buried by pyroclastic fallouts and density currents deposits during the 1982 eruption of el chichon mexico a close observation of its surface revealed the presence of small surface marks low magnification microscopic inspection indicated that most were corrosion pits metallographic observation in a sem revealed the presence of submillimetric impact craters with encrusted ash particles and characterized by a plastically deformed zone particle velocity was calculated by equating the kinetic energy of the particles to the work needed to form the crater using the classical bishop hill mott formula for penetration and calibrating the model to data in the literature this method yields values between 710 and 980 m s for the fragments embedded in the steel surface such speeds exceed those normally reported for gravitational acceleration in pyroclastic density currents pdcs and resemble values obtained both theoretically and numerically for shock waves accompanying volcanic eruptions source mechanisms for these phenomena include either a sudden decompression of the magmatic system or the mechanical rupture of the melt due to magma water interaction nevertheless shock waves could have been developed independently from source conditions inside pdcs that can reach supersonic speeds depending upon their mass loading this study indicates that direct damage from air shock cannot be neglected in hazard assessment of explosive eruptions

descending particles from the atmosphere to the deep ocean a time series study in the subtropical ne atlantic 1 the transport ways of organic matter into the deep ocean are still under debate lithogenic particles deliver nutrients to the surface boost biological production and impact on carbon export this study focuses on the transfer of lithogenic particles from the atmosphere to the deep ocean and its physical and biological interactions during their descent through the water column a clear coupling between atmospheric dust occurrence and deep sea lithogenic particle fluxes at 2000 m depth was observed in the subtropical ne atlantic 33 n 22 w this has never been demonstrated before for this site far away from the african continental slope and with no lateral influx of particles present the atmospheric signal transmission to the deep ocean lies in the range of one to two months the presented data demonstrate the dependence of lithogenic deep sea fluxes on the positioning in the ocean and on particle residence times in the water column

the spatial characterization of turbulence around large roughness elements in a gravel bed river abstract this study characterizes the flow field above and around multiple instream submerged cobbles boulders and pebble clusters in order to obtain a better understanding of the hydrodynamics associated with large roughness elements lres in gravel bed rivers spatially distributed high frequency three dimensional velocity measurements were recorded in situ using acoustic doppler velocimeters at different flow stages the spatial distributions of turbulent kinetic energy ke longitudinal component integral timescales itsu and reynolds shear stresses were characterized and are presented for selected sites the longitudinal vertical reynolds shear stress increased with flow stage more strongly than the longitudinal lateral or lateral vertical reynolds shear stresses and dominate at the highest measured flows canonical redundancy analysis was used to relate lre morphometrics and mean flow conditions to the turbulence parameters estimated in the lre wakes i e ke itsu and reynolds shear stresses lre size and mean unobstructed velocity explained the highest proportion of the variance in the turbulent wake statistics multivariate regression models based on lre width mean unobstructed longitudinal velocity and flow depth are presented offering a tool to predict lre wake turbulence

fluxes to sediments underlying the rainbow hydrothermal plume at 36 14 n on the mid atlantic ridge abstract a geochemical investigation has been conducted of a suite of four sediment cores collected from directly beneath the hydrothermal plume at distances of 2 to 25 km from the rainbow hydrothermal field as well as a large biogenic component 80 caco3 these sediments record clear enrichments of the elements fe cu mn v p and as from hydrothermal plume fallout but only minor detrital background material systematic variations in the abundances of hydrothermal elements are observed at increasing distance from the vent site consistent with chemical evolution of the dispersing plume further pronounced ni and cr enrichments at specific levels within each of the two cores collected from closest to the vent site are indicative of discrete episodes of additional input of ultrabasic material at these two near field locations radiocarbon dating reveals mean holocene accumulation rates for all four cores of 2 7 to 3 7 cm kyr 1 with surface mixed layers 7 to 10 cm thick from which a history of deposition from the rainbow hydrothermal plume can be deduced deposition from the plume supplies elements to the underlying sediments that are either directly hydrothermally sourced e g fe mn cu or scavenged from seawater via the hydrothermal plume e g v p as holocene fluxes into to the cores surface mixed layers are presented which typically are an order of magnitude greater than background authigenic fluxes from the open north atlantic one core collected closest to the vent site indicates that both the concentration and flux of hydrothermally derived material increased significantly at some point between 8 and 12 14c kyr ago the preferred explanation is that this variation reflects the initiation intensification of hydrothermal venting at the rainbow hydrothermal field at this time perhaps linked to some specific tectonic event in this fault controlled hydrothermal setting

glacial interglacial co2 change the iron hypothesis several explanations for the 200 to 280 ppm glacial interglacial change in atmospheric co2 concentrations deal with variations in southern ocean phytoplankton productivity and the related use or nonuse of major plant nutrients an hypothesis is presented herein in which arguments are made that new productivity in today s southern ocean 7 4 1013g yr 1 is limited by iron deficiency and hence the phytoplankton are unable to take advantage of the excess surface nitrate phosphate that if used could result in total southern ocean new production of 2 3 1015 g c yr 1 as a consequence of fe limited new productivity holocene interglacial co2 levels preindustrial are as high as they were during the last interglacial 280 ppm in contrast atmospheric dust fe supplies were 50 times higher during the last glacial maximum lgm because of this fe enrichment phytoplankton growth may have been greatly enhanced larger amounts of upwelled nutrients may have been used and the resulting stimulation of new productivity may have contributed to the lgm drawdown of atmospheric co2 to levels of less than 200 ppm background information and arguments in support of this hypothesis are presented

hydrothermal sediments as a potential record of seawater nd isotope compositions the rainbow vent site 36 14 n mid atlantic ridge 1 geochemical compositions and sr and nd isotopes were measured in two cores collected 2 and 5 km from the rainbow hydrothermal vent site on the mid atlantic ridge overall the cores record enrichments in fe and other metals from hydrothermal fallout but sequential dissolution of the sediments allows discrimination between a leach phase easily leachable and a residue phase refractory the oxy anion and transition metal distribution combined with rare earth element ree patterns suggest that 1 the leach fraction is a mixture of biogenic carbonate and hydrothermal fe mn oxy hydroxide with no significant contribution from detrital material and 2 99 5 of the ree content of the leach fraction is of seawater origin in addition the leach fraction has an average 87sr 86sr ratio indistinguishable from modern seawater at 0 70916 although we lack the nd value of present day deep water at the rainbow vent site we believe that the ree budget of the leach fraction is predominantly of seawater origin we suggest therefore that the leach fraction provides a record of local seawater nd values nd isotope data from these cores span the period of 4 14 ka 14c ages and yield nd values for north east atlantic deep water neadw that are higher 9 3 to 11 1 than those observed in the nearby madeira abyssal plain from the same depth 12 4 0 9 this observation suggests that either the iceland scotland overflow water isow and lower deep water contributions to the formation of neadw are higher along the mid atlantic ridge than in the surrounding basins or that the relative proportion of isow was higher during this period than is observed today this study indicates that hydrothermal sediments have the potential to provide a higher resolution record of deep water nd values and hence deepwater circulation patterns in the oceans than is possible from other types of sediments

geochemical and thermal fluxes high temperature venting and diffuse flow from mid ocean ridge hydrothermal systems the tag hydrothermal field mid atlantic ridge 26 n

a dual origin for the hydrothermal component in a metalliferous sediment core from the mid atlantic ridge a highly metalliferous sediment core collected from tag 26 n mid atlantic ridge has been analyzed for uranium series isotopes rare earth elements ree and radiogenic isotopes two types of deposition of hydrothermal material have been identified and characterized the first is sulfide material which has been rapidly deposited and is sometimes clearly turbiditic this material exhibits high u fe and eu sm ratios and low 230th fe and ree fe ratios it is proposed that u is incorporated into the sulfides by diffusion through the oxidized coating with reductive fixation near the sulfide oxide boundary the second hydrothermal component is particulate fallout from the neutrally buoyant plume which is diluted by the background pelagic sedimentation this component exhibits u fe ratios around 2 10 5 an order of magnitude greater than reported plume particulate levels but the 230th fe ree fe and eu sm ratios are similar to plume values nd and pb isotopes have been used to differentiate the hydrothermal and pelagic end members within this sediment core

the origin of clay minerals in active and relict hydrothermal deposits samples of fe oxide rich hydrothermal sediments were collected from active and inactive portions of the transatlantic geotraverse tag hydrothermal field on the mid atlantic ridge clays separated from tag metalliferous sediments in this study all consist of al poor nontronite oxygen isotope thermometry of the clays yields formation temperatures of 54 67 c for samples from the inactive alvin mound compared with 81 96 c for samples from the active tag site the latter are the highest recorded temperatures for authigenic hydrothermal clays sr isotope analysis of the clays from the active mound suggests that they precipitated from seawater dominated fluids containing less than 15 hydrothermal end member fluid in contrast nontronite from the inactive alvin mound has 87sr 86sr values that closely resemble that of detrital north atlantic clays suggesting a dominantly continental source for the sr rare earth element data are consistent with a significant detrital input to the inactive site but also demonstrate the extent of hydrothermal input to the low temperature fluid crystallographic fractionation of the trivalent ree is apparent in the heavy ree enrichments for all nontronite samples the inferred formation mechanism for nontronite rich fe oxyhydroxide deposits at the surface of the active mound is by direct precipitation from low temperature fluids at the inactive alvin site in contrast the deposits form during alteration of pelagic sediments by diffuse fluids and replacement of biogenic carbonate with nontronite and fe oxyhydroxide these two modes of formation are both important in seafloor hydrothermal settings where clay minerals are a significant component of the hydrothermal deposit

rare earth elements in foraminifera tests abstract the concentrations of nine rare earth elements ree la ce nd sm eu gd dy er and yb have been determined in mixed species assemblages of foraminifera tests taken from atlantic ocean sediment core tops reductive cleaning techniques have revealed that ree are present in three phases in foraminifera tests collected from sea floor sediments ree included in the foraminiferal calcite matrix termed lattice ree ree associated with an authigenic femn rich phase adsorbed onto the surface of the test following the death of the organism termed coating ree and ree associated with alumino silicate detritus termed detrital ree which commonly infills the test chambers after burial in the sediment the concentrations of ree in the nondetrital lattice plus coating and lattice phases have been measured in this study approximately 90 of the ree measured in the non detrital phase reside in the coating phase the remainder being present in the lattice phase these data have been used to investigate the relationship between the distribution of dissolved ree in the ocean and in the coating and lattice phases in addition to the ree the concentrations of mn fe cu al and po4 have been measured as an aid to characterisation of the various phases

significance of the sedimentary al ti ratio as an indicator for variations in the circulation patterns of the equatorial north atlantic this paper presents results of geochemical investigations conducted on three gravity cores recovered along an e w transect 3 5 n in the equatorial atlantic considering the high terrigenous content of the sediments approximately 12 74 wt al and ti concentrations are predominantly associated with the input of lithogenous phases the terrigenous fraction of western equatorial atlantic sediments is more influenced by material derived from the amazon river than by deposition of african dust particles as a possible route of transport the north equatorial countercurrent is considered fluctuations in al ti records generally reflect changes in the low latitude insolation cycle 19 23 kyr and thus indicate a close coupling to variations of the trade wind systems and continental climate changes however characteristics of the terrigenous signals in the eastern and western equatorial atlantic differ significantly while the precessional signal in the al ti record and low latitude portion in the 18o record are in phase in the eastern equatorial atlantic variations in the terrigenous fraction westward of the mid atlantic ridge precede the marine signal by 2 3 kyr which we ascribe to a shift between trade wind systems of the northern and southern hemispheres

geochemical and magnetic characteristics of aeolian transported materials under different near surface wind fields an experimental study by combining field investigations field sampling wind tunnel experiments and laboratory measurements the relationships between near surface winds and the geochemical and magnetic characteristics of windtransported materials were statistically analyzed our study was conducted using bulk surface samples from a major potential dust source area in central asia the ala shan plateau under near surface wind velocities ranging from 8 to 22 m s the coefficients of variation ranged between 1 6 and 14 9 for chi if 1 4 and 11 0 for chi arm and 0 7 and 123 for sirm of the transported materials for the 26 elements and oxides investigated the coefficients of variation of ti cr as zr ce pb and cu in the samples were greater than 10 no consistent patterns were found between magnetic characteristics and elemental and iron oxide concentrations as a function of variations in near surface wind velocities in potential dust source areas under near surface wind velocities there are variations in the relationships between magnetic and geochemical characteristics in the fine fractions of transported materials with different particle sizes given the wide variation in magnetic and geochemical characteristics of aeolian transported materials under different near surface winds their use as proxies for past climate reconstruction must be carefully appraised c 2015 elsevier b v all rights reserved

carriers of rare earth elements in pacific deep sea sediments abstract to determine carriers affecting the rare earth element ree composition of pelagic sediment pacific sediments were analyzed for major elements and rees the p and ca concentrations correlate positively and the ca p ratio is consistent with that of carbonate fluorapatite cfa in addition p concentration correlates strongly with ree concentration except for ce suggesting the significant influence of cfa on the bulk ree abundance of sediments many researchers have reported the important contribution of asian source eolian dust ased to pacific sediments on the basis of ree compositions of cfa and ased another carrier factor 3 that controls the ree composition of sediments was estimated by the factor analysis the north american shale composite normalized ree pattern of the calculated additional carrier exhibits a convex shape with a peak around the middle ree the ree composition of the additional carrier is similar to the composition of leachates from sediments by reductant and the co

anti atlas moroccan chain as the source of lithogenic derived micronutrient fluxes to the deep northeast atlantic ocean identifying the source of atmospheric dust is crucial to better understand the global marine biogeochemical cycle as phytoplankton growth relies on dissolved micronutrient elements available in the open ocean mineralogical geochemical and sr isotope analyses of a one year time series april 2003 april 2004 of deep ocean particle flux at the madeira abyssal plain in the subtropical northeast atlantic are presented the lithogenic fraction has a high occurrence of palygorskite and smectite and an absence of kaolinite together with sr isotopic compositions similar to the northeast atlantic aerosols this indicates the anti atlas moroccan chain of paleozoic age as the source region the lithogenic fraction supplies 4 times more fe during a dust event than during the spring summer aeolian input a continuous input of only 1 of the lithogenic iron made available over a year period could lead to an increase in primary productivity of 40 relative to today s value

using two dimensional hydrodynamic models at scales of ecological importance modeling of flow features that are important in assessing stream habitat conditions has been a long standing interest of stream biologists recently they have begun examining the usefulness of two dimensional 2 d hydrodynamic models in attaining this objective current modeling practices consider relatively long channel sections with their bathymetry represented in terms of large macro scale topographic features meso scale topographic features such as boulders root wads and other obstructions are typically not considered in the modeling process instead the overall effects of these flow obstructions are captured through increased values in the channel roughness parameters such an approach to 2 d modeling allows one to accurately predict average depth and velocity values however it is not capable of providing any information about the flow patterns in the vicinity of these obstructions biologists though have known that such meso scale features and the complex velocity patterns generated by their presence play an important role in the ecology of streams and thus cannot be ignored it is therefore evident that there is a need to develop better tools capable of modeling flow characteristics at scales of ecological importance the purpose of this study is to expand the utility of 2 d hydraulic models to capture these flow features that are critical for characterizing stream habitat conditions there exists a paucity of research addressing what types of topographic features should be included in 2 d model studies and to what extent a boulder or series of exposed boulders can influence predicted flow conditions and traditional useable habitat computations moreover little research has been performed to evaluate the impact mesh refinement has on model results in natural streams numerical simulations based on a natural river channel containing several large boulders indicate that explicitly modeling local obstructions boulders can significantly impact predicted flow parameters the presence of these obstructions create velocity gradients velocity shelters transverse flows and other ecologically important flow features that are not reproduced when their geometry is not incorporated into the hydraulic model sensitivity analyses show that reducing element sizes in the vicinity of obstructions and banks is crucial in modeling the spatial flow patterns created by meso scale topographic features this information combined with similar data obtained in future studies can provide guidelines for the placement of fishrocks and other structures often used in stream restoration projects as well as determining what types of mesoscale topographic features might need to be incorporated into habitat suitability studies such information may also ultimately allow new spatial habitat metrics to be developed q 2000 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

premixing of magma and water in mfci experiments experimental studies have been performed to evaluate pre explosive water melt mixes with respect to explosive volcanic molten fuel coolant interaction mfci i e phreatomagmatic explosion remolten ultrabasic volcanic rock was used as a magma simulant measurement of the explosion intensity was used to determine optimal premixing conditions a well defined optimal range was found for the hydrodynamic mixing energy differential flow speed of 4 2 m s as well as for the water melt mass ratio 0 03 to 0 04 under experimental conditions the mass flux of water had a minor influence on the explosion intensity additionally transparent mixing experiments with silicon oil and inked water were carried out they indicate a direct dependence of the pre explosive water melt interface area on the explosion intensity the experimental results show that the contact conditions of water and melt required for explosive mfci may easily be established in natural volcanic systems thus explosive mfci is a probable mechanism of explosive volcanism

holocene vegetation zonation in the eastern sahara recent discoveries of fossil bearing holocene lake sediments from the eastern sahara have brought further confirmation and detail to earlier indirect evidence that a major pluvial episode occurred between 9 500 and 4 500 yr bp1 3 the botanical results mainly palynological show that savanna and desert grassland occupied regions that today are plantless hyperarid deserts we present here the first evidence from the entire saharan region of a latitudinal zonation of holocene vegetation extending across a 500 km wide belt in north west sudan we have completed detailed pollen analyses of three of the several sites discovered so far and the salient features from two the northernmost and the southernmost are presented here to demonstrate a steep gradient of past vegetative cover

magnetic characterisation of present day deep sea sediments and sources in the north atlantic the north atlantic plays a key role in global climate through formation of north atlantic deep water which drives the thermohaline circulation to understand past and future climate change it is essential to understand the processes occurring within the present day north atlantic but ocean wide studies of present day sediment distribution and sources are relatively sparse here we use magnetic measurements to characterise the surface sediments of the north atlantic and identify the major climatic and oceanographic controls on their magnetic signatures the magnetic data and subsequent cluster analysis identify distinct spatial patterns of sediment sources and transport pathways much of the sedimentary magnetic signal appears to be controlled by detrital inputs especially of windblown dust and ice rafted debris ird with a range of different sources these sediment transport pathways can be validated by making direct comparison of the sediment magnetic properties with source rocks and soils and with iceberg trajectory and observation data the spatial distributions of the ird dominated sediments substantiate those mapped previously using lithological tracers provide additional spatial information on sediment sources and pathways and suggest that deep water currents are less significant than proposed in controlling present day sediment mineralogy and distribution the data form a present day basis for comparison with glacial stage ird and dust distributions and modes of ocean circulation

late pleistocene and holocene dune activity and wind regimes in the western sahara desert of mauritania the western sahara desert in mauritania is dominated by extensive sand seas consisting largely of linear dunes analyses of landsat images geomorphic and stratigraphic studies and optically stimulated luminescence dating of dunes in the azefal agneitir and akchar sand seas provide evidence that three main generations of dunes were formed during the periods 25 15 ka centered around the last glacial maximum 10 13 ka spanning the younger dryas event and after 5 ka the wind regimes that occurred during each of these periods were significantly different leading to the formation of dunes on three distinct superimposed trends northeast north northeast and north and the development of the sand seas as composite geomorphic features

particle geochemistry in the rainbow hydrothermal plume mid atlantic ridge we report the analysis of 18 large volume 500 1500 l in situ filtered samples of particulate material from the largest hydrothermal plume on the mid atlantic ridge overlying the ultramafic hosted rainbow hydrothermal field at 36 deg 14 n measured particulate iron concentrations reach 614 nm high concentrations of particulate fe oxyhydroxides result from the extremely high fe concentration 24 mm and fe h2s ratio 24 of the vent fluids and persist to at least 10 km away from the vent site due to the advection of plume material with the ambient along axis flow two of the nine pairs of pump deployments appear to have intercepted the buoyant or otherwise very young portion of the hydrothermal plume these samples are characterized by anomalously compared to neutrally buoyant plume samples high concentrations of mg u and chalcophile elements and low concentrations of mn ca v y and the rare earth elements ree within the neutrally buoyant plume elemental distributions are largely consistent with previously observed behaviors preferential removal of chalcophile elements conservative behavior of oxyanions p v and u and continuous scavenging of y and the ree this consistency is particularly significant in light of the underlying differences in fluid chemistry between rainbow and other studied sites chalcophile elements are preferentially removed from the plume in the order cd zn co cu phosphorus iron and vanadium iron ratios for the neutrally buoyant plume are consistent with global trends with respect to the concentration of dissolved phosphate in ambient seawater comparison of buoyant and neutrally buoyant plume ratios with data from hydrothermal sediments underlying the rainbow plume cave et al 2002 indicates however that while p fe ratios are indeed constant v fe ratios increase progressively from early stage plume particles to sediments ree distributions in the buoyant and neutrally buoyant plume appear most consistent with a continuous scavenging process during dispersion through the water column

sources of ree in sediment cores from the rainbow vent site 36 14 n mar a geochemical investigation was carried out on two sediment cores collected at 2 and 5 km from the rainbow hydrothermal vent site bulk sediment compositions indicate that these cores record clear enrichments in fe cu mn v p and as from hydrothermal plume fallout cave et al 2002 cave r r german c r thomson j nesbitt r w 2002 fluxes to sediments underlying the rainbow hydrothermal plume at 36 14 n on the mid atlantic ridge geochim cosmochim acta 66 11 1905 1923 sequential dissolution of the bulk sediments has been used to discriminate between a leach biogenic and oxy hydroxide component and a residual phase detrital and sulphide sulphate fractions major element data al fe ti mn mg ca si and index reveal that the hydrothermal input as recorded in the leach phase is much stronger than apparent from bulk sediment analyses alone ree patterns for the leach phase record contributions from both biogenic carbonate mimicking seawater ree patterns and hydrothermal oxy hydroxides with the latter exhibiting positive eu anomalies hydrothermal derived and negative ce anomalies seawater derived based on major element and ree data the residue contains contributions from aeolian dust input local morb material and a hydrothermal component ternary ree mixing calculations indicate that most of the ree within the residual fraction 80 is derived from hydrothermal material while detrital contributions to the ree budget as deep sea clay and volcanic debris are

intensification and variability of ocean thermohaline circulation through the last deglaciation neodymium isotope ratios in the authigenic ferromanganese oxide component in a southeastern atlantic core reveal a history of the global overturning circulation intensity through the last deglaciation from a minimum during the last glacial maximum lgm north atlantic deep water nadw began to strengthen between 18 and 17 kyr cal bp approximately 2000 3000 years before the bolling warming it exhibits a gradually increasing baseline intensity that plateaus in the early holocene tracks increasing northern hemisphere insolation and parallels atmospheric co2 concentration millennial scale fluctuations are superimposed on this baseline nadw increase corresponding to events in northern hemisphere climate records the millennial excursions show sharp increases associated with the pre bolling retreat of continental glaciers and the bolling warming itself a decrease with allerod cooling and a recovery through the younger dryas and early holocene the data confirm a close link between deep ocean circulation and north atlantic climate changes there is no clear linkage with meltwater pulses indicating that rapid meltwater additions did not trigger observable mode changes in nadw production however rapid changes in north atlantic sea ice cover show a strong relationship with the millennial perturbations of nadw flux to the deep southern ocean the data indicate that the baseline intensity of nadw reaching the cape basin is paced by northern hemisphere insolation and that north atlantic sea ice coverage acts as a major amplifying link between the oceans and the atmosphere d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

an improved method for extracting marine sediment fractions and its application to sr and nd isotopic analysis the radiogenic isotopic composition of both detrital and fe mn fractions in marine sediments can be used in paleoceanography to infer changes of bottom water circulation we have examined various chemical techniques for the analysis of sr and nd isotope ratios in these fractions and present a robust method that can be used to separate both the fe mn oxides and the detrital fraction from a marine sediment sample for isotopic analysis our sequential leaching procedure involves the use of 10 acetic acid followed by 1 m hydroxylamine hydrochloride in 25 acetic acid to remove the carbonate component and the fe mn oxide fraction respectively the applicability of our chemical procedure is illustrated with examples from a marine sediment core raised from the northern cape basin southeast atlantic ocean

simulated climate and biomes of africa during the late quaternary comparison with pollen and lake status data new compilations of african pollen and lake data are compared with climate ccm1 ncar boulder and vegetation biome 1 2 gsg lund simulations for the last glacial maximum lgm and early to mid holocene emh the simulated lgm climate was ca 4 c colder and drier than present with maximum reduction in precipitation in semi arid regions biome simulations show lowering of montane vegetation belts and expansion of southern xerophytic associations but no change in the distribution of deserts and tropical rain forests the lakes show lgm conditions similar or drier than present throughout northern and tropical africa pollen data indicate lowering of montane vegetation belts the stability of the sahara and a reduction of rain forest the paleoenvironmental data are consistent with the simulated changes in temperature and moisture budgets although they suggest the climate model underestimates equatorial aridity emh simulations show temperatures slightly less than present and increased monsoonal precipitation in the eastern sahara and east africa biome simulations show an upward shift of montane vegetation belts fragmentation of xerophytic vegetation in southern africa and a major northward shift of the southern margin of the eastern sahara the lakes indicate conditions wetter than present across northern africa pollen data show an upward shift of the montane forests the northward shift of the southern margin of the sahara and a major extension of tropical rain forest the lake and pollen data confirm monsoon expansion in eastern africa but the climate model fails to simulate the wet conditions in western africa

uptake and fractionation of rare earth elements on hydrothermal plume particles at 9 45 n east pacific rise abstract particulate samples 0 45 m from a neutrally buoyant hydrothermal plume at 9 45 n on the northern east pacific rise were collected using large volume in situ filtration and analyzed for fe al mn ni and fourteen rare earth elements ree the sm fe ratio a proxy for overall ree fe and nd er light heavy ree fractionation increased moderately with decreasing particulate fe chemically the sense of these relationships matched that documented previously in the tag plume on the mid atlantic ridge german et al 1990 although particulate fe was about 10 fold lower at 9 45 n spatial trends relative to the vent source however were opposite of expectation because slow fe ii oxidation and fe iii colloid aggregation over this interval led to increased particulate fe 10 26 nm with distance from source field and sherrell submitted after subtraction of non plume background particle composition plume particles at 9 45 n and tag had indistinguishable ranges of light ree enriched fractionation relative to ambient seawater and had very similar sm fe therefore kd for fe oxyhydroxides demonstrating that plume particles in both oceans reflect to a first degree the local seawater ree composition within plume ree variations at 9 45 n were investigated using a simple mixing model which accounts for the bulk fe al mn variations in the plume using two endmembers fresh hydrothermal oxyhydroxide precipitates and ridge crest background particles composed largely of locally resuspended sediment sm fe and nd er plot linearly with mixing ratio r 0 96 implying that the observed ree trends result from mixing of these two endmembers extrapolation to the composition of pure hydrothermal precipitates suggests that nd er is fractionated relative to seawater by a factor of 1 8 during adsorption onto fresh fe oxyhydroxide particles the ridge crest background particles are 5 fold higher in sm fe and nd er is 2 49 relative to seawater partly a result of enriched terrigenous component in the resuspended matter a reinterpretation of ree at tag reveals that positive curvature in ree vs fe plots argued previously to reflect continuous ree uptake i e increasing kd german et al 1990 may result from local depletion of the dissolved ree pool by partitioning onto fe particles at fe 100 nm similar drawdown effects could contribute to the variable degrees of curvature observed for all seawater source particle reactive species in plumes that are sampled at high particulate fe concentration in sum ree behavior in hydrothermal plumes is more consistent with equilibrium adsorption and mixing of distinct particle types than with kinetic uptake control precise measurements of rees in modern ridge crest metalliferous sediments could be compared to the endmember composition calculated from the plume data to evaluate long term changes in ree of the hydrothermal component

blast dynamics at mount st helens on 18 may 1980 at 8 32 a m on 18 may 1980 failure of the upper part of the north slope of mount st helens triggered a lateral eruption the blast that devastated the conifer forests in a sector covering 500 km2 north of the volcano i present here a steady flow model for the blast dynamics and propose that through much of the devastated area the blast was a supersonic flow of a complex multiphase solid liquid vapour mixture the shape of the blast zone pressure temperature velocity mach number and density distributions within the flow positions of weak and strong internal shocks and mass flux energy flux and total energy are calculated the shape of blast zone was determined by the initial areal expansion from the reservoir by internal expansion and compression waves including shocks and by the density of the expanding mixture the pressure within the flow dropped rapidly away from the source of the blast until at a distance of 11 km the flow became underpressured relative to the surrounding atmosphere weak shocks within the flow subparallel to the east and west margins coalesced at about this distance into a strong mach disk shock across which the flow velocities would have dropped from supersonic to subsonic as the pressure rose back towards ambient the positions of the shocks may be reflected in differences in the patterns of felled trees at the limits of the devastated area the temperature had dropped only 20 from the reservoir temperature because the entrained solids thermally buffered the flow the dynamic and thermodynamic effects of the admixture of the surrounding atmosphere and the uprooted forest and soils into the flow are not considered the density of the flow decreased with distance until at the limits of the blast zone 20 25 km from the volcano the density became comparable with that of the surrounding dirty atmosphere and the flow became buoyant and ramped up into the atmosphere according to the model the mass flux per unit area at the source was 0 6 104 g s 1 cm 2 and the energy flux per unit area was 2 5 mw cm 2 from the measured total ejected mass 0 25 1015 g the total energy released during the eruption was 1024 erg or 24 megatons the model triggering of the eruption and the transition from unsteady to steady flow and applications to eyewitness observations and atmospheric effects are discussed in ref 1

rare earth elements in suspended particulate material of north atlantic surface waters on a transect between the northwest and northeast atlantic ocean 30 n 60 w to 60 n 2 w june july 1996 suspended particulate material spm in 24 near surface water samples 4 to 22 m3 with spm concentrations between 32 and 447 mg m 3 has been collected using a large volume centrifuge system the samples have been analyzed for y the rare earth elements rees and major inorganic and biogenic carrier phases such as al clay fe mn poc opal and caco3 the concentration pattern of particulate rees roughly follows the spm distribution average values pmol l 1 are for y 2 36 la 0 84 ce 0 82 pr 0 17 nd 0 67 sm 0 14 eu 0 030 gd 0 15 tb 0 024 dy 0 16 ho 0 036 er 0 12 tm 0 018 yb 0 13 and lu 0 022 extensive variability in negative ce anomalies have been observed along our transect with the strongest anomalies in areas of high poc abundances significant fractionation between lrees and hrees has been found for all major particulate phases these data are characterized by 1 strong relationships p 0 001 exist between concentrations of nonlithogenic excess hrees tb lu and poc values indicating that complexation with organic ligands promotes temporary hree enrichment on solid surfaces 2 the behavior of particulate fe and mn fractions is decoupled while fe and al clay phases exhibit preferential uptake of lrees la gd with crust like signatures particulate excess mn is strongly coupled to the poc phase r2 0 82 and to excess hrees we therefore suggest that the enrichment of rees in mn particles occurs via the formation of biogenic material probably mediated by bacteria and is not caused by adsorption onto mn oxihydroxides another result is that y in all studied relationships with the major inorganic and biogenic phases is very similar to ho implying their chemistries in surface ocean particulates are dominated by similar valency and ionic radii the y ho ratios average of 69 7 mol mol 1 have been very constant along our transect and lie in between the ratios for seawater 100 and continental crust 50

tdr measurements of hydraulic jump aeration in the south fork of the american river california abstract turbulent pressure and velocity fluctuations associated with hydraulic jump air entrainment likely play an important role in local flow dynamics and morphologic changes of steep bedrock and alluvial rivers previous engineering research indicates that hydraulic jump air entrainment and energy dissipation locally intensify erosion of both bedrock and alluvial elements enhance hydraulic quarrying suppress cavitation and decrease the friction factor of a flow despite studies in artificial settings air content in natural hydraulic jumps remains largely unquantified in this study time domain reflectometry tdr a method commonly used to determine the volumetric water content of porous media for the last two decades was evaluated in the laboratory and then adapted to measure air contents of natural hydraulic jumps laboratory tests were conducted to determine the influence of turbulence temperature and sampling volume on the tdr signal over an air content range of 0 100 based on the results of the laboratory tests an empirical calibration was developed that converts the tdr signal into air content local air contents were then measured in hydraulic jumps occurring along a mixed alluvial and bedrock dominated 8 4 km section of the south fork american river two small jumps had a mean air content of 19 and 23 a coefficient of variation cv of 27 and 28 and a root mean square rms of 19 and 24 respectively a large jump had a mean air content of 42 a cv of 26 and a rms of 44 tdr provides fast accurate repeatable and nondestructive in situ measurements at one tenth the cost of traditional methods and is far more robust for field applications than traditional lab instruments future studies can now expand upon the hydrogeomorphic and ecological significance of jump aeration

tracing dust input to the mid atlantic ridge between 14 45 n and 36 14 n geochemical and sr isotope study abstract a geochemical and sr isotope study was carried out on sediment cores collected from the logatchev hydrothermal vent site 14 45 n on the mid atlantic ridge with the aim of identifying aeolian inputs into the overlying water column the logatchev vent site lies beneath the ne trade winds which transport large amounts of detrital material across the north atlantic sequential dissolution of the sediments has been used to discriminate the detrital fraction from other types of sediment ree patterns for the acetic acid fraction at the logatchev site record contributions from biogenic carbonate seawater like ree pattern and oxy hydroxides which exhibit positive eu and negative ce anomalies typical of hydrothermal origin the logatchev site leach fractions have similar major element compositions to terrigenous al fe mn oxides whose ree patterns show strong positive ce and negative eu anomalies that are comparable to those of preformed fe mn oxides of continental origin based on major element and ree data and 87sr 86sr ratios 0 7197 0 7236 the residue fractions at the logatchev site contain a significant contribution from aeolian sources whose chemical composition is virtually identical to oligotrophic settling particles in the equatorial atlantic ocean in comparison residues from the rainbow hydrothermal site 36 14 n have geochemical composition controlled by hydrothermal anhydrite chavagnac v german c r milton j a palmer m r 2005 sources of ree in sediment cores from the rainbow vent site 36 14 n mar chem geol 216 329 352 they are characterised by 87sr 86sr ratios of 0 7087 0 7093 which are significantly less radiogenic than those of the saharan dust hence the data suggest 1 a significant contribution of aeolian material to the sediments at 14 45 n that is not present at 36 14 n 2 that this material is most likely of north african origin and 3 that this source of aeolian material has remained relatively constant over the last 13 kyr

distribution of major elements in atlantic surface sediments 36 n 49 s imprint of terrigenous input and continental weathering 1 numerous studies use major element concentrations measured on continental margin sediments to reconstruct terrestrial climate variations the choice and interpretation of climate proxies however differ from site to site here we map the concentrations of major elements ca fe al si ti k in atlantic surface sediments 36 n 49 s to assess the factors influencing the geochemistry of atlantic hemipelagic sediments and the potential of elemental ratios to reconstruct different terrestrial climate regimes high concentrations of terrigenous elements and low ca concentrations along the african and south american margins reflect the dominance of terrigenous input in these regions single element concentrations and elemental ratios including ca e g fe ca are too sensitive to dilution effects enhanced biological productivity carbonate dissolution to allow reliable reconstructions of terrestrial climate other elemental ratios reflect the composition of terrigenous material and mirror the climatic conditions within the continental catchment areas the atlantic distribution of ti al supports its use as a proxy for eolian versus fluvial input in regions of dust deposition that are not affected by the input of mafic rock material the spatial distributions of al si and fe k reflect the relative input of intensively weathered material from humid regions versus slightly weathered particles from drier areas high biogenic opal input however influences the al si ratio fe k is sensitive to the input of mafic material and the topography of andean river drainage basins both ratios are suitable to reconstruct african and south american climatic zones characterized by different intensities of chemical weathering in well understood environmental settings

geomorphological development of the goto submarine canyon northeastern east china sea abstract the geomorphological development of submarine canyons is controlled by multiple factors such as sea level fluctuations tectonic activity and ocean currents but the relative contributions of each factor vary among these canyons the development of submarine canyons along active rift margins is not fully understood because there are relatively few documented examples of such phenomena the goto submarine canyon offers a good example of this type of structure because it is located on the flank of the okinawa trough which is an active back arc basin through multi beam bathymetry multi channel seismic reflection profiling and remotely operated vehicle surveys we reveal that this canyon is more than four times wider than other submarine canyons and has a gradient that is half as deep and a remarkably flat canyon floor a series of upstream facing cliffs with reliefs up to 110 m and longitudinal lineaments are also associated with this canyon these morphological features can mainly be attributed to direct sediment inputs from the yellow river during glacial stages vertical incision prevented by erosion resistant beds and faulting and tectonic tilting of resistant strata the possibility of tidal current induced erosion is also suggested these processes have been influenced primarily by regional factors such as the wide continental shelf carbonate cementation and active rifting of the okinawa trough the contribution of rifting including faults and tectonic tilting to the canyon s morphology is expected to be a general characteristic of submarine canyons along active rifting margins

rare earth elements and neodymium isotopes in ferromanganese oxide coatings of cenozoic foraminifera from the atlantic ocean abstract an evaluation has been made of the method of establishing the ree contents and patterns and nd isotopic compositions of sea water over cenozoic time from their record in the femn oxide coatings of foraminiferal calcite using 0 60 ma samples from the rio grande rise dsdp site 357 it has been established that the ree contents of the coatings are generally similar to those of recent samples however in the cenozoic samples the surface coatings have been diagenetically modified under suboxic conditions resulting in a distinctly different ree pattern although the original 143 nd 144 nd ratios appear to have been preserved the nd isotopic curve for cenozoic sea water in the s atlantic shows clear temporal trends although these are not so extreme as to show 143 nd 144 nd ratios outside the range observed in modem sea water with the principal exception of the oldest samples there is an approximate inverse relationship between the nd and sr isotopic compositions of the foraminifera it is suggested that the changes reflect both global changes in the relative proportions of nd and sr derived from continental input and from the weathering of volcanic debris together with short term and local variations to which the sr curve is insensitive reflecting the different response times of the two elements to changes in oceanic input functions the nd isotope curve appears to be a potentially useful tracer of ocean palaeochemistry

modern and last glacial maximum eolian sedimentation patterns in the atlantic ocean interpreted from sediment iron oxide content eolian dust derived from the desert regions of north africa is blown far into the tropical atlantic ocean by persistent easterly and northeasterly winds in this paper we demonstrate that the iron oxides hematite and goethite are a worthwhile addition to proxy monitors of eolian sedimentation in the tropical atlantic iron oxides are identified by diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry a technique capable of identifying these minerals in concentrations as low as 0 01 by weight we analyze samples from both the modern and last glacial maximum lgm synoptic levels from 178 sample locations yielding a total of 356 samples distributed throughout the atlantic ocean to determine the relative contribution of the iron oxides we factor analyzed the modern and lgm levels as a single data set the iron oxide factor explains about 25 of the variance in the combined core top and lgm data set mapped factor scores for the lgm and modern ocean indicate high iron oxide values are present in just two regions one off eastern north america and the other off northwest africa in the region off eastern north america iron oxide occurs primarily during the lgm as the previously noted brick red lutite a unique sediment type derived from the erosion of permo carboniferous red beds in atlantic canada a larger lobe shaped area of iron oxide rich sediment is present off northwest africa in both the modern and lgm levels the modern iron oxide lobe is coincident with the distribution of eolian dust as determined by observations from ships satellites and analysis of air samples during the lgm iron oxides exhibit a similar distribution except the southern margin of the region shifts equatorward and iron oxide concentration increases

history and geochemistry of a metalliferous sediment core from the mid atlantic ridge at 26 n fourteen thousand years of hydrothermal deposition are recorded in a metalliferous sediment core recovered from the trans atlantic geotraverse tag hydrothermal field on the mid atlantic ridge at 26 n an estimated 26 to 96 of the sediment at this core site is hydrothermally derived as determined from the caco3 al and fe data layers of essentially pure vent precipitates contain 3 caco3 and 0 5 al with high concentrations of fe 43 cu 4 1 zn 1 2 mn 1 1 v 480 ppm pb 175 ppm cd 32 ppm and hg 3 8 ppm sediment accumulation rates vary from 1 to 30 g cm2 1000 y throughout the core a function of the intensity of hydrothermal inputs distinct hydrothermal events are recorded at 6000 and 8500 y b p in layers containing 90 vent derived material vertical metal profiles and interelement relationships in the core result from variable deposition of oxides and sulfides oxidation and dissolution of sulfide phases and scavenging of metals from seawater

structure of hydrothermal plumes at the logatchev vent field 14 45 n mid atlantic ridge evidence from geochemical and geophysical data abstract in the seventh cruise of r v professor logatchev anomalies of natural electric field ef eh and ps were discovered using a towed instrument package rift at 14 45 n on the mar logatchev hydrothermal field the anomalous zone az is situated close 10 35 m to two low temperature venting areas of degrading sulphides and a black smoker irina microsmoke forming a distinct buoyant plume over or close to the main area of high temperature venting situated to the south east from the az no ef or eh anomalies were observed according to the results of mir dives the highly mineralised solutions from smoking craters at the main mound mostly form non buoyant plumes reverse plumes the buoyant plume structure shows the differentiation of the electrical and eh fields within the plume maxima of the ef eh and e h 2 s anomalies were revealed in the lower part 15 m of the plume the negative redox potential plume coupled with a sulphide anomaly is more localized in comparison with the ef this observation indicates a distinct change in the composition of buoyant plume water which may be due to the formation and fallout of early formed fe sulphide particles soon after venting

variations in the strontium isotopic composition of seawater during the neogene the authors report 261 strontium isotopic analyses of well preserved planktonic foraminifers from three deep sea drilling project sites 519 588 and 607 these samples cover the period from 24 ma to present with an average of approximately one sample per 100 ka the combination of high sample density and uniformity of analytical procedures has produced a well defined record of changes in the sup 87 sr sup 86 sr of seawater during the neogene the record can be viewed as a series of essentially linear segments with slopes ranging from as high as 6 times 10 sup minus 5 m y to as low as 0 m y the times associated with major inflections in the curve do not appear to correspond to simple geologic phenomena such as eustatic cycles but are probably controlled by a combination of tectonic and climatic factors that influenced the abundance and isotopic composition of terrestrial strontium input to the oceans the strontium isotopic data are consistent with a progressive increase in the chemical weathering rates of the continents during the neogene probably related to repeated glaciations increased exposure of continents by lowered sea level and increased continental relief resulting from high rates of tectonic uplift

rare earth elements and nd isotopes tracing water mass mixing and particle seawater interactions in the se atlantic abstract distributions of dissolved and particulate rare earth elements rees and seawater neodymium isotopic composition e nd were established in samples from the bonus goodhope bgh ipy geotraces cruise in the se atlantic sector of the southern ocean 36 s 13 e to 57 s 0 feb mar 2008 close to the south african continent in the subtropical domain particulate rees show the highest concentrations and flat paas normalized patterns clearly tracing their lithogenic origin active cerium oxidation onto suspended particles is evidenced by the mirror image relationship of the cerium anomaly between dissolved and particulate phases unradiogenic dissolved neodymium in surface waters e nd 17 1 traces the influence of old sedimentary material brought by the agulhas current and rings to the cape basin area a mass balance calculation suggests that the release of nd from dissolution of lithogenic material corresponds to a remobilization of 154 10 6 t of sediment per year i e 5 of the total sediment delivered to the southeast african coast annually at open ocean stations both dissolved and particulate rees present negative cerium anomalies indicating that particles have acquired a marine signature the increasing ree concentrations with depth and the strong linear correlations of dissolved ree with silica indicate that surface removal and deep re mineralisation of rees are partially related to the biogeochemical cycle of silicate which involves biogenic silica diatoms combined with marine carbonates these authigenic phases could explain the observed ree patterns in suspended particles except for la we suggest that the positive la anomalies in both phases are linked to the oceanic barium cycle and the partial dissolution of barite crystals especially in the polar frontal zone the e nd composition behaves conservatively in intermediate and deep waters while input processes affect the isotopic signal of subtropical surface waters and weddell gyre bottom waters an indian ocean and an atlantic variety of aaiw have been isotopically differentiated e nd 9 3 0 3 and e nd 8 0 0 5 respectively homogeneous signatures characterize circumpolar waters e nd from 8 2 to 8 4 for cdw a binary mixing model has been used to assess the contribution of undiluted nadw reaching southern latitudes

the rainbow hydrothermal plume 36 15 n mar the rainbow hydrothermal plume was discovered during a recent geophysical survey along 200 km of the mid atlantic ridge mar sw of the azores triple junction in which at least seven new sites of hydrothermal activity were identified here we present the first hydrographic study of the rainbow plume 36 15 n the strongest of the features located during that survey the plume is detectable from real time in situ nephelometer anomalies and extends 10 15km w e in a non transform discontinuity ntd between two adjacent ridge segments maximum anomalies in the rainbow plume indicate particle enrichments at least as large as those seen directly above the trans atlantic geotraverse tag vent field 26 n mar analysis of hydrographic data indicates a vent source at rainbow with a thermal output of up to 98 mw representing 140 of the thermal output previously attributed to tag both lines of evidence indicate the rainbow plume to be the strongest such feature yet found on the mar

geochemical and magnetic characteristics of fine grained surface sediments in potential dust source areas implications for tracing the provenance of aeolian deposits and associated palaeoclimatic change in east asia abstract we investigated the geochemical and magnetic characteristics of fine grained surface sediments fractions

sediment and pollen evidence for an early to mid holocene humid period in the eastern sahara a major problem in the study of holocene palaeoenvironments of the arid and wind deflated sahara is the low preservation potential of sediments from which a record of past climatic change can be established several indirect and imprecisely dated pieces of evidence have suggested humid episodes in the holocene that may have supported more productive ecosystems and denser human populations than today searches for reliable proxy data on past climates however have failed to yield satisfactory results we report here the discovery of buried lake muds in north west sudan in the hyperarid core of the eastern sahara which yield sedimentological and palynological data clearly interpretable as recording an early to mid holocene humid episode that supported a relatively deep stratified lake surrounded by tropical savanna woodland vegetation

hydrothermal scavenging on the juan de fuca ridge 23othxs 10be and rees in ridge flank sediments abstract we have investigated the geochemistry of a hydrothermally enriched sediment core recovered from the western flank of the n cleft segment juan de fuca ridge 8km west of the megaplume area previously identified near 45 n the core contains varying biogenic lithogenic and hydrothermal components as reflected in caco3 al and fe contents respectively horizons of pronounced hydrothermal input in core top sediments and at depth exhibit increased concentrations of fe cu zn and pb and shifts in pb isotopic compositions toward nonradiogenic morb hydrothermal values ree concentrations co vary with hydrothermal fe down core and shale normalised ree distribution patterns exhibit both negative ce anomalies and positive eu anomalies indicative of input from plume particle fall out unsupported 230thxs activities down core are consistent with continuous slow sediment accumulation rates of 0 54 cm ky for 200 ky since the deposition of the deeper fe rich horizon 10be 0 and 9be isotope concentrations also co vary with hydrothermal fe down core and exhibit 10 be o 9 be ratios which approach that of pacific ocean deep water indicative of a seawater scavenging source 10 be 0 230 oth xs 0 ratios throughout most of core gc88 6 are greater than mean pacific ocean values indicating that hydrothermal scavenging can lead to significant net removal of dissolved 10be into ridge flank sediments

the rainbow vent fluids 36 14 n mar the influence of ultramafic rocks and phase separation on trace metal content in mid atlantic ridge hydrothermal fluids fluids were collected from the rainbow vent field 36 14 n on the mid atlantic ridge mar during the 1997 diving flores cruise this vent field in ultramafic rocks at a depth of 2300 m is composed of 10 black smokers emitting acidic ph 2 8 fluids at 365 c the low ph of the hot temperature rainbow fluids likely results from seawater ultramafic rock interaction that releases h ions into reducing hydrothermal fluids fluid chemistry is strongly influenced by phase separation generating cl rich brines clem 750 mm strongly enriched with mn fe co ni cu zn ag cd cs pb y and rare earth elements ree ree and transition metal abundance particularly fe and mn in the rainbow fluids is dramatically higher than in other mar fluids the abundance of trace element and ree enrichment is due to the greater solubility of these elements that is strongly favored by cl complexation at low ph and high temperature conditions chondrite normalized ree patterns show strong lree enrichment with evidence of the typical eu anomaly this ree partitioning suggests that either 1 ultramafic rocks represent only a part of rocks leached during hydrothermal alteration and or 2 that the unique rainbow fluid temperature ph and redox state issued from the ultramafic character of leached substratum can produce unique ree partitioning

provenance of present day eolian dust collected off nw africa 1 atmospheric dust samples collected along a transect off the west african coast have been investigated for their physical grain size distribution mineralogical and chemical major elements composition on the basis of these data the samples were grouped into sets of samples that most likely originated from the same source area in addition shipboard collected atmospheric meteorological data modeled 4 day back trajectories for each sampling day and location and total ozone mapping spectrometer aerosol index data for the time period of dust collection february march 1998 were combined and used to reconstruct the sources of the groups of dust samples on the basis of these data we were able to determine the provenance of the various dust samples it appears that the bulk of the wind blown sediments that are deposited in the proximal equatorial atlantic ocean are transported in the lower level 900 hpa ne trade wind layer which is a very dominant feature north of the intertropical convergence zone itcz however south of the surface expression of the itcz down to 5 s where surface winds are southwesterly we still collected sediments that originated from the north and east carried there by the ne trade wind layer as well as by easterly winds from higher altitudes the fact that the size of the wind blown dust depends not only on the wind strength of the transporting agent but also on the distance to the source hampers a direct comparison of the dust s size distributions and measured wind strengths however a comparison between eolian dust and terrigenous sediments collected in three submarine sediment traps off the west coast of nw africa shows that knowledge of the composition of eolian dust is a prerequisite for the interpretation of paleorecords obtained from sediment cores in the equatorial atlantic

nutrients in atmospheric aerosol particles along the atlantic meridional transect the atmosphere can be an important source of nutrients to remote ocean waters e g in supplying iron to nitrogen fixers in the tropical north atlantic we use results obtained from aerosol collection during four meridional transect cruises of the atlantic ocean in an attempt to identify sources of soluble nutrient species fe n p and si to the atlantic atmosphere the sahara desert was the dominant source of soluble aerosol fe and si and also a significant source of aerosol p biomass burning and another source possibly primary particles derived from vegetation also contribute to the aerosol p loading industrial nox and agricultural ammonium sources contribute to high nitrogen concentrations in the northern hemisphere while biomass burning appears to be a significant seasonal source of n to the southern hemisphere this work is an initial step in our aim to describe the atmospheric nutrient inputs to the atlantic basin using a much larger set of aerosol and rain samples that will be obtained during the atlantic meridional transect amt project and other field campaigns 2006 elsevier ltd all rights reserved