origins and paleoceanographic significance of laminated muds from the ulleung basin east sea sea of japan abstract a detailed facies analysis of long piston core sediments from the ulleung basin reveals four mud facies laminated mud crudely laminated mud bioturbated mud and homogenous mud the laminated and homogeneous muds were most likely deposited from turbidity currents whereas the bioturbated and crudely laminated muds were formed by hemipelagic pelagic sedimentation under well oxygenated and poorly oxygenated bottom water conditions respectively a detailed analysis of vertical distribution of the mud facies together with a chronostratigraphic framework derived from correlative tephra layers with known eruption ages reveals paleoenvironmental changes during the late quaternary during the period between 49 and 23 ka eustatic lowering of sea level facilitated frequent slope failure resulting in repeated deposition of fine grained turbidites on the basin floor normal hemipelagic sediments were intensively bioturbated under well oxygenated bottom water conditions during the period between 23 and 13 to 11 ka deposition from turbidity currents continued but hemipelagic sediments were non bioturbated under poorly oxygenated bottom water conditions the bottom water deoxygenation is attributed to further lowering of sea level during the last glacial period and consequent intensified stratification in the water column by freshwater supply to the nearly isolated sea primary laminae preserved in the crudely laminated mud generally exhibit low compositional bimodality in backscattered electron images which suggests low surface primary productivity and presence of superficial micro bioturbation after rapid rise of sea level at 13 to 11 ka the slopes were stabilized and pelagic sedimentation has prevailed under well oxygenated bottom water conditions

reconstruction of primary productivity from the barium contents in surface sediments of the south atlantic ocean abstract the aim of the present study is an evaluation of the applicability of biogenic barium as a proxy for productivity for this purpose 190 surface sediment samples from the south atlantic ocean were analysed for their barium and aluminium concentrations biogenic barium is estimated by subtracting the calculated terrigenous barium obtained from the terrigenous ba al ratio and the amount of al in the sample from the total ba content in the sample based on the accumulation rates of biogenic barium export production is estimated using three different algorithms proposed by paleoceanography 7 1992 163 global biogeochem cycles 9 1995 289 geomar report 38 1995 105 primary productivity was calculated from these different export productions and compared with measurements of recent primary productivity in the overlying surface waters only the primary productions calculated on the basis of the algorithm of paleoceanography 7 1992 163 yield productivity values comparable to those existing in ocean surface waters this study further reveals that it is not sufficient to use a constant generally applicable organic carbon biogenic barium ratio as is postulated by global biogeochem cycles 9 1995 289 this ratio has to be assessed regionally for the sediments of the cape basin in the eastern south atlantic ocean a new algorithm is developed which gives plausible primary productivities for the overlying surface waters

late cretaceous and early paleogene nutrient and paleoproductivity records from blake nose western north atlantic ocean 1 we evaluate phosphorus p and biogenic barium bio ba as nutrient burial and export productivity indicators for the late cretaceous and early paleogene combining these with calcium carbonate caco3 organic carbon c and bulk caco3 c isotopes 13c sample ages span 36 71 ma 1 sample 0 5 m y for a depth transect of sites in the western north atlantic blake nose ocean drilling program leg 171b sites 1052 1051 and 1050 we use a multitracer approach including redox conditions to investigate export productivity surrounding the global paleocene 13c maximum 57 ma reducing conditions render most of the bio ba record not useful for export productivity interpretations p and organic c records indicate that regional nutrient and organic c burial were high at 61 and 69 ma and low during the paleocene 13c maximum a time of proposed global high relative organic c burial observed organic c burial changes at blake nose cannot explain this c isotope excursion

rhenium and molybdenum enrichments in sediments as indicators of oxic suboxic and sulfidic conditions of deposition abstract the trace elements re and mo both behave conservatively in seawater yet are strongly enriched in reducing sediments their potential for authigenic enrichment above crustal concentrations is greater than for many other elements due to the high ratio of metal sw metal crust we present sedimentary re and mo data from box and multi cores spanning a range of redox conditions from well oxygenated sites to locations with substantial sulfide concentrations at the oxic sites re and mo as expected accumulate at concentrations close to their crustal abundances re shows substantial enrichment in suboxic absence of o 2 and h 2 s sediments of the sea of japan in sediments within the oxygen minimum of the pakistan margin as well as in sediments underlying the sulfide bearing waters of the black sea and saanich inlet re enrichment occurs in these cores just below the depths of fe and u reduction only in the sediments underlying the sulfidic waters of the black sea and saanich inlet is there substantial authigenic mo accumulation absence of re and mo enrichments in sediment trap samples from the sulfide bearing basins suggests that the addition of both metals occurs at or below the sediment water interface the re and mo concentration profiles are modeled to hindcast the removal depth of re and mo in the sediments which along with the re mo ratio determine whether oxic suboxic or sulfidic conditions were present in the water column or in the sediments in the past using this approach historical redox conditions can be inferred even in environments such as continental margins where a substantial lithogenic component can obscure authigenic enrichments of other metals

carbon to phosphorus ratios in sediments implications for nutrient cycling defining the transformations of phosphorus p in sediments is critical to assessing the geochemical behavior of sedimentary p and the behavior of reactive p preactive poxide associated pauthigenic porganic relative to organic carbon corganic this study includes the determination of p components and corganic concentrations on samples from sites in the california current region ocean drilling program odp leg 167 sites 1010 1011 1012 1014 1016 and 1021 in the benguela current region odp leg 175 sites 1082 1084 and 1085 and on blake nose in the western atlantic odp leg 17 1b sites 1050 and 1052 sample depths range up to 650 m and ages range up to 65 ma our data demonstrate the transformation of labile forms of p porganic and poxide associated to pauthigenic throughout the sediment column in all redox states and at all sedimentation rates investigated until a substantial portion of reactive p is in the authigenic form 80 c p organic ratios are always greater than or equal to the redfield ratio in all of the sediments we studied sediments with corganic concentrations 2 wt have corganic preactive ratios less than the redfield ratio and corganic preactive ratios increase linearly with corganic consistent with degradation of corganic with age in general corganic preactive ratios for sediments with corganic concentrations 2 wt from a variety of redox states and sedimentation rates center around the redfield ratio although some ratios are as high as 3 times the redfield ratio however corganic preactive ratios up to 400 do not approach the high ratios observed for c p organic ratios up to 4500 because of the efficient transfer of labile forms of p to pauthigenic corganic preactive ratios better describe the geochemical behavior of sedimentary p

ocean chemistry during glacial time abstract measurements of co2 to air ratios in the gas trapped in bubbles in ice of glacial age suggest that the co2 content of the atmosphere was considerably lower during peak glacial time than during holocene time the purpose of this paper is to show that such a change must in all likelihood be the result of alterations in the nutrient element chemistry of sea water two possible scenarios are presented one involves alternate storage and erosion of phosphorous leaving residues from shelf sediments the other involves changes in the c p ratio in the organic debris falling to the deep sea means of verifying the nutrient cycle hypothesis are also given it is shown that the 13c record as we know it in planktonic and benthic foraminifera the oxygen record as inferred from benthic foraminifera species distributions and the early post glacial caco3 preservation event as recorded by aragonitic pteropods are consistent with both of the hypotheses presented only if an early post glacial spike in the 13c record for planktonic shells could be found would it be possible to eliminate one of these hypotheses i e that involving shelf storage the implications of these nutrient hypotheses to climate theory are as follows if shelf storage is responsible for the glacial to interglacial co2 increase then the co2 change must be considered an amplifier of some primary cause the reason is that sea level changes are needed to drive deposition on and erosion from the shelves on the other hand if changes in the c p ratio for falling debris are responsible then the co2 change could either be an amplifier or a primary cause for the major glacial to interglacial climatic cycle the latter is possible as self sustained oscillations in ocean chemistry might be driven by interactions between ocean ecology and ocean nutrient chemistry

organic matter apatite pyrite relationships in the botneheia formation middle triassic of eastern svalbard relevance to the formation of petroleum source rocks in the nw barents sea shelf abstract the middle triassic botneheia formation of eastern svalbard edgeoya and barentsoya comprises an organic carbon rich fine grained clastic succession 100 m thick that makes the best petroleum source rock horizon in the nw barents sea shelf the succession records a transgressive regressive interplay between the prodelta depositional system sourced in the southern barents sea shelf black shale facies of the lower and middle parts of the muen member and the open shelf phosphogenic system related to upwelling and nutrient supply from the panthalassic ocean phosphogenic black shale facies of the upper part of the muen member and the blanknuten member the relationships between organic matter authigenic apatite and pyrite in these facies allow to characterize the relative roles of redox conditions and oceanic productivity in the organic carbon preservation the accumulation of terrestrial and autochthonous marine organic matter in the black shale facies occurred under dominating oxic conditions and increasing upward productivity related to early transgressive phase and retrogradation of the prodelta system the phosphogenic black shale facies deposited in an oxygen minimum zone omz of the open shelf environment during the late transgressive to regressive phases under conditions of high biological productivity suppressed sedimentation rates and changing bottom redox the phosphatic black shales occurring in the lower and upper parts of the phosphogenic succession reveal depositional conditions indicative of the shallower part of omz including high input of autochthonous organic matter into sediment oxic to dysoxic episodically suboxic and or anoxic conditions intense phosphogenesis and recurrent reworking of the seabed the massive phosphatic mudstone occurring in the middle of the phosphogenic succession reflects the development of euxinia in the deeper part of omz during high stand of the sea high input of autochthonous organic matter in this environment was coupled with mineral starvation and intermittent phosphogenesis in mature sections in eastern svalbard the petroleum potential of the botneheia formation rises from moderate to good in the black shale facies and from good to very good in the phosphogenic black shale facies attaining maximum in the massive phosphatic mudstone

an apparent contradiction in the role of phosphorus in cenozoic chemical mass balances for the world ocean little is known about the fluxes to and from the ocean during the cenozoic of phosphorus p a limiting nutrient for oceanic primary productivity and organic carbon burial on geologic timescales previous studies have concluded that dissolved river fluxes increased worldwide during the cenozoic and that organic carbon burial decreased relative to calcium carbonate burial and perhaps in absolute terms as well to examine the apparent contradiction between increased river fluxes of p assuming p fluxes behave like the others expected to drive increased organic carbon burial and observations indicating decreased organic carbon burial we determined p accumulation rates for equatorial pacific sediments from ocean drilling program leg 138 sites in the eastern equatorial pacific and leg 130 sites on the ontong java plateau in the western equatorial pacific although there are site specific and depth dependent effects on p accumulation rates there are important features common to the records at all sites p accumulation rates declined from 50 to 20 ma showed some variability from 20 to 10 ma and had a substantial peak from 9 to 3 ma centered at 5 6 ma these changes in p accumulation rates for the equatorial pacific are equivalent to substantial changes in the p mass balance however the pattern resembles neither that of weathering flux indicators 87sr 86sr and ge si ratios nor that of the carbon isotope record reflecting changes in organic carbon burial rates although these p accumulation rate patterns need confirmation from other regions with sediment burial significant in global mass balances e g the north pacific and southern ocean it appears that p weathering inputs to the ocean are decoupled from those of other elements and that further exploration is needed of the relationship between p burial and net organic carbon burial

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

understanding seismic heterogeneities in the lower mantle beneath the americas from seismic tomography and plate tectonic history we combine results from seismic tomography and plate motion history to investigate slabs of subducted lithosphere in the lower mantle beneath the americas using broadband waveform cross correlation we measured 37 000 differential p and s traveltimes 2000 pcp p and scs s times along a wide corridor from alaska to south america we invert the data simultaneously to obtain p and s wave velocity models we interpret slab structures and unravel subduction history by comparing our v s tomographic images with reconstructed plate motion from present day up to 120 myr convergence of the pacific with respect to the americas is computed using either 1 the pacific and indo atlantic hot spot reference frames or 2 the plate circuit passing through antarctica around 800 km depth four distinctive fast anomalies can be associated with subduction of the nazca cocos and juan de fuca plates beneath south central and north america respectively and of the pacific plate beneath the aleutian island arc the large fast anomalies in the lowermost mantle which are most pronounced in the s wave models can be associated with late cretaceous subduction of the farallon plate beneath the americas near 2000 km depth the images record the post 80 myr fragmentation of the proto farallon plate into the kula plate in the north and the farallon plate in the northeast near 1000 km depth we infer separate fast anomalies interpreted as the kula pacific juan de fuca and farallon slabs this interpretation is consistent with the volume and length of slabs estimated from the tomographic images and the plate history reconstruction

evidence for an earliest oligocene abrupt cooling in the surface waters of the southern ocean quantitative analysis of upper eocene upper oligocene calcareous nannofossil assemblages from five ocean drilling program sites in the atlantic and indian ocean sectors of the southern ocean reveals an abrupt increase in cool water taxa at the top of magnetic subchron c13r ca 35 9 ma coincident with an enrichment of 1 18 o in the planktonic foraminifers at these sites the synchrony of the abrupt increase in cool water taxa in the southern ocean renders this event a useful biostratigraphic datum at southern high latitudes this earliest oligocene cool water taxa increase was the sharpest and largest during the late eocene late oligocene interval and indicates a drop in surface water temperature of more than 3 c in the southern ocean this suggests that the earliest oligocene 18 o shift represents primarily a temperature signal a small portion 0 2 is attributable to a global ice volume increase

middle eocene to early oligocene paleoceanography of the antarctic ocean maud rise odp leg 113 site 689 change from a low to a high productivity ocean the sediment record from the middle eocene about 45 ma to the early oligocene about 33 ma on maud rise site 689 weddell sea paleodepth 1400 1650 m has been studied by means of a coarse fraction analysis in order to reconstruct variations in surface water productivity and bottom water masses productivity has been estimated using carbonate dissolution and accumulation rates of radiolaria diatoms benthonic and planktonic foraminifers sponge debris ostracods and echinoids accumulation rates of bolboforma spp vary parallel to these proxies productivity increased with time three episodes were found in which productivity increased sharply and productivity varied cyclically with a period of 430 ky the middle eocene ca 45 44 37 26 ma was a period of generally low productivity no opal was deposited and carbonate preservation was excellent during periods of a slight increase in productivity accumulation rates of benthonic and planktonic foraminifers ostracods and echinoids increased in spite of an increase in carbonate dissolution in the period ca 41 62 43 07 ma productivity rose in three distinct pulses clinoptilolite formed from biogenous opal is a common mineral in these sediments these three productivity maxima coincide with a mica rich unit mica probably originated from erosion on antarctica and was transported by an intermediate water depth current in the late eocene ca 36 9 34 95 ma productivity increased considerably and opal skeletons were deposited carbonate dissolution increased but planktonic foraminifer accumulation rates were not markedly decreased in periods of higher productivity because productivity increase exceeded or equalled rises in dissolution rates increasing opal accumulation rates coincided with increases in the rates for benthonic foraminifers sponge debris ostracods and echinoids in the late eocene early oligocene period 34 95 33 05 ma a further increase in productivity led to a strong dissolution of planktonic foraminifers in high productivity periods the productivity increase is probably due to the increasing pole equator temperature gradient which led to stronger atmospheric and oceanic turnover and mixing in the oceans in the uppermost late eocene two unusual layers suggest changes in bottom water masses affecting the seafloor at site 689 a sediment interval with especially well preserved carbonate microfossils underlies an interval that has poor carbonate preservation despite evidence of low productivity these intervals suggest a change in bottom water conditions from warm saline deep water wsdw which favors carbonate preservation to antarctic bottom water aabw which promotes carbonate dissolution cooling of surface waters over a period of 300 ky led to a thickening of the deep aabw layer and an upward shift of the overlying wsdw until the aabw finally reached the top of the maud rise in the area of site 689 this period of aabw influence on top of the maud rise lasted 200 ky

tertiary oxygen isotope synthesis sea level history and continental margin erosion tertiary benthic and planktonic foraminiferal oxygen isotope records are correlated to a standard geomagnetic polarity time scale making use of improved chronostratigraphic control and additional oligocene isotope data synchronous changes in both benthic and planktonic 18o values which occurred in the oligocene to miocene 36 5 2 ma are interpreted in part to represent ice growth and decay the inferred ice growth events correlate with erosion on passive continental margins as interpreted from seismic and chronostratigraphic records this association is consistent with a link between oligocene to miocene erosional events and rapid 15 m m y glacioeustatic lowerings of about 50 m high benthic foraminiferal 18o values suggest the presence of continental ice sheets during much of the oligocene to recent 36 0 ma substantially ice free conditions probably existed throughout the paleocene and eocene 66 36 ma the mechanisms and rates of sea level change apparently were different between the early and late tertiary with glacioeustatic changes restricted to the past 36 m y pre oligocene erosion on passive continental margins was caused by eustatic lowerings resulting from global spreading rate changes we apply a model which suggests that large areas of the continental shelves were subaerially exposed during such tectonoeustatic lowstands stimulating slope failure and submarine erosion the different mechanisms and rates of eustatic change may have caused contrasting erosional patterns between the early and late tertiary on passive continental margins this speculation needs to be confirmed by examination of data from several passive margins

orbitally induced climate and geochemical variability across the oligocene miocene boundary to assess the influence of orbital scale variations on late oligocene to early miocene climate and ocean chemistry high resolution 5 kyr benthic foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotope and percent coarse fraction time series were constructed for ocean drilling program site 929 on ceara rise in the western equatorial atlantic these time series exhibit pervasive low to high frequency variability across a 5 myr interval 20 5 25 4 ma the records also reveal several large scale secular variations including two positive 1 6 oxygen isotope excursions at 22 95 and 21 1 ma suggestive of large but brief glacial maxima mi 1 and mi 1a events of miller et al 1991 and a long term cyclical increase in the carbon isotopic composition of seawater shift of 1 52 that reaches a maximum coincident with peak 18o values at 22 95 ma lower resolution 25 kyr records constructed from benthic and planktonic foraminifera as well as bulk carbonate at a shallower site on ceara rise site 926 for the period 21 7 24 9 ma covary with site 929 18o values reflecting changes in antarctic ice volume likewise covariance among carbon isotopic records of bulk sediment benthic and planktonic foraminifera suggest that the low frequency cycles 400 kyr and long term increase in 13c values represent changes in the mean carbon composition of seawater co2 the time series presented here constitute the longest most continuous and highest resolution records of pre pliocene climate and oceanography to date the site 929 carbon and oxygen isotope power spectra show significant concentrations of variance at 400 100 and 41 kyr demonstrating that orbitally induced oscillations have been a normal characteristic of the global climate system since at least the oligocene including periods of equable climate and times with no apparent northern component water production

glacial enrichments of authigenic cd and u in subantarctic sediments a climatic control on the elements oceanic budget we examine the possibility that glacial increase in the areal extent of reducing sediments might have changed the oceanic cd inventory thereby decoupling cd from po4 we suggest that the precipitation of cd sulfide in suboxic sediments is the single largest sink in the oceanic cd budget and that the accumulation of authigenic cd and u is tightly coupled to the organic carbon flux into the seafloor sediments from the subantarctic ocean and the cape basin south atlantic where oxic conditions currently prevail show high accumulation rates of authigenic cd and u during glacial intervals associated with increased accumulation of organic carbon these elemental enrichments attest to more reducing conditions in glacial sediments in response to an increased flux of organic carbon a third core overlain by circumpolar deep water cpdw as are the other two cores but located south of the antarctic polar front shows an approximately inverse pattern to the subantarctic record the contrasting patterns to the north and south of the antarctic polar front suggest that higher accumulation rates of cd and u in subantarctic sediments were driven primarily by increased productivity this proposal is consistent with the hypothesis of glacial stage northward migration of the antarctic polar front and its associated belt of high siliceous productivity however the increase in authigenic cd and u glacial accumulation rates is higher than expected simply from a northward shift of the polar fronts suggesting greater partitioning of organic carbon into the sediments during glacial intervals lower oxygen content of cpdw and higher organic carbon to biogenic silica rain rate ratio during glacial stages are possible causes higher glacial productivity in the cape basin record very likely reflects enhanced coastal up welling in response to increased wind speeds we suggest that higher productivity might have doubled the areal extent of suboxic sediments during the last glacial maximum however our calculations suggest low sensitivity of seawater cd concentrations to glacial doubling of the extent of reducing sediments the model suggests that during the last 250 kyr seawater cd concentrations fluctuated only slightly between high levels about 0 66 nmol kg 1 on glacial initiations and reaching lowest values about 0 57 nmol kg 1 during glacial maxima the estimated 5 lower cd content at the last glacial maximum relative to modern levels 0 60 nmol kg 1 cannot explain the discordance between cd and 13c such as observed in the southern ocean this low sensitivity is consistent with foraminiferal data suggesting minimal change in the glacial cd mean oceanic content

the global ocean flux of particulate organic carbon areal distribution and magnitude the magnitude and distribution of the particulate organic carbon poc rain rate to the seafloor in the atlantic pacific and indian ocean basins between 61 n and 61 s has been estimated from benthic oxygen flux estimates for water depths 1000 m only the calculation utilizes the extensive data sets of sedimentary organic carbon caco3 and accumulation rate to extrapolate between individual benthic flux measurement sites using an empirically derived correlation between the seafloor oxygen flux and these parameters the poc flux through the 1000 m depth horizon was then estimated from published correlations between sediment trap determined fluxes and water depth total oxygen utilization in the deep ocean is estimated to be 1 2 1014 mol o2 yr 1 a value that agrees well with previous estimates which were based on surface water primary productivity sediment trap and depth relationships and with deep water respiration rates estimated from apparant oxygen utilization aou 14c relationships on the basis of the derived global ocean flux distribution it is concluded that 1 dissolved organic carbon doc inputs are not required to account for estimated deep water respiration rates 2 the majority of the poc input to the deep ocean occurs within 30 of the equator 3 the proportion of primary production that reaches the deep sea does not vary greatly with latitude 4 gyre and continental margin regions contribute roughly equally to the deep poc flux with a relatively minor contribution from the equatorial divergence region 5 of the estimated 7 2 1013 mol c yr 1 of poc that sinks below the 1000 m depth horizon 45 3 3 1013 mol c yr 1 reaches the seafloor where it is oxidized 6 when normalized to basin area average deep flux rates in the atlantic and pacific are similar while highest rates are observed in the indian ocean and 7 the results can be fully reconciled only if the benthic flux of doc is significantly less than the benthic o2 flux

high resolution 104 years deep sea foraminiferal stable isotope records of the eocene oligocene climate transition we have constructed high resolution 104 105 years benthic foraminiferal 13c and 18o records for the upper eocene through lower oligocene of two pelagic sequences deep sea drilling project dsdp site 522 in the angola basin south atlantic ocean and ocean drilling program odp site 744 in the southern indian ocean these records provide improved constraints on both the timing and magnitude of marine oxygen and carbon isotope events from 30 to 35 ma the oxygen isotope records indicate that the ubiquitous 18o increase oi 1 which marks the rapid expansion of continental ice sheets and a minimum of 3 to 4 c of cooling of bottom waters in the earliest oligocene 33 6 ma occurred in 350 kyr more than half the transition occurred over the final 40 50 kyr this period of lower temperatures and widespread continental glaciation persisted for roughly 400 kyr i e the duration of magnetochron c13n these records also indicate that this interval was characterized by at least two 100 kyr waxing and waning cycles oi 1a and oi 1b and possibly several higher frequency events the benthic foraminiferal 13c records show a positive 0 8 excursion that is nearly isochronous with the oi 1 oxygen isotope increase similar magnitude 13c increases at other sites indicate this was a global phenomenon suggestive of an unusually large perturbation to the carbon cycle this excursion was followed by smaller amplitude 13c oscillations with periods of roughly 400 kyr we suspect that the ubiquitous oi 1 13c excursion resulted from a brief but substantial increase in export production and carbon burial

middle eocene to early oligocene paleoceanography from agulhas ridge southern ocean ocean drilling program leg 177 site 1090 1 the agulhas ridge off the tip of africa between the atlantic and indian oceans is ideally located to capture the evolution of paleogene early neogene circulation patterns associated with global cooling multiproxy records of productivity biogenic barium baex opal caco3 mass accumulation rates mars nutrient and organic carbon burial reactive phosphorus pr mars and redox state of deep waters u enrichment from ocean drilling program odp site 1090 reflect hydrographic shifts in this region between the middle eocene and early oligocene 39 33 ma several peaks in increased export productivity and burial of organic matter occurred within the late eocene 36 5 34 and 33 7 ma which along with surface hydrologic conditions favoring opaline organisms over calcareous organisms could have aided in the draw down of pco2 to a threshold level that facilitated large ice sheet development on antarctica in the earliest oligocene our multiproxy approach illustrates the importance of vertical as well as spatial hydrographic reorganization in amplifying or driving climatic cooling of the middle eocene to early oligocene by facilitating increases in the relative or absolute burial of organic carbon

evidence for oligocene middle miocene abyssal circulation changes in the western north atlantic previous studies of benthic foraminiferal isotopic composition have demonstrated that a latest eocene earliest oligocene benthic foraminiferal 18o increase occurred in the pacific southern and atlantic oceans1 9 a middle miocene 18o increase has been noted in the pacific southern and south atlantic oceans1 3 7 10 11 and tentatively identified in the north atlantic12 13 due to the incomplete nature of the north atlantic stratigraphical record14 15 however the oligocene to middle miocene isotopic record of this ocean is poorly understood in the modern ocean the north atlantic and its marginal seas has a critical role in abyssal circulation influencing deep and bottom water hydrography as far away as the north pacific16 18 we now report oxygen isotope measurements on oligocene to middle miocene 12 36 myr bp benthic foraminifera in the western north atlantic which show two periods of enriched 18o values early oligocene and early middle miocene these enriched intervals are interpreted as resulting in part from the build up of continental ice sheets the oligocene to middle miocene 13c record shows three cycles of enrichment and depletion of large enough magnitude to be useful for time stratigraphical correlations within the biostratigraphical age resolution 18o and 13c records correlate with records from other oceans helping to establish a useful tertiary isotopic stratigraphy an atlantic pacific 13c contrast of 0 3 0 9 during the latest oligocene to middle miocene 12 26 myr bp indicates north atlantic deep and bottom water production analogous to modern north atlantic deep water nadw

early oligocene initiation of north atlantic deep water formation dating the onset of deep water flow between the arctic and north atlantic oceans is critical for modelling climate change in the northern hemisphere1 2 and for explaining changes in global ocean circulation throughout the cenozoic era3 from about 65 million years ago to the present in the early cenozoic era exchange between these two ocean basins was inhibited by the greenland scotland ridge3 4 but a gateway through the faeroe shetland basin has been hypothesized3 5 previous estimates of the date marking the onset of deep water circulation through this basin on the basis of circumstantial evidence from neighbouring basins have been contradictory5 6 7 8 9 ranging from about 35 to 15 million years ago here we describe the newly discovered southeast faeroes drift which extends for 120 km parallel to the basin axis the onset of deposition in this drift has been dated to the early oligocene epoch 35 million years ago from a petroleum exploration borehole we show that the drift was deposited under a southerly flow regime and conclude that the initiation of deep water circulation from the norwegian sea into the north atlantic ocean took place much earlier than is currently assumed in most numerical models of ancient ocean circulation

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

sedimentological evidence for the formation of an east antarctic ice sheet in eocene oligocene time middle eocene to late oligocene sediments recovered at ocean drilling program sites 689 and 690 on maud rise in the southernmost atlantic ocean and at sites 738 and 744 on kerguellen plateau in the southernmost indian ocean were analysed in order to study the depositional environment and the palaeoclimate special emphasis was placed on the reconstruction of the formation of a cryosphere on the antarctic continent the investigations include quantifications of carbonate and opal contents grain size analyses and studies of clay mineral assemblages the sedimentary sequence at all sites under investigation is highly pelagic with nannofossil oozes and chalks dominant the first indication of probable glacierization at sea level is in the form of isolated gravel and terrigenous sand grains which indicate ice rafting from middle eocene time at c 45 5 ma this is supported by enhanced concentrations of detrital chlorite and reworked kaolinite probably some glaciers reached the sea while most of the continent remained under the influence of a humid and warm to temperate climate the growth of the inland ice resulted in enhanced physical weathering and in increased contents of detrital chlorite and kaolinite from about 40 ma a strengthening of the glacial conditions and the onset of continental east antarctic glaciation is recorded in early oligocene sediments with an age of 36 ma all major sediment parameters document this event the clay mineralogy changed between c 36 3 ma and c 35 5 ma from smectite dominated assemblages to illite and chlorite dominated assemblages the latter being indicative of physical weathering under cooler climates large quantities of ice rafted gravel and sand accumulated on the kerguelen plateau between 36 0 ma and 35 8 ma at the same time an increase in opal content occurred as well as a decrease in carbonate the sediment parameters imply that the east antarctic continent was more or less totally buried beneath the ice during oligocene time the ice sheet however probably did not have a polar but a temperate character as indicated by the occurrence of nothofagus and relatively warm surface water temperatures prohibiting the long distance transport of debris by icebergs

orbitally paced climate oscillations across the oligocene miocene boundary the late oligocene and early miocene periods some 21 to 27 million years ago have generally been viewed as times of moderate global warmth and ice free conditions yet several lines of evidence suggest that this interval was punctuated by at least one and possibly several episodes of high latitude cooling and continental glaciation1 2 3 here we present stable isotope and per cent coarse fraction data from an equatorial western atlantic deep sea sediment core that provide high resolution records of the climate variability across the oligocene miocene transition 22 5 25 7 million years ago a strong 40 kyr periodicity in the oxygen isotope record is consistent with a high latitude orbital obliquity control on ice volume and temperature orbital influences are also apparent at precession and eccentricity frequencies including a series of 400 kyr oscillations that culminate in distinct maxima at the oligocene miocene boundary about 23 7 million years ago covariance between the carbon and oxygen isotope records suggests that the oceanic carbon cycle may have contributed to global cooling during the 400 kyr cycles particularly at the oligocene miocene boundary

eocene oligocene paleoceanography in the antarctic ocean atlantic sector maud rise odp leg 113 site 689b and 690b abstract middle eocene to late oligocene sediments from near the crest site 689b water depth 2080 m and flank water depth 2914 m of the maud rise 62 s have been investigated by coarse fraction analysis and have revealed the following 1 1 the middle eocene 50 40 ma was a period of pure carbonate sedimentation with good preservation of carbonate microfossils no opal 40 m is present 2 2 in the late eocene 40 36 5 ma opal fossils mainly radiolaria and some diatoms 40 m appeared for the first time three maxima in opal sedimentation eocene oligocene boundary middle early oligocene and early late oligocene boundary are separated by increases in carbonate sedimentation the dissolution of carbonate fossils is strong in the opal rich layers opal sedimentation is attributed to cooling and probably more vigorous atmospheric circulation and increased upwelling 3 3 carbonate dissolution increased with water depth in the oligocene whereas in the middle eocene excellent carbonate preservation in the deeper site 690b and stronger dissolution in the shallower site 689b is attributed to different bottom water characteristics the middle eocene bottom water probably was formed by strong evaporation at low latitudes whereas by the earliest oligocene formation of antarctic bottom water aabw had set in 4 4 current influence not on top but on the flank of the maud rise could be recorded by means of larger grain sizes of benthonic and planktonic microfossils 5 5 ice rafted debris was not found quartz and other minerals are very rare and not larger than 125 m and may have been supplied by ice as well as by wind or by deep currents mica contents were up to 10 times higher in the middle eocene on the flank compared to on the crest of the maud rise indicating deep current supply

water depth and diagenetic constraints on the use of barium as a palaeoproductivity indicator sediments underneath the high productivity areas of the coastal upwclling and equatorial divergence zones in the pacific and indian oceans are enriched in barium and on this basis the barium content of the sediments has long been suggested as a potential palaeoproductivity indicator analyses of sediments from the peru margin corroborate the pattern of enhanced barium accumulation in areas of high primary productivity in the deep ocean but also show that this pattern cannot be extended to shallow water deposits sediments from the peru shelf lack any barium enrichment whereas this element is significantly enriched in slope and basinal deposits in water columns deeper than 2000 m this depth effect is further illustrated at site 682 located in the rapidly subsiding lima basin the quaternary sequence deposited at water depths 3000 m is enriched in organic carbon opal and biogenic barium the miocene sediments although deposited under highly productive waters associated with a coastal upwclling centre do not show an enrichment in the barium record corresponding to the very high organic carbon and opal levels a pattern that is consistent with deposition in shallow basins in addition to the effect of water depth on the barium distribution overprinting of primary signals can be observed in sediments from upwclling areas undergoing strong anoxic diagenesis microcrystalline barite is partly dissolved in intervals depleted in interstitial sulphate as shown for sediments from the peru margin dissolution of barite in sulphate depleted intervals of deep water sections leads to high barium concentrations near the termination of the sulphate reducing zone where downward sulphate and upward barium diffusion foster local barite precipitation in diagenetic fronts the barium distribution in sedimentary oxic and suboxic environments at deep water depositional sites has a high potential as a palaeoproductivity indicator however barium accumulation as a proxy for ocean fertility should be used with caution in areas of varying water depths and in anoxic diagenetic environments where sulphate depletion undcrsatur ates the interstitial waters with respect to barite

barium and the late paleocene δ13c maximum evidence of increased marine surface productivity deep sea sediment ba ba al2o3 sample 15 ba aluminosilicate records show increasing values synchronous with the evolution of the late paleocene global 13c maximum reflecting an increase in marine surface primary production and biogenic barite formation at this time at two oligotrophic locations deep sea drilling project dsdp sites 384 and 527 in the north and south atlantic respectively ba increases from 160 360 ppm in the early paleocene to 1100 3000 ppm during the 13c maximum at equatorial dsdp site 577 positioned within or near the high productivity zone ba increases from 15 500 ppm in the early paleocene to 25 400 ppm in conjunction with late paleocene maximum 13c values linear fitted correlation plots of sediment ba content versus surface water 13c in all three regions support barite originating in the euphotic zone the early to late paleocene relative increase in ba illustrates how burial rates of corg relative to al2o3 accelerated by a factor of 1 8 and 6 0 in the eutrophic and oligotrophic areas respectively a tentative estimate weighing our result for the entire ocean suggests that accumulation rates of organic carbon increased by a factor of 2 during the late paleocene 13c maximum

paleoproductivity increase at the eocene oligocene climatic transition odp dsdp sites 763 and 592 abstract during the late eocene early oligocene period of rapid climate change across oxygen isotope shift oi 1 productivity showed major changes in the region around australia dsdp site 592 off new zealand odp site 763 off nw australia we estimated paleoproductivity at these sites using benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates as well as accumulation rates of siliceous and other calcareous microfossils and carbon isotope data in the eocene productivity was generally higher at site 763 where it reached 4 maxima but dropped at about 34 3 ma at both sites productivity increased strongly at oi 1 as recognized in the oxygen isotopic record at the sites and fluctuted during the early oligocene at higher levels than in the eocene we attribute the difference in eocene productivity to differences in oceanographic settings site 592 was probably under a n s flowing western boundary current of the pacific gyre whereas site 763 showed periodic high productivity as a result of local upwelling this upwelling occurred when a warm n s flowing current proto leeuwin current replaced the cold s n flowing eastern boundary current of the indian ocean gyre upwelling ended at the opening of the tasman sea the earliest oligocene increase in productivity occurred at many other locations in the southern oceans and is accompanied by a strong increase in carbon isotopic values indicating increased burial of organic matter on a global scale this productivity increase as well as the increased burial indicates that the oceanic carbon cycle may have been part of the climate change in the earliest oligocene

authigenic apatite formation and burial in sediments from non upwelling continental margin environments abstract evidence for precipitation of authigenic carbonate fluorapatite cfa in long island sound and mississippi delta sediments suggests that formation of cfa is not restricted to environments of active coastal upwelling we present porewater data suggestive of cfa formation in both these areas application of a sequential leaching procedure designed specifically to separate authigenic carbonate fluorapatite from other phosphorus containing phases including detrital apatite of igneous or metamorphic origin provides strong supporting evidence for authigenic apatite formation in these sediments the size of the authigenic apatite reservoir increases with depth indicating continued formation of cfa during early diagenesis this depth increase is mirrored by a decrease in solid phase organic p at both sites suggesting that cfa is forming at the expense of organic p mass balance considerations application of diagenetic models to interstitial water nutrient data and the saturation state of the interstitial water are consistent with this interpretation diagenetic redistribution of phosphorus among the different solid phase reservoirs is observed at both sites and results in near perfect retention of p by these sediments over the depth intervals sampled formation of cfa in continental margins which do not conform to the classically defined regions of phosphorite formation renders cfa a quantitatively more important sink than has previously been recognized including this reservoir as a newly identified sink for reactive p in the ocean the residence time of p in the modern ocean must be revised downward the implication for ancient oceans of cfa formation in continental margin sediments other than phosphorites is that phosphorite formation may be less a representation of episodicity in removal of reactive p from the oceans than of localized concentration of cfa in phosphatic sediments by secondary physical processes

paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic evolution in the weddell sea antarctica during the middle eocene late oligocene from a coarse sediment fraction and clay mineral data odp site 689 abstract paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic variations from the middle eocene to the late oligocene in the antarctic area atlantic sector have been deduced from a coarse fraction and clay mineral analysis of odp site 689 leg 113 sediments in the middle eocene smectite rich sediments were a consequence of warm climate with alternating wet and dry seasons on the antarctic margins productivity in the maud rise area of the southern ocean was low no opal was deposited preservation of carbonate is very good carbonate preservation shows cyclic changes clinoptilolite is a common mineral at the middle late eocene boundary 40 8 ma productivity suddenly increased enough to allow preservation of opal skeletons clinoptilolite disappeared where opal appeared illite appearance points to cooling of antarctic climates the presence of detrital kaolinite indicates a change in oceanic circulation in the late eocene cyclic changes in productivity cycle length 0 42 ma were associated with clay mineral compositional variations sediments from colder highly productive periods generally contain more illite and less smectite than warmer ones the early oligocene was a period of very high productivity highest opal accumulation rates correspond to strongest carbonate dissolution cyclic changes in productivity with a mean cycle duration of 0 4 0 5 myr were associated with cyclic changes in clay mineral composition highest productivity intervals are generally those with highest smectite content because of strong erosion of sediments of the antarctic margins sediments from less productive warmer periods most of the time contain more illite in the late oligocene the intensity of physical weathering on antarctica was stronger as documented by increasing fluxes of illite muscovite amphiboles and talc ice expanded on the east antarctic continent lower productivity than in the early oligocene is indicated by lower accumulation rates of opal and weaker carbonate dissolution cyclic variations in productivity correlate to cyclic variations in illite and smectite contents as in the early oligocene

barium accumulation in the arabian sea controls on barite preservation in marine sediments in this study a new sequential extraction technique is used to investigate the particulate barium ba phases in sediments from the arabian sea to determine the processes controlling ba accumulation in marine sediments the total solid phase ba concentration in arabian sea surface sediments increases with water depth from 200 ppm at 500 meters below sea surface mbss to 1000 ppm at 3000 mbss the sedimentary ba composition consists of three major fractions barite ba incorporated in aluminosilicates and ba associated with mn fe oxides accumulation of barite which is the most important ba fraction in sediments located below 2000 mbss increases gradually with water depth the ba al ratio of the terrigenous fraction varies significantly across the arabian basin as the result of differences in grain size and provenance of the terrigenous sediment ba associated with mn oxides is a relatively minor fraction compared with bulk ba concentrations and it only accumulates in well oxygenated sediments below the present day oxygen minimum zone the water depth dependent accumulation of barite in the arabian sea is not related to the continuous formation of barite in settling organic particles or ba scavenging by mn oxyhydroxides but is primarily controlled by differences in ba preservation upon deposition a good correlation between the barite saturation index and the barite accumulation rate in the upper 2000 m of the water column may indicate that the degree of barite saturation of the bottom water is the main environmental factor regulating the burial efficiency of barite organic matter degradation bioturbation diagenetic mn cycling and the crystallinity of the accumulating barite may play additional roles copyright 2001 elsevier science ltd

climate response to orbital forcing across the oligocene miocene boundary spectral analyses of an uninterrupted 5 5 million year my long chronology of late oligocene early miocene climate and ocean carbon chemistry from two deep sea cores recovered in the western equatorial atlantic reveal variance concentrated at all milankovitch frequencies exceptional spectral power in climate is recorded at the 406 thousand year ky period eccentricity band over a 3 4 million year period 20 to 23 4 my ago ma as well as in the 125 and 95 ky bands over a 1 3 million year period 21 7 to 23 0 ma of suspected low greenhouse gas levels moreover a major transient glaciation at the epoch boundary approximately 23 ma mi 1 corresponds with a rare orbital congruence involving obliquity and eccentricity the anomaly which consists of low amplitude variance in obliquity a node and a minimum in eccentricity results in an extended period approximately 200 ky of low seasonality orbits favorable to ice sheet expansion on antarctica

sequential extraction and analysis of phosphorus in marine sediments streamlining of the sedex procedure we streamlined the five step sedex sedimentary extraction procedure for characterizing sedimentary phosphorus to a four step procedure we combined extraction of adsorbed and oxide associated pools into a single step retaining steps for authigenic detrital and organic p in addition we used automated spectrophotometric flow injection analysis fia to determine p concentrations rather than traditional spectrophotometric techniques we decreased our total extraction and analytical time from 12 d for 24 replicate samples to 5 d without sacrificing our geo chemical objectives detection limits or analytical reproducibility

high concentrations of biogenic barium in pacific sediments after termination i a signal of changes in productivity and deep water chemistry abstract high concentrations of barium have been found in sediments deposited on the chilean continental slope after glacial termination i when compared to independent proxies of paleoproductivity the pattern of biogenic barium accumulation does not match the changes in paleoproductivity in this region and cannot be explained by changes in the terrigenous supply of barium alone this leaves an increased concentration of dissolved barium in sea water as the most likely cause of the observed barium anomalies based upon the accumulation rate of biogenic barium and the paleoproductivity index which was calculated from the accumulation rates of organic carbon biogenic opal and carbonate the changes in the concentration of dissolved barium in the pacific ocean in the course of the last glacial and through the holocene could be modelled this model shows that barium concentrations in the pacific during the last glacial were comparable to today 150 nmol kg1 the highest dissolved barium concentrations were calculated for the early and middle holocene 190 nmol kg1 the resulting pattern of variations in the barium concentration in the seawater agrees well with ba ca ratios in benthic foraminifera published in the literature the observed changes are probably driven by the holocene shoaling of the pacific carbonate compensation depth which is assumed to have caused an increased flux of previously carbonate bound barium from the sediment to the deep ocean waters leading to the observed longstanding maximum of dissolved barium in the pacific during the holocene

phosphorus accumulation in marine sediments and the oceanic phosphorus cycle ideas about key factors in the oceanic mass balance of dissolved reactive phosphate have changed substantially i present an integrated overview of these here with an emphasis on evaluating the burial sinks for p and defining areas needing further research the major source of reactive p to the ocean is river input reactive p is delivered to the oceanic sediment water interface primarily in particulate organic matter p scavenged by hydrothermal iron rich oxyhydroxide particles with uptake in proportion to deep water phosphate concentrations represents a substantially smaller flux to the sediment water interface diagenetic transformations are important influences on the form of reactive p burial in marine sediments p burial occurs with organic carbon burial and as p associated with iron rich oxyhydroxide particles and coatings formation of authigenic p rich phases presumably apatite at the expense of organic p and oxide associated p is significant in open ocean marine sediments the authigenic p sink may represent a substantially larger portion of the sedimentary burial than indicated by previous estimates focused on p burial in organic rich continental margin sediments

paleoproductivity nutrient burial climate change and the carbon cycle in the western equatorial atlantic across the eocene oligocene boundary paleoproductivity nutrient burial and carbon cycling were investigated across the eocene oligocene e o boundary begin to end 36 9 32 7 ma at 40 kyr resolution timescale of shackleton et al 1999 at ocean drilling program site 925 on the ceara rise in the western equatorial atlantic 3040 m present water depth 748 26 850 70 mbsf downcore bulk sediment records of biogenic barium total reactive phosphorus biogenic silica and calcium carbonate are interpreted to represent export production net nutrient burial biogenic opal production and inorganic carbon burial respectively the global positive excursion in 13c subsequent to the e o boundary is recorded at site 925 export production appears to have been externally forced by orbital parameters at eccentricity frequencies during the study interval based on spectral analysis of the biogenic barium and reactive phosphorus records biogenic silica production or preservation increased after the eocene oligocene boundary to a higher baseline although overall productivity and nutrient burial did not increase based on barium and reactive phosphorus records thus although absolute production did not increase at this site a shift in relative abundance of siliceous versus carbonate productivity may have resulted in a change in relative organic carbon burial this may have contributed to the positive excursion in global oceanic 13c subsequent to the eocene oligocene boundary although the silica maximum persists after the carbon isotope excursion ends

eocene oligocene transition in the southern ocean history of water mass circulation and biological productivity high resolution records of carbon and oxygen isotopes and benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates for the eocene oligocene section at ocean drilling program site 689 maud rise weddell sea paleodepth about 1500 m were used to infer variations in paleoproductivity in relation to changes in climate and ventilation of the deeper water column the benthic foraminiferal abundance and isotope records show short term fluctuations at periodicities of 100 and 400 ka implying orbitally driven climatic variations both records suggest that intermediate depth water chemistry and primary productivity changed in response to climate during the eocene productivity increased during cold periods and during cold to warm transitions possibly as a result of increased upwelling of nutrient rich waters in the oligocene in contrast productivity maxima occurred during intervals of low d18o values presumably warmer periods when a proto polar front moved to the south of the location of site 689 this profound transition in climate productivity patterns occurred around 37 ma coeval with rapid changes toward increasing variability of the oxygen and carbon isotope and benthic abundance records and toward larger amplitude d18o fluctuations therefore we infer that at this time temperature fluctuations increased and a proto polar front formed in conjunction with the first distinct pulsations in size of the antarctic ice sheet we speculate that this major change might have resulted from an initial opening of the drake passage at 37 ma at least for surface and intermediate water circulation

early oligocene glaciation and productivity in the eastern equatorial pacific insights into global carbon cycling the onset of sustained antarctic glaciation across the eocene oligocene transition eot marks a pivotal change in earth s climate but our understanding of this event particularly the role of the

late eocene oligocene paleoceanography in the southern indian ocean odp site 744 the late eocene through oligocene changes in the paleoceanography of the southernmost indian ocean have been reconstructed by means of a coarse fraction analysis of closely spaced samples 20 cm about 20 kyr from odp site 744 kerguelen plateau surface water productivity reconstructed from accumulation rates of opal skeletons and benthic foraminifers is low in the early late eocene increases at about 36 ma and shows a sharp increase to maximum values in the earliest oligocene in the early late oligocene it decreases gradually to a minimum and increases again to a maximum in the latest oligocene beside this general trend productivity varies in short term cycles of a duration of about 400 kyr 340 kyr in the latest oligocene with maxima in productivity in warmer oligocene periods these productivity variations are reflected by strong variations in carbonate dissolution changes in bottom water mass chemistry have been deduced from the degree of carbonate dissolution and it s relation to productivity proxies following kennett and stott 1990 it is suggested that a proto antarctic bottom water proto aabw and an overlying warm saline deep water wsdw from low latitudes shifted vertically and latitudinally with time and exerted their influence on the sediments of site 744 proto aabw is detected by means of strong carbonate dissolution when productivity is low wsdw is detected by means of an excellent carbonate preservation despite high productivity terrigenous material occurs as very coarse ice rafted detritus ird in the late eocene 167 168 5 mbsf and after a main shift in oxygen isotopes in the early oligocene very low amounts of 40 125 m sized mica and very few quartz grains occur only in high productivity periods and at the transition from low to high productivity periods these occurrences are attributed to wind current supply during warmer oligocene intervals

cenozoic deep sea temperatures and global ice volumes from mg ca in benthic foraminiferal calcite a deep sea temperature record for the past 50 million years has been produced from the magnesium calcium ratio mg ca in benthic foraminiferal calcite the record is strikingly similar in form to the corresponding benthic oxygen isotope 18o record and defines an overall cooling of about 12 c in the deep oceans with four main cooling periods used in conjunction with the benthic 18o record the magnesium temperature record indicates that the first major accumulation of antarctic ice occurred rapidly in the earliest oligocene 34 million years ago and was not accompanied by a decrease in deep sea temperatures

a comparison of multiple proxies for export production in the equatorial pacific 1 several commonly used paleoproductivity proxies were compared to evaluate the validity of assumptions and limitations associated with each proxy export production fluxes cexport over glacial interglacial timescales were calculated from previously developed proxy specific algorithms at ttn013 pc72 and ttn013 pc114 both located in the equatorial pacific comparison of data from the same core intervals yields conflicting results despite calibrations based on the same core top samples the periodicity of marine barite excess ba and excess al based cexport records is similar the relative magnitude of cexport when calculated using excess ba and algorithms based on sediment trap data is significantly different than records based on core top calibrations particularly during glacial intervals at both sites bulk sedimentary al ti and ba ti ratios covary however these ratios do not correspond with the downcore records of their respective excess concentrations and their accumulation rates or with contemporaneous records based on marine barite excess ba and excess al accumulation although downcore records based on sediment mass accumulation rates may be compromised by sediment focusing this process cannot explain all the differences observed among the various data sets presented here this implies that some or all of these proxies do not exclusively respond to changes in export production the contradictions among these data highlight the importance of addressing inconsistencies among paleoproxies and re examining assumptions imbedded in proxy fundamentals prior to applying paleoproductivity proxies and interpreting paleoceanographic records

pliocene holocene evolution of depositional conditions in the eastern mediterranean role of anoxia vs productivity at time of sapropel deposition a multiproxy geochemical study of nine sapropel layers from odp hole 964a odp leg 160 in the eastern mediterranean spanning the pliocene holocene time interval provides new insights into the evolution of sapropel deposition paleoenvironmental proxies were used for reconstruction of productivity ba derived from marine barite oxygen conditions trace metal ratios and sedimentary regime clay minerals detrital elements these proxies reveal a significant increase in river runoff relative to decreasing aeolian input during sapropel deposition over the whole time interval ba excess supports the argument that a significant increase in export productivity is the main triggering mechanism for sapropel deposition although preservation also played an important role furthermore major differences exist in depositional conditions including both oxygenation and productivity since the pliocene productivity fluctuated substantially and was higher during the pliocene and pleistocene than during the holocene at the same time decreasing oxygen availability parallels the enhanced productivity dysoxic to anoxic conditions appear to coincide with marine productivity maxima thus suggesting that oxygen depletion may be linked to greater consumption rather than restricted circulation this correspondence supports the hypothesis that productivity fluctuations resulting from climate oscillations were the main cause of enhanced organic matter contents and also a main controlling factor for reduced oxygen availability