holocene sea level record on funafuti and potential impact of global warming on central pacific atolls geomorphic features inherited from the mid holocene glacio hydro isostatic sea level highstand that affected the central pacific region influence the susceptibility of atoll islets to potentially enhanced wave erosion associated with rise in sea level from global warming shoreline morphology on multiple islets of funafuti atoll in central tuvalu reflects a relative mid holocene sea level highstand 2 2 2 4 m above modern sea level typical islets are composed of unconsolidated post mid holocene sediment resting disconformably on cemented coral rubble formed beneath now emergent mid holocene reef flats exposed remnants of the lithified islet foundations serve as resistant buttresses protecting the flanks of atoll islets from wave attack islets lacking cemented mid holocene deposits as part of their internal structure are migratory sand cays with unstable shorelines any future sea level rise 0 75 m bringing high tide above the elevation of mid holocene low tide might trigger enhanced wave erosion of stable atoll islets by overtopping the indurated mid holocene reef platforms as analogous threshold relations are inferred for other central pacific atolls the risk of future inundation of island nations cannot be evaluated solely in terms of expected sea level rise with respect to gross islet elevations

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

uptake of cadmium into calcite shells by planktonic foraminifera abstract planktonic foraminifera were cultured in the laboratory and the uptake of cd into their calcite investigated using cd and sr radiotracers best estimates of the effective distribution coefficient of cd relative to ca in planktonic foraminiferal calcite are 2 4 from these experiments and previously determined values of the sr distribution coefficient within the uncertainty of these estimates planktonic foraminiferal shells reflect seawater cd ca ratios with a proportionality constant similar to that determined for benthic foraminifera cd ca ratios in planktonic and benthic foraminiferal shells from sediment cores may be useful therefore for reconstructing water column profiles of cd ca over time

planktonic foraminiferal depth habitat and δ18o calibrations plankton tow results from the atlantic sector of the southern ocean varies by several orders of magnitude across a large gradient in sea surface temperature and other hydrographic features demonstrating high sensitivity of foraminiferal populations to regional differences in water properties the depth of maximum abundance for key species such as globigerina bulloides and neogloboquadrina pachyderma is not constant from station to station the pattern suggests that their abundance and shell chemistry are tied to density horizons or other conditions such as food availability that become more sharply defined with depth in the northern subantarctic the consistent observation of globorotalia inflata and globoratalia truncatulinoides as relatively deep dwelling species confirms their utility as indicators of upper thermocline properties in d 18 o all species are observed to be isotopically lighter than predicted from water properties but the species specific offset is fairly uniform at all stations these observations define the utility of multispecies d 18 o for reconstructing temperature and density stratification from past surface oceans index terms 4267 oceanography general paleoceanography 4572 oceanography physical upper ocean processes 4870 oceanography biological and chemical stable isotopes 3030 marine geology and geophysics micropaleontology keywords stratification d 18 o

the δ15n of nitrate in the southern ocean consumption of nitrate in surface waters we report nitrogen isotope data for nitrate from transects of hydrocast and surface samples collected in the eastern indian and pacific sectors of the southern ocean focusing here on the data from the upper water column to study the effect of nitrate consumption by phytoplankton the 15n of nitrate increases by 1 2 from deep water into the antarctic summertime surface layer due to kinetic isotopic fractionation during nitrate uptake estimation of the nitrate uptake isotope effect from antarctic depth profiles yields values in the range of 5 6 in east indian sector and 4 5 in the east pacific sector surface transect data from the pacific sector also yield values of 4 5 the major uncertainty in the profile based estimation of the isotope effect involves the 15n of nitrate from the temperature minimum layer below the summertime antarctic surface layer which deviates significantly from the predictions of simple models of isotope fractionation for the subantarctic surface it is possible to distinguish between nitrate supplied laterally from the surface antarctic and nitrate supplied vertically from the subantarctic thermocline because of the distinctive relationships between the 15n and concentration of nitrate in these two potential sources our subantarctic samples collected during the summer and fall indicate that nitrate is supplied to the subantarctic surface largely by northward transport of antarctic surface water isotopic data from the pacific sector of the subantarctic suggest an isotope effect of 4 5 indistinguishable from the antarctic estimates in this sector

extending the vostok ice core record of palaeoclimate to the penultimate glacial period the ice core record of local temperature dust accumulation and air composition at vostok station antarctica now extends back to the penultimate glacial period 140 200 kyr ago and the end of the preceding interglacial this yields a new glaciological timescale for the whole record which is consistent with ocean records temperatures at vostok appear to have been more uniformly cold in the penultimate glacial period than in the most recent one concentrations of co2 and ch4 correlate well with temperature throughout the record

new model of reef island evolution maldives indian ocean a new model of reef island evolution based on detailed morphostratigraphic analysis and radiometric dating of three islands in south maalhosmadulu atoll maldives is presented islands initially formed on a foundation of lagoonal sediments between 5500 and 4500 yr b p when the reef surface was as much as 2 5 m below modern sea level islands accumulated rapidly during the following 1500 yr effectively reaching their current dimensions by 4000 yr b p since then the high circum island peripheral ridge has been subject to seasonal and longer term shoreline changes while the outer reef has grown upward reducing the energy window and confining the islands this new model has far reaching implications for island stability during a period of global warming and raised sea level which will partially reactivate the energy window although it is not expected to inhibit upward reef growth or compromise island stability

the calcium carbonate saturation state in cyanobacterial mats throughout earth s history through early lithification cyanobacterial mats produced vast amounts of caco3 on precambrian carbonate platforms before 540 myr ago the superposition of lithified cyanobacterial mats forms internally laminated macroscopic structures known as stromatolites similar structures can be important constituents of phanerozoic carbonate platforms 540 myr to present early lithification in modern marine cyanobacterial mats is thought to be driven by a metabolically induced increase of the caco3 saturation state xcaco3 in the mat however it is uncertain which microbial processes produce the xcaco3 increase and to which extent similar xcaco3 shifts were possible in precambrian oceans whose chemistry differed from that of the modern ocean i developed a numerical model that calculates xcaco3 in cyanobacterial mats and used it to tackle these questions the model is first applied to simulate xcaco3 in modern calcifying cyanobacterial mats forming at highborne cay bahamas it shows that while cyanobacterial photosynthesis increases xcaco3 considerably sulphate reduction has a small and opposite effect on mat xcaco3 because it is coupled to h2s oxidation with o2 which produces acidity numerical experiments show that the magnitude of the xcaco3 increase is proportional to dic in dic limited waters dic 3 10 mm is proportional to ph when ambient water dic is not limiting and always proportional to the concentration of ca2 in ambient waters with oceanic ca2 concentrations greater than a few millimolar an appreciable increase in xcaco3 occurs in mats under a wide range of environmental conditions including those supposed to exist in the oceans of the past 2 8 gyr the likely lithological expression is the formation of the microsparitic stromatolite microtexture indicative of caco3 precipitation within the mats under the control of microbial activity which is found in carbonate rocks spanning from the precambrian to recent the model highlights the potential for an increase in the magnitude of the xcaco3 shift in cyanobacterial mats throughout earth s history produced by a decrease in salinity and temperature of the ocean a decrease in atmospheric pco2 and an increase in solar irradiance such a trend would explain how the formation of the microsparitic stromatolite microtexture was possible as the xcaco3 of the ocean decreased from the paleoproterozoic to the phanerozoic

strontium isotopes as tracers of ecosystem processes theory and methods abstract the strontium sr isotope method can be a powerful tool in studies of chemical weathering and soil genesis cation provenance and mobility and the chronostratigraphic correlation of marine sediments it is a sensitive geochemical tracer applicable to large scale ecosystem studies as well as to centimeter scaled examination of cation mobility within a soil profile the 87sr 86sr ratios of natural materials reflect the sources of strontium available during their formation isotopically distinct inputs from precipitation dryfall soil parent material and surface or groundwater allow determination of the relative proportions of those materials entering or leaving an ecosystem the isotopic compositions of labile soil exchange complex and soil solution strontium and sr in vegetation reflect the sources of cations available to plants strontium isotopes can be used to track the biogeochemical cycling of nutrient cations such as calcium the extent of cation contributions from in situ weathering and external additions to soil from dust and rain can also be resolved with this method in this paper we review the geochemistry and isotopic systematics of strontium and discuss the use of this method as a tracer of earth surface processes

beachrock formation in low latitudes implications for coastal evolutionary models abstract beachrock is present in many parts of the world particularly on low latitude coastlines its formation during stillstands or minor regressions in subtropical areas involves cementation of clastic grains and thus prevents grain transport in the littoral zone during later transgression or regression existing short and medium term conceptual and numerical models of coastal evolution fail to take into account this effective reduction of littoral sand supply and the effects of the beachrock itself on shoreline development in the short term reduction of sediment supply through beachrock formation during transgression should enhance landward translation of the shoreline conversely the beachrock itself may afford a degree of protection from erosion in the medium to long term beach rock formation during multiple pleistocene transgressions and regressions in areas which lack significant sediment input from land drainage systems may have caused a long term reduction in sediment volume during the course of the pleistocene this assumes that beachrock formation is not matched by its destruction through physical and bioerosion and chemical weathering preservation of coastal facies is greatly enhanced by beachrock formation which may promote overstepping and drowning of strandline facies during transgression or preferential preservation during regression precise records of sea level fluctuations may be preserved by beachrock formation a situation rendered almost impossible in other areas due to littoral transport of mobile sediment in the widespread areas in low latitudes where it occurs beachrock formation may be an important element in models of horizontal shoreline displacement and coastal evolution

factors controlling sediment preservation on a north jamaican fringing reef a process based approach to microfacies analysis abstract compositional characteristics of limestones are fundamental to the interpretation of depositional environments with an assumption that preserved grain assemblages preserve sufficient evidence of initial sediment input to enable delineation of environments it is acknowledged however that a range of early diagenetic processes including encrustation fragmentation abrasion microboring dissolution cementation and recrystallization may influence grain preservation potential and thus bias the composition of resultant grain assemblages this study examines the effects and relative importance of a range of early diagenetic processes across a fringing reef at discovery bay north jamaica physical processes abrasion and fragmentation are most important at shallow fore reef sites whilst back reef sites are dominated by biochemical processes including microboring recrystallization biofilm related calcification and dissolution grain susceptibility to each process is highly variable and influenced by mineralogy and skeletal structure coral fragments for example are most susceptible to the effects of microboring whereas halimeda plates are most susceptible to dissolution extensive alteration of grain assemblages is predicted within the back reef where dissolution of coral and halimeda occurs because of intense microboring and pore water undersaturation fore reef assemblages by contrast remain relatively unaltered results have implications both for improved ecological interpretation of carbonate sedimentary sequences and for understanding of how and why carbonate microfacies develop

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

late quaternary paleochemistry of high latitude surface waters recent studies have stressed the role of high latitude nutrient levels and productivity in controlling the carbon isotopic composition of the deep sea and the co2 content of the atmosphere we undertook a study of the chemical composition of the polar planktonic foraminifer neogloboquadrina pachyderma s sinistral coiling from 30 late holocene samples and 49 down core records from the high latitude north and south atlantic oceans to evaluate the history of sea surface chemical change from glacial to interglacial time stable isotopic analysis of coretop samples from the atlantic pacific and southern oceans shows no significant correlation between the 13c of n pachyderma and either 13c or po4 in seawater conversely cd ca ratios in planktonic foraminifera are consistent with the po4 content of surface waters the level of maximum glaciation 18 000 yr b p identified by climap and 18o was chosen for mapping isopleths of 18o on n pachyderma s in the north atlantic reveal a pattern largely influenced by sea surface temperature s s t and generally support the s s t reconstruction of climap differences between the two suggest significantly lower salinity in north atlantic surface waters at high latitudes than in lower latitudes down core 13c records of n pachyderma confirm that low 13c values occurred in the northeast atlantic during the latest glacial maximum labeyrie and duplessy 1985 however a map of 13c for the 18 000 yr b p level for a much larger region in the north atlantic shows that minimum n pachyderma 13c occurred in temperate waters n pachyderma 13c decreased toward the southwest reaching a minimum of 1 at 37 n despite the variability seen in 13c records of n pachyderma none of our cores show significant temporal variability in cd ca from the combined cd ca and 13c data we can see no evidence for an upwelling gyre in the eastern north atlantic during the latest glacial maximum nor evidence that the southern and northern oceans had significantly different levels of preformed nutrients than today

the role of endolithic cyanobacteria in the formation of lithified laminae in bahamian stromatolites the microboring activity of endolithic cyanobacteria plays a major role in the formation of the dominant lithified laminae in modern marine stromatolites in the exuma cays bahamas these stromatolites are composed primarily of fine grained carbonate sand that is trapped and bound by the filamentous cyanobacteria schizothrix sp periodic introduction of coccoid endolithic cyanobacteria solentia sp during hiatuses in stromatolite growth associated with very low rates of sedimentation results in the formation of lithified horizons 200 1000 lm thick these layers consist of micritized grains that are welded together at point contacts the micritization is caused by extensive microboring and carbonate precipitation within boreholes concurrent with endolithic activity grain welding occurs when boreholes cross from one grain to another at point contacts thus microboring destroys original grain textures but at the same time plays a constructional role in stromatolite growth by forming lithified layers of welded grains these lateral bands of fused carbonate grains help to stabilize and preserve the stromatolite deposits

trace elements in speleothems as recorders of environmental change speleothems are now established as important palaeoenvironmental archives and contain a number of suitable proxies although trace elements have been much less widely used than oxygen and carbon isotopes the complexity of the cave environment helps to explain this since the fluids from which speleothems form vary greatly in composition in space even within a cave chamber seasonally and over longer periods understanding the forcing factors for this variability is the key to decoding the significance of the trace element records a variety of techniques are available for trace element work and it is important to understand the strengths and limitations of each and also to seek an understanding e g by micro imaging techniques of whether the elements are associated with inclusions in the caco3 or are isolated within the crystal lattice for some elements there is a more or less predictable relationship between element ratios to ca in the water and in the calcite individual trace elements may be derived from atmospheric deposition superficial deposits or bedrock and can be recycled in soil processes before being transferred to the cave some components show an instantaneous response to water infiltration whereas others are only leached by slow flowing seepage waters changing in the proportion of water from fracture fed and seepage flow aquifer compartments is an important factor in influencing trace element supply high flows lead to higher fluxes of soil derived colloidally transported elements conversely under relatively dry conditions degassing of co2 results in prior calcite precipitation upflow of the site of speleothem deposition and leads to higher ratios of sr ca and mg ca some trace element variations in speleothems over time are induced during crystal growth whereby faster growth leads to a greater departure from equilibrium element partitioning despite the demonstrated temperature dependence of mg partitioning into calcite attempts at deriving palaeotemperature records from speleothems have been so far confounded by variations in solution mg ca and or crystallographic effects a number of case studies have effectively used trace elements such as speleothem mg as records of palaeo aridity using supporting arguments from modern monitoring or covariations with other parameters such as stable isotopes sr and u isotopes can also be indicators of palaeohydrology although sr isotope variations can also reflect varying aeolian input considerable progress has been made in decoding the meaning of annual trace element variations using criteria for understanding dripwater hydrology and ph this should lead in the future to more specific interpretations of how seasonality evolves through time

beachrock cementation in alexandria egypt beachrock is found in the intertidal and sublittoral zones along the mediterranean coast of alexandria egypt it occurs as beds or patches and shows several stages of cementation and hardness the seaward dip of the beachrock is similar to that of the slope of the foreshore the fabric shows micrite and fringe cement types aragonite was not identified in the beachrock at alexandria the average concentrations of ca mg sr fe and mn in the beachrock are similar to those of the beach deposits the process of beachrock cementation in alexandria is rather recent and typically marine

a strong temperature effect on u ca in planktonic foraminiferal carbonates three planktonic foraminiferal species globigerina bulloides neogloboquadrina pachyderma d and globorotalia inflata collected from core tops spanning 35 to 65 n in the north atlantic were used for u ca and mg ca and foraminiferal shell weight analyses except for u ca in g bulloides calcified under warm conditions 13 c u ca ratios in all three studied species increase with decreasing latitude and show strong positive correlations with mg ca ratios a dissolution effect on planktonic u ca is suggested by decreased shell weight and u ca and mg ca ratios for shells from very deep water depth 4 4 km along the latitudinal transect g bulloides from down core samples in the north atlantic show low u ca ratios during the last glacial and high ratios during the holocene similar to the mg ca evolution trend in general our data indicate that the u incorporation into planktonic foraminiferal carbonates is strongly influenced by calcification temperature although u ca in g bulloides may be affected by seawater carbonate ion concentration under warm conditions and or other factors

production and cycling of natural microbial exopolymers eps within a marine stromatolite extracellular polymeric secretions eps that are produced by cyanobacteria represent potential structuring agents in the formation of marine stromatolites the abundance production and degradation of eps in the upper layers of a microbial mat forming shallow subtidal stromatolites at highborne cay bahamas were determined using 14 c tracer experiments and were integrated with measurements of other microbial community parameters the upper regions of a type 2 reid r p visscher p t decho a w stolz j bebout b macintyre i g dupraz c pinckney j paerl h prufert bebout l steppe t des marais d 2000 the role of microbes in accretion lamination and early lithification of modern marine stromatolites nature london 406 989 992 stromatolite mat exhibited a distinct layering of alternating bgreenq cyanobacteria rich layers layers 1 and 3 and bwhiteq layers layers 2 and 4 and the natural abundance of eps varied significantly depending on the mat layer the highest eps abundance occurred in layer 2 the production of new eps as estimated by the incorporation of 14 c bicarbonate into eps occurred in all layers examined with the highest production in layer 1 and during periods of photosynthesis i e daylight hours a large pool i e up to 49 of the total 14 cbicarbonate uptake was released as low molecular weight mw dissolved organic carbon doc this doc was rapidly mineralized to co2 by heterotrophic bacteria eps degradation as determined by the conversion of 14 c eps to 14 co2 was slowest in layer 2 results of slurry experiments examining o2 uptake following additions of organic substrates including eps supported this degradation trend and further demonstrated selective utilization by heterotrophs of specific monomers such as acetate ethanol and uronic acids results indicated that natural eps may be rapidly transformed post secretion by heterotrophic degradation specifically by sulfate reducing bacteria to a more refractory remnant polymer that is relatively slow to accumulate a mass balance analysis suggested that a layer specific pattern in eps and low mw doc turnover may contribute to major carbonate precipitation events within stromatolites our findings represent the first estimate of eps

southern ocean contributions to glacial interglacial changes of atmospheric pco2 an assessment of carbon isotope records in diatoms eleven new antarctic records of diatom bound 13corg show significantly lighter values during the last glacial maximum than during the holocene with a general trend of increasing depletions southward of the modern antarctic polar front mapf in contrast glacial diatoms from cores farther north of the mapf show 13corg values which are 1 heavier than during the holocene likely causes for the low glacial 13corg in antarctic diatoms are higher co2 aq lower growth rates and changes in diatom abundance or size taken at face value the glacial depletions of 13corg suggest that antarctic surface waters south of the mapf might have been a source of atmospheric pco2 during the glacial period alternatively the glacial depletions might have been caused by either a relatively small decrease in growth rates or changes in the abundance of the two dominant diatom species or their average cell size interpretations of the subantarctic records are complicated by similar uncertainties

response of reef island shorelines to seasonal climate oscillations south maalhosmadulu atoll maldives 1 the maldives experience seasonal shifts in monsoon winds from the west northwest to northeast the morphologic response of reef island beaches and shorelines to these predictable shifts in climate was examined on eight islands in south maalhosmadulu atoll based on global positioning system surveys of island shoreline planform in january and june 2002 and february 2003 surveys show that islands exhibit large gross changes 31 120 of beach area in shoreline position between seasons such changes reflect large reversals in sediment flux of 9 23 103 m3 on a biannual basis driven by seasonal reversals in wind and wave conditions annual net change is small 2 15 suggesting islands spatially exhibit a dynamic equilibrium an island oscillation index io is defined that describes the spatial extent of shoreline change around islands island shape ellipticity e is found to be positively correlated with io in the expression io 1 021e 0 275 suggesting island shape is a better indicator of the susceptibility of island shorelines to morphological change than wave energy exposure

upper quaternary coastal palaeoenvironments and palaeosea levels in las canteras beach gran canaria canary islands spain abstract las canteras beach outcrops are vestiges of palaeoenvironments that represent changes in sea level and or climate conditions using broad sedimentological mineralogical geochemical and dating studies three different palaeoenvironmental facies were distinguished 1 the lower facies was defined as beachrock formed by decametric calcarenite layers dipping 8 5 seaward and composed mainly of sand grains and two generations of isopachous low magnesium calcite lmc cement in a context of lower holocene interglacial stage 6600 30 cal years bp rising sea level and coastal progradation 2 during the middle holocene about 6600 30 cal years bp a coastal progradation phase and or lower sea level might lead to land emersion and soil development with an abundance of terrestrial gastropods 3 the upper holocene

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

biomineralization in perforate foraminifera in this paper we review the current understanding of biomineralization in perforate foraminifera ideas on the mechanisms responsible for the flux of ca2 and inorganic carbon from seawater into the test were originally based on light and electron microscopic observations of calcifying foraminifera from the 1980s onward tracer experiments fluorescent microscopy and high resolution test geochemical analysis have added to existing calcification models despite recent insights no general consensus on the physiological basis of foraminiferal biomineralization exists current models include seawater vacuolization transmembrane ion transport involvement of organic matrices and or ph regulation although the magnitude of these controls remain to be quantified disagreement between currently available models may be caused by the use of different foraminiferal species as subject for biomineralization experiments and or lack of a more systematic approach to study dis similarities between taxa in order to understand foraminiferal controls on element incorporation and isotope fractionation and thereby improve the value of foraminifera as paleoceanographic proxies it is necessary to identify key processes in foraminiferal biomineralization and formulate hypotheses regarding the involved physiological pathways to provide directions for future research

late quaternary sea level change in south africa abstract a late quaternary sea level curve for south africa is presented on the basis of new and published data from a range of sea level indicators and a variety of locations available evidence suggests that sea level in south africa broadly follows that described from the caribbean but that deviations occur during sea level highstands during the last interglaciation oxygen isotope stage 5 and the late holocene coastal emergence produced higher sea levels in south africa than those identified in the caribbean during the same time intervals this is tentatively ascribed to predicted lithospheric deformation in continental margin settings

incremental accretion of a sandy reef island over the past 3000 years indicated by component specific radiocarbon dating 1 low lying reef islands appear particularly threatened by anticipated sea level rise and determining how they formed and whether they are continuing to accumulate sediment is essential for their sustainable management depositional chronology of warraber island a small sand cay in torres strait australia is re examined based on ams radiocarbon dating of specific skeletal components whereas radiometric dating of bulk sand samples indicated one or more discrete phases of mid late holocene deposition component specific ams radiocarbon dating of sand grains indicates sustained incremental growth over the past 3000 years ages on gastropods that lived on the reef flat around the island indicate continuing sediment production and island progradation in contrast to bulk ages and other components produced at greater distances growth of sand cays depends on the rate and pattern of sediment supply which are functions of the local ecology of the surrounding reef and reef flat and hydrodynamic constraints

coral mortality increases wave energy reaching shores protected by reef flats examples from the seychelles in the granitic seychelles many shores and beaches are fringed by coral reef flats which provide protection to shores from erosion by waves the surfaces of these reef flats support a complex ecology about 10 years ago their seaward zones were extensively covered by a rich coral growth which reached approximately to mean low water level but in 1998 this was largely killed by seawater warming the resulting large expanses of dead coral skeletons in these locations are now disintegrating and much of the subsequent modest recovery by new coral recruitment was set back by further mortalities a mathematical model of wave energy reaching shorelines protected by coral reef flats has been applied to 14 seychelles reefs it is derived from equations which predict 1 the raised water level or wave set up on reef flats resulting from wave breaking which depends upon offshore wave height and period depth of still water over the reef flat and the reef crest profile and 2 the decay of energy from reef edge to shoreline that is affected by width of reef flat surface roughness sea level rise and pseudo sea level rise created by increased depth resulting from disintegration of coral colonies the model treats each reef as one entity but because biota and zonation on reef flats are not homogenous all reefs are divided into four zones in each cover by both living and dead biota was estimated for calculation of parameters and then averaged to obtain input data for the model all possible biological factors were taken into account such as the ability of seagrass beds to grow upwards to match expected sea level rise reduction in height of the reef flat in relation to sea level as zones of dead corals decay and the observed rounding of reef crests as erosion removes corals from those areas estimates were also made of all these factors for a time approximately a decade ago representing a time before the mass coral mortality and for approximately a decade in the future when the observed rapid state of dead coral colony disintegration is assumed to have reached an end point results of increased energy over the past decade explain observations of erosion in some sites in the seychelles most importantly it is estimated that the rise in energy reaching shores protected by fringing reefs will now accelerate more rapidly such that the increase expected over the next decade will be approximately double than that seen over the past decade c 2005 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

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

planktonic foraminiferal cd ca paleonutrients or paleotemperature records of cd ca in planktonic foraminiferal calcite of globigerinoides bulloides in cores from the subantarctic region of the southern ocean show large glacial interglacial variations with lower cd ca by 0 06 0 10 mol mol 1 at glacial times interpretation of these records in terms of lower dissolved phosphate and inferred higher glacial nutrient utilization has significant implications for glacial atmospheric carbon dioxide pco2 draw down however box core top data for g bulloides in the north atlantic suggest that the incorporation of cd into planktonic foraminifera relative to seawater dcd is temperature sensitive dcd 0 637 exp 0 15t when the subantarctic planktonic cd ca records are corrected for this temperature dependence they show little or no glacial interglacial diferences if as seems likely this observation can be interpreted to indicate a minimal change 0 5 mol kg 1 in surface water phosphate concentrations then the explanation for lowered glacial pco2 must be looked for elsewhere

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

hagen brae a surging glacier in north greenland 35 years of observations we use remotely sensed ice velocities in combination with observations of surface elevation and glacier area change to investigate the dynamics of hagen brae north greenland in high detail over the last 35 years from our data we can establish for the first time that hagen brae is a surge type glacier with characteristics of both alaskan and svalbard type surging glaciers we argue that the observed surge was preconditioned by the glacier geometry and triggered by englacially stored meltwater at present the glacier is in a transitional state between active and quiescence phases and is not building up to its pre surge geometry we suggest that the glacier is adjusting to the loss of its floating section general thinning and changes in fjord conditions that occurred over the study period which are unrelated to the surge behavior the high temporal resolution of the ice velocity data gives insight to the sub annual glacier flow

the influence of air sea exchange on the isotopic composition of oceanic carbon observations and modeling although the carbon isotropic composition of ocean waters after they leave the surface ocean is determined by biological cycling air sea exchange affects the carbon isotopic composition of surface waters in two ways the equilibrium fractionation between oceanic and atmospheric carbon increases with decreasing temperature in southern ocean surface waters this isotopic equilibrium enriches delta sup 13 c relative to the delta sup 13 c expected from uptake and release of carbon by biological processes alone similarly surface waters in the subtropical gyres are depleted in delta sup 13 c due to extensive air sea exchange at warm temperatures countering the tendency toward isotopic equilibration with the atmosphere a relatively slow process are the effects of the equilibration of co sub 2 itself a much faster process in regions where there is a net transfer of isotopically light co sub 2 from the ocean to the atmosphere e g the equator surface waters become enriched in sup 13 c whereas in regions where isotopically light co sub 2 is entering the ocean e g the north atlantic surface waters become depleted in sup 13 c a compilation of high quality oceanic delta sup 13 c measurements along with experiments performed using a zonally averaged three basin dynamic ocean model are used to explore these processes 40 refs 14more figs 1 tab less

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

trace element proxies for surface ocean conditions a synthesis of culture calibrations with planktic foraminifera abstract the trace element composition of planktic foraminiferal calcite provides a useful means of determining past surface ocean conditions we have assembled the results of culture experiments for three species of symbiont bearing planktic foraminifera globigerinoides ruber globigerinoides sacculifer and orbulina universa and one symbiont barren species globigerina bulloides to evaluate their responses to temperature salinity ph carbonate ion and dissolved inorganic carbon dic growth conditions trace element ratios li ca b ca mg ca sr ca mn ca cd ca ba ca na ca and u ca were measured simultaneously on samples grown with the same culture techniques which provides robust relatable calibrations that may be used together in multi proxy paleoceanographic studies our data confirm that temperature is the dominant control on foraminiferal mg ca under the ranges of conditions studied and that the potential effects of salinity and co32 on mg ca of these tropical species across late pleistocene glacial cycles are relatively small carbonate system experiments suggest that sr ca may be useful for reconstructing large dic changes na ca increases with salinity in g ruber pink but not in g sacculifer as these emerging proxy relationships become more firmly established the synthesis of multiple trace element ratios may help paleoceanographers isolate the effects of different environmental parameters in paleo records calcification rates g day vary among species and do not respond consistently to any experimental parameter comparison of our calcification rates with those observed in inorganic calcite precipitation experiments suggest that foraminifera calcify 100 more slowly than inorganic calcites grown in similar solutions we suggest that calcification rate does not typically exert a dominant control on trace element partitioning in planktic foraminiferal calcite though it may play a role for some elements under certain circumstances differences in average growth rate cannot explain composition differences among species pointing to alternative controls that may be biological in origin

global calibration of gephyrocapsa coccolith abundance in holocene sediments for paleotemperature assessment 1 a global sea surface temperature calibration based on the relative abundance of different morphotypes within the coccolithophore genus gephyrocapsa in holocene deep sea sediments is presented there is evidence suggesting that absolute sea surface temperature for a given location can be calculated from the relative abundance of gephyrocapsa morphotypes in sediment samples with a standard error comparable to temperature estimates derived from other temperature proxies such as planktic foraminifera transfer functions a total of 110 holocene sediment samples were selected from the pacific indian and atlantic oceans covering a mean sea surface temperature gradient from 13 6 to 29 3 c standard multiple linear regression analyses were applied to this data set linking the relative abundance of gephyrocapsa morphotypes to sea surface temperature the best model revealed an r2 of 0 83 with a standard residual error of 1 78 c for the estimation of mean sea surface temperature this new proxy provides a unique opportunity for the reconstruction of paleotemperatures with a very small amount of sample material due to the minute size of coccoliths permitting examination of thinly laminated sediments e g a pinhead of material from laminated sediments for the reconstruction of annual sea surface temperature variations such fine scale resolution is currently not possible with any other proxy application of this new paleotemperature proxy may allow new paleoenvironmental interpretations in the late quaternary period and discrepancies between the different currently used paleotemperature proxies might be resolved

physical chemical and biological investigation of an unconformity between limestone and sandstone in a coastal area iriomote island case study abstract although physical and chemical weathering due to groundwater and or wind flow is frequently observed in outcrops the geological mechanism responsible for these processes is not fully understood in the northern coastal area of iriomote island japan rock collapse caused by weathering of an unconformity between pleistocene limestones and miocene sandstones has been observed the boundary is characterised by distinctive columnar structures in the sandstone possibly induced by preferential weathering along desiccation induced fractures we found that the formation processes of the columns may be closely related to the rock collapse in this study the unconformable layer between the pleistocene ryukyu group and the miocene yaeyama group was investigated to determine the geological processes involved such as the formation weathering mechanisms and alteration of chemical and physical properties consequently the macroscopic and microscopic geometric forms compressive strength and mineral composition of the columnar structures were determined carbon stable isotopic analysis of the columns indicated that microbial solidification phenomena might have been involved in column formation a formation scenario for the columns has subsequently been proposed and we found that past stratification processes based on chemical and biological reactions with desiccation cracks on sandy soil directly influenced the modern dynamic rock collapse

application of the trace element and isotope geochemistry of strontium to studies of carbonate diagenesis carbonate rocks and natural waters exhibit a wide range in the concentration and isotopic composition of strontium this wide range and the quantifiable covariation of these parameters can provide diagnostic tools for understanding processes of fluid rock interaction careful consideration of the uncertainties associated with trace element partitioning sample heterogeneity and fluid rock interaction mechanisms is required to advance the application of the trace element and isotope geochemistry of strontium to studies of diagenesis goundwater evolution ancient seawater chemistry and isotope stratigraphy a principal uncertainty involved in the application of sr concentration variations to carbonate systems is the large range of experimental and empirical results for trace element partitioning of sr between mineral and solution this variation may be a function of precipitation rate mineral stoichiometry crystal growth mechanism fluid composition and temperature calcite and dolomite in ancient limestones commonly have significantly lower sr concentrations 20 70 p p m than would be expected from published trace element distribution coefficient values and sr ca ratios of most modern sedimentary pore waters this discrepancy probably reflects the uncertainties associated with determining distribution coefficient values as techniques improve for the analytical measurement and theoretical modelling of sr concentration and isotopic variations the petrological analysis of carbonate samples becomes increasingly important the presence of even small percentages of non carbonate phases with high rb concentrations and high 87 sr86 sr values such as clay minerals can have significant effects on the measured 87 sr 86 sr values of carbonate rocks due to the decay of 87rb to 87 sr for example a permian marine limestone with 50 p p m sr and 1 p p m rb will have a present day 87 sr 86 sr value that is 2 10 4 higher than its original value this difference is an order of magnitude greater than the analytical uncertainty and illustrates the importance of assessing the need for and accuracy of such corrections a quantitative evaluation of the effects of water rock interaction on sr concentrations and isotope compositions in carbonates strengthens the application of these geochemical tracers geochemical modelling that combines the use of trace elements and isotopes can be used to distinguish between different mechanisms of water rock interaction including diffusive and advective transport of diagenetic constituents in meteoric pore fluids during the recrystallization of carbonate minerals quantitative modelling may also be used to construct diagnostic fluid rock interaction trends that are independent of distribution coefficient values and to distinguish between mixing of mineral end members and fluid rock interaction

beachrocks from the island of la palma canary islands spain beachrocks on la palma island developed on platform forming lavas of the cumbre vieja volcano some of these lavas are related to the 1585 puerto naos 1677 and 1971 echentive eruptions radiocarbon dating of the charco verde beachrock gives a conventional age of 33 330 8 490 bp while that at playa chica beach gives a calibrated age of 14 940 8 525 bp the beachrocks up to 1 5 m thick and some tens of metres wide consist of several decimetre thick horizons dipping 2 15 seaward petrographically they can be classified as rudstones and arenites with volcanic clasts as their main component the original porosity of the beachrocks was intergranular and occasionally intragranular and was partially occluded by cementation and locally by internal sediments the main cements are fibrous aragonite and micrite high magnesium calcite hmc spar aragonite peloidal hmc and microbotryoidal hmc are scarce the elemental geochemistry of these cements is consistent with a marine origin whereas the isotopic geochemistry indicates precipitation from marine waters slightly modified by meteoric waters the evolution of beach deposits and especially the beachrocks in la palma island follows three stages 1 beach deposition 2 beachrock formation and 3 beach retrogradation and or erosion the studied beachrocks prompt us to make some important considerations 1 the mean tidal range in the canary islands has not varied over the last thousand years 2 the position of the beachrocks at the present day sea level would require a combination of eustatic and isostatic movements to keep the sea level stable at the present level over the last thousand years 3 volcanic activity supplies the sediment that forms the beaches 4 a dry warm climate with a very low rainfall below 250 mm year and a high insolation rate 6 11 h day favours and favoured cement precipitation and beachrock formation by increasing the water temperature in the intertidal zone and in the inner part of the beaches 5 the presence of beachrocks in the la palma beaches prevents the total disappearance of the beaches 2003 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

beachrock occurrence characteristics formation mechanisms and impacts beachrocks are hard coastal sedimentary formations consisting of various beach sediments lithified through the precipitation of carbonate cements the objectives of this contribution are to a collate and review information on the reported occurrences characteristics and formation mechanisms of beachrocks and b consider their impacts on the coastal zone the analysis of the available information has shown that a beachrock formation is a global and diachronic phenomenon and b the great majority of beachrocks are found in tropical subtropical and low temperate latitude microtidal coasts the cementing agents of beachrocks are composed predominantly of the metastable carbonate phases high magnesian calcite hmc and aragonite ar appearing in a diverse crystalline morphology it has been suggested that cement precipitation in the coastal environment is controlled by i the physicochemical conditions ii the presence of organic compounds and microbes iii the magnitude and distribution of the wave energy along the coast and iv the textural characteristics of the constituent sediments various theories have been proposed to explain beachrock formation itself linking the phenomenon to either physicochemical or biological processes these theories however do not seem to be of universal validity and acceptance as each is able to explain only some of the reported occurrences the presence of beachrocks appears to affect beach morphodynamics by i locking the beach profile ii modifying the nearshore hydrodynamics iii changing the porous character of the beach and thus its response to wave forcing and iv differential bed erosion at the margins of the beachrock outcrops that can alter significantly the long and particularly the cross shore sediment transport therefore although relict submerged beachrock outcrops may provide some coastal protection by reducing the wave energy impinging onto the coastline modern beachrocks may promote offshore loss of unconsolidated beach sediments and buried beachrock outcropping finally the presence of beachrocks may have also significant ecological impacts as the indigenous mobile substrate fauna and flora of the beach is replaced by hard substrate benthic assemblages which are commonly arranged in hydrodynamically controlled zones

beachrock a tool for reconstructing relative sea level in the far field abstract today s understanding of sea level change developed through a combination of process based physical modelling and observational data observational data of sea level change derives from coral reefs in the far field of the former ice sheets where a geographically variable relative sea level signal is expected as a response of the earth to ocean loading given this variability and the limited geographical distribution of coral reefs there is a need to explore other non coral based sea level markers to further understand sea level change and for example to fingerprint melt water here we present beachrock as a coastal deposit suitable for relative sea level rsl observations in the far field beachrock is an intertidal deposit forming in the zone where carbonate saturated meteoric and marine water mix and p co 2 decreases we provide the conceptual framework for beachrock analysis and describe techniques suitable for analysing and dating the deposit the approach is standardised by outlining the sediment characteristics in terms of rsl indicative meaning and indicative range and is tested against published data a study conducted on coasts of the mediterranean sea exemplifies the utility of beachrock for rsl reconstruction it is shown that the precision of the reconstruction is derived from the combined uncertainty of age and tidal amplitude or tidal range the uncertainty can be reduced to half the tidal amplitude when a deposit can be ascribed to the upper or lower intertidal zone beachrock based data benefit from the lack of non quantifiable error terms such as post depositional compaction due to the instantaneous formation and high preservation potential of the deposit this underlines the high precision of beachrock based rsl reconstruction which is a prime requirement for testing and extending coral based records

submerged upper holocene beachrock on san salvador island bahamas implications for recent sea level history sedimentological petrographic and radiometric data from a submerged beachrock on san salvador island bahamas provide new information about the late holocene sea level history in this area

cryptic intertidal microbialites in beachrock heron island great barrier reef implications for the origin of microcrystalline beachrock cement microbialites with microcolumnar growth morphology occur on the surfaces of solution enlarged crypts in modern beachrock an heron island great barrier reef australia the microbialites consist predominantly of felted aragonite but blocky mg calcite and fringes of acicular aragonite also occur a variety of microbial bodies and filaments occur within and on the surface of the microbialites although most heron beachrock is cemented by isopachous fringes of acicular aragonite irregular micritic cement is common adjacent to the microbialites the micritic cement consists predominantly of felted aragonite and contains microbial filaments and organic matter similar to those in the microbialites both the microbialite and the micritic cement are interpreted to be biologically induced although physico chemical models including co2 degassing and evaporation are commonly held to be sufficient to promote the formation of beachrock the similarity of heron cryptic beachrock microbialite with micritic beachrock cements supports the contention that some beachrock cements are biologically induced additionally the primary difference between fringes of acicular aragonite and the felts of aragonite in microbialites appears to be that the former nucleated on a well defined surface of organic matter whereas the latter nucleated within a framework of organic matter that contained irregularly disposed nucleation sites hence aragonite fringe cements may also be localized and or induced by films of organic matter c 1999 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

building biogenic beachrock visualizing microbially mediated carbonate cement precipitation using xfm and a strontium tracer the fate of reef islands is a topic of ongoing debate in the face of climate change induced sea level rise and increased cyclone intensity increased erosion and changes to the supply of reef derived sediment may put sand reef cays at risk of dramatic morphological changes these changes may have negative implications for the existence of reef cay environments which host vital sea turtle and bird rookery habitats beachrock consolidated carbonate beach sediment in the intertidal zone forms naturally on many tropical beaches and reduces the erosion rates of these beaches when compared to unconsolidated sand in spite of the critical role beachrock plays in stabilizing some reef cay shores the method of beachrock formation is still incompletely understood in this investigation beachrock was synthesized using beach sand and beachrock samples from heron island great barrier reef australia in aquarium experiments in which natural beachrock formation conditions were simulated beachrock was produced in two aquaria wherein the water chemistry was influenced by microorganisms derived from the natural beachrock inoculum whereas no cementation occurred in an aquarium that lacked a microbial inoculum and was controlled only by physicochemical evapoconcentration the new cements in the synthesized beachrock were analyzed using synchrotron based x ray fluorescence microscopy and were identified using a sr tracer added to the experimental seawater the resulting precipitates cement sand grains together and contain abundant microfossils of the microorganisms on whose exopolymer they nucleated demonstrating the fundamental role microbes play in beachrock formation these results are of interest because beachrock could be utilized as a natural coastline stabilization strategy on sand reef cays and in turn protect the unique habitats reef islands support

marine vadose beachrock cementation by cryptocrystalline magnesian calcite maui hawaii abstract active precipitation of high magnesian cryptocrystalline calcite cement 15 5 mole mgco3 in the intertidal zone on the north shore of maui hawaii results in formation of an extensive beachrock exposure at hookipa park framework grains in the beachrock are coarse algal molluscan and intraclast bearing sands meniscus fabric is dominant in the cement indicating that most lithification occurs in the vadose zone the cryptocrystalline cement is generally brownish gold in color but very thin clear isopachous fringes of microcrystalline calcite surround darker cryptocrystalline cement especially in upper horizons of the beachrock peloidal texture is scarce in the cement but is present in a few samples silt and fine sand sized skeletal fragments have been trapped in he evolving cement resulting in cement supported fabric hollow rims of microcrystalline calcite occupy some pore spaces these hollow rims may have precipitated at the air water interface of bubbles that formed in pores and they may therefore be additional evidence of cementation in the vadose zone interstitial water samples from wells that penetrate portions of the beachrock and unconsolidated beach sands reveal temporal chemical variations that suggest the importance of co2 degassing in the formation of beachrock cement when chemical and tidal cycles fluctuate with the same period pco2 values in pore water of the intertidal zone generally bear a direct relationship to tidal stand increasing values of pco2 most often occur during semi daily rising tides and decreasing values of pco2 occur during falling tides saturation ratios with respect to calcite vary in direct proportion to pco2 saturation levels generally increase during rising tides and decrease during falling tides t ese data suggest that co2 degassing during falling tides results in precipitation of calcite cement from pore water of the beach

b ca in planktonic foraminifera as a proxy for surface seawater ph boron isotope systematics indicate that boron incorporation into foraminiferal caco3 is determined by the partition coefficient k d frac left rm b rm ca right rm caco3 left rm b left rm oh right 4 rm hco 3 right rm seawater and b oh 4 hco3 seawater providing in principle a method to estimate seawater ph and pco2 we have measured b ca ratios in globigerina bulloides and globorotalia inflata for a series of core tops from the north atlantic and the southern ocean and in globigerinoides ruber white from ocean drilling program odp site 668b on the sierra leone rise in the eastern equatorial atlantic b ca ratios in these species of planktonic foraminifera seem unaffected by dissolution on the seafloor k d shows a strong species specific dependence on calcification temperature which can be corrected for using the mg ca temperature proxy a preliminary study of g inflata from southern ocean sediment core chat 16k suggests that temperature corrected b ca was 30 higher during the last glacial correspondingly ph was 0 15 units higher and aqueous pco2 was 95 atm lower at this site at the last glacial maximum the covariation between reconstructed pco2 and the atmospheric pco2 from the vostok ice core demonstrates the feasibility of using b ca in planktonic foraminifera for reconstructing past variations in ph and pco2

geological effects of tsunami on mid ocean atoll islands the maldives before and after the sumatran tsunami low lying coral islands are fragile landforms susceptible to long term sea level rise and extreme events such as hurricanes and tsunamis the sumatran earthquake of 26 december 2004 generated waves that reached the maldives 2500 km away observations of the effects of the tsunami are presented here based on pre and post tsunami topographic and planform surveys of 13 uninhabited maldivian islands the surveys showed there was no substantial island erosion and no significant reduction in island area rather the tsunami accentuated predictable seasonal oscillations in shoreline change including localized retreat of exposed island scarps by up to 6 m deposition of cuspate spits to leeward and vertical island building through overwash deposition of sand sheets up to 0 3 m thick covering up to 17 of island area these results have implications for island stability indicating that low lying reef islands are physically robust and the geological signature of tsunamis on atoll island development is minor

last glacial maximum paleochemistry and deepwater circulation in the southern ocean evidence from foraminiferal cadmium south atlantic benthic foraminiferal cd ca shows no glacial interglacial variation suggesting that the glacial contribution of north atlantic deep water to the southern ocean was not much different than at present in contrast cd ca in southeast indian ridge cores show lower glacial bottom water cd comparable to levels in intermediate depths of the north atlantic and significantly lower than in the deep south atlantic low glacial cd ca was also recorded in planktonic foraminifera suggesting a substantial decrease in the nutrient concentration of subantarctic surface water during the glacial maximum which most likely was caused by increased biological productivity the cd data are inconsistent with low glacial benthic foraminiferal 13c which suggest higher nutrient concentration we propose that the low cd ca in the southeast indian ridge records reflects a local source of nutrient depleted deepwater formed during the last glacial maximum by open ocean convection near the antarctic polar front downstream of the kerguelene plateau if this source was limited to the southeast indian basin then its impact on the overall chemistry of glacial circumpolar deepwater was rather small however if during glaciations open ocean convection became the dominant mode of bottom water formation it might have had a greater impact on cpdw chemistry

continuous transects of cadmium copper and aluminium in surface waters of the atlantic ocean 50 n to 50 s correspondence and contrast with nutrient like behaviour on three north south transects across the atlantic ocean continuous profiles of cd cu and al were measured in surface waters with ultra clean sampling and analytical procedures salinity nutrients and al served as tracers to identify the characteristic oceanographic regimes sampled under the different circumstances encountered during three different seasons the behaviour of the biodepleted element cd and of the biointermediate element cu was then investigated in relation to hydrography and nutrient cycling trace metals and nutrients are generally uncoupled in surface waters a cd po4 relationship only exists at high concentration levels which were reached in winter under continental influence and in the immediate proximity to intense upwelling the preferential removal of cd over phosphate downstream of upwelling regions was confirmed the reverse situation was observed in the northeastern atlantic where cd depletion occurred after that for phosphate the difference is tentatively attributed to continental sources of zn for which cd substitutes the continent and the shelves are the major source for cu except in proximity to these sources the latitudinal cu distribution is very smooth with open ocean values around 0 65 to 1 nmol kg as a result of slow scavenging probably related to organic complexation the tropical atlantic ocean shows very distinct signatures of dissolved al and silicate in low salinity waters these signatures can be used to trace the origin of freshwater to atmospheric or river shelf inputs which have very different ai si ratios the amazon river was identified as the probable source of a low salinity zone sampled in october 1990 at 5 9 n 28 w with elevated nutrients particulate organic c cu and cd values

controls on the molecular distribution and carbon isotopic composition of alkenones in certain haptophyte algae 1 although the biochemical functions and biosynthetic pathways of alkenones are still largely unknown alkenone unsaturation ratios are now used extensively to infer ancient sea surface temperature and their isotopic compositions have been used to reconstruct ancient atmospheric co2 levels the inferred relationships between alkenone unsaturation ratios isotopic compositions and growth conditions are based on empirical laboratory and field studies and in the case of isotope fractionation on simple models of carbon acquisition and fixation significant uncertainty still exists concerning the physiological and ecological factors affecting cellular production of alkenones unsaturation ratios and isotopic composition phytoplankton culture conditions have been shown to affect alkenone unsaturation u37k cellular alkenone content intracellular isotopic compositions and changes in fractionation ep as a function of the quotient of algal growth rate and aqueous carbon dioxide concentration co2 such studies imply that plant physiology can affect the interpretation of environmental signals the factor s controlling cellular alkenone concentrations and unsaturation ratios are reviewed as well as the carbon isotopic composition of the alkenone producing algae a new technique is presented to determine growth rates of the alkenone containing algae in natural settings that will facilitate testing laboratory based hypotheses concerning the carbon isotopic fractionation and its relationship to growth rate growth status of alkenone producing algae in the field

suborbital intermediate water variability inferred from paired benthic foraminiferal cd ca and δ13c in the tropical west atlantic and linking with north atlantic climates abstract paired benthic cd ca and 13c records have been generated along core m35003 in the western tropical atlantic decreased glacial water column dissolved cadmium cdw and increased benthic 13c indicate enhanced ventilation with nutrient deplete intermediate waters in line with similar inferences from other north atlantic mid depth records an abrupt early deglacial 13c collapse that is associated with a marked positive cdw anomaly indicates a transient collapse of mid depth ventilation from north atlantic sources conceivably in conjunction with the h1 meltwater anomaly the cdw record displays fine scale fluctuations that mimic the greenland dansgaard oeschger d o cycles and show decreased cdw during stadials this pattern is opposite to cdw variations in a deep water record from bermuda rise that display increased cdw concentrations during stadials the divergent pattern between mid depth and deep water cdw records indicates millennial scale switches between deep and shallow convection in the glacial north atlantic at the pace of the d o climatic cycles several high amplitude anomalies occur in the cdw record that reach levels similar to those observed today in the north pacific while a substantial nutrient increase in the mid depth north atlantic cannot be ruled out during these events changes of pore water chemistry and cd p fractionation during biological uptake offer alternative scenarios to explain the peak cdw maxima

vostok ice core provides 160 000 year record of atmospheric co2 direct evidence of past atmospheric co2 changes has been extended to the past 160 000 years from the vostok ice core these changes are most notably an inherent phenomenon of change between glacial and interglacial periods besides this major 100 000 year cycle the co2 record seems to exhibit a cyclic change with a period of some 21 000 years

radiocarbon evidence for the timing and rate of island development beach rock formation and phosphatization at lady elliot island queensland australia abstract lady elliot island great barrier reef is a coral cay constructed from near concentric shingle ridges composed of coral tridacna shells and bioclastic sand bound by guano derived phosphatic cement radiocarbon dating of individual tridacna samples is used to investigate the evolution of the island and place constraints on the variations in storminess of the last 3200 years a shallow platform reef existed at lady elliot since at least 6500 yrs b p shortly before 3200 yrs b p island growth by shingle progradation commenced and proceeded to the present at a rather uniform lateral rate 60 m ka 1 to leeward and 90 m ka 1 windward phosphatization may have occurred continuously or episodically at any time throughout the last 3200 years the youngest cemented ridge top is less than 770 years whereas at the base of uncemented ridges phosphatization is a modern 1950 a d process similarly low level beach rock has continued to form within the last 25 years a significant period of instability occurred less than 500 years ago during which marine erosion truncated the southwestern extremity of lady elliot island formed an eastern spit and stranded high level beach rock however the radiocarbon ages of tridacna samples from shingle ridges from lady elliot and curacoa islands are uniformly distributed kolmogorov smirnov test throughout the last 4000 years we interpret this to indicate no significant variation in ridge forming processes or fluctuation in average storminess during this interval

advanced biofilm staining techniques for tem and sem in geomicrobiology implications for visualizing eps architecture mineral nucleation and microfossil generation abstract microbial biofilms and mats have long been studied for their role in mineral precipitation reactions in natural environments scanning electron microscopy sem is often used to characterize biofilms and their associated precipitates however conventional sem sample preparation methods do not typically preserve the structure of the extracellular polymeric substances eps which account for a large portion of biofilm material and play crucial roles in biofilm function and mineral nucleation in the present investigation eps preservation and visualization using transmission electron microscopy tem was explored using three biofilm fixation and staining protocols although aspects of these protocols were developed for preserving complex eukaryotic tissue samples the heterogeneous three dimensional nature of biofilms make them suitable candidates for these sample processing techniques the results suggest that cryofixation provides the best preservation of cyanobacteria dominated biofilm structures a staining protocol including six different pre embedding stains allowed for tem visualization of the eps matrix that encompasses biofilm cells and precipitates of the stains used uranyl acetate appears to be important in avoiding biofilm deformation during sample processing using these staining protocols cell eps mineral relationships were observed including the precipitation of hydromagnesite mg5 co3 4 oh 2 4h2o on the eps adjacent to the exterior of cyanobacteria filaments beachrock associated biofilms were characterized using both tem of ultrathin sections as well as sem of resin embedded osmium stained biofilms prepared as petrographic thin sections combining these two approaches enabled characterization of both the micrometer scale cell carbonate mineral contacts as well as the larger scale microbial colony mineral cement relationships these results suggest that sample preparation techniques developed for rapid preservation of eukaryotic tissue samples can be used to preserve and characterize biofilm architecture these findings have applications to understanding mineral nucleation in biofilms and the preservation of biofilms as microfossils in the rock record

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

cadmium and delta13c paleochemical ocean distributions during the stage 2 glacial maximum changes in heat and salt transport by ocean currents have been implicated in ice age climate cycles weyl 1 968 newell 1 974 broecker et al 1 990b in addition to the direct physical effects of the ocean on climate the ocean carbon system controls atmospheric co2 and the co2 fluctuations documented in ice core bubbles barnola et a1 1 987 neftel et a1 1 988 are thought to be a significant factor in climate oscillations hansen et al 1 984 dramatic changes in oceanic circulation patterns and carbon system chemistry have occurred during the late quaternary glacial interglacial global climate cycles boyle keigwin 1 982 curry lohmann 1 983 shackleton pisias 1 984 boyle keigwin 1 987 duplessy et al 1 988 curry et al 1 988 broecker et al i 990a these changes in the ocean system may be significant driving forces in the progression of ice age co2 cycles toggweiler sarmiento 1 985 ennever mcelroy 1 985 wenk siegenthaler 1 985 boyle 1 988a b broecker peng 1 990 the oceanic distributions of c513c cd and other carbon system linked properties are controlled by the interaction between biological uptake and decomposition with the general circulation of the ocean because records of past oceanic cd and c5 1 3c are preserved in shells of planktonic and benthic foraminifera

the δ13c in benthic foraminiferal tests of fontbotia wuellerstorfi schwager relative to the δ13c of dissolved inorganic carbon in southern ocean deep water implications for glacial ocean circulation models on a transect between 20 and 70 s in the eastern atlantic ocean and weddell sea water samples from 19 hydrographic stations and bottom water from 55 surface sediment samples taken with a multiple corer were investigated for the stable carbon isotopic composition of the total dissolved inorganic carbon 13c co2 these measurements were compared to 13c values determined on live specimens of the benthic foraminifer fontbotia wuellerstorfi and closely related genera from the same stations in addition at 16 stations the stable carbon isotope composition of sedimentary organic carbon was measured general deepwater and bottom water mass circulation patterns as inferred from the 13c co2 are in close agreement with those known from other nonconservative tracers very low 13c values of upper circumpolar deep water 0 3 pee dee belemnite pdb in the polar front region and the eastern limb of the weddell gyre coincide with nutrient maxima however a significant decoupling of the dissolved phosphate signal from the 13c co2 signal is indicated in the abyssal weddell sea we attribute this to temperature dependent fractionation processes during gas exchange of surface waters with the atmosphere at sites of bottom water formation multiple corer water from the sediment water interface is slightly 13c depleted relative to deepwater and bottom water 13 co2 the surface sediment organic carbon 13c is 3 to 4 lower south of the polar front than north of it and the 13corg in freshly accumulated phytodetritus is 3 to 4 lower than surface sediment organic carbon 13c comparison of live f wuellerstorfi 13c and related genera with bottom water 13c co2 exhibits at most stations between the subtropical front 41 s and the southern boundary of the antarctic circumpolar current 55 s a significant lowering of foraminiferal 13c values compilation of a mean last glacial interglacial 13c amplitude 13c from six published southern ocean cores results in a shift of 0 99 0 13 pdb this shift is greater than that in all other regions however all of these cores are from positions close to recent oceanic fronts thus for these peripheral areas of the southern ocean we suggest about half of the glacial interglacial shift can be explained by varying frontal zone positions and widths accompanied by a change in mode and height of export production

local scour at roundhead and along the trunk of low crested structures abstract this paper summarizes the results of an experimental study on scour around submerged breakwaters the objective of the study is to make a systematic study of scour around low crested structures submerged breakwaters both the trunk scour and the roundhead scour have been investigated the breakwater models have a side slope of 1 1 5 to substantiate scour measurements velocity measurements also were made the latter data were used to obtain steady streaming in front of the breakwater regarding the trunk scour study the experiments indicated that substantial scour may occur at the toe of the structure this is irrespective of whether the breakwater is impermeable or porous the scour data although very limited indicated that the scour depth is in the same order of magnitude as in the case of emerged breakwaters the trunk experiment further showed that scour deposition bathymetry does not exhibit the pattern experienced in the case of emerged breakwaters where the scour and deposition areas are correlated with the nodal and antinodal points of the standing wave in front of the structure furthermore it was found that scour occurs not only at the offshore side of the breakwater but also at the onshore side as for the roundhead scour study it was found that severe scour can be experienced at the roundhead the scour can occur both at the offshore side of the roundhead and at the back the one at the offshore side is caused by the combined effect of severe waves and the steady streaming and that at the back is caused by wave breaking wave overtopping it was found that the streaming induced scour is governed by the free board to wave height ratio f h and the keulegan carpenter number kc while the plunging breaker induced scour is governed by the free board to water depth ratio f h and the plunger parameter t w g h h tw being the wave period the maximum scour depth at the toe of the structure and the plan view extent of the scour hole are given in terms of the governing parameters the results from the present laboratory tests for the roundhead scour are compared with prototype observations undertaken in the present study recommendations are made for toe protection for both the trunk scour and the roundhead scour

beachrock formation via microbial dissolution and re precipitation of carbonate minerals cementation of beach sand in the intertidal zone produces beachrock such as that found on heron island heron reef great barrier reef australia although common to coastlines in many low latitude beach environments the cause of cementation is not fully understood in this investigation electron and x ray fluorescence microscopy were used to characterize previously undocumented features of beachrock two generations of beachrock were examined as a means of understanding the progression of cementation meniscus shaped attachments at point contacts appear to be the first cements to form in biofilms near the beachrock surface this is followed by isopachous fringe cements within the now enclosed beachrock composed of aragonite needles that are enriched in strontium and contain extracellular polymeric substances eps cement precipitation is driven by locally high concentrations of cations in solution undoubtedly generated via microbial dissolution of the detrital carbonate grains binding to negatively charged bacterial eps retains these cations within beachrock microenvironments the metabolism of cyanobacteria and associated heterotrophs induce the supersaturating conditions needed for cement precipitation deeper within beachrock mm to cm below the surface abundant microbialites are found on the edges of grains and contain trapped and bound detrital material these structures are laminated enriched in strontium in some layers and contain microfossils the results of this investigation clearly demonstrate a biological influence in the precipitation of aragonite cement involving internal recycling of cations through microbial dissolution and precipitation of carbonate minerals

holocene cemented beach deposits in belize abstract two types of cemented beach deposits occur on reef islands off the coast of belize these are 1 intertidal beachrock that is dominantly cemented by marine aragonite and high magnesium calcite cements and 2 supratidal cayrock that is cemented mainly by vadose low magnesium calcite cements besides differences in position relative to present sea level and resulting early diagenesic features beachrock and cayrock can be distinguished on the basis of differences in composition texture geographical position and age whereas the composition of beachrock is similar to that of the adjacent marginal reef sediments cayrock is enriched in benthic foraminifera intertidal beachrock is moderately to well sorted and well cemented while supratidal cayrock is very well sorted poorly cemented and friable beachrock occurs preferentially on windward beaches of sand shingle gays on the middle and southern barrier reefs and on the isolated platforms glovers and lighthouse reefs cayrock only occurs on larger mangrove sand gays of the isolated platforms turneffe islands lighthouse reef and the northern barrier reef 14c dating of ten whole rock and mollusk shell samples produced calibrated dates between ad 345 and ad 1435 for beachrock and between bc 1085 and ad 1190 for cayrock the large scale distribution of beachrock in belize supports the contention that physical processes such as water agitation rather than biological processes control beachrock formation and distribution only on windward sides of cays that are close to the reef crest where large amounts of seawater flush the beaches considerable amounts of cements can be precipitated to produce beachrock cayrock forms due to cementation in the vadose zone and is only preserved on larger stable mangrove sand cays

foraminiferal magnesium in globeriginoides sacculifer as a paleotemperature proxy foraminiferal magnesium shows increasing promise as a paleothermometer but the accuracy and precision are limited by biases introduced by partial dissolution salinity variations mg rich gametogenic calcite and contaminant phases we improved cleaning methods and reduced errors introduced by partial dissolution by sampling from well preserved cores in the equatorial atlantic and the caribbean sea with different dissolution histories all cores reveal a synchronous 25 increase in mg ca from the stage 2 3 boundary to the holocene core top indicating that dissolution is not a controlling factor modern temperatures estimated from core top mg ca are 24 5 25 0 c equal to mean annual water temperatures at 50 100 m we estimate that sea surface temperature increased by 2 6 c 1 3 from the last glacial maximum to the holocene holocene values were comparable to those during isotope stage 5e our data indicate that biases from contaminant phases and partial dissolution can be reduced this paleothermometer holds promise if uncertainties introduced by salinity variations and gametogenic calcite can be constrained

hydrographic changes of the southern ocean southeast indian sector over the last 230 kyr hydrographical changes of the southern indian ocean over the last 230 kyr is reconstructed using a 17 m long sediment core md 88 770 46 01 s 96 28 e 3290m the oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of planktonic n pachyderma sinistra and g bulloides and benthic cibicidoides wuellerstorfi epistominella exigua and melonis barleeanum foraminifera have been analysed changes in sea surface temperatures sst are calculated using diatom and foraminiferal transfer functions a new core top calibration for the southern ocean allows an extension of the method developed in the north atlantic to estimate paleosalinities duplessy et al 1991 the age scale is built using accelerator mass spectrometry ams 14c dating of n pachyderma s for the last 35 kyr and an astronomical age scale beyond changes in surface temperature and salinity clearly lead by 3 to 7 kyr deep water variations thus changes in deep water circulation are not the cause of the early response of the surface southern ocean to climatic changes we suggest that the early warming and cooling of the southern ocean result from at least two processes acting in different orbital bands and latitudes 1 seasonality modulated by obliquity affects the high latitude ocean surface albedo sea ice coverage and heat transfer to and from the atmosphere 2 low latitude insolation modulated by precession influences directly the atmosphere dynamic and related precipitation evaporation changes which may significantly change heat transfer to the high southern latitudes through their control on latitudinal distribution of the major frontal zones and on the conditions of intermediate and deep water formation

sensitivity of the phosphate cadmium carbon isotope relation in the ocean to cadmium removal by suboxic sediments reconstructions of past deep ocean nutrient concentrations rely largely on the carbon isotopic composition and cadmium content of shells of benthic foraminifera when comparing records of these two paleonutrient tracers a relation similar to the phosphate cadmium carbon isotope relation in the water column today is generally assumed we present new water column sediment and pore water data from the california continental margin which demonstrate that cd accumulation is enhanced in suboxic sediments these results suggest that the oceanic cd inventory is sensitive to changes in the areal extent and redox intensity of suboxic sediments and thus that the phosphate cadmium relation in the ocean could have been different in the past the magnitude of this effect and its evolution through time is presently hard to quantify because the oceanic cd budget is poorly constrained

silicate weathering and carbon cycle controls on the oligocene miocene transition glaciation changes in both silicate weathering rates and organic carbon burial have been proposed as drivers of the transient mi 1 glaciation event at the oligocene miocene transition omt 23 ma however detailed geochemical proxy data are required to test these hypotheses here we present records of li ca mg ca cd ca u ca 18o 13c and shell weight in planktonic foraminifera from marine sediments spanning the omt in the equatorial atlantic ocean li ca values increase by 1 mol mol across this interval we interpret this to indicate a 20 increase in silicate weathering rates which would have lowered atmospheric co2 potentially forcing the antarctic glaciation circa 23 ma 13c of thermocline dwelling planktonic foraminifera track the global increase in seawater 13c across the omt and during the mi 1 event hence supporting a hypothesized global increase in organic carbon burial rates high 13c previously measured in epipelagic planktonic foraminifera and high cd ca ratios during mi 1 are interpreted to represent locally enhanced primary productivity stimulated by increased nutrients supply to surface waters the fingerprint of high export production and associated organic carbon burial at this site is found in reduced bottom water oxygenation inferred from high foraminiferal u ca and enhanced respiratory dissolution of carbonates characterised by reduced foraminiferal shell weight replication of our results elsewhere would strengthen the case that weathering induced co2 sequestration preconditioned climate for antarctic ice sheet growth across the omt and increased burial of organic carbon acted as a feedback that intensified cooling at this time

experimental modelling of beachrock cementation under microbial influence a laboratory model has been developed which reproduces natural conditions of beachrock formation these conditions include the porosity of beach sand tidal movements alternation of phreatic and vadose conditions temperature evaporation illumination and water composition seawater with a control of the following parameters salinity ca mg co2 ph caco3 saturation the conditions of two beachrocks from the red sea egypt and shark bay australia have been simulated and the influence of the micro organism population undetermined sampled in these beachrocks was observed for 3 4 months in the experiments inoculated with micro organisms biomineralization produced characteristic crystals of various forms from 1 to 20 m in size the precipitates resemble the micritic cements of natural beachrocks on the contrary precipitation was much less developed in the control experiments under nearly sterile conditions these results confirm the importance of microbial activity during beachrock formation the first micritic cement which seems to control cementation and produce the initial consolidation is formed under a strong microbial influence in or near a biofilm covering the grain surface the presence of this micritic cement is necessary for the development of the subsequent prismatic cement which probably results from an abiotic precipitation during higher fluid circulation

age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages development of a high resolution 0 to 300 000 year chronostratigraphy using the concept of orbital tuning a continuous high resolution deep sea chronostratigraphy has been developed spanning the last 300 000 yr the chronology is developed using a stacked oxygen isotope stratigraphy and four different orbital tuning approaches each of which is based upon a different assumption concerning the response of the orbital signal recorded in the data each approach yields a separate chronology the error measured by the standard deviation about the average of these four results which represents the best chronology has an average magnitude of only 2500 yr this small value indicates that the chronology produced is insensitive to the specific orbital tuning technique used excellent convergence between chronologies developed using each of five different paleoclimatological indicators from a single core is also obtained the resultant chronology is also insensitive to the specific indicator used the error associated with each tuning approach is estimated independently and propagated through to the average result the resulting error estimate is independent of that associated with the degree of convergence and has an average magnitude of 3500 yr in excellent agreement with the 2500 yr estimate transfer of the final chronology to the stacked record leads to an estimated error of 1500 yr thus the final chronology has an average error of 5000 yr