abrupt changes in deep atlantic circulation during the transition to full glacial conditions 1 six ocean drilling program odp sites in the northwest atlantic have been used to investigate kinematic and chemical changes in the western boundary undercurrent wbuc during the development of full glacial conditions across the marine isotope stage 5a 4 boundary 70 000 years ago sortable silt mean grain size ss measurements are employed to examine changes in near bottom flow speeds together with carbon isotopes measured in benthic foraminifera and planktic foraminiferal fragmentation as proxies for changes in water mass chemistry a depth transect of cores spanning 1 8 4 6 km depth allows changes in both the strength and depth of the wbuc to be constrained across millennial scale events ss measurements reveal that the flow speed structure of the wbuc during warm intervals interstadials was comparable to modern holocene conditions however significant differences are observed during cold intervals with higher relative flow speeds inferred for the shallow component of the wbuc 2 km depth during all cold stadial intervals including heinrich stadial 6 and a substantial weakening of the deep component 3 4 km during full glacial conditions our results therefore reveal that the onset of full glacial conditions was associated with a regime shift to a shallower mode of circulation involving glacial north atlantic intermediate water that was quantitatively distinct from preceding cold stadial events furthermore our chemical proxy data show that the physical response of the wbuc during the last glacial inception was probably coupled to basin wide changes in the water mass composition of the deep northwest atlantic

hydrography and energetics of a cold subpolar fjord andvord bay western antarctic peninsula abstract fjords along the western antarctic peninsula contain rich marine ecosystems and tidewater glaciers potentially sensitive to ocean change but much is unknown about the physical oceanography of these fjords this paper presents a comprehensive description of the physical environment of andvord bay a glacial fjord located in the gerlache strait on the northern end of the peninsula measurements were collected as part of the fjordeco program between november 2015 and march 2017 including during three research cruises and from a number of fixed installations sub surface moorings time lapse cameras and automatic weather stations andvord bay is located just north of a sill in the gerlache strait this sill inhibits the direct influence of warm upper circumpolar deep water from the shelf and deep waters in the fjord are therefore relatively cold as a result glaciers in andvord bay are not subject to the substantial ocean driven retreat observed farther south on the peninsula instead mass flux from the glaciers occurs mainly through calving the influence of meltwater in andvord bay is small compared to glacial fjords in the arctic and in the south shetland islands although summer freshening is evident in the fjord near surface layer likely as a result of glacial inputs the combination of surface freshening and the absence of strong mean wind forcing in the fjord results in salinity stratification extending well into the euphotic zone providing advantageous conditions for phytoplankton blooms andvord bay is generally dynamically quiet compared to the ambient ocean with the exception of during local katabatic wind events exchange with the gerlache strait is weak although the deep waters of the fjord are replenished on an annual scale through slow lateral exchange with the outside in addition deep convection may play a role in ventilating subsurface waters in winter

neodymium isotopes in benthic foraminifera core top systematics and a down core record from the neogene south atlantic abstract records of the past neodymium nd isotope composition of the deep ocean can resolve ambiguities in the interpretation of other tracers we present the first nd isotope data for sedimentary benthic foraminifera comparison of the nd of core top foraminifera from a depth transect on the cape basin side of the walvis ridge to published seawater data and to the modern dissolved sio2 nd trend of the deep atlantic suggests that benthic foraminifera represent a reliable archive of the deep water nd isotope composition neodymium isotope values of benthic foraminifera from odp site 1264a angola basin side of the walvis ridge from the last 8 ma agree with fe mn oxide coatings from the same samples and are also broadly consistent with existing fish teeth data for the deep south atlantic yielding confidence in the preservation of the marine nd isotope signal in all these archives the marine origin of the nd in the coatings is confirmed by their marine sr isotope values these important results allow application of the technique to down core samples the new nd datasets along with ancillary cd ca and nd ca ratios from the same foraminiferal samples are interpreted in the context of debates on the neogene history of north atlantic deep water nadw export to the south atlantic in general the nd and 13c records are closely correlated over the past 4 5 ma the nd isotope data suggest strong nadw export from 8 to 5 ma consistent with one interpretation of published 13c gradients where the nd record differs from the nutrient based records changes in the pre formed 13c or cd ca of southern derived deep water might account for the difference maximum nadw export for the entire record is suggested by all proxies at 3 5 4 ma chemical conditions from 3 to 1 ma are totally different showing on average the lowest nadw export of the record modern day values again imply nadw export that is about as strong as at any stage over the past 8 ma

temporal spatial and textural variation in the mineralogy of mississippi river suspended sediment abstract it has long been known that as a result of frequent deposition the mineralogy of mississippi river sands remains constant in time and space along the river there has never been a comparable detailed mineralogical study of the vastly more abundant muddy sediment of the river to evaluate the magnitude of variation in mississippi river fine fraction mineralogy suspended sediment was collected at 3 stations across the river during july and november 1980 samples were disaggregated and without pretreatment separated into 4 sizes 62 5 7 8 m 7 8 2 0 m 2 0 0 49 m and 0 49 m using calibration curves prepared from pure minerals with an internal standard xrd determinations of the mineralogy were obtained with a high precision minerals quantified were in order of decreasing abundance smectite illite kaolinite quartz plagioclase alkali feldspar chlorite and amphibole the largest source of variation in suspensate mineral abundance was sediment size smectite for example comprised 50 of the fine clay but was not present as silt anova revealed significant temporal variation in the abundance of smectite and illite within the finest sizes and lateral variation in quartz and feldspar abundance in coarser sizes discriminant function analysis determined that the total mineralogy of river suspended sediment varied significantly with time this temporal variation in mineralogy apparently results from differences in soil mineralogy in drainage basins of the major tributaries of the river coupled with t e time varying contributions of the tributaries

geochemistry of sediments of the peninsular rivers of the ganga basin and its implication to weathering sedimentary processes and provenance abstract geochemistry of the himalayan rivers has been a major point of contention in sedimentary geochemistry because of its global impact on ocean chemistry and climate among the himalayan rivers the ganga and its himalayan catchment have been studied extensively however the peninsular rivers constituting a significant part of the ganga basin have not received much attention heretofore in the present geochemical study of the peninsular river s sediments we have found that the initial chemical weathering of rocks in the catchment produces texturally mineralogically and geochemically diverse sediments and fluvial processes further segregate them into the geochemically contrasting coarse channel and fine grained suspended sediments the overbank sediments possess an intermediate texture and geochemistry but more towards the suspended sediments the sediment geochemistry data indicates that the peninsular river s sediments show an increase in the weathering intensity from the west banas river to the east son river along the climate gradient i e from the arid semiarid to the sub tropical condition the higher chemical index of alteration cia values of the peninsular river s sediments than the yamuna and ganga river sediments reflect the control of weatherable lithology in the tectonically stable low relief and subtropical climate condition the yamuna and ganga river sediments with lower cia values show more physical weathering in the tectonically active himalaya the suspended and overbank sediments of the yamuna and ganga rivers show an increase in their cia values after the confluence of the peninsular rivers indicating the contribution of more weathered materials by the peninsular rivers it has been found that there is a geochemical split between the channel and suspended sediments of the peninsular rivers for sharing different sources i e the dominant contribution of felsic sources to the channel and mafic sources to the suspended sediments the weathering geochemistry trace element systematics and ree patterns suggest that the dominant sources of the channel sediments of the peninsular rivers are the felsic crystallines and sedimentary lithologies of the aravalli range bundelkhand and chhotanagpur granite and gneisses and vindhyan sandstones whereas the mafic lithologies such as the deccan traps and mafic components of the felsic lithologies appear to be the major sources of the suspended sediments within the range of intermediate composition the overbank sediment chemistry reflects more contribution of the mafic sources except for the ken which shows a higher contribution of the felsic sources the geochemical split between the channel and suspended sediments of the peninsular river s sediments for the different provenances indicates differential weathering of the deccan basalts bundelkhand crystalline and vindhyan sedimentary rocks and also the hydrodynamic control of the peninsular rivers during erosion transport and deposition however the himalayan rivers do not show such contrast between the channel and suspended sediments because of the higher physical weathering and sediment mixing in the high gradient topography of the himalayan catchment

episodic reductions in bottom water currents since the last ice age although north atlantic deep water formation was greatly reduced during the last glacial maximum bottom water currents were as vigorous as at present however they were weakened during periods of north atlantic surface freshening a strong correlation can be seen between bottom water current strength and greenland air temperature records thus confirming a close connection between ocean circulation and abrupt climate change past changes in the freshwater balance of the surface north atlantic ocean are thought to have influenced the rate of deep water formation and consequently climate1 2 although water mass proxies are generally consistent with an impact of freshwater input on meridional overturning circulation3 there has been little dynamic evidence to support this linkage here we present a 25 000 year record of variations in sediment grain size from south of iceland which indicates vigorous bottom water currents during both the last glacial maximum and the holocene period together with reconstructions of north atlantic water mass distribution vigorous bottom currents suggest a shorter residence time of northern source waters during the last glacial maximum relative to the holocene period the most significant reductions in flow strength occur during periods that have been associated with freshening of the surface north atlantic the short term deglacial oscillations in bottom current strength are closely coupled to changes in greenland air temperature with a minimum during the younger dryas cold reversal and a maximum at the time of rapid warming at the onset of the holocene our results support a strong connection between ocean circulation and rapid climate change

variations in the nd isotopic composition of foraminifera from atlantic ocean sediments 143nd 144nd ratios have been measured in recent core top foraminifera from 25 sites throughout the atlantic ocean the average nd 0 value from this study agrees well with previous estimates of the average nd isotopic composition of the atlantic based on analyses of ferromanganese deposits and seawater samples however the larger data base and the nature of the samples have allowed us to identify distinct provenances of nd isotopes in the atlantic

the role of ocean atmosphere reorganizations in glacial cycles abstract a case is made that glacial to interglacial transitions involve major reorganizations of the ocean atmosphere system such reorganizations constitute jumps between stable modes of operation which cause changes in the greenhouse gas content and albedo of the atmosphere only in this way can the rapidity of glacial terminations the hemispheric synchroneity and symmetry of mountain glaciation and the large polar air temperature and dustiness variations be accounted for if these reorganizations are driven in some fashion by orbitally induced seasonal insolation changes then the connection between insolation and climate is most likely through impacts of fresh water transport on the ocean s salinity distribution

boundary scavenging at the east atlantic margin does not negate use of 231pa 230th to trace atlantic overturning abstract the 231 pa 230 th method is a promising tool to reconstruct ocean circulation over the past glacial interglacial cycle however marine particle flux may constrain the applicability of this ratio as a direct quantitative proxy for the strength of atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc by influencing the fractionation between the in situ produced 231 pa and 230 th in ocean water here we present 231 pa 230 th down core profiles from high particle flux areas off namibia and senegal covering the past 35 ka the 231 pa 230 th profiles at these sites show very different responses to temporal variations of particle fluxes and to changes in water masses our results show that sedimentary 231 pa 230 th in the eastern atlantic margin is linked to particle flux but controlled primarily by the mode of the amoc our data suggest that during the past 30 ka the high productivity eastern margin was not capable of importing and storing significant amounts of 231 pa from the open ocean consequently the applicability of the 231 pa 230 th proxy to reconstruct past ocean circulation is not hampered by this potentially additional 231 pa sink

the large scale evolution of neodymium isotopic composition in the global modern and holocene ocean revealed from seawater and archive data neodymium isotopic compositions 143nd 144nd or end have been used as a tracer of water masses and lithogenic inputs to the ocean to further evaluate the faithfulness of this tracer we have updated a global seawater end database and combined it with hydrography parameters temperature salinity nutrients and oxygen concentrations carbon isotopic ratio and radiocarbon of dissolved inorganic carbon archive end data are also compiled for leachates foraminiferal tests deep sea corals and fish teeth debris from the holocene period 10 000 years at water depths 1500 m property property plots show clear correlations between seawater end and the other variables suggesting that large scale water mass mixing is a primary control of deepwater end distribution at 200 m basin scale seawater t s end diagrams demonstrate the isotopic evolution of different water masses seawater and archive end values are compared using property property plots and t s end diagrams archive values generally agree with corresponding seawater values although they tend to be at the upper limit in the pacific both positive and negative offsets exist in the northern north atlantic applying multiple regression analysis to deep 1500 m seawater data we established empirical equations that predict the main large scale deepwater end trends from hydrography parameters large offsets from the predicted values are interpreted as a sign of significant local regional influence dominant continental influence on seawater and archive end is observed mainly within 1000 km from the continents generally seawater and archive end values form gradual latitudinal trend in the atlantic and pacific at depths 600 m consistent with the idea that nd isotopes help distinguish between northern southern sourced water contributions at intermediate and deep water depths

rapid changes of glacial climate simulated in a coupled climate model abrupt changes in climate termed dansgaard oeschger and heinrich events have punctuated the last glacial period approximately 100 10 kyr ago but not the holocene the past 10 kyr here we use an intermediate complexity climate model to investigate the stability of glacial climate and we find that only one mode of atlantic ocean circulation is stable a cold mode with deep water formation in the atlantic ocean south of iceland however a warm circulation mode similar to the present day atlantic ocean is only marginally unstable and temporary transitions to this warm mode can easily be triggered this leads to abrupt warm events in the model which share many characteristics of the observed dansgaard oeschger events for a large freshwater input such as a large release of icebergs the model s deep water formation is temporarily switched off causing no strong cooling in greenland but warming in antarctica as is observed for heinrich events our stability analysis provides an explanation why glacial climate is much more variable than holocene climate

the resilience and sensitivity of northeast atlantic deep water end to overprinting by detrital fluxes over the past 30 000 years abstract the neodymium isotope proxy has become a valuable tool for the reconstruction of past ocean water mass provenance and mixing for its accurate application knowledge about the origin and preservation of nd in sedimentary archives is crucial recently concerns have emerged regarding the applicability of neodymium isotopes as a conservative palaeo water mass tracer given potential nd fluxes from sediments into bottom waters abbott et al 2015a and inferred relabelling of ocean waters by settling detrital material roberts and piotrowski 2015 consequently a decoupling of water mass provenance and proxy variations may arise we investigate the mobility of nd around extreme detrital sedimentation events such as glacial ice rafting pulses and turbidite deposition in the northeast atlantic the constructed records from sediment leachates span extreme nd isotope variations including volcanic end 0 and laurentian end 27 sources we find that nd was released into pore waters from reactive detritus inside some detrital layers during early diagenesis thereby overprinting any archived bottom water nd signature and precluding the reconstruction of past water mass provenance during the affected time intervals however we do not observe any definite indication of diffusive vertical migration of nd into adjacent layers furthermore bottom water nd isotope signatures were not modified to a measurable degree by any potential benthic flux of nd during the deposition of these detrital sediment layers consequently the nd isotope composition of the pelagic glacial northeast atlantic water masses were resilient to such episodic large detrital fluxes apart from extreme local sedimentation events we confirm the presence of detritally overprinted deep waters north of 47 n during the peak glacial from comparison of northeast atlantic depth transects we furthermore suggest that the sensitivity of deep waters to this overprinting effect increased during periods of reduced atlantic meridional overturning circulation and elevated ice rafting overall our study demonstrates that a thorough evaluation of the proportion of nd originating from physical water mass advection versus in situ chemical inputs is crucial for the reliable application of nd isotopes as a water mass tracer

sediment transport in the cauvery river basin sediment characteristics and controlling factors abstract during the monsoon period 75 of the annual rainfall 73 of the annual water discharge and 85 of the annual sediment transport takes place in the cauvery river basin geology and river water discharge are the major natural factors controlling the sediment transport sediment transport in the cauvery river is greatly influenced by the presence of two major dams built across the river an examination of the particle size distribution of the suspended sediments shows that the less than 20 m fraction accounts for nearly 60 of the total sediment transported by the river at dam sites coarse sediments are selectively removed from the suspended load the suspended mineralogy is dominated by quartz and feldspar followed by clay minerals and carbonates clay minerals average about 30 and are dominated by the montmorillonite type the results of our study also demonstrate the importance of such sediment characteristics as particle size and mineralogy in controlling the trace metal distribution in sediments

synchronous deglacial overturning and water mass source changes understanding changes in ocean circulation during the last deglaciation is crucial to unraveling the dynamics of glacial interglacial and millennial climate shifts we used neodymium isotope measurements on postdepositional iron manganese oxide coatings precipitated on planktonic foraminifera to reconstruct changes in the bottom water source of the deep western north atlantic at the bermuda rise comparison of our deep water source record with overturning strength proxies shows that both the deep water mass source and the overturning rate shifted rapidly and synchronously during the last deglacial transition in contrast any freshwater perturbation caused by heinrich event 1 could have only affected shallow overturning these findings show how changes in upper ocean overturning associated with millennial scale events differ from those associated with whole ocean deglacial climate events

world wide delivery of river sediment to the oceans new data and new estimates from old data show that rivers with large sediment loads annual discharges greater than about 15 times 10 6 tons contribute about 7 times 10 9 tons of suspended sediment to the ocean yearly extrapolating available data for all drainage basins the total suspended sediment delivered by all rivers to the oceans is about 13 5 times 10 9 tons annually bedload and flood discharges may account for an additional 1 2 times 10 9 tons about 70 of this total is derived from southern asia and the larger islands in the pacific and indian oceans where sediment yields are much greater than for other drainage basins

the influence of particle composition and particle flux on scavenging of th pa and be in the ocean we have examined the relative affinity of th pa and be for sorption from seawater onto particles of variable composition opal carbonate lithogenic particles and organic carbon nuclide concentrations in particles collected from time series sediment traps were normalized by the dissolved nuclide concentration in the overlying water column in order to compute partition coefficients under conditions spanning a wide range of particle flux and particle composition our results suggest that the affinity of particles for pa and be increases with their increasing opal content and decreasing carbonate content while the affinity of particles for th increases with increasing carbonate content and decreases with increasing opal content we find no correlation between the aluminosilicate content of particles and their affinity for scavenging of any of these elements extrapolating to a pure caco3 end member the partition coefficient for th 9 0 106 g g 1 is 40 times greater than for pa and roughly 100 times greater than for be whereas for a pure opal end member the partition coefficient for th 3 9 105 g g 1 is slightly less than that for pa and be partition coefficients decrease with increasing particle flux in open ocean settings but not in an ocean margin region this kinetic effect reflects the increasing contribution of unaltered surface material reaching the sediment traps as particle flux increases the degree of fractionation between pa and th and between be and th depends on the opal carbonate rain ratio these results challenge the use of sedimentary 231pa 230th and 10be 230th ratios as simple proxies of particle flux however the strong dependence of nuclide scavenging on the opal carbonate rain ratio may provide a needed tool for reconstructing past changes in planktonic community composition

major ion chemistry of the ganga brahmaputra river system weathering processes and fluxes to the bay of bengal the ganga brahmaputra one of the world s largest river systems is first in terms of sediment transport and fourth in terms of water discharge a detailed and systematic study of the major ion chemistry of these rivers and their tributaries as well as the clay mineral composition of the bed sediments has been conducted the chemistry of the highland rivers upper reaches of the ganga the yamuna the brahmaputra the gandak and the ghaghra are all dominated by carbonate weathering ca mg and hco3 account for about 80 of the cations and anions in the lowland rivers the chambal the betwa and the ken hco3 excess over ca mg and a relatively high contribution of na k to the total cations indicate that silicate weathering and or contributions from alkaline saline soils and groundwaters could be important sources of major ions to these waters the chemistry of the ganga and the yamuna in the lower reaches is by and large dictated by the chemistry of their tributaries and their mixing proportions illite is the dominant clay mineral about 80 in the bedload sediments of the highland rivers kaolinite and chlorite together constitute the remaining 20 of the clays in the chambal betwa and ken smectite accounts for about 80 of the clays this difference in the clay mineral composition of the bed sediments is a reflection of the differences in the geology of their drainage basins the highland rivers weather acidic rocks whereas the others flow initially through basic effusives the ganga brahmaputra river system transports about 130 million tons of dissolved salts to the bay of bengal which is nearly 3 of the global river flux to the oceans the chemical denudation rates for the ganga and the brahmaputra basins are about 72 and 105 tons km yr 1 respectively which are factors of 2 to 3 higher than the global average the high denudation rate particularly in the brahmaputra is attributable to high relief and heavy rainfall

similar rates of modern and last glacial ocean thermohaline circulation inferred from radiochemical data today the ocean thermohaline circulation transports half of the 231pa produced by radioactive decay in the atlantic ocean water column to the southern ocean this export respectively imparts low and high 231pa 230th ratios to the surface sediments of these oceans ocean sediments from the last glacial maximum bear a similar isotopic fingerprint implying that advection of north atlantic deep intermediate water into the circumpolar deep water of the southern ocean occurred at a similar or slightly higher rate during the last glacial period

how well would modern day oceanic property distributions be known with paleoceanographic like observations author s gebbie g streletz gj spero hj abstract 2016 american geophysical union all rights reserved compilations of paleoceanographic observations for the deep sea now contain a few hundred points along the oceanic margins mid ocean ridges and bathymetric highs where seawater conditions are indirectly recorded in the chemistry of buried benthic foraminiferal shells here we design an idealized experiment to test our predictive ability to reconstruct modern day seawater properties by considering paleoceanographic like data we attempt to reconstruct the known modern day global distributions by using a state estimation method that combines a kinematic tracer transport model with observations that have paleoceanographic characteristics when a modern like suite of observations practical salinity seawater 18o 13cdic po4 no3 and o2 is used from the sparse paleolocations the state estimate is consistent with the withheld data at all depths below 1500 m suggesting that the observational sparsity can be overcome physical features such as the interbasin gradients in deep 13cdic and the vertical structure of atlantic 13cdic are accurately reconstructed the state estimation method extracts useful information from the pointwise observations to infer distributions at the largest oceanic scales at least 10 000 km horizontally and 1500 m vertically and outperforms a standard optimal interpolation technique even though neither dynamical constraints nor constraints from surface boundary fluxes are used when the sparse observations are more realistically restricted to the paleoceanographic proxy observations of 13c 18o and cd ca however the large scale property distributions are no longer recovered coherently at least three more water mass tracers are likely needed at the core sites in order to accurately reconstruct the large scale property distributions of the last glacial maximum

changes in northeast atlantic hydrology during termination 1 insights from celtic margin s benthic foraminifera abstract using benthic foraminiferal based proxies in sediments from the celtic margin we provide a well dated record across the last deglaciation of the channel river dynamics and its potential impact on the hydrology of intermediate water masses along the european margin our results describe three main periods 1 during the last glacial maximum and before 21 ka bp the predominance of meso oligotrophic species suggests well oxygenated water masses after 21 ka bp increasing proportions of eutrophic species related to enhanced riverine supply occurs concomitantly with early warming in greenland air temperatures 2 a thick laminated deposit occurring during a 1500 years long period of seasonal melting of the european ice sheet eis is associated with early heinrich stadial 1 period 18 2 16 7 ka bp the benthic proxies describe low salinity episodes cold temperatures severe dysoxia and eutrophic conditions on the sea floor perhaps evidence for cascading of turbid meltwaters 3 during late hs1 16 7 14 7 ka bp conditions on the celtic margin s seafloor changed drastically and faunas indicate oligotrophic conditions as a result of the ceasing of eis meltwater discharges while surface waters were cold due to laurentide ice sheet lis icebergs releases increasing benthic mg ca ratios reveal a progressive warming of intermediate water masses whereas oxygen proxies indicate overall well oxygenated conditions in addition to the well known effect of eis meltwaters on surface waters in the celtic margin our benthic record documents a pronounced impact on intermediate water depths during hs1 which coincided with major amoc disruptions

deglacial diatom productivity and surface ocean properties over the bermuda rise northeast sargasso sea 1 diatom assemblages document surface hydrographic changes over the bermuda rise between 19 2 and 14 5 ka subtropical diatom species and chaetoceros resting spores dominate the flora as in north atlantic productive regions today from 16 9 to 14 6 ka brackish and fresh water diatoms are common and their contribution is generally coupled with total diatom abundance this same interval also contains rare grains of ice rafted debris coupling between those proxies suggests that successive discharge of icebergs might have stimulated productivity during heinrich event 1 h1 iceberg migration to the subtropics likely created an isolated environment involving turbulent mixing upwelled water and nutrient rich meltwater supporting diatom productivity in an otherwise oligotrophic setting in addition the occurrence of mode water eddies likely brought silica rich waters of southern ocean origin to the euphotic zone the persistence of lower salinity surface water beyond the last ice rafting suggests continued injection of fresh water by cold core rings and advection around the subtropical gyre these results indicate that opal productivity may have biased estimates of meridional overturning based on 231pa 230th ratios in bermuda rise sediments during h1

10be derived himalayan denudation rates and sediment budgets in the ganga basin abstract the himalayas represent the archetype of mountain building due to active continental collision and are considered in many studies as the locus of intense interactions between climate denudation and tectonics estimates of modern denudation rates across the entire range remain however relatively sparse in this study in situ produced cosmogenic 10 be concentrations were measured in detritic quartz in order to determine basin scale denudation rates for the central part of the himalayan range river sand was sampled over several years in the main trans himalayan rivers from the himalayan front to the ganga outlet in bangladesh the calculated 10 be denudation rates of the trans himalayan river basins range from 0 5 to 2 4 mm yr 1 average 1 3 mm yr 1 and vary by up to a factor of 3 between sampling years these denudation rates strongly contrast with the 0 007 mm yr 1 denudation rate of southern tributary basins draining the indian craton this work also shows that in the ganga basin no systematic evolution of average 10 be concentrations is observed during floodplain transfer implying that distal samples can be used to estimate the integrated denudation rate of the whole central himalayan range samples from the ganga in bangladesh display remarkably low variability in 10 be concentration implying an average himalayan denudation rate of 1 0 1 1 mm yr 1 however within the floodplain several samples suggest a recent perturbation of sediment transport dynamics with a recent increase in the relative sediment contribution from southern tributaries the himalayan sediment flux deduced from the 10 be denudation rate of the range is 610 230 mt yr 1 this flux is consistent within uncertainty with sediment fluxes derived from sediment gauging the similarity of the two flux estimates suggests that himalayan erosion fluxes have remained stable over the last centuries even if the large uncertainties associated with each method hamper more precise assessments

isotopic composition of neodymium in waters from the drake passage the isotopic composition of neodymium has been determined in seawaters from the drake passage the antarctic circumpolar current which controls interocean mixing flows through this passage the parameter e nd 0 which is a function of the ratio of neodymium 143 to neodymium 144 is found to be uniform with depth at two stations with a value which is intermediate between the values for the atlantic and the pacific and indicates that the antarctic circumpolar current consists of about 70 percent atlantic water cold bottom water from a site in the south central pacific has the neodymium isotopic signature of the waters in the drake passage by using a box model to describe the exchange of water between the southern ocean and the ocean basins to the north together with the isotopic results an upper limit of approximately 33 million cubic meters per second is calculated for the rate of exchange between the pacific and the southern ocean concentrations of samarium and neodymium were also determined and found to increase approximately linearly with depth these results suggest that neodymium may be a valuable tracer in oceanography and may be useful in paleo oceanographic studies

a poisoned chalice deep sea sediments often carry information about past temperatures in the upper ocean directly above their location but as mccave cautions in this perspective interpretation of the sediments can be complicated by deep sea processes for example material transported laterally in the deep ocean may distort the upper ocean signal in the sediments a report by ohkouchi illustrates such processes at bermuda rise the study yields a detailed understanding of deep sea sediment transport processes aiding the interpretation of sediment records at this site and sounding a warning for others

size characteristics and mineralogy of suspended sediments of the ganges river india with a mean annual flow of 5 9 1011m3yr 1 and sediment load of 1600x1012gyr 1 the ganges river ranks second and third respectively in terms of water flow and sediment load among the world s rivers considering the enormous sediment transport by ganges to the bay of bengal a study was conducted on the size distribution and mineral characteristics of the suspended sediments of the ganges river and is reported here most of the sediment load has a size range between 4 5 75 the sediments are mostly medium to coarse silt and are poorly sorted mica dominates among the clay minerals followed by chlorite vermiculite kaolinite and smectite due to differences in geology smectite becomes a major clay mineral in downstream rivers at calcutta the clay mineral transport in millions of tons per year is 18 464 8000 and 2147 for mica smectite and chlorite respectively

foraminiferal end in the deep north western subtropical pacific ocean tracing changes in weathering input over the last 30 000 years abstract this study focuses on the neodymium isotopic composition end of mixed planktonic foraminifera species in sediment cores collected on the north western margin of the south china sea scs and in the western equatorial pacific the aim was to identify temporal changes in the end of the upper circumpolar deep water ucdw during its northward penetration in the western subtropical pacific and to re evaluate the significance of deep water end changes at the northern margin of the scs over the past 25 kyr the past seawater end record derived from sediments of the subtropical western pacific displays a narrow range from 2 9 0 3 to 1 6 0 4 this suggests that the end of the ucdw is greatly modified during its northward penetration through the process of boundary exchange along the western volcanic margin of the south pacific and that the unradiogenic end signature of the ucdw observed in the south pacific about 6 has not been propagated beyond the equatorial pacific at least not over the last 25 kyr seawater end values obtained from the northern scs display large variations with values that are lower 6 8 0 3 to 5 6 0 2 for the last glacial period than for the late holocene 5 7 0 3 to 4 1 0 2 such glacial end cannot be attributed to a higher proportion of southern sourced water ssw as end values of the ucdw in the equatorial western pacific are more radiogenic than those observed in the scs the evolution of the seawater end values of the northern scs during the last glacial period and the last climatic transition is coeval with variations in the contribution of sediments from the pearl river the low sea level stand of the last glacial period resulted in a more proximal position of the pearl river mouth relative to core md05 2904 which a higher input of freshwater and in particular detrital sedimentary particles originating from the pearl river that partially dissolved during sinking led to a decrease in the seawater end along the north western margin of the scs enhanced rainfalls associated with intensified monsoon and more frequent typhoon activities during the early holocene climatic optimum from 9 to 7 cal kyr bp are linked to a decrease in sea surface salinity lower 18o values of planktonic foraminifera and a decrease in end values 6 2 0 3 induced by lithogenic nd input from pronounced freshwater and sediment discharge from distal rivers

what do benthic δ13c and δ18o data tell us about atlantic circulation during heinrich stadial 1 approximately synchronous with the onset of heinrich stadial 1 hs1 13c decreased throughout most of the upper 1000 2500 m atlantic and at some deeper north atlantic sites this early deglacial 13c decrease has been alternatively attributed to a reduced fraction of high 13c north atlantic deep water nadw or to a decrease in the nadw 13c source value here we present new benthic 18o and 13c records from three relatively shallow 1450 1650 m subpolar northeast atlantic cores with published data from other cores these data form a depth transect 1200 3900 m in the subpolar northeast atlantic we compare last glacial maximum lgm and hs1 data from this transect with data from a depth transect of cores from the brazil margin the largest lgm to hs1 decreases in both benthic 13c and 18o occurred in upper waters containing the highest nadw fraction during the lgm we show that the 13c decrease can be explained entirely by a lower nadw 13c source value entirely by a decrease in the proportion of nadw relative to southern ocean water or by a combination of these mechanisms however building on insights from model simulations we hypothesize that reduced ventilation due to a weakened but still active atlantic meridional overturning circulation also contributed to the low 13c values in the upper north atlantic we suggest that the benthic 18o gradients above 2300 m at both core transects indicate the depth to which heat and north atlantic deglacial freshwater had mixed into the subsurface ocean by early hs1

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

dynamic intermediate ocean circulation in the north atlantic during heinrich stadial 1 a radiocarbon and neodymium isotope perspective the last deglaciation was characterised by a series of millennial scale climate events that have been linked to deep ocean variability while often implied in interpretations few direct constraints exist on circulation changes at mid depths here we provide new constraints on the variability of deglacial mid depth circulation using combined radiocarbon and neodymium isotopes in 24 north atlantic deep sea corals their aragonite skeletons have been dated by uranium series providing absolute ages and the resolution to record centennial scale changes while transects spanning the lifetime of a single coral allow sub centennial tracer reconstruction our results reveal that rapid fluctuations of water mass sourcing and radiocarbon affected the mid depth water column 1 7 2 5 km on timescales of less than 100 years during the latter half of heinrich stadial 1 the neodymium isotopic variability 14 5 to 11 0 ranges from the composition of the modern northern sourced waters towards more radiogenic compositions that suggest the presence of a greater southern sourced component at some times however in detail simple two component mixing between well ventilated northern sourced and radiocarbon depleted southern sourced water masses cannot explain all our data instead corals from 15 0 ka and 15 8 ka may record variability between southern sourced intermediate waters and radiocarbon depleted northern sourced waters unless there was a major shift in the neodymium isotopic composition of the northern endmember in order to explain the rapid shift towards the most depleted radiocarbon values at 15 4 ka we suggest a different mixing scenario involving either radiocarbon depleted deep water from the greenland iceland norwegian seas or a southern sourced deep water mass since these mid depth changes preceded the bolling allerod warming and were apparently unaccompanied by changes in the deep atlantic they may indicate an important role for the intermediate ocean in the early deglacial climate evolution

glacial water mass geometry and the distribution of δ13c of σco2 in the western atlantic ocean 1 oxygen and carbon isotopic data were produced on the benthic foraminiferal taxa cibicidoides and planulina from 25 new piston cores gravity cores and multicores from the brazil margin the cores span water depths from about 400 to 3000 m and intersect the major water masses in this region these new data fill a critical gap in the south atlantic ocean and provide the motivation for updating the classic glacial western atlantic 13c transect of duplessy et al 1988 the distribution of 13c of co2 requires the presence of three distinct water masses in the glacial atlantic ocean a shallow 1000 m southern source water mass with an end member 13c value of about 0 3 0 5 vpdb a middepth 1500 m northern source water mass with an end member value of about 1 5 and a deep 2000 m southern source water with an end member value of less than 0 2 and perhaps as low as the 0 9 values observed in the south atlantic sector of the southern ocean ninnemann and charles 2002 the origins of the water masses are supported by the meridional gradients in benthic foraminiferal 18o a revised glacial section of deep water 13c documents the positions and gradients among these end member intermediate and deep water masses the large property gradients in the presence of strong vertical mixing can only be maintained by a vigorous overturning circulation

neodymium in modern foraminifera from the indian ocean implications for the use of foraminiferal nd isotope compositions in paleo oceanography abstract the use of the nd isotope composition of planktic foraminifera as a proxy for sea surface water is based on the assumption that nd is incorporated during initial calcification and preserved after foraminifera death subsequent transport through the water column and storage in the sediment pile to test this assumption nd concentrations are reported from foraminiferal tests collected from 20 to 3045 m depth multinets and sediment traps from offshore somalia and in the somali basin of the indian ocean nd partition coefficients calculated for two species globigerinoides ruber and globigerina bulloides sampled in the uppermost water column 100 m are 16 52 the measured nd ca ratio of living foraminifera is 8 nmol mol which is 8 190 times lower than reported in cleaned foraminifera from sediment cores 61 1500 nmol mol moreover the nd content of foraminiferal tests varies markedly within the water column 8 220 nmol mol ca recording a positive correlation with mn content r2 0 91 the observed changes in the nd concentration after foraminiferal death appear to reflect nd addition from deeper in the water column and imply a major disturbance of the primary nd isotope composition formed at the surface the high nd ca reported for cleaned foraminifera from sediment cores are interpreted to be a consequence of current cleaning techniques although cleaning successfully removes organics and secondary mn coatings into solution any released rare earth elements ree are subsequently re adsorbed onto the calcite cleaning removes elements with a 2 valency state into solution e g cd and mn but more reactive elements with higher valency states e g ree3 th4 are re absorbed onto residual carbonate it is concluded that although foraminifera clearly record temporal variations in nd isotope composition the relationship between these variations and changes in the sea surface nd isotope composition has yet to be established unambiguously further work is required to rule out the possibility that the nd in foraminifera represents a mixed signal derived from surface sediments and bottom and pore waters

glacial interglacial circulation changes inferred from 231pa 230th sedimentary record in the north atlantic region 1 studies from the subtropical western and eastern atlantic ocean using the 231pa 230th ratio as a kinematic proxy for deep water circulation provided compelling evidence for a strong link between climate and the rate of meridional overturning circulation moc over the last deglaciation in this study we present a compilation of existing and new sedimentary 231pa 230th records from north atlantic cores between 1710 and 4550 m water depth comparing sedimentary 231pa 230th from different depths provides new insights into the evolution of the geometry and rate of deep water formation in the north atlantic during the last 20 000 years the 231pa 230th ratio measured in upper holocene sediments indicates slow water renewal above 2500 m and rapid flushing below consistent with our understanding of modern circulation in contrast during the last glacial maximum lgm glacial north atlantic intermediate water gnaiw drove a rapid overturning circulation to a depth of at least 3000 m depth below 4000 m water renewal was much slower than today at the onset of heinrich event 1 transport by the overturning circulation declined at all depths gnaiw shoaled above 3000 m and significantly weakened but did not totally shut down during the bolling allerod ba that followed water renewal rates further decreased above 2000 m but increased below our results suggest for the first time that ocean circulation during that period was quite distinct from the modern circulation mode with a comparatively higher renewal rate above 3000 m and a lower renewal rate below in a pattern similar to the lgm but less accentuated moc during the younger dryas appears very similar to ba down to 2000 m and slightly slower below

deglacial meltwater discharge north atlantic deep circulation and abrupt climate change high resolution paleogeochemical data from the north atlantic ocean indicate that in the interval 15 000 to 10 000 14c years before present b p north atlantic deep water nadw production was decreased or eliminated four times at about 14 500 and probably older 13 500 12 000 and 10 500 years b p each of these changes occurred at the same time as abrupt events of meltwater discharge to the surface ocean inferred from oxygen isotope studies of planktonic foraminifera and from glacial geological studies on land in addition each of these times may be associated with brief episodes of cooler climate in the north atlantic region the best example of which is the younger dryas cooling of 10 500 years ago these results support models linking meltwater discharge decreased nadw production and decreased north atlantic heat flux

thermohaline circulation crisis and impacts during the mid pleistocene transition the mid pleistocene transition mpt marked a fundamental change in glacial interglacial periodicity when it increased from 41 thousand year to 100 thousand year cycles and developed higher amplitude climate variability without substantial changes in the milankovitch forcing here we document by using nd isotopes a major disruption of the ocean thermohaline circulation thc system during the mpt between marine isotope stages miss 25 and 21 at 950 to 860 thousand years ago which effectively marks the first 100 thousand year cycle including an exceptional weakening through a critical interglacial mis 23 at 900 thousand years ago its recovery into the post mpt 100 thousand year world is characterized by continued weak glacial thc the mpt ocean circulation crisis facilitated the coeval drawdown of atmospheric co2 and high latitude ice sheet growth generating the conditions that stabilized 100 thousand year cycles

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

mineralogical characteristics of the sediments of a himalayan river yamuna river a tributary of the ganges almost the entire suspended load of yamuna river is transported during the monsoon period quartz and illite are the dominant minerals of these suspended sediments basin lithology tributary contributions and sediment grain size seem to control mineral distribution in the sediments trace metal concentrations of yamuna core sediments reflect their mineralogical composition illite is the chief clay mineral of the himalayan river sediments the mineralogical characteristics of the himalayan river sediments differ significantly from the peninsular indian rivers which chiefly carry montmorillonite

subsidence control on river morphology and grain size in the ganga plain the ganga plain represents a large proportion of the current foreland basin to the himalaya the himalayan sourced waters irrigate the plain via major river networks that support approximately 10 percent of the global population however some of these rivers are also the source of devastating floods the tendency for some of these rivers to flood is directly linked to their large scale morphology in general the rivers that drain the east ganga plain have channels that are perched at a higher elevation relative to their floodplain leading to more frequent channel avulsion and flooding in contrast those further west have channels that are incised into the floodplain and are historically less prone to flooding understanding the controls on these contrasting river forms is fundamental to determining the sensitivity of these systems to projected climate change and the growing water resource demands across the plain here we present a new basin scale approach to quantifying floodplain and channel topography that identifies areas where channels are super elevated or entrenched relative to their adjacent floodplain we explore the probable controls on these observations through an analysis of basin subsidence rates sediment grain size data and sediment supply from the main river systems that traverse the plain yamuna ganga karnali gandak and kosi rivers subsidence rates are approximated by combining basement profiles derived from seismic data with known convergence velocities results suggest a more slowly subsiding basin in the west than the east grain size fining rates are also used as a proxy for relative subsidence rates along the strike of the basin the results also indicate higher fining rates and hence subsidence rates for given sediment supply in the east by integrating these observations we propose that higher subsidence rates are responsible for a deeper basin in the east with perched low gradient river systems that are relatively insensitive to climatically driven changes in base level in contrast the lower subsidence rates in the west are associated with a higher elevation basin topography and entrenched river systems recording climatically induced lowering of river base levels during the holocene

neodymium budget in the modern ocean and paleo oceanographic implications the oceanic nd budget is calculated using a steady state 10 box model and a compilation of field data this is the first attempt to propose consistent estimates of the nd fluxes entering the ocean as well as indicating possible nd sources and the proportion of nd fluxes exchanged between dissolved and particulate fractions with presently available nd data the best estimates give a total nd influx of 9 x 10 9 g yr which leads to an oceanic nd residence time of 500 years from modeling tests we suggest that the authigenic nd scavenged by particulates is 100 remineralized in the deep ocean the total exchanged nd flux may be as high as 2 x 10 10 g yr the epsilon nd 0 values of the influxes are 22 11 1 and 4 for the north atlantic surface atlantic north pacific and surface indo pacific regions respectively atmospheric and riverine nd fluxes are insufficient to explain the magnitude and regional variability of calculated nd influxes and epsilon nd 0 we propose continental margins as an additional source supplying nd to the ocean using the model calibrated for nd we examine the sensitivity of deep water epsilon nd 0 to variations of nd inputs to the ocean deep water nd concentrations and epsilon nd 0 vary with the changes in nd influxes and their epsilon nd 0 as nd sources to the ocean may change during glacial interglacial periods the epsilon nd 0 shifts recorded in ferromanganese nodules and crusts do not necessarily reflect changes in paleoceanic circulation the effects of continental erosion should be considered in reconstructing patterns of ocean circulation using nd isotopes

greenland temperature response to climate forcing during the last deglaciation greenland ice core water isotopic composition 18 o provides detailed evidence for abrupt climate changes but is by itself insufficient for quantitative reconstruction of past temperatures and their spatial patterns we investigate greenland temperature evolution during the last deglaciation using independent reconstructions from three ice cores and simulations with a coupled ocean atmosphere climate model contrary to the traditional 18 o interpretation the younger dryas period was 4 5 2 c warmer than the oldest dryas due to increased carbon dioxide forcing and summer insolation the magnitude of abrupt temperature changes is larger in central greenland 9 to 14 c than in the northwest 5 to 9 c fingerprinting a north atlantic origin simulated changes in temperature seasonality closely track changes in the atlantic overturning strength and support the hypothesis that abrupt climate change is mostly a winter phenomenon

reconstructing deglacial north and south atlantic deep water sourcing using foraminiferal nd isotopes during the last few decades neodymium isotopes have been increasingly used as a paleoceanographic and paleoclimate proxy on million year through millennial time scales the widespread use of the nd isotope proxy depends on whether the nd isotopic composition of past seawater can be reliably extracted from authigenic sediment phases here we show evidence that planktonic foraminifera with authigenic coatings preserve a deep water nd isotopic signature and thus can be used to reconstruct past deep water nd isotopes applying this method downcore on south atlantic deep cape basin core tno57 21 41 1 s 7 9 e 4981 m the nd isotopic composition of the planktonic foraminiferal fe mn oxide coatings is identical with and confirms that of the reductively leached bulk sediment fraction piotrowski et al 2004 2005 2008 as reflecting changes in bottom water sourcing in the case of northeastern north atlantic core bofs 8k 52 5 n 22 1 w 4045 m the planktonic foraminiferal fe mn oxide coatings have different nd isotopes from reductive sediment leaches clearly acid reductive leaching must be tested in more detail we observe that the nd isotopic composition of the deep northeastern atlantic core shifted during the deglaciation from glacial values similar to the south atlantic cape basin towards holocene values similar to the bermuda rise roberts et al 2010 taken as a whole the nd isotope record from foraminiferal authigenic coatings suggests large scale changes in the proportion of northern and southern deep water sources occurred throughout the atlantic ocean with substantial chemical gradients at times during the last deglaciation

did north atlantic overturning halt 17 000 years ago models indicate that a complete shutdown of deep and intermediate water production is a possible consequence of extreme climate conditions in the northern north atlantic and the high ratio of 231pa to 230th on bermuda rise is evidence that this might have happened 17 ka during heinrich event 1 h1 however new radiocarbon data from bivalves that lived at 4 6 km on the bermuda rise during h1 lead to a different conclusion the bivalve data do indeed indicate ventilation of the deep western north atlantic was suppressed during h1 but not as much as it was during the last glacial maximum we propose that high diatom flux to the bermuda rise during h1 is at least in part responsible for increased 231pa 230th at that time although we cannot say for sure why opal production was so high in a gyre center location at that time increased leakage of silica rich waters from the southern ocean to the north atlantic is one possibility

importance of geomorphology and sedimentation processes for metal dispersion in sediments and soils of the ganga plain identification of geochemical domains abstract the ganga plain one of the largest alluvial plains of the earth is under severe environmental stress due to rapid industrial and urban development and exploding population growth disposal of industrial and urban wastes and the ignorance of their management have resulted severe environmental problems especially metal pollution in the present study an attempt is made to understand the transport and dispersion processes of metal contaminants in sediments and soils in kanpur unnao industrial region of the ganga plain the significance of geomorphology and monsoon rain is assessed in determining the distribution of contaminated sediments in this area three regional geomorphic surfaces t0 t1 and t2 are identified each with its characteristic river channel patterns and sediment distribution system which influence the dispersion and accumulation of the metal contaminants the sediment and water distribution regime depends on the nature of geomorphic features and character of the river channels geomorphic features sedimentation processes the nature of the river channels and distribution of excess rain water of the monsoon season have given the bases to delineate five geochemical domains in the study area each geochemical domain is an independently operating system with its own geomorphic and geochemical characters chemical parameters e g ph metal concentrations and dispersion of metal contaminated sediments and soils vary from domain to domain in comparison to reference values each domain exhibits its own enrichment of elements namely the loni river domain has high contents of c org cd cr zn the ganda nala domain of c org cu cr the ganga river domain of c org cr cu pb sn zn the sewage network domain of c org cd cr cu pb ni sn zn and the pandu river domain of c org cd cu ni zn patterns of changes in metal concentrations from one monsoon year to the other and in different seasons of a monsoon flood cycle are also domain specific each geochemical domain exhibits its own degree of metal enrichment in sediments and soils by anthropogenic activities and physico chemical processes identification of geochemical domains with their specific physico chemical processes in the fluvial system of the ganga plain will certainly help in assessing the environmental problems and land contamination of this region

north atlantic thermohaline circulation during the past 20 000 years linked to high latitude surface temperature during a surface cooling event 10 000 to 12 000 years ago higher cd ca and lower 13c 12c ratios are observed in benthic foraminifera shells from rapidly accumulating western north atlantic sediments data from sediment cores show that marked nutrient depletion of intermediate waters occurs in association with reduced glacial north atlantic deep water flux it is proposed that cold high latitude sea surface temperatures enhance intermediate water formation at the expense of deep water formation

determining paleoceanographic circulations with emphasis on the last glacial maximum the inference from radiocarbon and other data that the north atlantic ocean circulation during the last glacial maximum was reduced is examined because glacial periods are thought to be windier than non glacial ones a reduced circulation is difficult to rationalize a first step is to note that the circulation of mass is unlikely to correspond simply to the circulation of heat or freshwater salt by merely permitting an enhanced input of southern hemisphere water into the north atlantic one can accommodate significantly increased radiocarbon ages such an input is equally interpretable as owing to an increased mass circulation rather than a decreased one inferred estimates from paleo shear estimates in the florida current are re interpreted as producing an indeterminate net flow there determination of the paleocirculation rates is not simpler than the problem in the modern ocean it is fully three dimensional and requires an adequate data base to determine the mass flux rates

evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250 kyr ice core record recent results1 2 from two ice cores drilled in central greenland have revealed large abrupt climate changes of at least regional extent during the late stages of the last glaciation suggesting that climate in the north atlantic region is able to reorganize itself rapidly perhaps even within a few decades here we present a detailed stable isotope record for the full length of the greenland ice core project summit ice core extending over the past 250 kyr according to a calculated timescale we find that climate instability was not confined to the last glaciation but appears also to have been marked during the last interglacial as explored more fully in a companion paper3 and during the previous saale holstein glacial cycle this is in contrast with the extreme stability of the holocene suggesting that recent climate stability may be the exception rather than the rule the last interglacial seems to have lasted longer than is implied by the deep sea specmap record4 in agreement with other land based observations5 6 we suggest that climate instability in the early part of the last interglacial may have delayed the melting of the saalean ice sheets in america and eurasia perhaps accounting for this discrepancy

sediment characteristics and transportation dynamics of the ganga river abstract understanding of river systems that have experienced various forcing mechanisms such as climate tectonics sea level fluctuations and their linkages is a major concern for fluvial scientists the 2525 km long ganga river derives its fluvial flux from northern part of the indian subcontinent and drops in the ganga brahmaputra delta and the bengal fan regions this paper presents a study of the ganga river sediments for their textural properties grainsize characteristics and transportation dynamics a suite of recently deposited sediments 189 bedload samples and 27 suspended load samples of the river and its tributaries was collected from 63 locations dry and wet sieve methods of grainsize analysis were performed and folk and ward s parameters were calculated transportation dynamics of the sediment load was assessed by means of channel hydrology flow sediment rating curves bedform mechanics grainsize images and cumulative curves textural properties of the bedload sediments of the ganga river tributaries originating from the himalaya orogenic belt the northern indian craton and the ganga alluvial plain regions are characterised by the predominance of fine to very fine sand medium to fine sand and very fine sand to clay respectively downstream textural variations in the bedload and suspended load sediments of the ganga river are therefore complex and are strongly influenced by lateral sediment inputs by the tributaries and channel slope at the base of the himalaya a very sharp gravel sand transition is present in which median grainsize of bedload sediments decreases from over 0 16 to 2 46 within a distance of 35 km downstream decline in mean grainsize of bedload sediments in the upper ganga river within the alluvial plain can be expressed by an exponential formula as mean grainsize in 0 0024 distance in kilometres from the himalayan front 1 29 it is a result of selective transport phenomena rather than of abrasion the condition attributed to channel competence with low gradient of 70 to 25 cm km coarsening of the bedload sediments in the middle segment of the river develops due to the coarse bedload sediments mean grainsize 1 8 2 2 supply from the tributaries of the northern indian craton region and increased unit stream power the ganga river sediments show a wide range of grainsize parameters bedload sediments mean grainsize 1 5 3 8 standard deviation 0 3 0 7 skewness 0 2 0 5 and kurtosis 0 8 2 4 suspended load sediments mean grainsize 2 9 5 0 standard deviation 0 6 1 6 skewness 0 6 0 4 and kurtosis 0 7 4 6 mean grainsize of the bedload sediments is 2 6 which is 1 3 units coarser than the suspended load sediments the cumulative grainsize curves of the bedload sediments show a distinct break in slope representing nearly 80 of the bedload sediment transported as graded suspension during the peak monsoon discharge most of the bedload sediments are transported as the discontinuous fine sandy graded suspension by the unidirectional unsteady shooting flow at a high transport rate about 8 106 tons d a model of sedimentation transportation at river channel is proposed the ganga river mobilises a total of 729 106 tons of sediments annually through a narrow zone within its river valley under the present hydrogeological conditions the river sedimentation is climatically controlled and is predicted to produce a 2000 km long 2 to 40 km wide and 25 to 50 m thick ribbon shaped well sorted symmetrically skewed fine sand body

bathyal records of enhanced silicate erosion and weathering on the exposed luzon shelf during glacial lowstands and their significance for atmospheric co2 sink abstract we present a new high resolution multiproxy data set of mass accumulation rates sr nd isotopes as well as major and trace elements for the siliciclastic sediment fraction from international marine global change study core md06 3052 located on the continental slope of the western philippine sea we integrate our new data with published grain sizes and sea surface temperatures from the same core as well as with equatorial pacific sea level and east asian summer monsoon precipitation in order to constrain at high resolution changes in physical erosion and chemical weathering intensities on luzon and sediment source to sink processes we assess the potential significance of chemical weathering of arc silicates in regulating global atmospheric co2 since 156 kyr bp sr nd isotopes show that the siliciclastic sediments were dominantly sourced from volcanic rocks exposed on luzon 68 100 with a lesser contribution from asian dust 0 32 different indices indicate that stronger physical erosion and chemical weathering occurred during marine isotope stage mis 6 130 156 kyr bp as well as in the latter stage of mis 3 and mis 2 14 40 kyr bp the large sea level lowstands and associated significant exposure of continental shelf in the western philippine sea during these two cold periods should favor physical erosion and chemical weathering of unconsolidated sediments on the exposed shelf furthermore we notice the relatively good coherence between chemical weathering intensities on luzon and global atmospheric co2 concentrations over these cold intervals we suggest that strengthening of chemical weathering of silicates on luzon and other tropical arcs within 20 of the equator during the quaternary glacial sea level lowstands may significantly contribute to the lowering of atmospheric co2 concentrations during ice ages we estimate that a significant fraction up to 16 i e 8 ppmv of all atmospheric co2 ultimately sequestered by silicate weathering may be processed through an area corresponding to only 1 of the exorheic drainage area worldwide

southern ocean evidence for reduced export of north atlantic deep water during heinrich event 1 deep sea corals form unique high resolution archives of ocean circulation that can be dated using the decay of uranium to thorium they are abundant in the southern ocean and can provide unprecedented insights into ocean circulation and ocean chemistry on sub millennial time scales in areas where application of traditional paleoceanographic proxies is difficult here we present the first coupled neodymium nd isotope and radiocarbon data from deep sea corals in the drake passage southern ocean adding new constraints on ocean circulation during the last heinrich event h1 16 7 ka the modern day drake passage water column is homogeneous with respect to nd isotopes expressed in epsilon units nd its isotopic value of close to 9 is largely controlled by the mixture of north atlantic deep water and pacific deep water the aragonite of modern drake passage corals reflects this water column value whereas a fossil coral from h1 is significantly higher at 6 4 0 4 we interpret this 2 5 unit shift as a reduction in the influence of north atlantic sourced nd in the southern ocean during h1 this interpretation is supported by a series of radiocarbon analyses on the same sample and is consistent with a twofold or greater reduction in export of north atlantic waters from the atlantic basin combining analyses of radiocarbon and nd isotopes on u series dated deep sea coral skeletons holds great potential for quantification of past ocean ventilation rates

antarctic intermediate water penetration into the northern indian ocean during the last deglaciation abstract the two stage increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide co2 and the associated decrease in radiocarbon 14c during the last deglaciation are thought to have been linked to enhanced southern ocean upwelling and the rapid release of sequestered 14c depleted co2 antarctic intermediate water aaiw originating from the southern ocean reflects variations in the southern ocean and crucially mirrors the chemical signature of upwelling deep water however the penetration of aaiw into the northern indian ocean and its relationship with deglacial climate changes have not been thoroughly elucidated to date here we present the neodymium isotopic composition e nd of mixed planktonic foraminifera from core md77 176 from an intermediate depth in the northern indian ocean to reconstruct the past evolution of intermediate water during deglaciation the e nd record in the northern indian ocean displays two pulse like shifts towards more radiogenic southern ocean values during the deglaciation and these shifts coincide with excursions in 14 c and e nd records in the pacific and atlantic oceans these results suggest invasion of aaiw into the northern hemisphere oceans associated with enhanced southern ocean ventilation during deglaciation our new e nd record strongly supports the close linkage of aaiw propagation and atmospheric co2 rise through southern ocean ventilation during deglaciation

composition and mineralogy of suspended sediment in the fluvio estuarine zone of the loire river france the fluvio tidal transition of suspended sediment in terms of mineralogy and composition in the loire river drainage basin the largest french river basin was investigated in the fluvial zone at montjean and in the tidal zone at mauves thouare for a complete seasonal cycle at montjean where the river experiences unidirectional flow the composition and mineralogy especially clays and clay minerals of river suspended material rsm are governed by the river discharge upstream contributions climatic conditions and microbiological activities however due to reversing tidal and river currents at thouare in the zone of tidal dynamics these relations are changed in the downstream direction sand and clay content in the rsm decrease while the silt content increases among clay minerals between these two observation stations montmorillonite remains constant kaolinite diminishes and the other minerals increase downstream combustible material organic and nitrate no3 contents in the rsm increase whereas the phosphate po43 and caco3 contents decline considerably during transport at the head of the tidal zone where the river flow encounters the tidal influence there is a relatively stationary water mass tidal slack where sands clays phosphate carbonate and silica are deposited by physical and chemical processes physical sedimentation takes place by simple gravitational deposition sands and by sorting and complicated differential settling clays chemical sedimentation takes place by precipitation calcite caco3 apatite ca5 po4 3 oh f cl coagulation of dissolved silica sio2 in connection with seasonal algal bloom and eutrophic events resume le bassin de la loire est le plus vaste bassin fluvial franqais il constitue un domaine de choix pour l etude des apports a l ocean la composition des matieres en suspension mes a eteetudiee sur un cycle saisonnier complet en deux endroits choisis afin de mettre en evidence les effets du principal changement de regime hydrologiyue du fleuve au passage du milieu fluvial au milieu fluvio estuarien soumis a la maree dynamique et donc depourvu d effet de salinite les variations des mes sont regies par les debits liquides les apports du bassin versant les conditions climatiques et les activites biologiques et microbiologiques dans la zone ou s exerce la maree dynamique le lien de ces variations avec celles de debit liquide fluvial est cependant tres perturbe entre les deux stations de mesure les teneurs en sables et argiles diminuent et ies silts augumentent la kaolinite diminue la montmorillonite se maintient constante les interstratifies et i illite croissent les matieres organiques les substances colloidales ainsi que les nitrates augmentent phosphates et carbonates decroissent ces phenomenes peuvent s interpreter ainsi le debit fluvial est contrecarre par le flot ou on observe aussi une zone d imrnobilite relative des masses deau l etale qui produit deux types de resultats dynamiques decantation accelerie des silts aprks attrition des sables triagregation sorting et sedimentation differentiklle des argiles chimiques precipitation de calcite d apatite de silice sous confrole biogeochimique saisonnier etiages algual bloom d ete succedant aux crues et aux apports detritiques d hiver

erosion and sediment transport in the ganges river basin india abstract based on sampling of the entire region of the ganges basin chemical and sediment load supplied at various parts of the basin have been computed annual flux of materials from sub basin into the main basin and input to the hoogly estuary have been calculated and compared to major river systems of the world the total annual load at calcutta mouth of the river was calculated as 411 10 6 t 328 10 6 t sediment load 83 10 6 t chemical load erosion rate 549 t km 2 yr 1 is among the highest in this river system and controlling factors on a global scale such as basin area are discussed in detail annual decrease in basin elevation indicates a rapid process of denudation and such rates have a bearing on rates of shelf sediment accumulation

north atlantic deep water and climate variability during the younger dryas cold period the younger dryas the last large millennial scale climate oscillation 12 9 11 6 ka has been widely attributed to a massive meltwater discharge event that disrupted ocean circulation and plunged the circum north atlantic back into a near glacial state low resolution deep water reconstructions indicate lower north atlantic deep water nadw production during the younger dryas though the 14 c record requires some deep water production herein we reconstruct deep water mass variations using a southern gardar drift sediment core with an expanded younger dryas section we show that southern sourced water invaded the deep north atlantic to start the younger dryas but was replaced by nadw within 500 yr southern sourced waters briefly reappeared at the end of the younger dryas these deep water reorganizations to start and end the younger dryas suggest that increased meltwater fluxes were limited temporally and focused on regions where deep water convection occurred during the deglaciation

assessment of seawater nd isotope signatures extracted from foraminiferal shells and authigenic phases of gulf of guinea sediments the radiogenic neodymium nd isotope composition of foraminiferal shells provides a powerful archive to investigate past changes in sources and mixing of water masses however seawater nd isotope ratios extracted from foraminiferal shells can be biased by contaminant phases such as organic matter silicates or ferromanganese coatings the removal of which requires rigorous multiple step cleaning of the samples here we investigate the efficiency of flow through and batch cleaning methods to extract seawater nd isotope compositions from planktonic foraminifera in a shelf setting in the gulf of guinea that is strongly influenced by riverine sediment inputs nd isotope analyses of reductively and oxidatively cleaned mono specific planktonic foraminiferal samples and reductively cleaned mixed benthic foraminifera were complemented by analyses of non reductively cleaned mono specific planktonic foraminiferal samples fe mn coatings of de carbonated bulk sediment leachates and the residual detrital fraction of the same sediment al ca and mn ca ratios of fully cleaned foraminiferal samples reveal indistinguishable levels of cleaning efficiency between the batch and the flow through methods and the nd isotope compositions obtained from application of both methods are identical within error furthermore non reductively cleaned foraminiferal samples have the same nd isotope composition as reductively cleaned foraminifera at our study sites close to the niger river mouth the nd isotope composition of the foraminifera agree with the seawater nd isotope composition of nearby stations based on the combined extracted nd isotope signatures and element to calcium ratios as well as rare earth element distribution patterns we infer that the planktonic foraminiferal nd isotope signatures reflect bottom water pore water signatures the isotopic composition of the bulk de carbonated sediment leachates fe mn coatings differs significantly from the foraminiferal data at this site and probably reflects particles that acquired their ferromanganese pre formed pre formed ferromanganese coatings in nearby rivers therefore in such river influenced shelf settings foraminiferal shells should be used to obtain unbiased bottom seawater signatures

the potential of sedimentary foraminiferal rare earth element patterns to trace water masses in the past dissolved rare earth element ree concentration data from intermediate and deep seawater form an array characterized by higher middle ree enrichments mree mree in the north atlantic and a progressive increase in heavy to light ree ratios hree lree as water masses age the rees in foraminifera are fractionated towards higher mree mree and lower hree lree relative to seawater calculations based on a scavenging model show that the ree patterns in uncleaned core top foraminifera resemble those adsorbed onto calcite particulate organic material and hydrous ferric oxides but the full extent of the ree fractionation measured in foraminifera was not reproduced by the model however differences in the hree lree mree mree ratios and the cerium anomaly between ocean basins are preserved and are in agreement with the seawater ree distribution under oxic conditions the hree lree and mree mree compositions of uncleaned foraminifera at the sediment seawater boundary are preserved during burial but the cerium anomaly is sensitive to burial depth in suboxic sedimentary environments all uncleaned foraminiferal ree concentrations are elevated relative to core top values indicating addition of rees from pore waters the hree lree ratio is highest when sedimentation rates were greatest lippold et al 2009 and when high fe ca ratios in the uncleaned foraminifera indicate that fe was mobile in sediments that have not experienced suboxic conditions during burial uncleaned foraminifera preserve the seawater signal taken up at the sediment seawater interface and are therefore suggested to be a suitable archive of changes in the ree signal of past bottom waters this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

constraining the variability of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the holocene there is a converging body of evidence supporting a measurable slowdown of the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc as climate warms and northern hemisphere ice sheets inexorably shrink within this context we assess the variability of the amoc during the holocene based on a marine sediment core retrieved from the deep northwest atlantic which sensitively recorded large scale deglacial transitions in deep water circulation while there is a diffuse notion of holocene variability in labrador and nordic seas overturning we report a largely invariable deep water circulation for the last 11 000 years even during the meltwater pulse associated with the 8 2 ka event sensitivity tests along with high resolution 231pa 230th data constrain the duration and the magnitude of possible holocene amoc variations the generally constant baseline during the holocene suggests attenuated natural variability of the large scale amoc on submillennial timescales and calls for compensating effects involving the upstream components of north atlantic deep water

radiocarbon variability in the western north atlantic during the last deglaciation we present a detailed history of glacial to holocene radiocarbon in the deep western north atlantic from deep sea corals and paired benthic planktonic foraminifera the deglaciation is marked by switches between radiocarbon enriched and depleted waters leading to large radiocarbon gradients in the water column these changes played an important role in modulating atmospheric radiocarbon the deep ocean record supports the notion of a bipolar seesaw with increased northern source deep water formation linked to northern hemisphere warming and the reverse in contrast the more frequent radiocarbon variations in the intermediate deep ocean are associated with roughly synchronous changes at the poles

rare earth element transport in the western north atlantic inferred from nd isotopic observations the isotopic composition of nd in the water column from several western north atlantic sites and formational areas for north atlantic deep water shows extensive vertical structure at all locations in regions where a thermocline is well developed large isotopic shifts 2 to 3 units are observed across the base of the thermocline regions without a thermocline are characterized by much more gradual shifts in isotopic composition with depth in general the data reveal an excellent correlation between the nd isotopic distribution in the western north atlantic water column and the distribution of water masses identified from temperature and salinity characteristics nadw as identified from t s properties is also characterized by a well defined isotopic composition having nd 0 13 5 0 5 this signature is associated with waters identified as nadw from high latitudes near formational areas in the labrador sea down to the equatorial region the isotopic signature of nadw would appear to be formed by a blend of more negative waters originating in the labrador sea nd 0 18 and more positive waters originating in the overflows from the norwegian and greenland seas nd 0 8 to 10 and is consistent with classical theories on the formation of nadw the isotopic signature of nadw is propagated southward to the equator where it is gradually being thinned out by mixing from above and below with more radiogenic nd associated with northward spreading antarctic intermediate and bottom waters the preservation of the isotopic signature of nadw over these large distances indicate that the ree undergo extensive lateral transport the isotopic composition of nd is largely conservative over the time scales of mixing within the atlantic in spite of the intrinsic nonconservative behavior of neodymium nd concentration gradients generally show surface waters to be depleted in nd relative to deep waters which must require vertical transport processes however isotopic differences in the water column preclude the local downward transport of ree from the surface into underlying deep waters as a simple explanation of the concentration gradient the apparent decoupling of ree in nadw from overlying local surface waters and the increasing concentration with depth provide a conflict with simple vertical transport mechanisms that is not yet resolved