Dissolved organic carbon in sediments of the central Arctic Ocean collected during POLARSTERN cruise ARK-XXVII/3 from August-September 2012

Marine organic matter (OM) sinks from surface waters to the seafloor via the biological pump. Benthic communities, which use this sedimented OM as energy and carbon source, produce dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the process of remineralization, enriching the sediment porewater with fresh DOM compounds. We hypothesized that in the oligotrophic deep Arctic basin the molecular signal of freshly deposited primary produced OM is restricted to the surface sediment pore waters which should differ from bottom water and deeper sediment pore water in DOM composition. This study focused on: 1) the molecular composition of the DOM in sediment pore waters of the deep Eurasian Arctic basins, 2) whether the signal of marine vs. terrigenous DOM is represented by different compounds preserved in the sediment pore waters and 3) whether there is any relation between Arctic Ocean ice cover and DOM composition. Molecular data, obtained via 15 Tesla Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer, were correlated with environmental parameters by partial least square analysis. The fresher marine detrital OM signal from surface waters was limited to pore waters from < 5 cm sediment depth. The productive ice margin stations showed higher abundances of peptides, unsaturated aliphatics and saturated fatty acids formulae, indicative of fresh OM/pigments deposition, compared to northernmost stations which had stronger aromatic signals. This study contributes to the understanding of the coupling between the Arctic Ocean productivity and its depositional regime, and how it will be altered in response to sea ice retreat and increasing river runoff.

Element concentrations of aluminosilicate components from ODP sites in the Pacific Ocean

We measured major and trace element concentrations in the operationally defined, chemically extracted, residual aluminosilicate component of sediment from Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1215 and 1256 in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and found that this residual component contains volcanogenic and authigenic aluminosilicates in addition to inferred eolian material. While the residual component younger than 20 Ma from the central Pacific (ODP Site 1215) is similar compositionally to upper continental crust and suggests an increase in the delivery of Asian dust material since 20 Ma, the residual in sediment older than 20 Ma indicates significant amounts of volcanogenic and authigenic materials. Volcanogenic debris comprises as much as ~ 40% of the residual between 23-40 Ma, which coincides with the mid-Tertiary "ignimbrite flare-up" that occurred in much of western North America. The residual component extracted from the 50 Ma biogenic sediment reflects authigenic signatures (seawater-like negative cerium anomalies and elevated Fe/Si ratios). The previously interpreted increase in an andesitic detrital source in North Pacific locations may instead be authigenic material, presenting significant challenges for many paleoclimate proxies. Additionally, in the eastern Pacific (ODP Site 1256), the residual component contains ~70% of volcanogenic material, most likely originating from Central America, and also includes refractory barite. The ability to separately identify eolian, volcanogenic, and authigenic materials in the aluminosilicate component of pelagic sediment allows resolution, respectively, of the climatic, geologic, and chemical processes contributing to the paleoceanographic archive in this critical oceanic region.

(Table 5, page 206) The uranium contents of some manganese nodules

The uranium concentrations in marine calcareous material of a biological origin varied between 0.0X and 0.X p.p.m. with the exception of corals which had concentrations of several p.p.m. The aragonitic oolites and aragonite precipitated from sea-water had values similar to those of the corals. A geochronology based on the growth of ionium (thorium-230) from uranium is applicable not only to corals, as previous investigators have pointed out, but also to oolites. Several examples of "oolite ages" are given. The uranium content of ferromanganese minerals from pelagic deposits is of the order of from 4 to 5 p.p.m.

(Table T1) Geochemistry of calcium carbonate veins from ODP Holes 206-1256C and 206-1256D

Drilling a complete deep crustal section has been a primary yet elusive goal since the inception of scientific ocean drilling. In situ ocean crustal sections would contribute enormously to our understanding of the formation and subsequent evolution of the ocean crust, in particular the interplay between magmatic, hydrothermal, and tectonic processes. Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 206 was the first of a multileg project to drill an in situ crustal section that penetrated the gabbroic rocks of the Cocos plate (6°44.2'N, 91°56.1'W), which formed ~15 m.y. ago on the East Pacific Rise during a period of superfast spreading (>200 mm/yr) (Wilson, Teagle, Acton, et al., 2003, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.ir.206.2003). During Leg 206, the upper 500 m of basement was cored in Holes 1256C and 1256D with moderate to high recovery rates. The igneous rocks recovered are predominantly thin (10 cm to 3 m) basalt flows separated by chilled margins. There are also several massive flows (>3 m thick), although their abundance decreases with depth in Hole 1256D, as well as minor pillow basalts, hyaloclastites, and rare dikes. The lavas have been slightly (<10%) altered by low-temperature hydrothermal fluids, which resulted in pervasive dark gray background alteration and precipitation of saponite, pyrite, silica, celadonite, and calcium carbonate veins. Here we present a geochemical analysis of the CaCO3 recovered from cores. The compositions of ridge flank fluids within superfast spreading crust will be determined from these data, following the approach of Hart et al. (1994, doi:10.1029/93JB02035), Yatabe et al. (2000, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.168.003.2000), and Coggon et al. (2004, doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00697-6).