Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from SOMIRMAS cruise stations

The cores and dredges described at this site were taken on the SOMIRMAS cruise from 5 July to 14 August 1990 by the MusÈum National d'Histoire Naturelle from the R/V Marion Dufresne. A total of 30 cores and dredges were recovered and are available at MNHN for sampling and study.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from SEYMAMA-SHIVA cruise stations

The cores and dredges described at this site were taken on the SEYMAMA-SHIVA cruise from 17 August to 14 September 1990 by the MusÈum National d'Histoire Naturelle from the R/V Marion Dufresne. A total of 33 cores and dredges were recovered and are available at MNHN for sampling and study.

(Table, page 13-59), Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from Amphitrite Expedition stations

The cores described in this report were taken on AMPHITRITE Expedition in Decenber 1963 - February 1964 by Scripps Institution of Oceanography from, the R/V Argo. A total of 148 cores were recovered and are available at Scripps for sampling and study. The coring sites, all in the tropical central Pacific. The AMPHITRITE cores are here briefly described to identify visually distinct units based on lithology, color, texture, or other characteristic unique to an interval of sediment. For determination of lithology, the slides prepared from samples of the cores were examined microscopically in conjuction with the visual examination.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits in a core from R/V Hakuho Maru Cruise KH-74-4 station

A sediment core obtained from the northeastern Philippine Sea Basin was analyzed for 232Th, 230Th, 226Ra and 210Pb. Three sheets of Ferro-manganese oxide in a matrix of red clay were included in the 73 m core. Although the concentration of 232Th of land origin is normal as compared with that of the usual red clay or of the sediment obtained at the neighboring station, the concentration of radiogenic 230Th is extremely low and does not decrease with increasing depth. The radioactivity of rather soluble 226Ra at the station is not less than that of 230Th in the surface sediment, showing a tendency different from that observed in usual cores. Some enrichment in the comparatively short-lived 210Pb activity relative to 226Ra activity was found in the top sediment and in the first ferro-manganese sheet at the station. If the excess 210Pb in the ferro-manganese sheet is not due to contamination of the surface sediment, lead should migrate through the sheet. These facts suggest that the core has not been accumulating during the past few hundred thousand years or more.

Organic geochemistry of sediments at DSDP Legs 56-57 Holes

The quantity, type, and maturity of the organic matter of Quaternary and Tertiary sediments from the Japan Trench (DSDP Leg 56, Sites 434 and 436; and Leg 57, Sites 438, 439 and 440) were determined. The hydrocarbons in lipid extracts were analyzed by capillary- column gas chromatography and combined gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry. Kerogen concentrates were investigated by microscopy, and vitrinite-reflectance values were determined. Measured organic-carbon values were in the range of 0.13 to 1.00 per cent. Extract yields, however, were extremely low. Normalized to organic carbon, total extracts ranged from 4.1 to 15.7 mg/g Corg. Gas chromatography of non-aromatic hydrocarbons showed that all sediments, except one Oligocene sample, contained very immature, mainly terrigenous organic material. This was indicated by n-alkane maxima at C29 and C31 and high odd-carbon-number predominances. Unsaturated steroid hydrocarbons were found to be major cyclic compounds in lower- and middle-Miocene samples from the upper inner trench slope (Sites 438 and 439). Perylene was the dominating aromatic hydrocarbon in all but the Oligocene sample. Microscopy showed kerogens rich in terrigenous organic particles, with a major portion of recycled vitrinite. Nevertheless, almost all the liptinite particles appeared to be primary. This is a paradox, as the bulk of the samples were composed of hemipelagic mineral matter with a major siliceous biogenic (planktonic) component. A trend of reduced size and increased roundness can be seen for the vitrinite/ inertinite particles from west to east (from upper inner trench slope to outer trench slope). All sediments but one are relatively immature, with mean huminite-reflectance values (Ro)in the range of 0.30 to 0.45 per cent. The oldest and deepest sediment investigated, an Oligocene sandstone from Site 439, yielded a mean vitrinitereflectance value of 0.74 per cent and a mature n-alkane distribution. This sample may indicate a geothermal event in late Oligocene time. It failed to affect the overlying lower Miocene and may have been caused by an intrusion. Boulders of acidic igneous rocks in the Oligocene can be interpreted as witnesses of nearby volcanic activity accompanied by intrusions.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from the cruise of the SS Amra in the Maldives

In this volume, Agassiz gives a detailed account of the results of the cruise the steamer "Amra" chartered from the British India Steam Navigation Company. The cruise covered the attols of the Maldives archipelago. The deep sea formations are described in detail.

(Table 1, page 1157) DOWNWIND expedition bottom photo stations showing abundant manganese nodules

Manganese nodules were investigated during the Downwind Expedition, a part of the International Geophysical Year programme of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California. Attempts were made to collect bottom photographs, cores and dredge hauls in the same areas, to measure the distribution at the surface and in depth, and to obtain large samples for physical and chemical analysis.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from the R/V Galathea II Danish Deep Sea Expedition, 1950-1952

The Danish Expedition of the "Galathea II" around the world brought important results concerning the marine organisms in the deep sea. The "Galathea II" showed not only different organisms of the Abyssal but for the first time of the deepest trenches of the western Pacific. Anton Bruun coined the term Hadal for the region below the Abyssal under 6000 m. Although the "Galathea II" aimed to investigate new deep sea regions beside the routes of former expeditions and to widen the horizon of knowledge relating marine organisms the technical equipment and the methodological approach had partly been developed earlier. The expedition of the "Galathea II" is part of a long tradition of cruises such as that of the British "Challenger", the German "Valdivia" and the Swedish "Albatross" and especially the Danish cruises of the "Dana I" and "Dana II" which happened some years before.

Biogeochemical data from surface sediments in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain

We investigated spatial and temporal changes in quantity, quality and bioavailability of organic matter in abyssal sediments of the northeastern Atlantic. Sediment samples were collected in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP, 4800 m depth) during 6 oceanographic cruises from September 1996 to October 1998 down to a depth of 15 cm. Sedimentary proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, and their enzymatically hydrolysable fractions showed significant temporal changes, but different biochemical classes displayed different temporal patterns. Total proteins, carbohydrates and lipids displayed high concentrations, whereas the potentially hydrolysable fractions accounted for only about 10% of their total pools. From September 1996 to October 1998, bioavailable organic carbon concentration in the sediments decreased about 10 gC/m**2 indicating that this benthic system was not steady state. Hydrolysed proteins and carbohydrates were characterised by different vertical patterns. Carbohydrates increased their relative significance with depth in the sediment indicating a shift of organic matter bioavailability with important trophodynamic implications for subsurface consumers. Vertical profiles of reactive and refractory organic carbon in PAP sediments indicate that organic matter bioavailability in deeper sediment layers is higher than expected from previous theoretical models.