Distribution of foraminifera, pre-Pliocene foraminifera and macrofossil debris in sediment core CRP-2 (Table 1)

The stratigraphic distribution, assemblage content, paleoecology and age of foraminifera recovered in fourteen of sixteen samples from the 5.63 m thick CRP-2 (Lithostratigraphic Unit 2.2) are discussed. LSU 2.2 comprises four discrete lithologic beds. The upward sequence is informally referred to as the lower sand bed, diamicton bed, middle sand bed, and upper sand bed and it is surmised that these four units are closely related in time. The lower sand bed (~1.5m), which overlies lower Miocene sediments and from which it is separated by the Ross Sea Unconformity, contains traces of recycled Miocene diatoms but is otherwise barren of biogenic material. The diamicton bed (~2.42 m) contains 21 species of benthic foraminifera, with assemblages consistently dominated by Cassidulinoides porrectus, Ammoelphidiella antarctica, Rosalina cf. globularis, Cibicides refulgens, and Ehrenbergina glabra. The overlying middle sand bed (~1.9 m) contains 13 species. with C. porrectus and E. glabra dominant and A. antarctica less common than in the underlying diamicton bed. The upper sand bed (~0.46 m) contains four species and very few tests. The diamicton bed and middle sand bed assemblages are considered to be near in situ thanatocoenoses; and sediments interpreted as marine in origin but influenced by hyposaline waters and nearby ice. Planktic taxa are absent, perhaps indicating the presence of tidewater glaciers, sea ice and/or hyposaline surface waters. The small assemblage in the upper sand bed is more problematic and may be recycled. On the basis of foraminifera in the diamicton and middle sand beds. LSU 2.2 is assigned to the Pliocene. The overlying diamicton in LSU 2.1 contains abundant Quaternary foraminifera.

Data compilation on the biological response to ocean acidification: environmental and experimental context of data sets and related literature

The exponential growth of studies on the biological response to ocean acidification over the last few decades has generated a large amount of data. To facilitate data comparison, a data compilation hosted at the data publisher PANGAEA was initiated in 2008 and is updated on a regular basis (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.149999). By January 2015, a total of 581 data sets (over 4 000 000 data points) from 539 papers had been archived. Here we present the developments of this data compilation five years since its first description by Nisumaa et al. (2010). Most of study sites from which data archived are still in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of archived data from studies from the Southern Hemisphere and polar oceans are still relatively low. Data from 60 studies that investigated the response of a mix of organisms or natural communities were all added after 2010, indicating a welcomed shift from the study of individual organisms to communities and ecosystems. The initial imbalance of considerably more data archived on calcification and primary production than on other processes has improved. There is also a clear tendency towards more data archived from multifactorial studies after 2010. For easier and more effective access to ocean acidification data, the ocean acidification community is strongly encouraged to contribute to the data archiving effort, and help develop standard vocabularies describing the variables and define best practices for archiving ocean acidification data.

Tab. 1. Listing of BGR seismic refraction results off West Spitsbergen

Three main depositional sequences have been determined in the seismic records taken off West Spitsbergen (1) a Plio-Pleistocene sequence SPI-I with velocities of 1.7 to 2.8 km/sec; (2) a Pliocene allochthonous sequence SPI-II with velocities of 2.4 to 2.8 km/sec underlying unconformity U1; (3) a pre-Middle Oligocene sequence SPI-III with velocities of 2.9 to 4.8 km/sec underlying a distinct unconformity (U2) and deposited in front of the downfaulted Spitsbergen Platform indicating some opening of the Greenland Sea already before tbe time of magnetic anomaly 13 (36 m.y.b.p.). A marked change in the seismic configuration of the oceanic basement has been observed about 30 to 40 km east of the central Knipovich graben. The transition from the oceanic crust of the Knipovich Ridge to the strongly faulted, continental substratum of the Spitsbergen Platform occurs over a narrow zone and is associated with a pre-Middle Oligocene depocenter.