Proglacial river dataset from the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua River northern tributary, Southwest Greenland, 2008 - 2013, version 2.0

The dataset contains measurements of river stage and discharge for one sites along the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua River's northern tributary, with 30 minute temporal resolution between June 2008 and August 2013 This river is a tributary to the Watson River discharging into Kangerlussuaq Fjord by the town of Kangerlussuaq, Southwest Greenland. Additional data of water temperature, air pressure are also provided. Compared to version 1.0 of the dataset, this dataset used a total of 36 in situ discharge observations collected between 2008 and 2012 to construct the rating curve. Furthermore, data of Station AK-004-001 between 2010-09-06T11:30 to 2010-09-07T13:30 have been removed from version 2.0 because these values were likely caused by backflow when a jokulhlaup from a large glacier dammed lake caused increased water levels in the downstreams lake. Thus, data measured at AK-004-001 between 2010-09-06T11:30 to 2010-09-07T13:30 are not representative for the AK-004 catchment.

Radiolarians from the Southwest Pacific

Radiolarians are very rare in all Leg 90 sites. They are relatively more frequent only in Neogene sediments from Sites 586 and 594, and in Eocene sediments at Site 592. In this chapter radiolarian abundances are recorded as comparative percentages for 92 Neogene morphotypes at Site 586B. Relative abundances only are estimated at Sites 592 and 594, where preservation is poor to moderate. A tentative correlation of radiolarian events at Hole 586B and Site 594 shows that only a few species can be found in both tropical and subantarctic areas. New evolutionary lineages are proposed. 1. Middle Miocene eucyrtids like Eucyrtidium teuscheri group evolved into a widespread species (E. teuscheri teuscheri) ranging from middle Miocene to Holocene and a temperate species (E. teuscheri orthoporus) ranging from middle Miocene to early Pleistocene. 2. Phormostichoartus pitomorphus appears to be a temperate descendant of the cosmopolitan P. fistula and disappears in early Pleistocene time. 3. The discovery of Lamprocyrtis daniellae n.sp. calls into question the lineage L. heteroporos -> L. nigriniae. 4. The evolution of Lamprocyclas maritalis from an ancestor group (L. aff. maritalis) is located in the early part of the Pterocanium prismatium Zone.

Neogene benthic foraminiferal faunas of a southwest Pacific bathyal depth transect

Temporal changes in benthic foraminiferal assemblages were quantitatively examined (> 63 µm fraction) in four southwest Pacific deep-sea Neogene sequences in a depth transect between approximately 1300 and 3200 m to assist in evaluating paleoeeanographic history. The most conspicuous changes in benthic foraminiferal assemblages occurred in association with paleoclimatic changes defined at least in part by oxygen isotopic changes. The largest, centered at ~15 Ma (early Middle Miocene), is represented by an increase in the relative frequencies of Epistominella exigua, which underwent a major upward depth migration at that time. This was contemporaneous with the well-known positive oxygen isotopic shift in the early Middle Miocene. In Sites 588 and 590, most of the increase in relative abundances of E. exigua occurred during the middle to later part of the ~80 shift, following major growth of the east Antarctic ice sheet. Later assemblage changes occurred at 8.5 and 6.5 Ma. These associations indicate that the benthic foraminiferal assemblages in this depth transect largely adjusted to changes in deep waters related to Antarctic cryospheric evolution. In general, the Neogene benthic foraminiferal assemblages in this region underwent little change during the last 23 million years. This faunal conservatism suggests that deep-sea environments underwent relatively little change in the southwest Pacific during much of the Neogene. Although paleoceanographic changes did occur, partly in response to highlatitude cryospheric evolution, these were not of sufficient magnitude to create major deep-sea faunal changes in this part of the ocean. The benthic foraminiferal assemblages are dominated by individuals smaller than 150 µm. Most taxonomic turnover occurred in the larger (> 150 µm) size fractions.

Rare earth and other element contents and speciations in samples from Core AKO26-35, Pacific Ocean, Southwest Basin

Ferromanganese micro- and macronodules in eupelagic clays at Site AKO26-35 in the Southwest Pacific Basin were studied in order to check REE distribution during ferromanganese ore formation in non-productive zones of the Pacific Ocean. Host sediments and their labile fraction, ferromanganese micronodules (in size fractions 50-100, 100-250, 250-500, and >500 ?m) from eupelagic clays (horizons 37-10, 105-110, 165-175, and 189-190 cm), and buried ferromanganese micronodules (horizons 64-68, 158-159, and 165-166 cm) were under study. Based on partition analysis data anomalous REE enrichment in eupelagic clays from Site AKO26-35 is related to accumulation of rare earth elements in iron hydroxophosphates. Concentration of Ce generally bound with manganese oxyhydroxides is governed by oxidation of Mn and Ce in ocean surface waters. Micronodules (with Mn/Fe from 0.7 to 1.6) inherit compositional features of the labile fraction of bottom sediments. Concentrations of Ce, Co, and Th depend on micronodule sizes. Enrichment of micronodules in hydrogenic or hydrothermal matter is governed by their sizes and by a dominant source of suspended oxyhydroxide material. The study of buried ferromanganese micronodules revealed general regularities in compositional evolution of oxyhydroxide matrices of ferromanganese micro- and macronodules. Compositional variation of micro- and macronodules relative to the labile fraction of sediments in the Pacific non-productive zone dramatically differs from the pattern in bioproductive zones where micronodule compositions in coarser fractions are similar to those in associated macronodules and labile fractions of host sediments due to more intense suboxidative diagenesis.

Phytoplankton of the southwest Kara Sea on August 9-12, 2007

A research was carried out along a transect from the Yamal Peninsula coast towards the outer shelf of the southwestern the Kara Sea in September 2007. 130 phytoplankton species were identified, among which 63 were found in the area for the first time. Total phytoplankton abundance varied from of 0.2 x10**9 to 11.3x10**9 cells/m**2, while biomass from 43 to 1057 mgC/m**2. A well pronounced cross-shelf zoning in phytoplankton communities was ascertained. The inner shelf zone about 30 km wide with depths down to 30 meters was characterized by predominance of diatoms (up to 80% of total algal abundance and biomass). The second group by value was dinoflagellates. Seaward in the area of depth increase from 30 to 140 m, the zone of the Yamal Current was located, which was 40 km wide and notable for its active water dynamics. Total abundance in the zone was maximal for the entire investigated area: up to 11.3x10**9 cells/m**2. Autotrophic flagellates were the leading group in phytoplankton, their share in total abundance reached 56-82%. Further than 70 km from the shore, the outer shelf zone was found with the water column rigidly stratified. The highest for the whole area phytoplankton biomass was identified here (up to 1.06 gC/m**2), 80% of which concentrated above the halocline. Diatoms dominated in phytoplankton abundance (up to 92%) and biomass (up to 90%) that resulted from mass development of two species: Chaetoceros diadema and Leptocylindrus danicus.

Glacial-interglacial record of ODP Site 181-1119 in the Canterbury Bright, Southwest Pacific Ocean

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1119 is located at water depth 395 m near the subtropical front (STF; here represented by the Southland Front), just downslope from the shelf edge of eastern South Island, New Zealand. The upper 86.19 metres composite depth (mcd) of Site 1119 sediment was deposited at an average sedimentation rate of 34 cm/kyr during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1-8 (0-252 ka), and is underlain across a ~25 kyr intra-MIS 8 unconformity by MIS 8.5-11 (277-367 ka) and older sediment deposited at ~14 cm/kyr. A time scale is assigned to Site 1119 using radiocarbon dates for the period back to ~39 ka, and, prior to then, by matching its climatic record with that of the Vostok ice core, which it closely resembles. Four palaeoceanographic proxy measures for surface water masses vary together with the sandy-muddy, glacial-interglacial (G/I) cyclicity at the site. Interglacial intervals are characterised by heavy delta13C, high colour reflectance (a proxy for carbonate content), low Q-ray (a proxy for clay content) and light delta18O; conversely, glacial intervals exhibit light delta13C, low reflectance, high Q-ray and heavy delta18O signatures. Early interglacial intervals are represented by silty clays with 10-105-cm-thick beds of sharp-based (Chondrites-burrowed), shelly, graded, fine sand. The sands are rich in foraminifera, and were deposited distant from the shoreline under the influence of longitudinal flow in relatively deep water. Glacial intervals comprise mostly micaceous silty clay, though with some thin (2-10 cm thick) sands present also at peak cold periods, and contain the cold-water scallop Zygochlamys delicatula. Interglacial sandy intervals are characterised by relatively low sedimentation rates of 5-32 cm/kyr; cold climate intervals MIS 10, 6 and 2 have successively higher sedimentation rates of 45, 69 and 140 cm/kyr. Counter-intuitively,and forced by the bathymetric control of a laterally-moving shoreline during G/I and I/G transitions, the 1119 core records a southeasterly (seaward) movement of the STF during early glacial periods, accompanied by the incursion of subtropical water (STW) above the site, and northwesterly (landward) movement during late glacial and interglacial times, resulting in a dominant influence then of subantarctic surface water (SAW). The history of passage of these different water masses at the site is clearly delineated by their characteristic delta13C values. The intervals of thin, graded sands-muds which occur within MIS 2-3, 6, 7.4 and 10 indicate the onset at times of peak cold of intermittent bottom currents caused by strengthened and expanded frontal flows along the STF, which at such times lay near Site 1119 in close proximity to seaward-encroaching subantarctic waters within the Bounty gyre. In common with other nearby Southern Hemisphere records, the cold period which represents the last glacial maximum lasted between ~23-18 ka at Site 1119, during which time the STF and Subantarctic Front (SAF) probably merged into a single intense frontal zone around the head of the adjacent Bounty Trough.

Calcareous nannoplankton from the Southwest Pacific Ocean

The positions of all cores recovered during Leg 90 in the southwest Pacific are shown within the standard calcareous nannoplankton zonation. The stratigraphic and regional occurrences and preservation of Paleogene calcareous nannoplankton found at Sites 588, 592, and 593 are discussed, and fossil lists are given for selected samples. Data on the Eocene/Oligocene boundary found in Holes 592 and 593 and on the Oligocene/Miocene boundary in Hole 588C are presented. Regional unconformities are noted in Hole 588C, where the upper Eocene to middle Oligocene interval (Zones NP17 to NP23) is missing, and in Hole 592, in which the middle Oligocene to lowest Miocene interval (Zones NP23 to NN1) is not represented.

(Table 1) Chlorophyll concentrations in the Southwest Indian Ocean

Results are examined of determinations of chlorophyll in seawater suspension by fluorescent and spectrophometric methods in the Southwest Indian Ocean near the African coast and in the Seychelles-Mauritius Plateau area in July-November 1977. During the study period near the African coast, the most productive regions, where the weighted average particulate chlorophyll concentration in the photic zone was greater than 0.5 µg/l, were off the Mozambique coast (near the mouth of the Zambezi River and in Delagoa Bay) and also off the coast of Tanzania, near the the Pemba and Zanzibar Islands. The most favorable conditions for growth of phytoplankton, i.e., a combination of distinct water stratification with intense upwelling, were observed in the equatorial divergence zone in the region of the Seychelles and Amirante Islands, where chlorophyll concentration in the layer of the maximum was as high as 3.4 µg/l. This region can be considered as one of the most productive regions of the Indian Ocean.

Composition of Fe-Mn nodules and crusts from the Southwest Pacific

A study of samples dredged within areas of tectonic arc-trench systems (Kermadec and New Hebrides) allows to distinguish three types of ferromanganese mineralization. Relationship between mineral and geochemical specialization is established. A conclusion is made that ferromanganese mineralization is a permanent genetic series of matter supply: from endogenic (hydrothermal solution is a dominant source at deposition of chemical elements from mixture seawater plus hydrothermal solutions) to hydrogenic (seawater is a dominant source at element deposition). This results in geochemical and mineralogical variety of ferromanganese mineralization within this part of the Pacific Ocean.

Site characteristics and ice speed at four sites on Kangiata Nunata Sermia glacier, southwest Greenland

We present subdaily ice flow measurements at four GPS sites between 36 and 72 km from the margin of a marine-terminating Greenland outlet glacier spanning the 2009 melt season. Our data show that >35 km from the margin, seasonal and shorter-time scale ice flow variations are controlled by surface melt-induced changes in subglacial hydrology. Following the onset of melting at each site, ice motion increased above background for up to 2 months with resultant up-glacier migration of both the onset and peak of acceleration. Later in our survey, ice flow at all sites decreased to below background. Multiple 1 to 15 day speedups increased ice motion by up to 40% above background. These events were typically accompanied by uplift and coincided with enhanced surface melt or lake drainage. Our results indicate that the subglacial drainage system evolved through the season with efficient drainage extending to at least 48 km inland during the melt season. While we can explain our observations with reference to evolution of the glacier drainage system, the net effect of the summer speed variations on annual motion is small (~1%). This, in part, is because the speedups are compensated for by slowdowns beneath background associated with the establishment of an efficient subglacial drainage system. In addition, the speedups are less pronounced in comparison to land-terminating systems. Our results reveal similarities between the inland ice flow response of Greenland marine- and land-terminating outlet glaciers.