Composition of sediments samples spanning the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary at ODP Site 207-1259

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 207, on the Demerara Rise in the western tropical North Atlantic, recovered multiple Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary sections containing an ejecta layer. Sedimentological, geochemical, and paleontological changes across the boundary closely match patterns expected for a mass extinction caused by a single impact. A normally graded, ~2-cm-thick bed of spherules that is interpreted as a primary air-fall deposit of impact ejecta occurs between sediments of the highest Cretaceous Plummerita hantkeninoides foraminiferal zone and the lowest Paleogene P0 foraminiferal zone. There are no other spherule layers in the section. In addition to extinction of Cretaceous taxa, foraminiferal abundance drops from abundant to rare across the boundary. Ir concentrations reach a maximum of ~1.5 ppb at the top of the spherule bed, and the Ir anomaly is associated with enrichment in other siderophile elements. We attribute the unusually well-preserved and relatively simple stratigraphy to the fact that Demerara Rise was close enough (~4500 km) to the Chicxulub impact site to receive ~2 cm of ejecta, yet was far enough away (and perhaps sheltered by the curve of northern South America) to have been relatively unaffected by impact-induced waves.

Table 3.1 Content and composition of air in an ice profile from Camp III i Greenland

The air trapped in freshly formed ice gives information concerning the ice formation processes as weH as concerning severa,l environmental parameters at the time of ice formation. Air arnount, air composition, and the size and form of bubbles may change with time. Possible processes responsible for such changes are discussed. In very cold ice air content and air composition remain almost unchanged. Samples of ancient atmospheric air are therefore very weH preserved in cold ice. In temperate ice changes of the air amount and air composition depend on the intergranular water fiow through the glacier. This waterfiow can be estimated by measuring air amount and air composition in ice sampIes.

Radon 222 and Radium 226 measured on water bottle samples during POLARSTERN cruise ARK-XXVI/3 (TransArc)

Air-sea gas exchange plays a key role in the cycling of greenhouse and other biogeochemically important gases. Although air-sea gas transfer is expected to change as a consequence of the rapid decline in summer Arctic sea ice cover, little is known about the effect of sea ice cover on gas exchange fluxes, especially in the marginal ice zone. During the Polarstern expedition ARK-XXVI/3 (TransArc, August/September 2011) to the central Arctic Ocean, we compared 222Rn/226Ra ratios in the upper 50 m of 14 ice-covered and 4 ice-free stations. At three of the ice-free stations, we find 222Rn-based gas transfer coefficients in good agreement with expectation based on published relationships between gas transfer and wind speed over open water when accounting for wind history from wind reanalysis data. We hypothesize that the low gas transfer rate at the fourth station results from reduced fetch due to the proximity of the ice edge, or lateral exchange across the front at the ice edge by restratification. No significant radon deficit could be observed at the ice-covered stations. At these stations, the average gas transfer velocity was less than 0.1 m/d (97.5% confidence), compared to 0.5-2.2 m/d expected for open water. Our results show that air-sea gas exchange in an ice-covered ocean is reduced by at least an order of magnitude compared to open water. In contrast to previous studies, we show that in partially ice-covered regions, gas exchange is lower than expected based on a linear scaling to percent ice cover.