(Table 1) Abundance of selected diatom taxa in the mid-Pliocene of ODP Hole 167-1022A

Diatom assemblages from the middle part of the Pliocene (3.2-2.5 Ma) were investigated from Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1016, 1021, and 1022 in an effort to infer paleotemperature fluctuations off California. Diatoms are very sparse in virtually all of the samples that were examined from Sites 1016 and 1021. This is presumably because these sites were seaward (west) of the coastal zone of diatom productivity during the middle part of the Pliocene. Diatoms are relatively common in the vast majority of samples that were examined from Hole 1022A. Diatom assemblages are dominated by Chaetoceros spores (a coastal upwelling component), the cold-water (subarctic) taxa Neodenticula kamtschatica and its descendant Neodenticula koizumii, and Thalassionema nitzschioides, a temperate taxon that is typically found at the seaward edge of coastal upwelling zones. Paleotemperature interpretations, however, are not possible at this time because of the scarcity of comparative modern core-top data.

Micropaleontology and stable isotope record of ODP Hole 178-1098C

Detailed study of four Holocene sediment intervals from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1098 (Palmer Deep, Antarctic Peninsula) reveals that in situ dissolution of calcareous foraminifers in the core repository has significantly altered and in some cases eliminated calcareous foraminifers. Despite dissolution, the foraminifer and supporting diatom data show that the most open-ocean and reduced sea-ice conditions occurred in the early Holocene. The influence of Circumpolar Deep Water was greatest during the early Holocene but continued to be important throughout the Holocene. An increase in sea-ice proximal diatoms at 3500 cal. BP documents an expansion in the amount of persistent sea ice. The inferred increase in sea ice corresponds with an overall increase in magnetic susceptibility values. Benthic foraminifers are present in all samples from the Palmer Deep, including the middle Holocene pervasively laminated sediments with low magnetic susceptibility values. The consistent presence of mobile epifaunal benthic foraminifers in the laminated sediments demonstrates that the laminations do not represent anoxic conditions. The uniform composition of the agglutinated foraminifer fauna throughout the late Holocene suggests that the Palmer Deep did not experience bottom-water-mass changes associated with the alternating deposition of bioturbated or laminated sediments.

Biogeochemistry of the Eastern Weddell Gyre

The Southern Ocean (SO) plays a key role in modulating atmospheric CO2 via physical and biological processes. However, over much of the SO, biological activity is iron-limited. New in situ data from the Antarctic zone south of Africa in a region centered at -20°E - 25°E reveal a previously overlooked region of high primary production, comparable in size to the northwest African upwelling region. Here, sea ice together with enclosed icebergs is channeled by prevailing winds to the eastern boundary of the Weddell Gyre, where a sharp transition to warmer waters causes melting. This cumulative melting provides a steady source of iron, fuelling an intense phytoplankton bloom that is not fully captured by monthly satellite production estimates. These findings imply that future changes in sea-ice cover and dynamics could have a significant effect on carbon sequestration in the SO.