Ether lipids in deep sea and swamp sediments

Methanogen ether lipids have been quantified in sediments from a Florida swamp and the Atlantic ocean. Swamp cores containing acyclic and monocyclic isopranyl ethers are clearly differentiated from deep sea sediments which also contain bicyclic compounds. A concentration maximum near the bottom of the sulfate reducing zone in deep sea sediments may reflect a biogeochemical system in which methanogenesis and sulfate reduction are coupled by the process of methane oxidation. Lipid diagenesis is evident in the deep sea sediments. Species zonation, possibly caused by oxygen sensitivity, is detected in the relative lipid abundances in swamp sediments.

Tab. 1: Rates of advance of the frontal push-moraines of 19 lobes in front of an approx. 4.5 km long margin of the Kötlujökull

In the last years masses of ice, about 5 km long, have been protruding from the lowest part of an advancing glacier margin of the Kötlujökull in Southern Iceland. In the summer of 1983, they appeared as sediment-covered lobes, 10-60 m long, bordering the glacier rnargin like agarland. 1 to 3 push-rnoraines without ice core, rnostly sickle-shaped, occured first in the frontal parts of the lobes: behind thern came several ice-cored moraines with heights of up to several metres. The active ice in front of the precipice of the glacier is called the "glacier-foot" in this paper. The digging out of 9 lobes and the measuring of the advance of 19 lobes showed that in most cases this glacierfoot had split up at its distal end into several plate- or stem-shaped pieces of ice which were situated one upon the other, separated by moraine deposits and proceeding irregularly into the foreland at the rate of several mm/h, The sometimes different rate of advance in the same lobe and different rates of advanee in adjoining lobes (some being entirely inactive) point to a type of rnovement which is independent of the general advance of the glacier. Research in the winter of 1983/84 showed less activity in 3 examined lobes, but the activity had not ceased. The advancement of the lower parts of the glacier-foot into and across the sands of the foreland implies the following genesis of pushmoraines: Shoving off a plate of sand, folding it and pushing it over the foreland at average rates of up to 7,2 mm/h, according to the investigations in thc summer of 1983. At a certain stage of the folding process, new folds begin to develop in front of the old, and the old folds are shifted onto the backslope of thc folds in front of them until they are completely unired. In this way, "püe-moraines" arise, which become higher and higher. They include two or more folds declining towards the glacier. Systems of small moraines presumably of the same genesis occur on old moraine areas in front of the Kötlujökull. The possible cause of formation of a glacier-foot is discussed, and the moraines of the Kötlujökull are compared with certain pleistocene push-moraines.

Heat flow in the Black and Mediterranean seas

Results of heat-flow measurements in the western Black Sea and within the African-Sicilian region of the Mediterranean Sea are presented. New data reveal a well-defined correlation with the deep-seated geologic structure of the regions examined. A heat-flow anomaly within the Pantelleria graben, in the authors' opinion, is a consequence of connective heat transfer along channels of disjunctive faults.

Seawater Nd and Pb isotopic record in central Pacific and Caribbean sediments

The shoaling and final closure of the Central American Seaway (CAS) resulted in a major change of the global ocean circulation and has been suggested as an essential driver for strengthening of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The exact timing of CAS closure is key to interpreting its importance. Here we present a reconstruction of deep and intermediate water Nd and Pb isotope compositions obtained from fossil fish teeth and the authigenic coatings of planktonic foraminifera in the eastern equatorial Pacific (Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1241) and the Caribbean (ODP Sites 998, 999, and 1000) covering the final stages of CAS closure between 5.6 and 2.2 Ma. The data for the Pacific site indicate no significant Atlantic/Caribbean influence over this entire period. The Caribbean sites show a continuous trend to less radiogenic Nd isotope compositions during the Pliocene, consistent with an enhancement of Upper North Atlantic Deep Water (UNADW) inflow and a strengthening of the AMOC. Superimposed onto this long-term trend, shorter-term changes of intermediate Caribbean Nd isotope signatures approached more UNADW-like values during intervals when published reconstructions of seawater salinity suggested complete closure of the CAS. The data imply that significant deep water exchange with the Pacific essentially stopped by 7 Ma and that shallow exchange, which still occurred at least periodically until approximately 2.5 Ma, may have been linked to the strength of the AMOC but did not have any direct effect on the intermediate and deep Caribbean Nd isotope signatures through mixing with Pacific waters.

Changes in the vegetation and trade winds in equatorial Northwest Africa 140,000-70,000 yr B.P., as deduced from two marine pollen records

The deep-sea cores M 16415-2 and M 16416-2 at about 9°N off Sierra Leone were analysed palynologically for the time interval 140,000-70,000 yr B.P. Results were presented in absolute (pollen concentration and pollen influx) and relative diagrams (pollen percentage). In a previous study it was evidenced that in northwest Africa pollen is mainly transported to the Atlantic by wind, so that the efficiency of aeolian pollen transport (pollen flux) could be used to evaluate changes in the intensity of the northeast trade winds. The glacial episodes (represented by the oxygen isotope stages 6 and 4) are characterized by strong northeast trade winds, whereas the last interglacial (stage 5) is characterized by weak trade winds. The pollen influx diagram shows that the intensity of the trade winds increased slightly during the relatively cool intervals of stage 5 (viz. 5.4 and 5.2). Tropical forest had maximally expanded around 124,000 yr B.P. (stage 5.5), around 98,000 yr B.P. (transition of stage 5.3 to 5.2), and around 70,000 yr B.P. (first part of stage 4): an increasing delay of the response of tropical forest to global intervals with maximum temperature is apparent during the last interglacial. As tropical forests need continuous humidity, the record of tropical forest monitors changes in climatic humidity south of the Sahara. During the last interglacial, the southern boundary of the Sahara shifted only little: expansions and contractions of the tropical forest area are correlated with contra-oscillations of the grass-dominated savanna zone. Great latitudinal shifts of the desert savanna boundary, on the contrary, occurred during the penultimate glacial interglacial transition (around 128,000 yr B.P.) to the north, and during the last interglacial-glacial transition (around 65,000 yr B.P.) to the south.

Distribution of planktic foraminifera in surface sediments and sedimentation rates of sediment cores from the Ibero-Moroccan continental rise and slope

Cores from the Atlantic Ibero-Moroccan continental rise and slope contain fine-grained Late Pleistocene and Holocene sediments. These young sediments cover the continental margin in large lensformed litho- and biostratigraphically well-defined units. The total sedimentation rates range from 4 cm/ 1000 yrs. to 27 cm/1000 yrs. off Portugal and from 6 cm/1000 yrs. to 14 cm/1000 yrs. off Morocco. Only a small proportion of these sediments usually consists of sand-sized particles (>0.063 mm) which are mostly dominated by foraminifera. Both planktonic and benthic foraminifera are much more abundant in Late Pleistocene and Holocene samples from the upper slope in comparison to those from the deeper slope and from the abyssal plains. Total sedimentation rates during cool and warm climatic stages are rather similar for both groups of foraminifera. For example, in Late Holocene sediments 7 x 10**3 benthic and 201 x 10**3 planktonic foraminifera (fraction 0.63 -0.20 mm) per 100 cm**2 and 1000 yrs. are preserved in the Tagus, 10-19 X 10**3 benthic and about 1.3 X 10**6 planktonic foraminifera are preserved in the Seine abyssal plain sediments. Values from the upper slope sediments are higher for benthic foraminifera by a factor of 60 off Portugal and 60 to 70 off Morocco. The values for planktonic ones differ by factors of 6-12 and 6 respectively. These numbers seem to reflect differences in production and preservation. Production rates of planktonic foraminifera generally seem to be somewhat higher during Holocene than during Late Pleistocene, and the rates of benthic foraminifera appear rather higher during Late Pleistocene than during Holocene.