Physiography of the Ampère Seamount in the Horseshoe Seamount chain off Gibraltar

The Ampère Seamount, 600 km west of Gibraltar, is one of nine inactive volcanoes along a bent chain, the so called Horseshoe Seamounts. All of them ascend from an abyssal plain of 4000 to 4800 m depth up to a few hundred meters below the sea surface, except two, which nearly reach the surface: the Ampère massif on the southern flank of the group and the summit of the Gorringe bank in the north. The horseshoe, serrated like a crown, opens towards Gibraltar and stands in the way of its outflow. These seamounts are part of the Azores-Gibraltar structure, which marks the boundary between two major tectonic plates: the Eurasian and the African plate. The submarine volcanism which formed the Horseshoe Seamounts belongs to the sea floor spread area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The maximum activity was between 17 and 10 Million years ago and terminated thereafter. The volcanoes consist of basalts and tuffs. Most of their flanks and the abyssal plain around are covered by sediments of micro-organic origin. These sediments, in particular their partial absence on the upper flanks are a circumstantial proof and a kind of diary of the initial rise and subsequent subsidence of about 6oo m of these seamounts. The horizons of erosion where the basalt substrate is laid bare indicate the rise above sea level in the past. Since the Ampère summit is 60 m deep today, this volcano must have been an island 500 m high. The stratification of the sediments covering the surrounding abyssal plain reveals discrete events of downslope suspension flows, called turbidites, separated by tens of thousands of years and perhaps induced by changes in climate conditions. The Ampère sea mount of 4800 m height and a base diameter of 50 km exceeds the size of the Mont Blanc massif. Its southern and eastern flanks are steep with basalts cropping out, in parts with nearly vertical walls of some hundred meters. The west and north sides consist of terraces and plateaus covered with sediments at 140 m, 400 m, 2000 m, and 3500 m. The Horseshoe Seamount area is also remarkable as a kind of disturbed crossing of three major oceanic flow systems at different depths and directions with forced upwelling and partial mixing of the water masses. Most prominent is the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) with its higher temperature and salinity between 900 to 1500 m depth. It enters the horseshoe unimpaired from the open eastern side but penetrates the seamount chain through its valleys on the west, thereafter diverging and crossing the entire Atlantic Ocean. Below the MOW is the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) between 2000 m to 3000 m depth flowing southward and finally there is the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) flowing northward below the two other systems.

Methane and hydrogen sulfide in porewater of sediment cores from the upwelling area off Namibia

Porewater concentrations of sulfate, methane, and other relevant constituents were determined on four sediment cores from the high productivity upwelling area off Namibia which were recovered from the continental slope at water depths of 1300 and 2000 m. At all four stations a distinct sulfate-methane transition zone was observed several meters below the seafloor in which both sulfate and methane are consumed. Nutrient porewater concentration profiles do not show gradient slope changes at the depths of the transition zones. Flux calculations carried out on the basis of the determined porewater profiles revealed that anaerobic methane oxidation accounts for 100% of deep sulfate reduction within the sulfate-methane transition zone and consumes the total net diffusive sulfate flux. A significant contribution of organic carbon oxidation to the reduction of sulfate at these depths could, therefore, be excluded. We state that porewater profiles of sulfate with constant gradients above the transition zones are indicative for anaerobic methane oxidation controlling sulfate reduction.

Geochemistry of continental slope and deep sea basin sediments off Uruguay

Pore water and solid phase from surface sediments of the continental slope off Uruguay and from the Argentine Basin (southwestern Atlantic) were investigated geochemically to ascribe characteristic early diagenetic reactions of iron and manganese. Solid-phase iron speciation was determined by extractions as well as by Mössbauer spectroscopy. Both methods showed good agreement (<6% deviation) for total-Fe speciation. The proportion of easy reducible iron oxyhydroxide relative to total-Fe oxides decreased from the continental slope to the deep sea which is attributed to an increase in crystallinity during transport as well as to a general decrease of iron mobilization. The product of iron reoxidation is Fe oxyhydroxide which made up less than 5% of total Fe. In addition to this fraction, a proportion of smectite bound iron was found to be redox reactive. This fraction made up to 10% of total Fe in sediments of the Argentine Basin and was quantitatively extracted by 1 N HCl. The redox reactive Fe(+II) fraction of smectite was almost completely reoxidized within 24 h under air atmosphere and may therefore considerably contribute to iron redox cycling if bioturbation occurs. In the case of the slope sediments we found concurrent iron and manganese release to pore water. It is not clear whether this is caused by dissimilatory iron and manganese reduction at the same depth or dissimilatory iron reduction alone inducing Mn(+IV) reduction by (abiotic) reaction with released Fe2+. The Argentine Basin sediment showed a significant manganese solid-phase enrichment above the denitrification depth despite the absence of a distinct pore-water gradient of Mn. This implies a recent termination of manganese mobilization and thus a non-steady-state situation with respect to sedimentation or to organic carbon burial rate.

Stable isotope ratios of foraminifera from the continental shelf off Troms, Northern Norway

A stable oxygen and carbon isotope stratigraphy is established for a Late Weichselian/Holocene glaciomarine/marine seguence in Andfjorden and Malangsdjupet on the continental shelf off Troms, Northern Norway. The stratigraphy demonstrates that the global signals, Termination I B and possibly also I A (upper parts), are present and radiocarbon date to 10.3-9.7 kyr B.P. and >14-13.5 kyr B.P., respectively. A temperature increase of 5°-6°C and possibly a small salinity increase occurred during Term. I. A near-glacial environment between 13 and 14 kyr B.P. was characterized by poorly ventilated bottom waters followed by a meltwater pulse at circa 13 kyr B.P. During the beginning intrusion of Atlantic Water between 13 and 10 kyr B.P., the bottom water was characterized by somewhat fluctuating temperatures and salinities. Temperatures close to those of the present were established around 9.7 kyr B.P. and seem to have been rather stable since.