Speciation of metals in bottom sediments from the south Kara Sea and Ob and Yenisei estuarine zones

Speciation of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Cd was studied in 52 samples of bottom sediments collected during Cruise 49 of the R/V "Dmitry Mendeleev" to the estuaries of the Ob and Yenisei rivers and to the southwest Kara Sea. Immediately after sampling the samples were subjected to on-board consecutive extraction to separate metal species according to their modes of occurrence in the sediments: (1) adsorbed, (2) amorphous Fe-Mn hydroxides and related metals, (3) organic + sulfide, and (4) residual, or lithogenic. Atomic absorption spectroscopy of the extracts was carried out at a stationary laboratory. Distribution of Fe, Zn, Cu, Co, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Cd species is characterized by predominance of lithogenic or geochemically inert modes (70-95% of bulk contents), in which the metals are bound in terrigenous and clastic mineral particles and organic detritus. About half of total Mn amount and 15-30% of Zn and Cu are contained in geochemically mobile modes. Spatiotemporal variations in proportions of the metal species in the surface layer of sediments along sub-meridional sections and through vertical sections of bottom sediment cores testify that Mn and, to a lesser extent, Cu are the most sensitive to changes in sedimentation environment. The role of their geochemically mobile species notably increases under reducing conditions.

Chemical composition of rocks and minerals from the ophiolite complex in the Hunter Fracture Zone

A collection of dredge samples from the Hunter Fracture Zone includes holocrystalline massive and cumulose basic and ultrabasic rocks and volcanites of the ophiolite complex: from basalts to rhyolites. The ultrabasic rocks are largely serpentinized harzburgites and lherzolites; their relict mineralogy is typical of peridotite considered to be the refractory residue of partial melting of the mantle. Cumulate textured ultramafic rocks probably are related to the cumulate gabbro and granodiorite rather than to the residual mantle material. The gabbroic rocks are dominantly cumulate textured Pl-Opx-Cpx±Ol gabbronorite and Pl-Cpx±Ol gabbros; the mineral features of these rocks are the result of their crystallization at moderate pressure (in a moderate level magma chamber). The massive Pl-Cpx±Ol gabbros are less common. Green and brown-green Ca-amphibole has partially or totally replaced the clinopyroxene in many samples. There is an overlap in mineral chemistry between the cumulate rocks and the Opx-Cpx-Pl volcanic rocks and boninites. It is interpreted as an indication that the cumulate rocks were co-genetic with Opx-Cpx-Pl volcanic rocks and that they both constitute remnants of an island arc volcanic-plutonic series. The petrologic evidence indicates that ophiolite gabbroic rocks were derived from an island-arc rather than from a mid-ocean ridge.

Chemistry of gabbroic rocks from ODP Hole 118-735B

Gabbroic rocks and their late differentiates recovered at Site 735 represent 500 m of oceanic layer 3. The original cooling of a mid-ocean ridge magma chamber, its penetration by ductile shear zones and late intrusives, and the subsequent penetration of seawater through a network of cracks and into highly permeable magmatic hydrofracture horizons are recorded in the metamorphic stratigraphy of the core. Ductile shear zones are characterized by extensive dynamic recrystallization of primary phases, beginning in the granulite facies and continuing into the lower amphibolite facies. Increasing availability of seawater during dynamic recrystallization is reflected in depletions in 18O, increasing abundance of amphibole of variable composition and metamorphic plagioclase of intermediate composition, and more complete coronitic or pseudomorphous static replacement of magmatic minerals. Downcore correlation of synkinematic assemblages, bulk-rock oxygen isotopic compositions, and vein abundance suggest that seawater is introduced into the crust by way of small cracks and veins that mark the end of the ductile phase of deformation. This "deformation-enhanced" metamorphism dominates the upper 180 and the lower 100 m of the core. In the lower 300 m of the core, mineral assemblages of greenschist and zeolite facies are abundant within or adjacent to brecciated zones. Leucocratic veins found in these zones and adjacent host rock contain diopside, sodic plagioclase, epidote, chlorite, analcime, thomsonite, natrolite, albite, quartz, actinolite, sphene, brookite, and sulfides. The presence of zircon, Cl-apatite, sodic plagioclase, sulfides, and diopside in leucocratic veins having local magmatic textures suggests that some of the veins originated from late magmas or from hydrothermal fluids exsolved from such magmas that were subsequently replaced by (seawater-derived) hydrothermal assemblages. The frequent association of these late magmatic intrusive rocks within the brecciated zones suggests that they are both artifacts of magmatic hydrofracture. Such catastrophic fracture and hydrothermal circulation could produce episodic venting of hydrothermal fluids as well as the incorporation of a magmatically derived hydrothermal component. The enhanced permeability of the brecciated zones produced lower temperature assemblages because of larger volumes of seawater that penetrated the crust. The last fractures were sealed either by these hydrothermal minerals or by late carbonate-smectite veins, resulting in the observed low permeability of the core.

Chlorophyll and true-color maps of sediments from the intertidal zones in Winyah Bay, South Carolina, USA and List, Sylt, Germany

We used hyperspectral imaging to study short-term effects of bioturbation by lugworms (Arenicola marina) on the surficial biomass of microphytobenthos (MPB) in permeable marine sediments. Within days to weeks after the addition of a lugworm to a homogenized and recomposed sediment, the average surficial MPB biomass and its spatial heterogeneity were, respectively, 150 - 250% and 280% higher than in sediments without lugworms. The surficial sediment area impacted by a single medium-sized lugworm (~4 g wet weight) over this time-scale was at least 340 cm**2. While sediment reworking was the primary cause of the increased spatial heterogeneity, experiments with lugworm-mimics together with modeling showed that bioadvective porewater transport from depth to the sediment surface, as induced by the lugworm ventilating its burrow, was the main cause of the increased surficial MPB biomass. Although direct measurements of nutrient fluxes are lacking, our present data show that enhanced advective supply of nutrients from deeper sediment layers induced by faunal ventilation is an important mechanism that fuels high primary productivity at the surface of permeable sediments even though these systems are generally characterized by low standing stocks of nutrients and organic material.