Organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts analysis and statistical analysis of 116 surface sediment samples from the eastern Indian Ocean

Assemblages of organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) from 116 marine surface samples have been analysed to assess the relationship between the spatial distribution of dinocysts and modern local environmental conditions [e.g. sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface salinity (SSS), productivity] in the eastern Indian Ocean. Results from the percentage analysis and statistical methods such as multivariate ordination analysis and end-member modelling, indicate the existence of three distinct environmental and oceanographic regions in the study area. Region 1 is located in western and eastern Indonesia and controlled by high SSTs and a low nutrient content of the surface waters. The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) region (Region 2) is dominated by heterotrophic dinocyst species reflecting the region's high productivity. Region 3 is encompassing the area offshore north-west and west Australia which is characterised by the water masses of the Leeuwin Current, a saline and nutrient depleted southward current featuring energetic eddies.

Hydrate abundances at the high-flux Batumi seep area in the southeastern Black Sea

Submarine gas hydrates are a major global reservoir of the potent greenhouse gas methane. Since current assessments of worldwide hydrate-bound carbon vary by one order of magnitude, new technical efforts are required for improved and accurate hydrate quantifications. Here we present hydrate abundances determined for surface sediments at the high-flux Batumi seep area in the southeastern Black Sea at 840 m water depth using state-of-the art autoclave technology. Pressure sediment cores of up to 2.65 m in length were recovered with an autoclave piston corer backed by conventional gravity cores. Quantitative core degassing yielded volumetric gas/bulk sediment ratios of up to 20.3 proving hydrate presence. The cores represented late glacial to Holocene hemipelagic sediments with the shallowest hydrates found at 90 cmbsf. Calculated methane concentrations in the different cores surpassed methane equilibrium concentrations in the two lowermost lithological Black Sea units sampled. The results indicated hydrate fractions of 5.2% of pore volume in the sapropelic Unit 2 and mean values of 21% pore volume in the lacustrine Unit 3. We calculate that the studied area of ~ 0.5 km**2 currently contains about 11.3 kt of methane bound in shallow hydrates. Episodic detachment and rafting of such hydrates is suggested by a rugged seafloor topography along with variable thicknesses in lithologies. We propose that sealing by hydrate precipitation in coarse-grained deposits and gas accumulation beneath induces detachment of hydrate/sediment chunks. Floating hydrates will rapidly transport methane into shallower waters and potentially to the sea-atmosphere boundary. In contrast, persistent in situ dissociation of shallow hydrates appears unlikely in the near future as deep water warming by about 1.6 °C and/or decrease in hydrostatic pressure corresponding to a sea level drop of about 130 m would be required. Because hydrate detachment should be primarily controlled by internal factors in this area and in similar hydrated settings, it serves as source of methane in shallow waters and the atmosphere which is mainly decoupled from external forcing.

In-situ sediment temperature and pore water chloride concentration at pockmarks of the Nigerian continental margin

A joint research expedition between the French IFREMER and the German MARUM was conducted in 2011 using the R/V 'Pourquoi pas?' to study gas hydrate distributions in a pockmark field (1141-1199 m below sea surface) at the continental margin of Nigeria. The seafloor drill rig MeBo of MARUM was used to recover sediments as deep as 56.74 m below seafloor. The presence of gas hydrates in specific core sections was deduced from temperature anomalies recorded during continuous records of infrared thermal scanning and anomalies in pore water chloride concentrations. In situ sediment temperature measurements showed elevated geothermal gradients of up to 258 °C/km in the center of the so-called pockmark A which is up to 4.6 times higher than that in the background sediment (72 °C/km). The gas hydrate distribution and thermal regime in the pockmark are largely controlled by the intensity, periodicity and direction of fluid flow. The joint interaction between fluid flow, gas hydrate formation and dissolution, and the thermal regime governs pockmark formation and evolution on the Nigerian continental margin.

XRD mineralogy of sediments from the Greenland east coast

Quantitative X-Ray Diffraction (qXRD) analysis of the <2 mm sediment fraction from surface (sea floor) samples, and marine sediment cores that span the last 10-12 cal ka BP, are used to describe spatial and temporal variations in non-clay mineral compositions for an area between Kangerlussuaq Trough and Scoresby Sund (?67°-70°N), East Greenland. Bedrock consists primarily of an early Tertiary alkaline complex with high weight% of pyroxene and plagioclase. Farther inland and to the north, the bedrock is dominantly felsic with a high fraction of quartz and potassium feldspars. Principal Component (PC) analysis of the non-clay sediment compositions indicates the importance of quartz and pyroxene as compositional end members, with an abrupt shift from quartz and k-feldspar dominated sediments north of Scoresby Sund to sediments rich in pyroxene and plagioclase feldspars offshore from the early Tertiary basaltic outcrop. Coarse (<2 mm or <1 mm) ice-rafted sediments are largely absent from the trough sediments between ?8 and 5 cal ka BP, but then increase in the last 4 cal ka BP. Compositional unmixing of the sediments in Grivel Basin and Kangerlussuaq Trough indicate the dominance of local over long distance sediment sources, with pulses of sediment from tidewater glaciers in Kangerlussuaq and Nansen fjords reaching the inner shelf during the Neoglaciation. The change in IRD is more dramatic in the sediment grain-size proxies than in the quartz wt%. Forty to seventy percent of the variance in the quartz records from either side of Denmark Strait is explained by low frequency trends, but the data from the Grivel Basin, East Greenland, are distinctly different, with an approximate 2500 yr periodicity.

Foraminiferal assemblage and statistical analysis of surface sediment samples from the Golfe d'Arguin, Mauritania

With the growing pressure of eutrophication in tropical regions, the Mauritian shelf provides a natural situation to understand the variability in mesotrophic assemblages. Site-specific dynamics occur throughout the 1200 m depth gradient. The shallow assemblages divide into three types of warm-water mesotrophic foraminiferal assemblages, which is not only a consequence of high primary productivity restricting light to the benthos but due to low pore water oxygenation, shelf geomorphology, and sediment partitioning. In the intermediate depth (approx. 500 m), the increase in foraminiferal diversity is due to the cold-water coral habitat providing a greater range of micro niches. Planktonic species characterise the lower bathyal zone, which emphasizes the reduced benthic carbonate production at depth. Although, due to the strong hydrodynamics within the Golf, planktonic species occur in notable abundances through out the whole depth gradient. Overall, this study can easily be compared to other tropical marine settings investigating the long-term effects of tropical eutrophication and the biogeographic distribution of carbonate producing organisms.