First record of Antipathella subpinnata in the Azores

The first record of Antipathella subpinnata ( Ellis and Solander, 1786) for the Azores archipelago is presented based on bottom longline by-catch analysis and ROV seafloor surveys, extending the species western-most boundary of distribution in the NE Atlantic. The species was determined using classic taxonomy and molecular analysis targeting nuclear DNA. Although maximum spine height on Azorean colonies branchlets is slightly smaller than that reported from Mediterranean colonies (0.12 vs 0.16 mm), the analysis of partial 18S rDNA, complete ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2 and partial 28S rDNA suggests that the Azorean and Mediterranean specimens belong to the same species. Video surveys of an A. subpinnata garden detected near Pico Island are used to provide the first in situ description of the species habitat in the region and the first detailed description of a black coral garden in the NE Atlantic. With A. subpinnata being the only coral found between 150 and 196 m depths, this is the deepest black coral garden recorded in the NE Atlantic and the first one to be monospecific. The species exhibited a maximum density of 2.64 colonies/m**2 and occurred across a surface area estimated at 67,333 m**2, yielding a local population estimate of 50,500 colonies.

Ice-rafted debris record in the Prydz Bay

Ice-rafted debris mass accumulation rates (IRD MAR) at a drill site on the Antarctic continental margin are investigated to evaluate the linkages between East Antarctic Ice Sheet extent and Southern Ocean temperatures in the early to mid-Pliocene. ODP Site 1165 is within 400 km of the Antarctic coastline and in the direct pathway of icebergs released by the Amery Ice Shelf. The Amery Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf in East Antarctica and it buttresses the Lambert Glacier drainage system, which accounts for 14% of the outflow from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. IRD MAR were low during peak Southern Ocean warming in the early Pliocene. After a brief precursor, a tenfold increase in IRD MAR at 3.3 Ma marks the termination of the early Pliocene ice sheet minimum, coincident with the M2 glacial. For the mid-Pliocene, a strong correlation exists between the high-amplitude signal in the LR04 benthic stack and IRD MAR, suggesting linkages between East Antarctic ice extent, global ice volume and deep-water temperatures. The IRD record at Site 1165 provides evidence of greater sensitivity of the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system to Southern Ocean warming than is currently predicted by ice sheet models, which may relate to uncertainties in the understanding of ocean heat uptake, poleward heat transport and ice sheet-ocean interactions.

Benthic foraminiferal fauna and isotope record in Holocene sediments of the northwest Indian Ocean

Historically, the Holocene has been considered an interval of relatively stable climate. However, recent studies from the northern Arabian Sea (Netherlands Indian Ocean Program 905) suggested high-amplitude climate shifts in the early and middle Holocene based on faunal and benthic isotopic proxy records. We examined benthic foraminiferal faunal and stable isotopic data from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 723 and total organic carbon data from ODP Site 724, Oman Margin (808 and 593 m water depths, respectively). At Site 723 the mid-Holocene shift in d18O values of infaunal benthic species Uvigerina peregrina (1.4 per mil) is 3 times larger than that of epifaunal benthic species Cibicides kullenbergi recorded at Site NIOP 905 off Somalia. However, none of the five other benthic species we measured at Hole 723A exhibits such a shift in d18O. We speculate that the late Holocene d18O decrease in U. peregrina represents species-specific changes in ecological habitat or food preference in response to changes in surface and deep ocean circulation. While the stable isotopic data do not appear to indicate a middle Holocene climatic shift, our total organic carbon and benthic faunal assemblage data do indicate that the early Holocene deep Arabian Sea was influenced by increased ventilation perhaps by North Atlantic Deep Water and/or Circumpolar Deep Water incursions into the Indian Ocean, leading to remineralization of organic matter and a relatively weak early Holocene oxygen minimum zone in the northwest Arabian Sea in spite of strong summer monsoon circulation.

Mid-Pleistocene benthic foraminiferal record in the Southwest Pacific

Benthic foraminiferal faunas from three bathyal sequences provide a proxy record of oceanographic changes through the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT) on either side of the Subtropical Front (STF), east of New Zealand. Canonical correspondence analyses show that factors related to water depth, latitude and climate cycles were more significant than oceanographic factors in determining changes in faunal assemblage composition over the last 1 Ma. Even so, mid-Pleistocene faunal changes are recognizable and can be linked to inferred palaeoceanographic causes. North of the largely stationary STF the faunas were less variable than to the south, perhaps reflecting the less extreme glacial-interglacial fluctuations in the overlying Subtropical Surface Water. Prior to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 21 and after MIS 15, the northern faunas had fairly constant composition, but during most of the MPT faunal composition fluctuated in response to climate-related food-supply variations. Faunal changes through the MPT suggest increasing food supply and decreasing dissolved bottom oxygen. South of the STF, beneath Subantarctic Surface Water, mid-Pleistocene faunas exhibited strong glacial-interglacial fluctuations, inferred to be due to higher interglacial nutrient supply and lower oxygen levels. The most dramatic faunal change in the south occurred at the end of the MPT (MIS 17- 12). with an acme of Abditodentrix pseudothalmanni, possibly reflecting higher carbon flux and lower bottom oxygen. This study suggests that the mid-Pleistocene decline and extinction of a group of elongate, cylindrical deep-sea foraminifera may have been related to decreased bottom oxygen concentrations as aresult of slower deep-water currents.

Pollen record in bones from Barsbek, northern Germany

Als im Frühsommer 1949 die ersten Pferdeschädel und Hundeknochen als Streufunde aus dem Barsbeker Moor bekannt wurden, war es wünschenswert, mit Hilfe der Pollenanalyse eine zeitliche Zuordnung zu versuchen. Auf diese Weise konnte unter Umständen wieder ein prähistorischer Horizont pollenanalytisch fixiert werden, da u.a. auch datierbare Keramikreste aus der römischen Kaiserzeit gefunden wurden. Die Analyse des aus der Stirnhöhle zweier Pferdeschädel entnommenen Materials ergab die beiden obersten in der Tabelle verzeichneten Pollenspektren. Bei der Untersuchung fiel auf, daß das Einschlußmaterial der Funde stark feinsandig und etwas tonig war. Auch der Finder gab an, daß die Knochen dem Sand, bis zu dem der Torfabbau niedergetrieben wurde, unmittelbar auflagen. Eine Bohrung, die am Westende des Torfstiches niedergebracht wurde, zeigte ebenfalls diese Zwischenschicht als deutliche Sandeinschwemmung. Diese wird noch einmal von grobdetritischen Flachwasser-Ablagerungen unterlagert.

Holocene millenial-scale productivity record in the Mediterranean Sea

The calcareous nannofossil assemblages of Ocean Drilling Program Hole 963D from the central Mediterranean Sea have been investigated to document oceanographic changes in surface waters. The studied site is located in an area sensitive to large-scale atmospheric and climatic systems and to high- and low-latitude climate connection. It is characterized by a high sedimentation rate (the achieved mean sampling resolution is <70 years) that allowed the Sicily Channel environmental changes to be examined in great detail over the last 12 ka BP. We focused on the species Florisphaera profunda that lives in the lower photic zone. Its distribution pattern shows repeated abundance fluctuations of about 10-15%. Such variations could be related to different primary production levels, given that the study of the distribution of this species on the Sicily Channel seafloor demonstrates the significant correlation to productivity changes as provided by satellite imagery. Productivity variations were quantitatively estimated and were interpreted on the basis of the relocation of the nutricline within the photic zone, led by the dynamics of the summer thermocline. Productivity changes were compared with oceanographic, atmospheric, and cosmogenic nuclide proxies. The good match with Holocene master records, as with ice-rafted detritus in the subpolar North Atlantic, and the near-1500-year periodicity suggest that the Sicily Channel environment responded to worldwide climate anomalies. Enhanced Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation, which has been reported as one of the most important forcing mechanisms for Holocene coolings in previous Mediterranean studies, had a remarkable impact on the water column dynamics of the Sicily Channel.

Pollen record in the area of Niederrheinische Bucht, Germany

Die Niederrheinische Bucht, ein altes tektonisches Senkungsgebiet, dessen Ausdehnung durch die Orte Aachen, Bonn, Duüsseldorf und Duisburg bestimmt ist, bildete während des jüngeren Tertiärs eine Meeresbucht am Südrande des Nordseebeckens. Noch zu Beginn des Pleistocäns erstreckte sich die Nordsee bis in den Raum von Nijmegen, und im Pliocän verlief die Kuüste etwa auf der Linie Maastricht-Kleve. Im Mittelmiocän reichte die Nordsee bis in die nördliche Niederrheinische Bucht. Marines Oberoligocän mit reicher Fauna findet sich noch in der Gegend von Köln. In Verbindung mit den marinen Transgressionen kam es in den inneren Teilen der Niederrheinischen Bucht zu mehr oder weniger ausgedehnten Vermoorungen, die zur Bildung von Braunkohlenflözen führten, unter denen das miocäne Hauptbraunkohlenflöz nordwestlich von Köln eine Mächtigkeit von mehr als 90 m erreicht. Nach NW spaltet sich das Hauptflöz in drei Teilflöze auf, die von oben nach unten als Flöz Garzweiler, Flöz Frimmersdorf und Flöz Morken bezeichnet werden. Diese Flöze können, wie neue Untersuchungen ergaben, eindeutig mit dem marinen Mittelmiocän in Verbindung gebracht werden.