Faecal pellet production of copepoda collected in water depth up to 30 meters in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in Oktober 2008 during SES_GR2

Mesozooplankton is collected by vertical tows within the Black sea water body mass layer in the NE Aegean, using a WP-2 200 µm net equipped with a large non-filtering cod-end (10 l). Macrozooplankton organisms are removed using a 2000 µm net. A few unsorted animals (approximately 100) are placed inside several glass beaker of 250 ml filled with GF/F or 0.2 µm Nucleopore filtered seawater and with a 100 µm net placed 1 cm above the beaker bottom. Beakers are then placed in an incubator at natural light and maintaining the in situ temperature. After 1 hour pellets are separated from animals and placed in separated flasks and preserved with formalin. Pellets are counted and measured using an inverted microscope. Animals are scanned and counted using an image analysis system. Carbon- Specific faecal pellet production is calculated from a) faecal pellet production, b) individual carbon: Animals are scanned and their body area is measured using an image analysis system. Body volume is then calculated as an ellipsoid using the major and minor axis of an ellipse of same area as the body. Individual carbon is calculated from a carbon- total body volume of organisms (relationship obtained for the Mediterranean Sea by Alcaraz et al. (2003) divided by the total number of individuals scanned and c) faecal pellet carbon: Faecal pellet length and width is measured using an inverted microscope. Faecal pellet volume is calculated from length and width assuming cylindrical shape. Conversion of faecal pellet volume to carbon is done using values obtained in the Mediterranean from: a) faecal pellet density 1,29 g cm**3 (or pg µm**3) from Komar et al. (1981); b) faecal pellet DW/WW=0,23 from Elder and Fowler (1977) and c) faecal pellet C%DW=25,5 Marty et al. (1994).

Chemistry of igneous rocks of DSDP Leg 30 holes

Igneous rock units were encountered at four of the five sites drilled on Leg 30 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. These units uncluded a diabase sill at Site 285, a basalt underlain by a gabbro at 286, two basalt flows at 287, and a basalt flow at 289. Site 285 is located approximately in the center of the South Fiji Basin, Site 286 is adjacent to a filled portion of the New Hebrides Trench, Site 287 is adjacent to a basement high in the Coral Sea Basin, and Sites 288 and 289 are located on the Ontong-Java Plateau north of the Solomon Islands (Figure 1). Figure 2 presents generalized lithologic columns for the igneous rock units found at these sites. When a unit number is given, e.g., Site 286, Unit 4 basalt, this number conforms with the unit number assigned to it in the overall stratigraphic sequence of that hole as defined in the individual Site Reports in this volume. Unless otherwise stated, depths are given as measured from the sediment-igneous rock contact rather than the mudline.

Nd bulk isotopes and 40Ar/39Ar ages of individual minerals from Aurora and Wilkes sub-glacial basin sediments

The Wilkes and Aurora basins are large, low-lying sub-glacial basins that may cause areas of weakness in the overlying East Antarctic ice sheet. Previous work based on ice-rafted debris (IRD) provenance analyses found evidence for massive iceberg discharges from these areas during the late Miocene and Pliocene. Here we characterize the sediments shed from the inferred areas of weakness along this margin (94°E to 165°E) by measuring40Ar/39Ar ages of 292 individual detrital hornblende grains from eight marine sediment core locations off East Antarctica and Nd isotopic compositions of the bulk fine fraction from the same sediments. We further expand the toolbox for Antarctic IRD provenance analyses by exploring the application of 40Ar/39Ar ages of detrital biotites; biotite as an IRD tracer eliminates lithological biases imposed by only analyzing hornblendes and allows for characterization of samples with low IRD concentrations. Our data quadruples the number of detrital 40Ar/39Ar ages from this margin of East Antarctica and leads to the following conclusions: (1) Four main sectors between the Ross Sea and Prydz Bay, separated by ice drainage divides, are distinguishable based upon the combination of 40Ar/39Ar ages of detrital hornblende and biotite grains and the e-Nd of the bulk fine fraction; (2) 40Ar/39Ar biotite ages can be used as a robust provenance tracer for this part of East Antarctica; and (3) sediments shed from the coastal areas of the Aurora and Wilkes sub-glacial basins can be clearly distinguished from one another based upon their isotopic fingerprints.

Compilation of measurements from two interdisciplinary STAR-shaped surveys in the North Sea: The ZISCH - Dataset

The measurements were obtained during two North Sea wide STAR-shaped cruises during summer 1986 and winter 1987, which were performed to investigate the circulation induced transport and biologically induced pollutant transfer within the interdisciplinary research in the project "ZISCH - Zirkulation und Schadstoffumsatz in der Nordsee / Circulation and Contaminant Fluxes in the North Sea (1984-1989)". The inventory presents parameters measured on hydrodynamics, nutrient dynamics, ecosystem dynamics and pollutant dynamics in the pelagic and benthic realm. The research program had the objective of quantifying fluxes of major budgets, especially contaminants in the North Sea. In spring 1986, following the phytoplankton spring bloom, and in late winter 1987, at minimum primary production activity, the North Sea ecosystem was investigated on a station net covering the whole North Sea. The station net was shaped like a star. Sampling started in the centre, followed by the northwest section and moving counter clockwise around the North Sea following the residual currents. By this strategy, a time series was measured in the central North Sea and more synoptic data sets were obtained in the individual sections. Generally advection processes have to be considered when comparing the data from different stations. The entire sampling period lasted for more than six weeks in each cruise. Thus, a time-lag should be considered especially when comparing the data from the eastern and the western part of the central and northern North Sea, where samples were taken at the beginning and at the end of the campaign. The ZISCH investigations represented a qualitatively and quantitatively new approach to North Sea research in several respects. (1) The first simultaneous blanket coverage of all important biological, chemical and physical parameters in the entire North Sea ecosystem; (2) the first simultaneous measurements of major contaminants (metals and organohaline compounds) in the different ecosystem compartments; (3) simultaneous determinations of atmospheric inputs of momentum, energy and matter as important ecosystem boundary conditions; (4) performance of the complex measurement program during two seasons, namely the spring plankton bloom and the subsequent winter period of minimal biological activity; and (5) support of data analysis and interpretation by oceanographic and meteorological numerical models on the same scales.

Distribution of sponge spicule types, Goniothecium odontella and Diploneis cf. bomboides in selected spicule clusters from ODP Leg 112 holes (Table 1)

Clusters of sponge spicules found in Quaternary deep-water sediments at Sites 685 and 688 off Peru represent single individuals of small sponges or fragments of larger sponges. The spicule assemblages constituting these clusters probably represent a few demosponge species of the subclass Tetractinomorpha and order Astrophorida, because triaenes and microscleric euasters, as well as abundant monaxons, are present. As proved by incorporated Neogene diatoms, these spicule clusters are allochthonous. The sponge individuals probably inhabited deeper neritic environments during late Neogene time.

Table 2: Evaporation from individual shoots of antarctic mosses

Experimental observations on pathways of water movement are discussed in relation to anatomical and micromorphological features of five moss species from Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. Significant internal uptake of water was recorded only in the mesic species Polytrichum alpinum (internal=>60% of total) and Bartramia patens (internal=c.30% of total), in experiments in which uptake by cut shoots was compared in individuals with the external pathway blocked, and others with both external and internal pathways open. Internal uptake maintained shoot water content close to full turgor in P. alpinun and at 30% of full tugor in B. patens, whereas water content fell to 12-15% dry wt. in the lithophytes Andreaea gainii and Schistidium antarctici and in the mesic/hydric species Drepanocladus uncinatus, with the external pathway blocked. Where both pathways were open water uptake from below maintained water content at or above full turgor in shoots of all five species. External water uptake by capillarity occurred most rapidly in the lithophytes, and was slower in initially air-dry than in hydrated shoots of the other species. The spreading limbs of leaves in B. patens and P. alpinum are water-repellent, as are the bright green leaves in the apical 1-2 mm of dry shoots of the lithophytes. A central strand of hydroids is well-developed only in B. patens and P. alpinum. These two species have deposits of surface wax on parts of the leaves, and surface wax also occurs on the green apical leaves in some specimens of S. antarcticum and other lithophytes from Signy Island.