Carbon/oxygen ratios, clay composition and gas-hydrate saturation of ODP Leg 164 sites

The analyses of downhole log data from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) boreholes on the Blake Ridge at Sites 994, 995, and 997 indicate that the Schlumberger geochemical logging tool (GLT) may yield useful gas hydrate reservoir data. In neutron spectroscopy downhole logging, each element has a characteristic gamma ray that is emitted from a given neutron-element interaction. Specific elements can be identified by their characteristic gamma-ray signature, with the intensity of emission related to the atomic elemental concentration. By combining elemental yields from neutron spectroscopy logs, reservoir parameters including porosities, lithologies, formation fluid salinities, and hydrocarbon saturations (including gas hydrate) can be calculated. Carbon and oxygen elemental data from the GLT was used to determine gas hydrate saturations at all three sites (Sites 994, 995, and 997) drilled on the Blake Ridge during Leg 164. Detailed analyses of the carbon and oxygen content of various sediments and formation fluids were used to construct specialized carbon/oxygen ratio (COR) fan charts for a series of hypothetical gas hydrate accumulations. For more complex geologic systems, a modified version of the standard three-component COR hydrocarbon saturation equation was developed and used to calculate gas hydrate saturations on the Blake Ridge. The COR-calculated gas hydrate saturations (ranging from about 2% to 14% bulk volume gas hydrate) from the Blake Ridge compare favorably to the gas hydrate saturations derived from electrical resistivity log measurements.

Alkenone analyses of sediment cores from the western Arabian Sea

Records of total organic carbon (TOC) and C37 alkenones were used as indicators for past primary productivity in the western and eastern Arabian Sea. Data from GeoB 3005, an open ocean site in the western Arabian Sea upwelling area, are compared with similar records of GeoB 3007 from the Owen Ridge, Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 723 from the continental margin off Oman and MD 900963 from the eastern Arabian Sea. TOC/C37 alkenone records together with other proxies used to reconstruct upwelling intensity, indicate periods of high productivity in tune with precessional forcing all over the Arabian Sea. Based on their phase-relationship to variations in boreal summer insolation they can be divided into three groups. In the western Arabian Sea the precession-related phasing is different between productivity proxies and those for summer monsoon wind strength and upwelling intensity. TOC and C37 alkenone records from the western Arabian Sea lag the other monsoonal indicators by about 5 kyr, but lead productivity indicators from the eastern Arabian Sea by 3 kyr. Based on the differences in phase relationships associated with the precessional cycling between productivity and monsoonal proxies in the western Arabian Sea it is proposed that the TOC/C37 alkenone signal in the western Arabian Sea document a combined signal of moderate SW monsoon winds and of strengthened and prolonged NE monsoon winds. In the eastern Arabian Sea the phasing hints to coincidence between maximum productivity and stronger NE monsoon winds associated with precession-related maxima in ice volume. In contrast, variations in paleoproductivity at site GeoB 3007 from the Owen Ridge indicate productivity maxima during glacial substages 8.2, 6.2 and 2.2, whereas precessionrelated changes are of only minor importance at this location. The results of frequency analyses confirm that productivity at site GeoB 3007 responds predominantly to glacialinterglacial climate changes, while site GeoB 3005 from the open ocean upwelling region near the Gulf of Aden is dominated by precessional insolation. A possible explanation for the pattern revealed at the Owen Ridge is the periodic NW-SE displacement of the Findlater Jet axis, which separates the region of open ocean upwelling to the northwest from downwelling to the southeast ofthe jet. The carbon isotopes of planktic foraminifera reflect nutrient related d13C variations of dissolved inorganic carbon. The difference between the planktic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber (w), living in the upper 50 m of the water column, and the deeper Iiving Neogloboquadrina dutertrei (Delta d13Cr-d) of core GeoB 3005 displays nutrient variations in the upwelling area near the Gulf of Aden. The results of cross-spectral analyses between Deltad13Cr-d of GeoB 3005 and proxies for SW monsoon intensity indicate, too, a dissociation of productivity from monsoonal upwelling intensity. Instead, productivity depends mainly on the availability of nutrients, while upwelling intensity of sub-surface water masses seems to be of only secondary importance. Additionally, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were reconstructed using the unsaturation ratio of C37 alkenones. Alkenone SSTs reflect annual mean temperatures rather than explicitly the season of upwelling. This is evident from alkenone SSTs in a transect of surface sediments extending from the inner Gulf of Aden into the western Arabian Sea. The alkenone-derived SST records of GeoB 3005 from the open ocean upwelling region near the Gulf of Aden and GeoB 3007 from the Owen Ridge reveal similar variations with high SSTs during interglacial and low SSTs during glacial periods. The glacial marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 6 remains relatively warm and was not as cold as MIS 3 to 4 and 8 according to the alkenone SST. Similar variation-patterns were reconstructed in the coastal upwelling area off Oman for ODP Site 723 as weIl as in the eastern Arabian Sea for MD 900963, where upwelling is not as pronounced as in the western Arabian Sea. Spectral-analyses indicate that SST changes are in good agreement with the modulation of low-latitude precessional insolation changes by eccentricity. However, they do not show the pronounced cydicity in the precessional frequency band, which is characteristic for variations in paleoproductivity. Although the overall variation pattern is very similar, a dose comparison between the western (GeoB 3005) and the eastern Arabian Sea (MD 900963) shows larger differences between both sites during cold intervals than during periods of warm SSTs. This is attributed to a more effective cooling of surface waters in the western Arabian Sea by prolonged NE monsoon winds during times of expanded Northern Hemisphere ice-sheets, thereby lowering the annual mean SSTs stronger than in the eastern Arabian Sea.

Physical properties measured on sediment cores from high latitudes

This collection of 359 data sets represents raw data of physical properties measurements on Polarstern sediment cores from both polar oceans, sampled and measured between 1985 and 1995.

Investigations on sediment coring site PS1823 in the Riiser-Larsen Sea, Southern Ocean

Physical and sedimentological investigations were carried out on a 14 m long gravity core and a 0.5 m long box core from 4440 m water depth off Queen Maud Land, East-Antarctica. Strongly bioturbated hemipelagic muds of predominantly terrigenous origin and a very small biogenic part build up the 'Normal-Facies'. Several sandy to silty layers are inserted in the 'Normal-Facies'. These layers are seperated by lithology, structure and the investigated parameters of this study and are interpreted as turbidites. The source area for the turbidity currents is supposed to be at the uppermost continental margin, close to the shelf break and there is evidenee for this gravity transport within the erosive Ritscher-Canyon, which extends close to the core position. The distribution of biogenic components indicates an age of 1.3 million years or more, with an average sedimentation rate of about 1 cm/1000 years. Early diagenetic proeesses caused water loss by compaction, errosion and dissolution of biogenic components and precipitation and recrystallization of manganese micronodules. Cyclic fluctuations of the sediment-parameters within the 'Normal-Facies' enable the distinction of a 'Glazial'- and an 'Interglazial'-Facies. The 'Glazial'-Facies reflects glacial sedimentary conditions and shows a dark olive gray colour, high susceptibility, low silt/clay-ratios, only a few biogenic components and the regular occurence of interrelated turbidite layers. In contrast, the 'Interglazial'-Facies is dominated by a light olive or olive-brown colour, low susceptibility, high silt/clay-ratios and an increased number of biogenic components. This facies corresponds to interglacial conditions. Three main processes are supposed to have been responsible for the observed facies changes: (1) the bottom water mass circulation, (2) the gravity transport by turbidity currents and (3) the biogenic surface production. These processes are related to the quaternary climatic changes. The extension of the ice shelves directed the gravity transport to the deep sea and the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water, which in turn influenced the silt/clay-ratios in the sediment record. Fluctuations in sea ice coverage controlled the biogenic surface production.

Palliser Rockslide cosmogenic 36Cl exposure ages (raw data) and erosion effect on the cosmogenic

This paper presents the results of a combined study, using cosmogenic 36Cl exposure dating and terrestrial digital photogrammetry, of the Palliser Rockslide located in the southeastern Canadian Rocky Mountains. This site is particularly well-suited to demonstrate how this multi-disciplinary approach can be used to differentiate distinct rocksliding events, estimate their volume, and establish their chronology and recurrence interval. Observations suggest that rocksliding has been ongoing since the late Pleistocene deglaciation. Two major rockslide events have been dated at 10.0 ± 1.2 kyr and 7.7 ± 0.8 kyr before present, with failure volumes of 40 Mm3 and 8 Mm3, respectively. The results have important implications concerning our understanding of the temporal distribution of paraglacial rockslides and rock avalanches; they provide a better understanding of the volumes and failure mechanisms of recurrent failure events; and they represent the first absolute ages of a prehistoric high magnitude event in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Average nutrient concentration, and growth characteristics of bacteria during USCGC Healy cruises in 2002 and 2004

Standing stocks and production rates for phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria were examined during four expeditions in the western Arctic Ocean (Chukchi Sea and Canada Basin) in the spring and summer of 2002 and 2004. Rates of primary production (PP) and bacterial production (BP) were higher in the summer than in spring and in shelf waters than in the basin. Most surprisingly, PP was 3-fold higher in 2004 than in 2002; ice-corrected rates were 1581 and 458 mg C/m**2/d respectively, for the entire region. The difference between years was mainly due to low ice coverage in the summer of 2004. The spatial and temporal variation in PP led to comparable variation in BP. Although temperature explained as much variability in BP as did PP or phytoplankton biomass, there was no relationship between temperature and bacterial growth rates above about 0°C. The average ratio of BP to PP was 0.06 and 0.79 when ice-corrected PP rates were greater than and less than 100 mg C/m**2/d, respectively; the overall average was 0.34. Bacteria accounted for a highly variable fraction of total respiration, from 3% to over 60% with a mean of 25%. Likewise, the fraction of PP consumed by bacterial respiration, when calculated from growth efficiency (average of 6.9%) and BP estimates, varied greatly over time and space (7% to >500%). The apparent uncoupling between respiration and PP has several implications for carbon export and storage in the western Arctic Ocean.