Sand fraction, organic carbon and nitrogen data, and calculated marine and terrestrial organic carbon fractions of surface sediments in the western Barents Sea

There is generally a lack of knowledge on how marine organic carbon accumulation is linked to vertical export and primary productivity patterns. In this study, a multi-proxy geochemical and organic-sedimentological approach is coupled with organic facies modelling focusing on regional calculations of carbon cycling and carbon burial on the western Barents Shelf between northern Scandinavia and Svalbard. OF-Mod 3D, an organic facies modelling software tool, is used to reconstruct the marine and terrestrial organic carbon fractions and to make inferences about marine primary productivity in this region. The model is calibrated with an extensive sample dataset and reproduces the present-day regional distribution of the organic carbon fractions well. Based on this new organic facies model, we present regional carbon mass accumulation rate calculations for the western Barents Sea. The calibration dataset includes location and water depth, sand fraction, organic carbon and nitrogen data and calculated marine and terrestrial organic carbon fractions.

Shallow water marine sediment bacterial community shifts along a natural CO2 gradient in the Mediterranean Sea Off vulcano, Italy

The effects of increasing atmospheric CO(2) on ocean ecosystems are a major environmental concern, as rapid shoaling of the carbonate saturation horizon is exposing vast areas of marine sediments to corrosive waters worldwide. Natural CO(2) gradients off Vulcano, Italy, have revealed profound ecosystem changes along rocky shore habitats as carbonate saturation levels decrease, but no investigations have yet been made of the sedimentary habitat. Here, we sampled the upper 2 cm of volcanic sand in three zones, ambient (median pCO(2) 419 µatm, minimum Omega (arag) 3.77), moderately CO(2)-enriched (median pCO(2) 592 µatm, minimum Omega (arag) 2.96), and highly CO(2)-enriched (median pCO(2) 1611 µatm, minimum Omega (arag) 0.35). We tested the hypothesis that increasing levels of seawater pCO(2) would cause significant shifts in sediment bacterial community composition, as shown recently in epilithic biofilms at the study site. In this study, 454 pyrosequencing of the V1 to V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene revealed a shift in community composition with increasing pCO(2). The relative abundances of most of the dominant genera were unaffected by the pCO(2) gradient, although there were significant differences for some 5 % of the genera present (viz. Georgenia, Lutibacter, Photobacterium, Acinetobacter, and Paenibacillus), and Shannon Diversity was greatest in sediments subject to long-term acidification (>100 years). Overall, this supports the view that globally increased ocean pCO(2) will be associated with changes in sediment bacterial community composition but that most of these organisms are resilient. However, further work is required to assess whether these results apply to other types of coastal sediments and whether the changes in relative abundance of bacterial taxa that we observed can significantly alter the biogeochemical functions of marine sediments.

Tritium clouds environmental impact in air into the Western Mediterranean Basin evaluation

The paper considers short-term releases of tritium (mainly but not only tritium hydride (HT)) to the atmosphere from a potential ITER-like fusion reactor located in the Mediterranean Basin and explores if the short range legal exposure limits are exceeded (both locally and downwind). For this, a coupled Lagrangian ECMWF/FLEXPART model has been used to follow real time releases of tritium. This tool was analyzed for nominal tritium operational conditions under selected incidental conditions to determine resultant local and Western Mediterranean effects, together with hourly observations of wind, to provide a short-range approximation of tritium cloud behavior. Since our results cannot be compared with radiological station measurements of tritium in air, we use the NORMTRI Gaussian model. We demonstrate an overestimation of the sequence of tritium concentrations in the atmosphere, close to the reactor, estimated with this model when compared with ECMWF/FLEXPART results. A Gaussian “mesoscale” qualification tool has been used to validate the ECMWF/FLEXPART for winter 2010/spring 2011 with a database of the HT plumes. It is considered that NORMTRI allows evaluation of tritium-in-air-plume patterns and its contribution to doses.

Vegetation and fire history since the last glacial maximum in an inland area of the western Mediterranean Basin (Northern Iberian Plateau, NW Spain)

We reconstructed vegetation responses to climate oscillations, fire and human activities since the last glacial maximum in inland NW Iberia, where previous paleoecological research is scarce. Extremely sparse and open vegetation composed of steppic grasslands and heathlands with scattered pioneer trees suggests very cold and dry conditions during the Oldest Dryas, unsuitable for tree survival in the surroundings of the study site. Slight woodland expansion during the Bolling/Allerod was interrupted by the Younger Dryas cooling. Pinewoods dominated for most of the early Holocene, when a marked increase in fire activity occurred. Deciduous trees expanded later reaching their maximum representation during the mid-Holocene. Enhanced fire activity and the presence of coprophilous fungi around 6400-6000 cal yr BP suggest an early human occupation around the site. However, extensive deforestation only started at 4500 calyrBP, when fire was used to clear the tree canopy. Final replacement of woodlands with heathlands, grasslands and cereal crops occurred from 2700 cal yr BP onwards due to land-use intensification. Our paleoecological record can help efforts aimed at restoring the natural vegetation by indicating which communities were dominant at the onset of heavy human impact, thus promoting the recovery of currently rare oak and alder stands.