Natural remanent magnetization (NRM) from ODP Site 1263 covering magnetochron C20r and C21n and high-resolution bulk carbon isotope (d13C) records from Sites 702 and 1263

To explore cause and consequences of past climate change, very accurate age models such as those provided by the astronomical timescale (ATS) are needed. Beyond 40 million years the accuracy of the ATS critically depends on the correctness of orbital models and radioisotopic dating techniques. Discrepancies in the age dating of sedimentary successions and the lack of suitable records spanning the middle Eocene have prevented development of a continuous astronomically calibrated geological timescale for the entire Cenozoic Era. We now solve this problem by constructing an independent astrochronological stratigraphy based on Earth's stable 405 kyr eccentricity cycle between 41 and 48 million years ago (Ma) with new data from deep-sea sedimentary sequences in the South Atlantic Ocean. This new link completes the Paleogene astronomical timescale and confirms the intercalibration of radioisotopic and astronomical dating methods back through the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 55.930 Ma) and the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (66.022 Ma). Coupling of the Paleogene 405 kyr cyclostratigraphic frameworks across the middle Eocene further paves the way for extending the ATS into the Mesozoic.

Neogene benthic foraminifers from the Kerguelen Plateau

Benthic foraminifers were studied quantitatively in 120 lower Miocene through upper Pleistocene samples from Ocean Drilling Program Site 747 (Central Kerguelen Plateau) and Sites 748 and 751 (Southern Kerguelen Plateau). These sites are situated on an 450-km-long, north-south transect between 54°49'S and 58°26'S at present water depths between 1696 and 1288 m. Principal component analysis on the census data of the most abundant 92 taxa helped to identify 8 benthic foraminifer assemblages. These benthic foraminifer assemblages were compared with Holocene faunas from southern high latitudes to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. Middle lower Miocene sediments are characterized by a Uvigerina hispidocostata assemblage, indicating high paleoproductivity and/or not well-ventilated bottom water. From late early to late middle Miocene time, the Southern Kerguelen Plateau was bathed by a young, well-oxygenated, and carbonate-aggressive water mass, as indicated by a Nuttallides umbonifer-dominated benthic foraminifer assemblage. During late middle Miocene time, an Astrononion pusillum assemblage took over for only about 1 m.y., probably indicating the first injection of an aged water mass, similar to the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), into a developing circumpolar current system. Around the middle to late Miocene boundary, the fauna again became dominated by N. umbonifer. After the last appearance of N. umbonifer, reestablishment of the A. pusillum assemblage from the early late through at least the late late Miocene, indicated the established influence of a NADW-like water mass. The latest Miocene through middle late Pliocene benthic foraminifer assemblage was characterized by Epistominella exigua and strong carbonate dissolution, indicating very high biosiliceous production, and this in turn may indicate the formation and paleoposition of an Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone. From the late late Pliocene, a Trifarina angulosa assemblage (indicative today of sandy substrate and vigorous bottom currents) strongly dominated the fauna up to the late Pleistocene, when Bulimina aculeata (indicative today of calm sedimentation with high organic matter fluxes) became an important and partly dominating constituent of the fauna. This is interpreted as the faunal response to the decreased winnowing force (bottom current velocities) of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current during periods of global climatic amelioration and raised sea level.

Persistent organic pollutants, d13C and d15N in zooplankton, fish and bird species in Kongsfjorden according to season

Seasonality in biomagnification of persistent organic pollutants (POPs; polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorinated pesticides, and brominated flame retardants) in Arctic marine pelagic food webs was investigated in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, Norway. Trophic magnification factors (TMFs; average factor change in concentration between two trophic levels) were used to measure food web biomagnification in biota in May, July, and October 2007. Pelagic zooplankton (seven species), fish (five species), and seabirds (two species) were included in the study. For most POP compounds, highest TMFs were found in July and lowest were in May. Seasonally changing TMFs were a result of seasonally changing POP concentrations and the d15N-derived trophic positions of the species included in the food web. These seasonal differences in TMFs were independent of inclusion/exclusion of organisms based on physiology (i.e., warm- versus cold-blooded organisms) in the food web. The higher TMFs in July, when the food web consisted of a higher degree of boreal species, suggest that future warming of the Arctic and increased invasion by boreal species can result in increased food web magnification. Knowledge of the seasonal variation in POP biomagnification is a prerequisite for understanding changes in POP biomagnification caused by climate change.

Paleogene benthic foraminifera from the Kerguelen Plateau

Benthic foraminifers were studied from lower Paleocene through upper Oligocene sections from Sites 747 and 748. The composition of the benthic foraminifer species suggests a middle to lower bathyal (600-2000 m) paleodepth during the Neogene and a probable upper abyssal (2000-3000 m) paleodepth during the Paleocene at Site 747. Site 748 is thought to have remained at middle to lower bathyal paleodepths throughout the Cenozoic. Principal component analysis distinguished four major benthic foraminifer assemblages: (1) a Paleocene Stensioina beccariiformis assemblage at Sites 747 and 748, (2) an early Eocene Nuttallides truempyi assemblage at lower bathyal Site 747, (3) an early through middle Eocene Stilostomella-Lenticulina assemblage at middle bathyal Site 748, and (4) a latest Eocene through Oligocene Cibicidoides-Astrononion pusillum assemblage at both sites. Major benthic foraminifer changes, as indicated by the principal components and first and last appearances, occurred at or close to the Paleocene/Eocene boundary, and in the late Eocene close to the middle/late Eocene boundary.

Stable isotope composition and ice rafted debris in early Late Pliocene sediments from Maud Rise, South Atlantic

We have conducted an integrated study of ice-rafted debris (IRD) and oxygen isotopes (measured on Cibicides, Globigerina bulloides, and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, using identical samples). We used samples from the early Late Pliocene Gauss Chron from ODP Site 114-704 on the Meteor Rise in the subantarctic South Atlantic. During the early Gauss Chron, the oxygen isotopic ratios are generally up to 0.5?-0.6? less than their respective Holocene values. The lowest values in this record can accommodate a warming of about 2.5°C or a sea-level rise of about 50 m, but not both, and probably result from some warming and a small reduction in global ice volume. Starting with isotope stage MG2 [ 3.23 Ma on the Berggren et al. ( 1985) time scale; 3.38 on the Shackleton et al. ( 1995b) time scale] oxygen-isotopic values generally increase (and oscillate about a Holocene mean). The first significant IRD appears at the same time. There is a subsequent increase in IRD amounts upsection. In order to reach the site, this material must have been transported by large, tabular icebergs derived from Antarctic ice shelves or ice tongues, similar to occasional, large modern icebergs. This combined record suggests strongly that the Antarctic ice sheet was essentially intact; some warming at the drill site is indicated, but not a major reduction in ice-volume on Antarctica.

Sulphate and d34S in pore waters and d13C, d18O and mineral composition of carbonate nodules from ODP Leg 188 sites

Carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of authigenic carbonate nodules or layers reflect the diagenetic conditions at the time of nodule growth. The shallowest samples of carbonate nodules and dissolved inorganic carbon of pore water samples beneath the sulfate reduction zone (0-160 meters below seafloor [mbsf]) at Site 1165 have extremely negative d13C values (-50 per mil and -62 per mil, respectively). These negative d13C values indicate nodule formation in association with anaerobic methane oxidation coupled with sulfate reduction. The 34S of residual sulfate at Site 1165 shows only minor 34S enrichment (+6 per mil), even with complete sulfate reduction. This small degree of apparent 34S enrichment is due to extreme "open-system" sulfate reduction, with sulfate abundantly resupplied by diffusion from overlying seawater. Ten calcite nodules from Site 1165 contain minor quartz and feldspar and have d13C values ranging from -49.7 per mil to -8.2 per mil. The nodules with the most negative d13C values currently are at depths of 273 to 350 mbsf and must have precipitated from carbonate largely derived from subsurface anaerobic methane oxidation. The processes of sulfate reduction coupled with methane oxidation in sediments of Hole 1165B are indicated by characteristic concentration and isotopic (d34S and d13C) profiles of dissolved sulfate and bicarbonate. Three siderite nodules from Site 1166 contain feldspar and mica and one has significant carbonate-apatite. The siderite has d13C values ranging from -15.3 per mil to -7.6 per mil. These siderite nodules probably represent early diagenetic carbonate precipitation during microbial methanogenesis.

Composition and age of bottom sediments from the Southern Ocean

Geomorphology, geology, stratigraphy, lithology and geochemistry of bottom sediments in the South Ocean are under consideration. Regularities of distribution of iron-manganese nodules, features of occurrence of ore components in the nodules, nodule abundance in bottom sediments have been studied.

Lithology, stage, organic carbon, d13C, hydrocarbons and fatty acids at DSDP Hole 93-603B

Organic-matter-rich Upper Cretaceous claystones from DSDP Hole 603B, lower continental rise, had organic carbon values ranging from 1.7 to 13.7%, C/N ratios from 32 to 72, and d13C values from -23.5 to -27.1 per mil. Lipid class maxima for the unbound alkanes (C29 and C31), unbound fatty acids (C28 and C30), and bound fatty acids (C24, C26 , and C28) and the strong odd-carbon and even-carbon preferences, respectively, suggested that the organic matter in these sediments was partially the result of input from continental plant waxes. Transport of the organic-matter-rich sediments to the deep sea from the near-shore environment probably resulted from turbiditic flow under oxygen-stressed conditions.