Chemical composition of nodules and crusts from the Sea of Japan

Iron-manganese mineralization on seamounts and rises in the Sea of Japan is represented by iron-manganese nodules and crusts. Their chemical composition (major elements and more than 30 trace elements) was studied by a series of analytical methods. According to geochemical comparisons hydrogenic, hydrothermal, and biogenic materials have participated in creation of this mineralization. Contents of Ba and Li, as well as Mo/Pb and Sb/As ratios can be used as indicators of genesis of iron-manganese nodules and crusts along with composition of the rare earth elements.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from DEEPSONDE Expedition stations near the East Pacific Rise

Basalts from the base of a small seamount on ~1.5-m.y.-old crust west of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 9°N are intermediate in chemical and isotopic composition between light-rare-earth-element-depleted tholeiite (normal midocean ridge basalt (MORB)) and alkali basalt. Like oceanic alkali basalt, these rocks contain significantly more Ba, K, P, Sr, Ti, U, and Zr than normal MORB. Since the absolute abundances of these elements are still well below alkali basalt levels, the label transitional is adopted for these basalts. A series of fractionated MORB also occurs in this area, northwest of the Siqueiros Fracture Zone - Transform Fault. The normal tholeiites are either olivine-plagioclase or plagioclase-clinopyroxene phyric, while the transitional basalts are spinel-olivine phyric. Fractional crystallization quantitatively accounts for the chemical variability of the tholeiitic series but not for the transitional basalts. The tholeiitic series probably evolved in a crustal magma chamber ~4 km below the crest of the East Pacific Rise. 143Nd/144Nd and other chemical data suggest that the large-ion-lithophile-enriched transitional basalts may represent a hybrid of normal MORB and Siqueiros area alkali basalt. Incompatible element plots of K, P, and U indicate possible derivation of the transitional basalts by magma mixing. Magma mixing of unfractionated normal MORB and Siqueiros alkali basalt has been quantified. Derivation of the transitional basalts from a 1:1 mixture is supported by all available chemical data, including Cr, Cu, Nd, Ni, Sm, Sr, U, and V. This magma mixing apparently occurred at ?<~30 km depth within a few tens of kilometers from the EPR axis. These Siqueiros area EPR transitional basalts are compared with Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) transitional basalts from the Iceland and Azores areas. The Siqueiros area basalts reflect a profound chemical and isotopic heterogeneity in the upper mantle, similar to that found along the MAR. Unlike the MAR, the EPR shows no evidence of plumelike bulges and associated large-scale outpourings of nonnormal MORB resulting from these mantle heterogeneities. Siqueiros alkali basalt and MORB, as well as transitional basalt and MORB, were recovered from single dredge hauls. Such close spatial and temporal proximity of the inferred mantle sources places severe constraints on geometric and physicochemical upper mantle models.

Foraminifera in sediment cores of the Lomonosov Ridge and Morris Jesup Rise

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning of sediment cores from the Lomonosov Ridge and the Morris Jesup Rise reveals a distinct pattern of Ca intensity peaks through Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1 to 7. Downcore of MIS 7, the Ca signal is more irregular and near the detection limit. Virtually all major peaks in Ca coincide with a high abundance of calcareous microfossils; this is particularly conspicuous in the cores from the central Arctic Ocean. However, the recorded Ca signal is generally caused by a combination of biogenic and detrital carbonate, and in areas influenced by input from the Canadian Arctic, detrital carbonates may effectively mask the foraminiferal carbonates. Despite this, there is a strong correlation between XRF-detected Ca content and foraminiferal abundance. We propose that in the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland a common palaeoceanographic mechanism is controlling Ca-rich ice-rafted debris (IRD) and foraminiferal abundance. Previous studies have shown that glacial periods are characterized by foraminfer-barren sediments. This implies that the Ca-rich IRD intervals with abundant foraminifera were most likely deposited during interglacial periods when glaciers left in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago were still active and delivered a large amount of icebergs. At the same time, conditions were favourable for planktic foraminifera, resulting in a strong covariance between these proxies. Therefore, we suggest that the XRF scanner's capability to efficiently map Ca concentrations in sediment cores makes it possible to systematically examine large numbers of cores from different regions to investigate the palaeoceanographic reasons for the calcareous microfossils' spatial and temporal variability.

Geochemistry and stable isotope record of black shales and inoceramids from the Demerara Rise

The bulk rock geochemistry and inoceramid isotopic composition from Cenomanian to Santonian, finely laminated, organic-rich black shales, recovered during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 207 on Demerara Rise (western tropical North Atlantic), suggest persistent anoxic (free H2S) conditions within the sediments and short-term variations within a narrow range of anoxic to episodically dysoxic bottom waters over a ~15 Ma time interval. In addition to being organic-rich, the 50-90 m thick sections examined exhibit substantial bulk rock enrichments of Si, P, Ba, Cu, Mo, Ni, and Zn relative to World Average Shale. These observations point to high organic burial fluxes, likely driven by high primary production rates, which led to the establishment of intensely sulfidic pore waters and possibly bottom waters, as well as to the enrichments of Cr, Mo, U, and V in the sediments. At the same time, the irregular presence of benthic inoceramids and foraminifera in this facies demonstrates that the benthic environment could not have been continuously anoxic. The d13C and d15N values of the inoceramid shell organics provide no evidence of chemosymbiosis and are consistent with pelagic rain as being a significant food source. Demerara Rise inoceramids also exhibit well-defined, regularly spaced growth lines that are tracked by d13C and d18O variations in shell carbonate that cannot be simply explained by diagenesis. Instead, productivity variations in surface waters may have paced the growth of the shells during brief oxygenation events suitable for benthic inoceramid settlement. These inferences imply tight benthopelagic coupling and more dynamic benthic conditions than generally portrayed during black shale deposition. By invoking different temporal scales for geochemical and paleontological data, this study resolves recent contradictory conclusions (e.g., sulfidic sedimentary conditions versus dysoxic to suboxic benthic waters) drawn from studies of either sediment geochemistry or fossil distributions alone on Demerara Rise. This variability may be relevant for discussions of black shales in general.

Grain size distribution analysis of prominent beds on Southern Central Chilean seamounts

Gravity cores obtained from isolated seamounts located within, and rising up to 300 m from the sediment-filled Peru-Chile Trench off Southern Central Chile (36°S-39°S) contain numerous turbidite layers which are much coarser than the hemipelagic background sedimentation. The mineralogical composition of some of the beds indicates a mixed origin from various source terrains while the faunal assemblage of benthic foraminifera in one of the turbidite layers shows a mixed origin from upper shelfal to middle-lower bathyal depths which could indicate a multi-source origin and therefore indicate an earthquake triggering of the causing turbidity currents. The bathymetric setting and the grain size distribution of the sampled layers, together with swath echosounder and sediment echosounder data which monitor the distribution of turbidites on the elevated Nazca Plate allow some estimates on the flow direction, flow velocity and height of the causing turbidity currents. We discuss two alternative models of deposition, both of which imply high (175-450 m) turbidity currents and we suggest a channelized transport process as the general mode of turbidite deposition. Whether these turbidites are suspension fallout products of thick turbiditic flows or bedload deposits from sheet-like turbidity currents overwhelming elevated structures cannot be decided upon using our sedimentological data, but the specific morphology of the seamounts rather argues for the first option. Oxygen isotope stratigraphy of one of the cores indicates that the turbiditic sequences were deposited during the last Glacial period and during the following transition period and turbiditic deposition stopped during the Holocene. This climatic coupling seems to be dominant, while the occurrence of megathrust earthquakes provides a trigger mechanism. This seismic triggering takes effect only during times of very high sediment supply to the shelf and slope.

(Table 2) Age determination of sediments from lake basins near Polyarny, Russia

A relative sea-level curve for the Holocene is constructed for Polyarny on the Kola Peninsula, northwest Russia. The curve is based on 18 radiocarbon dates of isolation contacts, identified from lithological and diatomological criteria, in nine lake basins situated between 12 and 57 m a.s.l. Most of the lakes show a conformable, regressive I-II-III (marine-transitional-freshwater) facies succession, indicating a postglacial history comprising an early (10,000-9000 radiocarbon years BP) phase of rapid, glacio-isostatically induced emergence (~5 cm/year) and a later phase (after 7000 years BP,) having a moderate rate of emergence (<0.5 cm/year). Three lakes together record a phase of very low rate of emergence or slight sea-level rise at a level of ~27 m a.s.l., between 8500 and 7000 years BP, which correlates with the regional Tapes transgression. Pollen stratigraphy in the highest lake shows that the area was deglaciated before the Younger Dryas and that previously reconstructed Younger Dryas glacier margins along the north Kola coast lie too far north

Geochemistry of Fe-Mn crusts at seamounts in the Northwest Pacific

Hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts were dredged from four seamounts in the western Pacific, OSM7, OSM2, Lomilik, and Lemkein, aligned in a NW-SE direction parallel to Pacific Plate movement. The crusts consist of four well-defined layers with distinct textural and geochemical properties. The topmost layer 1 is relatively enriched in Mn, Co, Ni, and Mo compared to the underlying layer 2, which is relatively enriched in Al, Ti, K, and Rb and Cu, Zn, and excess Ba. Textural and geochemical properties of layer 2 suggest growth conditions under high biogenic and detrital flux. Such conditions are met in the equatorial Pacific (i.e., between the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and equatorial high-productivity zone). Layer 2 likely formed when each seamount was beneath the equatorial Pacific along its back track path. On the other hand, layer 1 probably started to grow after seamounts moved northwest from the ITCZ. This interpretation is consistent with the thickness of layer 1 across the four crusts, which increases to the northwest. Ages of the layer 1-layer 2 boundary in each crust, a potential proxy for northern margin of the ITCZ, also increase to the northwest at 17, 11, 8, and 5 Ma for OSM7, OSM2, Lomilik, and Lemkein, respectively. Assuming Pacific Plate motion of 0.3°/Myr, the seamounts were located at 12°N, 11°N, 9°N, and 8°N at the time of boundary formation. This result suggests that the north edge of the ITCZ has shifted south since the middle Miocene in the western Pacific, which agrees with information from the eastern Pacific.

Northwest corner

On verso: A.L. Colton, Photographer, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Views of the State University a Specialty

State Street. South West [southwest] Corner of Campus. Methodist Church in distance

Gentleman posing by lamppost

Boulder at northwestern corner of campus placed by Class of 1862

On verso of second copy of same print: Memorial of the Class of 1862. Placed on n.w. corner of campus in 1860. Removed in summer of 1969.

Main Street from Ludwig's corner

Grand Ledge, Mich.