Quartz content, accumulation and sedimentation rates at DSDP Hole 91-595A

The quartz contents of sediments from Hole 595A, determined by X-ray diffractometry, serve as an indicator of eolian transport of terrigenous material to the central southern Pacific. The quartz contents are very small and, within limits of analytical resolution, vary only slightly from the Cretaceous to the present. However, the accumulation rate of the eolian quartz does change significantly. The quartz accumulation reflects the changing position of the site with respect to the terrigenous source areas and the variations in wind systems through time.

(Table 1) Characteristics of silicified sediments at DSDP Site 61-462 according to host-rock lithology, opal-CT-to-quartz ratio, and the origin of the quartz phase

This study deals with the mineralogical variability of siliceous and zeolitic sediments, porcellanites, and cherts at small intervals in the continuously cored sequence of Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 462. Skeletal opal is preserved down to a maximum burial depth of 390 meters (middle Eocene). Below this level, the tests are totally dissolved or replaced and filled by opal-CT, quartz, clinoptilolite, and calcite. Etching of opaline tests does not increase continously with deeper burial. Opal solution accompanied by a conspicuous formation of authigenic clinoptilolite has a local maximum in Core 16 (150 m). A causal relationship with the lower Miocene hiatus at this level is highly probable. Oligocene to Cenomanian sediments represent an intermediate stage of silica diagenesis: the opal-CT/quartz ratios of the silicified rocks are frequently greater than 1, and quartz filling pores or replacing foraminifer tests is more widespread than quartz which converted from an opal-CT precursor. As at other sites, there is a marked discontinuity of the transitions from biogenic opal via opal-CT to quartz with increasing depth of burial. Layers with unaltered opal-A alternate with porcellanite beds; the intensity of the opal-CT-to-quartz transformation changes very rapidly from horizon to horizon and obviously is not correlated with lithologic parameters. The silica for authigenic clinoptilolite was derived from biogenic opal and decaying volcanic components.

(Table 2) Actual and synthetic mass accumulation rate data and their absolute differences for ODP Site 115-707

Synthetic mass accumulation rates have been calculated for ODP Site 707 using depth-density and depth-porosity functions to estimate values for these parameters with increasing sediment thickness, at 1 Ma time intervals determined on the basis of published microfossil datums. These datums were the basis of the age model used by Peterson and Backman (1990, doi:10.2973/odp.proc.sr.115.163.1990) to calculate actual mass accumulation rate data using density and porosity measurements. A comparison is made between the synthetic and actual mass accumulation rate values for the time interval 37 Ma to the Recent for 1 Myr time intervals. There is a correlation coefficient of 0.993 between the two data sets, with an absolute difference generally less than 0.1 g/cm**2/kyr. We have used the method to extend the mass accumulation rate analysis back to the Late Paleocene (60 Ma) for Site 707. Providing age datums (e.g. fossil or magnetic anomaly data) are available the generation of synthetic mass accumulation rates can be calculated for any sediment sequence.

Microthermometry and Raman analysis of fluid inclusions in different generations of quartz veins of the Athabasca Basin

The Athabasca Basin (Canada) contains the highest grade unconformity-type uranium deposits in the world. Underlying the Athabasca Group sedimentary rocks of the Dufferin Lake zone are variably graphitic pelitic schists (VGPS), altered to chlorite and hematite (Red/Green Zone: RGZ), and locally bleached near the unconformity during paleoweathering and/or later fluid interaction, leading to a loss of graphite near the unconformity. Fluid inclusions were examined in different generations of quartz veins, using microthermometry and Raman analysis, to characterize and compare the different fluids that interacted with the RGZ and the VGPS. In the VGPS, CH4-, N2- and CO2-rich fluids circulated. CH4- and N2-rich fluids could be the result of the breakdown of graphite to CH4/CO2, whereas N2-rich fluid is interpreted to be the result of breakdown of feldspars/micas to NH4+/N2. In the RGZ, highly saline fluids interpreted to be basinally derived have been recorded. The circulation of the two types of fluids (carbonic and brines) occurred at two different distinct events: 1) during the retrograde metamorphism of the basement rocks before the deposition of the Athabasca Basin for the carbonic fluids, and 2) after the deposition of the Athabasca Basin for the brines. Thus, in addition to possibly be related to graphite depletion in the RGZ, the brines can be linked to uranium mineralization.

Hydrate, ice and quartz content of eight holes of Leg 204

The state of preservation of natural gas hydrate samples, recovered from 6 sites drilled during ODP Leg 204 at southern summit of Hydrate Ridge, Oregon Margin, has been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and cryo-scanning-electron-microscopy (cryo-SEM) techniques. A detailed characterization of the state of decomposition of gas hydrates is necessary since no pressurized autoclave tools were used for sampling and partial dissociation must have occurred during recovery prior to the quench and storage in liquid nitrogen. Samples from 16 distinct horizons have been investigated by synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements at HASYLAB/ Hamburg. A full profile fitting analysis ("Rietveld method") of synchrotron XRD data provides quantitative phase determinations of the major sample constituents such as gas hydrate structure I (sI), hexagonal ice (Ih) and quartz. The ice content (Ih) in each sample is related to frozen water composed of both original existing pore water and the water from decomposed hydrates. Hydrate contents as measured by diffraction vary between 0 and 68 wt.% in the samples we measured. Samples with low hydrate content usually show micro-structural features in cryo-SEM ascribed to extensive decomposition. Comparing the appearance of hydrates at different scales, the grade of preservation seems to be primarily correlated with the contiguous volume of the original existing hydrate; the dissociation front appears to be indicated by micrometer-sized pores in a dense ice matrix.

Quartz content and mass accumulation rates at DSDP Hole 86-576A

The amount and the accumulation rate of quartz were measured in 33 samples from Hole 576A. The amount and source of mineral aerosol being deposited in the northwest Pacific during the Cenozoic are evaluated using these data. When Hole 576A is compared to a Cenozoic record in the central North Pacific, a strong uniformity in the composition of the mineral aerosol across the North Pacific is seen. The data suggest that Hole 576A entered the influence of the westerlies about 15 m.y. ago and that since that time the rates of sediment deposition have increased. Only the dramatic change in quartz accumulation 2.5 m.y. ago can be clearly related to a climatic event, but a gradual increase in quartz accumulation through the Miocene and early Pliocene is probably a result of increasing Northern Hemisphere aridity and intensified atmospheric activity associated with global cooling during the interval.

Comparisons of observed ice properties and Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) data during Nathanial B. Palmer cruise NBP09-01 and Oden cruise OSO08/09

Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) Wide Swath Mode (WSM) images are used to derive C-band HH-polarization normalized radar cross sections (NRCS). These are compared with ice-core analysis and visual ship-based observations of snow and ice properties observed according to the Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCt) protocol during two International Polar Year summer cruises (Oden 2008 and Palmer 2009) in West Antarctica. Thick first-year (TFY) and multi-year (MY) ice were the dominant ice types. The NRCS value ranges between -16.3 ± 1.1 and -7.6 ± 1.0 dB for TFY ice, and is -12.6 ± 1.3 dB for MY ice; for TFY ice, NRCS values increase from ~-15 dB to -9 dB from December/January to mid-February. In situ and ASPeCt observations are not, however, detailed enough to interpret the observed NRCS change over time. Co-located Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) vertically polarized 37 GHz brightness temperatures (TB37V), 7 day and 1 day averages as well as the TB37V difference between ascending and descending AMSR-E overpasses suggest the low NRCS values (-15 dB) are associated with snowmelt being still in progress, while the change towards higher NRCS values (-9dB) is caused by commencement of melt-refreeze cycles after about mid-January.

Quartz and opaline silica in ocean sediments

A new method of quantitative analysis of quartz and opal in bottom sediments is developed. It is based on the study of sediment samples in form of suspensions in petrolatum where potassium rhodanate is added as an internal standard.

Peak areas and heights for minerals of ODP Leg 113-696B (Table 1)

Seismic data acquired over the eastern shelf and margin of the South Orkney microcontinent, Antarctica, have shown a high-amplitude reflection lying at a sub-bottom two-way traveltime (TWT) of 0.5-0.8 s. There appear to be two causes for the reflection which apply in different parts of the shelf. The more widespread cause of the reflection is a break-up unconformity associated with the opening of Jane Basin to the east. This is clearly seen where reflections in the underlying sequence are discordant. In contrast, in Eotvos Basin and the southeastern part of Bouguer Basin, the high-amplitude reflection in places cuts across bedding and is interpreted to be caused by silica diagenesis. A post-cruise analysis of core samples from Site 696 in Eotvos Basin by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed the presence of a silica diagenetic front at 520-530 mbsf. The position of the unconformity at this site is uncertain, but probably coincides with a change of detrital input near 548 mbsf. Fluctuations of physical properties related to the depth of the diagenetic front are difficult to separate from those related to the variation of detrital composition over the same depth interval. Correlation of the drilling record with the seismic record is difficult but with a synthetic seismogram it is demonstrated that diagenesis is the probable cause of the high-amplitude reflection. In Bouguer Basin at Site 695 the depth of the high-amplitude reflection was not reached by drilling; however, the reflection is probably also caused by silica diagenesis because of the biogenic silica-rich composition of the sediments cored. The estimated temperatures and ages of the sediments at the depths of the high-amplitude reflections at Sites 695 and 696 compare favorably with similar data from other diagenetic fronts of the world. The high-amplitude reflection in Bouguer Basin is commonly of inverse polarity, possibly caused either by interference between reflections from several closely-spaced reflecting layers, such as chert horizons, or by free gas trapped near the diagenetic front.

Near-coastal circum-Antarctic iceberg size distributions determined from Synthetic Aperture Radar images

The Radarsat-1 Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP) compiled a mosaic of Antarctica and the adjacent ocean zone from more than 3000 high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images acquired in September and October 1997. The mosaic with a pixel size of 100 m was used to determine iceberg size distributions around Antarctica, combining an automated detection with a visual control of all icebergs larger than 5 km**2 and correction of recognized false detections. For icebergs below 5 km**2 in size, the numbers of false detections and accuracies of size retrievals were analyzed for three test sites. Nearly 7000 icebergs with horizontal areas between 0.3 and 4717.7 km**2 were identified in a near-coastal zone of varying width between 20 and 300 km. The spatial distributions of icebergs around Antarctica were calculated for zonal segments of 20° angular width and related to the types of the calving fronts in the respective section. Results reveal that regional variations of the size distributions cannot be neglected. The highest ice mass accumulations were found at positions of giant icebergs (> 18.5 km) but also in front of ice shelves from which larger numbers of smaller icebergs calve almost continuously. Although the coastal oceanic zone covered by RAMP is too narrow compared to the spatial coverage needed for oceanographic research, this study nevertheless demonstrates the usefulness of SAR images for iceberg research and the need for repeated data acquisitions extending ocean-wards over distances of 500 km and more from the coast to monitor iceberg melt and disintegration and the related freshwater input into the ocean.