(Table 1) Typical trace-fossil occurrences in DSDP Holes 56-436 and 56-435A

Trace fossils are in places abundant in cores from DSDP Leg 56 sites. They are particularly rich in the pelagic-clay sequence at Site 436. Some significant trace fossils, including Zoophycos, Teichichnus, Chondrites, rind and solid burrows, and pellet-armored rods, are described. The ichnofauna, except for pellet-armored rods in diatomaceous mudstone of the landward trench slope, is characterized by cosmopolitan bathyal to abyssal forms.

Benthic and fish community composition as well as water quality along the Thousand Islands north of the megacity Jakarta, Indonesia

Worldwide, coral reefs are challenged by multiple stressors due to growing urbanization, industrialization and coastal development. Coral reefs along the Thousand Islands off Jakarta, one of the largest megacities worldwide, have degraded dramatically over recent decades. The shift and decline in coral cover and composition has been extensively studied with a focus on large-scale gradients (i.e. regional drivers), however special focus on local drivers in shaping spatial community composition is still lacking. Here, the spatial impact of anthropogenic stressors on local and regional scales on coral reefs north of Jakarta was investigated. Results indicate that the direct impact of Jakarta is mainly restricted to inshore reefs, separating reefs in Jakarta Bay from reefs along the Thousand Islands further north. A spatial patchwork of differentially degraded reefs is present along the islands as a result of localized anthropogenic effects rather than regional gradients. Pollution is the main anthropogenic stressor, with over 80 % of variation in benthic community composition driven by sedimentation rate, NO2, PO4 and Chlorophyll a. Thus, the spatial structure of reefs is directly related to intense anthropogenic pressure from local as well as regional sources. Therefore, improved spatial management that accounts for both local and regional stressors is needed for effective marine conservation.

Contiunous surface water uncorrected and quench-corrected active fluorescence and derived chlorophyll a concentration using calibration by HPLC pigments during POLARSTERN cruise ANT-XXV/1

The relationship between phytoplankton assemblages and the associated optical properties of the water body is important for the further development of algorithms for large-scale remote sensing of phytoplankton biomass and the identification of phytoplankton functional types (PFTs), which are often representative for different biogeochemical export scenarios. Optical in-situ measurements aid in the identification of phytoplankton groups with differing pigment compositions and are widely used to validate remote sensing data. In this study we present results from an interdisciplinary cruise aboard the RV Polarstern along a north-to-south transect in the eastern Atlantic Ocean in November 2008. Phytoplankton community composition was identified using a broad set of in-situ measurements. Water samples from the surface and the depth of maximum chlorophyll concentration were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), flow cytometry, spectrophotometry and microscopy. Simultaneously, the above- and underwater light field was measured by a set of high spectral resolution (hyperspectral) radiometers. An unsupervised cluster algorithm applied to the measured parameters allowed us to define bio-optical provinces, which we compared to ecological provinces proposed elsewhere in the literature. As could be expected, picophytoplankton was responsible for most of the variability of PFTs in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Our bio-optical clusters agreed well with established provinces and thus can be used to classify areas of similar biogeography. This method has the potential to become an automated approach where satellite data could be used to identify shifting boundaries of established ecological provinces or to track exceptions from the rule to improve our understanding of the biogeochemical cycles in the ocean.

Objective Mapping of Argo data in the Weddell Gyre: a gridded dataset of upper ocean water properties, link to data files in NetCDF format

The Weddell Gyre plays a crucial role in the regulation of climate by transferring heat into the deep ocean through deep and bottom water mass formation. However, our understanding of Weddell Gyre water mass properties is limited to regions of data availability, primarily along the Prime Meridian. The aim is to provide a dataset of the upper water column properties of the entire Weddell Gyre. Objective mapping was applied to Argo float data in order to produce spatially gridded, time composite maps of temperature and salinity for fixed pressure levels ranging from 50 to 2000 dbar, as well as temperature, salinity and pressure at the level of the sub-surface temperature maximum. While the data are currently too limited to incorporate time into the gridded structure, the data are extensive enough to produce maps of the entire region across three time composite periods (2002-2005, 2006-2009 and 2010-2013), which can be used to determine how representative conclusions drawn from data collected along general RV transect lines are on a gyre scale perspective. The time composite data sets are provided as netCDF files; one for each time period. Mapped fields of conservative temperature, absolute salinity and potential density are provided for 41 vertical pressure levels. The above variables as well as pressure are provided at the level of the sub-surface temperature maximum. Corresponding mapping errors are also included in the netCDF files. Further details are provided in the global attributes, such as the unit variables and structure of the corresponding data array (i.e. latitude x longitude x vertical pressure level). In addition, all files ending in "_potTpSal" provide mapped fields of potential temperature and practical salinity.

Atmospheric nitrate concentrations and isotope composition for samples collected in the marine boundary layer in 2006 and 2007

The comprehensive isotopic composition of atmospheric nitrate (i.e., the simultaneous measurement of all its stable isotope ratios: 15N/14N, 17O/16O and 18O/16O) has been determined for aerosol samples collected in the marine boundary layer (MBL) over the Atlantic Ocean from 65°S (Weddell Sea) to 79°N (Svalbard), along a ship-borne latitudinal transect. In nonpolar areas, the d15N of nitrate mostly deriving from anthropogenically emitted NOx is found to be significantly different (from 0 to 6 per mil) from nitrate sampled in locations influenced by natural NOx sources (-4 ± 2) per mil. The effects on d15N(NO3-) of different NOx sources and nitrate removal processes associated with its atmospheric transport are discussed. Measurements of the oxygen isotope anomaly (D17O = d17O - 0.52 × d18O) of nitrate suggest that nocturnal processes involving the nitrate radical play a major role in terms of NOx sinks. Different D17O between aerosol size fractions indicate different proportions between nitrate formation pathways as a function of the size and composition of the particles. Extremely low d15N values (down to -40 per mil) are found in air masses exposed to snow-covered areas, showing that snowpack emissions of NOx from upwind regions can have a significant impact on the local surface budget of reactive nitrogen, in conjunction with interactions with active halogen chemistry. The implications of the results are discussed in light of the potential use of the stable isotopic composition of nitrate to infer atmospherically relevant information from nitrate preserved in ice cores.

Sea surface temperature reconstruction for the LGM

The southwest Pacific Ocean covers a broad range of surface-water conditions ranging from warm, salty water in the subtropical East Australian Current to fresher, cold water in the Circumpolar Current. Using a new database of planktonic foraminifera assemblages (AUSMAT-F2), we demonstrate that the modern analog technique can be used to accurately reconstruct the magnitude of sea-surfacetemperature (SST) in this region. We apply this technique to data from 29 deep-sea cores along a meridional transect of the southwest Pacific Ocean to estimate the magnitude of SST cooling during the Last Glacial Maximum. We find minimal cooling in the tropics (0°-2°C), moderate cooling in the subtropical midlatitudes (2°-6°C), and maximum cooling to the southeast of New Zealand (6°-10°C). The magnitude of cooling at the sea surface from the tropics to the temperate latitudes is found to generally be less than cooling at the surface of adjacent land masses.

Table 1 : AMS-14C data used for the reconstruction of the Wismar Bay shoreline displacement curve

The Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is located in the transition Zone between the region of Fennoscandian Uplift and the Central European Depression. In relation to the eustatic sea-level rise, the northeast coast shows a slower inundation, while for the southwestern area a faster transgression is indicated, which can be attributed to crustal movements. To determine the spatial and temporal differences since the onset of the Littorina Transgression, three relative sea-level curves have been established along a transect parallel to the gradient of upliftlsubsidence. The Wismar Bay area is one endpoint of the transect demonstrating today 10 Abb., 2 Tab. a relative sea-level rise of 1.4 mm/a. To determine the relative sea-level curve for the Wismar Bay, two sites were investigated on Rustwerder Spit (Poel) and Redentin. They provided reliable depth-age data, while the stratigraphy was additionally supported by lithological/geochemical, pollen, diatom and macrofossil data. Additional evidence was provided by archaeological submarine surveys and excavations. Comparing the new relative sea-level curve with a curve from the Vorpommern coast, it can be shown that for the period from 4000 cal BC until present, the differences between the two curves are caused by a constant neotectonic movement, while for the older periods an increasing isostatic component must be taken into account.

Benthic foraminiferal denitrification rates and nitrate storage

The discovery that foraminifera are able to use nitrate instead of oxygen as energy source for their metabolism has challenged our understanding of nitrogen cycling in the ocean. It was evident before that only prokaryotes and fungi are able to denitrify. Rate estimates of foraminiferal denitrification were very sparse on a regional scale. Here, we present estimates of benthic foraminiferal denitrification rates from six stations at intermediate water depths in and below the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Foraminiferal denitrification rates were calculated from abundance and assemblage composition of the total living fauna in both, surface and subsurface sediments, as well as from individual species specific denitrification rates. A comparison with total benthic denitrification rates as inferred by biogeochemical models revealed that benthic foraminifera account for the total denitrification on the shelf between 80 and 250 m water depth. They are still important denitrifiers in the centre of the OMZ around 320 m (29-56% of the benthic denitrification) but play only a minor role at the lower OMZ boundary and below the OMZ between 465 and 700 m (3-7% of total benthic denitrification). Furthermore, foraminiferal denitrification was compared to the total benthic nitrate loss measured during benthic chamber experiments. Foraminiferal denitrification contributes 1 to 50% to the total nitrate loss across a depth transect from 80 to 700 m, respectively. Flux rate estimates ranged from 0.01 to 1.3 mmol m?2 d?1. Furthermore we show that the amount of nitrate stored in living benthic foraminifera (3 to 705 µmol L?1) can be higher by three orders of magnitude as compared to the ambient pore waters in near surface sediments sustaining an important nitrate reservoir in Peruvian OMZ sediments. The substantial contribution of foraminiferal nitrate respiration to total benthic nitrate loss at the Peruvian margin, which is one of the main nitrate sink regions in the world oceans, underpins the importance of previously underestimated role of benthic foraminifera in global biochemical cycles.

(Table A1) Isotopic ratios of Sr, Nd, and Pb for sediments in ODP Leg 138 sites

The provenance of eolian dust supplied to deep-sea sediments has the potential to offer insights into changes in past atmospheric circulation. Specifically, measuring temporal changes in dust provenance can shed light on changes in the mean position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a region acting as a barrier separating wind-blown material derived from northern versus southern hemisphere sources. Here we have analyzed Nd, Sr, and Pb isotope ratios in the operationally-defined detrital component extracted from deep-sea sediments in the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) along a meridional transect at 110°W from 3°S to 7°N (ODP Leg 138, sites 848-853). Sr isotope results show that barite Sr has a significant influence on 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios of samples in the upwelling zone of the EEP. However, sites located >3° or more away from the equator (sites 852 and 853) are believed to not be affected by barite Sr and provide useful detrital Sr signals. 208Pb/206Pb and 207Pb/206Pb ratios in all cores fall into the Pb-isotope space of five potential dust sources (Asia, North and Central/South America, Sahara, and Australia), with no distinct isotopic fingerprinting of the dominant source(s). epsilon-Nd values were most valuable for discerning detrital source provenance, and their values at all sites, ranging from ~5.46 to ~3.25, were more unradiogenic for sediments deposited during the last glacial than for those deposited during the Holocene. There are distinct latitudinal trends in the epsilon-Nd values, with more radiogenic values further south and less radiogenic values further north, excluding site 848. This distinction holds true for both Holocene and last glacial periods. For the most southerly site, 848, we invoke, for the first time, a distinct southern hemisphere Australian source as being responsible for the unradiogenic Nd isotope ratios. Both average last glacial and Holocene epsilon-Nd values show similar sharp gradients along the transect between 5.29°N and 2.77°N, suggesting little movement of the glacial ITCZ in the EEP. However, during the deglacial, this gradient is stronger and shifted further north between 5.29°N and 7.21°N, suggesting a more northerly, possibly stronger, deglacial ITCZ.

isotopic composition of gases and interstitial fluides of ODP Site 104-644

Pleistocene- to middle Miocene-age sediment was drilled at Site 341 (67? 20.1'N, 6? 06.6'E) on the inner Voring Plateau during Leg 38 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP). In 1985, the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) returned to the inner Wring Plateau near Site 341 and drilled a new hole at Site 644 (66° 40.7'N, 4° 34.6'E) as part of a transect to study Norwegian Sea paleoenvironments. In Hole 341, gas expansion pockets formed in cores which were recovered from depths below 50 m. This gas was characterized as predominantly methane with delta13C values in the range of -87 to -77 per mil (Morris, 1976, doi:10.2973/dsdp.proc.38.124.1976). At Site 644, sediment gas and pore-water samples were obtained to study the geochemistry of methanogenesis. Of particular interest is the possibility that methane hydrate might be present in these sediments.