(Table) Specific activities of 137Cs, 90Sr and 239,240Pu in surface waters obtained during cruises BP06-BP09, Indian Ocean

One of the main sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the ocean is the global fallout resulting from the nuclear tests that had been conducted by the United States, the former Soviet Union, and other countries between 1945 and 1990 mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. The most extensive fallout was observed in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in 1963 immediately after the nuclear tests of 1961-1962 conducted by the United States and the Soviet Union. In 2006-2009, under the auspices of an agreement between the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Center of Antarctic and Marine Research of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India, cooperative geological and geochemical investigations were organized in several regions of the Indian Ocean. During these expeditions, the spatial distribution of anthropogenic radionuclides was investigated in the water of the Indian Ocean. The main results of these investigations are reported in this paper.

Chemical and mineral compositions of basalts from the Pacific Ocean, DSDP data

Mineral and chemical alterations of basalts were studied in the upper part of the ocean crust using data of deep-sea drilling from D/S Glomar Challenger in the main structures of the Pacific floor. Extraction of majority of chemical elements (including heavy metals) from basalts results mainly from their interaction with heated sea water. As a result mineralized hydrothermal solutions are formed. On entering the ocean they influence greatly on ocean sedimentation and ore formation.

Effects of CO2-driven ocean acidification on early life stages of marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma)

The potential effects of elevated CO2 level and reduced carbonate saturation state in marine environment on fishes and other non-calcified organisms are still poorly known. In present study, we investigated the effects of ocean acidification on embryogenesis and organogenesis of newly hatched larvae of marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) after 21 d exposure of eggs to different artificially acidified seawater (pH 7.6 and 7.2, respectively), and compared with those in control group (pH 8.2). Results showed that CO2-driven seawater acidification (pH 7.6 and 7.2) had no detectable effect on hatching time, hatching rate, and heart rate of embryos. However, the deformity rate of larvae in pH 7.2 treatment was significantly higher than that in control treatment. The left and right sagitta areas did not differ significantly from each other in each treatment. However, the mean sagitta area of larvae in pH 7.6 treatment was significantly smaller than that in the control (p = 0.024). These results suggest that although marine medaka might be more tolerant of elevated CO2 than some other fishes, the effect of elevated CO2 level on the calcification of otolith is likely to be the most susceptibly physiological process of pH regulation in early life stage of marine medaka.

Composition and crystal parameters of carbonate-apatites from animal teeth and bones and from phosphate rocks of the ocean bottom

Samples of recent to Miocene fish and marine mammal bones from the bottom of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and Miocene Maikop deposits (Transcaspian region) are studied by X-ray diffraction technique combined with chemical and energy-dispersive analyses. Changes of lattice parameters and chemical composition of bioapatite during fossilization and diagenesis suggest that development of skeletal apatite proceeds from dahllite-type hydroxyapatite to francolite-type carbonate-fluorapatite. It is assumed that jump-type transition from dahllite to francolite during initial fossilization reflects replacement of biogeochemical reactions in living organisms, which are subject to nonlinear laws of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, by physicochemical processes according to the linear equilibrium thermodynamics.

Isotope ratios of smectites, calcites and whole rocks from DSDP Legs 51 and 52, Atlantic Ocean

Delta180 and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic data from smectites, calcites, and whole rocks, together with published isotopic age determinations, alkali element concentration data and petrographic observations suggest a sequential model of ocean floor alteration. The early stage lasts about 3 m.y. and is characterized by palagonite and smectite formation, and solutions with a large basaltic component, increasing with temperature which varies from 15° to 80° C at DSDP site 418A. Most carbonates are deposited after this stage from solutions with a negligible basaltic Sr component and temperatures of 15° to 40° C. Water of seawater Sr and O isotopic composition is shown to percolate to at least 500 m into the basaltic basement. No evidence was found for continuing exchange of strontium or oxygen after 3 m.y.