Particle flux determined from traps in the Canary Island region

We present a 3 year record of deep water particle flux at the recently initiated ESTOC (European Station for Time-series in the Ocean, Canary Islands) located in the eastern subtropical North Atlantic gyre. Particle flux was highly seasonal, with flux maxima occurring in late winter-early spring. A comparison with historic CZCS (Coastal Zone Colour Scanner) data shows that these flux maxima occurred about 1 month after maximum chlorophyll was observed in surface waters in a presumed primary source region 100 km * 100 km northeast of the trap location. The main components of the particles collected with the traps were mineral particles and carbonate, both correlating strongly with organic matter sedimentation. Mineral particles in the sinking matter are indicative of the high aeolian input from the African desert regions. Comparing particle fluxes at 1 km and 3 km depth, we find that particle sedimentation increased substantially with depth. Yearly organic carbon sedimentation was 0.6 g m**-2 at 1 km depth compared with 0.8 g m**-2 at 3 km. We hypothesize that higher phytoplankton biomass observed further north could be a source of laterally advecting particles that interact with fast sinking particles originating from the primary source region. This hypothesis is also supported by the differences in size distribution of lithogenic matter found at the two trap depths.

Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic correlation of DSDP Hole 73-519 in the South Atlantic

DSDP Leg 73 sediment cores allow direct calibrations of magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy for much of the latest Cretaceous to Cenozoic in the mid-latitude South Atlantic Ocean. A complete record of the Cenozoic was not obtained, however, because strong dissolution, poor core recovery and intense core disturbance have masked the biostratigraphy or magnetostratigraphy over some intervals of all recovered sections. DSDP Leg 73 results show the following correlations: Early/middle Miocene in Chron 16 Oligocene/Miocene within Subchron C6CN Eocene/Oligocene within Subchron C13R Middle/late Eocene top of Chron C17 Early/late Paleocene top of Subchron C27N Cretaceous/Tertiary within Subchron C29R