Age determinations, biomarker analyses, and accumulation rates of three sediment cores from the Fram Strait

A reconstruction of Holocene sea ice conditions in the Fram Strait provides insight into the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoceanographic development of this climate sensitive area during the past 8,500 years BP. Organic geochemical analyses of sediment cores from eastern and western Fram Strait enable the identification of variations in the ice coverage that can be linked to changes in the oceanic (and atmospheric) circulation system. By means of the sea ice proxy IP25, phytoplankton derived biomarkers and ice rafted detritus (IRD) increasing sea ice occurrences are traced along the western continental margin of Spitsbergen throughout the Holocene, which supports previous palaeoenvironmental reconstructions that document a general cooling. A further significant ice advance during the Neoglacial is accompanied by distinct sea ice fluctuations, which point to short-term perturbations in either the Atlantic Water advection or Arctic Water outflow at this site. At the continental shelf of East Greenland, the general Holocene cooling, however, seems to be less pronounced and sea ice conditions remained rather stable. Here, a major Neoglacial increase in sea ice coverage did not occur before 1,000 years BP. Phytoplankton-IP25 indices ("PIP25-Index") are used for more explicit sea ice estimates and display a Mid Holocene shift from a minor sea ice coverage to stable ice margin conditions in eastern Fram Strait, while the inner East Greenland shelf experienced less severe to marginal sea ice occurrences throughout the entire Holocene.

Cholesterol and C30 of sediment profile MD90-963

In a deep-sea sediment core recovered from a site lying well above the local lysocline, several organic geochemical proxies, and two different calcite dissolution indicators, are compared in order to evaluate the relationship between calcite dissolution and paleoproductivity over the past three glacial-interglacial cycles. The degree of foraminiferal break-up, and the CaCO3 particle size distribution, both point to significant periods of dissolution every 22 kyr during glacial stages and substages. These dissolution events are concomitant with periods of enhanced primary productivity, as indicated by the abundance of several biomarkers (alkenones, cholesterol, brassicasterol, keto-ol), used here to indicate changes in paleoproductivity. Dissolution fluctuations are highly coherent and in phase with the estimated paleoproductivity variations providing strong evidence that the observed dissolution is due to organic matter remineralization within the sediments rather, than to changes in CO32? concentration in the overlying water column.

Biomarker proxies on ODP Holes 151-912A and 151-912B

A novel and promising biomarker proxy for reconstruction of Arctic sea ice conditions was developed and is based on the determination of a highly branched isoprenoid with 25 carbons (IP25). IP25 records have been restricted to the last 150 kyr BP. We present a biomarker record from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 912, going back to the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary and indicating that sea ice of variable extent occurred in the Fram Strait/southern Yermak Plateau area at least since about 2.2 Ma. Furthermore, our data support the idea that a combination of IP25 and open water, phytoplankton biomarker data ("PIP25 index") may give a more reliable and quantitative estimate of past sea ice cover (at least for the study area). The study reveals that the novel IP25/PIP25 biomarker approach has potential for semi-quantitative paleo-sea ice studies covering the entire Quaternary and could motivate further detailed high resolution research on ODP/IODP material using this proxy.

Biomarker distributions in surface sediments from the Kara and Laptev Seas (Arctic Ocean)

Studies of spatial and temporal changes in modern and past sea-ice occurrence may help to understand the processes controlling the recent decrease in Arctic sea-ice cover. Here, we determined concentrations of IP25, a novel biomarker proxy for sea ice developed in recent years, phytoplankton-derived biomarkers (brassicasterol and dinosterol) and terrigenous biomarkers (campesterol and ß-sitosterol) in the surface sediments from the Kara and Laptev seas to estimate modern spatial (seasonal) sea-ice variability and organic-matter sources. C25-HBI dienes and trienes were determined as additional paleoenvironmental proxies in the study area. Furthermore, a combined phytoplankton-IP25 biomarker approach (PIP25 index) is used to reconstruct the modern sea-ice distribution more quantitatively. The terrigenous biomarkers reach maximum concentrations in the coastal zones and estuaries, reflecting the huge discharge by the major rivers Ob, Yenisei and Lena. Maxima in phytoplankton biomarkers indicating increased primary productivity were found in the seasonally ice-free central part of the Kara and Laptev seas. Neither IP25 nor PIP25, however, show a clear and simple correlation with satellite sea-ice distribution in our study area due to the complex environmental conditions in our study area and the transportation process of sea-ice diatom in the water column. Differences in the diene/IP25 and triene/IP25 ratios point to different sources of these HBIs and different environmental conditions. The diene/IP25 ratio seems to correlate positively with sea-surface temperature, while negatively with salinity distributions.

Total organic carbon, bitumen ratio, hopane and sterane parameters of ODP Sites 128-798 and 128-799

Notable compositional changes of organic matter are observed below the silica transition zone in thermally immature sediments. The increase of bitumen ratio, and hopane and sterane isomerization parameters indicate an acceleration of the kinetics of the chemical reactions which transform the organic matter. This phenomenon is probably due to the numerous mineral and textural changes induced by the transformation of amorphous biogenic silica into crystalline authigenic silica.

Organic compounds in surface sediments from the Pakistan continental margin

In order to assess whether the oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ) in the Arabian sea has an effect on the preservation and composition of organic matter in surface sediments we investigated samples from three different transects on the Pakistan continental margin across the OMZ. In addition to determining the total amount of organic carbon (TOC), we analyzed the extractable lipids by gas chromatography, combined gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and compound-specific stable carbon isotope measurements. The extractable lipids are dominated by marine organic matter as indicated by the abundance of lipids typical of marine biota and by the bulk and molecular isotopic composition. Sediments from within the OMZ are enriched in organic carbon and in several extractable lipids (i.e. phytol, n-alcohols, total sterols, n-C35 alkane) relative to stations above and below this zone. Other lipid concentrations, such as those of total n-fatty acids and total n-alkanes fail to show any relation to the OMZ. Only a weak correlation of TOC with mineral surface area was found in sediments deposited within the OMZ. In contrast, sediments from outside the OMZ do not show any relationship between TOC and surface area. Among the extractable lipids, only the n-alkane concentration is highly correlated with surface area in sediments from the Hab and Makran transects. In sediments from outside the OMZ, the phytol and sterol concentrations are also weakly correlated with mineral surface area. The depositional environment of the Indus Fan offers the best conditions for an enhanced preservation of organic matter. The OMZ, together with the undisturbed sedimentation at moderate rates, seems to be mainly responsible for the high TOC values in this area. Overall, the type of organic matter and its lability toward oxic degradation, the mineral surface area, the mineral composition, and possibly the secondary productivity by (sedimentary) bacteria also appear to have an influence on organic matter accumulation and composition.

Ablative Pyrolysis of Beetle-killed Trees

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06