(Table 2) Presence of plant remains in sediment core GIK14973, northern Kattegat

For the first time detailed physical properties were measured in addition to sedimentological parameters of near surface sediments of Kattegat channel system. This study has been accomplished on two sediment cores of different waterdepth of each Alkor-deep and Littorina-deep. The sediments of Littorina-deep, which have been dated with 210Pb-method, turned out to be surprisingly recent, with sedimentation rates up to 3,2 cm/year. Differences in physical properties lead to the assumption of lower sedimentation rates in Alkor-deep, the velocities of bottom and deepwater currents could be the cause of these differences in sedimentation rates. In Alkor-deep, the morphology runs parallel to the main direction of the bottom current. Therefore higher current velocities can be reached, which favor the erosion of fine sediment particles. Littorina-deep is located rectangular to the main direction of bottom currents. This might lead to an 'overflow' situation instead of a 'flow through'.

Table 2: Age information for the analyzed cores

Five plankton groups, including diatoms, radiolarians, coccolithophores, foraminifers, and dinoflagellate cysts, were synoptically analyzed in six sediment cores and two sediment traps from the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic in order to provide more detailed insights into the paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic evolution and the development of plankton assemblages of the northern North Atlantic during the last 15,000 years. Based on Q-mode factor analyses, cold, warm, transitional, and relict assemblages were calculated for each of the plankton groups. Data from the different plankton groups complement one another, although they are not always consistent. However, the multiple plankton-group data set is able to bridge intervals in which single groups lack preservation or the ability to react to changes. Synoptically interpreted, the results provide a detailed picture of the response of plankton assemblages to environmental changes during the time period investigated, which includes the B0lling/Aller0d interstadial, the Younger Dryas cold spell, Termination IB, and, in all likelihood, also the "8,200 Event", and the Hypsithermal (approximately 8-4 14C ky BP).

d13C and d15N stable isotopes values, total nitrogen and C/N ratios of sediment core GeoB4801-1

Rising stable nitrogen isotope ratios (d15N) in dated sediment records of the German Bight/SE North Sea track river-induced coastal eutrophication over the last 2 centuries. Fully exploiting their potential for reconstructions of pristine conditions and quantitative analysis of historical changes in the nitrogen cycle from these sediment records requires knowledge on processes that alter the isotopic signal in non-living organic matter (OM) of sinking particles and sediments. In this study, we analyze the isotopic composition of particulate nitrogen (PN) in the water column during different seasons, in surface sediments, and in sediment cores to assess diagenetic influences on the isotopic composition of OM. Amino acid (AA) compositions of suspended matter, surface sediments, and dated cores at selected sites of the German Bight serve as indicators for quality and degradation state of PN. The d15N of PN in suspended matter had seasonal variances caused by two main nitrate sources (oceanic and river) and different stages of nitrate availability during phytoplankton assimilation. Elevated d15N values (> 20 per mil) in suspended matter near river mouths and the coast coincide with a coastal water mass receiving nitrate with elevated isotope signal (d15N > 10 per mil) derived from anthropogenic input. Particulate nitrogen at offshore sites fed by oceanic nitrate having a d15N between 5 and 6 per mil had low d15N values (< 2 per mil), indicative of an incipient phytoplankton bloom. Surface sediments along an offshore-onshore transect also reflect the gradient of low d15N of nitrate in offshore sites to high values near river mouths, but the range of values is smaller than between the end members listed above and integrates the annual d15N of detritus. Sediment cores from the coastal sector of the gradient show an increasing d15N trend (increase of 2.5 per mil) over the last 150 years. This is not related to any change in AA composition and thus reflects eutrophication. The d15N signals from before AD 1860 represent a good estimation of pre-industrial isotopic compositions with minimal diagenetic overprinting. Rising d13C in step with rising d15N in these cores is best explained by increasing productivity caused by eutrophication.

C14 Ages of sediment from the Rud Hilla delta area, Persian Gulf

Six sediment cores from the submarine delta of the Rud Hilla River in the northern part of the Persian Gulf consist of fine grained,homogeneous Holocene marls. The coarse (> 63 ~) fraction varies from 0.3 - 3.5 %. The cores are 2 - 4 m long and were taken in water depths of 8 - 56 m. In spite of the great similarity and homogeneity of the cored sediments, correspondence analysis (an extension of factor analysis) of the coarse fraction reveals the presence of four distinctive sedimentary facies: (1) a minerogenic facies, 10 km from the estuary; (2) an ophiuroidostracod facies near a lateral margin of the delta, 12 - 15 km from the estuary, (3) a benthic foraminiferal-molluskan facies, in the central part of the delta 20 km from the estuary, and near its seaward margin 120 km from the estuary, (4) a gastropod-epibiotic facies, in an area of relatively slow sedimentation on the border of the delta, 90 km from the estuary. A seventh core, taken near the seaward margin of the delta of the Rud Hilla River, penetrated homogeneous, aragonite-rich mud of late Pleistocene age. Correspondence analysis of the sand fraction of the Pleistocene sediments leads to the definition of two facies that can be readily compared with the facies identified in the Holocene cores.

Sediment budget of the Laptev Sea, sediment core PS51/092-12, PM9499, PM9462 (Table 2)

This article presents a mass balance calculation of the sediment sources and sinks of the Laptev Sea. Sediment input into three regional sectors calculated on the basis of fluvial sediment discharge and coastal erosion sediment supply is compared with sediment output as estimated from sedimentation rates of well-dated marine sediment cores and data on sediment export to the central Arctic Ocean by sea ice and through bottom currents. Within the uncertainties of the calculations, input and output are very well balanced. The calculation reveals that the sediment budget of the Laptev Sea is mainly controlled by fluvial and coastal sediment input. The major fraction of the material is simply deposited on the Laptev Sea shelf. However, for the western Laptev Sea, where sedimentation rates are low due to the absence of large rivers, export by sea ice is the main output factor.