Radionuclides in ice cores I and II from Vernagferner, Austria

Fission product (90Sr-90Y, 137Cs, total beta) and 21OPb-210Po activities were measured in core samples from the temperate vernagtferner (3150 m altitude, Oetztal Alps, Austria). The results show that the investigated fission products are transported with water resulting from melting processes, and are sorbed on dust or dirt horizons. These products are, therefore, not suited for dating temperate glaciers. 210Pb is also transported with water and displaced from its original deposition. However, despite large fluctuations, the specific activity of 210Pb decreases with depth, and can be used to estimate accumulation rates and the age of the ice. The average annual accumulation rate amounts to about 80 cm water equivalent, and the deepest sample (81 m i.e. ab. 65 m w. e.) was deposited in the beginning of this century. These results agree with data obtained from other observations on this glacier and show that the 210Pb_method is suitable to date temperate glaciers, if the ice cores cover a time interval of about 100 years (i.e. ab. 4 half-lives of 210Pb). The surface activity of 210Pb was found to be 5 ± 1 dpm per kg of ice in agreement with other locations in the Alps and with measurements of fresh snow.

14C ages of core top samples from Ontong-Java Plateau

Radiocarbon measurements on core tops from the Ontong-Java plateau confirm a previous finding by Berger and Killingley [1982] that at any given water depth, cores taken on the equator have higher accumulation rates and younger core top ages than their off-equator counterparts. Further, these new results fortify the conclusion by Broecker et al. [1991] that the increase in core top radiocarbon age with water depth rules out homogeneous dissolution within the pore waters as the dominant mechanism. Either most of the dissolution must occur prior to burial or it must occur during the first pass through the respiration-CO2-rich upper pore waters after which the calcite grains become armored against further dissolution. A puzzling aspect of this new data set is that despite the sizable difference in accumulation rate, the extent of dissolution as measured by either the CaCO3 content or the ratio of CaCO3 in the >150-µm size fraction to that in the < 63-µm fraction is no different off than on the equator. In order to reconcile the results of this study with those obtained by Hales and Emerson [1996] using in situ electrodes, it is necessary to call upon calcite armoring.

Fig. 6: Firn temperatures at Filchner Station

During the German Antarctic Expedition 1979/80 to the Filchner/Ronne Ice Shelf glaciclogical investigations were carried out at the Filchner station, mainly for determination of snow accumulation. Also meteorological measurements and observations were part of the programme. Similar glaciological work on a smaller seale was done at Atka Ice Port. The report presents the results of the glaciological investigations, In an introductory part some basie eonsiderations, definitions and methods are discussed briefly, completed by a few hints on practical snow pit work. Density measurements, stratigraphie analyses with aid of a throughlight profile and hardness determination are described in more detail. The analyses of the Fi1chner snow profile of January 1980 with suplements of January 1981 reveal 7 complete budget years for 370 cm depth or 53 cm snow accumulation/year, With a mean density of 0.377 g/cm**2 this value corresponds to a water equivalent of 20 g/cm**2. At the Atka site 3 budget years were determined within 210 cm depth of the snow pit or 70 cm of mean annual accumulaticn. With the rat her higher mean density of 0.438 g/cm**2 for this site the corresponding water equivalent amounts here to 30 g/cm**2, In addition to the snow pit studies shallow drillings were made at Filchner Station to a depth of 10.8 m with 128 sampies taken from the core and at Atka to 12.1 m depth with 114 sampies. At the Institute for Radiohydrometry, Neuherberg, the sarnples were analysed with respect to the stable isotope ratios 2H/1H and 18O/16O related to V-SMOW. Also the tritium content was measured. The vartiations of the stable isotope ratios with the depth show quasiperiodic fluctuations which are regarded as annual cycles of the accumulation rate. Counting of the pronounced peaks leads to 20 years for the Filchner core, giving 55 cm annual accumulation or 22 g/cm**2 water equivalent respectively. At Atka 15 years could be found corresponding to 75 cm annual accumulation or 32 g/cm**2 of water. The range of varianon and the mean value of the stable isotope ratios are significantly different for both sites, the agreement of the isotopic anal yses with the pit studies is rat her satisfactory. The tritium content shows for the Filchner core two pronounced peaks which can be related to the 1965 and 1966 winter seasons according to former studies at the South Pole station. These time estimates are consistent with the time scale derived fr orn the stable isotopes distribution. At the Atka site no similar effeet in the tritium values was found. In the drill holes firn temperatures were measured carefully. The 10 m value was determined to be -25 °C at Filchner Station and -17 °C at the Atka position.

210Pb and AMS radiocarbon dates of sediment cores JM99-1197 and JM02-59 obtained in Malangen

A high-resolution sedimentary record from the subarctic Malangen fjord in northern Norway, northeastern North Atlantic has been investigated in order to reconstruct variations in influx of Atlantic Water for the last 2000 years. The fjord provides a regional oceanographic climatic signal reflecting changes in the North Atlantic heat flux at this latitude because of its deep sill and the relatively narrow adjoining continental shelf. The reconstructions are based on oxygen and carbon isotopic studies of benthic foraminifera from a high accumulation basin in the Malangen fjord, providing subdecadal time resolution. A comparison between instrumental measurements of bottom water temperatures at the core location and the reconstructed temperatures from benthic foraminiferal d18O for the same time period demonstrates that the stable isotope values reflect the bottom water temperatures very well. The reconstructed temperature record shows an overall decline in temperature of c. 1°C from c. 40 BC to ad 1350. This cooling trend is assumed to be driven by an orbital forced reduction in insolation. Superimposed on the general cooling trend are several periods of warmer or colder temperatures. The long-term fluctuations in the Malangen fjord are concurrent with fluctuations of Atlantic Water in the northern North Atlantic. Although they are not directly comparable, comparisons of atmospheric temperatures and marine records, indicate a close coupling between the climate systems. After ad l800 the record shows an unprecedented warming within the last 2000 years.

Eocene calcareous nannofossils in DSDP Holes 95-612 and 95-613

Lower Eocene calcareous nannofossil limestone cored at DSDP Site 612 on the middle slope off New Jersey represents an almost complete biostratigraphic sequence; only the lowest biozone (CP9a; NP10*) was not recovered. The thickness of the strata (198 m), the good preservation of the nannofossils, and the lack of long hiatuses justify the acceptance of this section as a lower Eocene reference for the western North Atlantic margin. The widely recognized and very similar nannofossil zonations of Martini (NP zones) and Bukry-Okada (CP zones) are emended slightly to make their lower Eocene biozones coeval; in addition, five new subzones are erected that subdivide zones CP10 and CPU (NP12 and NP13). Established biozone names are retained as they are altered little in concept, but alphanumeric code systems are changed somewhat by appending an asterisk (*) to identify zones that are emended. Zone CP10* (NP12*) is divided into two parts, the Lophodolithus nascens Subzone (CP10*a; NP12*a) and the Helicosphaera seminulum Subzone (CP10*b; NP12*b). Zone CPU* (NP13*) is divided into three parts, the Helicosphaera lophota Subzone (CP11*a; NP13*a), the Cyclicargolithuspseudogammation Subzone (CP11*b; NP13*b), and the Rhabdosphaera tenuis Subzone (CP11*c; NP13*c). At Site 612, a time-depth curve based on nannofossil datums dated in previous studies reveals a smoothly declining sediment accumulation rate, from 4.9 cm/10**3yr in CP10* (NP12*) to 2.8 cm/103 yr. in CP12* (NP14*). The ages of first-occurrence datums not previously dated are approximated by projection onto this timedepth curve and are as follows: Helicosphaera seminulum, 55.0 Ma; Helicosphaera lophota, 54.5 Ma; Cyclicargolithus pseudogammation, 53.7 Ma; Rhabdosphaera tenuis, 52.6 Ma; and Rhabdosphaera inflata, 50.2 Ma. At nearby Site 613 on the upper rise, strata of similar age, 139 m thick, contain an unconformity representing Subzone CPll*b (NP13*b) and a hiatus of approximately 1.1 m.y. duration. The sediment accumulation rate in the lower part of this section (9.7 cm/10**3yr.) is twice that observed for equivalent strata at Site 612. The hiatus and the heightened sediment accumulation rate at Site 613 probably represent the effects of episodic mass wasting on the early Eocene continental slope and rise.

Phosphorus partition and acumulation rates in sediments of ODP Legs 130 and 138

Understanding phosphorus (P) geochemistry and burial in oceanic sediments is important because of the role of P for modulating oceanic productivity on long timescales. We investigated P geochemistry in seven equatorial Pacific sites over the last 53 Ma, using a sequential extraction technique to elucidate sedimentary P composition and P diagenesis within the sediments. The dominant P-bearing component in these sediments is authigenic P (61-86% of total P), followed in order of relative dominance by iron-bound P (7-17%), organic P (3-12%), adsorbed P (2-9%), and detrital P (0-1%). Clear temporal trends in P component composition exist. Organic P decreases rapidly in younger sediments in the eastern Pacific (the only sites with high sample resolution in the younger intervals), from a mean concentration of 2.3 µmol P/g sediment in the 0-1 Ma interval to 0.4 µmol/g in the 5- 6 Ma interval. Over this same time interval, decreases are also observed for iron-bound P (from 2.1 to 1.1 µmol P/g) and adsorbed P (from 1.5 to 0.7 µmol P/g). These decreases are in contrast to increases in authigenic P (from 6.0-9.6 µmol P/g) and no significant changes in detrital P (0.1 µmol P/g) and total P (12 µmol P/g). These temporal trends in P geochemistry suggest that (1) organic matter, the principal shuttle of P to the seafloor, is regenerated in sediments and releases associated P to interstitial waters, (2) P associated with iron-rich oxyhydroxides is released to interstitial waters upon microbial iron reduction, (3) the decrease in adsorbed P with age and depth probably indicates a similar decrease in interstitial water P concentrations, and (4) carbonate fluorapatite (CFA), or another authigenic P-bearing phase, precipitates due to the release of P from organic matter and iron oxyhydroxides and becomes an increasingly significant P sink with age and depth. The reorganization of P between various sedimentary pools, and its eventual incorporation in CFA, has been recognized in a variety of continental margin environments, but this is the first time these processes have been revealed in deep-sea sediments. Phosphorus accumulation rate data from this study and others indicates that the global pre-anthropogenic input rate of P to the ocean (20x10**10 mol P/yr) is about a factor of four times higher than previously thought, supporting recent suggestions that the residence time of P in the oceans may be as short as 10000-20000 years.