Strontium isotopes in deep-sea sediments

Recent deep-sea sediments, leached of carbonate, have Sr(87) Sr(86) ratios ranging from 0.7044 to 0.7394. Strontium in the detrital sediment has not equilibrated isotopically with seawater strontium. Amounts of strontium-bearing authigenic material in the clay-mineral assemblage are not great enough to mask strontium-isotope ratios inherited from source areas.     

Potassium-argon geochronology of deep-sea sediments

A potassitlim-argon dating method applicable to small quantities of volcanic minerals anid glass has been developed and used to determine the ages of North Pacific sediments. Tertiary sedimentation rates range from less than 1.0 millimeter per 10(3) years for deep-sea "red clay" to 1 centimeter per 10: years for calcareotus-siliceous ooze necrer the continent. The potassium-argon ages obtained from different minerals are concordaat, and in samples withl associated fossils, these ages are compatible with the paleontologic evidence.     

Zodiacal dust and deep-sea sediments

The recent detection of radioactive Al(26) in marine sediments has led to the conclusion that it is brought into the earth's atmosphere by micrometeorites which have been exposed, in interplanetary space, to solar high-energy protons. The Al(26) method is not precise enough to yield directly a reliable value for the mass accretion rate to the earth to better than about 3 orders of magnitude, but is sufficiently accurate to allow a crucial decision between two widely differing of interplanetary dust which have been proposed to explain observations of the zodiacal light. The two models lead to Al(26) concentrations which would differ by about 5 orders of magnitude. Thus, the presence of Al(26) is consistent with the zodiacal dust model with particles of some tens of microns rather then with submicron particles. From this model a mass accretion to the earth then be calculated which is set at 1250 (upper limit, 2500; lower limit, 250) tons per day, or 2.8 x 10(-15) g/cm(2) sec, or 4.5 x 10(11) g over the earth per This value does not depend on the flux of the solar high-energy particles, which may be uncertain by an order of magnitude or more. The presence of Al(26) supports the idea that an important fraction of the dust is stony in composition material density, and thus eliminates some more exotic dust models, as such one consisting entirely of carbon grains. We may also conclude that the accreted dust particles have been in the solar system and exposed to protons from solar high-energy particles for a time interval which is greater than a significant of the Al(26) half-life (0.74 x 10(6) years).     

Diversity of planktonic foraminifera in deep-sea sediments

The diversity of a planktonic foraminiferal assemblage on the ocean floor depends on the state of preservation of that assemblage. As dissolution progresses, species diversity (number of species in the assemblage) decreases, but compound diversity (based on relative species abundance) first increases and then decreases; species dominance first decreases and then increases. The reason for these changes is that the species most susceptible to solution deliver moresediment to the ocean floor than do species with solution-resistant shells, possibly because the more soluble tests are produced in surface waters, where growth and production are greatest.     

Manganese and biotic debris associations in some deep-sea sediments

Incipient manganese concretions occur in microcavities of planktonic skeletal debris (especially diatom frustules) in some Pacific Basin deep-sea sediments. These concretions contain over 50 percent manganese and very little iron (< 1 percent). There is a continuum of growth stages in the concretions having a diameter between 0 and approximately 2 millimeters, and a genetic relationship is suggested between the very small and the centimeter sized concretions.     

Silicate spherules from deep-sea sediments: confirmation of extraterrestrial origin

Silicate spherules produced by atmospheric melting of meteoric bodies are probably the most common form of extraterrestrial material on the earth. It has never been possible to positively identify such particles although it has been known for more than a century that silicate spherules of suspected extraterrestrial origin are present in deep-sea sediments. One such spherule has been identified as definitely extraterrestrial since its abundances of nonvolatile trace elements closely match those of primitive solar system material.     

Volcanic dust in deep-sea sediments: relationship of microfeatures to explosivity estimates

Particle size variations in a series of volcanic ash layers, deposited in high latitudes of the South Pacific during the past 2.5 million years, were earlier analyzed by using a model in which source cloud height and minimum volcanic paleoexplosivity are derived from downwind ash distribution. Examination of submicrometer morphological features of the volcanic glass shards reveals a clear relationship between what appear to be impact features on the glass surfaces and the independently derived paleoexplosivities, which suggests that this may be a simple means to characterize ash horizons and estimate relative volcanic explosivities.     

Volcanic eruptions: contribution to magnetism in deep-sea sediments downwind from the azores

The mean bulk magnetic susceptibility (x) and the intensity of remanent magnetization (J) of deep-sea sediments vary systematically, but in an opposite sense, for a distance of 600 kilometers downwind from the Azores. Beyond the distance both J and x diminish for at least another 600 kilometers. The dominant type of magnetic particle in the sediments is interpreted to be atmospherically transported volcanic dust.     

Milankovitch hypothesis supported by precise dating of coral reefs and deep-sea sediments

Barbados provides a possibly unique opportunity for reconstruction of the times and elevations of late-Pleistocene high stands of the sea. The island appears to be rising from the sea at a uniform rate that is fast enough to separate in elevation coral-reef tracts formed at successive high stands of the sea. Unaltered coral found in the lower terraces enables high-precision Th(230): U(234) and Pa(231): U(235) dating. Three distinct high stands of the sea are found about 122,000, 103,000, and 82,000 years ago. New Pa(231) and Th(230) dates from a deep-sea core also indicate that Ericson's W-X cold-to-warm climatic change occurred close to 126,000 years ago. These data show a parallelism over the last 150,000 years between changes in Earth's climate and changes in the summer insolation predicted from cycles in the tilt and precession of Earth's axis.     

Copper porphyrins in deep-sea sediments: a possible indicator of oxidized terrestrial organic matter

Copper porphyrins have been isolated from deep-sea sediments collected during six legs of the Deep Sea Drilling Project-International Program of Ocean Drilling. These pigments are present in depositional areas receiving high inputs of terrestrially derived oxidized organic matter. Such areas include the Black Sea, the Bay of Biscay, the Blake-Bahama Basin, and slumped Miocene deposits off Cape Bojador on the west coast of Africa.     

The paleomagnetic field from equatorial deep-sea sediments: axial symmetry and polarity asymmetry

Paleomagnetic data from 89 equatorial deep-sea sediment cores indicate that the configuration of the time-averaged geomagnetic field depends strongly on polarity state but that it remains within 1 degree of axial symmery throughout the Pliocene and Pleistocene (last 5 million years). The relative magnitude of the nondipole field was greater by almost a factor of 2 during reverse than during normal polarity intervals. These results thus support earlier suggestions that there may be a standing (nonreversing) component of the geomagnetic dynamo.     

Pleistocene climates in the atlantic and pacific oceans: a comparison based on deep-sea sediments

Comparison of Pleistocene climatic records defined by variations in abundance of planktonic Foraminifera in three cores from the southeastern Pacific with similar records in cores from the Atlantic suggests that times of warm surface water in this region of the Pacific were at least partly synchronous with times of cool water in the Altantic. This conclusion opposes the Milankovitch theory of the causation of ice ages, but it harmonizes with a modified form of Simpson's hypothesis.     

Reworked neritic fossils in upper mesozoic and cenozoic central pacific deep-sea sediments monitor sea-level changes

Upper Mesozoic and Cenozoic pelagic sediments in the central Pacific Ocean contain occasional horizons with reworked and displaced fossils produced by organisms that once lived in neritic shallow-water environments. The flux of neritic fossils was restricted to eight intervals of low eustatic sea level during Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic times. They were eroded from shoals along the flanks of volcanic highs which often supported tropical islands and which since then have subsided.     

Pleistocene climates in the atlantic and pacific oceans: a reevaluated comparison based on deep-sea sediments

Variations of the Globorotalia menardii complex in cores from the Indian Ocean can be interpreted as indicating climatic changes that are opposite to trends exhibited by the total planktonic fauna. The questionable value of correlations between different water masses based on a single species can be shown by Neogloboquadrina dutertrei subcretacea in cores obtained off the coast of California and Baja California. This information, in addition to previous correlations between Quaternary cores of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, indicates that the Pleistocene history of the two oceans was parallel.     

南海北部巴士海峡深海沉积物中几丁质酶基因多样性分析

海洋微生物是新颖几丁质酶基因的重要来源。构建南海北部巴士海峡深海表层沉积物几丁质酶基因 文库,得到几丁质酶氨基酸序列共计114 条。以0.3 的距离划分OTU,得到54 个OTU 单元,丰富度指数Chao1 值 为159.86,多样性指数Shannon 和Simpson 值分别为3.39 和0.06。对54 条OTU 单元的代表序列,利用BLAST 程 序与GenBank 基因库中的序列比对,所有序列均发现具有几丁质酶基因的保守位点,相似性最高为97%,最低为 41%,31 个OTU 单元的代表序列来自于未培养微生物。结果表明,在南海北部深海沉积环境中具有丰富的几丁质 酶基因多样性,蕴藏着大量未知的几丁质酶基因资源。     

Internal winds in water lilies: an adaptation for life in anaerobic sediments

The network of internal gas spaces in the yellow water lily constitutes a pressurized flow-through system which forces oxygen to the roots and rhizome buried in the anaerobic sediment. By the purely physical processes of thermal transpiration and hygrometric pressure, several liters of air per day enter the young, newly emerged leaves of Nuphar luteum against a small pressure gradient. This air moves en masse down the petioles of the young leaves (at rates up to 50 centimeters per minute) to the rhizome, forcing a simultaneous flow of gas (rich in carbon dioxide) from the rhizome up the petioles of the older emergent leaves to the atmosphere. The ventilation system has important physiological and ecological consequences.     

Aluminum-26 in deep-sea sediment

The activity of (26)A1 in a North Pacific core was found to be 0.081 +/- 0.046 disintegration per minute per kilogram of dry sediment, which corresponds to a (26)A1/(10)Be ratio of 0.018 +/- 0.011 (or 0.019 +/- 0.012 when this ratio is corrected for decay). This ratio is in good agreement with that measured in Greenland ice, 0.017 +/- 0.008. These ratios are also in agreement with the calculated values for the production of these isotopes by cosmic rays in the atmosphere: 0.013 +/- 0.006. The contribution of cosmic dust bearing (26)Al seems small in comparison with the production of this nuclide in the atmosphere.     

Paleocurrent indicators in deep-sea sediment

The fabric and texture of deep-sea sediments have been used to detect periods of high-velocity bottom-water flow through the Vema Channel in the south-west Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the alignment of the long axis of magnetic grains has been used to indicate the direction of bottom-water flow.