Spatial and seasonal evolution of dissolved oxygen and nutrients in the Southern Levantine Basin (Eastern Mediterranean Sea): chemical characterization of the water masses and inferences on the N : P ratios

The spatial and seasonal variability of nutrients and dissolved oxygen concentrations as well as the chemical characterization of the different water masses of the Southern Levantine Basin were determined in detail. In summer, the upper 150 m of the water body was stratified and the cross basin distribution of dissolved oxygen and nutrients was fairly constant. Surficial waters were saturated with dissolved oxygen, and a shallow oxygen maximum (oversaturated) was present at about 80 m depth. Oversaturation was attributed mainly to the physical process of rapid capping and trapping of oxygen in the Atlantic water (AW) mass, with only 28% of the excess oxygen originating from biological production. Nutrient concentrations were very low and showed an increase in the intermediate levels, coupled with a decrease in oxygen. The winter cross-section distribution showed an upper mixed layer of 100 m, with dissolved oxygen and nutrient concentrations fairly constant across the basin. The concentration of nitrate was higher than in summer, while phosphate was slightly lower and silicic acid similar. In winter, the influence of the physical features (gyres) could be detected up to the surface, and in summer they were detected by the chemical properties in the 150–600 m layer. In the transition layer between the Levantine intermediate water (LIW) and the deep water (DW) (400–700 m) there was a gradual decrease in dissolved oxygen and an increase in nutrient concentrations eastwards. The DW showed no seasonal variation, only spatial variability: dissolved oxygen decreased and silicic acid increased eastwards. No differences were found in nitrate and phosphate concentrations between the DW in the western and eastern provinces, indicating the oxidation of organic matter poor in N and P.N : P ratios in the upper water masses were seasonally dependent. The largest variation was found in the Levantine surface water (LSW), from an average of 52 in winter to 5 in summer. It is hypothesized that the gradual decrease from winter to summer values was due mainly to preferential atmospheric input of N in winter and P in summer, together with biological consumption and differential regeneration of N and P. In the DW, the N : P ratios were constant throughout the year (25.2±2.7, n=567), and higher than Redfield's ratio. It was speculated that the high N : P ratio in the DW was a result of oxidation of particulate organic matter deficient in P.The winter wet atmospheric input of N provided 12% of new N to the LSW. Average new production for the Southern Levantine Basin was estimated from the new N as 4.75 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹. The dry atmospheric contribution of P was estimated to significantly increase the P pool in the LSW. Dry deposition is not evenly distributed and occurs in episodic and localized events, which may have a large effect on productivity in the short periods when deposition occurs.There have been recently reported changes in the deep thermohaline circulation of the Eastern Mediterranean, with main contribution of the Aegean Sea as a source of DW. The data presented here can serve as a reference for assessing future changes in the chemical composition of the water masses in the Southern Levantine.     

水团相互作用与东海高密水环流的演变

本文利用水文和海流观测资料，从水团相互作用去研究东海高密水及其环流的演变。获得如下一些结果：东海高密水冬季形成于东海中部陆架混合水中，入春以后水团挤压，高密水显得更为突出，入秋后高密水变性，东海中部陆架混合水重新形成；东海高密水核心区可形成气旋环流，从冬到秋经历了一个弱—强—弱的演变过程。海流观测结果证实这个环流是存在的；在东海高密水南侧存在较明显的密度锋，从冬到秋它也经历了一个弱—强—弱的演变过程；水团分析发现，各种与主体分离的混合水从春到夏可在高密水核心周围组合成一个环，从而进一步印证了这个高密水环流的存在     

Baroclinic wind adjustment processes in the Mediterranean Sea

The wind-driven general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea is studied using a primitive equation model. The model uses a 0.25° horizontal resolution and eight or 16 levels in the vertical. The model uses the Mediterranean basin geometry, and the Strait of Gibraltar is closed. The vertical density structure is initialized with annual average data, and the temperature and salinity values are fixed at the surface to simulate perpetual annual mean conditions. The wind forcing consists of monthly mean climatological stresses.The results show that the general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea has a multiple time-scale character (seasonal excursions and steady state amplitudes are comparable) and it is composed by sub-basin scale gyres corresponding to the scale of the wind stress curl centers. The steady state circulation (annual mean average) is determined by a Sverdrup balacne modified by viscous effects.The unsteady vertically integrated transport circulation consists of sub-basin scale gyres similar to the steady state transport components, which amplify seasonally and the partial or total reversal of the currents in many subportions of the basin. The gyres can be stationary in position or propagating. This seasonal ocean response is partly constituted by Rossby modes due to the wind stress curl annual harmonic. The baroclinic circulation shows the seasonal shift of the North African Current from a position along the African coasts during winter to the center of the Balearic and Ionian basin during summer.     

The oxygen and carbon isotope distribution in the Mediterranean water masses

The oxygen and carbon stable isotope compositions of the present-day Mediterranean waters have been measured in order to evaluate their variability, which is related to the specific climatic and hydrological conditions within the basin. The experimental equation between the δ¹⁸O value and the salinity of water, based on 300 measurements on surface, intermediate, and deep waters sampled during the VICOMED 2 and 3 cruises in the western, central and eastern Mediterranean, has a slope of 0.27, a value which is significantly lower than the slope of 0.45, as defined in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. This difference in the δ¹⁸O–salinity relationship, which occurs immediately in the Alboran basin, is basically a characteristic of the climatic regime of the Mediterranean, i.e., of an excess evaporation over fresh water input. The largest variations of these two parameters, δ¹⁸O of water and δ¹³C of ∑CO₂, are observed in the surface waters, mostly in the western Mediterranean. This evolution mirrors the progressive eastward restriction, which separates the less-evaporated and more-productive western basins from the more-evaporated and less-productive eastern basins. The intermediate waters constitute a homogeneous layer. However, their δ¹⁸O values decrease eastward by 0.35‰ at maximum, due to progressive dilution by mixing with overlying and underlying water masses; their δ¹³C values decrease also eastward by 0.35‰ at maximum, due to an increasing input of nutrients issued from the regeneration of sinking organic particles. The deep waters have similar δ¹⁸O values but slightly higher δ¹³C values (often by less than 0.1‰) than the overlying intermediate waters, indicating generally well ventilated conditions due to active winter convection.     

Microbial respiration in the aphotic zone of the Ross Sea (Antarctica)

In January–February 2001, we measured microbial biomass as ATP and community respiration as ETS activity of organisms < 200 μm in the aphotic zone of the Ross Sea. Microbial respiration amounted to 2.14 mmol C m^− 2 day^− 1 in the depth range 200–1000 m. Our daily estimates of carbon export are close to the daily percentage of net community production (NCP), removed as sinking biogenic particles from the upper 100 m in the entire Ross Sea, but lower than those of other oceanic systems. Comparing remineralization determined in this study with that obtained by sediment traps in the Ross Sea, it appeared that about 63% of organic carbon remineralized by respiration derived from POC pool. Such evidence highlighted POC source as the main organic fuel of the biological pump in the Ross Sea.     

黄海冷水团演变过程及其与邻近水团关系的分析

黄海冷水团是出现在黄海的一种独特的水文现象.文中利用覆盖整个黄海的GDEM三维水温资料,结合近期一些大型调查所获得的有关观测研究结果,首先较系统地分析了黄海冷水团的形成和演变过程,并对冷水团3个冷中心的季节演变提出了一些与前不同的认识.同时,通过对黄海冷水团形成、发展和消亡与该海域温跃层演变关系的分析,进一步揭示了黄海冷水团演变的机理.然后,探讨了黄海冷水团演变过程中与青岛和仁川东南海域冷水团以及东海北部底层冷水的关系.分析表明,在黄海冷水团发展的鼎盛时期,青岛冷水团和仁川东南海域冷水团以及东海北部底层冷水皆包络其中.     

Sedimentology and geochemistry of an exceptionally preserved last interglacial sapropel S5 in the Levantine Basin (Mediterranean Sea)

A combined study of lithological, geochemical and physical sediment properties is reported from a completely laminated S5 sapropel, recovered in three gravity cores (M40-4 SL67, M51-3 SL103, M51-3 SL104) from the Pliny Trench region of the eastern Mediterranean. The thickness of the studied sapropel S5 varies between 85 and 91 cm and tops most S5-sapropels in the Mediterranean. Based on optical features like color and thickness of laminae, the sapropels were subdivided into thirteen distinct lithostratigraphic zones. These zones, as well as the finer layering pattern within them, could be followed exactly among the three cores, indicating that the processes responsible for this variation acted at least on a regional scale. The sapropel sediment is characterized by exceptionally high porosity, which is strongly correlated with Si/Ca. This relationship implies that the sapropel is in essence an organic-matter rich diatomite and its exceptional thickness can be explained by preservation of diatoms forming a loosely packed sediment fabric. Compared to other S5 sapropels, the preservation of diatoms has apparently led to a twofold increase in the thickness of the sapropel layer. Relative abundances of 10 elements were determined at ultra-high resolution (0.2 mm) by XRF-scanner over the complete length of each sapropel including several cm of enclosing marl. An analysis of the chemical data indicates that the lowermost 13 cm of the sapropel is chemically more similar to the underlying marl and that the sediment chemistry shows different signals at different scales. The strongest pattern is the contrast between the sapropel and the surrounding marl, which is accentuated in elements indicative for redox conditions as well as terrigenous sediment input and productivity. Within the sapropel, a mm- to cm-scale layering is observed. The abundances of many elements are systematically linked to the pattern of these layers, indicating a common origin, related to productivity and/or terrigenous sediment and/or redox conditions. This pattern indicates a link to a regional climatic process, making the S5 sapropel horizon in M40-4 SL67, M51-3 SL103 and M51-3 SL104 a potential high-resolution archive of climatic variability during the last interglacial in the Mediterranean Sea and its adjacent landmasses.     

Long-term numerical evolution of the nitrogen bulk content in the Mediterranean Sea

The behavior of the Mediterranean ecosystem in response to realistic riverine inputs and dissolved matter exchange is investigated. The strategy is to evaluate the stability of the ecosystem subjected to various atmospheric inputs.     

南海东北部浮游植物对氮、磷加富的响应及与不同水团的关系

2014年5月搭载"实验3"号科考船对南海东北部海区进行氮、磷营养盐现场加富培养实验。水团分析的结果表明,南海东北部海区的环境参数随着空间的变化大体可以分成3个区域:近岸海区、陆架海区和陆坡、海盆海区。加富培养过程中近岸海区和陆坡、海盆海区浮游植物未发生显著变化。陆架海区浮游植物出现显著增长,该海区浮游植物加富氮、磷以后在48h出现反应,同时添加氮、磷显著促进了浮游植物的生长。各培养站位均检测到大量束毛藻,加富培养后迅速减少。营养盐的添加改变了海区浮游植物原有的硅甲藻比例与各粒级叶绿素比例,陆架海区培养后的改变最为明显,同时添加氮磷培养72h后,由甲藻为主的优势种如卡氏前沟藻(Amphidinium carterae)、光亮鳍藻(Dinophysis argus)、原甲藻(Prorocentrumsp.)转变成了以硅藻为主如绕孢角毛藻(Chaetoceros cinctus)、旋链角毛藻(Chaetoceros curvisetus)、放射角毛藻(Chaetoceros radicans)和丹麦细柱藻(Leptocylindrus danicus)。同时,加富实验表明磷酸盐的添加促进了陆架海区微微型浮游植物聚球藻的生长。     

Microbial processes of the carbon and sulfur cycles in the Kara Sea

The results of microbiological, biogeochemical, and isotope geochemical studies in the Kara Sea are described. The samples for these studies were obtained during the 54th voyage of the research vessel Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in September 2007. The studied area covered the northern, central, and southwestern parts of the Kara Sea and the Gulf of Ob. The quantitative characteristics of the total bacterial population and the activity of the microbial processes in the water column and bottom sediments were obtained. The total population of the bacterioplankton (BP) varied from 250000 cells/ml in the northern water area to 3000000 cells/ml in the Gulf of Ob. The BP population depended on the content of the water suspension. The net BP production was minimal in the central water area, amounting to 0.15–0.2 μg C/(l day), and maximal (0.5–0.75 μg C/(l day)) in the Gulf of Ob. The organic material at the majority of the stations in the Ob transect predominantly contained light carbon isotopes (−28.0 to −30.18‰) of terrigenous origin. The methane content in the surface water layer varied from 0.18 to 2.0 μl CH₄/l, and the methane oxidation rate changed in the range of 0.1–100 nl CH₄/(l day). The methane concentration in the upper sediment layer varied from 30 to 300 μl CH₄/dm³; the rate of the methanogenesis was 44 to 500 nl CH₄/(dm³ day) and that of the methane oxidation, 30 to 2000 nl CH₄/(dm³ day). The rate of the sulfate reduction varied from 4 to 184 μg S/(dm³ day).     

On dense water formation criteria and their application to the Mediterranean Sea

Recently proposed criteria to identify sites, periods and characteristics of dense water formation in the Mediterranean Sea are analyzed. These criteria were first obtained through tank experiments and numerical and theoretical analyses. They can be useful for discriminating between processes that reach the sea bottom and those involving only the less thick superficial layers. With these criteria, general characteristics of newly formed dense water can be inferred from a knowledge only of winter density stratification g′, of the buoyancy increase B due to the violent winter storms, and of the horizontal space scale R of the region of interest, a quantity usually identified by a decrease of 0.5–1°C of the SST. For the Mediterranean Sea, these criteria are applied here to the few known field observations and to more indirect “routine” information, namely climatological values of the stratification, numerical estimates of the buoyancy flux and remotely sensed SST from satellite imagery. In this way a stimulating picture of these dramatic phenomena is obtained, giving some insight into the possibility of forecasting and into other characteristics of dense water formation processes.     

The structural evolution of the Messinian evaporites in the Levantine Basin

The Levantine Basin in the South-eastern Mediterranean Sea is a world class site for studying the initial stages of salt tectonics driven by differential sediment load, because the Messinian evaporites are comparatively young, the sediment load varies along the basin margin, they are hardly tectonically overprinted, and the geometry of the basin and the overburden is well-defined. In this study we analyse depositional phases of the evaporites and their structural evolution by means of high-resolution multi-channel seismic data. The basinal evaporites have a maximum thickness of about 2 km, precipitated during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, 5.3–5.9 Ma ago. The evaporite body is characterized by 5 transparent layers sequenced by four internal reflections. We suggest that each of the internal reflection bands indicate a change of evaporite facies, possibly interbedded clastic sediments, which were deposited during temporal sea level rises. All of these internal reflections are differently folded and distorted, proving that the deformation was syn-depositional. Thrust angles up to 14° are observed. Backstripping of the Pliocene–Quaternary reveals that salt tectonic is mainly driven by the sediment load of the Nile Cone. The direction of lateral salt displacement is mainly SSW–NNE and parallel to the bathymetric trend. Apparent rollback anticlines off Israel result rather from differential subsidence than from lateral salt displacement. In the south-eastern basin margin the deposition of the Isreali Slump Complex (ISC) is coeval with the onset of salt tectonic faulting, suggesting a causal link between slumping processes and salt tectonics.

The superposition of ‘thin-skinned’ tectonics and ‘thick-skinned’ tectonics becomes apparent in several locations: The fold belt off the Israeli Mediterranean slope mainly results from active strike-slip tectonics, which becomes evident in faults which reach from the seafloor well below the base of the evaporites. Owing to the wrenching of the crustal segments which are bounded by deep-rooted fault lines like the Damietta–Latakia, Pelusium and Shelf Edge Hinge line the setting is transpressional south of 32°N, where the fault lines bend further towards the west. This adds a component of ‘thick-skinned’ transpression to the generally ‘thin-skinned’ compressional regime in the basin. Above 1.5 km of evaporites, a mud volcano is observed with the mud source seemingly within the evaporite layer. At the eastern Cyprus Arc, the convergence zone of the African and the Anatolian plates, deep-rooted compression heavily deformed the base of the evaporites, whereas at the Eratosthenes Seamount mainly superficial compression affecting the Post-Messinian sediments and the top of the evaporites is observed.     

Sedimentological processes in the southern margin of the Cretan Sea (NE Mediterranean)

The Cretan Basin can be characterized as a back-arc basin of the Hellenic Trench System, that is related to the subduction zone of the African Plate under the Eurasia Plate. The study area includes the narrow and relatively steep (gradient 1.5°) continental shelf of the island of Crete followed by the steep slope (2°–4°) and the rather flat deeper part of the Cretan basin (water depths >1700 m).Surficial sediments of the coastal zone are coarser and of terrigenous origin, while in deeper waters finer sediments, of biogenic origin, are more abundant. Sand-sized calcareous sediment accumulations, identified in middle-lower slope, may be attributed to the aggregation of seabed biogenic material related to the near bed current activity.High resolution profiles (3.5 kHz) taken from the inner shelf shows a typical sigmoid-oblique progradational configuration, implying prodelta sediment accumulation during the Holocene. In the upper-middle slope, sub-bottom reflectors indicate continuous sedimentation of alternating fine and/or coarse grained material. Small-scale gravity induced synsedimentary faults appeared, locally. In contrast, a series of gravity induced faults, identified in the lower slope, are associated with sediment instabilities due to seismotectonic activity. Sediment cores taken from the shelf-break consists of calcareous muddy sand with small amounts of terrigenous silt and fine sand, while the cores recovered from the middle slope has revealed a more homogeneous fine sediment texture of hemipelagic deposition.The prevailing accumulation processes in the southern margin of the Cretan basin are: (i) prodelta deposition in the inner-middle shelf; (ii) settling from bottom nepheloid layers in the shelf and upper slope; (iii) calcareous sediment formation due to settling from suspension and post accumulation aggregation (middle-lower slope); (iv) long-term episodic sediment gravity processes in the lower slope; and (v) to a lesser extent, redeposition from resuspension due to gravity processes and bottom currents.     

The oxygen isotope composition of water masses within the North Sea

Based on measurements of the ¹⁸O isotope composition of 247 samples collected over a 3-year period we have assessed the oxygen isotope composition of water masses in the North Sea. This is the first δ¹⁸O data set that covers the entire North Sea basin. The waters lie on a mixing line: δ¹⁸O (‰_VSMOW) = −9.300 + 0.274(S) with North Atlantic sub-polar mode water (SPMW) and surface waters, and Baltic Sea water representing the saline and freshwater end members respectively. Patterns exhibited in surface and bottom water δ¹⁸O distributions are representative of the general circulation of the North Sea. Oxygen-18 enriched waters from the North Atlantic enter the North Sea between Scotland and Norway and to a lesser extent through the English Channel. In contrast, oxygen-18 depleted waters mainly inflow from the Baltic Sea, the rivers Rhine and Elbe, and to a lesser degree, the Norwegian Fjords and other river sources. Locally the δ¹⁸O–salinity relationship will be controlled by the isotopic composition of the freshwater inputs. However, the range of local freshwater compositions around the North Sea basin is too narrow to characterise the relative contributions of individual sources to the overall seawater composition. This dataset provides important information for a number of related disciplines including biogeochemical research and oceanographic studies.     

2011年夏季南海北部海区水团分析

根据2011年8月19日至9月12日南海北部开放航次的温、盐资料,采用模糊聚类分析方法,结合8、9月份的卫星高度计资料,研究了2011年夏季南海北部海区水团的特征和分布状况。在垂直方向上将南海北部水团划分为5类:近岸混合水团、南海表层水团、南海次表层水团、南海中层水团和南海深层水团,并对南海各个水团的分布,温、盐特性进行了细致的分析。结果显示,2011年夏季有黑潮水入侵南海,入侵范围止于119°E。结合卫星高度计资料反演的地转流场发现,流场内部有多个中尺度涡,主要包括东沙群岛东侧和吕宋海峡东侧的反气旋涡,以及东沙群岛南端的气旋涡,说明2011年夏季南海北部环流具有显著的多涡结构,并且该多涡结构对水团的垂向分布及黑潮入侵范围产生了一定影响。     

Interaction between seabed morphology and water masses around the seamounts on the Motril Marginal Plateau (Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean)

The seabed morphology in the vicinity of the seamounts on the Motril Marginal Plateau (northern Alboran Sea) was investigated using high-resolution (sparker) and very high-resolution (TOPAS) seismic reflection profiles and multibeam bathymetry. The aim of the study was to determine the recent geological processes, and in particular those that control the contourite depositional system associated with the intermediate and deep Mediterranean water masses. Six groups of morphological features were identified: structural features (seamount tops, tectonic depressions), fluid escape-related features (pockmarks), mass-movement features (gullies, slides), bottom-current features (moats, scour marks, terraces, elongated and separated drifts, plastered drifts, confined drifts, sheeted drifts), mixed features (ridges) and biogenic features (including evidence of (dead) cold water corals such as Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata). The main processes controlling the formation of these features are recent tectonic activity and the interaction of Mediterranean water masses with the seafloor topography. Seamounts act as topographic barriers that affect the pathway and velocity of the deep Mediterranean water masses, which are divided into strands that interact with the surrounding seafloor. The influence of the intermediate Mediterranean water mass, by contrast, is restricted mainly to the tops of the seamounts. Sediment instability and fluid-escape processes play a minor role, their occurrence being probably related to seismicity.     

1998年夏季南海水团分析

根据 1 998年夏季“南海季风试验 ( SCSMEX)”期间所获的 CTD资料 ,使用系统聚类、Fuzzy模式聚类、Bayes判别分析和 Fuzzy分析等水团分析方法 ,对南海水体的结构和水团配置状况等进行了分析 ,划出了南海存在的 9个主要水团 ,并对各水团的温、盐度特征进行了初析。在调查期间 ,南海本地水 (南海水 )几乎控制了整个调查海区 ,而黑潮水仅出现在台湾岛的西南海域 ;海水强烈混合发生在吕宋海峡附近 ;在中南半岛以东和吕宋岛以西海域 ,表层水明显下沉 ;在南海东南部可能有来自苏禄海的海水 ,其温、盐度特征类似于吕宋海峡中的黑潮水