Holocene sedimentation in the Strait of Otranto between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas (Mediterranean)

An extensive radiograph study of 24 undisturbed, up to 206-cm long box and gravity cores from the western part of the Strait of Otranto revealed a great variety of primary bedding structures and secondary burrowing features.     

Time variability of technogenic radioactivity in the Black and Mediterranean Seas

We analyse the time variability of the fields of Cs-137 concentration in the surface waters of the Black and Mediterranean Seas in 1986–1998. It is shown that more contaminated Black-Sea waters affect the levels of concentration of this radionuclide in the east part of the Mediterranean Sea. We also study the influence of atmospheric processes and water exchange through Bosporus on the radioecological situation in the east part of the Mediterranean Sea and its coastal area. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

Late glacial to Holocene climate and sedimentation history in the NW Black Sea

Gravity cores from the continental slope in the northwestern Black Sea were studied using high-resolution stable isotope, grain size and XRF-scanning data. The measurements provide a 30 000 years AMS ¹⁴C-dated record of variations in the hydrological regime of the Black Sea and give insight into changing paleoenvironments in the surrounding areas. Stable climatic conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum were followed by a series of meltwater pulses most likely originating from the Scandinavian ice sheet between 18 000 and 15 500 yr BP.¹ This meltwater input rose the level of the Caspian Sea to a point that Caspian water could spill into the Black Sea via the Manych-depression north of the Caucasian mountains. High-frequency oscillations in the XRF-data during this period suggest a probable link to the arctic climate regime. Later, during the Bølling/Allerød and the early Holocene, prevailing high temperatures led to authigenic calcite precipitation through increased phytoplankton activity, interrupted by the Younger Dryas and the “8200 yr BP cold event” with dominant clastic sedimentation.     

Several characteristics of water exchange in the Luzon Strait

1IntroductionTheLuzonChannelissituatedonthewest-ernsideofthenorthernPacificandbetweenTaiwanandLuzonIslands.ItisthemainpassageofthePacificwaterenteringtheSCS.Therearenumerousdifferent-sizedislandsformingmanynarrowwaterpassagesinthischannel,sotheLuzonChannelisthegeneralnameofthesepas-sages(includingBabuyan,BalintangandBashiChannels,etc.).Customarily,theLuzonStraitiscalledtheBashiChannel.Itswidthis386kmandhasameandepthof1400m. Toagreatextent,thehydro-meteorologi-calconditionso…     

Dynamics of phosphorus exchange between sediment and water in a gravel-bed river

ABSTRACT

Phosphorus (P) stores in gravel-bed rivers are released for uptake by periphyton when pH levels exceed 8.5. The Tukituki River has low alkalinity water and frequently experiences periphyton blooms, and daytime pH?>?9 during summer low-flows. We measured dissolved reactive P (DRP) and EPC₀, the water concentration of DRP at which no net release or sorption from the river bed occurs, in sediment samples from the Tukituki River subject to controlled pH levels before (2014) and after (2017) changes to two wastewater discharges that reduced P release to the river by 95%. DRP released from 2014 sediments at pH 8.5–10 were 30?±?10?mg/m³ above background (pH 8) whereas those released from 2017 sediments were 5?±?3?mg/m³ above background. EPC₀ levels in 2014 and 2017 were 11?±?6 and 7?±?2?mg/m³, respectively. Field estimates of released DRP calculated from continuous pH and the Redfield equation suggested that most of the readily available DRP released from sediments at elevated pH is derived from material attached to recently deposited sediment. Subsequently, a reduction in wastewater inputs or agricultural runoff should reduce sediment DRP stores, and hence sediment fluxes, within a few years and mitigate periphyton blooms in addition to directly lowering water column concentrations.     

Freshwater supply by Korean rivers to the East Sea during the last glacial maximum: a review and new evidence from the Korea Strait region

This study presents a review of extensive literature and reports new findings extracted from previously collected cores. Globally lowered sea level during the last glacial maximum (LGM) reduced the cross-sectional area in the Korea Strait, minimizing volume transport of the paleo-Tsushima Current and increasing freshwater input to the East Sea. The higher supply of freshwater played an important role in compositional changes of surface water in the sea, indicated by low sea surface salinity (down to about 20‰) and light d ¹⁸O of planktonic Foraminifera (lighter than 1‰) recorded in core sediments. The Korean fluvial systems (Nakdong and Seomjin rivers) emptying into the southeastern sea of Korea may have contributed substantially to freshwater supply to the surface layer of the LGM East Sea, although Chinese paleo-river (Huanghe and Yangtze rivers) waters, together with the paleo-Tsushima Current, also seem to have supplied some freshwater to the sea. The higher supply of river waters to the East Sea is strongly evidenced by the high amount of terrigenous material (quartz, feldspar and rock fragments) in core sediments. In addition, high magnetic susceptibility, high grain density, and high C/N ratios were documented in cores MB98PC-11 and 95PC-1. In contrast with earlier studies, we propose that Korean rivers played a more substantial role in supplying freshwater to the East Sea during the LGM than previously thought.     

末次冰盛期后黄河三角洲沉积物的磁性特征及其沉积环境

On the basis of measuring the magnetic parameters of sediment in Core YDZ1, combined with a grain size analysis and Carbon-14 dating, the magnetic properties of sediment and sedimentary environment in the Huanghe(Yellow River) Delta area after the last glacial maximum have been studied. The results show that the ferrimagnetic minerals of a pseudo single domain and multi domain particles dominate the magnetic properties of sediment in Core YDZ1. The imperfect anti ferrimagnetic minerals have more contribution on sediment in a depth of 24.0–22.1 m, and more stable-single domain and pseudo single domain particles exist. The susceptibility of anhysteretic remanent magnetization and the ratio of the susceptibility of anhysteretic remanent magnetization to saturation isothermal remanent magnetization show a decrease trend below depth of 24 m, a marked increase trend in a depth of 24.0–13.5 m, and a rapid decrease at depth of 13.5 m, then a fluctuation trend upward. The above two magnetic parameters and the ratio of the susceptibility of anhysteretic remanent magnetization to the mass susceptibility can be regarded as the proxy indicators for the content of clay(4 μm)and the fine-grained size(32 μm). The sedimentary environment after the last glacial maximum in the Huanghe Delta area has experienced the fluvial facies, the tidal flat facies, the neritic facies, the pro delta facies, the delta front facies and the floodplain facies. Thickness of the Holocene transgression layer is 10.5 m and the depth of substrate is about 24 m according to the YDZ1 core. The sedimentary dynamic has a variation trend with strongweak-strong, which has been proved by the Flemming triangular schema.     

Evidence for water exchange between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean through the Luzon Strait

An analysis of historical oxygen data provides evidence on the water exchange between theSouth China Sea (SCS) and the Pacific Ocean (PO). In the vicinity of the Luzon Strait (LS) , the dissolved oxygen concentration of sea water is found to be lower on the Pacific side than on the SCS side at depths between 700 and 1500 m (intermediate layer) , while the situation is reversed above 700 m (upper layer) and below 1 500 m (deep layer). The evidence suggests that water exits the SCS in the intermediate layer but enters it from the Pacific in both the upper and the deep layers, supporting the earlier speculation that the Luzon Strait transport has a sandwiched structure in the vertical. Within the SCS basin, the oxygen distribution indicates widespread vertical movement, including the upwelling in the intermediate layer and the downwelling in the deep layer.     

末次冰盛期山东半岛高分辨率气候环境变化

末次冰盛期是末次冰期以来地球表面最寒冷的时期。通过对山东半岛地下画廊溶洞石笋DXHL3进行高精度230Th定年和高分辨率氧-碳稳定同位素分析,重建了该地区23.2～18.8 ka时期高分辨率夏季风气候环境变化历史。结果发现,山东半岛末次冰盛期夏季风气候存在显著的千年尺度波动;REDFIT分析表明,氧、碳同位素值均存在显著的2.2 ka周期。末次冰盛期山东半岛总体处于冷干状态,具体又可细分为4个阶段,即冷干（23.2～22 ka）-相对暖湿（22～21 ka）-冷干（21～19 ka）-相对暖湿（19～18.8 ka）。石笋DXHL3的δ18O变化趋势总体上与亚洲季风区内其他石笋记录相似,也与西太平洋暖池婆罗洲的石笋记录类似。这反映了末次冰盛期西太平洋暖池气候环境变化可能对山东半岛的夏季风气候变化产生了重要影响,推测西太平洋暖池表层海水温度变化引起的大气环流和黑潮的变化,是将气候环境变化信号从低纬地区传递到中高纬地区的纽带。     

渤海沉积记录的末次冰期千年尺度古环境与古气候变化

末次冰期千年尺度古气候变化事件在全球大部分载体中均有不同程度的记录,但在海岸带-陆架区的沉积记录中该事件还未见有报道。对取自渤海的BH08孔上部26m的岩芯进行了高分辨率粒度测试与分析,结合AMS 14C测年结果和微体古生物特征,探讨了研究区末次冰期以来古环境和古气候变化。运用粒级-标准偏差法对粒度数据进行研究,发现BH08孔敏感组分(88.4~148.7μm)的变化记录了末次冰期D-O(Dansgarrd-Oeschger)旋回冷暖事件:在暖期时敏感粒级粗组分(88.4~148.7μm)的含量低,而在冷期时含量高,且可以与反映东亚夏季风的指标对应。在暖期时,强盛的夏季风带来丰富的降水,增加的径流可以将粗粒沉积物搬运至更远的下游区,且暖湿气候有利于植被的发育,使得流域内粗粒沉积物减少;而在冷期呈现相反的变化趋势。我们推测,在末次冰期低海面的背景下,格陵兰和北大西洋等高纬地区气候变化导致大气环流和/或洋流系统发生改变,从而对东亚夏季风降水的调控造成河流输入物质的变化可能是造成BH08岩芯敏感组分变化的主要原因。     

Probable limits of sea ice extent in the northwestern Subarctic Pacific during the last glacial maximum

The article summarizes and analyzes published data on the distribution of sea-ice and open-ocean diatoms in 42 cores of bottom sediments from the northwestern part of the Subarctic Pacific that accumulated during the last glacial maximum (LGM). Based on micropaleontological records, the extent of winter sea ice during the LGM could be limited to the Okhotsk and Bering seas. During the warm season, the surface water masses from the open Subarctic Pacific spread widely in the marginal seas.     

Hydraulic calculations of postglacial connections between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea

A series of simple hydraulic calculations has been performed to examine some of the questions associated with the reconnection of the Black Sea to the Mediterranean through the Turkish Strait System during the Holocene. Ryan et al.’s catastrophic flood scenario, whereby the erosive power of the marine in-fluxes, initiated after eustatic sea level reached the sill depth, opened up the Bosphorus, allowing saline water to pour into the Black Sea and filling it on a short time scale, is examined. The calculations show that although it might be possible to fill the palaeo-Black Sea within the order of a decade, a 1–2 year filling time scale is not physically possible. A hydraulic model is also used to examine the more traditional connection hypothesis of (near-)continuous freshwater outflow from the Black Sea, with a slowly increasing saline inflow from the Mediterranean beginning around 8–9 kyr BP. The model considers two forms for the structure of the Bosphorus: a shallow sill as seen today and a deep sill associated with no sediments filling the 100 m gorge above the bedrock in the strait. Sensitivity experiments with the hydraulic model show what possible strait geometric configurations may lead to the Black Sea reaching its present-day salinity of 18 psu. Salinity transients within the Black Sea are shown as a function of time, providing for values that can be validated against estimates from cores. To consider a deep, non-sediment-filled Bosphorus (100 m deep), the entry of Mediterranean water into the Sea of Marmara after 12.0 kyr BP is examined. A rapid entry of marine water into the Sea of Marmara is only consistent with small freshwater fluxes flowing through the Turkish Strait System, smaller than those of the present day by a factor of at least 4. Such a small freshwater flux would lead to the salinification of the Black Sea being complete by an early date of 10.2–9.6 kyr BP. Thus the possibility of a deep Bosphorus sill should be discounted.     

南海深水区末次冰期和冰后期沉积物堆积速率的特征

通过统计南海100 m以下深水区的136个沉积柱状样的分析数据,对南海末次冰期以来的堆积速率进行了统计.计算出MIS(marine isotope stage)1期的年均沉积量为152.3 Mt/a,2期的为215.2 Mt/a,主要为陆源物质的贡献.无论在末次冰期还是在冰后期,堆积速率均在南海西南部最高,其次是在东北部,在其他地区较低.由于侧向搬运和顺坡搬运频繁,虽然整体上末次冰期的堆积速率高于冰后期的,但在沉积物高速堆积地区附近有相反的变化趋势.     

Stratigraphy and major paleoenvironmental changes in the Sea of Okhotsk during the last million years inferred from radiolarian data

The radiolarian distribution is studied in Core IMAGES MD01-2415 (46-m-long) from the central Sea of Okhotsk. The obtained data made it possible to refine the regional biostratigraphy and document the major paleoenvironmental changes in the basin in the last million years. In total, 17 radiolarian datum planes are defined with 12 of them being new. Their number exceeds that previously established for different fossil groups in the Subarctic Pacific for this period. Radiolarian datum planes are usually confined to the main boundaries and Quaternary climatic events. The analysis of the radiolaria distribution reveals several major paleoenvironmental shifts in the sea that occurred 950, 700, and 420–280 ka ago and are correlative with regional and global phases of the Middle Pleistocene climatic revolution.     

Seasonal changes in the distribution and exchange of inorganic nitrogen between sediment and water in the Northern Baltic (Gulf of Bothnia)

The concentration profiles of nitrate plus nitrite, ammonium, and redox potential in sediment and water column were determined in late winter and summer at a sampling site off Norrbyn, northern Sweden, in the Gulf of Bothnia. The sediment had an oxidized surface layer during winter and spring, and nitrification occurred. Nitrate but not ammonium was present in the water column at this time. During summer a layer of planktonic detritus was deposited onto the sediment and led to its deoxygenation and reduction. Ammonium was then the predominant form of inorganic nitrogen in the water column.Laboratory experiments confirmed that nitrification in the surface layer of sediment prevented ammonium export during winter. Enhanced temperature or organic detritus deoxygenated the surface sediment and inhibited nitrification, and export of ammonium from the sediment increased. Although nitrification was important in determining the flow of nitrogen in the sediment it accounted for at most only 5% of the total oxygen uptake by the sediment.     

Transports of Nordic Seas water masses and excess SF6 through Fram Strait to the Arctic Ocean

To determine the exchanges between the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean through Fram Strait is one of the most important aspects, and one of the major challenges, in describing the circulation in the Arctic Mediterranean Sea. Especially the northward transport of Arctic Intermediate Water (AIW) from the Nordic Seas into the Arctic Ocean is little known. In the two-ship study of the circulation in the Nordic Seas, Arctic Ocean - 2002, the Swedish icebreaker Oden operated in the ice-covered areas in and north of Fram Strait and in the western margins of Greenland and Iceland seas, while RV Knorr of Woods Hole worked in the ice free part of the Nordic Seas. Here two hydrographic sections obtained by Oden, augmented by tracer and velocity measurements with Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP), are examined. The first section, reaching from the Svalbard shelf across the Yermak Plateau, covers the region north of Svalbard where inflow to the Arctic Ocean takes place. The second, western, section spans the outflow area extending from west of the Yermak Plateau onto the Greenland shelf. Geostrophic and LADCP derived velocities are both used to estimate the exchanges of water masses between the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean. The geostrophic computations indicate a total flow of 3.6 Sv entering the Arctic on the eastern section. The southward flow on the western section is found to be 5.1 Sv. The total inflow to the Arctic Ocean obtained using the LADCP derived velocities is much larger, 13.6 Sv, and the southward transport on the western section is 13.7 Sv, equal to the northward transport north of Svalbard. Sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) originating from a tracer release experiment in the Greenland Sea in 1996 has become a marker for the circulation of AIW. From the geostrophic velocities we obtain 0.5 Sv and from the LADCP derived velocities 2.8 Sv of AIW flowing into the Arctic. The annual transport of SF₆ into the Arctic Ocean derived from geostrophy is 5 kg/year, which is of the same magnitude as the observed total annual transport into the North Atlantic, while the LADCP measurements (19 kg/year) imply that it is substantially larger. Little SF₆ was found on the western section, confirming the dominance of the Arctic Ocean water masses and indicating that the major recirculation in Fram Strait takes place farther to the south.     

Time-series measurements of Th in water column and sediment trap samples from the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Disequilibrium between ²³⁴Th and ²³⁸U in water column profiles has been used to estimate the settling flux of Th (and, by proxy, of particulate organic carbon); yet potentially major non-steady-state influences on ²³⁴Th profiles are often not able to be considered in estimations of flux. We have compared temporal series of ²³⁴Th distributions in the upper water column at both coastal and deep-water sites in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea to coeval sediment trap records at the same sites. We have used sediment trap records of ²³⁴Th fluxes to predict temporal changes in water column ²³⁴Th deficits and have compared the predicted deficits to those measured to determine whether the time-evolution of the two coincide. At the coastal site (327 m water depth), trends in the two estimates of water column ²³⁴Th deficits are in fairly close agreement over the 1-month deployment during the spring bloom in 1999. In contrast, the pattern of water column ²³⁴Th deficits is poorly predicted by sediment trap records at the deep-water site (DYFAMED, 2300 m water depth) in both 2003 and 2005. In particular, the transition from a mesotrophic to an oligotrophic system, clearly seen in trap fluxes, is not evident in water column ²³⁴Th profiles, which show high-frequency variability. Allowing trapping efficiencies to vary from 100% does not reconcile the differences between trap and water column deficit observations; we conclude that substantial lateral and vertical advective influences must be invoked to account for the differences.Advective influences are potentially greater on ²³⁴Th fluxes derived from water column deficits relative to those obtained from traps because the calculation of deficits in open-ocean settings is dominated by the magnitude of the “dissolved” ²³⁴Th fraction. For observed current velocities of 5–20 cm s⁻¹, in one radioactive mean-life of ²³⁴Th, the water column at the DYFAMED site can reflect ²³⁴Th scavenging produced tens to hundreds of kilometers away. In contrast, most of the ²³⁴Th flux collected in shallow sediment traps at the DFYFAMED site was in the fraction settling >200 m d⁻¹; in effect the sediment trap can integrate the ²³⁴Th flux over distances 40-fold less than water column ²³⁴Th distributions. In some sense, sediment trap and water column sampling for ²³⁴Th provide complementary pictures of ²³⁴Th export. However, because the two methods can be dominated by different processes and are subject to different biases, their comparison must be treated with caution.     

Vertical turbulent exchange in the Black Sea pycnocline and its relation to water dynamics

Estimates of vertical turbulent diffusion coefficient (K _t ) in the Black Sea pycnohalocline have been obtained from data of simultaneous observations of seawater temperature, salinity, density, and horizontal current velocity, obtained in the northeastern part of the Black Sea during 2013–2014 with a moored Aqualog profiler. A Munk and Andersson (1948) type parameterization, adapted for the Black Sea environment, is proposed for calculating K _t . Strong short-period (several days) variability of turbulent exchange is revealed, induced by vertical shear variations of the current velocity.