Tertiary foraminiferal rock samples from the western Solomon Sea

Rock fragments dredged from four R/VNatsushima stations contain Tertiary foraminifera. The oldest sample is an upper bathyal biomicrite of Early Eocene age (52 to 53.5 Ma) from the the Trobriand Platform. Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene neritic limestones were located off the Trobriand Platform and on the inner wall of the New Britain Trench. Miocene bathyal sediments come from the Trobriand Platform; similar Pliocene rocks were recovered here as well as from the inner wall of the New Britain Trench and the central part of the Solomon Sea Basin. No reworked pre-Tertiary foraminifera are present in any sample.     

Bathymetry and Canyons of the western Solomon Sea

The floor of the western Solomon Sea (for new bathymetric map see inside back cover of this issue) is dominated by the arched and ridged basement of the Solomon Sea Basin, the partly-sediment-filled New Britain Trench, and a more completely filled trench, the Trobriand Trough. There is a deep basin where the trenches join (149° Embayment), and a silled basin west of the New Britain Trench (Finsch Deep). Submarine canyons descend from the west and south to the 149° Embayment. Abyssal fans and plains are structurally defined and locally disturbed by young faults. Probable submerged pinnacle reefs stand in water depths as great as 1,200 m.     

Bathymetry and Canyons of the western Solomon Sea

The floor of the western Solomon Sea (for new bathymetric map see inside back cover of this issue) is dominated by the arched and ridged basement of the Solomon Sea Basin, the partly-sediment-filled New Britain Trench, and a more completely filled trench, the Trobriand Trough. There is a deep basin where the trenches join (149° Embayment), and a silled basin west of the New Britain Trench (Finsch Deep). Submarine canyons descend from the west and south to the 149° Embayment. Abyssal fans and plains are structurally defined and locally disturbed by young faults. Probable submerged pinnacle reefs stand in water depths as great as 1,200 m.     

Regional setting and structure of the western Solomon Sea

The western Solomon Sea is bounded by the Paleogene collision complex of the Papuan Peninsula to the south, and land masses constructed by Cainozoic volcanism to the north and cast. Oblique collision of two trenches in the western Solomon Sea, and concomitant collision of upper plates, have produced structural complexities that may include the local doubling of crustal thickness, coincident with a strong negative gravity anomaly west of 149°E. Lateral flexing of the subducted plate in the New Britain Trench may have caused flexure of the upper plate; this flexure is expressed in the gravity field, faults, dip-slopes, exposure of basement, and alignment of volcanoes.     

A multi-national,multi-parameter marine study of the western Solomon Sea and Region

A geological /geophysical survey of the western Solomon Sea and Manus Basin, northeastern Bismarck Sea, was carried out in 1983-84. The results of the survey and associated studies are reported in this issue and a later issue ofGeo-Marine Letters.     

A multi-national, multi-parameter marine study of the western Solomon Sea and Region

A geological /geophysical survey of the western Solomon Sea and Manus Basin, northeastern Bismarck Sea, was carried out in 1983-84. The results of the survey and associated studies are reported in this issue and a later issue ofGeo-Marine Letters.     

Age of the Solomon Sea Basin from magnetic lineations

Magnetic anomalies measured in the central to western half of the Solomon Sea, when considered with other magnetic data, reveal the existence of linear patterns. Magnetic lineation anomaly models of the Cenozoic, 65 to 0 Ma, suggest that an age between 34 and 28 Ma and a half-rate spreading speed of 5.8 cm/yr for the northern flank of a former spreading center best fits our present magnetic data in the Solomon Sea Basin. Heat flow and bathymetry data support this preferred model.     

Age of the Solomon Sea Basin from magnetic lineations

Magnetic anomalies measured in the central to western half of the Solomon Sea, when considered with other magnetic data, reveal the existence of linear patterns. Magnetic lineation anomaly models of the Cenozoic, 65 to 0 Ma, suggest that an age between 34 and 28 Ma and a half-rate spreading speed of 5.8 cm/yr for the northern flank of a former spreading center best fits our present magnetic data in the Solomon Sea Basin. Heat flow and bathymetry data support this preferred model.     

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages of the South China Sea

Based on the dominant species of benthic foraminifers in the bottom sediments sampled at 270 stations in the South China Sea, their 12 assemblages are defined and mapped. The distribution of these assemblages is controlled by environmental factors that are determined by bathymetric and latitudinal zonality, currents, upwellings, continental runoff, and water productivity. The communities established are indicative of different biotopes characterized by upwellings, higher or lower productivity, and intense or less intense impact of freshwater runoff.     

Factors controlling CaCO3 dissolution in the Weddell Sea from foraminiferal distribution patterns

Surface samples of sediment cores from the Weddell Sea contain foraminiferal assemblages which are distinctly divided into calcareous or arenaceous populations and reflect CaCO₃ dissolution in some regions. Water depth apparently is only partly responsible for this CaCO₃ dissolution, the present CCD varying from 250 m to greater than 3700 m. Other factors such as water-mass properties, biological producitivity and sedimentation, all of which are controlled by the glacial regime of a region, are of major importance.Perennial sea-ice formation over the southwestern continental shelf causes a deficiency in surface productivity, limits air—sea interaction and produces cold, Saline Shelf Water which is apparently undersaturated with respect to CaCO₃. In the eastern Weddell Sea, less severe glacial conditions appear to favor CaCO₃ preservation on the continental shelf. In this area the CCD coincides approximately with major water-mass boundaries varying from over 700 m to approximately 500 m.The deepest and most widespread occurrence of calcareous foraminiferal assemblages coincides with the present region of Antarctic Bottom Water production in the Weddell Sea. Here the CCD is depressed from approximately 1500 m to over 3700 m from east to west along the outer edge of the slope and reflects intensification of mixing and subsequent increased biological productivity in that direction.     

Petrology and mineral chemistry of sedimentary rocks from the Western Solomon Sea

Sedimentary rocks from the northern margin of the Trobriand Platform, the north wall of the New Britain Trench, and the floor of the Solomon Sea Basin are volcaniclastics, mudrocks, and neritic and bathyal limestones. Arc-volcanic debris from calc-alkaline or high-K magmatic sources is present at each locality. A minor metamorphic component occurs at one site on the Trobriand Platform which yielded Early Eocene to Middle Miocene material, and at the New Britain Trench site, which yielded Miocene or older and post-Miocene samples. Solomon Sea Basin samples are mudrocks which are apparently no older than Late Pliocene.     

Petrology and mineral chemistry of sedimentary rocks from the Western Solomon Sea

Multichannel seismic reflection profiles recorded in the northern Red Sea show structures that we interpret to be a result of the intrusion of uppermost Miocene salt. We believe that the evaporites are underlaid by attenuated continental crust and the flow of salt is due to renewed faulting of basement in the Pliocene when sea floor spreading began between latitudes 21°N and 15°30°N.     

Plate boundaries and evolution of the Solomon Sea region

The Solomon Sea Plate was widely developed during late Oligocene, separating the proto-West Melanesian Arc from the proto-Trobriand Arc. Spreading in the Bismarck Sea and in the Woodlark Basin resulted from interaction between the Pacific and Australian Plates, specifically from the collision of the proto-West Melanesian Arc with north New Guinea, which occurred after arc reversal. This model explains the extensive Miocene, Pliocene, and Quaternary volcanism of the Papua New Guinea mainland as it related to southward subduction of the Trobriand Trough. Our interpreted plate motions are concordant with the geological evidence onshore and also with complex tectonic features in the Solomon Sea Basin Region.     

The Trobriand Subduction System in the Western Solomon Sea

A south-dipping Subduction system which underlies the Trobriand Trough and 149° Embayment, on the southern margin of the Solomon Sea, is active or was recently active. Oceanic basement is overlain by 2.5 s, two-way travel time (TWTT), of sediment that shows at least two stages of deformation: early thrusts (inner wall) and normal faults (outer wall), and later normal faults that have elevated the outer trench margin. Thrust anticlines and slope basins are developed on the inner wall. The floor of the Solomon Sea Basin arches upward between the Trobriand Trough and the New Britain Trench to form isolated peaks and ridges in the east (152° Peaks) and an east-west Central Ridge in the west. Structures in the subduction system, and in the Solomon Sea Basin, plunge westward towards the point of collision with the New Britain Trench.     

The holocene biochronostratigraphy and paleoenvironment in Dvina Bay from benthic foraminiferal studies of the White Sea

The compositional changes and frequency variations in the foraminiferal communities through the sediment section across Dvina Bay allow us to identify 14 ecological-stratigraphic zones. Based on the ¹⁴C dates for the foraminiferal tests, the distinguished ecozones correspond to the appropriate Holocene stages and substages. Because most of the foraminiferal species identified in the Holocene sediments are abundant and diverse in the modern oceans, they provide a powerful tool for the reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental changes during the Holocene.     

西北冰洋表层沉积物中的底栖有孔虫组合及其古环境意义

通过对中国第1~4次北极考察在西北冰洋采集的表层沉积物中底栖有孔虫丰度及其优势种分布特征与环境因素关系的综合研究发现,楚科奇海区低的底栖有孔虫丰度主要受较高的陆源物质输入的稀释作用影响;楚科奇海台和阿尔法脊较高的底栖有孔虫丰度主要受到暖而咸的大西洋中层水的影响;受碳酸钙溶解作用影响的门捷列夫深海平原和加拿大海盆底栖有孔虫丰度较低,并且水深3 597 m的站位出现了似瓷质壳的Pyrgo williamsoni和Quinqueloculina orientalis,说明该区的CCD深度大于3 600 m。根据底栖有孔虫7个优势属种的百分含量分布特征可以划分出5个区域组合:南楚科奇海陆架-白令海峡组合以优势种Elphidium excavatum和Buccella frigida为特征,可能反映受白令海陆架水影响的浅水环境;阿拉斯加沿岸-波弗特海组合以优势种Florilus scaphus和Elphidium albiumbilicatum为特征,可能反映受季节性海冰融化,低盐的阿拉斯加沿岸流以及河流淡水输入的低盐环境;大西洋中层水组合以优势种Cassidulina laevigata为特征,可能反映高温高盐的大西洋中层水影响的环境;北极深层水组合以优势种Cibicides wuellerstorfi为特征,可能反映水深大于1 500 m低温高盐的北极深层水环境;门捷列夫深海平原组合以优势种Oridorsalis umbonatus为特征,可能反映低营养的底层水环境。     

Age estimation of the Solomon Sea based on heat flow data

Several heat flow measurements were made during the NAT83 cruise in the central part of the Solomon Sea Basin. The average value of 87 mW/m² (2.08 HFU) calculated from these and other data indicates that the age of the Solomon Sea Basin may range from 24 to 44 Ma. This is supported by the water depth, of approximately 4,500 m, versus age relationship. There is a possibility that the Solomon Sea Basin is not a back-arc basin associated with an arc but was formerly a relatively large oceanic plate. The agreement in age from both heat flow and water depth data favors the latter hypothesis.     

Age estimation of the Solomon Sea based on heat flow data

Several heat flow measurements were made during the NAT83 cruise in the central part of the Solomon Sea Basin. The average value of 87 mW/m² (2.08 HFU) calculated from these and other data indicates that the age of the Solomon Sea Basin may range from 24 to 44 Ma. This is supported by the water depth, of approximately 4,500 m, versus age relationship. There is a possibility that the Solomon Sea Basin is not a back-arc basin associated with an arc but was formerly a relatively large oceanic plate. The agreement in age from both heat flow and water depth data favors the latter hypothesis.     

Evolution of the western Barents Sea

Information from multichannel seismic reflection data complemented by seismic refraction, gravity and magnetics forms the basis for a regional structural and evolutionary model of the western Barents Sea during post-Caledonian times. The western Barents Sea contains a thick succession, locally > 10 km, of Upper Paleozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks covering a basement of probably Caledonian origin. The area is divided into three regional geological provinces: (1) an east-west trending basinal province between 74°N and the coast of Norway; (2) an elevated platform area to the north towards Svalbard; and (3) the western continental margin. Several structural elements of different origin and age have been mapped within each of these provinces. The main stratigraphic sequence boundaries have been tentatively dated from available well information, correlation with the geology of adjacent areas, and correlation with the interregional unconformities caused by relative changes of sea level. The main structural elements were developed during three major post-Caledonian tectonic phases: the Svalbardian phase in Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous times, the Mid and Late Kimmerian phase in Mid Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times and Cenozoic tectonism related to the progressive northward opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. The sediments are predicted to be of mainly clastic origin except for a thick sequence of Middle Carboniferous — Lower Permian carbonates and evaporites. Salt diapirs have developed in several sub-basins, especially in the Nordkapp Basin where they form continuous salt walls that have pierced through > 7 km of sediments.     

Reconstruction of the postglacial environments in the southwestern Barents Sea based on foraminiferal assemblages

Environmental changes in the surface and bottom water layers of the Ingøydjupet Basin and the history of the Atlantic Water inflow to the southwestern Barents Sea during the last 16 ka are reconstructed based on planktic and benthic foraminiferal assemblages. The multiproxy study of sediment cores PSh-5159R and PSh-5159N, including AMS ¹⁴C dating, provides a time resolution of about 200 years for the deglaciation, 100 years for the Holocene, and 25–50 years for the last 400 years. Stable polar conditions with the sea ice at the surface were typical for the Early Deglaciation period. Unstable bottom settings and the onset of ice rafting marked the Oldest Dryas. The cold Atlantic Water inflow increased notably during the Bölling-Alleröd interstadial nearby the site location and then decreased during the Younger Dryas. The initial Holocene was characterized by abrupt warming in bottom and surface water layers, especially ～9.7–7.6 ka BP. Stable conditions prevailed during the Middle Holocene. Remarkable changes in the sea-surface temperature and bottom environments occurred during the last 2.5 cal. ka BP.