A late pleistocene-holocene sapropelic layer in the Northwest Aegean Sea,Eastern Mediterranean

Sedimentological, geochemical, and micropaleontological analyses of nine gravity and two piston cores from the northwest Aegean Sea, eastern Mediterranean, revealed the presence of five lithologies deposited during the last 18,000 years. These are a Continental Shelf Unit, a hemipelagic-turbiditic Upper Unit, a hemipelagic-turbiditic Middle Unit, a marine transgression Lower Unit, and within the Middle Unit, a Sapropelic layer. Deposition of the Sapropelic layer took place beneath a water column depleted in dissolved oxygen, and reduced in salinity and temperature compared to existing conditions today. The main input for the organic matter preserved was fluvial, issuing from the Greek mainland.     

Possible origin of laminated sediments of the anoxic Bannock Basin (eastern Mediterranean)

Quantitative analysis of nannofossils and microfossils in laminated sediments recovered from the Libeccio Basin of the Bannock area and a comparison with similar laminated sediments from anoxic basins in the Black Sea and the Gulf of Mexico suggest that the laminated sediments in this eastern Mediterranean anoxic basin are the result of cyclic productivity changes. It is suggested on the basis of periodicity estimates of 80 yr that the laminae are related to changes in solar activity (Wolf-Gleissberg cycles) that influenced the Nile discharge and thus the nutrient supply in the water masses.     

Possible diagenetic mobilization of barium in sapropelic sediment from the eastern Mediterranean

In the last few years it has frequently been suggested that Ba is a useful indicator of paleoproductivity. The formation of some sapropels in the Eastern Mediterranean is considered to be related to, or to coincide with, periods of enhanced productivity. A high-resolution sampling study has been undertaken in order to investigate whether the Ba distribution in sapropels reflects a primary input signal or whether it has been altered by diagenetic processes.

On the basis of our results we suggest that three diagenetic stages determine the distribution of Ba. During deposition of the sapropel (stage 1) Ba is mobilized as anoxic conditions prograde. After deposition of the sapropel (stage 2), a progressive oxidation front develops. This front induces the formation of Mn and Fe enrichments and barite precipitation at the oxic/anoxic boundary. Barite precipitation is believed to be caused mainly by a rise in the porewater sulphate concentration after sulphides have been oxidized by the front.

Upon burial (stage 3), suboxic conditions develop as the oxygen becomes exhausted again. In contrast to Fe- and Mn-oxyhydroxides which dissolve and reprecipitate at higher levels, barite is preserved because dissolved sulphate is not depleted.

The interpretation of the Ba distribution in organic-rich sediment is not straightforward. Diagenetic reallocation of a primary Ba signal will possibly disturb the relationship between Ba and organic production. Consequently, one must be very cautious when invoking Ba as a paleoproductivity indicator.     

北部湾东北部表层沉积物主微量元素空间分布特征

A multi-index analysis including grain size, major and trace elements is performed on the surface sediments from the northeastern Beibu Gulf to trace the sources of the sediments and to understand the controlling factors for elements distribution. The mean grain size exhibits a wide variation ranging from 0.09Φ to 8.05Φ with an average value of 5.33Φ. The average contents of major elements descend in an order of c(SiO_2)c(Al_2O_3)c(Fe_2O_3)c(CaO)c(MgO)c(K_2O)c(Na_2O)c(TiO_2)c(P_2O_5)c(MnO), while those of trace elements exhibit a descending order of c(Sr)c(Rb)c(V)c(Zn)c(Cr)c(Pb)c(Ni)c(Cu)c(As). On the basis of elementary distribution characteristics and statistical analyses, the study area is divided into the four zones: Zone I is located in the northeastern coastal area of the gulf, which receives large amount of fluvial materials from local rivers in Guangxi and Guangdong, China, and the Qiongzhou Strait; Zone Ⅱ is located in the center of the study area, where surface sediments exhibits a multiple source; Zone Ⅲ is located in the Qiongzhou Strait, where surface sediments are dominated by materials from the Zhujiang River and Hainan; Zone IV is located in the southwest of the study area, where surface sediments are mainly originated from the Red River and Hainan. The statistical analyses of sediment geochemical characteristics reveal that the grain size, which is mainly influenced by hydrodynamics and mineral composition of terrigenous materials, is the leading factor controlling the elementary distribution.Meanwhile, impacts from anthropogenic activities and marine biogenic process will also be taken into consideration.     

Identification and dispersion of the campanian ash layer (Y-5) in the sediments of the Eastern Mediterranean

Sedimentological, mineralogical, optical, and geochemical analyses were used to identify pyroclastic material contained within gravity and piston cores recovered from the northwestern Aegean and Gulf of Corinth areas of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The lithological, optical, and elemental signatures of the tephra suggest that the material originated from the Campanian Province of Italy, and is known as the Campanian Ash Layer or Y-5. The identification of the Y-5 layer in these two previously unreported areas extend the distribution of this stratigraphic marker and increases the quantitative estimates of pyroclastic material volume. In addition, our knowledge of sedimentary processes active within these two areas is extended.     

Geochemical peculiarities of sediments in the northeastern Black Sea

We present the results of chemical determinations of Al, Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr, Pb, Sb, and As in Black Sea sediments over a profile from the Kerch Strait to the eastern part of a deep depression (2210 m). The lithological and geochemical variations were studied in the horizontal and vertical profiles of sediments up to 3 m thick. The tendencies in the distributions of the studied metals during Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentation were analyzed beginning from Neoeuxinian freshwater deposits via the overlaying Drevnechernomorian beds with elevated contents of sapropel to modern clayey carbonate deposits with coccolithophorids. Statistical factor analysis isolated five factors: two main factors (75% of the total dispersion) and three subordinate factors. The first leading biogenic factor (47% of dispersion) reflects the correlation between С_org, Cu, and Ni; the second terrigenous factor (28% of dispersion) combimes Fe, Al, Cr, and Sb. The chemical composition of the sediments reflects the manifestation of diagenesis of landslide processes and mud volcanism along with sedimentation regularities.     

Distribution and origin of shallow gas in deep-sea sediments of the Ulleung Basin, East Sea (Sea of Japan)

A synthesis of high-resolution (Chirp, 2–7 kHz) subbottom profiles in the Ulleung Basin reveals patchy distribution of shallow (<90 m subbottom depth) gassy sediments in the eastern basin plain below 1,800-m water depth. The shallow gases in the sediments are associated with acoustic turbidities, columnar acoustic blankings, enhanced reflectors, dome structures, and pockmarks. Analyses of gas samples collected from a piston core in an earlier study suggest that the shallow gases are thermogenic in origin. Also, published data showing high amounts of organic matter in thick sections of marine shale (middle Miocene to lower Pliocene sequence) and high heat flow in the basin plain sediments are consistent with the formation of deep, thermogenic gas. In multi-channel deep seismic profiles, numerous acoustic chimneys and faults reflect that the deep, thermogenic gas would have migrated upwards from the deeper subsurface to the near-seafloor. The upward-migrating gases may have accumulated in porous debrites and turbidites (upper Pliocene sequence) overlain by impermeable hemipelagites (Quaternary sequence), resulting in the patchy distribution of shallow gases on the eastern basin plain.     

Origin and differentiation of clay minerals in pelagic sediments and sapropels of the Bannock Basin (Eastern Mediterranean)

Two cores from an anoxic basin of the southeastern Mediterranean Ridge were investigated to compare the clay mineralogy of pelagic sediments and of the interbedded sapropels. The sediments of Core BAN 84-02, raised from the basin floor, and those of Core BAN 84-08, from the eastern plateau of the Bannock Basin, provide evidence for different sedimentary environments. The anoxic conditions, which are still present near the bottom, produce an important decrease in smectite crystallinity (Core 02), whereas well-organized smectite persists in the normally oxygenated sediments (Core 08). Detrital clay minerals from various sources were deposited in the basin and no appreciable diagenesis was recognized downcore.

The clay mineralogy of the sapropels shows remarkable differences compared to the pelagic sediments. The changes observed are dependent on aggressive chemical reaction and on the sudden input of detrital crystalline sediments into the stagnant environment. A climatic curve registers the variable degree of clay mineral hydrolysis in continental areas and exhibits good correspondence with an already published oxygen isotope curve for the area.     

Hardground formation in the Bannock Basin, Eastern Mediterranean

Twenty kilogrammes of crusts and slabs of indurated carbonate sediment, usually referred to as hardgrounds, were dredged along the eastern steep wall of the Bannock Basin during the 1984 cruise of R.V. Bannock.

The crusts range in thickness from one to a few centimetres and the fragments of these crusts are irregular in shape. Their surface is always uneven and their colour ranges from white to brownish dark grey. Some slabs are impregnated along one side by ferromanganese sesquioxides, and borings occur in several samples. Serpulid tubes have been observed in one instance. The borings and serpulids suggest formation of the hardgrounds at or close to the sediment/water interface and exposure at the seafloor.

The degree of lithification is generally different on the inferred upper and lower sides of the slabs. An upward increase of lithification across the slabs is reflected by mineralogy, ultrastructure and stable isotope composition of the carbonate. X-ray diffraction analyses indicate high-magnesian calcite as the predominant carbonate with minor amounts of low-magnesian calcite and dolomite. Occasionally, large gypsum crystals are attached to the hardgrounds and sometimes smaller ones are dispersed through the carbonate matrix.

An increase in diagenesis is reflected by the passage from friable, nodular nannofossil chalk to nannofossil limestone and hard xenotopic calcite micrite. Overgrowth of coccoliths and internal cementation of the tests of planktonic foraminifera by high-Mg calcite increase from chalk to limestone. In the hard, fully cemented micrites, coccoliths can no longer be recognised in the xenotopic fabric. Pteropods occur as dissolution moulds with aragonite preserved as only tiny relics.

Carbon and oxygen isotope analyses were performed on different samples. The progressive lithification to chalk and limestone is marked by a shift in the δ¹⁸O values from +1.2‰ to +5.4‰ (PDB). This change indicates that precipitation of high-Mg calcite and possibly also recrystallisation of the original biogenic carbonate took place within cold and hypersaline brines which were enriched in ¹⁸O. The oxygen isotope data suggest that lithification and gypsum precipitation occurred under identical conditions. The carbon isotope data show progressive diagenetic change from values near +1‰ to values of +3‰. This change may reflect a contribution of methanogenetic CO₂ to the hypersaline brine.     

Isostasy and paleotemperatures in the Southern Tyrrhenian Basin,Mediterranean Sea

The present-day basement depth of the seafloor in the absence of sediment loading was inferred along a traverse crossing the Southern Tyrrhenian Basin. A correction for sediment loading was proposed on the basis of density, seismic velocity and porosity data from selected deep boreholes. The empirical relation between sediment correction and seismic two-way travel time was extrapolated downward by applying the Nafe–Drake curve and a specific porosity–depth relation. The sediment loading response of the basement calculated for flexural isostasy is on average about one hundred meters lower than results for local isostasy. A pure lithosphere extensional model was then used to predict quantitatively the basement subsidence pattern on the margins of the basin. The basement depth is consistent with uniform extension model predictions only in some parts of the margins. The observed variability in the region of greatest thinning (transition from continental to oceanic crust) is attributable to the weakening effect caused by diffuse igneous intrusions. Subsidence of the volcanic Calabrian–Sicilian margin is partly accounted for by magmatic underplating. The comparison of the calculated subsidence with an oceanic lithosphere cooling model shows that subsidence is variable in some areas, particularly in the Marsili Basin. This argues for a typical back-arc origin for the Tyrrhenian Basin, as a result of subduction processes. By taking into account the geodynamic setting, stratigraphic data from the deepest hole and the terrestrial heat flow, we reconstructed the paleotemperatures of cover sediments. The results suggest that low temperatures generally have prevailed during sediment deposition and that the degree of maturation is expected not to be sufficient for oil generation processes.     

钦州湾海底沉积物Hg元素分布特征分析

根据2006年5月获得的海底表层沉积物和柱状样品测试资料,分析了钦州湾海底沉积物中有害元素Hg的平面分布和垂向分布特征。结果显示:平面分布上,钦州湾口门附近Hg含量较高,Hg影响较大,湾内的Hg含量则较小,湾外向外海方向Hg含量逐渐降低;垂向分布上,海底表层的Hg含量高,向下则逐渐降低,至海底表层70cm以下,Hg值趋于稳定。根据沉积速率,确认约700年前开始,钦州湾受人类活动的影响逐渐增加,至约130年前,人类活动影响加剧。对比历史事件,认为钦州湾海底沉积物Hg含量变化与人类活动相关。总体上,钦州湾海底沉积物Hg测量值均低于标准值,说明其环境目前尚好。     

Microfossils, carbonate lysocline and compensation depth in surface sediments of the northeastern South China Sea

INTRODUCTIONTwoimportantinterfacespunctuatingtheabyssalverticaltrans sectionarecarbonatelyso clineandcarbonatecompensationdepth (CCD) .Thecarbonatelysoclineislabeledbyabruptincrementofcarbonatedissolutiononcalcitemicrofossilssuchasplanktonicforaminifertests(Berger,1 96 8) ,ordecreasingapparentlyinpercentageofthecarbonateproportion (Panetal ,1 988) .ThoughtherearemanyachievementsonthecarbonatecycleandCCDresearches(Wangetal ,1 995;Rottman ,1 979;Thunelletal ,1 992 ;Zhengetal ,1 993;Mia…     

赤道东北太平洋沉积物间隙水中溶解有机碳的分布特征

沉积物间隙水中的溶解有机碳(DOC)是沉积物有机质矿化过程中的中间产物[1],沉积物中的有机质通过微生物水解和(厌氧)发酵等方式溶解成各类具有不同分子量的有机化合物,通常总称为溶解有机碳,并释放到沉积物间隙水中.而溶解有机碳又进一步被细菌等微生物所利用,最终被氧化为溶解无机碳,完成有机质的矿化过程.因此,沉积物间隙水中DOC的浓度是消耗和生成之间平衡的结果[1].已有的研究表明,沉积物间隙水中DOC的含量显著高于底层水体中DOC的含量,导致其向底层水体的扩散;近期的研究也表明,来自海底沉积物的DOC通量是底层水体中DOC的重要来源,是海洋有机碳储库中的重要组成之一[2~4].     

Dilute-acid trace-metal fraction in northeastern Gulf of Mexico sediments

Variations in dilute-acid (partial digest) metal concentrations in bottom sediments from 49 stations on the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida continental margin are investigated with the aid of ordination and other multivariate statistical techniques. Total iron, carbonate content, clay fraction and water depth correlate well with the overall leachable sediment metal values for pooled station replicates over four sampling periods. Individual metal concentrations also are correlated with these and other environmental parameters using stepwise multiple linear regression techniques. A weak positive association between Ba, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, and V burdens in the demersal fishSyacium papillosum and the dilute-acid leachable sediment metal TOC and carbonate concentrations is demonstrated.     

Origin,physical, and mineralogical nature of red clays: The Pacific Ocean Basin as a model

Extensive examination of North Pacific Basin red clays by scanning and transmission electron microscopy reveals that the mean constituent of the red clays are illite-rich argillaceous or shale clasts, quartz and authigenic smectite. The main source of the shale clasts and quartz are aeolian in nature and are derived mainly from African and Asian shales. Illite-rich argillaceous or shale clasts are identifiable by their morphology (high degree of roundness), selected area diffraction, and their unique fracture characteristics created by an ultra thin-sectioning process. This allows for the identification and differentiation of illite-rich shale clasts from other clays, including detrital illite, kaolinite, and smectite. Geotechnical examination of the red clays indicate that they are overconsolidated: the preconsolidation stress is in all cases larger than the vertical effective stress. The overconsolidation is attributed to the strong bonding of argillaceous or shale clasts, quartz and other particulate matter by x-ray amorphous and well developed crystalline sheets of authigenic smectite characterized by high surface activity.     

南海东北部表层沉积物天然放射性核素与137Cs

用HPGeγ谱仪测定了南海东北部表层沉积物中的放射性核素.结果给出7种核素的平均比活度分别为40K:538Bq/kg,210Pb:116Bq/kg,226Ra:27.7Bq/kg,228Ra:4.49Bq/kg,228Th:42.0Bq/kg,238U:35.4Bq/kg和137Cs:1.16Bq/kg,210Pb的比活度随离岸距离增大,226Ra比活度随离岸距离没有明显变化,其余核素比活度随离岸距离减小.与对我国近海其他海域报道的沉积物放射性核素含量相比,40K和137Cs稍低于其他海域,其余核素为中等水平.     

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.     

南海东北部表层沉积物天然放射性核素与~(137)Cs

用HPGeγ谱仪测定了南海东北部表层沉积物中的放射性核素 .结果给出 7种核素的平均比活度分别为40 K :538Bq/kg ,2 10 Pb :1 1 6Bq/kg ,2 2 6Ra:2 7 7Bq/kg ,2 2 8Ra:4 4 9Bq/kg ,2 2 8Th :4 2 0Bq/kg ,2 38U :35 4Bq/kg和137Cs:1 1 6Bq/kg ,2 10 Pb的比活度随离岸距离增大 ,2 2 6Ra比活度随离岸距离没有明显变化 ,其余核素比活度随离岸距离减小 .与对我国近海其他海域报道的沉积物放射性核素含量相比 ,40 K和137Cs稍低于其他海域 ,其余核素为中等水平 .