Hydroid assemblages from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean (34–42° S)

This paper provides updated taxonomic knowledge about hydrozoan species and provides ecological information including geographical and bathymetric distributions and biological substrata for the various hydroid assemblages from the Sub-Antarctic Biogeographical Region, mainly Buenos Aires and the Uruguayan coasts. Five of the 41 species found are new records for the study region. Thirty-one species (75.6%), all found at depths of less than 80 m, have cosmopolitan distributions. Biodiversity decreased markedly below 80 m depth, where nine species (≈22%) distributed in the Southern hemisphere and one endemic species (2.4%) were found. Most species were non-specific epizoites, occurring on diverse substrata. A non-parametric multivariate similarity analysis revealed nine species groups that were correlated with large-scale and local oceanographic patterns and with the availability of suitable substrata. The main hydroid substrata for eight of the groups were cnidarians, molluscs (mainly blue mussels), quartzite rocks and sponges. In a single group found in Patagonian scallop beds, the main biological substrata were polychaete tubes, other hydroids and scallops.     

Origin of iron and aluminium in large particles (> 53 µm) in the Crozet region, Southern Ocean

Natural iron fertilization processes are occurring around the Crozet Islands (46°26′S–52°18′E), thus relieving the water masses from the normally encountered High Nutrients Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) conditions of the Southern Ocean. During austral summers 2004/2005 and 2005/2006, iron and aluminium concentrations were investigated in large particles (> 53 µm) collected from just below the mixed layer at stations under the influence of island inputs, and also in adjacent HNLC waters. These large particles are anticipated to sink out of the mixed layer, and to reflect the net effects of input and cycling of these elements in the overlying mixed layer. Labile and refractory fractions were determined by a two-stage leaching technique. Data showed that water masses downstream of the islands were enriched in total iron and aluminium (0.25–2.68 nmol L^− 1 and 0.34–3.28 nmol L^− 1 respectively), relative to the southern HNLC control sites (0.15–0.29 nmol L^− 1 for Fe and 0.12–0.29 nmol L^− 1 for Al), with only a small fraction (typically < 1%) being acid leachable in both environments. Particulate iron predominantly derived from the island system represents a significant fraction of the total water column iron inventory and may complement dissolved Fe inputs that help support the high summer productivity around the Crozet islands.     

Insights from fluid inclusions, thermal and PVT modeling for paleo-burial and thermal reconstruction of the Córdoba petroleum system (NE Mexico)

Carbonate reservoirs in the Córdoba petroleum system (NE Mexico) passed through a multiphase deformation history complicating the petroleum geology. The area evolved from passive margin and foreland setting to Laramide fold and thrust belt (FTB) that was subsequently buried below the Tertiary-Quaternary Veracruz Basin, which in turn underwent transpressional deformation. Reconstruction of paleo-burial (erosion) and paleo-thermicity through the different zones of the FTB and adjacent foreland is a challenging task since classical calibration tools fail to discriminate between several kinematic and thermal models. In this study results from detailed diagenetic and fluid inclusion (FI) analyses on carbonates from the western part of the Córdoba Platform helped constraining paleo-thermicity. Combined microthermometry, synchrotron FTIR analyses and PVT modeling of cogenetic hydrocarbon-aqueous FI allowed also calculation of absolute pressures. Thermal modeling exercises calibrated with organic maturity parameters, bottom-hole temperatures or temperatures from FI demonstrate that without controlling also paleo-erosion the model results may be misleading.