Thermal evolution of the lithosphere of buried structures of the deep-water basin of the Black Sea

The GALO system for basin modeling is applied for numerical reconstruction of the thermal history of the lithosphere of the Western Basin and the Shatsky and Andrusov rises in the Black Sea. The modeling showed that the variant of the thermal evolution of the lithosphere of the region that was used by us for the Eastern Basin in our previous study is also applicable to the thermal evolution of the lithosphere of various tectonically different structures of the deep-water part of the Black Sea. These structures include both the Western and Eastern basins of the sea characterized by a granite-free crust formed in the course of the back-arc spreading and the Shatsky and Andrusov rises with the continental type of crust. The proposed version of the lithosphere evolution in the deep-water part of the Black Sea implies the initial stage of quasi-rift heating in the Upper Cretaceous and the three-staged thermal activation of the plate in the Cenozoic accompanied by three successive stages of crustal thinning. The latter resulted in the gradual deepening of the sea down to the present-day depth of 2.2 km.     

Long-term trends in the variability of deep-water thermohaline characteristics of the Black Sea

By using the archival hydrological data for 1955–1998, we analyze the trends of deep-water thermohaline characteristics of the Black Sea and their interannual and decadal variability. It was discovered that the level of salinity increased at depths greater than 1000 m in the west part of the sea from the mid-1950-s till the early 1980s and the opposite trend was observed for the next 15–20 yr. The average rate of increase in the deep-water salinity between 1960 and 1980 and its decrease after 1980 was equal to 0.05‰ per 20 yr. These facts demonstrate that the water exchange through Bosporus was intensified for the first 25 yr of the analyzed period and weakened for the next 20 yr. The interannual variability with a typical period of 6.5 yr and a quasi-20-yr periodicity are detected against the background of the parabolic trend. __________ Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 4, pp. 18–30, July–August, 2006.     

Late Quaternary chronology of the southern Black Sea basin

During New Euxinian time when sea level dropped below the sill connecting the Black and Marmara seas, the Black Sea became isolated and freshwater sediments were deposited. Now it is a semieuxinic basin with the oxic/anoxic boundary at 100–150 m. The seasonal changes in sedimentation are preserved in the form of laminated sequences. The counting of varves in southeastern Black Sea cores show the chronology of the O₂/H₂S interface. The age of the Holocene sapropel along the eastern margin ranges from 4000 to 1000 yr BP in deep water and 2500—1000 yr BP in shallower water. Sapropel formation started at 3650 yr BP at a water depth of 2200 m.     

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.     

Eutrophication and annual primary production of phytoplankton in the deep-water part of the Black Sea

Using the data of daily primary production, as well as intraannual and long-term changes in the concentration of chlorophyll “a” and hydrochemical characteristics, the annual primary production of phytoplankton in the deep-water part of the Black Sea is estimated for the three key periods in the contemporary evolution of the sea: preeutrophication, very intense eutrophication, and the present-day period characterized by deeutrophication. It is shown that eutrophication in the second part of the 20th Century led to an increase in the production level not only in the shelf of the Black Sea, but also its deep-water areas. By the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s, the value of the annual primary production in this part of the sea increased from 63 ± 18 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹ (in the 1960s) up to 135 ± 30 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹. On the contrary, after 1993, mainly because of reduced runoff of biogenic substances into the Black Sea from land based sources, there was a decrease in the annual production of phytoplankton in the deep-water areas of the sea, which is currently about 105 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹.     

Sulfate reduction below the sulfate-methane transition in Black Sea sediments

A sudden increase in salinity about 7000 years ago caused a shift in the deposited sediments of the Black Sea from limnic to brackish-marine. Due to the development of an anoxic deep water basin and a relatively high sulfate concentration, organic matter is mineralized primarily through sulfate reduction in modern Black Sea sediments. Earlier studies showed that sulfate-reducing bacteria are abundant within the limnic sub-surface sediment in spite of extremely low concentrations of sulfate and organic carbon. A main objective of the present study was therefore to understand the depth distribution of sulfate reduction across the different sediment units, even deep below the sulfate-methane transition. Our study combined experimental measurements of sulfate reduction using ³⁵S radiotracer with analyses of sulfur and iron geochemistry in pore water and sediment. Potential sulfate reduction rates were measured with ³⁵S in sediment samples that were amended with sulfate and organic substrates and incubated in time-series up to 48 h. Sulfate reduction could thereby be detected and quantified at depths where concentrations of sulfate were otherwise too low to enable calculation of the rates. The results demonstrate that sulfate-reducing bacteria are active several meters below the sulfate-methane transition in Black Sea sediments. The cryptic sulfate reduction below the sulfate-methane transition may be driven by sulfate produced from re-oxidation of reduced sulfur species with oxidized iron minerals buried in the deep limnic sediment.     

Sulfate reduction and anaerobic methane oxidation in Black Sea sediments

Beyond the shelf break at ca. 150 m water depth, sulfate reduction is the only important process of organic matter oxidation in Black Sea sediments from the surface down to the sulfate–methane transition at 2–4 m depth. Sulfate reduction rates were measured experimentally with ³⁵SO₄²⁻, and the rates were compared with results of two diffusion-reaction models. The results showed that, even in these non-bioirrigated sediments without sulfide reoxidation, modeling strongly underestimated the high reduction rates near the sediment surface. A hybrid modeling approach, in which experimentally measured rates in the upper sediment layers force a model that includes also the deeper layers, probably provides the most realistic estimate of sulfate reduction rates. Areal rates of sulfate reduction were 0.65–1.43 mmol SO₄²⁻ m⁻² d⁻¹, highest in sediments just below the chemocline. Anaerobic methane oxidation accounted for 7–11% of the total sulfate reduction in slope and deep-sea sediments. Although this methane-driven sulfate reduction shaped the entire sulfate gradient, it was only equivalent to the sulfate reduction in the uppermost 1.5 cm of surface sediment. Methane oxidation was complete, yet the process was very sluggish with turnover times of methane within the sulfate–methane transition zone of 20 yr or more.     

Superficial deep-water sediments of the Eastern Marmara Basin

Superficial sediments (top Im) of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, Sea of Marmara, Turkey accumulated rapidly (0.087 ± 0.012 g/cm² · y) by hemipelagic sedimentation with only limited amounts of gravity flow or bottom current action under low oxygenated but not anoxic conditions. They have restricted faunas, relatively higher organic carbon (1–1.8%) and lower calcium carbonate (14–20%) contents than other Eastern Mediterranean Basin sediments. Sedimentation shows little change over the last millenium except for an increase in Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, and P over the last few centuries. The increase was most likely caused by increased metallurgical activities since the eighteenth century but are not at sufficient levels for the area to be regarded as polluted.     

Heat flow and thermal evolution of the lithosphere of the Black Sea basin

In most of the studies devoted to the analysis of the thermal regime of the Black Sea basins, the high sedimentation rate is regarded to be the principal reason for the low values of the surface heat flow as compared to the deep flow. We used the basin modeling technique for a more detailed assessment of this issue with regard to the new geological and geophysical data on the age and structure of the sedimentary cover and basement of the Black Sea basins. The use of enhanced seismic data, together with a more accurate estimation of the age limits of the sedimentary sequences in the region, allowed us to refine the results of the previous studies. Based on the calculations performed for an actual cross section with actual properties of the sedimentary rocks under compaction and the basement rocks, it is shown that any version of the sedimentation and evolution of the basin compatible with the geological and geophysical data available lead to heat flow values that are significantly greater than those actually observed. Our analysis proves that the sedimentation alone, as was implied in the previous studies, cannot explain the decrease in the deep heat flow at the floor surface down to values of about 34 mW/m². It is shown that the temperature influence of the invasion of dense though heated waters of the Mediterranean Sea that occurred about 7000 years ago helps one to explain the low present-day heat flow values in the deep-water parts of the Western and Eastern basins of the Black Sea. The application of the basin modeling technique allowed us to pose a version of the thermal evolution of the lithosphere in the Western basin of the Black Sea compatible with the high heat flow at the end of the Cretaceous, with three stages of subsidence of the sea floor down to its present-day depths, and with the low heat flow values measured in the basin. According to the geophysical data, this version implies a relatively high-temperature present-day thermal regime in the basin’s lithosphere with a lithosphere thickness of about 60 km.     

Differential subsidence driving the formation of mounded stratigraphy in deep-water sediments; Palaeocene, central North Sea

Deep-water Palaeocene strata of the East Central Graben, UK North Sea, are characterised by elongate depressions and elevations parallel with the palaeotransport direction and with underlying structural lineaments. Palaeozoic and mesozoic faults underlying the basin were briefly re-activated during the Palaeocene, affecting the seabed topography in the form of gentle folding, faulting and slope instability. Two types of mounded features formed in response to the tectonically induced seabed structuration: (i) deformational mounded morphology, a product of syndepositional faulting and mass wasting, (ii) non-deformational mounded morphology, interpreted to result from changing flow dynamics as flows travelled over the deformed sea floor, accentuating the structural topography by means of localised erosion and deposition. This study shows how differential subsidence acted as the ultimate control behind a range of processes leading to mounded stratigraphy. The models of the origin of the mounded morphologies are novel in the context of the North-Sea Palaeocene and have implications for the prediction of lithology in mounded basinal deposits, in the North Sea and elsewhere.     

南海北部深水区表层沉积物工程性质的统计特征分析

针对从中国南海北部海域某深水区采集的表层沉积物柱状样,进行了沉积物微观结构的扫描电镜测试、矿物成分的X射线衍射试验以及物理和力学性质的统计学分析。结果表明,该深水区海底表层沉积物通常为有机质软黏土,具有高含水率、低密度、高孔隙比、高液限、高可塑性、低强度等典型特征。统计分析和假设检验表明,沉积物的物理和力学指标均呈现变异性,且后者普遍高于前者。相对密度、含水率、液塑限和塑性指数服从正态分布;容重、碳酸盐含量、不排水抗剪强度、灵敏度接近假设检验结果,近似服从正态分布。研究结果可为深水海底工程结构设计的海床土性参数取值提供参考。     

南海海盆中部表层沉积物地球化学特征

分析了南海海盆中部224个站位表层沉积物的常量组分和微量元素组成,结果表明,这些沉积物与大陆上地壳相比,具有相对贫Si和富Fe、Mg、Na、Ca、Mn的特点,微量元素含量总体与大陆上地壳较为相近。表层沉积物化学组分可以划分为4类组合：硅酸盐碎屑组分、钙质生物碎屑组分、火山碎屑组分和自生矿物组分;硅酸盐碎屑组分和钙质生物碎屑组分占绝对优势,两者含量互为消长,自生矿物和火山碎屑含量较低,仅在局部区域起到相对明显的贡献。南海海盆中部表层沉积物化学组成主要受水深、沉积作用和物质来源3个因素控制;水深和底流搬运作用影响钙质生物碎屑分布,深水海盆碳酸盐溶解作用强烈,海盆中部沉积物钙质生物碎屑含量低,而底流作用则将陆坡区钙质碎屑搬运至海盆边缘区域。沉积物地球化学特征指示,海盆中部沉积物陆源碎屑物质主要来自于西部或西南部,火山碎屑物质可能主要来自于吕宋岛弧火山喷发,并堆积于扩张中心以北和海盆东部区域。     

Sulfur and iron speciation in surface sediments along the northwestern margin of the Black Sea

The speciation of sedimentary sulfur (pyrite, acid volatile sulfides (AVS), S⁰, H₂S, and sulfate) was analyzed in surface sediments recovered at different water depths from the northwestern margin of the Black Sea. Additionally, dissolved and dithionite-extractable iron were quantified, and the sulfur isotope ratios in pyrite were measured. Sulfur and iron cycling in surface sediments of the northwestern part of the Black Sea is largely influenced by (1) organic matter supply to the sediment, (2) availability of reactive iron compounds and (3) oxygen concentrations in the bottom waters. Biologically active, accumulating sediments just in front of the river deltas were characterized by high AVS contents and a fast depletion of sulfate concentration with depth, most likely due to high sulfate reduction rates (SRR). The δ³⁴S values of pyrite in these sediments were relatively heavy (−8‰ to −21‰ vs. V-CDT). On the central shelf, where benthic mineralization rates are lower, re-oxidation processes may become more important and result in pyrite extremely depleted in δ³⁴S (−39‰ to −46‰ vs. V-CDT). A high variability in δ³⁴S values of pyrite in sediments from the shelf-edge (−6‰ to −46‰ vs. V-CDT) reflects characteristic fluctuations in the oxygen concentrations of bottom waters or varying sediment accumulation rates. During periods of oxic conditions or low sediment accumulation rates, re-oxidation processes became important resulting in low AVS concentrations and light δ³⁴S values. Anoxic conditions in the bottom waters overlying shelf-edge sediments or periods of high accumulation rates are reflected in enhanced AVS contents and heavier sulfur isotope values. The sulfur and iron contents and the light and uniform pyrite isotopic composition (−37‰ to −39‰ vs. V-CDT) of sediments in the permanently anoxic deep sea (1494 m water depth) reflect the formation of pyrite in the upper part of the sulfidic water column and the anoxic surface sediment. The present study demonstrates that pyrite, which is extremely depleted in ³⁴S, can be found in the Black Sea surface sediments that are positioned both above and below the chemocline, despite differences in biogeochemical and microbial controlling factors.     

Manganese carbonates in the upper quaternary sediments of the Deryugin basin (Sea of Okhotsk)

The mineral and chemical compositions of authigenic carbonates are studied by several methods in a sediment core obtained from the axial zone of the Deryugin riftogenic basin. Manganese carbonates (kutnahorite, rhodochrosite) associated with manganiferous calcite, manganiferous pyrite, and nontronite are first identified in the Sea of Okhotsk. Manganese carbonates in the Holocene diatomaceous ooze were presumably formed due to diagenetic transformation of sedimentary manganese hydroxides, organic matter, and biogenic silica, while those found in the underlying turbidites precipitated owing to the intermittent influx of endogenic fluids migrating along sand interbeds.     

Topographically constrained deep-water flows in the Baltic Sea

Density-driven currents have a significant impact on the deep-water characteristics of the Baltic Sea since they account for the water exchange between the deeper parts of neighbouring basins. The essential quantitative problem is to determine the flow rates in relation to a set of external parameters such as the strait topography, the stratification, and the internal circulation of the upstream basin. Using hydraulic theory it is possible to accomplish this by analysing the dynamical constraints that limit the deep-water flux between adjacent basins. On the basis of these results, the deep-water flows through the Bornholm Channel and the Irbe Strait are compared.     

Arsenic and heavy metals in the bottom sediments of the Balaklava Bay (Black Sea)

We present the results of investigation of the contents of metals (As, Cr, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, V, Sr, Mn, Ti, and Fe) in the bottom sediments of the Balaklava Bay (Black Sea) carried out in July 2005. It is shown that the pollution of the bottom sediments with metals has a polyelemental character. We establish the specific features of changes in the contents of the analyzed elements and localize the sources of their appearance in the ecosystem. On the basis of the results of evaluation of the intensity of technogenic action upon the marine medium, we determine a group of toxic elements (As, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) accumulated in the bottom sediments of the bay in amounts significantly exceeding the background values typical of sediments of the Black Sea shelf. The comparative analysis of the degrees of pollution of the bay and some other coastal water areas with metals is performed.     

基于同轴差距测量法的南海深水海底沉积物声衰减特性研究

通过分析沉积物声波测量过程能量损失的实质,阐述平行轴差距衰减测量法和垂直轴差距衰减测量法的研究基础——差动式衰减测量方法原理,并推导了其衰减系数公式。根据南海沉积物的柱状样品分装的特点,结合以上两种方法,提出了同轴差距衰减测量法,这种方法具有原理上的合理性并且其可操作性强;运用此方法测量了沉积物在常温和温度控制变化条件下的声波信号,计算了衰减系数,研究了温度对沉积物声波传播能量的影响,得出南海深水海底沉积物具有以下声衰减特性：沉积物含砂量高,声衰减系数大;随着温度的升高,沉积物的声衰减系数变化具有不均匀性,整体呈非线性减小趋势。以上研究将为声学遥测和反演海底沉积物的物理力学特性提供数据和方法支持。     

Heavy metals in sinking particles and bottom sediments from the eastern Turkish coast of the Black Sea

Concentrations of Cd, Cu, Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Fe, Mn, Pb, As, and Sb were determined in sediment trap and bottom sediment samples collected seasonally from a station on the eastern Turkish coast of the Black Sea. Cd, Pb and Mn concentrations were highest in the sediment trap samples except during the summer period, whereas Co, Ni, Zn and Fe levels were much lower than corresponding levels found in the surface sediments. Cu, Cr, As and Sb levels showed no definite trend with sediment type. In general, with the exception of Cr, relatively lower metal concentrations in the sediment trap material were determined in the summer period. The highest mass flux, 56.5 g m⁻² day⁻¹, was measured during autumn. The highest flux of heavy metals also occurred during autumn and was strongly dependent on particle mass flux. Based on these results, we suggest that the downward vertical transport of particulate heavy metals in this region is related to the high degree of land erosion and the resultant particulate flux dynamics, which occur here. It was noteworthy that the highest concentrations of Cd, Cu, Co, Zn, Fe and Sb in particles were measured during winter a finding which suggests that enhanced fossil fuel combustion, which occurs during this period in adjacent urban and industrial areas plays an important role in the metal composition of sinking particles in nearshore waters.     

Structural plan and prospective petroleum potential of the Jurassic sediments of the Gudauty Rise in the Black Sea

The structural plan and petroleum potential of the Gudauty Rise are considered. This work is based on detailed seismic (reflected wave and common deep point methods) studies and a hydrogas survey performed simultaneously over all the seismic profiles.     

南海深海盆表层沉积物氮的地球化学特征与生态学功能

研究了南海深海盆区域(南沙海槽西南部)表层沉积物中氮的形态、分布及其在生物地球化学循环中的功能.研究表明,表层沉积物中不同形态氮的含量不同.其中,氧化还原转化态的氮(SOEF-N)含量最高,平均为68.3μg/g,占总氮(TN)的7.08%;弱酸转化态氮(WAEF-N)含量最小,仅占总氮(TN)的1.09%.离子交换态(IEF-N),WAEF-N,S OEF-N及TN的地球化学分布特征存在一定相似性:均由海槽东西两侧向中央递增,并在槽底呈高含量分布;SAEF-N(强碱转化态)分布则与该趋势相反.IEF-N,SAEF-N和SOEF-N的分布主要受沉积物中有机碳含量(OC)控制;而WAEF-N则与碳酸盐(CaCO₃)存在显著的负相关关系;TN与OC不具有显著意义的相关,间接说明二者来源的不同.同时,各形态氮的分布还与沉积物粒度类型密切联系.此外,研究区域内由沉积物提供的氮源很大程度上补偿了浮游植物对水体中营养盐的消耗,对维持该海域的初级生产力水平起到一定作用.其中,IEF-N和SOEF-N的释放对浮游植物生长及初级生产力的贡献较为显著.