Geodetic observations of ice flow velocities over the southern part of subglacial Lake Vostok, Antarctica, and their glaciological implications

In the austral summer seasons 2001/02 and 2002/03, Global Positioning System (GPS) data were collected in the vicinity of Vostok Station to determine ice flow velocities over Lake Vostok. Ten GPS sites are located within a radius of 30 km around Vostok Station on floating ice as well as on grounded ice to the east and to the west of the lake. Additionally, a local deformation network around the ice core drilling site 5G-1 was installed.
The derived ice flow velocity for Vostok Station is  2.00 m a⁻¹± 0.01 m a⁻¹  . Along the flowline of Vostok Station an extension rate of about 10⁻⁵ a⁻¹ (equivalent to 1 cm km⁻¹ a⁻¹) was determined. This significant velocity gradient results in a new estimate of 28 700 years for the transit time of an ice particle along the Vostok flowline from the bedrock ridge in the southwest of the lake to the eastern shoreline. With these lower velocities compared to earlier studies and, hence, larger transit times the basal accretion rate is estimated to be 4 mm a⁻¹ along a portion of the Vostok flowline. An assessment of the local accretion rate at Vostok Station using the observed geodetic quantities yields an accretion rate in the same order of magnitude. Furthermore, the comparison of our geodetic observations with results inferred from ice-penetrating radar data indicates that the ice flow may not have changed significantly for several thousand years.     

Diatoms in sediments of perennially ice-covered Lake Hoare, and implications for interpreting lake history in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica

Diatom assemblages in surficial sediments, sediment cores, sediment traps, and inflowing streams of perennially ice-covered Lake Hoare, South Victorialand, Antarctica were examined to determine the distribution of diatom taxa, and to ascertain if diatom species composition has changed over time. Lake Hoare is a closed-basin lake with an area of 1.8 km², maximum depth of 34 m, and mean depth of 14 m, although lake level has been rising at a rate of 0.09 m yr^-1 in recent decades. The lake has an unusual regime of sediment deposition: coarse grained sediments accumulate on the ice surface and are deposited episodically on the lake bottom. Benthic microbial mats are covered in situ by the coarse episodic deposits, and the new surfaces are recolonized. Ice cover prevents wind-induced mixing, creating the unique depositional environment in which sediment cores record the history of a particular site, rather than a lake-wide integration. Shallow-water (<1 m) diatom assemblages (Stauroneis anceps, Navicula molesta, Diadesmis contenta var. parallela, Navicula peraustralis) were distinct from mid-depth (4–16 m) assemblages (Diadesmis contenta, Luticola muticopsis fo. reducta, Stauroneis anceps, Diadesmis contenta var. parallela, Luticola murrayi) and deep-water (26–31 m) assemblages (Luticola murrayi, Luticola muticopsis fo. reducta, Navicula molesta). Analysis of a sediment core (30 cm long, from 11 m water depth) from Lake Hoare revealed two abrupt changes in diatom assemblages. The upper section of the sediment core contained the greatest biomass of benthic microbial mat, as well as the greatest total abundance and diversity of diatoms. Relative abundances of diatoms in this section are similar to the surficial samples from mid-depths. An intermediate zone contained less organic material and lower densities of diatoms. The bottom section of core contained the least amount of microbial mat and organic material, and the lowest density of diatoms. The dominant process influencing species composition and abundance of diatom assemblages in the benthic microbial mats is episodic deposition of coarse sediment from the ice surface.     

Depositional history of the Miocene Lake Sinj (Dinaride Lake System,Croatia): a long-lived hard-water lake in a pull-apart tectonic setting

Early Miocene transpressional wrenching yielded a series of NW–SE-elongated pull-apart basins in the Dinarides of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They accommodated a huge lake system that gave rise to spectacular endemic mollusk radiation. Lake Sinj, moderately sized at 342 km², flooded the south-westernmost basin of this system. Due to the karstic environment, the hard-water, alkaline, long-lived lake developed a sediment infill with an average thickness of 370 m, dominated by authigenic limestone. The studied section represents the upper third of the basinal infill and provides detailed insights into the critical period of the lake and of the basinal evolution during the final stages of its filling. It comprises two large-scale, shallowing-upward cycles, both starting with fossil-poor limestones, gradually passing into coal-bearing carbonate rocks and coal seams. The fossil-poor intervals are interpreted as phases of repetitive acidification events due to changing lake level, which induced periodic drying and flooding of the uppermost littoral zone inhabited by starfruit (Damasonium) meadows. The flooding of the aerated, limy mud plain introduced H+ ions from organic-matter decay reactions into the shallow lake. This decreased its pH level, with catastrophic consequences for its biota. The ecosystem then stabilized during the orbitally-forced, dry climate phases. Based on the mollusk record, streams still influenced the marginal lake environment and rich organic-matter production created swamps and mires. The onset of mollusk radiation in the section correlates with stabilized lake alkalinity, as indicated by the disappearance of starfruits, ongoing authigenic carbonate production and by coal seams representing textbook examples for coal formation in alkaline environments. The inferred basinal setting fits well with the pull-apart basin model, pointing to the presence of an extended shallow ramp in front of a steep, fault-induced hillside of the hinterland.     

A weighted-averaging regression and calibration model for inferring lakewater salinity from fossil diatom assemblages in saline lakes of the Vestfold Hills: a new tool for interpreting Holocene lake histories in Antarctica

The relationship between surface sediment diatom assemblages and measured limnological variables in thirty-three coastal Antarctic lakes from the Vestfold Hills was examined by constructing a diatom-water chemistry dataset. Previous analysis of this dataset by canonical correspondence analysis revealed that salinity accounted for a significant amount of the variation in the distribution of the diatom assemblages. Weighted-averaging regression and calibration of this diatom-salinity relationship was used to establish a transfer function for the reconstruction of past lakewater salinity from fossil diatom assemblages. Weighted-averaging regression and calibration with classical deshrinking provided the best model for salinity reconstructions and this was applied to the fossil diatom assemblages from one of the saline lakes in the Vestfold Hills in order to assess its potential for palaeosalinity and palaeoclimate reconstruction.     

Palaeomagnetic and geochronological results from the Cambro-Ordovician Granite Harbour Intrusives inland of Terra Nova Bay (Victoria Land, Antarctica)

Palaeomagnetic investigations and Rb–Sr dating were carried out on samples from two plutons from the Granite Harbour Intrusives of the Transantarctic Mountains inland of Terra Nova Bay. The Rb–Sr whole rock–biotite ages from Teall Nunatak (475±4, 483±4 Ma), a quartz-diorite pluton cropping out to the south of Priestley Glacier, are older than that from the Mount Keinath monzogranite (450±4 Ma), which is located to the north of the glacier. These results are consistent with the literature data, which suggest that during the last phases of the Ross Orogeny the cooling rate of the basement was significantly lower to the north than to the south of Priestley Glacier. The Teall Nunatak quartz-diorite is characterized by a stable magnetization, whose blocking-temperature spectrum ranges from 530 to 570 °C. At one site, the stable magnetization is screened by a large secondary component of opposite polarity, removed by thermal demagnetization below 300 °C. The characteristic directions after thermal demagnetization yielded a southern pole located at lat. 11°S, long. 21°E. The magnetization of Mount Keinath monzogranite consists of several components with overlapping stability spectra. A characteristic direction was isolated at one site only, obtained by demagnetizing the specimens in the temperature range from 380 to 460 °C.
  Comparison with the other East Antarctica poles shows that those from Victoria Land are very well grouped and give a reliable early Ordovician palaeopole (lat. 5°S, long. 23°E, with K =196 and A ₉₅=3.7°), whereas the poles from Wilkes, Enderby and Dronning Maud Land are dispersed. We tentatively advance the hypothesis that the dispersion reflects different magnetization ages due to the slow cooling of these regions during the last stages of the Ross Orogeny.     

东南极夏季中山站邻近固定冰DMS、DMSP分布初探

中国第30次南极科学考察期间,在中山站邻近固定冰区采集了两支海冰冰芯并首次分析其中的DMS、DMSP含量。结果表明,两支冰芯上层均含有较高浓度的DMSP+DMS,分别高达114.93及134.41 nmol·L-1。冰芯中DMS、DMSP+DMS浓度随深度的增加而递减。两支冰芯顶部DMSP+DMS高值的成因不同,冰芯1主要受藻类活动影响而产生DMSP+DMS高值,冰芯2主要是由于雪层及薄冰层阻碍,致使DMS在冰芯顶部聚集产生DMS高值。因为海冰底部较高生物量的海冰融化进入水体,所观测的剩余海冰底部Chl a、DMSP+DMS值均较低。在海冰的融化过程中,卤道内的卤水可发生垂向运输,致使冰芯中Chl a、DMSP+DMS的垂直分布有所不同。冰芯的Chl a、DMSP+DMS总量分别为6.79和10.20、51.83和88.41μmol·m-2,与前人研究结果比较,在海冰融化过程中,海冰中Chl a、DMSP+DMS总量变化的总趋势是递减的。     

Adsorption-desorption of phosphate and its availability in the sediment of a saline lake (Fuente de Piedra,southern Spain)

Seasonal changes of soluble reactive phosphorus concentrations in sediments of Fuente de Piedra, a saline lake, have been observed and linked to salinity changes. Phosphate availability in sediments was studied in the laboratory under different salinities, from 10 to 70 g L⁻¹. Changes in adsorption of dissolved phosphate appear to be controlled by salinity variations. The adsorption coefficient increases with salinity and the amount of phosphorus adsorbed ranged between 10 and 30 per cent of the total. Salinity-modulated adsorption is proposed as the primary mechanism explaining the seasonal dynamics of phosphorus in this saline lake and its effects on progressive eutrophication.     

Architecture,structural and tectonic significance of the Seagap fault (offshore Tanzania) in the framework of the East African Rift

The Southeastern portion of the East African Rift System reactivates Mesozoic transform faults marking the separation of Madagascar from Africa in the Western Indian Ocean. Earlier studies noted the reactivation of the Davie Fracture Zone in oceanic lithosphere as a seismically active extensional fault, and new 3D seismic reflection data and exploration wells provide unprecedented detail on the kinematics of the sub-parallel Seagap fault zone in continental/transitional crust landward of the ocean-continent transition. We reconstruct the evolution of the seismically active Seagap fault zone, a 400-km-long crustal structure affecting the Tanzania margin, from the late Eocene to the present day. The Seagap fault zone is represented by large-scale localized structures affecting the seafloor and displaying growth geometries across most of the Miocene sediments. The continuous tectonic activity evident by our seismic mapping, as well as 2D deep seismic data from literature, suggests that from the Middle-Late Jurassic until 125 Ma, the Seagap fault acted as a regional structure parallel to, and coeval with, the dextral Davie Fracture Zone. The Seagap fault then remained active after the cessation of both seafloor spreading in the Somali basin and strike-slip activity on the Davie Fracture Zone, till nowaday. Its architecture is structurally expressed through the sequence of releasing and restraining bends dating back at least to the early Neogene. Seismic sections and horizon maps indicate that those restraining bends are generated by strike-slip reactivation of Cretaceous structures till the Miocene. Finally based on the interpretation of edge-enhanced reflection seismic surfaces and seafloor data, we shows that, by the late Neogene, the Seagap fault zone switched to normal fault behaviour. We discuss the Seagap fault's geological and kinematic significance through time and its current role within the microplate system in the framework of the East African rift, as well as implications for the evolution and re-activation of structures along sheared margins. The newly integrated datasets reveal the polyphase deformation of this margin, highlighting its complex evolution and the implications for depositional fairways and structural trap and seal changes through time, as well as potential hazards.     

The late Pleistocene ostracod record of the crater lake sediments from Lago di Albano (Central Italy): changes in trophic status, water level and climate

Four cores (ranging between ca. 9 and ca. 14 m in length) from Lago di Albano in Central Italy were studied for their ostracod content, as well as algal and bacterial pigments, CaCO3 and concentration of organic matter. Cores PALB 94 1E and PALB 94 1C from Site 1, located at the bottom of a steep slope at 70 m water depth, where oxygen concentration is below 6 mg l-1, spans the Holocene and the late Pleistocene until 28 kyr B.P. (calibrated age). The other cores, PALB 94 6A and PALB 94 6B taken at a depth of 30 m, where oxygen is 7--11 mg l-1, represent mainly Pleistocene deposits.Ostracod valves were found in the lowermost ca. 3 m of the sequence at Site 1, dated to ca. 28--24 kyr B.P., and throughout the sequence from Site 6 which represents the interval 23--17 kyr B.P.Candona neglecta is the dominant species in most of the levels at Site 1, whereas both C. neglecta and Cyclocypris sp. dominate during different biostratigraphic zones at Site 6. The influx of springs entering the lake at Site 1 was inferred on the basis of species of the genus Potamocypris and Ilyocypris bradyi present in the record. Wide fluctuations in species abundance and assemblages in both coring sites indicate lake-water level oscillations between 28 to 17 kyr B.P. In particular, a strong rise in water level of the order of 40 m occurred between 24 and 23 kyr B.P. Fluctuations in productivity, oxygen availability and water temperature at both sites were also reconstructed on the basis of the ostracod assemblages and the algal and bacterial pigment concentrations. The environmental reconstruction reached using ostracod remains and pigments was verified with other proxy records published elsewhere such as invertebrate remains, diatoms, magnetic properties, etc. A synthesis of climatic reconstructions for Central and Southern Italy for the late Full Glacial is attempted on the basis of previous studies on hydrology, lithostratigraphy and palynology. Sharp fluctuations in lake palaeoproductivity/palaeoclimate recorded by invertebrate and pigment remains at both sites from Lago di Albano might be related to similar events reported in North Atlantic Full-Glacial records from marine and ice cores.     

Relationships between tectonic activity and sedimentary source-to-sink system parameters in a lacustrine rift basin: A quantitative case study of the Huanghekou Depression (Bohai Bay Basin,E China)

Lacustrine rift basins commonly preserve a fairly complete record of the sediment source-to-sink (S2S) system, and consequently may form an ideal natural laboratory for establishing quantitative relationships between the various elements within the S2S system. The tectonic-activity rate in the source (e.g., fault-growth rate and fault-activity rate), accommodation space and depositional system in the sink (e.g., areal extent and volume, as well as the depositional dip of the fan- and braid-deltas) are genetically related and their quantitative correlations are explored. The Palaeogene succession on the southwestern margin of the Huanghekou Depressionin the Bohai Bay Basin, one of the largest lacustrine rift basins in eastern China, was chosen to study these relationships, using 3-D seismic, core and well-log data. The tectonic activity was strongly related to the sediment supply, accommodation space and morphology of the sink area. Three different rates of tectonic activity are identified; these led to changes in the basic features of the S2S system that influenced each other. In Members 4 and 3 (lower unit) of the Shahejie Fm. (40.44–44.7 Ma), strong tectonic activity led to significant uplift, resulting in the widest exposure of the provenance area to erosion, to a high sediment-supply rate, to a steep slope and to a large accommodation space which controlled the development of several fan-deltas with steep progradational angles. In Member 3 (upper unit) of Shahejie Fm. (37.89–40.44 Ma) and Member 3 of Dongying Fm. (30.2–33.28 Ma), decreased tectonic activity led to slower uplifting, resulting in a wider alluvial plain, longer transport distances, a lower sediment-supply rate and less accommodation space, so that braid-deltas with larger volumes and a gentler slope developed; In Members 1 and 2 of Shahejie Fm. (33.28–37.89 Ma) and Member 2 of Dongying Fm. (26.71–30.2 Ma), still further decreasing tectonic activity led to a still lower sediment-supply rate, a more gentle depositional slope, less accommodation space, and the development of several braid-deltas with a gentle angle. The quantitative relationships established here advance our understanding of the relationships within lacustrine source-to-sink systems, especially for tectonically controlled rift basins.