The environments of production and deposition of calcareous sediments on the shelf west of Scotland

The dominant calcareous organisms and sediment characteristics are described for eight different physical settings on the shelf west of Scotland, each having a different depth, substrate and degree of hydrodynamic exposure.

The principal sites of carbonate production are on shallow rocky substrates where barnacles, molluscs, echinoderms and serpulids are the dominant calcareous organisms. In sheltered shallow sandy zones, molluscs, echinoderms and benthic foraminiferans are the active producers, though the sediments are commonly barnacle-rich. Where tidal currents are enhanced between islands and the waves are suppressed, calcareous red algae (Phymatolithon calcareum) and mussel shells build localised banks. In deep, open-shelf water molluscs are the major skeletal contributor to the sediment, though on rocky sea beds bryozoans, serpulids and echinoderms are important.

The major sites of deposition are where persistent hydro- (and aero-) dynamic conditions sweep together grains from active production sites (e.g., sand ribbons or beaches and dunes adjacent to shallow rocky platforms) or in sinks where the physiographic configuration favours the deposition and retention of locally produced sediment or sediment derived from suspension. The well-sorted, cross-bedded, beach and dune sands commonly contain > 75% CaCO₃. In sheltered depressions, bioturbated muds accumulate with up to 30% calcite silt, which is probably the breakdown product of barnacles and benthic foraminiferans.     

Warm‐temperate,marine, carbonate sedimentation in an Early Miocene,tide‐influenced,incised valley; Provence,south‐east France

The Saumane‐Venasque compound palaeovalley succession accumulated in a strongly tide‐influenced embayment or estuary. Warm‐temperate normal marine to brackish conditions led to deposition of extensive cross‐bedded biofragmental calcarenites. Echinoids, bryozoans, coralline algae, barnacles and benthic foraminifera were produced in seagrass meadows, on rocky substrates colonized by macroalgae and within subaqueous dune fields. There are two sequences, S1 and S2, the first of which contains three high‐frequency sequences (S1a, S1b and S1c). Sequence 1 is largely confined to the palaeovalley with its upper part covering interfluves. Each of these has a similar upward succession of deposits that includes: (i) a basal erosional surface that is bored and glauconitized; (ii) a discontinuous lagoonal lime mudstone or wackestone; (iii) a thin conglomerate generated by tidal ravinement; (iv) a transgressive systems tract series of cross‐bedded calcarenites; (v) a maximum flooding interval of argillaceous, muddy quartzose, open‐marine limestones; and (vi) a thin highstand systems tract of fine‐grained calcarenite. Tidal currents during stages S1a, S1b and S1c were accentuated by the constricted valley topography, whereas basin‐scale factors enhanced tidal currents during the deposition of S2. The upper part of the succession in all but S1c has been removed by later erosion. There is an overall upward temporal change with quartz, barnacles, encrusting corallines and epifaunal echinoids decreasing but bryozoans, articulated corallines and infaunal echinoids increasing. This trend is interpreted to be the result of changing oceanographic conditions as the valley was filled, bathymetric relief was reduced, rocky substrates were replaced as carbonate factories by seagrass meadows and subaqueous dunes, and the setting became progressively less confined and more open marine. These limestones are characteristic of a suite of similar cool‐water calcareous sand bodies in environments with little siliciclastic or fresh water input during times of high‐amplitude sea‐level change wherein complex inboard antecedent topography was flooded by a rising ocean.     

The exaggerated radiocarbon age of deposit‐feeding molluscs in calcareous environments

Throughout northern Canada, live‐collected, pre‐bomb, deposit‐feeding marine molluscs from calcareous sediments yield greater apparent radiocarbon ages than do suspension feeders. We explore the size of this effect in a set of 57 paired datings of deposit feeders, mainly Portlandia arctica, and suspension feeders, mainly Hiatella arctica and Mya truncata, collected from both calcareous and non‐calcareous Holocene sediments. Deposit feeders from calcareous sediments are older than their suspension‐feeding counterparts by as much as 2240±130 ¹⁴C years. This is attributed to the uptake of ‘old’ bicarbonate derived from calcareous bedrock. The age discrepancy between suspension and deposit feeders in calcareous terrain is non‐systematic in space and time, thereby invalidating the application of a correction. In contrast, the age comparisons are concordant at sites located on the Precambrian Shield. In terrestrial environments underlain by carbonate, previous acceptance of dates on deposit feeders led to erroneous interpretations of deglaciation and relative sea‐level history, in both the North American and the Eurasian Arctic. This has prompted several researchers to exclude deposit feeders from their late Quaternary reconstructions. The same chronological problem of deposit‐feeding molluscs now needs to be more widely acknowledged by the marine community.     

Post‐glacial biota from the inner part of southwest Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

Seventeen vibrocores from the inner part of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf off northwestern Australia penetrate a range of marine and marginal‐marine sediments deposited in the post‐glacial transgression and highstand. Ranging from gravelly sand to fine silt, these sediments contain a diverse fossil biota dominated by molluscs and bryozoans, but also including ostracods and foraminifers. Minor components include solitary corals, echinoids, soft coral and sponge spicules, wood debris and bone fragments. The biota can be divided into five major marine or marginal‐marine environments (intertidal, lagoonal, estuarine, strandline and shelf) and one terrestrial (riverine) environment. The intertidal environment contains four sub‐assemblages (mangroves, salt marsh, mud flat and sand flat) and the shelf environment six sub‐assemblages (hard substrate inner shelf, sandy substrate inner shelf, muddy substrate inner shelf, epiphytic, inshore and oceanic). The most useful organisms for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction are bryozoans for differentiating various shallow‐marine substrates, and foraminifers and ostracods for defining water depths, euryhaline, freshwater and oceanic influences. Palynomorphs were the only microfossils capable of providing control on terrestrial environments. The scarcity of marine plankton and the dominance of terrestrial palynomorphs in these marine sediments provides a salutary warning of the dangers of relying on plant microfossils alone when no independent environmental data are available to test the interpretation. The mollusc and bryozoan biota in the inner part of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf superficially resembles the bryomol assemblage of cool‐water shelves. This biotic assemblage is the result of turbidity rather than water temperature. The turbidity suppresses the photosynthetic, zooxanthellate and hermatypic organisms allowing molluscs, bryozoans and other apparently cool‐water biotic elements to dominate.     

Nearshore cool-water carbonate sedimentation and provenance of Holocene calcareous strandline dunes,southeastern Australia

The southeastern coastal plain of South Australia contains a spectacular and world-renowned suite of Quaternary calcareous eolianites. This study is focused on the provenance of components in the Holocene, actively forming sector, of these carbonate eolian deposits. Research was carried out along seven transects across a lateral distance of 120 km from ～30 m water depth offshore across the beach and into the dunes. Offshore sediments were acquired via grab sampling and SCUBA. Results indicate that dunes of the southern Lacepede and Bonney coasts are composed of siliciclastic particles (mainly quartz), relict allochems, Cenozoic and limestone pieces, but dominated by Holocene invertebrate and calcareous algal biofragments. The most numerous grains are from molluscs > benthic foraminifera ≥ coralline algae, > echinoids and > bryozoans. Most of these particles originate in carbonate factories such as macroalgal forests, rocky reefs, seagrass meadows and low-relief sea-floor rockgrounds. Incorporation of Holocene carbonate skeletons into coastal dunes, however, depends on a combination of: (1) the addition of infauna from intertidal and nearshore environments; (2) the physical characteristics of different allochems and their ability to withstand bioerosion, fragmentation and abrasion; (3) the character of the wave and swell climate; and (4) the nature of eolian transport. Most eolian dune sediment is derived from nearshore and intertidal carbonate factories. This is well illustrated by the abundance of robust infaunal bivalves that inhabit the nearshore sands and virtual absence of bryozoans that are common as sediment particles in offshore water depths >15 m. Importantly, the calcareous eolianites in this cool-water, open-platform carbonate setting are not simply an allochthonous reflection of the offshore marine shelf factories, but more a product of autothonous shallow nearshore–intertidal skeletal production and modification. These findings explain the preponderance of mollusc fragments and lack of bryozoans in similar older Pleistocene calcareous eolianites up to ca 1 million years old across ～2000 km of southern Australia with implications for the older rock record.     

Pliocene sedimentation in a shallow, cool-water, estuarine gulf, Murray Basin, South Australia

The Pliocene Norwest Bend Formation is a well‐preserved succession of terrestrial and shallow‐marine deposits in the Murray Basin, South Australia. Sediments in this unit consist of two discrete terrigenous clastic‐rich, decametre‐scale sequences, or informal members, which record episodes of marine incursion during the Early and Late Pliocene respectively. The base of each sequence is a transgressive lag and/or strandline deposit that is transitional upwards into a highstand, subtidal, terrigenous clastic and cool‐water carbonate sediment accumulation. The top of each sequence is incised by fluvial channels that are filled by river deposits which formed as relative sea‐level fell and terrestrial environments prograded basinward. Sedimentological data suggest that gross stratigraphic architecture was primarily determined by glacioeustasy. Differences in sedimentary style between these two sequences, however, reflect a major climatic change that took place in southern Australia during the mid‐Pliocene. The lower quartzose sand member is formed of siliciclastic sediment derived from prolonged, deep, subaerial weathering and contains a bivalve‐dominated, cool‐temperate, open‐marine mollusc assemblage. These sediments accumulated under an equitable, relatively warm, humid climate. The Murray Basin during this time, because of high fluvial discharge, was a salt‐wedge estuary with typical estuarine circulation. In contrast, the upper, oyster‐rich member is typified by large monospecific oyster buildups that grew in restricted coastal environments. Strandline deposits contain a warm‐temperate skeletal assemblage. Contemporaneous aeolian sediments accumulated under warm, semi‐arid climatic conditions. Well‐developed ferricrete, silcrete and calcrete horizons reflect cyclic conditions of rainwater infiltration and evaporation in the seasonally dry climate that typifies southern Australia today. Highly seasonal rainfall produced an estuary that fluctuated annually from being well to partially mixed. These Pliocene sediments support the notion that mollusc‐rich facies are the signature of cool‐water carbonate accumulations in inboard neritic environments. Unlike bryozoans that dominate the outer parts of Cenozoic cool‐water carbonate shelves, molluscs evolved to exploit an array of coastal ecosystems with wide salinity variations and variable sedimentation rates.     

Palaeontology and taphonomy of Late Quaternary fossil assemblages at Somersham,Cambridgeshire, England,and the problem of reworking

Assemblages of foraminifers, ostracods and molluscs from temperate Ipswichian Stage (last temperate stage) sediments and overlying cold Devensian Stage (last cold stage) sediments at Somersham in the southern Fenland of Cambridgeshire have been analysed. The Ipswichian sediments contain faunas consistent with temperate brackish water conditions under tidal influence. The Devensian assemblages were recovered from a series of sands and gravels laterally accreting in a channel cutting into Ipswichian sediments. In contrast to the Ipswichian faunas, the faunas of particular Devensian samples show a complex mixture of temperate freshwater, brackish and marine taxa. The molluscs are mainly freshwater, with few land snails; they occur together with foraminifers and ostracods. Freshwater, brackish water and marine ostracods are present with foraminifers. A sample of Devensian fine laminated sediment in the channel was analysed for pollen; only abundant pre-Quaternary spores were present, with abundant foraminifers in the same sample. The taphonomy of the assemblages and the difficulties of their interpretation in environmental terms are discussed. The importance of taphonomy in assessing environments, climate, range of taxa and dating is stressed.     

Sedimentological characteristics of the surficial sediments of the Kuwaiti marine environment, northern Arabian Gulf

The textural characteristics, carbonate content and the coarse fraction components of the Recent bottom sediments of the marine environment off Kuwait are described and the faunal-sediment associations discussed. The sediments were subdivided into seven textural classes, namely sand, silty sand, muddy sand, sandy silt, sandy mud, silt and mud. Most of the study area is covered with muddy sediments whereas sandy deposits are restricted to the rocky bottoms near the southern flat of Kuwait Bay, the southern coast of Kuwait and around the islands and bathymetric highs. The textural classes, carbonate contents and faunal types of the coarse fraction were used to construct a biolithofacies map of the marine bottom sediments off Kuwait, in which nine facies are identified. The sedimentological characteristics of the Recent marine bottom sediments off Kuwait reflect the interaction between autochthonous calcareous fragments mostly of biogenic origin, lime rock fragments derived from beachrocks and submerged reef flats, and allochthonous terrigenous detritus transported to the area mainly by dust storms. The Kuwaiti offshore area is generally a low energy depositional environment with little sediment transport.     

The glacial and interstadial sediments at the Burn of Benholm,Kincardineshire: evidence for onshore pre‐Devensian ice movement in northeast Scotland

Pebbly clays and diamictons containing marine shell fragments and peat lenses exposed beneath subglacially deposited Late Devensian till at the Burn of Benholm provide new insights into the glacial history of Quaternary sequences in eastern Scotland. The peat yielded pollen of interstadial affinity (including Bruckenthalia spiculifolia) and non‐finite radiocarbon dates. Comparisons with other pre‐Late Devensian pollen records in northern Scotland suggest that the peat lenses are remnants of an Early Devensian interstadial deposit, of Oxygen Isotope Substage 5c or 5a age. Reworked faunal assemblages in the shelly sediments include Quaternary marine molluscs of low boreal aspect, as well as Mesozoic and Palaeozoic microfossils. Amino acid ratios from fragments of Arctica islandica suggest that the shells are of Oxygen Isotope Stage 9 age or older. The fabric and composition of the shelly sediments are consistent with their emplacement as deformation till during the onshore movement of glacially transported rafts of marine sediment. Folded and sheared contacts between the shelly deposits, peat lenses and the overlying Late Devensian till indicate that the fossiliferous sediments were glacitectonised during the main Late Devensian glaciation, when ice moved from Strathmore and overrode the site from the southwest. British Geological Survey. © NERC 2000.     

Late Mississippian bryozoan/microbial build-ups on a drowned karst terrain: Port au Port Peninsula, western Newfoundland

Bryozoan and microbial carbonate build-ups occur within the Late Mississippian (mid-Viséan) Codroy Group on the Port au Port Peninsula, western Newfoundland. Build-ups formed only adjacent to a rocky, cliffed, shoreline filling narrow submerged palaeovalleys of a well-developed Late Devonian-Early Mississippian karst terrain. The nearshore setting was a stressed environment as indicated by (1) the absence of normal marine biota, such as corals, echinoderms, and calcareous algae, (2) high numbers and low species diversity of dominant taxa (bryozoans, brachiopods, and microbial communities), and (3) abundant plant-bearing siliciclastics deposited by the episodic influx of fresh-water from adjacent uplands. Build-up development was terminated by Meramec time, due to falling sea-level and seaward progradation of terrestrial sediments. Preserved structural and constructional fabrics within the build-ups include (1) thickets of bryozoans and microbial microthrombolites, structurally enhanced by probable marine Mg-calcite and aragonite cements, (2) multigeneration internal sediment, and (3) small colonies of serpulid worms and terebratulid brachiopods. Submarine cementation within the build-ups appears to have been abundant during arrested sedimentation, whereas intermound sediments (carbonates and siliciclastics) were lithified only during burial diagenesis. Shallow-burial fracturing, stylolitization, sulphide and sulphate mineralization, and precipitation of phreatic, iron-poor, calcite cement occurred during burial diagenesis. Codroy build-ups are distinct from the more common Mississippian mud mounds. Their internal characteristics and the geologic setting are more like other Late Palaeozoic and Holocene bryozoan-rich build-ups.     

Holocene deposits from Neptune's Cave, Nordland, Norway: Environmental interpretation and relation to the deglacial and emergence history of the Velfjord–Tosenfjord area

Neptune's Cave in the Velfjord–Tosenfjord area of Nordland, Norway is described, together with its various organic deposits. Samples of attached barnacles, loose marine molluscs, animal bones and organic sediments were dated, with radiocarbon ages of 9840 ± 90 and 9570 ± 80 yr BP being derived for the barnacles and molluscs, based on the superseded but locally used marine reservoir age of 440 years. A growth temperature of c . 7.5 °C in undiluted seawater is deduced from the δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values of both types of marine shell, which is consistent with their early Holocene age. From the dates, and an assessment of local Holocene uplift and Weichselian deglaciation, a scenario is constructed that could explain the situation and condition of the various deposits. The analysis uses assumed local isobases and sea-level curve to give results: that are consistent with previous data, that equate the demise of the barnacles to the collapse of a tidewater glacier in Tosenfjord, and that constrain the minimum extent of local Holocene uplift. An elk fell into the cave in the mid-Holocene at 5100 ± 70 yr BP, after which a much later single 'bog-burst' event at 1780 ± 70 yr BP could explain the transport of the various loose deposits further into the cave.     

Sediments and history of the Rottnest Shelf, southwest Australia: a swell-dominated, non-tropical carbonate margin

The Rottnest Shelf is a narrow, wave-dominated open shelf on the passive continental margin of southwest Australia, adjacent to a hinterland of low relief and sluggish drainage. High physical energy, low nutrients in cool subtropical waters, and rapid postglacial transgression have limited carbonate productivity, restricted grain types, and reworked the transgressed surface to form only a thin ( < 1 m) blanket of carbonate and relict sediment, with little terrigenous influx. Subaerial weathering of the shelf during Late Pleistocene emergence was followed by postglacial drowning, erosional shoreface retreat, and generation of a transgressive lag deposit. Establishment of the warm temperate biota, dominated by bryozoans and calcareous red algae, resulted in bioerosion of the shelf disconformity surface and generation of hardground veneers and thin skeletal carbonate sheets. Linear topographic ridges of Pleistocene limestone partition the shelf into systems with varying physical energy, biota and sediment supply. The Holocene sediments are a shallowing-upward coastal sequence; wave-ripple cross-stratified grainstone (Inner Shelf); and bioturbated bryozoan grainstone to skeletal wackestone (Outer Shelf to Upper Continental Slope), characterised by seaward fining and increasing percentages of planktic carbonate sediment.

Given sufficient time, the Rottnest Shelf could recover from drowning, and form blanket-like skeletal carbonates. Thin ( < 1 m) lags overlying disconformities, which underlie shallowing-upward coastal and shelf sediments a few metres thick, will be generated by glacio-eustatic cycles of sedimentation (10⁵ y duration). Thick (several tens of metres) sediment bodies, composed of wave-rippled to bioturbated skeletal carbonate sediment with a temperate biota, will be formed during longer term (1–10 My) sedimentation cycles. Such cycles have characterised passive margins during the Cenozoic. The Rottnest Shelf thus provides a facies model for temperate shelf sedimentation along passive continental margins.     

Sources,geochemical speciation,and risk assessment of metals in coastal sediments: a case study in the Bohai Sea,China

To investigate the sources and toxicity of metals in Bohai Sea sediments, concentration and geochemical speciation of metals of surface sediments were measured. Metal distributions and principal component analysis suggested that Zn, Pb, Cd, and Ag were largely derived from anthropogenic sources, whereas the majority of the other metals studied here were found to have been derived from natural rock weathering and calcareous marine biota. The major sources of anthropogenic metal inputs to the study region are from the mining industry, port transport services, vehicle exhausts, and agricultural runoff. Empirical sediment quality guidelines and the risk assessment code were used to evaluate the metal toxicities in this area. Our results show that Cd presents a high risk to the ecological system because it was found in the non-residual phase, which tends to be weakly bound and highly bioavailable; Cu, Pb, Ni, and Co pose a low risk; Zn and Cr present no risk. The use of the threshold effects level and effects range-low values of Cd and Cr as guidelines for the Bohai Sea are of limited use as they do not account for the bioavailability and toxicity of the elements in marine environments. Assessment of the annual metal fluxes from riverine and atmospheric sources indicates that the largest contributions of metals to the Bohai Sea were derived from the suspended particulate load of rivers. Furthermore, it was found that the main depositional zones for metals in the Bohai Sea were in estuaries and the center mud zones.     

黔东北伊迪卡拉纪陡山沱组的宏体藻类

宏体生物广泛地生活于扬子地区伊迪卡拉纪陡山沱期的海洋中,它们为后生动物的快速发展和演化奠定了一个崭新的环境和一个新生态链的基础.产自于黔东北伊迪卡拉系陡山沱组的瓮会生物群生活环境应在贫氧的、透光性良好的浅海低能环境,以宏体藻类为主,共描述15属18种(其中包括3个新属、5个新种、2个修定属和4个修定种)和1个未命名藻以及不明藻类固着器,另包含有宏体后生动物,可能的后生动物以及遗迹化石.瓮会生物群不但含有鄂西庙河生物群和皖南蓝田植物群的分子,也有南澳大利亚Ediacara生物群和俄罗斯WhiteSea生物群的分子,而且具有自已的特征而有别于其他伊迪卡拉期的生物群.其宏体藻类形态变化较大,组织器官和功能已出现明显的分化,并与高等植物之间存在一定的演化关系.宏体藻类多为直立固着于海底,提高了光合作用的效率,增加了水体中的含氧量.同时,宏体藻类作为生态系统中的初级生产者成为一种新的食物,改变了后生动物的食谱.因此,陡山沱期的宏体植物不仅改善了环境,为依赖一定氧而生活、生长和繁殖的后生动物给予了必要的支持,而且作为生态系统中的必要基础,为宏体后生动物的快速发展和演化提供了一个新的食物源.另外,宏体生物群的繁盛不仅提高了有机质的生产率,而且促进了富有机碳的沉积和保存.     

Quaternary aeolianites in south‐east Australia – a conceptual linkage between marine source and terrestrial deposition

Calcareous aeolianites are an integral part of many carbonate platforms and ramps. Such limestones are particularly common in heterozoan, Late Cenozoic carbonate systems, and it has been postulated that they could contain a particularly sensitive record of their offshore source. This hypothesis is tested herein by documenting and interpreting part of the most extensive and temporally longest such system in the modern world. The deposits are a combination of extraclasts and biofragments. Extraclasts are detrital quartz, relict allochems, older Pleistocene particles and Oligocene–Miocene limestone clasts. Biofragments are penecontemporaneous coralline algae, echinoderms, small benthic foraminifera, molluscs and bryozoans. The aeolianites differ in composition from distant, open shelf sediments because they contain more mollusc fragments and many fewer bryozoans. This difference is interpreted to be due to (i) most sediment was derived from near‐shore seagrass meadows and macroalgal reefs; (ii) all sediments were modified by hydrodynamics in near‐shore and beach environments; and (iii) fragments of infaunal, beach‐dwelling bivalves were added to the sediment at the strandline. Extraclasts should be expected in older Pleistocene and Cenozoic heterozoan deposits, because the limestones are poorly lithified, largely due to the lack of meteoric cementation, and so easily eroded. Thus, cool‐water aeolianites ought to contain more extraclasts than their warm‐water, tropical cousins. Seagrasses in temperate environments are more productive than in the tropics and thus potentially might contribute many more particles to the beach and dunes than do tropical systems. Although particle breakage in the surf zone cannot be proven, herein the abundance of whole benthic foraminifera and delicate bryozoans implies that suspension and flotsam shoreward transport was an essential process. The similarity of Pleistocene aeolianites over such a long time period herein suggests that the combination of postulated sedimentological, biogenic and hydrodynamic processes could be universally important.     

Holocene cool‐water carbonate and terrigenous sediments from southern Spencer Gulf,South Australia

Holocene sediments from southern Spencer Gulf are cool‐water carbonate‐rich gravels and sands, dominated by molluscs and Bryozoa. Five sedimentary fades are recognized: (i) molluscan gravel; (ii) branching coralline‐algal gravel, associated with shallow partially protected environments; (iii) molluscan‐biyozoan sand; (iv) mixed bioclastic sand, representative of the deeper central region of the lower gulf; and (v) bryozoan gravel, an isolated fades developed in a semi‐protected micro‐environment. The southern gulf is characterized by complex oceanographic conditions together with variations in water depth and substrate. The sediments share the characteristics of both the southern shelf and upper Spencer Gulf. Grain‐size distribution and sedimentary facies are controlled by a combination of all the above processes. Past sea level fluctuations are recognized from sea floor strand‐line deposits. The relic component of the palimpsest sediments has eroded from the Pleistocene aeolianite dunes. The sediments, therefore, reflect both the modern marine and past environments.     

Sediment characteristics and molluscan fossils of the Farasan Islands shorelines,southern Red Sea,Saudi Arabia

The Farasan Islands are located about 40 km offshore of Jizan area, southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. This is a preliminary study aiming to collect shoreline sediments from 17 stations to describe their main lithologic characters and identify the dominant molluscs that could help to evaluate the environmental conditions of these islands. Also, a sediment core FARA2 was collected from the intertidal area of Khor As Sailah Lagoon to see the development of shoreline sediments in this area with time. The results indicated that the shoreline sediments of the Farasan Islands comprised mainly of white, biogenic sand enriched in remains of corals, molluscs, calcareous algae, and benthic foraminifera. Thirty-four mollusc species were recorded from these sediments. Among them, Strombus fasciatus, Strombus tricornis, Chicoreus ramosus, Chicoreus virgineus, Tridacna maxima, and Tridacna squamosa were the most common molluscan in/near the shoreline sediments of Farasan Islands. Frequency abundances of sediment grain-size fractions in the core FARA2 indicated that the shoreline of the Khor As Sailah Lagoon is developing towards shallow intertidal setting due to high production of biogenic sediments by reefal communities. Metal concentrations (Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn) in the sediment of the core FARA2 were stable throughout, showing no remarkable changes. This finding could indicate that flux of detrital components by fresh water runoff or wind-blown dust over the Farasan Islands was un-detectable during the deposition of these sediments.     

The Relative Role of Nutrients, Grazing, and Predation as Controls on Macroalgal Growth in the Waquoit Bay Estuarine System

Understanding whether nutrient availability and grazing by consumers can control macroalgal growth is important to mitigate blooms. To assess the effect of long-term nitrogen loading on macroalgae, we ran a field experiment in which we measured growth of green and red macroalgae in estuaries where loads and eutrophication status differed. The relative abundances of consumers differed among estuaries with more grazers in non-eutrophied estuaries, an important interaction of bottom-up and top-down controls. In the estuary with the lowest nitrogen load, grazers controlled green macroalgal growth, but in higher nitrogen-loaded estuaries, where grazing was lower, growth of green macroalgae overwhelmed potential grazer control. The red macroalga was not controlled by grazers, even in the estuary where grazing pressure was highest. In the low-loaded estuary, invertebrate predators exerted top-down control over grazers, but predation effects did not cascade to macroalgae. Bottom-up mechanisms dominated control of macroalgae through an interaction of direct stimulation of growth and indirect alteration of consumer abundances, and thus, long-term nutrient regimes are likely determining potential for bloom formation in Waquoit Bay.     

The Littorina transgression in the southwestern Baltic Sea: new insights based on proxy methods and radiocarbon dating of sediment cores

Rößler, D., Moros, M. & Lemke, W. 2010: The Littorina transgression in the southwestern Baltic Sea: new insights based on proxy methods and radiocarbon dating of sediment cores. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00180.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The Littorina transgression is one of the most pronounced environmental events in the Holocene history of the Baltic Sea. It changed the hydrographic system from the freshwater Ancylus Lake into the brackish‐marine Littorina Sea. Here, 18 cores from two western Baltic basins, Mecklenburg Bay and the Arkona Basin, were analysed. We show that, besides biological indicators, sedimentary organic carbon, C/N ratio, bulk δ¹³C isotope values and carbonate content display clearly the transition from Ancylus Lake to the Littorina Sea. The first appearances of benthic foraminifers, marine molluscs and ostracods represent the onset of brackish‐marine conditions in the bottom waters. Central Arkona Basin sediments display more abrupt shifts in geochemical parameters and microfossil records at the transition from Ancylus Lake to the Littorina Sea than those from Mecklenburg Bay. Mixing of reworked Ancylus material with Littorina Sea stage material was stronger in Mecklenburg Bay, resulting in less pronounced proxy parameter changes and older bulk material dates. Radiocarbon dating of both calcareous material (benthic foraminifers, mollusc shells) and bulk fractions at the transgression horizon shows large age discrepancies. Based on calcareous fossil dates it appears that marine waters began to enter Mecklenburg Bay c. 8000 cal. a BP. In the Arkona Basin the first marine signals are recorded approximately 800 years later, c. 7200 cal. a BP. This indicates a transgression pathway via the Great Belt into Mecklenburg Bay and then into the Arkona Basin.     

Thresholds of Adverse Effects of Macroalgal Abundance and Sediment Organic Matter on Benthic Habitat Quality in Estuarine Intertidal Flats

Confidence in the use of macroalgae as an indicator of estuarine eutrophication is limited by the lack of quantitative data on the thresholds of its adverse effects on benthic habitat quality. In the present study, we utilized sediment profile imagery (SPI) to identify thresholds of adverse effects of macroalgal biomass, sediment organic carbon (% OC) and sediment nitrogen (% N) concentrations on the apparent Redox Potential Discontinuity (aRPD), the depth that marks the boundary between oxic near-surface sediment and the underlying suboxic or anoxic sediment. At 16 sites in eight California estuaries, SPI, macroalgal biomass, sediment percent fines, % OC, and % N were analyzed at 20 locations along an intertidal transect. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis was used to identify step thresholds associated with a transition from "reference" or natural background levels of macroalgae, defined as that range in which no effect on aRPD was detected. Ranges of 3–15 g dw macroalgae m^?2, 0.4–0.7 % OC and 0.05–0.07 % N were identified as transition zones from reference conditions across these estuaries. Piecewise regression analysis was used to identify exhaustion thresholds, defined as a region along the stress–response curve where severe adverse effects occur; levels of 175 g dw macroalgae m^?2, 1.1 % OC and 0.1 % N were identified as thresholds associated with a shallowing of aRPD to near zero depths. As an indicator of ecosystem condition, shallow aRPD has been related to reduced volume and quality for benthic infauna and alteration in community structure. These effects have been linked to reduced availability of forage for fish, birds and other invertebrates, as well as to undesirable changes in biogeochemical cycling.