Studies on settling, traction and entrainment of larger benthic foraminiferal tests: implications for accumulation in shallow marine sediments

Settling and traction velocities were measured on optimally preserved tests of larger foraminifera using a settling tube and flume tank. Within larger foraminifera with porcelaneous tests, the peneroplids, Peneroplis antillarum, P. planatus, P. pertusus and Dendritina cf. D. zhengae, are distinguished by low test densities (ca 1·2) that do not change with growth. Buoyancy is high because of low Reynolds numbers and increases in large individuals because of the allometric change of test shape. The fusiform Alveolinella quoyi, with test densities ca 1·6, is characterized by high Reynolds numbers, inducing the weakest buoyancy within porcelaneous larger foraminifera. The highest buoyancy was recorded for the three soritids, Parasorites orbitolitoides, Sorites orbiculus and Amphisorus hemprichii, because of their low test densities (ca 1·25) and the extremely flat, biconcave, plate‐like shape. Flat tests, however, reduce traction and entrainment from smooth surfaces. Within hyaline larger foraminiferat, the amphisteginids show thick‐lenticular (Amphistegina lobifera, A. radiata) to thin‐lenticular tests (A. bicirculata, A. papillosa), influencing buoyancy. Here, high test densities (ca 1·8) decrease with growth in A. lobifera, A. lessonii and A. bicirculata, and remain constant in A. radiata and A. papillosa. Minimum velocities required for entrainment are lower for thick‐lenticular tests and higher for thin‐lenticular tests. Test densities remain constant with growth in the calcarinid Baculogypsina sphaerulata (ρ ∼ 1·78) and decrease slightly in Calcarina gaudichaudii and Neorotalia calcar (starting at ρ ∼ 1·85), all living under extreme hydrodynamic conditions. Density decreases the most in Baculogypsinoides spinosus (starting at ρ ∼ 1·8), resulting in higher buoyancy through low Reynolds numbers. Traction is promoted in spherical tests of Baculogypsina and Baculogypsinoides. Within nummulitids, the thick‐lenticular Palaeonummulites venosus (test density decreasing with size; starting at 1·78) is less buoyant, expressed in high Reynolds numbers, but easily entrained. Thick‐lenticular juveniles and extremely flat adults distinguish Operculinella cumingii, Heterostegina depressa and the giant Cycloclypeus carpenteri. Test densities increase during growth, starting from ca 1·6 and attaining a maximum of 1·8. Buoyancy is low in small tests and high in large tests, while entrainment velocities are reduced as the tests flatten. High buoyancy is also a characteristic of the entirely flat tests in Operculina ammonoides (from deeper regions) and Planostegina operculinoides, which is expressed in the lowest Reynolds numbers within larger foraminifera.     

Till mélange at Amsdorf, central Germany: sediment erosion, transport and deposition in a complex, soft-bedded subglacial system

Glacial mélange in the open-cast mine at Amsdorf, central Germany, consists of several square meters of large, sorted sediment blocks embedded in till. The blocks are composed of largely intact to slightly deformed glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine sand, silt and clay, initially deposited in a proglacial lake (2–3 km up-ice) and subsequently overridden by a glacier. The blocks typically have cuboid to subrounded outlines, are randomly distributed in the till, and the contacts with the surrounding till are distinctly sharp. Underneath the mélange are varved clays which exhibit strong deformations occasionally intervening with entirely undisturbed areas. It is suggested that the blocks were entrained into debris-rich basal-ice by bulk freeze-on when the glacier sole was lowered onto the bottom of an overridden lake. After entrainment the blocks were transported englacially and re-deposited (with far-traveled till matrix) as a melt-out till from stagnant ice. The glacier moved mainly by sliding enhanced by low-permeability varved clays in the substratum. The glacier is believed to have been of a polythermal type. These results show that bulk freeze-on can lead to entrainment of soft sediment blocks at least 20 m² in size, and that these blocks can be englacially transported with little or no deformation for several kilometers and more. The occurrence of deformed and undeformed clays under the till mélange indicates a possible mosaic of coupled and decoupled ice, the latter caused by a thin, transient subglacial water film separating the bed from the glacier.     

Influence of benthic sediment transport on cold‐water coral bank morphology and growth: the example of the Darwin Mounds,north‐east Atlantic

The Darwin Mounds are small (up to 70 m in diameter), discrete cold‐water coral banks found at c. 950 m water depth in the northern Rockall Trough, north‐east Atlantic. Formerly described in terms of their genesis, the Darwin Mounds are re‐evaluated here in terms of mound growth processes based on 100 and 410 kHz side‐scan sonar data. The side‐scan sonar coverage is divided into a series of acoustic facies representing increasing current speed and sediment transport/erosion from south to north: pockmark facies, ‘mounds within depressions’ facies, Darwin Mound facies, stippled seabed facies and sand wave facies. Mound morphometric changes are quantified and show a south‐to‐north divergence from an inherited morphology, reflecting the outline of coral‐colonized fluid escape structures, to developed, downstream elongated, elevated mound forms. It is postulated that increasing current speeds and bedload sand transport favour mound growth and development by a process of enhanced sand sedimentation within mounds due to current deceleration by frictional drag around coral colonies. Comparisons are made with similar growth processes attributed to comparably sized cold‐water coral mounds in the Porcupine Seabight, offshore Ireland.     

Sedimentary processes controlling ultralong cells of littoral transport: Placer formation and termination of the Orange sand highway in southern Angola

This study focuses on the causes, modalities and obstacles of sediment transfer in the longest cell of littoral sand drift documented on Earth so far. Sand derived from the Orange River is dragged by swell waves and persistent southerly winds to accumulate in four successive dunefields in coastal Namibia to Angola. All four dunefields are terminated by river valleys, where aeolian sand is flushed back to the ocean; and yet sediment transport continues at sea, tracing an 1800 km long submarine sand highway. Sand drift would extend northward to beyond the Congo if the shelf did not become progressively narrower in southern Angola, where drifting sand is funnelled towards oceanic depths via canyon heads connected to river mouths. Garnet–magnetite placers are widespread along this coastal stretch, indicating systematic loss of the low‐density feldspatho‐quartzose fraction to the deep ocean. More than half of Moçamedes Desert sand is derived from the Orange River, and the rest in similar proportions from the Cunene River and from the Swakop and other rivers draining the Damara Orogen in Namibia. The Orange fingerprint, characterized by basaltic rock fragments, clinopyroxene grains and bimodal zircon‐age spectra with peaks at ca 0·5 Ga and ca 1·0 Ga, is lost abruptly at Namibe, and beach sands further north have abundant feldspar, amphibole‐epidote suites and unimodal zircon‐age spectra with a peak at ca 2·0 Ga, documenting local provenance from Palaeoproterozoic basement. Along with this oblique‐rifted continental margin, beach placers are dominated by Fe–Ti–Cr oxides with more monazite than garnet and thus have a geochemical signature sharply different from beach placers found all the way along the Orange littoral cell. High‐resolution mineralogical studies allow us to trace sediment dispersal over distances of thousands of kilometres, providing essential information for the correct reconstruction of ‘source to sink’ relationships in hydrocarbon exploration and to predict the long‐term impact of man‐made infrastructures on coastal sediment budgets.