Geothermal asymmetry in transform faults of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Doklady Earth Sciences - Statistical analysis of heat flow values measured in transform faults of the equatorial part of the Atlantic Ocean has been performed. Owing to the calculation using the...     

Sedimentary cover deformations in the equatorial Atlantic and their comparison with geophysical fields

The deformations of the sedimentary cover at near-latitudinal geotraverses west and east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the equatorial part of ocean are compared with potential fields and variations of the V _p/V _s attribute at a depth of ~470 km. The features of sedimentary cover deformations in abyssal basins are formulated, as well as their differences from the undisturbed bedding of sediments. The elements of chain of phenomena with common spatial manifestations and cause-and-effect relationships have been established, including heterogeneous horizontal movements, which make up macrojointing above “cold” mantle blocks at a depth of ~470 km; serpentinization of upper-mantle rocks; the formation of superposed magnetic anomalies; the release of the fluids, which acoustically bleach out the sedimentary sequence in seismic imaging; and decompaction of rocks leading to vertical motions and forced folding. The origin of the Atlantic marginal dislocation zone is explained. The coincidence of the deformation boundary in the equatorial Atlantic with the zero contour line of the V _p/V _s attribute is revealed. This coincidence is an indicator of the rheological state of the upper mantle.     

Platinum-group element systematics in Mid-Oceanic Ridge basaltic glasses from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans

The concentrations of Ir, Ru, Pt and Pd have been determined in 29 Mid-Oceanic Ridge basaltic (MORB) glasses from the Pacific (N = 7), the Atlantic (N = 10) and the Indian (N = 11) oceanic ridges and the Red Sea (N = 1) spreading centers. The effect of sulfide segregation during magmatic differentiation has been discussed with sample suites deriving from parental melts produced by high (16%) and low (6%) degrees of partial melting, respectively. Both sample suites define positive and distinct covariation trends in platinum-group elements (PGE) vs. Ni binary plots. The high-degree melting suite displays, for a given Ni content, systematically higher PGE contents relative to the low-degree melting suite. The mass fraction of sulfide segregated during crystallization (X_sulf), the achievement of equilibrium between sulfide melt and silicate melts (R_eff), and the respective proportions between fractional and batch crystallization processes (S_b) are key parameters for modeling the PGE partitioning behavior during S-saturated MORB differentiation. Regardless of the model chosen, similar sulfide melt/silicate melt partition coefficients for Ir, Ru, Pt and Pd are needed to model the sulfide segregation process, in agreement with experimental data. When corrected for the effect of magmatic differentiation, the PGE data display coherent variations with partial melting degrees. Iridium, Ru and Pt are found to be compatible in nonsulfide minerals whereas the Pd behaves as a purely chalcophile element. The calculated partition coefficients between mantle sulfides and silicate melts (assuming a PGE concentration in the oceanic mantle at ∼0.007 × CI-chondritic abundances) increase from Pd (∼10³) to Ir (∼10⁵). This contrasting behavior of PGE during S-saturated magmatic differentiation and mantle melting processes can be accounted for by assuming that Monosufide Solid Solution (Mss) controls the PGE budget in MORB melting residues whereas MORB differentiation processes involve Cu-Ni-rich sulfide melt segregation.     

Vertical transport of steroid alcohols and ketones measured in a sediment trap experiment in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean

The vertical flux and free steroid alcohol (sterol) and ketone composition of particulate material was determined using sediment traps deployed at 389, 988, 3755 and 5068 m at a station in the equatorial North Atlantic, PARFLUX E. Cholest-5-en-3β-ol (cholesterol) was found to be the dominant sterol in all the traps. This compound had a maximum flux at 988 m, accounting for more than 90% of the sterols at this depth. Inputs from mesopelagic Zooplankton populations living in or migrating to depths between the 389 and 988 m traps appear to be responsible for this distribution. The deeper two traps exhibited an increased flux of phytosterols relative to cholesterol, probably due to (a) the incorporation of labile phytoplankton remains in fecal pellets and rapid transport into the deep sea and (b) differential dissolution of heterogeneous large particles. A maximum of 5–22% of the sterols produced in the euphotic zone were present in the 389 m trap. This value drops to less than 1% for the 5068 m trap, 200 m above the sediment surface.In general steroid ketone fluxes gradually decreased with depth. Δ4-Stenones were found in greater abundance than their saturated counterparts. Cholest-4-en-3-one was the major steroid ketone detected in all the traps. A five-fold increase with depth in the cholest-4-en-3-one to cholesterol ratio is most likely due to microbial oxidation of sterols to steroid ketones, or higher Δ4-stenone inputs relative to sterols from organisms.     

20 My of nitrogen fixation during deposition of mid-Cretaceous black shales on the Demerara Rise,equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Thick sequences of dark colored, organic carbon rich, finely laminated Santonian–Cenomanian claystones and homogeneous Albian siltstones were recovered from Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1257, 1258 and 1260 on the Demerara Rise in the western equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations vary from 2 to over 20 wt% in the sequences of “black shales” that were deposited over a period of ～20 million years. Similarly long periods of elevated marine productivity implied by the high TOC concentrations are uncommon in the geological record and must have required unusual paleoceanographic conditions. The importance of nitrogen fixing bacteria to sustaining the amplified export production of organic matter is indicated by δ¹⁵N values that remain between ?4‰ and 0‰, a range that is notably less positive than the average of +5‰ for modern ocean sediments. Although containing mostly marine organic matter, the black shales have TOC/TN molar ratios between 20 and 40 that mimic those of land plant organic matter. The anomalously large TOC/TN ratios suggest selective organic matter degradation, probably associated with low oxygen conditions in the water column, that favored preservation of nitrogen poor forms of organic matter relative to nitrogen rich components. Deposition of black shales on the Demerara Rise was likely a consequence of the mid-Cretaceous warm and wet greenhouse climate that strengthened thermohaline stratification of this part of the Atlantic Ocean, which in turn encouraged bacterial nitrogen fixation, enhanced primary production, magnified organic matter export, and ultimately established anoxic conditions at the seafloor that improved preservation of organic matter for much of the 20 My period represented by these thick sequences.     

Sterols in the western North Atlantic Ocean

The sterol concentrations in fourteen surface and nine deep water samples collected from the continental shelf and slope waters of the western North Atlantic and Sargasso Sea ranged from 0.1 to 1.3μ/l seawater. Isolation and structural elucidation by gas chromatography and combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry show that cholesterol and β-sitosterol (or clionasterol) are the major free sterols in both the surface and deep water. Fucosterol, brassicasterol, 22-dehydrocholesterol, campesterol (or 22,23-dihydrobrassicasterol), 22-methylenecholesterol, norcholestadienol, and stigmasterol (or poriferasterol) are found in lower concentrations at the surface and in the deep sea. Cholesterol is the major sterol ester in both the surface and deep water, while very low concentrations of other sterol esters were found. The ratio of total free sterols to total esterified sterols is approximately two in both the surface and deep water.Marine sources of sterols in seawater include phytoplankton, yeasts, and marine animals such as Crustacea and molluscs. Terrestrial plants also may contribute. Sterol transport to the deep sea may occur by convective overturn and vertical diffusion or from vertical fluxes of large particles from the surface.     

Magmatic rocks in the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, North Atlantic Ocean

Two basalt groups corresponding to different geodynamic environments were distinguished based on results of additional geochemical studies of materials obtained during Cruise 15 of the R/V Akademik Kurchatov and literature data on the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone: (1) predominantly low-Ti tholeiites that are most closely similar to spreading basalts generated during the initial opening of the North Atlantic (southeastern margin of Greenland and the Vöring and Rockall plateaus) and (2) high-Ti differentiated basalts of variable alkalinity, which are deep, low-volume partial melts likely derived with the participation of a mantle plume. Compositional variations in the basalts were studied in the active and passive parts of the fracture zone. Our results bridge the gap in detailed geochemical data on oceanic crustal rocks and can be used in reconstructions of ancient geodynamic environments.     

Tectonic provinces of the Atlantic Ocean

The tectonic structure of the floor of the Atlantic Ocean beyond the continental margins is insufficiently studied. This is also true of its tectonic demarcation. The segmentation of the floor into regional-scale tectonic provinces of several orders proposed in this paper is primarily based on structural and historical geological features. It is shown that deep oceanic basins and fault tectonics are of particular importance in this respect. Tectonic provinces of two orders are distinguished by a set of attributes. The first-order provinces are the North, Central, South, and Antarctic domains of the Atlantic Ocean. They are separated by wide demarcation fracture zones into Transatlantic (transverse) second-order tectonic provinces. Ten such provinces are recognized (from the north southward): Greenland-Lofoten, Greenland-Scandinavia, Greenland-Ireland, Newfoundland-European, North American-African, Antilles-African, Angola-Brazil, Cape-Argentine, North Antarctic, and South Antarctic. This subdivision demonstrates significant differentiation in the geodynamic state of the oceanic lithosphere that determines nonuniform ocean formation and the tectonic features of the ocean floor. The latitudinal orientation of the second-order provinces inherits the past tectonic pattern, though newly formed structural units cannot be ruled out. The Earth rotation exerts a crucial effect on the crust and the mantle.     

琼东南盆地中央峡谷深水天然堤—溢岸沉积

中央峡谷位于琼东南盆地深水区,发育面积较广,内部天然堤—溢岸沉积发育。深水天然堤—溢岸可作为良好的油气储集体,深受油气工业界的关注。为了指导中央峡谷的油气勘探,利用三维地震资料,结合地震剖面以及均方根振幅属性对中央峡谷内部天然堤—溢岸沉积的形态和控制因素进行了分析,总结了天然堤—溢岸的沉积模式,并对其油气勘探前景进行了...     

台湾峡谷中段沉积特征及流体机制探讨

海底峡谷、高弯度水道等深水沉积单元中的流体活动方式是人们关注的热点.本次研究利用高分辨地震资料,结合地形地貌特征对台湾峡谷中段的沉积特征及流体活动方式进行初步探讨.台湾峡谷中段发育内堤岸(inner levee),它成层性好、地层产状倾斜,地震反射特征与峡谷西岸和下覆滑塌体明显不同,内部结构表现为逐级上超的特征,以侧向加积为主.曲流河和深水高弯度水道的点坝均发育于河(水)道拐弯处,由于离心力作用,沉积物在凸岸堆积形成点坝.该内堤岸位于峡谷中段直线型地段,不具备形成点坝的地形地貌条件,综合分析认为该内堤岸是由垂直于峡谷轴向、自西向东的底流与沿峡谷向下的重力流交互作用形成的.     

Sedimentary processes and facies of the waterlaid Anvil Spring Canyon alluvial fan, Death Valley, California

The Anvil Spring Canyon fan of the Panamint Range piedmont in central Death Valley was built entirely by water-flow processes, as revealed by an analysis of widespread 2- to 12-m-high stratigraphic cuts spanning the 9·7 km radial length of this 2·5–5·0° sloping fan. Two facies deposited from fan sheetfloods dominate the fan from apex to toe. The main one (60–95% of cuts) consists of sandy, granular, fine to medium pebble gravel that regularly and sharply alternates with cobbly coarse to very coarse pebble gravel in planar couplets 5–25 cm thick oriented parallel to the fan surface. The other facies (0–25% of cuts) comprises 10- to 60-cm-thick, wedge-planar and wedge-trough beds of pebbly sand and sandy pebble gravel in backsets sloping 3–28°. Both facies are interpreted as resulting from rare, sediment-charged flash floods from the catchment, and were deposited by supercritical standing waves of expanding sheetfloods on the fan. Standing waves were repeatedly initiated, enlarged, migrated, and then terminated either by gradually rejoining the flood or by more violent breakage and washout. The frequent autocyclic growth and destruction of standing waves during an individual sheetflood resulted in the deposition of multiple coarse and fine couplet and backset sequences 50–250 cm thick across the active depositional lobe of the fan. Erosional intensity during washout of the standing wave determined whether early-phase backset-bed deposits or washout-phase sheetflood couplet deposits were selectively preserved in a given cycle. Two minor facies are also found in the Anvil fan. Pebble–cobble gravel lags (0–20% of cuts) are present above erosional scours into the sheetflood couplet and backset deposits. They consist of coarse gravel concentrated through fine-fraction winnowing of the host sheetflood facies by sediment-deficient water flows. This reworking occurred during recessional flood stage or from non-catastrophic discharge during the long intervals between major flash floods. This facies is common at the surface, giving rise to a ‘braided-stream’ appearance. However, it is stratigraphically limited, present as thin, continuous to discontinuous beds or lenses that bound 50- to 250-cm-thick sheetflood sequences. The other minor facies of the Anvil fan consists of clast-supported and imbricated, thickly stratified, pebbly, cobbly, boulder gravel present in narrow, radially aligned ribbons nested within sheetflood deposits. This facies is interpreted as representing deposition in the incised channel of the fan, a subenvironment characterized by greater flow competence resulting from maintained depth from channel-wall confinement, and by more frequent water flows and winnowing events caused by its direct connection with the catchment feeder channel.     

Satellite-tracked drifting buoy observations in the south equatorial current in the Indian Ocean

Three satellite-tracked drifting buoys released in the south equatorial current in the Indian Ocean followed the path of the current moving westward approximately zonally in the vicinity of 10 S latitude. On nearing the east coast of Africa two buoys moved north and the third moved south. Over the open sea regime the buoys moved with a speed of approximately 30 cm/s at an angle of about 35° to the left of the wind. The overall tendencies seen in the buoy drift are similar to those observed elsewhere in the world oceans.     

中国多金属结核开辟区沉积物中微量元素地球化学特征

分析了中国多金属结核开辟区沉积物中Ba、Ce、Co、Cr、Cu、Mo、Ni、Sr、V、Y和Zn等11个微量元素的含量。研究表明，开辟区沉积物中微量元素在不同沉积单元中的分布特征存在明显差异，反映了地质历史上沉积环境的不同。沉积物中的Zn、Ni和Mn具有共同来源，反映铁锰氧化物、氢氧化物对这些元素的吸附控制作用；Sr、Ba以及Ce和Y等元素在东区主要与岩源碎屑有关，而西区则主要来自生物碎屑；Cu具有多种来源，东区主要与生物组分和岩源碎屑有关，西区则主要与自生铁锰氧化物的吸附有关。而通常认为与有机物有关的Cr、V等元素在研究区内则主要来自岩源碎屑。     

Petrogenesis of the Back-arc East Scotia Ridge, South Atlantic Ocean

The East Scotia Ridge is an active back-arc spreading centrelocated to the west of the South Sandwich island arc in theSouth Atlantic Ocean, consisting of nine main segments, E1 (north)to E9 (south). Major and trace element and Sr–Nd–Pbisotope compositions are presented, together with water contents,for lavas sampled along the active ridge axis. Magmatism alongthe East Scotia Ridge is chemically heterogeneous, but thereis a common mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-type source componentfor all the magmas. An almost unmodified MORB-source mantleappears to underlie the central part of the back-arc. Subductioncomponents are found at the northern and southern ends of theridge, and there is a marked sediment melt input of up to 2%in segment E4. Enriched (plume) mantle is present beneath segmentE2 at the northern end of the ridge, suggesting that plume mantleis flowing westward around the edges of the subducting slab.The southern part of segment E8 is unique in that its magmasource is similar to sub-arc depleted mantle. KEY WORDS: geochemistry; petrogenesis; volcanism; back-arc; subduction     

Extended orbitally forced palaeoclimatic records from the equatorial Atlantic Ceara Rise

We extend existing high-resolution Oligocene–Miocene proxy records from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 154. The extended record spans the time interval from 17.86 to 26.5 Ma. The data are age calibrated against a new astronomical solution that affords a re-evaluation of the intricate interaction between orbital (“Milankovitch”) forcing of the climate and ocean system, and the fidelity with which this forcing is recorded in oxygen and carbon stable isotope measurements from benthic foraminifera, and associated lithological proxy records of magnetic susceptibility, colour reflectance, and the measured sand fraction. Our records show a very strong continual imprint of the Earth's obliquity cycle, modulate in amplitude every , a very strong eccentricity signal in the carbon isotope records, and a strong, but probably local, imprint of climatic precession on the coarse fraction and magnetic susceptibility records. Our data allowed us to evaluate how the interaction of long, multi-million year beats in the Earth's eccentricity and obliquity are implicated in the waxing and waning of ice-sheets, presumably on Antarctica. Our refined age model confirms the revised age of the Oligocene–Miocene boundary, previously established by analysis of the lithological data, and allows a strong correlation with the geomagnetic time scale by comparison with data from ODP Site 1090, Southern Ocean.     

南海北部珠江口外峡谷体系沉积特征、演化及其控制因素

深水海底峡谷内部的粗粒碎屑沉积物不仅可以作为良好的油气储层,也可以较为完整地记录海洋地质环境变迁的相关信息,是目前海洋地质领域研究的热点.为揭示南海北部珠江口外峡谷体系沉积演化过程及其控制因素,利用多波束测深和高分辨率二维多道地震数据,对珠江口外峡谷体系地形特征、沉积充填特征、形成发育过程和控制因素进行研究.研究发现珠江口外峡谷呈三段式发育：上段为NW-SE走向,宽度超过30 km,侵蚀强度不大,横截面为不规则形态;中段为E-W走向,宽度开始变窄（25～30 km）,横截面呈U型;下段为NW-SE走向,宽度达到最大（25～45 km）,横截面呈U型,中段和下段以沉积作用为主.珠江口外峡谷体系沉积演化主要分为3个阶段：早期阶段（23～15.5 Ma）,水道-海底扇阶段（15.5～11.6 Ma）和峡谷-海底扇/块体流阶段（11.6～0 Ma）.揭示了该峡谷珠江口外峡谷体系的发育和演化主要受构造运动、海平面变化和沉积物供给的控制作用,通过以上分析,将对南海北部海洋灾害地质、深水沉积体系研究及油气资源勘探有重要的指导意义.     

Sedimentary Rocks in the Basement of the Alpha–Mendeleev Rise,Arctic Ocean

Lithology and Mineral Resources - The results of petrographic, petrogeochemical and isotopic studies of sedimentary rocks obtained from bedrock outcrops of the Alpha–Mendeleev Rise, Arctic...