The significance of Messinian occurrences of Globorotalia margaritae and Globorotalia puncticulata in Sicily

Globorotalia puncticulata and Globorotalia margaritae are critical species that define internationally recognized planktonic foraminiferal biozones in the Pliocene. These biozones are defined from stratotype sections on Sicily and their fauna are commonly considered to have been introduced to the Mediterranean after an influx of Atlantic water that terminated the late Miocene desiccation of the basin. Herein new discoveries of these species in rocks that predate the late Miocene desiccation are described. These data are supported by magneto- and lithostratigraphy that have been integrated at a single continuous section. Not only do these discoveries question the existing foraminiferal biozone stratigraphy, they also suggest new models for the dispersal of planktonic species. It is proposed that Globorotalia puncticulata and perhaps even Globorotalia margaritae evolved in the Mediterranean during earliest Messinian times (during or before chron C3Bn1n) and dispersed into the Atlantic. This suggests that a marine connection remained between the two sea areas until at least chron C3An.1n. Using the existing geomagnetic polarity time scale, these occurrences are some 2 Myr earlier than previously recorded in the Mediterranean. The distribution of G. margaritae and G. puncticulata in Mediterranean sections is likely to reflect palaeoenvironment or the preservation of deposits rather than the absolute age of the sediments.     

Oil-weathering behavior in Arctic environments

Oil-weathering processes in ice-free subarctic and Arctic waters include spreading, evaporation, dissolution, dispersion of whole-oil droplets into the water column, photochemical oxidation, water-in-oil emulsification, microbial degradation, adsorption onto suspended particulate material, ingestion by organisms, sinking, and sedimentation. While many of these processes also are important factors in ice-covered waters, the various forms of sea ice (depending on the active state of ice growth, extent of coverage and/or decay) impart drastic, if not controlling, changes to the rates and relative importance of different oil-weathering mechanisms. Flow-through seawater wave-tank experiments in a cold room at −35°C and studies in the Chukchi Sea in late winter provide data on oil fate and effects for a variety of potential oil spill scenarios in the Arctic. Time-series chemical weathering data are presented for Prudhoe Bay crude oil released under and encapsulated in growing first-year columnar ice through spring breakup.     

Water transport from the North-east Irish Sea to western Scottish coastal waters: Further observations from time-trend matching of Sellafield radiocaesium

Radiocaesium isotopes, discharged into the North-east Irish Sea from the Sellafield (formerly Windscale) nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria, have been employed as flow monitors to update and extend the record of coastal water movement from the Irish Sea to the Clyde Sea area and, further north, to Loch Etive. The temporal trends in radiocaesium levels have been used to determine the extent of water mixing en route and to define mean advection rates. Flow conditions from the Irish Sea have changed considerably since the mid-1970s, the residence time of northern Irish Sea waters being ～12 months during 1978–1980 inclusive. Average transport times of four and six months are estimated for the Sellafield to Clyde and Sellafield to Etive transects respectively. Sellafield ¹³⁷Cs levels in seawater were diluted by factors of 27 and 50 respectively during current movement to the Clyde and Etive areas. The decrease in salinity-corrected ¹³⁷Cs concentrations between the Clyde and Etive suggests that dilution by Atlantic water occurs, the latter mainly entering the Firth of Lorne from the west. The majority (～94%) of the radiocaesium supply to Loch Etive enters the Firth of Lorne via the portion of the coastal current circulating west of Islay, only ～6% arriving via the Sound of Jura.     

Pb, Sr and Nd isotope study of two co-existing magmas in the Nízke Tatry Mountains, Western Carpathians (Slovakia)

Summary Two co-existing plutonic rocks (diorite and granodiorite) were studied from an intrusion of Variscan age in the Raztocna Valley – Nízke Tatry Mountains, Western Carpathians. Geochemical analyses of major and trace elements constrain a volcanic arc as emplacement environment and give the first hints of a mixture of two magmatic end-members: the so-called Prasivá granodiorite and the Raztocna diorite. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr₍₀₎ ratios vary between 0.7075 and 0.7118, the ε Nd₍₀₎ values range from −1.4 to −5.0. Common Pb isotopes reveal a dominant crustal source with minor influences from a mantle and a lower crustal source. Modelling based on Sr and Nd isotope data and using three component mixing calculations indicates that mixing of 2/3 of upper mantle material with 1/3 upper crustal material can produce the isotopic composition of the Raztocna diorite. Very minor amounts of lower crust were incorporated in the diorite. For the Prasivá granodiorite, the mixing ratio of upper mantle and upper crust is similar, but a lower crustal reservoir contributed about 5–10% of the source material.