The importance of atmospheric input of terrestrial organic material to deep sea sediments

The concentrations of lipids were determined in atmospheric particle, gas and rain samples collected from the tropical North Pacific to assess lipid sources, transport mechanisms and fluxes to the ocean surface. Four lipid compound classes (aliphatic hydrocarbons, fatty alcohols, fatty acid esters, and salts) all unequivocally show a terrestrial vascular plant source. These aerosol lipids originate from wind erosion of Asian and American soils and direct emission from vegetation. The major fluxes result from rain rather than dry deposition. These fluxes are large enough to have a major potential impact on the inventory of terrestrially derived lipid material found in deep-sea sediments. This has been showm for n-alkanes, fatty alcohols, fatty acids, total lipids and for organic carbon. By comparing atmospheric and sediment trap fluxes with sediment accumulation rates, it is suggested that some biogenic terrestrial material is more protected from degradation than marine-derived material.     

Characteristics of hydrothermal plumes from two vent fields on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, northeast Pacific Ocean

Deep CTD/transmissometer tows and water bottle sampling were used during 1985 to map the regional distribution of the neutrally-buoyant plumes emanating from each of two major vent fields on the Southern Symmetrical Segment (SSS) and Endeavour Segment (ES) of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. At both vent fields, emissions from point and diffuse hydrothermal sources coalesced into a single 200-m-thick plume elongated in the direction of current flow and with characteristic temperature anomalies of 0.02–0.05°C and light-attenuation anomalies of 0.01–0.08 m⁻¹ (10–80 μg/l above background). Temperature anomalies in the core of each plume were uniform as far downcurrent as the plumes were mapped (10–15 km). Downcurrent light-attenuation trends were non-uniform and differed between plumes, apparently because different vent fluid chemistries at each field cause significant differences in the settling characteristics of the hydrothermal precipitates. Vent fluids from the SSS are metal-dominated and mostly precipitate very fine-grained hydrous Fe-oxides that remain suspended in the plume. Vent fluids from the ES are sulfur-dominated and precipitate a high proportion of coarser-grained Fe-sulfides that rapidly settle from the plume. The integrated flux of each vent field was estimated from measurements of the advective transport of each plume. Heat flux was 1700 ± 1100 MW from the ES and 580 ± 351 MW from the SSS. Particle flux varied from 546 ± 312 g/s to 204 ± 116 g/s at the ES depending on distance from the vent field, and was 92 ± 48 g/s from the SSS.     

Are C1 chondrites chemically fractionated? a trace element study

Six C1 chondrite samples and a C2 xenolith from the Plainview H5 chondrite were analyzed by radiochemical neutron activation for the elements Ag, Au, Bi, Br, Cd, Ce, Cs, Eu, Ge, In, Ir, Lu, Nd, Ni, Os, Pd, Pt, Rb, Re, Sb, Se, Sn, Tb, Te, Tl, Yb, and Zn. The data were combined with 9 earlier analyses from this laboratory and examined for evidence of chemical fractionation in C1 chondrites.A number of elements (Br, Rb, Cs, Au, Re, Os, Ni, Pd, Sb, Bi, In, Te) show small but correlated variations. Those of the first 8 probably reflect hydrothermal alteration in the meteorite parent body, whereas those of Sb, Bi, In, and Te may at least in part involve nebular processes. Br and Au show systematic abundance differences from meteorite to meteorite, which suggests hydrothermal transport on a kilometer scale. The remaining elements vary from sample to sample, suggesting transport on a centimeter scale.There is no conclusive evidence for nebular fractionation affecting C1 's. Though C1 chondrites have lower $\text{Zr}\text{Hf}$ and $\text{Ir}\text{Re}$ ratios than do other chondrite classes, these ratios vary in other classes, suggesting that those classes rather than C1's are fractionated. Three fractionation-prone REE—Ce, Eu, and Yb have essentially the same relative abundances in C1's and all other chondrite classes, and hence apparently are not fractionated in C1's. We did not confirm the large Tb and Yb variations in C1's reported by other workers.We present revised mean C1 abundances for 35 elements, based on the new data and a critical selection of literature data. Changes are generally less than 10%, except for Br, Rb, Ag, Sb, Te, Au, and the REE.The Plainview C2 xenolith has normal trace element abundances, except for 3 elements falling appreciably above the C2 range: Rb, Cs, and Bi. Hydrothermal alteration may be the reason for all 3, though nebular fractionation remains a possibility for Bi.     

Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Network

Information included in this summary is based on more detailed reports published in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 31, no. 3, March 2006 (on the Internet at ). Edited by scientists at the Smithsonian, this bulletin includes reports provided by a worldwide network of correspondents. The reports contain the names and contact information for all sources. Please note that these reports are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. The Global Volcanism Program welcomes further reports of current volcanism, seismic unrest, monitoring data, and field observations.     

Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Network

Information included in this summary is based on more detailed reports published in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 31, no. 4, April 2006 (on the Internet at ). Edited by scientists at the Smithsonian, this bulletin includes reports provided by a worldwide network of correspondents. The reports contain the names and contact information for all sources. Please note that these reports are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. The Global Volcanism Program welcomes further reports of current volcanism, seismic unrest, monitoring data, and field observations.