Separation of He and CH4 signals on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 5°N and 51°N

Abiogenic methane may be produced in submarine hydrothermal systems by degassing of basalts or serpentinization of ultramafic outcrops. The latter process presumably releases little primordial helium and is therefore implicated by high CH₄/³He ratios in vent fluids from the ultramafic-hosted Rainbow field and in methane plumes near ultramafic outcrops. In two segments of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at 5.4°N and 51°N, we have observed depth-separated CH₄ and ³He plumes. In both cases, the helium plume was deeper, near the valley floor. It may be that the plumes issue from separate vents, where the helium is discharged near the volcanic axis and the methane is generated by serpentinization on the valley wall. However, at the present time the locations of the vents that produce these plumes are not known. Using a one-pass model, we investigated whether separate venting could arise from heat conduction from a primary, helium-carrying, hydrothermal circulation to a second, shallower fracture loop intersecting ultramafic rock. The model results indicate that the flow rate through the secondary loop would have to be relatively low in order for it to stay warm enough for serpentinization to proceed. In this case, some of the exothermic heat production is lost by conduction, and the temperature increase in the circulating fluid is only a fraction of that expected from a water/rock ratio of 1:1.     

Offshore oil platforms and fouling communities in the southern Arabian Gulf (Abu Dhabi)

This study examined the fouling organisms on the legs of offshore oil platforms at two sites in the southern Arabian Gulf (offshore Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates). 100% of the metal structures was colonized by encrusting organisms. Both the number of individuals and the total biomass tended to decrease with depth. The total weight of dead shells always exceeded that of living organisms. Sessile filter feeders dominated the biomass, whereas small mobile forms had the largest number of individuals. The biomass at the deeper platform (22 m) was dominated by bivalves, barnacles and bryozoans, while polychaetes and amphipods had the greatest number of individuals. Biomass values here ranged from 1 g/0.1 m2 at 20 m to 147 g/0.1 m2 at 5 m; the corresponding individual numbers were 266 (20 m) and 11,814 indiv./0.1 m2 (5 m). The results at the shallower platform (11 m) differed in several respects: barnacles clearly dominated over bivalves, and sponges exceeded byrozoans, while total individual numbers fell due to a decline in polychaete dominance. Biomass values here ranged from 84 g/0.1 m2 at 10 m to 153 g/0.1 m2 at 0 m; the corresponding individual numbers were 695 (10 m) and 3,125 indiv./0.1 m2 (0 m). The potential role of such fouling communities on artificial structures in the Gulf is discussed.     

Application of cathodoluminescence to magmatic quartz in a tin granite – case study from the Schellerhau Granite Complex, Eastern Erzgebirge, Germany

A model of the cooling history of tin-bearing granitic magma forming the Schellerhau granites (Eastern Erzgebirge, Germany) is shown on the basis of quartz textures. Similar grain size, similar grain habit and correlatable growth textures of phenocrysts in different granite varieties give proof of a common crystallization history before the melts of the Schellerhau granite varieties were intruded. Four nucleation events occurred during crystallization in different crustal levels between about 20 and 1 km depth. The parental melt of the Schellerhau granites is interpreted to have contained<2.5 wt% H₂O originally. The water content of the melt during the subvolcanic intrusion stage amounted to more than 5 wt% and characterizes highly evolved residual melts that enable the formation of tin deposits. This study contributes to a better understanding of the development and behaviour of fractionated tin-bearing granitic melts, and links quartz cathodoluminescence (CL) with microanalytical studies. Received: 28 October 1998 / Accepted: 18 August 1999     

Barite concretions as evidence of pauses in sedimentation in the Marnes Bleues Formation of the Vocontian Basin (SE France)

Several intervals rich in barite nodules occur in the mid-Cretaceous marls of the Vocontian Trough (SE France). These concretions, which grew on heterogeneities in the sediment, are arranged as horizons parallel to the bedding, and are often associated with carbonate and phosphate nodules. Detailed sedimentological and stratigraphical observations suggest that they represent the consequence of short-term pauses in sedimentation during early diagenesis, but the most important occurrences of barite are below prominent discontinuities. This may be explained by the frequency of pauses in sedimentation caused by a progressive starvation, or an increase in the energy of bottom-water currents. The high number of barite occurrences on the basin margins is directly linked to the recurrence of sedimentary breaks. The geochemical data show that the host sediment corresponds to a pelagic setting, far from hydrothermal influences, but generally in a restricted, dysoxic to suboxic, depositional environment. The sulphur isotopic composition of the barite sulphate (+16 to +76‰ rel. CDT) supports the hypothesis of an early diagenetic origin of the barite nodules. Their genesis may be explained by the fixation of a diagenetic front corresponding to the penetration of a sulphate reduction zone from the seawater–sediment interface down in the sediment which is in contact with barium-rich porewaters expelled upwards as a consequence of compaction. The barium of biogenic origin, initially stored in the underlying black shale, was mobilized under strongly reducing conditions. Such fixation is normally induced by a pause or a stop in sedimentation due to starvation or renewed bottom-water circulation. Together with other concretions, the barite nodules mark condensed stratigraphic intervals and often represent major breaks. As such they shed light on variations in sedimentary activity and their importance in the sedimentology and stratigraphy of pelagic marly sequences cannot be ignored.     

Driving forces of mid-Holocene vegetation shifts on the upper Tibetan Plateau,with emphasis on changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations

Numerous pollen records across the upper Tibetan Plateau indicate that in the early part of the mid-Holocene, Kobresia-rich high-alpine meadows invaded areas formerly dominated by alpine steppe vegetation rich in Artemisia. We examine climate, land-use, and CO₂ concentration changes as potential drivers for this marked vegetation change. The climatic implications of these vegetational shifts are explored by applying a newly developed pollen-based moisture-balance transfer-function to fossil pollen spectra from Koucha Lake on the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau (34.0°N; 97.2°E; 4540 m a.s.l.) and Xuguo Lake on the central Tibetan Plateau (31.97°N; 90.3°E; 4595 m a.s.l.), both located in the meadow-steppe transition zone. Reconstructed moisture-balances were markedly reduced (by ～150–180 mm) during the early mid-Holocene compared to the late-Holocene. These findings contradict most other records from the Indian monsoonal realm and also most non-pollen records from the Tibetan Plateau that indicate a rather wet early- and mid-Holocene. The extent and timing of anthropogenic land-use involving grazing by large herbivores on the upper Tibetan Plateau and its possible impacts on high-alpine vegetation are still mostly unknown due to the lack of relevant archaeological evidence. Arguments against a mainly anthropogenic origin of Kobresia high-alpine meadows are the discovery of the widespread expansion of obviously ‘natural’ Kobresia meadows on the south-eastern Tibetan Plateau during the Lateglacial period indicating the natural origin of this vegetation type and the lack of any concurrence between modern human-driven vegetation shifts and the mid-Holocene compositional changes. Vegetation types are known to respond to atmospheric CO₂ concentration changes, at least on glacial–interglacial scales. This assumption is confirmed by our sensitivity study where we model Tibetan vegetation at different CO₂ concentrations of 375 (present-day), 260 (early Holocene), and 650 ppm (future scenario) using the BIOME4 global vegetation model. Previous experimental studies confirm that vegetation growing on dry and high sites is particularly sensitive to CO₂ changes. Here we propose that the replacement of drought-resistant alpine steppes (that are well adapted to low CO₂ concentrations) by mesic Kobresia meadows can, at least, be partly interpreted as a response to the increase of CO₂ concentration since 7000 years ago due to fertilization and water-saving effects. Our hypothesis is corroborated by former CO₂ fertilization experiments performed on various dry grasslands and by the strong recent expansion of high-alpine meadows documented by remote sensing studies in response to recent CO₂ increases.     

Water vapour in BALTIMOS: a comparison with MODIS measurements

In this paper, we compare integrated water vapour (IWV) retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Spectrometer (MODIS) instrument on board the polar-orbiting Terra platform with those from the coupled regional climate model system BALTIMOS for a period of 2 years (October 2001 to October 2003). The comparison was made for the whole drainage basin of the Baltic Sea as well as major parts of Central Europe. The qualitative comparison between the two data sets of the integrated water vapour shows a good agreement. The patterns in the spatial distribution of the averaged integrated water vapour in both data sets are quite similar. However, significant differences occur in the Hungarian Lowlands, along the Po River and the Wallachia (Romania) in the order of 2.5 to 7.0 kg/m². For these areas, the BALTIMOS model is dryer than the MODIS observations. This could be an indication for the known summer drying effect of BALTIMOS but needs further investigations. The annual cycle as well as a diurnal developing of integrated water vapour from 09:00 to 12:00 UTC is well pronounced in both data sets. For both data sets, the overall annual variations are 17.5 kg/m². The observed overall diurnal variability are 1.4 kg/m² for MODIS and 1.04 kg/m² for BALTIMOS, respectively.     

The 1983 drought in the West Sahel: a case study

Some drought years over sub-Saharan west Africa (1972, 1977, 1984) have been previously related to a cross-equatorial Atlantic gradient pattern with anomalously warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) south of 10°N and anomalously cold SSTs north of 10°N. This SST dipole-like pattern was not characteristic of 1983, the third driest summer of the twentieth century in the Sahel. This study presents evidence that the dry conditions that persisted over the west Sahel in 1983 were mainly forced by high Indian Ocean SSTs that were probably remanent from the strong 1982/1983 El Ni?o event. The synchronous Pacific impact of the 1982/1983 El Ni?o event on west African rainfall was however, quite weak. Prior studies have mainly suggested that the Indian Ocean SSTs impact the decadal-scale rainfall variability over the west Sahel. This study demonstrates that the Indian Ocean also significantly affects inter-annual rainfall variability over the west Sahel and that it was the main forcing for the drought over the west Sahel in 1983.     

Determining sea level change in the German Bight

Regional mean sea level changes in the German Bight are considered. Index time series derived from 15 tide gauge records are analysed. Two different methods for constructing the index time series are used. The first method uses arithmetic means based on all available data for each time step. The second method uses empirical orthogonal functions. Both methods produce rather similar results for the time period 1924–2008. For this period, we estimate that regional mean sea level increased at rates between 1.64 and 1.74 mm/year with a 90% confidence range of 0.28 mm/year in each case. Before 1924, only data from a few tide gauges are available with the longest record in Cuxhaven ranging back till 1843. Data from these tide gauges, in particular from Cuxhaven, thus receive increasingly more weight when earlier years are considered. It is therefore analysed to what extent data from Cuxhaven are representative for the regional sea level changes in the German Bight. While this cannot be clarified before 1924, it is found that this is not the case from 1924 onwards when changes in Cuxhaven can be compared to that derived from a larger data set. Furthermore, decadal variability was found to be substantial with relatively high values towards the end of the analysis period. However, these values are not unusual when compared to earlier periods.