The Most Recent Cascadia Earthquake and Native American Narratives

The Cascadia subduction zone fault lies just off the Pacific coast of the USA and Canada. Although this fault has been seismically inactive over the written history of the Cascadia region, it has the potential to produce catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis. A variety of dating methods have been used to show that the most recent Cascadia earthquake occurred in 1700. Among these methods is an informal analysis of oral traditions handed down by Native American peoples that appear to refer to a major earthquake in this region. A central difficulty in analyzing these narratives quantitatively is their use of a generation and other qualitative measures of time that have no fixed lengths. Here, these narratives are analyzed under an explicit statistical model of the lengths of these measures. The results raise a question about the previous conclusion that these narratives all refer to the most recent Cascadia earthquake.

     

Observations of Thin Layers in Coastal Hawaiian Waters

Thin layers of plankton have been documented in a wide variety of environments. The growing body of observations indicates that these features are a critical component of marine ecosystem dynamics and functioning. In the past two decades, much of the research on thin layers was undertaken in temperate coastal waters. Here, we report the first known observations of thin layers of phytoplankton in tropical Hawaiian waters. We conducted an overnight shipboard study during which time we made high-resolution observations of physical and optical structure in the water column. During the overnight cruise, we observed the greatest number of thin layers in the early evening hours when thermal stratification was strongest and most persistent due to a combination of warm air and surface water, as well as light winds. A comparison of these observations with those from temperate regions leads us to hypothesize that the nature and persistence of the physical structure is very important in determining the persistence of thin layered structures. Because plankton biomass is generally lower in tropical regions, the heterogeneous aggregation of food in thin subsurface layers may be more critical to the marine ecosystem than it is in temperate regions where plankton are generally more abundant.     

Late Quaternary tectonics,northern end of Juan de Fuca Ridge (northeast Pacific)

Seismic reflection profiles from the northern end of Juan de Fuca Ridge reveal three axial valleys having a basement relief of as much as 2 sec (two-way travel time). A thick sequence, presumably of turbidites, mainly less than 0.7 m.y. old, covers much of the area. The oldest turbidites form the upper part of the fill of a possible Tertiary trench between the ridge and North America. The second turbidite unit extends beyond the trench and once formed an abyssal plain over most of northern Juan de Fuca Ridge and the area west to Explorer Ridge. Following formation of the plain, vertical movements began that broadly uplifted the crest of Juan de Fuca Ridge, block-faulted its northern end, produced faulting along Sovanco Fracture Zone, and upwarped the basement north of the ridge. Younger turbidites have filled the lowlands created by the vertical movements. The present sea floor topography and seismic activity show evidence of continued movements.     

Cohesive sediments in scottish freshwater lochs and reservoirs

The cohesive nature of sediments coating the floors of Scottish freshwater lochs and reservoirs is illustrated through microscopic observations, settling velocity experiments, geophysical remote sensing, and rheology. Preliminary results confirm 1) the occurrence of natural sedimentary aggregates, 2) the importance of organic matter in aggregate formation and rheological behavior, and 3) the shear thinning, thixotropic character of the deposits.     

Chilean and Southeast Pacific paleoclimate variations during the last glacial cycle: directly correlated pollen and δO records from ODP Site 1234

Joint pollen and oxygen isotope data from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1234 in the southeast Pacific provide the first, continuous record of temperate South American vegetation and climate from the last 140 ka. Located at 36°S, 65 km offshore of Concepcion, Chile, Site 1234 monitors the climatic transition zone between northern semi-arid, summer dry-winter wet climate and southern year-round, rainy, cool temperate climate. Dominance of onshore winds suggests that pollen preserved here reflects transport to the ocean via rivers that drain the region and integrate conditions from the coastal mountains to the Andean foothills. Down-hole changes in diagnostic pollen assemblages from xeric lowland deciduous forest (characterized by grasses, herbs, ferns, and trees such as deciduous beech, Nothofagus obliqua), mesic Valdivian Evergreen Forest (including conifers such as the endangered Prumnopitys andina), and Subantarctic Evergreen Rainforest (comprised primarily of southern beech, N. dombeyi) reveal large rapid shifts that likely reflect latitudinal movements in atmospheric circulation and storm tracks associated with the southern westerly winds. During glacial intervals (MIS 2-4, and 6), rainforests and parkland dominated by Nothofagus moved northward into the region. At the MIS 6/5e transition, coeval with the rapid shift to lower isotopic values, rainforest vegetation was rapidly replaced by xeric plant communities associated with Mediterranean-type climate. An increased prominence of halophytic vegetation suggests that MIS 5e was more arid and possibly warmer than MIS 1. Although rainforest pollen rises again at the end of MIS 5e, lowland deciduous forest pollen persists through MIS 5d and 5c, into MIS 5b. Substantial millennial-scale variations occur in both interglacial and glacial regimes, attesting to the sensitivity of the southern westerly belt to climate change. Comparison of the cool, mesic N. dombeyi rainforest assemblage from Site 1234 with δ¹⁸O in the Byrd Ice core shows that on time scales longer than 10 ka, cool-moist conditions in central Chile were coherent with and occurred in phase with Antarctic cooling. This is also likely at millennial scales, although rainforest pollen lags Antarctic cooling with exponential response times of about 1000 years, which plausibly reflects the ecological response time to regional climate change.     

Coarse Estuary Mouth Ballast Gravel Deposits: A Sourcing Case History

Pebbles and cobbles along the channel margin of the Tayport-Tentsmuir tidal flats rest on eroded surfaces of layered sands. Their origin and source have been hitherto unexplained, although they are evidently relatively local. The compositional assemblage of the well-rounded clasts is compared with those of pebbles in the tills and fluvio-glacial deposits of Fife and Tayside, in the River Earn and in the River Tay at Perth. The closest similarity is with the latter site. It is suggested that the material was transported to Tayport as ballast for lighters prior to trans-shipping of cargoes for Perth from larger vessels moored off Tayport. A sloop or brig of 100 tons would have carried about 20 tons of ballast. Trading by one vessel per week over a time period of a century could have accounted for the transport of 100000 tons of the material concerned. Removal of the ballast by barge from Tayport enabled the building of Lucky Scalp island. Attempts to improve the underfoot conditions for salmon fishing are believed to have been responsible for the spreading of ballast along the outer margin of the tidal flats.     

Ice-collapse induced waves and graded gravel ridges on a Lake Beach

Ice collapsing into the waters of proglacial Briksdal Lake, western Norway, generates waves which rework shoreline sediments. Swash establishes graded gravel ridges sub-perpendicular to the shoreline, derived from material eroded by backwash. A terminal gravel bar at the lakeward limit of wave-induced transport marks the maximum depth of water surface waves.     

Diagenetic Ge-Si fractionation in continental margin environments: further evidence for a nonopal Ge sink

We present data for dissolved germanic and silicic acids from several settings: sediment pore water profiles collected from the Peru-Chile continental margin, fluxes measured with in situ benthic flux chambers and shipboard whole-core incubations, and water column profiles from the California continental margin. Collectively, these data show that Ge and Si are fractionated in these continental margin sedimentary environments during diagenesis with ∼50% of the Ge released by opal dissolution being sequestered within the sediments. The areal extent of this diagenetic fractionation covers station depths from ∼100 m to >1000 m. Sediments from these sites typically have high pore water Fe²⁺ present in the upper ∼2 cm. At sites with low Fe²⁺ concentrations in the upper pore waters, the Ge:Si benthic regeneration ratio indicates little or no fractionation during diatom dissolution. Consistent with the sedimentary fractionation, water column dissolved Ge:Si ratios along the continental margin are on average lower (0.66 μmol/mol) than the global average ratio (0.72 μmol/mol, Mortlock and Froelich, 1996). This lower “average” ratio is driven by two distinct ΔGe:ΔSi data trends having similar slopes but different intercepts. Data from the upper ∼150 m has a Ge:Si slope of 0.74 ± 0.04 μmol/mol (2σ) and an intercept of 0.5 ± 0.4; whereas below ∼550 m the slope is 0.70 ± 0.06 μmol/mol, but the intercept is −5.0 ± 8.0. Assuming that the sediments sampled here are representative of all reducing marine environments, an assumption requiring further testing, our calculations indicate that sequestration of Ge into a nonopal phase throughout the global ocean in the depth range 0.2-1 km is sufficient to balance the Ge budget. Thus, we tentatively conclude that sequestering of Ge in reducing continental margin sediments is the “missing” Ge sink.     

Fluid seepage along the San Clemente Fault scarp: basin-wide impact on barium cycling

Material fluxes associated with fluid expulsion at cold seeps and their contribution to oceanographic budgets have not been accurately constrained. Here we present evidence that the barium released at cold seeps along the San Clemente Fault zone may significantly impact the geochemical budget of barium within the basin. Barium fluxes at seep localities on the fault scarp, measured with benthic chambers, reach values as high as 5 mmol m⁻² day⁻¹. This is the largest dissolved barium flux measured to date at a cold seep. The discharge of barium-rich fluids results in formation of massive barite deposits along the escarpment wall. The deposits are young (approximately 8 yr) and appear to grow at a minimum rate of 0.2 cm yr⁻¹. This rapid growth rate requires a barium efflux rate that is about two orders of magnitude higher than the measured dissolved flux. We believe that the discrepancy reflects a highly localized seepage system and that chambers positioned as close as possible to the growing chimneys did not sample the foci of fluid discharge. Transport of fine barite particles from the seeps may be responsible for excess rates of barium accumulation throughout the San Clemente Basin, relative to other basins in the California Margin. Based on a preliminary budget, we estimate that cold-seep barite is accumulating at the basin floor in San Clemente at a rate of 2 μmol m⁻² day⁻¹, a value that is comparable to the total barium accumulation rates driven by detrital and biogenic components in neighboring basins. Remobilization of cold-seep barite on the basin floor adds to that driven by the biogenic barium flux and results in benthic barium recycling rates (effluxes) within the San Clemente Basin that are as much as seven times higher than the effluxes from surrounding borderland basins. Our estimates imply that processes associated with fluid seepage along the San Clemente Fault significantly contribute to the basin’s barium cycle. The strontium isotopic composition of the seep barite is significantly different from marine ‘biogenic’ barite, which is known to accurately record seawater composition. In addition, the seep deposits are depleted in ²²⁶Ra relative to their modern biogenic counterparts, and are likely to be a source of radium-depleted particulate barium to the basin. Thus the impact of barite transport from seeps on the San Clemente escarpment to the basin floor might also have implications for the geochemistry of elements other than barium.