Sedimentary evidence of deglacial megafloods in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Pigmy Basin)

Cored sediments from the Pigmy Basin, northern Gulf of Mexico, were analyzed in order to better constrain late deglacial and early Holocene paleoenvironmental and sedimentary changes in response to North American climate evolution. Mineralogical and geochemical proxies indicate the succession of two sedimentary regimes: dominantly detrital during the deglaciation (15–12.9 cal ka BP) whereas biogenic contribution relatively increased later on during the Younger Dryas and early Holocene (12.9 and 10 cal ka BP). Geochemical data reveal that the deglacial record mainly reflects variations of terrigenous supply via the Mississippi River rather than modifications of redox conditions in the basin. Specific variations of almost all the parameters measured in this paper are synchronous with the main deglacial meltwater episode (Meltwater Spike) described or modeled in previous marine or continental studies. During this episode, most parameters display “stair-step-like” – pattern variations highlighting three successive steps within the main meltwater flow. Variations in grain-size and clay mineral assemblage recorded in the Pigmy Basin indicate that the erosional regime was very strong on land during the first part of the Meltwater Spike, and then milder, inducing more subtle modifications in the sedimentary regime in this part of the Gulf. Specific geochemical and mineralogical signatures (notably, clay minerals and trace metal geochemistry) pinpoint a dominant origin from NW North America for detrital particles reflecting meltwater outflow from the south-western Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) margin during the most intense freshwater discharge. The observed decrease of the sedimentation rate from about 200 to 25 cm/ka at ca 12.9 ka evidenced a drastic decrease of erosional processes during late phase of discharge, consistently with the hypotheses of major reduction of meltwater flow. The major modification at 12.9 cal ka BP is interpreted to result from both modifications of the main Mississippi fluvial regime due to eastward and northward rerouting of meltwater flow at the onset of the Younger Dryas, and the increase of sea-surface temperature linked to insolation. Finally, slight grain-size modifications suggest that some freshwater discharges may have episodically reached the Gulf of Mexico after the Younger Dryas reflecting possible small adjustments of the postglacial hydrological regime.     

Further discussion on the intercomparison of the trace metal concentrations and particle size of fluvial sediment recovered from two centrifuge systems

A single large volume water sample taken at the mouth of the Upper Rhone River on Lake Geneva was processed directly in parallel through two continuous flow centrifuges, a Westphalia and an Alfa-Laval. Sediment was recovered from the Westphalia, and separately from the bowl and brass core of the Alfa-Laval. The three sediment samples were analyzed for particle size and the following elements: Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, P, Co, B, V, Be, Sr, Na, Pb, Ni, Ba, Fe, Ca, and Mg. Results indicate that the particle size recovery of both machines is similar when sediment from the brass core and bowl of the Alfa-Laval are combined, and that the recovery for all elements other than Cu, V, B, and Pb are the same when the particle size differences are taken into account. Sediment from the Alfa-Laval brass core is clearly contaminated by Cu, B and is also elevated in V and Pb but not to a significant extent. The sediment recovered from the bowl of the Alfa-Laval is contaminated only with Cu, with a 10 ppm increase over the 52 ppm recovered in the Westphalia sediment. Operating procedures involve the discarding of the brass core sediment and the mixing of the Alfa-Laval bowl sediment with that from the Westphalia. The consequent increase in Cu is estimated at less than 5 ppm or within the confidence level of the analysis. These procedures are recommended to all operators of non modified Alfa-Laval units.     

Investigation of groundwater residence times during bank filtration in Berlin: a multi‐tracer approach

Berlin relies on induced bank filtration from a broad‐scale, lake‐type surface water system. Because the surface water contains treated sewage, wastewater residues are present in surface water and groundwater. Multiple environmental tracers, including tritium and helium isotopes (³H, ³He, ⁴He), stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) and a number of persistent sewage indicators, such as chloride, boron and a selection of pharmaceutical residues (phenazone‐type analgesics and their metabolites, carbamazepine and anthropogenic gadolinium, Gd_excess), were used to estimate travel times from the surface water to individual production and observation wells at two sites. The study revealed a strong vertical age stratification throughout the upper aquifer, with travel times varying from a few months to several decades in greater depth. Whereas the shallow bank filtrate is characterized by the reflection of the time‐variant tracer input concentrations and young ³H/³He ages, the deeper, older bank filtrate displays no tracer seasonality, ³H/³He ages of a few years to decades and strongly deviating concentrations of several pharmaceutical residues, reflecting concentrations of the source surface water over time. The phenazone‐type pharmaceuticals persist in the aquatic environments for decades. Bank filtration in Berlin is only possible at the sandy lakeshores. In greater water depth, impermeable lacustrine sapropels inhibit infiltration. The young bank filtrate originates from the nearest shore, whereas the older bank filtrate infiltrates at more distant shores. This paper illustrates the importance of using multiple tracer methods, capable of resolving a broad range of residence times, to gain a comprehensive understanding of time‐scales and infiltration characteristics in a bank filtration system. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photochemical changes in chemical markers of sedimentary organic matter source and age

Several chemical markers of organic matter source and age are shown to be susceptible to light-induced alteration. To test for the photochemical lability of markers previously employed for sediments from the Louisiana coastal zone, we subjected sediments under resuspension conditions to simulated sunlight, and monitored changes in C:N and Br:OC ratios, δ¹³C, Δ¹⁴C, and lignin composition. Markers of terrigenous origin (high C:N, lignin) decreased and δ¹³C became enriched in sediments containing primarily terrigenous organic matter, while a marker of marine organic matter (Br:OC) decreased in samples containing significant contributions from this source. Preferential loss of ¹⁴C from all sediments indicated enhanced photochemical lability of organic matter of relatively recent origin, consistent with the changes in chemical markers. Most, but not all, experimental alterations are consistent with field distributions of these markers. Relatively small experimental changes in the markers in combination with confounding processes in the environment, however, prevent these parallel trends from providing any more than a consistency test for the importance of photochemical reactions in this region.     

Late Quaternary paleoclimate of western Alaska inferred from fossil chironomids and its relation to vegetation histories

Fossil Chironomidae assemblages (with a few Chaoboridae and Ceratopogonidae) from Zagoskin and Burial Lakes in western Alaska provide quantitative reconstructions of mean July air temperatures for periods of the late-middle Wisconsin (～39,000–34,000 cal yr B.P.) to the present. Inferred temperatures are compared with previously analyzed pollen data from each site summarized here by indirect ordination. Paleotemperature trends reveal substantial differences in the timing of climatic warming following the late Wisconsin at each site, although chronological uncertainty exists. Zagoskin Lake shows early warming beginning at about 21,000 cal yr B.P., whereas warming at Burial Lake begins ～4000 years later. Summer climates during the last glacial maximum (LGM) were on average ～3.5 °C below the modern temperatures at each site. Major shifts in vegetation occurred from ～19,000 to 10,000 cal yr B.P. at Zagoskin Lake and from ～17,000 to 10,000 cal yr B.P. at Burial Lake. Vegetation shifts followed climatic warming, when temperatures neared modern values. Both sites provide evidence of an early postglacial thermal maximum at ～12,300 cal yr B.P. These chironomid records, combined with other insect-based climatic reconstructions from Beringia, indicate that during the LGM: (1) greater continentality likely influenced regions adjacent to the Bering Land Bridge and (2) summer climates were, at times, not dominated by severe cold.     

High chloride concentrations in the soil and groundwater under an oak hedge in the West of France: an indicator of evapotranspiration and water movement

Chloride is a major anion in soil water and its concentration rises essentially as a function of evapotranspiration. Compared to herbaceous vegetation, high transpiration rates are measured for isolated trees, shelterbelts or hedgerows. This article deals with the influence of a tree hedge on the soil and groundwater Cl^? concentrations and the possibility of using Cl^? as an indicator of transpiration and water movements near the tree rows. Cl^? concentrations were measured over 1 year at different depths in the unsaturated zone and in the groundwater along a transect intersecting a bottomland oak hedge. We observed a strong spatial heterogeneity of Cl^? concentrations, with very high values up to 2 g l^?1 in the unsaturated zone and 1·2 g l^?1 in the upper part of the groundwater. This contrasts with the low and homogeneous concentrations (60–70 mg l^?1) in the deeper part of the groundwater. Cl^? accumulation in the unsaturated zone at the end of the vegetation season allows us to identify the active root zone extension of trees. In winter, upslope of the tree row, downwards leaching partly renews the soil solution in the root zone, while the slow water movement under the trees or farther downslope results in Cl^? accumulation and leads to a salinization of the soil and groundwater. This salinization is of the same order as experimental conditions produce negative effects on oak seedlings. The measurement of Cl^? concentrations in the unsaturated zone under tree rows at the end of the vegetation season would indicate whether certain topographic, pedological or climatic conditions are likely to favour a strong salinization of the soil, as observed in the present study. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biogeochemical impact of a model western iron source in the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent

Trace element distributions in the source waters of the Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) show the existence of elevated total acid-soluble iron concentrations. This region has been suggested to contribute enough bioavailable iron to regulate interannual and interglacial variability in biological productivity downstream in the high-nitrate low-chlorophyll upwelling zone of the eastern equatorial Pacific. We investigated the advection and first-order biogeochemical impact of an imposed, data-based iron maximum in the western Pacific EUC using an ecosystem model forced by a global dynamical model. We imposed two source profiles of iron constrained by total acid-soluble iron measurements. Though the data for total acid-soluble iron included both dissolved and acid-soluble particulate iron species, we treated all of the total acid-soluble iron as if it was dissolved and bioavailable. A deeper (270 m) source was centered in the density horizon of the observed iron maximum and a shallower (180 m) source was located in the core of our model's EUC, where a dissolved iron maximum has been frequently postulated. These source runs were compared with a control run that contained no specific source of iron associated with the EUC. In the source runs elevated iron concentrations were simulated in the EUC across its entire zonal span, evident as a subsurface plume of dissolved iron slightly below the core of the EUC. In the control run there was no iron maximum associated with the EUC. Upwelling of iron-replete water in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific increased integrated primary productivity in the Wyrtki box (180°W:90°W, 5°S:5°N, 0:200 m) by 41% and 66% for the deeper and shallower iron perturbation, respectively. The source runs increased the realism of the zonal extent of HNLC conditions and the meridional distributions of biological productivity, relative to the control run. However, in the source simulations surface chlorophyll concentrations were too high by a factor of two and maximum surface nitrate concentrations were too low, relative to climatologies. The relative abundance of diatoms roughly doubled upon the input of additional iron, exceeding field observations. Though biogeochemical data are limited and we did not adjust parameters to optimize the model fits to observations, these results suggest that acid-soluble particulate iron supplied to the EUC in the western equatorial Pacific is unlikely to be entirely bioavailable.     

Shock-induced temperatures of MgO

Shock-compressed MgO radiates thermally at temperatures between 2900 and 3700 K in the 170–200 GPa pressure range. A simple energy-transport model of the shocked-MgO-targets distinguishes between different shock-induced radiation sources in these targets and provides estimates of spectral absorption-coefficients, α _ΛMgO, for shocked MgO (e.g. at 203 GPa, α _ΛMgO˜ 630, 7500, 4200 and 3800 m⁻¹, at 450, 600, 750 and 900 nm, respectively). The experimentally inferred temperatures of the shock-compressed states of MgO are consistent with temperatures calculated for MgO assuming that (1) it deforms as an elastic fluid, (2) has a Dulong-Petit value for specific heat at constant volume in its shocked state, and (3) undergoes no phase transformation below 200 GPa.     

Envisat and SARAL/AltiKa Observations of the Antarctic Ice Sheet: A Comparison Between the Ku-band and Ka-band

The AltiKa altimeter onboard SARAL is a joint CNES/ISRO mission launched in February 2013 that has the same 35 days repeat orbit of the previous European altimeters, Envisat, and ERS-1/2. SARAL/AltiKa is thus a unique opportunity to extend the repeat observations of this orbit that have been surveyed since 1991. However, the altimeter operates in Ka-band, which is higher than the previous frequencies, and offers new paths of investigation. The penetration depth is theoretically reduced from around 10 m in Ku-band to less than 1 m in Ka-band, such that the volume echo originates from the near subsurface. Second, the sharper antenna aperture leads to a narrower leading edge that reduces the impact of the ratio between surface and volume echoes of the height retrieval. Indeed, the spatial and temporal observations of AltiKa at cross-over points and along-track indicate that the impact of backscatter changes on the height decreasesfrom 0.3 m/dB for the Ku-band to only 0.05 m/dB for the Ka-band. Therefore, the height measurement is stable over time. Moreover, the volume echo in the Ka-band results from the near subsurface layer and is mostly controlled by ice grain size, unlike the Ku-band.