An ecosystem modeling approach to predicting cod recruitment

The Norwegian Ecological Model (NORWECOM) biophysical model system implemented with the ROMS ocean circulation model has been run to simulate conditions over the last 25 years for the North Atlantic. Modeled time series of water volume fluxes, primary production, and drift of cod larvae through their modeled ambient temperature fields have been analyzed in conjunction with VPA estimated time series of 3-year-old cod recruits in the Barents Sea. Individual time series account for less than 50% of the recruitment variability; however, a combination of simulated flow of Atlantic water into the Barents Sea and local primary production accounts for 70% of the variability with a 3-year lead. The associated regression predicts increased recruitment between 2007 and 2008 from about 450–700 million individuals with a standard error of nearly 150 million.     

Megacrysts and mafic–ultramafic xenolith-bearing ignimbrites from Sirwa Volcano, Morocco: phase petrology and thermobarometry

Summary A suite of clinopyroxene and amphibole megacrysts and mafic–ultramafic xenoliths are present in ignimbritic rocks of trachybasaltic–andesitic composition from the Sirwa volcanic district, Morocco. The stumpy prismatic and sometimes euhedral clinopyroxene megacrysts are Ti–Al-rich diopsides with mg values in the range 0.82–0.87 and Ca/(Ca + Mg) ratios in the range 0.53–0.54. The prismatic, elongated amphibole megacrysts are calcic kaersutites–kaersutites with a narrow mg range (0.66–0.68). The xenoliths are represented by gabbroic and pyroxenitic types. In the gabbroic xenoliths two distinct textural types can be distinguished: medium-sized granular and banded. The granular type is characterized by the mineral assemblage Pl + Amph + Spl + Ilm + Ap. The banded type is distinct for the absence of Ilm and the presence of Cpx and Opx and shows alternating bands enriched in Pl and Amph, respectively. The megacrysts and, probably, the xenoliths are considered not cognate with the present host rocks since the calculated liquids in equilibrium with clinopyroxene and amphibole megacrysts over a wide range of physical conditions have different trace and rare earth element contents. The observed phase relations and thermobarometric calculations indicate that the megacrysts and xenoliths crystallized from their parent melts at P ≥ 10 kbar and T ≤ 1160 °C, i.e., in the upper mantle or near the crust-mantle boundary. A deep ( ≥ 30 km) magmatic chamber, where the megacrysts and xenoliths originated, and a shallow volcanic chamber, energetically activated up to explosive conditions by injection of deep-originated melts, is suggested to explain the occurrence of high-pressure megacrysts and xenoliths in the Sirwa volcanic explosive products. Received October 8, 2000; revised version accepted September 9, 2001     

Late Holocene palaeoceanography in Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard

Based on detailed stratigraphical analysis of sediment cores spanning the last ca. 4000 calendar years, we reconstruct the palaeoceanograhic changes in the fiord Van Mijenfjorden, western Svalbard. Benthic foraminiferal δ¹⁸O indicate a gradual reduction in bottom water salinities between 2200 BC and 500 BC. This reduction was probably mainly a function of reduced inflow of oceanic water to the fiord, due to isostatic shallowing of the outer fiord sill. Stable salinity conditions prevailed between 500 BC and. 1300 AD. After the onset of a major glacial surge of the tidewater Paulabreen (Paula Glacier) system (PGS) around 1300 AD, there was a foraminiferal faunal change towards glacier proximal conditions, associated with a slight bottom water salinity depletion. During a series of glacial surges occuring from 1300 AD up the present salinity in the fiord has further decreased, corresponding to a δ¹⁸O depletion of 0.5 %o. This salinity decrease corresponds to the period when the PGS lost an equivalent of 30 – 40 % of its present ice volume, mainly through calving in the fiord.     

Experimental evidence for U-U fractionation during granite weathering with implications for U/U in natural waters

The daughter to parent (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) activity ratio in natural waters is often out of secular radioactive equilibrium. The major reason for this disequilibrium is related to the energetic α-decay of ²³⁸U and differential release of ²³⁴U relative to ²³⁸U. This disequilibrium originates from (1) preferential release of more loosely bound ²³⁴U from damaged mineral lattice sites or; (2) direct recoil of ²³⁴Th into surrounding media from near mineral surface boundaries, however, it is unclear which of the two mechanisms is most important in nature. To better quantify the effects of preferential release of ²³⁴U, two continuous laboratory granite leaching experiments conducted over 1100 h were performed. The leachates were characterized by declining U concentrations with time and (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) initially greater than unity (up to 1.15), which changed to below unity during leaching (∼0.95). The early elevated (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) suggests that additional ²³⁴U is released into solution by preferential release of ²³⁴U from mineral phases. However, the excess ²³⁴U constitutes a finite pool of easy leachable ²³⁴U and the (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) values become lower than unity when this pool is used up. A model based on first-order kinetics, dissolution rates and preferential release of ²³⁴U from damaged lattice sites was developed and is able to quantitatively predict the observed pattern of (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) values and U concentrations for the two granite leaching experiments. Extending the modeling to longer time scales more comparable to natural systems shows that the production of waters with high (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) ratios can be achieved in two distinct regimes (1) slow weathering where the rate of directly recoiled ²³⁴U near mineral surfaces into waters is high; (2) fast weathering where the role of incipient chemical weathering and preferential release of loosely bound ²³⁴U are important. The model is able to explain apparent opposite correlations between physical erosion rates and (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) in waters and it provides a new framework that will be useful for examining weathering regimes, their timescales and their coupling with physical erosion.     

Weathering rates from top to bottom in a carbonate environment

This study investigates U-series, Sr isotopes, major and trace elements in a chalk aquifer system located in Eastern France. Soil and rock samples were collected along depth profiles down to 45 m in four localities as an attempt to investigate the weathering processes in the soil, the unsaturated zone and the saturated zone of the aquifer. Interstitial water was extracted from soils and rocks by a centrifugation technique. U-series offer a powerful tool to calculate weathering rates because the relative mobility of the U- and Th-isotopes can be precisely measured and it does not require the determination of a reference state as in other approaches. As expected, the data show very large mobile element depletion in the soil with large ²³⁰Th excess relative to ²³⁸U, while the rocks show more limited but not insignificant mobile element depletion. The U-series data have been used to constrain weathering rates based on a 1-D reactive transport model. Weathering rates in the near surface are about 10–100 times faster than at depth. However, when integrated over the depth of the cores, including the unsaturated and the saturated zones, this underground weathering represents more than 30% of the total weathering flux, assuming congruent dissolution of carbonates. The (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) ratios in interstitial water are consistent with solid samples showing ²³⁴U depletion near the surface and an excess ²³⁴U at depth. A leaching experiment performed on chalk shows that the excess ²³⁴U in natural waters percolating through carbonate rocks results both from preferential ²³⁴U leaching and direct recoil in the interstitial water. A new approach was used to derive the recoil ejection factor based on BET measurements and the fractal dimension of chalk surface. Consideration of preferential leaching and recoil allows a more accurate modeling of weathering rates.     

Upper Cretaceous bottom current deposits,north-east Greenland

Reported ancient bottom current deposits in deep marine settings are scarce and most of them remain contentious. This study describes sedimentological, ichnological and petrographical characteristics of a drill core that covers ca 10 Myr of Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy at Hold with Hope, north-east Greenland. The core is divided into four facies associations, which are interpreted to reflect deposition from bottom currents, turbidity flows and hemipelagic settling in slope and/or near slope environments. The evidence for bottom current influence is three-fold. Firstly, pervasive indications of winnowing such as marine bioclast-rich lags and outsized clasts on ‘mud on mud’ contacts are suggestive of low-sediment concentration flows capable of transporting up to pebble-sized clasts. Common Mn–Fe–Mg rich carbonate matrix cements and various types of hiatal chemogenic lag deposits showing glauconite, apatite and carbonate clasts also point to condensation, prolonged exposure at the sediment–water interface and recurrent phases of sea-floor erosion. Secondly, such deposits can show indicators for tidal processes such as double mud-drapes, tangential bottom sets in dune-scale cross-bedding and cyclic rhythmites. Thirdly, inverse to normal grading at various scales is common in fully marine, commonly seafloor-derived sediments. Ichnological data indicate considerable taxonomic variability in the bottom current deposits, but recurrent fabrics are characteristically dominated by morphologically simple burrows such as Thalassinoides and Planolites, with secondary Phycosiphon, Nereites, Zoophycos and/or Chondrites. In general, opportunistic taxa are common whereas mature composite ichnofabrics are rare. The omission surfaces are locally burrowed with stiffground to firmground trace fossil suites. The results contribute to establishing sedimentological, ichnological and mineralogical criteria for recognition of bottom current deposits as well as to the understanding of the Late Cretaceous palaeoenvironmental evolution of the Arctic region.