Formation of pockmarks by pore-water escape

During the course of a North Sea rig site investigation, a number of seabed depressions were observed on side-scan sonar records, some of which may be identified as pockmarks. Others are described as pits. A pockmark evolutionary series is proposed on the basis of all these features with a suggested mechanism which would favor release of pore water, but does not exclude gas escape. Acoustic voids are considered to be a related phenomenon.     

Recent and Late Holocene environments on the southeastern shelf of the Laptev Sea as inferred from microfossil data

The study of diatoms and benthic foraminifers from the southeastern shelf of the Laptev Sea shows that their most diverse and abundant recent assemblages populate the peripheral underwater part of the Lena River delta representing the marginal filter of the sea. This area is characterized by an intense interaction between the fresh waters of the Siberian rivers and the basin seawater, the Atlantic one included. Local Late Holocene (～last 2300 years) environments reflect the main regional and global paleoclimatic changes, the Medieval Warm Period (～600–1100 years B.P.) and the Little Ice Age (～100–600 years B.P.) inclusive. In addition, the composition and distribution of planktonic foraminifers implies a strong influence of the Atlantic water during the Holocene optimum ～5100–6200 years B.P.     

Problems of modeling climate and climate change

The properties of the climate system as a physical object are considered. Major concepts of the mathematical theory of climate are stated, and the problems of constructing mathematical climate models are discussed. The results of reproducing the present-day climate are analyzed, and the sensitivity of the climate system to changes in the content of greenhouse gases is considered. Major directions are formulated in which the development of the mathematical theory of climate and of modeling climate and climate change is possible.     

Uptake and transformation of C-labelled tributyltin chloride by the dog-whelk, nucella lapillus: Importance of absorption from the diet

The importance of the diet as a source of tributyltin (TBT) in Nucella lapillus was studied using [¹⁴C]tributyltin chloride. In N. lapillus provided with prelabelled mussels, Mytilus edulis, in labelled water (mean 20·5 ng/litre TBT) the rate of accumulation of total ¹⁴C was 2–3 times that in unfed animals. Owing to its degradation in the tissues of both fed and unfed animals, concentrations of [¹⁴C]TBT tended to reach a plateau after only 28 days. However, total concentrations of ¹⁴C were still increasing after 49 days. Under experimental conditions (15°C, ample food, no disturbance) the diet accounted for about 50% of the body burden of TBT in N. lapillus after 49 days exposure: concentration factors (dry tissue/water) for [¹⁴C]TBT in both male and female N. lapillus were similar at about 60 000 in fed and 30 000 in unfed animals. It is concluded that the diet may contribute less than half of the body burden of TBT found in natural populations subjected to life-long exposure.     

Preliminary attempt to characterize the rotation of seafloor in the Pito Deep area of the Easter Microplate using a submersible magnetometer

Several mechanisms have been proposed to account for the rotation of the nearly north-south abyssal hill fabric formed on the East Pacific Rise north of the Easter Microplate to the nearly east-west trends in the northern microplate interior. Proposed mechanisms include rigid microplate rotation, transform fault – parallel shear, and bookshelf faulting during the transfer of lithosphere from the Nazca Plate to the microplate. We used a submersible magnetometer on a NAUTILE dive program to measure the magnetic vector rotation of a pillow basalt and dike spur near Pito Deep, the present location of the tip of the propagating rift system that created the microplate. Our results, although too limited to draw strong conclusions from, suggest clockwise rotations of the seafloor magnetic vectors inconsistent with the transform-parallel shear model, and larger than can be explained solely by rigid microplate rotation.     

Invertebrates in the trophic webs of the white sea near-shore ecosystem (using the example of Gryaznaya Inlet)

In the food clods of the mass species of macrobenthos of the Gryaznaya Inlet, nonstructured matter plays a great role. We identify this matter as derivates from plant tissues, which are the products of their external metabolism and degradation, with associated microorganisms. This way, the near-shore community considered is supported by a detrital trophic web. This feature distinguishes it from the similar community of the near-Atlantic waters that is based on a pasture web, at least as far as the bivalve mass species are concerned. The groups of the near-shore species of Gryaznaya Inlet separated by a cluster analysis are identified as consortia, combined by the biogeochemical conditions (edifice factor), which can hardly be analyzed at present.     

On the adequacy of second-order models to predict abnormal waves

The paper is intended to extend the investigations about the nature of abnormal waves that have been reported in the work of Guedes Soares et al. (Characteristics of abnormal waves in North Sea states. Applied Ocean Research 25, [337–344]). The same dataset gathered at the oil platform North Alwyn in the North Sea during the November storm in 1997 is used along with the time series from the Draupner platform, in which an abnormal wave occurred. The data are reanalyzed from the viewpoint of the applicability of second-order models to fit large waves. The observed results confirm that the second-order approximation is not adequate to describe highly asymmetric and abnormal waves.