ALBERT

Description: We present new isotopic data for sedimentary planktonic foraminifera, as well as for potential water column and sedimentary sources of neodymium (Nd), which confirm that the isotopic composition of the foraminifera is the same as surface seawater and very different from deep water and sedimentary Nd. The faithfulness with which sedimentary foraminifera record the isotopic signature of surface seawater Nd is difficult to explain given their variable and high Nd/Ca ratios, ratios that are often sedimentary foraminifera, ratios that are often much higher than is plausible for direct incorporation within the calcite structure. We present further data that demonstrate a similarly large range in Nd/Ca ratios in plankton tow foraminifera, a range that may be controlled by redox conditions in the water column. Cleaning experiments reveal, in common with earlier work, that large amounts of Nd are released by cleaning with both hydrazine and diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid, but that the Nd released at each step is of surface origin. While further detailed studies are required to verify the exact location of the surface isotopic signature and the key controls on foraminiferal Nd isotope systematics, these new data place the use of planktonic foraminifera as recorders of surface water Nd isotope ratios, and thus of variations in the past supply of Nd to the oceans from the continents via weathering and erosion, on a reasonably sure footing.

Description: The 14C ages of planktonic foraminifers Globigerinoides sacculifer bracketing the Younger Dryas in a d18O record of Globigerinoides ruber from a laminated sediment core on the Pakistani continental margin suggest that surface reservoir ages in the Arabian Sea were in excess of 1000 years during the deglaciation. A least squares error fit of a detailed 14C chronology to the (atmospheric) tree ring record gave variable early Holocene reservoir ages between 780 and 1120 years, well above the prebomb value of 640 years. Mid-Holocene reservoir ages are less well constrained but were probably closer to the prebomb value. The method used to fit individual core sections to the tree ring record was designed to require only a rough a priori estimate of the time spans, which in the core presented here were taken from each section's range of 14C ages. A significant 220-year quasi-oscillation was present in the d18O record during the early Holocene but not thereafter. This frequency and amplitude pattern resembles an early Holocene 207- to 227-year oscillation previously observed in the atmospheric 14C record, which is generally interpreted as reflecting solar irradiance variability. An early Holocene climate event at 8150-8400 calendar years B.P. observed elsewhere within the Asian-East African monsoon system was again found in our record, suggesting a reduction in precipitation over NW India and Pakistan.

Description: Bedding dips in the CRP-3 drillhole were determined in three ways: (1) analysis of a dipmeter log, (2) identification of bed boundaries on borehole televiewer log images, and (3) identification of bed boundaries on digital images of the outer surfaces of oriented cores. All three methods determine both dip magnitude and downdip azimuth of bedding. Dipmeter results document variations in bedding dip throughout the logged interval (20-902 mbsf), whereas core and televiewer results are available at present only for selected depth intervals. Dipmeter data indicate that structural dip is remarkably constant, at 21° dip to azimuth 65°, throughout the Tertiary shelf section, except for the top 100 m where dips appear to be 5-10° shallower. This pattern, in conjunction with the systematically increasing dips throughout CRP-2A, suggests that the growth faulting active during CRP-2A deposition began during the final period of deposition at CRP-3. Normal faults at 260 and 539 mbsf in CRP-3 exhibit neither drag (localized dip steepening) nor significant changes in structural dip across them. Oriented core and televiewer analyses, covering a total of 200 m in the interval 400-900 mbsf, indicate bedding patterns that confirm the dipmeter results. The doleritic breccia at the base of the Tertiary section has steeper dips than overlying structural dips, possibly indicating a sedimentary dip to ENE in these fan sediments. Dip directions in the underlying Devonian Beacon sandstone are surprisingly similar to those in the overlying Tertiary section. Superimposed on the average Beacon dip of 22° to the ENE are localized tilts of up to 20°, probably caused by Tertiary fracturing and brecciation rather than original sedimentary dip variations.

Description: Bedding dips in the CRP-2A drillhole were determined in two ways (1) analysis of a dipmeter log, and (2) identification of bed boundaries on digital images of the outer core surface. The two methods document the downhole increase in structural dip, to a maximum of 15° in the lowest 150 m of the hole. Dipmeter data, which are azimuthally oriented, indicate a 75° azimuth for structural tilting, in agreement with seismic reflection profiles. Core and log dips indicate that structural dip increases by 5-7° between 325 and 480 mbsf. Both, however, also exhibit high dip inhomogeneity because of depositional (e.g., cross bedding) and post-depositional (e.g., softsediment deformation) processes. This variability adds ambiguity to the search for angular unconformities within the CRP-2A drillhole. Dip directions of different lithologies are generally similar, as are dip directions for the four kinds of systems tracts. Downdip azimuths of sands and muds are slightly different from those of diamicts, possibly reflecting the divergence between ENE offshore dip and ESE glacial advance.

Description: CRP-3 cores were not orientated with respect to North during coring operations. However, borehole televiewer (BHTV) logging did obtain azimuthally orientated images of the borehole wall, and core processing included digital imaging of the outer surface of 85% of the cores. Images of many individual core segments can be digitally joined, or stitched, by rotating them to match the shapes of their adjoining surfaces and then closing the gap. By aligning features (fractures, bedding, and clasts) on stitched-core images with correlative features on orientated BHTV images, we reorientated 231 m of core, or 25% of the cored interval. We estimate that the orientation uncertainty is ±10° for entire stitched-core intervals, and ±15° for individual features such as a single fracture or palaeomagnetic sample. Reliability of core orientations was confirmed by comparing azimuths of bedding and fractures measured directly within these reorientated cores to those measured within orientated borehole televiewer images.