ALBERT

Description: The spectacular Lusi eruption started in northeast Java, Indonesia, on May 29th, 2006, continuously erupting mud, water, gas, oil, and clasts ever since. Lusi provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the birth and the evolution of a large-scale and hot mud eruption. Lusi is interpreted as a hybrid between a traditional hydrocarbon-driven piercement structure (mud volcano) and a hydrothermal system fuelled by magmatic heat. Lusi is therefore an exciting natural laboratory for understanding analogue modern and palaeo-piercement systems such as mud volcanoes, sediment-hosted hydrothermal systems, and hydrothermal vent complexes. This special issue collects recent multidisciplinary work completed in the framework of the ERC-funded LUSI LAB project. These studies were conducted at and near Lusi. Contributions span across disciplines such as engineering, geochemistry, geophysics, geology and numerical modelling, including fieldwork, laboratory and theoretical approaches. The acquired results contribute to characterise the dynamics of complex interactions between volcanism and an ongoing erupting clastic system. Lusi still saves many mysteries that will be unravelled by future scientific investigations.

Description: Literature data from 1905/06, 1912/13 and 1949/50 were compared with recent data (2001-2003) from Kiel Bight in order to investigate changes in phytoplankton composition and biomass, which may serve as indicators of environmental changes. In terms of biomass, diatomophyceae and dinophyceae are by far the most important groups. Their ratio is still close to unity. The share of diatomophyceae increased strongly in years with exceptionally high summer blooms (2001) or exceptionally early spring blooms (2003). The summer and autumn blooms of Chaetoceros and Skeletonema, detected in the early 20th century, are replaced by other diatoms (Cerataulina pelagica, Dactyliosolen fragilissimus, Proboscia alata, Pseudo-nitzschia spp.). Chaetoceros and Skeletonema are still important components of the spring blooms. Now as before, the autumn blooms are dominated by Ceratium spp., sometimes also by diatoms. Newly appearing bloom-forming species are mostly potentially toxic (Dicryocha speculum, Prorocentrum minimum, Pseudo-nitzschia spp.). The total phytoplankton biomass has roughly doubled in the course of the last century. The reference condition for phytoplankton biomass in Kiel Bight in the sense of the Water Framework Directive was defined at 55 mg C m(-3) (+/- 10%, annual mean). The mean annual biomass of diatomophyceae and dinophyceae was 25 mg C m-3 (+/- 40%) for each, indicating that the sum of their carbon biomass amounted to 90% (+/- 10%) of the total phytoplankton biomass on an annual average. Diatomophyceae represented at least 80% of carbon biomass in the spring bloom peak at the beginning of the 20th century

Description: Surface exposure dating requires the knowledge of cosmogenic nuclide production rates. When determining time-integrated production rates the exposure ages of the calibration samples need to be accurately known. The landslide of Köfels (Austria) is very well suited for this purpose. It is the largest landslide in the crystalline Alps of Austria dating back to 7800±100 years BC (AMS 14C dating of buried wood), which is well within the 14C dendro calibration curve. Exposed quartz veins were sampled from the tops of large boulders from the toe of the landslide for analysis of 10Be and 26Al. To calculate sea level, high geomagnetic latitude (≥60°), open sky radionuclide production rates, corrections were applied for altitude and latitude, for shielding by surrounding mountains, for sample geometry, vegetation and snow cover, and for sample thickness. The production rates for an exposure age of 10,000 years are 5.75±0.24 10Be atoms/yr g SiO2 and 37.4±1.9 26Al atoms/yr g SiO2. A 26Al/10Be ratio of 6.52±0.43 can be calculated. The influence of the geomagnetic field on these production rates has been estimated using two different geomagnetic field records. Our production rates should be a good approximation for the use of surface exposure dating between about 5000 and 13,000 years BP.

Description: The 10Be records of four sediment cores forming a transect from the Norwegian Sea at 70°N (core 23059) via the Fram Strait (core 23235) to the Arctic Ocean at 86°N (cores 1533 and 1524) were measured at a high depth resolution. Although the material in all the cores was controlled by different sedimentological regimes, the 10Be records of these cores were superimposed by glacial/interglacial changes in the sedimentary environment. Core sections with high 10Be concentrations ( 〉 1 · 109 at/g) are related to interglacial stages and core sections with low10Be concentrations ( 〈 0.5 · 109 at/g) are related to glacial stages. Climatic transitions (e.g., Termination II, 5/6) are marked by drastic changes in the 10Be concentrations of up to one order of magnitude. The average 10Be concentrations for each climatic stage show an inverse relationship to their corresponding sedimentation rates, indicating that the 10Be records are the result of dilution with more or less terrigenous ice-rafted material. However, there are strong changes in the 10Be fluxes (e.g., Termination II) into the sediments which may also account for the observed oscillations. Most likely, both processes affected the 10Be records equally, amplifying the contrast between lower (glacials) and higher (interglacials) 10Be concentrations. The sharp contrast of high and low 10Be concentrations at climatic stage boundaries are an independent proxy for climatic and sedimentary change in the Nordic Seas and can be applied for stratigraphic dating (10Be stratigraphy) of sediment cores from the northern North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean

Description: Highlights • European legislation resulted in significant reduction in shell-bound lead. • Intertidal muricid represents a suitable archive for lead pollution. • Shell-bound copper and zinc not related to environmental concentrations. Heavy metals in coastal waters are a great environmental concern in the North Sea since the middle of the 20th century. Regulatory efforts have led to a significant reduction in atmospheric and water-transported heavy metals. Still, high concentrations of these in sediments remain a risk for ecosystems, requiring close monitoring. Here, we investigated the applicability of Nucella lapillus museum collections as a tool for targeted tracking of chronic anthropogenic heavy metal pollution. We analysed the concentration ratios of the common heavy metals Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn in relation to Ca in N. lapillus shells collected from the Dutch and Belgian intertidal zone over the last 130 years. We found that shell Cu/Ca and Zn/Ca concentration ratios remained remarkably constant, whereas Pb/Ca concentration trends were closely aligned with emissions of leaded petrol in Europe. Our results suggest that N. lapillus provides a suitable Pb pollution archive of the intertidal zone.

Description: A mud volcano area in the deep waters (〉 2000 m) of the Black Sea was studied by hydroacoustic measurements during several cruises between January 2002 and June 2004. Gas bubbles in the water column give strong backscatter signals and thus can be detected even in great water depths by echosounders as the 38 kHz EK500 scientific split-beam system that was used during the surveys. Because of their shape in echograms and to differentiate against geochemical plumes and real upwelling bubble-water plumes, we call these hydroacoustic manifestations of bubbles in the water column ‘flares’. Digital recording and processing of the data allows a 3D visualization and data comparison over the entire observation period, without artefacts caused by changing system settings. During our surveys, we discovered bubble release from three separate mud volcanoes, Dvurechenskiy (DMV), Vodianitskiy (VMV) and the Nameless Seep Site (NSS), in about 2080 m water depth simultaneously. Bubble release was observed between 9 June 2003 and 5 June 2004. The most frequently surveyed, DMV, was found to be inactive during very intensive studies in January 2002. The first activity was observed on 27 June 2002, which finally ceased between 5 and 15 June 2004 after a period of continuously decreasing activity. This observed 2-yr bubble-release period at a mud volcano may give an indication for the duration of active periods. The absence of short-term variations (within days or hours) may indicate that the bubble release from the observed mud volcanoes does not undergo rapid changes. The recorded echograms show that bubbles rise about 1300 m high through the water column, to a final water depth of about 770 m, which is ∼75 m below the phase boundary of pure methane hydrate in the Black Sea. With a release depth from 2068 m and a detected rise height of 1300 m, the flare at VMV is among the deepest and highest reported so far, and gives evidence of highly extended bubble life times (up to 108 min) in deep marine environments. To better understand how a methane bubble (gas analyses of the pore water and gas hydrate gave 99.4% methane) can rise so high without dissolving, we applied a recently developed bubble dissolution model that takes into account a decreased mass transfer due to an immediately formed gas-hydrate rim. Using the hydroacoustically determined bubble rising speeds (19–22 cm/s at the bottom; 12–14 cm/s at the flare top) and the relation between the rising speed of ‘dirty’/gas hydrate rimmed bubbles and the bubble size, we could validate that a gas-hydrate-rimmed bubble with a diameter of 9 mm could survive the 1300-m-rise through the water column, before it is finally dissolved. A diameter of about 9 mm is reasonable for bubbles released at seep sites and the coincidence between the observed bubble rising speed and the model approach of a 9-mm bubble supports the assumption of gas-hydrate-rimmed bubbles

Description: Accurate constraints on past ocean temperatures and compositions are critical for documenting climate change and resolving its causes. Most proxies for temperature are not thermodynamically based, appear to be subject to biological processes, require regional calibrations, and/or are influenced by fluid composition. As a result, their interpretation becomes uncertain when they are applied in settings not necessarily resembling those in which they were empirically calibrated. Independent proxies for past temperature could provide an important means of testing and/or expanding on existing reconstructions. Here we report measurements of abundances of stable isotopologues of calcitic and aragonitic benthic and planktic foraminifera and coccoliths, relate those abundances to independently estimated growth temperatures, and discuss the possible scope of equilibrium and kinetic isotope effects. The proportions of 13C–18O bonds in these samples exhibits a temperature dependence that is generally similar to that previously been reported for inorganic calcite and other biologically precipitated carbonatecontaining minerals (apatite from fish, reptile, and mammal teeth; calcitic brachiopods and molluscs; aragonitic coral and mollusks). Most species that exhibit non-equilibrium 18O/16O (d18O) and 13C/12C (δ13C) ratios are characterized by 13C–18O bond abundances that are similar to inorganic calcite and are generally indistinguishable from apparent equilibrium, with possible exceptions among benthic foraminiferal samples from the Arctic Ocean where temperatures are near-freezing. Observed isotope ratios in biogenic carbonates can be explained if carbonate minerals generally preserve a state of ordering that reflects the extent of isotopic equilibration of the dissolved inorganic carbon species.

Description: 2-Alkynoic fatty acids display antimycobacterial, antifungal, and pesticidal activities but their antiprotozoal activity has received little attention. In this work we synthesized the 2-octadecynoic acid (2-ODA), 2-hexadecynoic acid (2-HDA), and 2-tetradecynoic acid (2-TDA) and show that 2-ODA is the best inhibitor of the Leishmania donovani DNA topoisomerase IB enzyme (LdTopIB) with an EC50 = 5.3 ± 0.7 μM. The potency of LdTopIB inhibition follows the trend 2-ODA 〉 2-HDA 〉 2-TDA, indicating that the effectiveness of inhibition depends on the fatty acid carbon chain length. All of the studied 2-alkynoic fatty acids were less potent inhibitors of the human topoisomerase IB enzyme (hTopIB) as compared to LdTopIB. 2-ODA also displayed in vitro activity against Leishmania donovani (IC50 = 11.0 μM), but it was less effective against other protozoa, Trypanosoma cruzi (IC50 = 48.1 μM) and Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (IC50 = 64.5 μM). The antiprotozoal activity of the 2-alkynoic fatty acids, in general, followed the trend 2-ODA 〉 2-HDA 〉 2-TDA. The experimental information gathered so far indicates that 2-ODA is a promising antileishmanial compound.

Description: Acetylenic fatty acids are known to display several biological activities, but their antimalarial activity has remained unexplored. In this study, we synthesized the 2-, 5-, 6-, and 9-hexadecynoic acids (HDAs) and evaluated their in vitro activity against erythrocytic (blood) stages of Plasmodiumfalciparum and liver stages of Plasmodiumyoelii infections. Since the type II fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (PfFAS-II) has recently been shown to be indispensable for liver stage malaria parasites, the inhibitory potential of the HDAs against multiple P. falciparum FAS-II (PfFAS-II) elongation enzymes was also evaluated. The highest antiplasmodial activity against blood stages of P. falciparum was displayed by 5-HDA (IC50 value 6.6 μg/ml), whereas the 2-HDA was the only acid arresting the growth of liver stage P. yoelii infection, in both flow cytometric assay (IC50 value 2-HDA 15.3 μg/ml, control drug atovaquone 2.5 ng/ml) and immunofluorescence analysis (IC50 2-HDA 4.88 μg/ml, control drug atovaquone 0.37 ng/ml). 2-HDA showed the best inhibitory activity against the PfFAS-II enzymes PfFabI and PfFabZ with IC50 values of 0.38 and 0.58 μg/ml (IC50 control drugs 14 and 30 ng/ml), respectively. Enzyme kinetics and molecular modeling studies revealed valuable insights into the binding mechanism of 2-HDA on the target enzymes. All HDAs showed in vitro activity against Trypanosomabruceirhodesiense (IC50 values 3.7–31.7 μg/ml), Trypanosomacruzi (only 2-HDA, IC50 20.2 μg/ml), and Leishmaniadonovani (IC50 values 4.1–13.4 μg/ml) with generally low or no significant toxicity on mammalian cells. This is the first study to indicate therapeutic potential of HDAs against various parasitic protozoa. It also points out that the malarial liver stage growth inhibitory effect of the 2-HDA may be promoted via PfFAS-II enzymes. The lack of cytotoxicity, lipophilic nature, and calculated pharmacokinetic properties suggests that 2-HDA could be a useful compound to study the interaction of fatty acids with these key P. falciparum enzymes.