ALBERT

Description: The upper bathyal sea-pen Kophobelemnon stelliferum extends to depths of about 1600 m in the Porcupine Seabight, to the south-west of Ireland, but is rare below about 1150 m. Photographic data suggest that the species attains numerical abundances of more than 2 m−2and a wet weight biomass of at least 4 g m−2. The highest densities, however, do not necessarily correspond to the highest biomass values since there is a clear depth-related change in population structure. The largest sea-pens are restricted to the deeper parts of the bathymetric range of the species. There is also a marked change in the growth form at a total colony length of about 250 mm, with larger colonies having relatively more polyps than smaller ones. The sexes are separate in Kophobelemnon stelliferum and the sex ratio of colonies is about 1:1. The maximum oocyte diameter is about 800 μm, but there is no evidence of seasonal reproduction by this pennatulid in the Porcupine Seabight.

Description: The shallow seismogenic portion of subduction zones generates damaging large and great earthquakes. This study provides structural constraints on the seismogenic zone of the Middle America Trench offshore central Costa Rica and insights into the physical and mechanical characteristics controlling seismogenesis. We have located ~300 events that occurred following the MW 6.9, 20 August 1999, Quepos, Costa Rica, underthrusting earthquake using a three-dimensional velocity model and arrival time data recorded by a temporary local network of land and ocean bottom seismometers. We use aftershock locations to define the geometry and characteristics of the seismogenic zone in this region. These events define a plane dipping at 19° that marks the interface between the Cocos Plate and the Panama Block. The majority of aftershocks occur below 10 km and above 30 km depth below sea level, corresponding to 30–35 km and 95 km from the trench axis, respectively. Relative event relocation produces a seismicity pattern similar to that obtained using absolute locations, increasing confidence in the geometry of the seismogenic zone. The aftershock locations spatially correlate with the downdip extension of the oceanic Quepos Plateau and reflect the structure of the main shock rupture asperity. This strengthens an earlier argument that the 1999 Quepos earthquake ruptured specific bathymetric highs on the downgoing plate. We believe that subduction of this highly disrupted seafloor has established a set of conditions which presently limit the seismogenic zone to be between 10 and 35 km below sea level.

Description: During the 1990s, ocean sampling expeditions were carried out as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), and the Ocean Atmosphere Carbon Exchange Study (OACES). Subsequently, a group of U.S. scientists synthesized the data into easily usable and readily available products. This collaboration is known as the Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP). Results were merged into a common format data set, segregated by ocean. For comparison purposes, each ocean data set includes a small number of high‐quality historical cruises. The data were subjected to rigorous quality control procedures to eliminate systematic data measurement biases. The calibrated 1990s data were used to estimate anthropogenic CO2, potential alkalinity, CFC watermass ages, CFC partial pressure, bomb‐produced radiocarbon, and natural radiocarbon. These quantities were merged into the measured data files. The data were used to produce objectively gridded property maps at a 1° resolution on 33 depth surfaces chosen to match existing climatologies for temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrients. The mapped fields are interpreted as an annual mean distribution in spite of the inaccuracy in that assumption. Both the calibrated data and the gridded products are available from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center. Here we describe the important details of the data treatment and the mapping procedure, and present summary quantities and integrals for the various parameters.

Description: An abrupt lithofacies change between calcareous shale and noncalcareous shale occurs in strata deposited in the mid-Cretaceous Greenhorn Seaway in the southeastern corner of Montana. The facies were correlated lithostratigraphically using bentonites and calcarenites. The lithocorrelations were then refined using ammonites, foraminifera, and calcareous nannofossils. Twenty-five time slices were defined within the upper middle and lower upper Cenomanian strata. Biofacies analysis indicate that lithofacies changes record the boundary or oceanic front between two water masses with distinctly different paleoceanographic conditions. One water mass entered the seaway from the Arctic and the other from the Gulf of Mexico/Tethys. The microfauna and microflora permit interpretation of the environmental conditions in each water mass. At times when the front was near vertical, the two water masses were of the same density but of different temperatures and salinities.

Description: The morphology and structure of the submarine flanks of the Canary Islands were mapped using the GLORIA long-range side-scan sonar system, bathymetric multibeam systems, and sediment echosounders. Twelve young (〈2 Ma) giant landslides have been identified on the submarine flanks of the Canary Islands up to now. Older landslide events are long buried under a thick sediment cover due to high sedimentation rates around the Canary Islands. Most slides were found on the flanks of the youngest and most active islands of La Palma, El Hierro, and Tenerife, but young giant landslides were also identified on the flanks of the older (15–20 Ma) but still active eastern islands. Large-scale mass wasting is an important process during all periods of major magmatic activity. The long-lived volcanic constructive history of the islands of the Canary Archipelago is balanced by a correspondingly long history of destruction, resulting in a higher landslide frequency for the Canary Islands compared to the Hawaiian Islands, where giant landslides only occur late in the period of active shield growth. The lower stability of the flanks of the Canaries is probably due to the much steeper slopes of the islands, a result of the abundance of highly evolved intrusive and extrusive rocks. Another reason for the enhanced slope instability is the abundance of pyroclastic deposits on Canary Islands resulting from frequent explosive eruptions due to the elevated volatile contents in the highly alkalic magmas. Dike-induced rifting is most likely the main trigger mechanism for destabilization of the flanks. Flank collapses are a major geological hazard for the Canary Islands due to the sector collapses themselves as well as triggering of tsunamis. In at least one case, a giant lateral blast occurred when an active magmatic or hydrothermal system became unroofed during flank collapse.

Description: Digital hydrographic data combined with satellite thermal infrared and visible band remote sensing provide a synoptic climatological view of the shallow planktonic environment. This paper uses wind, hydrographic, and ocean remote sensing data to examine southwest monsoon controls on the foraminiferal faunal composition of Recent seafloor sediments of the northwestern Arabian Sea. Ekman pumping resulting in open-ocean upwelling and coastal upwelling create two distinctly different mixed layer plankton environments in the northwestern Arabian Sea during the summer monsoon. Open-sea upwelling to the northwest of the mean July position of the Findlater Jet axis yields a mixed layer environment with temperatures of less than 25°C to about 26.5°C, phytoplankton pigment concentrations between 1.5 and 5.0 mg/m³, and mixed layer depths less than 50 m. Convergence in the Ekman layer in the central Arabian Sea drives the formation of a mixed layer that is greater than 50 m thick, warmer than about 26.5°C, and has phytoplankton pigment concentrations generally below 2.0 mg/m³. Coastal upwelling creates an extremely eutrophic plankton environment that persists over and immediately adjacent to the Omani shelf and undergoes significant offshore transport only within topographically induced coastal squirts. The foraminiferal faunal composition of upper Pleistocene deep-sea sediments of the northwestern Arabian Sea are mainly controlled by vertical nutrient fluxes caused by Ekman pumping, not coastal upwelling. Transfer functions for late Pleistocene mixed layer depth, temperature, and chlorophyll have been obtained through factor analysis and nonlinear multiple regression between late summer mixed layer environment and Recent sediment faunal observations.

Description: The isotopic composition of dissolved O2 in seawater, expressed as the δ18O of O2, is unique among the bioactive tracers of the aphotic zone in that it is not linearly related to oxygen utilization via the stoichiometry of organic matter decomposition. In fact, δ18O of O2 depends on the history of water mixing and O2 consumption in the sample studied (Craig and Kroopnick, 1970; Kroopnick and Craig, 1976). For this reason, the variation of δ18O of O2 with O2 concentration depends on regional circulation patterns and oxygen utilization rates. The δ18O of O2 can be used to chartacterize these processes by decoupling their effects. As an example of this assertion, we interpret the covariation between the concentration of O2 and its isotopic composition in the Pacific Ocean as reported by Kroopnick (1987), using four simple representations of seawater mixing and respiration. Kroopnick's data are in general accord with an elementary model of isopycnal mixing represented by diffusive exchange and oxygen utilization in the ocean's interior, coupled with atmospheric equilibrium at the point where the isopycnals outcrop at the sea surface. This specific result illustrates the general point that δ18O of O2 in seawater can serve as an important constraint on more extensive and sophisticated physical models used to estimate rates of oxygen utilization in the deep sea.

Description: Most Central American volcanoes occur in an impressive volcanic front that trends parallel to the strike of the subducting Cocos Plate. The volcanic front is a chain, made of right-stepping, linear segments, 100 to 300 Km in length. Volcanoes cluster into centers, whose spacing is random but averages about 27 Km. These closely spaced, easily accessible volcanic centers allow mapping of geochemical variations along the volcanic front. Abundant back-arc volcanoes in southeast Guatemala and central Honduras allow two cross-arc transects. Several element and isotope ratios (e.g. BalLa, Uffh, B/La, IOBe/9Be, 87Sr/86Sr) that are thought to signal subducted marine sediments or altered MORB consistently define a chevron pattern along the arc, with its maximum in Nicaragua. BalLa, a particularly sensitive signal, is 130 at the maximum in Nicaragua but decreases out on the limbs to 40 in Guatemala and 20 in Costa Rica, which is just above the nominal mantle value of 15. This high amplitude regional variation, roughly symmetrical about Nicaragua, contrasts with the near constancy, or small gradient, in several plate tectonic parameters such as convergence rate, age of the subducting Cocos Plate, and thickness and type of subducted sediment. The large geochemical changes over relatively short distances make Central America an important margin for seeking the tectonic causes of geochemical variations; the regional variation has both a high amplitude and structure, including flat areas and gradients. The geochemical database continues to improve and is already adequate to compare to tectonic models with length scales of 100 Km or longer.