ALBERT

Description: The four naturally-occurring radium isotopes (223Ra, 224Ra, 226Ra and 228Ra) were used to estimate the submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) in the Isola La Cura marsh area in the northern Venice Lagoon (Italy). By determining the radium contributors to the study area (river, coastal ocean and sediments) the radium excess in the lagoon water was quantified through a mass balance model. This radium excess is attributed to a submarine groundwater discharge source and represents the most important input of radium. Possible endmembers were considered from analysis of groundwater samples (subtidal and marsh piezometers, marsh wells and seepage meters) that were enriched in Ra by one to two orders of magnitude relative to surface waters. In particular, a permeable layer at 80 cm depth in the surrounding marsh is considered to be representative of the most likely SGD source, although similar radium activities were measured in other subtidal porewater samples collected in the Isola La Cura area. The estimated SGD flux to the study area ranged from 1 · 109 to 6 · 109 L·d− 1, the same order of magnitude as the overall riverine input to the lagoon (3 · 109 L·d− 1). A major fraction of this SGD flux is likely recirculated seawater, as evidenced by the endmember salinity. The water residence time of 2 days was estimated by both using the shortest-lived radium isotope and estimating the volume of water exchanged between the lagoon and the open sea during a tidal cycle (tidal prism approach). This SGD flux could be used to estimate the input of other chemical species (metals, nutrients, etc.) via SGD which might affect the Venice Lagoon ecosystem.

Description: The GEOTRACES Intermediate Data Product 2017 (IDP2017) is the second publicly available data product of the international GEOTRACES programme, and contains data measured and quality controlled before the end of 2016. The IDP2017 includes data from the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, Southern and Indian oceans, with about twice the data volume of the previous IDP2014. For the first time, the IDP2017 contains data for a large suite of biogeochemical parameters as well as aerosol and rain data characterising atmospheric trace element and isotope (TEI) sources. The TEI data in the IDP2017 are quality controlled by careful assessment of intercalibration results and multi-laboratory data comparisons at crossover stations. The IDP2017 consists of two parts: (1) a compilation of digital data for more than 450 TEIs as well as standard hydrographic parameters, and (2) the eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas providing an on-line atlas that includes more than 590 section plots and 130 animated 3D scenes. The digital data are provided in several formats, including ASCII, Excel spreadsheet, netCDF, and Ocean Data View collection. Users can download the full data packages or make their own custom selections with a new on-line data extraction service. In addition to the actual data values, the IDP2017 also contains data quality flags and 1-σ data error values where available. Quality flags and error values are useful for data filtering and for statistical analysis. Metadata about data originators, analytical methods and original publications related to the data are linked in an easily accessible way. The eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas is the visual representation of the IDP2017 as section plots and rotating 3D scenes. The basin-wide 3D scenes combine data from many cruises and provide quick overviews of large-scale tracer distributions. These 3D scenes provide geographical and bathymetric context that is crucial for the interpretation and assessment of tracer plumes near ocean margins or along ridges. The IDP2017 is the result of a truly international effort involving 326 researchers from 22 countries. This publication provides the critical reference for unpublished data, as well as for studies that make use of a large cross-section of data from the IDP2017.

Description: Highlights • We review the knowledge on modern high-latitude planktic foraminifers. • Subpolar species currently invade higher latitudes. • Climate change affects phenology, seawater pH, and carbon turnover. • Modern planktic foraminifers are briefly discussed for their paleoceanographic significance. Abstract Planktic foraminifers can be sensitive indicators of the changing environment including both the Arctic Ocean and Southern Ocean. Due to variability in their ecology, biology, test characteristics, and fossil preservation in marine sediments, they serve as valuable archives in paleoceanography and climate geochemistry over the geologic time scale. Foraminifers are sensitive to, and can therefore provide proxy data on ambient water temperature, salinity, carbonate chemistry, and trophic conditions through shifts in assemblage (species) composition and the shell chemistry of individual specimens. Production and dissolution of the calcareous shell, as well as growth and remineralization of the cytoplasm, affect the carbonate counter pump and to a lesser extent the soft-tissue pump, at varying regional and temporal scales. Diversity of planktic foraminifers in polar waters is low in comparison to lower latitudes and is limited to three native species: Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, Turborotalita quinqueloba, and Globigerina bulloides, of which N. pachyderma is best adapted to polar conditions in the surface ocean. Neogloboquadrina pachyderma hibernates in brine channels in the lower layers of the Antarctic sea ice, a strategy that is presently undescribed in the Arctic. In open Antarctic and Arctic surface waters T. quinqueloba and G. bulloides increase in abundance at lower polar to subpolar latitudes and Globigerinita uvula, Turborotalita humilis, Globigerinita glutinata, Globorotalia inflata, and Globorotalia crassaformis complement the assemblages. Over the past two to three decades there has been a marked increase in the abundance of Orcadia riedeli and G. uvula in the subpolar and polar Indian Ocean, as well as in the northern North Atlantic. This paper presents a review of the knowledge of polar and subpolar planktic foraminifers. Particular emphasis is placed on the response of foraminifers to modern warming and ocean acidification at high latitudes and the implications for data interpretation in paleoceanography and paleoclimate research.

Description: An important tool for deep-sea temperature reconstruction is Mg/Ca paleothermometry applied to benthic foraminifera. Foraminifera of the genus Melonis appear to be promising candidates for temperature reconstructions due to their wide geographical and bathymetric distribution, and their infaunal habitat, which was suggested to reduce secondary effects from carbonate ion saturation (Δ[CO3 2−]). Here, we make substantial advances to previous calibration efforts and present new multi-lab Mg/Ca data for Melonis barleeanum and Melonis pompilioides from more than one hundred core top samples spanning in situ bottom temperatures from −1 to 16 °C, coupled with morphometric analyses of the foraminifer tests. Both species and their morphotypes seem to have a similar response of Mg/Ca to growth temperature. Compilation of new and previously published data reveals a linear dependence of temperature on Mg/Ca, with a best fit of Mg/Ca (mmol/mol) = 0.113 ± 0.005 ∗ BWT (°C) + 0.792 ± 0.036 (r2 = 0.81; n = 120; 1σ SD). Salinity, bottom water Δ[CO3 2−], and varying morphotypes have no apparent effect on the Mg/Ca-temperature relationship, but pore water Δ[CO3 2−] might have had an influence on some of the samples from the tropical Atlantic.

Description: Ra isotopes are a powerful tool for quantifying the flux of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into the sea. Previous studies of 223Ra and 224Ra mass balances in coastal embayments have shown that the Ra balance is dominated by supply via SGD, exchange with the open ocean and radioactive decay. The current study shows that a single time series over a tidal cycle at the principal inlet to Great South Bay (NY, US) is sufficient to determine the net flux of Ra across the inlet, and also can be used to estimate the decay of short-lived Ra in the bay. Estimates of the net Ra flux obtained from a single tidal time-series by using three different approaches agree with those determined from a more time-consuming survey of Ra within the bay, and may represent a first step of estimating SGD in bays and coastal lagoons.

Description: Highlights • Stratigraphic framework over the Miocene-Pliocene boundary at IODP Site U1387. • Abrupt sedimentary changes over the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. • Clear hints for onset of Mediterranean Outflow after the Messinian Salinity Crisis. • Evidence of bottom water currents in contouritic sedimentation and elevated Zr/Al. • Quiet, hemipelagic sediment deposition during the Messinian in the Gulf of Cadiz. Abstract Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 339 cored multiple sites in the Gulf of Cadiz in order to study contourite deposition resulting from Mediterranean Outflow water (MOW). One hole, U1387C, was cored to a depth of 865.6 meters below seafloor (mbsf) with the goal of recovering the Latest Miocene to Pliocene transition in order to evaluate the history of MOW immediately after the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. To understand this history, an accurate age model for the succession is needed, but is challenging to construct, because the Miocene-Pliocene boundary is not marked by a clear biostratigraphic event in the Atlantic and coring gaps occur within the recovered stratigraphic record. These limitations are overcome by combining a variety of chronostratigraphic datasets to construct an age-model that fits the currently available age indicators and demonstrates that coring in Hole U1387C did indeed recover the Miocene-Pliocene boundary at around 826 mbsf. This boundary is associated with a distinct and abrupt change in depositional environment. During the latest Messinian, hemipelagic sediments exhibiting precession-induced climate variability were deposited. These are overlain by Pliocene sediments deposited at a much higher sedimentation rate, with much higher and more variable XRF-scanning Zr/Al ratios than the underlying sediment, and that show evidence of winnowing, particle sorting and increasing grain size, which we interpret to be related to the increasing flow of MOW. Pliocene sedimentary cyclicity is clearly visible in both the benthic δ18O record and the Zr/Al data and is probably also precessionally controlled. Two contouritic bigradational sandy-beds are revealed above the third sedimentary cycle of the Pliocene. On the basis of these results, we conclude that sedimentation associated with weak Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange, began in the Gulf of Cadiz virtually at or shortly after the Miocene-Pliocene boundary.

Description: Highlights: • Reduced taxon-richness (96%, 151–6 taxa) leads to overall reduction in function. • Functional richness remained high (66% of tot.) even at the lowest taxon richness. • Analysis of changes in trait categories showed the importance of multifunctionality. • Number of taxa per trait category gives complementary information to the FD index. • Rare species did not express unique traits. Abstract: Alterations to ecosystem function due to reductions in species richness are predicted to increase as humans continue to affect the marine environment, especially in coastal areas, which serve as the interface between land and sea. The potential functional consequences due to reductions in species diversity have attracted considerable attention recently but little is known about the consequence of such loss in natural communities. We examined how the potential for function is affected by natural reductions in taxon richness using empirical (non-simulated) coastal marine benthic macrofaunal data from the Skagerrak-Baltic Sea region (N. Europe), where taxon richness decreases 25-fold, from 151 to 6 taxa. To estimate functional changes we defined multiple traits (10 traits and 51 categories) on which trait category richness, functional diversity (FD) and number of taxa per trait category were calculated. Our results show that decrease in taxon richness leads to an overall reduction in function but functional richness remains comparatively high even at the lowest level of taxon richness. Although the taxonomic reduction was sharp, up to 96% of total taxon richness, we identified both potential thresholds in functioning and subtler changes where function was maintained along the gradient. The functional changes were not only caused by reductions in taxa per trait category, some categories were maintained or even increased. Primarily, the reduction in species richness altered trait categories related to feeding, living and movement and thus potentially could have an effect on various ecosystem processes. This highlights the importance of recognising ecosystem multifunctionality, especially at low taxonomic richness. We also found that in this system rare species (singletons) did not stand for the functional complexities and changes. Our findings were consistent with theoretical and experimental predictions and suggest that a large proportion of the information about alterations of function is found in measures such as functional diversity and number of taxa per trait category.

Description: The simultaneous estimation of particulate organic carbon (POC), particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) and biogenic silica (BSi) export fluxes is key to the study of carbon export due to the hypothesized role of biominerals in the sinking of organic particles. This paper presents of the first attempts to measure downward fluxes of POC, PIC and BSi from the surface ocean using both the 234Th-238U and the 210Po-210Pb disequilibria and drifting sediments trap synchronously at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in summer 2009. The combined use of the three techniques allowed us to analyze their suitability not only for POC flux estimates, but also as tracers of PIC and BSi fluxes. POC and biomineral/radionuclide ratios were measured in two size fractions to better understand differences between 234Th derived export and 210Po derived export. 210Po derived POC and biomineral fluxes were unexpectedly closer to POC and biomineral fluxes recorded by sediment traps than 234Th derived POC and biomineral fluxes which were higher than obtained from the other two approaches. We suggest that 210Po, because of its biogeochemical behavior, is a better proxy for POC and mineral fluxes than is 234Th in post bloom conditions. The contribution of smaller (1–53 μm) particles to flux is also considered in order to explain the differences in derived fluxes.

Description: Studying the morphology and subsurface geometry of mud volcanoes provides insights into their activity. This paper describes the internal structure of the Håkon Mosby mud volcano (HMMV) in the southwestern Barents Sea and presents a conceptual model of its evolution. The lack of a mud edifice and the profuse gas flares suggest that in the recent past the mud volcano evolution was predominantly controlled by venting of gas-rich fluids and free gas. However, the analysis of high-resolution single-channel seismic (SCS) data reveals for the first time the existence of a pseudo-mud chamber at the top of the 3 km deep central conduit. It was once created at the seabed and is now a buried expression that acts as mud chamber. The pseudo-mud chamber is situated approximately 300 m below the seafloor, directly above the 330 ka Bear Island Slide (BIS) scar reflection and below glacigenic debris flow deposits that constitute the sediment on top. The sediment profiler data indicates a younger mud deposit above the debris flows, which points to a reactivation of the mud volcano. The reactivation was most likely triggered by the contrast in density between the gas-rich mud chamber and the high-density debris flow deposits. Three stages, i.e. initiation, sealing and reactivation, and a second active period define the evolution of this young mud volcano. Both, the morphology and size of the conduit as well as in-situ temperature gradients point towards a focused and rapid fluid flow.