ALBERT

Description: Faecal material of leopard, crabeater and elephant seals was collected from the vicinity of Davis station, Antarctica. Very few identifiable remains were found in elephant seal droppings. Fish remains, mainly of Pleuragramma antarcticum, were found in both leopard and crabeater seal droppings. The mysid Antarctomysis maxima was also found in crabeater seal droppings and amphipods and decapod crustaceans in leopard seal droppings.

Description: The food of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri at the edge of the sea ice off the Vestfold Hills was studied by faecal analysis. Fish, crustacean, cephalopod and gastropod remains were found in 151 droppings collected between August and October 1984. The main fish identified from otoliths was Pleurogramma antarcticum with an average standard length of 129.5 mm. Amphipods increased in frequency from August to October with gammarids predominating.

Description: Many of the world's flood basalt provinces form elevated plateaux at the margins of continents, although in most cases their present large elevation is not the result of mountain building processes. Several explanations have recently been put forward to explain such occurrences of epeirogeny. The Deccan Trap basalt province forms one such elevated plateau, and results are presented here showing how the epeirogenic uplift in this region, combined with crustal subsidence probably associated with the rifting of the Indian continental margin, has affected the structure of the basalt sequence. Trace element analytical data are used for samples from numerous vertical sections through the Deccan Traps lava series along and around the Western Ghats ridge in India. The results reinforce the previously defined stratigraphy of the Mahabaleshwar area, and extend it over a region covering some 36 000 km2, reaching as far south as Belgaum and the Trap/basement contact. These results show that the lava pile is not flat lying, but forms a very low amplitude anticlinal fold structure plunging southwards by up to 0.3 ° over most of the area, although in the south there is evidence of a reversal of this plunge. The fold is interpreted as being the result of two tilting processes: (1) westward tilting near the coast, due to the foundering of the passive continental margin, and (2) epeirogenic uplift along the whole west coast of India producing the observed topography and the peninsula-wide drainage patterns, and also the easterly component of dip. Variations in the magnitude of the latter effect along the western continental margin may also be important in generating the plunge of the fold, although the possibility of some component of depositional dip may also be important. This latter possibility can be modelled using a simple computer program. The results of this modelling show that a migrating linear volcanic edifice fits the observations best.

Description: Microheterotrophic dissolved free amino acid (DFAA) utilization, and microbial community and bacterial community carbon production and growth were studied using 3H-labeled organics as tracers in marine surface-film and subsurface (10 cm) waters off Baja California in November 1983. DFAA utilization was generally more rapid during the day (0.14 to 0.38 nM h-1) than at night (0.04 to 0.14 nM h-1) in surface-film and subsurface waters, but the percent of utilized amino acid which was respired was always greater during the night (22 to 57%) compared to the day (14 to 18%). Utilization of DFAA-carbon was estimated to range from 0.3 to 5.3 μg C l-1 d-1 for all stations studied. In six of the 8 samples examined, the percentage of microbial carbon accounted for by the bacterial component of the population (1.4 to 5.9%) was strikingly similar to the percentage of microbial carbon production accounted for by bacterial carbon production (1.9 to 5.1%). In all of these six samples, total microbial specific-growth rates and bacterial specific-growth rates were approximately equivalent (0.9 to 2.2 d-1 for the microbial community; 0.7 to 1.9 d-1 for bacteria). The two exceptions were samples apparently influenced by transient flagellate populations migrating into the surface or subsurface waters at night. These observations support the conclusion that surface films contain unique and highly active microbial populations.

Description: We distinguish three eruptive units of pyroclastic flows (T1, T2, and T3; T for trass) within the late Quaternary Laacher See tephra sequence. These units differ in the chemical/mineralogical composition of the essential pyroclasts ranging from highly differentiated phonolite in T1 to mafic phonolite in T3. T1 and T2 flows were generated during Plinian phases, and T3 flows during a late Vulcanian phase. The volume of the pyroclastic flow deposits is about 0.6 km3. The lateral extent of the flows from the source vent decreases from 〉 10 km (T1) to 〈 4.5 km (T3). In the narrow valleys north of Laacher See, the total thickness of the deposits exceeds 60 m. At least 19 flow units in T1, 6 in T2, and 4 in T3 can be recognized at individual localities. Depositional cycles of 2 to 5 flow units are distinguished in the eruptive units. Thickness and internal structure of the flow units are strongly controlled by topography. Subfacies within flow units such as strongly enriched pumice and lithic concentration zones, dust layers, lapilli pipes, ground layers, and lithic breccias are all compositionally related to each other by enrichment or depletion of clasts depending on their size and density in a fluidized flow. While critical diameters of coarse-tail grading were found to mark the boundary between the coarse nonfluidized and the finer fluidized grain-size subpopulations, we document the second boundary between the fluidized and the very fine entrained subpopulations by histograms and Rosin-Rammler graphs. Grain-size distribution and composition of the fluidized middle-size subpopulations remained largely unchanged during transport. Rheological properties of the pyroclastic flows are deduced from the variations in flow-unit structure within the valleys. T1 flows are thought to have decelerated from 25 m/s at 4 km to 〈 15 m/s at 7 km from the vent; flow density was probably 600–900 kg/m3, and viscosity 5–50 P. The estimated yield strength of the flows of 200– 〉 1000 N/m2 is consistent with the divergence of lithic size/distance curves from purely Newtonian models; the transport of lithics must be treated as in a Bingham fluid. The flow temperature probably decreased from T1 (300°–500°C) to T3 (〈200°C). A large-scale longitudinal variation in the flow units from proximal through medial to distal facies dominantly reflects temporal changes during the progressive collapse of an eruption column. Only a small amount of fallout tephra was generated in the T1 phase of eruption. The pyroclastic flows probably formed from relatively low ash fountains rather than from high Plinian eruption columns.

Description: There are over 1000 foraminiferal species presently living in marine environments, but relatively few of these can be used as direct indicators of sea level. We detail here certain assemblages occupying marsh environments that can be used for that purpose. Marsh foraminiferal assemblages have been shown to occur worldwide within narrowly defined vertical zones some of which extend less than 10 cm in total vertical range. These assemblage zones, once known, can be relocated in paleo-marsh deposits and accurately related to paleo-sea level. The key to success of these organisms as sea-level indicators is that their primary controlling factor appears to be elevation above mean sea level. Other foraminiferal assemblages are controlled by a series of parameters (eg. salinity, temperature, dissolved O2, etc.) which often have no direct relationship with actual water depth. Under appropriate circumstances, some information concerning sea level can be derived from other foraminiferal assemblages using indirect means. For instance areas which have undergone substantial emergence often contain small basins which, prior to emergence, were marine. The marine sediments at the bottom can be identified using foraminifera and the sill elevation of the basin can then be related to some prior sea-level stand. Both these methods have imperfections, but in areas where both emergence and submergence have taken place they can be combined to obtain a relatively complete sea-level history.

Description: In a core from the outer Skagerrak, the content of biogenic opal is higher in Late Pleistocene (Younger Dryas) than in Holocene deposits. In terms of opal accumulation, rates are 1 g/cm2/1,000 y during the Holocene and five to ten times larger during the Younger Dryas. Intensive dissolution has greatly reduced the Holocene opal content and does not allow calculation of paleoproductivity. The intensity of opal dissolution is reflected by dissolution stages of both the diatomParalia sulcata and sponge spicules. The intensity of dissolution is negatively correlated to the sedimentation rate and appears to be controlled by silica-undersaturated environment on the sea floor and the uppermost sediment layer.

Description: We report experiments on the flow of two fluids of contrasting viscosity through a pipe in which low-viscosity fluid occupies the center of the pipe. The volume flux of the low-viscosity fluid in the pipe increased during an experiment but did not reach 100% in most cases. The transition from high- to low-viscosity-dominated outflow involved a drop in pressure gradient and an increase in flow rate due to reduced viscous resistance in the pipe. Initially, the central flow was thin and parallel-sided, but as its diameter increased the flow became unstable. A sequence of instabilities was observed during the course of each experiment, both in time and as a function of height in the pipe. In the most commonly observed instability the central flow adopted a helical geometry. The transition from parallel-sided to unstable flow first appeared at the top of the pipe and propagated downwards against the flow. Axisymmetric instabilities originating at the pipe entrance were also observed. All forms of instability exhibited entrainment of viscous fluid into the faster moving central flow. Entrainment was extensive early in the existence of the central flow, but later on the volume flux of lower-viscosity fluid in the central flow rose more rapidly than the rate of entrainment and the proportion of lower-viscosity fluid increased with time. These compositional changes determined the viscosity of the central flow which was found to control its diameter and velocity. In banded pumice deposits, silicic pumice without mafic component is commonly erupted alongside banded pumice blocks. We infer that banded pumice may correspond to the central flow in our experiments, i. e., that viscous magma has been incorporated into less viscous melt, and that pure acid pumice is derived from the outer flow. Changes in eruption style may be caused by variations in pressure gradient and flow rate due to changes in the viscosity of the melt in the conduit. Varied mafic/silicic proportions and degree of mixing in magmatic associations are controlled by the bulk volume erupted, discharge rate, initial temperature difference and aspect ratio of the conduit.

Description: During R.R.S. "Discovery" Cruise 100 in the Southern Ocean (1979), 620 specimens of the Antarctic cranchiid squid Galiteuthis glacialis (Chun) were caught in the RMT8 opening-closing net, to the south of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF). The catch was dominated by individuals 〈 20 mm dorsal mantle length (DML) and, apart from two specimens, the rest of the catch was 〈 60 mm DML. Two larger squid (255 mm DML) were both immature and apparently female. The species is concentrated at a depth of 300 to 400 m; there is evidence of ontogenetic spreading and a shift in the modal depth of the population from the 300 to 400 m horizon in daylight to the 200 to 300 m horizon in darkness. The collection confirms the circumpolar distribution of the species and supports previous evidence that it rarely, if ever, occurs to the north of the APF. As in Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the only other species of cranchiid squid known to occur south of the APF, the early-life phase of G. glacialis is concentrated in the upper zone of the "warm deep water" beneath the Antarctic surface layer where, putatively, there is a zone of enhanced biological activity.