ALBERT

Beschreibung: 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.

Beschreibung: 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.

Beschreibung: 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.

Beschreibung: 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.

Beschreibung: Stomach and intestine samples from 21 adult Weddell seals were used to study the diet of these seals from the eastern and southern Weddell Sea coast from January to February 1983 and 1985. Fish occurred in all seals, squid in five, octopods in three and Euphausia crystallorophias in one seal. Pleuragramma antarcticum was the predominant fish in the diet, constituting 61.1% of otoliths in 1983 samples and 93.8% in 1985. Aethotaxis mitopteryx, Dissostichus mawsoni, unidentified Trematomus spp. and channichthyids were also recorded. Size and wet weight of P. antarcticum were calculated from uneroded otoliths, found in 6 seal stomachs with liquid food pulp, collected during early morning hours in 1985. Size distribution of P. antarcticum from individual seals was reasonably constant, ranging between 5.0 and 22.0 cm SL; adult fish from about 14.0 to 19.0 cm SL predominated. P. antarcticum in seals from the southern area had a larger median size (16.5 cm SL), than those from further east (15.5 cm SL). Calculated wet weights of all P. antarcticum from individual seal stomachs ranged between 4.7 and 16.9 kg the mean was 12.8 kg. Comparisons with net-hauls from the southern Gould Bay suggest that Weddell seals feed mainly in deeper water layers (〉400 m) where adult P. antarcticum occur at higher densities.

Beschreibung: Phytoplankton periodicity has been fairly regular during the years 1979 to 1982 in Lake Constance. Algal mass growth starts with the vernal onset of stratification; Cryptophyceae and small centric diatoms are the dominant algae of the spring bloom. In June grazing by zooplankton leads to a lsquoclear-water phasersquo dominated by Cryptophyceae. Algal summer growth starts under nutrient-saturated conditions with a dominance of Cryptomonas spp. and Pandorina morum. Depletion of soluble reactive phosphorus is followed by a dominance of pennate and filamentous centric diatoms, which are replaced by Ceratium hirundinella when dissolved silicate becomes depleted. Under calm conditions there is a diverse late-summer plankton dominated by Cyanophyceae and Dinobryon spp.; more turbulent conditions and silicon resupply enable a second summer diatom growth phase in August. The autumnal development leads from a Mougeotia — desmid assemblage to a diatom plankton in late autumn and winter. Inter-lake comparison of algal seasonality includes in ascending order of P-richness Königsee, Attersee, Walensee, Lake Lucerne, Lago Maggiore, Ammersee, Lake Zürich, Lake Geneva, Lake Constance. The oligotrophic lakes have one or two annual maxima of biomass; after the vernal maximum there is a slowly developing summer depression and sometimes a second maximum in autumn. The more eutrophic lakes have an additional maximum in summer. The number of floristically determined successional stages increases with increasing eutrophy, from three in Königsee and Attersee to eight in Lake Geneva and Lake Constance.

Beschreibung: Natural phytoplankton from antarctic waters in the Drake Passage were used for competition experiments in semicontinuous cultures. The outcome of interspecific competition for silicate and nitrate was studied at a range of Si:N ratios (from 2.6:1 to 425:1) and at three different dilution rates. For five species Monod kinetics of silicate-and nitrate-limited growth has been established. Comparison between theoretical predictions derived from Monod kinetics and the outcome of competition experiments showed only minor deviations. Contrary to literature data, considerable depletion of nitrate was found in antarctic seawater. Both the concentrations of soluble silicate and of nitrate were too low to support maximum growth rates of some of the diatom species under investigation.

Beschreibung: 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.

Beschreibung: 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.