ALBERT

Description: The vast majority of active volcanism that is located at plate boundaries can be easily explained by plate tectonic processes. Intraplate volcanism, which incorporates some of the smallest and largest volcanic events on Earth, cannot be successfully explained by a single process or model. The most volumetrically significant intraplate volcanic events are associated with the arrival of the head of a thermo-chemical anomaly rising from the deep mantle and impacting the base of the lithosphere. This event generates massive and short-lived magmatic activity over a wide area (up to 2000 km across), forming a large igneous province. A long-lived hotspot track can form over the mantle plume tail and is best illustrated by the formation of age progressive volcanic chains, such as the famous Hawaiian-Emperor chain. Millions of smaller solitary volcanic edifices, non-age progressive volcanic chains and provinces, on the other hand, have other potential mechanisms of origin. Potential models comprise decompression melting due to lithospheric extension, destabilization of fusible lithologies in the lithospheric mantle, small scale sub-lithospheric convection, or lithospheric delamination.

Description: Gas hydrates dissociation could induce or trigger submarine landslides, especially in upper continental slopes where hydrates are vulnerable to natural and artificial perturbations. This work investigates destabilization mechanisms of an upper continental slope undergoing hydrate dissociation and identifies spatiotemporal failure modes influenced by characteristics of the overburden above the hydrate-bearing layer (i.e. the hydrate reservoir). A Thermo-Hydro-Chemical coupled numerical model of transient pore pressure induced by hydrate dissociation is coupled with the limit equilibrium slope analysis method to study the spatiotemporal evolution of the potential sliding plane and to calculate the corresponding factor of safety. The results suggest that overpressure generated by the liberated fluid from hydrate dissociation is the primary reason for instability in a gentle marine slope. The study identifies three sliding modes, namely co-melting non-interface sliding, co-melting interface sliding, and post-melting non-interface sliding, depending on the overburden's characteristics, including overburden thickness, permeability, and cohesion. Co-melting non-interface sliding takes place during hydrate dissociation if the hydrate reservoir underlies a thin, pervious and low-cohesion overburden cover. For less permeable and more cohesive overburdens, the potential sliding plane is deeper and co-melting interface sliding could be triggered due to overpressure developed at the reservoir-overburden interface. If the hydrate reservoir is covered by a thick, low-permeability and slightly cohesive overburden, post-melting non-interface sliding could occur after the hydrates are completely dissociated. This failure is delayed, because the gas/water trapped at the interface during hydrate dissociation is insufficient to trigger instability due to very high overburden stresses. However, as the gas migrates upwards over time and encounters a weak zone in the overburden deposits, failure could happen within the overburden deposits even after hydrate dissociation stops. The findings help to improve our fundamental understanding about the destabilization mechanism and failure modes of the continental slopes undergoing hydrate dissociation, and to delineate the vulnerable configurations of the slopes.

Description: n our daily lives, we consume foods that have been transported, stored, prepared, cooked, or otherwise processed by ourselves or others. Food storage and preparation have drastic effects on the chemical composition of foods. Untargeted mass spectrometry analysis of food samples has the potential to increase our chemical understanding of these processes by detecting a broad spectrum of chemicals. We performed a time-based analysis of the chemical changes in foods during common preparations, such as fermentation, brewing, and ripening, using untargeted mass spectrometry and molecular networking. The data analysis workflow presented implements an approach to study changes in food chemistry that can reveal global alterations in chemical profiles, identify changes in abundance, as well as identify specific chemicals and their transformation products. The data generated in this study are publicly available, enabling the replication and re-analysis of these data in isolation, and serve as a baseline dataset for future investigations.

Description: A comparison of gouge and hammer coring techniques in intertidal wetland soils highlights a significant effect of soil compaction of up to 28% associated with the widely applied hammer coring method employed in Blue Carbon research. Hammer coring reduces the thickness of the soil profile and increases the dry bulk density, which results in an overestimation of the soil OC stock of up to 22%. In saltmarshes with multiple different soil units, we show that hammer coring is unsuitable for the calculation of OC stocks and should be avoided in favour of Russian or gouge cores. Compaction changes both soil dry bulk density and porosity and we show that resultant radiometric chronologies are compromised, almost doubling mass accumulation rates. While we show that the OC (%) content of these sediments is largely unchanged by coring method, the implication for OC burial rates are profound because of the significant effect of hammer coring on the calculation of soil mass accumlation rates.

Description: Seagrasses provide multiple ‘ecosystem services' in coastal waters, including carbon sequestration. However, this ‘Blue Carbon’ potential has been only evaluated for certain species from some areas of the world. In this study, we provide initial estimates on the magnitude and local variability of carbon sequestration, as organic carbon stocks, for seagrass meadows of Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Ascherson in the oceanic island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain, central-eastern Atlantic). Six seagrass meadows were selected; at each meadow, cores inserted up to 30 cm in the seabed were collected in the ‘interior’, ‘edge’ and ‘unvegetated’ bottoms immediately adjacent to seagrass patches. We estimated organic carbon (Corg) pools by means of the Loss of Ignition (LOI) procedure. Overall, larger Corg pools were observed in the ‘interior’ and 'edges' of meadow patches than in adjacent ‘unvegetated’ bottoms. At the meadow-level, Corg pools were not predicted neither by the meadow area, nor by the mean shoot density, or sediment grain fractions. Overall, the total estimated stock was 86.20 ± 19.06 Mg C ha−1. By considering the total potential extension of seagrass meadows across the entire island perimeter, we estimated a total stock of 60.34 Gg of C, for a mean estimated financial value of 919,432.249 € (1313.47 € ha−1), which ranges between 351,631.35 € (502.33 € ha−1) and 1,498,954.45 € (2141.36 € ha−1), according to varying market prices in the last 5 years. This work highlights, therefore, the importance of meadows underpinned by C. nodosa not only at an ecological, but also at an economic level, in particular from the perspective of regional climate change adaptation strategies.

Description: Ciona intestinalis is within the group of taxa that are spreading globally and is one of the most thriving invasive marine species, known to depress both species richness and abundance at a local scale in distinct geographic areas. It is a dominant biofouling agent, associated with the decreasing economic incomes from aquaculture operations around the world. Ciona intestinalis was first observed in 2007 at Straumsvík in Southwest Iceland. The present study was designed to provide general information on its current distribution across Icelandic harbours. The species was found only on the SW coast of Iceland, in dense aggregations reaching up to 876 ind/m2 in all harbours from Grindavík to Akranes. The current work provides information that can be used to track the dispersal of C. intestinalis populations along the Icelandic coast and for the development of effective management decisions.

Description: Interest in microalgae-derived products is growing, mostly due to their unique characteristics and range of industrial applications. To obtain different products, one must employ specific pretreatments that retain the properties of the biologically active compounds extracted from microalgae biomass; thus, new extraction techniques require frequent upgrades. Due to increased interest in economically viable and ecologically friendly processes, new extraction methods that can be incorporated into microalgae biorefinery systems have become the main focus of research. Therefore, this review aims to address the potential applications, future prospects, and economic scenario of the new physicochemical treatments used in the extraction of bioactive microalgae compounds.

Description: Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) especially ω-3 fatty acids provide significant health benefits for human beings. However, ω-3 LC-PUFAs cannot be synthesized de novo in mammals. Traditionally, ω-3 LC-PUFAs are extracted from marine fish, and their production depends on sea fishing, which has not met ever-increasing global demand. To address the challenges, innovative cellular engineering strategies need to be developed. In nature, many fungi and microalgae are rich in ω-3 LC-PUFAs, representing promising sources of ω-3 LC-PUFAs. The latest progress in developing new cellular engineering strategies toward sustainable ω-3 LC-PUFAs production using fungi and microalga has demonstrated that they can to some extent address the supply shortage. In this review, we critically summarize the recent progress in enhancing the productivity in various ω-3 LC-PUFAs-producing organisms, as well as the latest efforts of biosynthesizing PUFAs in heterogenous biosystems. In addition, we also provide future perspectives in developing genetic toolkits for LC-PUFAs producing microbes so that cut-edging biotechnology such as gene stacking and genome editing can be further applied to increase the productivity of ω-3 LC-PUFAs.

Description: Factors affecting carotenoid extraction with edible oils were examined using edible brown seaweed, Sargassum horneri, as main sample. The results indicate that drying was essential to extract fucoxanthin (Fx) from S. horneri and physical (boiling) and chemical (acid/alkali) pretreatment of the wet sample increased the extraction rate of Fx. Additionally, more Fx was found from the dried S. horneri powder with a smaller particle size. The extraction rate of Fx is affected by the extraction temperature and time, showing that the effective extraction would be obtained at 50 °C within 12 hr extraction. Among the oils used, short-chain (C4 and C6) triacylglycerol (TAG) (SCT) and medium-chain (C8) TAG (MCT) could extract more Fx from S. horneri and more β-carotene and lutein from spinach and olive leaves. The relatively lower viscosity of SCT and MCT would be the most likely reason for the higher extraction rates of both TAGs.

Description: Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharides, acidic water-soluble polysaccharides extract from Sargassum fusiforme, are mainly composed of alginic acid, fucoidan and laminaran. Alginic acid is carboxyl-containing polysaccharide formed by joining β-D-mannuronic acid and α-L-guluronic acid through β-(1→4)/α-(1→4) glycosidic bond. Fucoidan, a natural water-soluble sulfated heteropolysaccharide with fucose and sulfuric acid groups as the core structure, is mainly linked by L-fucose through α-(1→3) glycosidic bond and has the strongest biological activity. Laminaran is mainly composed of β-D-glucose through β-(1→3) glycosidic bond linkage. Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharides have a variety of pharmacological activities, including antioxidant, anti-tumor, promoting immunity, anti-aging, prompting bone growth, lowering blood glucose, anti-coagulation, anti-virus, anti-bacteria, anti-fatigue, promoting growth and development, and skin protection. These activities are closely related to the functions of fucoidan in Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharides, which fucoidan is able to strengthen immune system and antioxidation in human body. In this review, the composition, the isolation and purification, and the biological activities of Sargassum fusiforme polysaccharides are discussed and can bereference for further study.

Description: Numerical simulation is important for practical and efficient assessment of hydrate reservoir formation stability and gas production potential. The history-matching simulation of hydrate gas production tests is complex due to coupled THM (thermo-hydro-mechanical) phenomena. The well log data from the Eastern Nankai Trough methane gas production site suggest vertically heterogeneous field properties. In the previous numerical simulation research of this site, the heterogeneous geological data were homogenized by adopting the standard mean-field theory, which can potentially lead to inaccurate simulation results due to the mesh size effect. By introducing new upscaling techniques for the permeability profiles and mechanical responses, a revised homogenization approach is proposed to improve the coupled THM simulation accuracy. In this study, seven gas production simulations of a hypothetical reservoir, six simulations of the Eastern Nankai Trough gas production test, and four simulations of the randomly generated site formation production test with different mesh sizes and different homogenization approaches were carried out to demonstrate that the proposed upscaling techniques can improve the accuracy of the simulation results with a coarse mesh model. This work, in turn, provides researchers and field engineers a much quicker way to assess the complex geomechanical behaviors of hydrate gas production site.

Description: Nitrous oxide is an important greenhouse gas and there is a need for sensitive techniques to study its distribution in the environment at concentrations near equilibrium with the atmosphere (9.6 nM in water at 20 °C). Here we present an electrochemical sensor that can quantify N2O in the nanomolar range. The sensor principle relies on a front guard cathode placed in front of the measuring cathode. This cathode is used to periodically block the flux of N2O towards the measuring cathode, thereby creating an amplitude in the signal. This signal amplitude is unaffected by drift in the baseline current and can be read at very high resolution, resulting in a sensitivity of 2 nM N2O for newly constructed sensors. Interference from oxygen is prevented by placing the front guard cathode in oxygen-consuming electrolyte. The sensor was field tested by measuring an N2O profile to a depth of 120 m in the oxygen minimum zone of the Eastern Tropical North Pacific Ocean (ETNP) off the coast of Mexico.

Description: The ability of consumers to convert ingested carbon into growth is critical for secondary production and trophic transfer. We conducted laboratory experiments to investigate the effect of different prey and concentration on the ingestion rate (IR), egg production rate (EPR) and egg production efficiency (EPE) of the ubiquitous copepod, Acartia tonsa. Experiments were run at several prey concentrations, ranging from 11 to 1132 μgC L–1, of the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii, the autotrophic dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum, the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis sp., the flagellate Dunaliella tertiolecta, and the bacterivorous scuticociliate Uronema sp. IR increased curvilinearly with concentration for all diets. EPR also increased curvilinearly with increasing food concentration similar to IR, with the exception of the flagellate diet, for which EPR decreased linearly with food concentration. EPR ranked as T. weissflogii 〉 P. minimum 〉 Oxyrrhis sp. = Uronema sp. 〉 D. tertiolecta. IR and EPR were linearly related, except for flagellate diet. The slope of the carbon-based relationship between IR and EPR, the egg production efficiency (EPE), was highest for the diatom (77.5%) and lowest for the scuticociliate (4.2%). Egg production was not correlated to ingestion of the flagellate offered to A. tonsa. We conclude that of the five prey species, the diatom T. weissflogii is the best prey to promote A. tonsa reproduction, to optimize trophic transfer efficiency, and to increase mass cultivation of this species.

Description: Geochemical patterns in the environment are always the result of certain processes. Therefore, it is essential to decipher a process to properly evaluate the environmental role and potential of chemical elements/compounds. This allows the distinction between natural and anthropogenic influence on elemental concentrations. However, if the compositional nature of geochemical data is neglected, erroneous or misleading conclusions regarding the processes involved are probable. In this study the reconstruction of depositional environments and processes through the Holocene in two sediment cores obtained from submerged sinkholes located on the island of Mljet, Croatia, was performed by taking into account the compositional nature of geochemical, mineralogical and grainsize data. Problems involving compositional data are always multivariate; for example, the concentration of a single element does not carry any interpretative information, as only the ratios between elements do. This has led to the discovery of a large number of geochemical proxies based on elemental ratios, which describe certain environmental conditions and processes involved. Nevertheless, some proxies have been found to be restricted to only some specific environments, thus preventing them from being used in general; therefore, some kind of relation between different proxies is necessary to obtain final conclusions. However, when using simple elemental ratios, those correlations cannot be obtained due to the nature of compositional data. With a sequential binary partition of a compositional vector, orthonormal log ratio (olr) coordinates (proxies) can be constructed. When based on expert knowledge, those proxies fully acknowledge the geochemical properties of the chosen elements with one major difference - that the correlation between newly obtained variables is mathematically well grounded. As a result, the final conclusion is more accurate. In this research, geochemical proxies obtained as a representation in olr coordinates of the elements that are enriched compared to the local soil were used to perform principal component analyses. It helped to unravel the evolution of sedimentary environments. Mineralogical (XRD and heavy mineral data) and grain size analyses supported the conclusions obtained based solely on geochemical data. Furthermore, data analysis suggests that the proxies for redox conditions described in the literature should be used with caution, as their use is somewhat limited.

Description: New antifungals are increasingly needed due to the emergence of resistant fungal strains. Traditional antifungal assays are laborious and require significant amounts of samples. The present work presents a new proposal to evaluate antifungal activity and antagonism among fungal species, based on experiments of fungal culture and co-culture, 1H NMR profile of fungal culture extracts and chemometrics. In order to develop the work, six axenic cultures of fungi that infested fruits (Fusarium guttiforme, Pestalotiopsis diospyri, Phoma caricae-papayae, Colletotrichum horii, Phytophthora palmivora, and C. gloeosporioides), and co-cultures of all possible combination among them were performed (totalizing 63 experiments). All fungal extracts were evaluated by 1H NMR followed by Principal Component Analyses (PCA) in order to determine spectral dissimilarity among the extracts. Results showed that 1H NMR data evaluated by PCA were capable to predict both antagonism and antifungal activity. Traditional antifungal in vitro assays of active and inactive extracts were also performed in order to prove the prediction made by PCA. The obtained data showed that the approach is an outstanding tool to simultaneously obtain and evaluate bioactive compounds because: it was able to predict the activity of five different extracts in a collection of sixty-three, which would be much more difficult and time consuming if applied randomly; most important antifungal extracts are indicated by PCA; hundreds of traditional in vitro assays are avoid; and, the method is very time and money saving.

Description: Highlights • Total modeled carbon cycling at disturbed sites is lower than at reference sites. • Projected microbial loop functioning is reduced 26 years after sediment disturbance. • Estimated faunal respiration has recovered from sediment disturbance. • Estimated microbial respiration has not recovered from the sediment disturbance. Abstract Due to the predicted future demand for critical metals, abyssal plains covered with polymetallic nodules are currently being prospected for deep-seabed mining. Deep-seabed mining will lead to significant sediment disturbance over large spatial scales and for extended periods of time. The environmental impact of a small-scale sediment disturbance was studied during the ‘DISturbance and reCOLonization’ (DISCOL) experiment in the Peru Basin in 1989 when 10.8 km2 of seafloor were ploughed with a plough harrow. Here, we present a detailed description of carbon-based food-web models constructed from various datasets collected in 2015, 26 years after the experiment. Detailed observations of the benthic food web were made at three distinct sites: inside 26-year old plough tracks (IPT, subjected to direct impact from ploughing), outside the plough tracks (OPT, exposed to settling of resuspended sediment), and at reference sites (REF, no impact). The observations were used to develop highly-resolved food-web models for each site that quantified the carbon (C) fluxes between biotic (ranging from prokaryotes to various functional groups in meio-, macro-, and megafauna) and abiotic (e.g. detritus) compartments. The model outputs were used to estimate total system throughput, i.e., the sum of all C flows in the food web (the ‘ecological size’ of the system), and microbial loop functioning, i.e., the C-cycling through the prokaryotic compartment for each site. Both the estimated total system throughput and the microbial loop cycling were significantly reduced (by 16% and 35%, respectively) inside the plough tracks compared to the other two sites. Site differences in modelled faunal respiration varied among the different faunal compartments. Overall, modelled faunal respiration appeared to have recovered to, or exceeded reference values after 26-years. The model results indicate that food-web functioning, and especially the microbial loop, have not recovered from the disturbance that was inflicted on the abyssal site 26 years ago.

Description: Highlights: • Crystal structure of the malaria parasite lipocalin • Comparative analysis of lipocalin superfamily members in alveolate genomes • Localization of PfLipocalin to the parasitophorous vacuole and food vacuole • Reverse genetics reveal PfLipocalin function in oxidative damage control Summary: Proteins of the lipocalin family are known to bind small hydrophobic ligands and are involved in various physiological processes ranging from lipid transport to oxidative stress responses. The genome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum contains a single protein PF3D7_0925900 with a lipocalin signature. Using crystallography and small-angle X-ray scattering, we show that the protein has a tetrameric structure of typical lipocalin monomers; hence we name it P. falciparum lipocalin (PfLCN). We show that PfLCN is expressed in the intraerythrocytic stages of the parasite and localizes to the parasitophorous and food vacuoles. Conditional knockdown of PfLCN impairs parasite development, which can be rescued by treatment with the radical scavenger Trolox or by temporal inhibition of hemoglobin digestion. This suggests a key function of PfLCN in counteracting oxidative stress-induced cell damage during multiplication of parasites within erythrocytes.

Description: Eco-friendly, cost efficient and effective extraction methods have become significant for the industries applying zero waste principles. The two main objectives of this study were; to examine fucoxanthin extraction from wet Phaeodactylum tricornutum using subcritical fluid extraction and to characterize the residual biomass in order to determine the potential application areas. The highest fucoxanthin yield of 0.69 ± 0.05 mg/g wet cell weight was achieved using methanol with solvent-to-solid ratio of 200:1 at 120 rpm, 20 MPa pressure and at 35 °C for 60 min by subcritical extraction. Microscopy images showed that most of the cells were disrupted and intracellular components were effectively released. Based on the results of energy dispersive spectroscopy, biomass contained a mixture of organic molecules including mainly carbon (57–72%), oxygen (26–41%), magnesium (0.6–1.4%) and silica (0.4–1%) (wt%). These results make the residual biomass a potential candidate for various areas such as bioenergy, material sciences and sensor technologies.

Description: In a short note of 1998 Davankov questioned the generally accepted notion that the unique features of the planet Earth, namely, the presence of life and atmospheric oxygen are inseparably bonded as a case and effect. Indeed, photosynthesis in terrestrial and aquatic phototrophs simultaneously produces oxygen and carbohydrates in almost equal amounts. Since the degradation of organic matter through burning or rotting also consumes an equivalent amount of oxygen, the total masses of oxygen and organic material must always remain comparable. This correlation for Earth appears to be drastically distorted in favor of oxygen, thus disproving the still widespread delusion of biogenic origin of atmospheric oxygen. Instead, by analyzing more recent data on the balance between oxygen and organics we arrive at the conclusion that radiolysis of water vapors with the preferential dissipation of hydrogen to space, most probably, was the major source of the free and oxidation-spent oxygen. The present review tries to illuminate the most important uncertainties that still remain to be clarified before an interdisciplinary and scientifically-balanced picture on the evolution of Earth gets settled.

Description: The concept of biosorption results from the “passive” (nonmetabolic) interaction of a chemical species with a particle of a biological material. This interaction can be practically exploited, for example, for removal of toxic substances of wastewaters or for the enrichment of a fertilizer with micronutrients. In this work, equilibrium and dynamic data obtained with “low-cost” biomaterials of algal waste or invasive seaweed species have been reviewed and critically analyzed in the context of a circular economy. The concept of a biosorption unit, oriented to the valorization of any solid residual material of algal biomass, can be considered as a real possibility in a biorefinery process; but to accomplish this goal it is necessary that the emphasis on research must definitely move from laboratory scale toward pilot plant assays.

Description: Carnivorous gelatinous zooplankton (GZ) can be very abundant in marine ecosystems around the globe and exert considerable predation pressures on micro- to macrozooplankton as well as larval and juvenile fish. As these species are in many cases intermediate and top predators, their biomass can be easily evaluated, which could indicate overall food web stability or alteration. There is growing concern worldwide about increasing abundances of GZ species and consequently negative impacts on food webs and human coastal zones activities. In this paper, I present a case study from a shallow Danish cove and a long-term record spanning 29 years (1991–2019) obtained by unconventional means. Jellyfish were collected using horizontal sub-surface net tows in August and September during a summer student class. Sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a concentration were measured in parallel. No clear long-term trend in jellyfish biomass could be seen, whereas the values were highly variable from year to year. This is in contrast with other published Scandinavian long-term GZ time series. Sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a concentration had significant (and interactive) effects on the jellyfish biomass in Kertinge Nor. The scarcity and shortness of GZ long-term series do not allow solid conclusions in most marine ecosystems, so it becomes clear that publishing time series (even with small spatial extent) can contribute to improve the perception of interannual GZ population developments. Thus, I strongly recommend extending monitoring activities, explicitly including GZ taxa, in as many marine ecosystems as feasible.

Description: This paper describes methods of obtaining improved estimates of long-term sea level trends for the British Isles. This is achieved by lengthening the sea level records where possible, then removing known sources of variability, and then further adjusting for datum errors that are revealed by the previous processes after verification using metadata from archived sources. Local sea level variability is accounted for using a tide and surge model. Far field variability is accounted for using a “common mode”. This combination reduces the residual variability seen at tide gauges around the coast of the British Isles to the point that a number of previously unrecognised steps in individual records become apparent, permitting a higher level of quality control to be applied. A comprehensive data archaeology exercise was carried out which showed that these step-like errors are mostly coincident with recorded site-specific changes in instrumentation, and that in many cases the periodic tide gauge calibration records can be used to quantify these steps. A smaller number of steps are confirmed by “buddy-checking” against neighbouring tide gauges. After accounting for the observed steps, using levelling information where possible and an empirical fit otherwise, the records become significantly more consistent. The steps are not found to make a large difference to the trend and acceleration observed in UK sea level overall, but their correction results in much more consistent estimates of first order (Sea Level Rise) and second order (Sea Level Acceleration) trends over this 60-year period. We find a mean rate of sea level rise of 2.39 ± 0.27 mm yr−1, and an acceleration of 0.058 ± 0.030 mm yr−2 between Jan. 1958 and Dec. 2018. The cleaner dataset also permits us to show more clearly that the variability other than that derived from local meteorology is indeed consistent around the UK, and relates to sea level changes along the eastern boundary of the North Atlantic.

Description: Fucoxanthin is the major abundant xanthophyll in macro- and micro-algae as a component of photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes for photosynthesis and photoprotection. Nowadays, widespread application of fucoxanthin in food industry, pharmaceutical, and medical purposes are increasing. The current issue attracts the attention of researchers for producing of carotenoid from its natural resources, especially algae. Againts macroalgae, microalgae have rapid growth with the same source of food. In addition, they can grow from variety of situations and environmental conditions to produce a specific biochemical product. Microalgae, e.g. Tisochrysis lutea (T. lutea), can be cultivated under controlled conditions, low cost, and higher concentration of fucoxanthin. This review presents some of nutraceutical effects of fucoxanthin for human health and then, in particular, recent biotechnological developments in bioprocessing of this valuable product including, cultivation, harvesting, extraction, and purification, from T. lutea.

Description: Pretreatment of microalgal biomass possessing rigid cell wall is a critical step for enhancing the efficiency of microalgal biorefinery. However, the conventional pretreatment processes suffer the drawbacks of complex processing steps, long processing time, low conversion efficiency and high processing costs. This significantly hinders the industrial applicability of microalgal biorefinery. The innovative electricity-aid pretreatment techniques serve as a promising processing tool to extensively enhance the release of intracellular substances from microalgae. In this review, application of electric field-based techniques and recent advances of using electrical pretreatments on microalgae cell focusing on pulsed electric field, electrolysis, high voltage electrical discharges and moderate electric field are reviewed. In addition, the emerging techniques integrating electrolysis with liquid biphasic flotation process as promising downstream approach is discussed. This review delivers broad knowledge of the present significance of the application of these methods focusing on the development of electric assisted biomolecules extraction from microalgae.

Description: Coastal communities, knowingly or otherwise, rely on seagrasses for their livelihood, recreation and food source, among other services. However, despite its importance, seagrasses are not receiving similar attentions with its adjacent ecosystems, the mangroves, and coral reefs. Because of their role in climate change mitigation, seagrasses along with mangroves and salt marshes (the blue carbon ecosystems) are gaining attention recently. This preliminary study investigates the perception of coastal communities in Eastern Samar, Philippines on seagrasses. The results of the survey show that there is a level of high awareness among respondents to seagrass ecosystem services. Despite that, however, utilization remains low. The level of awareness varies on the type of ecosystem service; for instance, locals have a high awareness of provisioning services while low awareness of cultural services. The survey also included the perceived threats to seagrasses, where damages caused by natural disturbances are identified as the most concerning threat. This may be due to the geographic location of the sites that are frequented by typhoons. The perception potentially indicates depleted resources brought about by mismanagement or overlooking this natural resource. The results provide a more contextualized understanding on how local communities are aware of and interacting with, or the lack thereof, seagrass ecosystems. This could aid local government units (LGUs) and conservation groups in the area to craft practicable and sustainable management plans and threat-specific solutions.

Description: Simulating complex physical systems often involves solving partial differential equations (PDEs) with some closures due to the presence of multi-scale physics that cannot be fully resolved. Therefore, reliable and accurate closure models for unresolved physics remains an important requirement for many computational physics problems, e.g., turbulence simulation. Recently, several researchers have adopted generative adversarial networks (GANs), a novel paradigm of training machine learning models, to generate solutions of PDEs-governed complex systems without having to numerically solve these PDEs. However, GANs are known to be difficult in training and likely to converge to local minima, where the generated samples do not capture the true statistics of the training data. In this work, we present a statistical constrained generative adversarial network by enforcing constraints of covariance from the training data, which results in an improved machine-learning-based emulator to capture the statistics of the training data generated by solving fully resolved PDEs. We show that such a statistical regularization leads to better performance compared to standard GANs, measured by (1) the constrained model's ability to more faithfully emulate certain physical properties of the system and (2) the significantly reduced (by up to 80%) training time to reach the solution. We exemplify this approach on the Rayleigh-Benard convection, a turbulent flow system that is an idealized model of the Earth's atmosphere. With the growth of high-fidelity simulation databases of physical systems, this work suggests great potential for being an alternative to the explicit modeling of closures or parameterizations for unresolved physics, which are known to be a major source of uncertainty in simulating multi-scale physical systems, e.g., turbulence or Earth's climate.

Description: Microalgae are a rich source of natural bioactive compounds, e.g. astaxanthin, β-carotene, lutein, and fatty acids (FAs), that are currently in high demand in the market. Conventional extraction methods often produce adverse effects on some of these compounds. Replacing conventional extraction methods with more efficient advanced green technologies that offer greater extracts purity and low environmental impact is therefore a challenging and sought-for target. This review is a comprehensive overview of supercritical fluid (SCF) extraction processes, including the latest research on the extraction of bioactive compounds from microalgae biomass and their benefits on human health. In addition, the role of key operating parameters on the selectivity of various compounds is discussed. This study provides useful knowledge that can productively contribute to the future development of SCF-based extraction technologies on an industrial scale.

Description: Aging entails an irreversible deceleration of physiological processes, altered metabolic activities, and a decline of the integrity of tissues, organs, and organ systems. The accumulation of alterations in the genetic and epigenetic spaces has been proposed as an explanation for aging. They result, at least in part, from DNA replication and chromosome segregation errors due to cell division during development, growth, renewal, and repair. Such deleterious alterations, including epigenetic drift, irreversibly accumulate in a stepwise, ratchet-like manner and reduce cellular fitness, similar to the process known as Muller’s ratchet. Here, we revisit the Muller’s ratchet principle applied to the aging of somatic cell populations and discuss the implications for understanding the origins of senescence, frailty, and morbidity.

Description: Natural cycles in the seawater partial pressure of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Gulf of Maine, which vary in surface waters from ~250 to 550 µatm seasonally, provide an opportunity to observe how the life cycle and phenology of the shelled pteropod Limacina retroversa responds to changing food, temperature and carbonate chemistry conditions. Distributional, hydrographic, and physiological sampling suggest that pteropod populations are located in the upper portion of the water column (0–150 m) with a maximum abundance above 50 m. Gene expression and shell condition measurements show that the population already experiences biomineralization stress in the winter months when measured aragonite saturation state was at a seasonal low (though slightly oversaturated), reinforcing the usefulness of this organism as a bio-indicator for pelagic ecosystem response to ocean acidification. There appear to be two reproductive events per year with one pulse timed to coincide with the spring bloom, the period with highest respiration rate, fluorescence, and pH, and a second more extended pulse in the late summer and fall when saturation states remain high and fluorescence begins to decline. During the fall there is transcriptomic evidence of lipid storage for overwintering, allowing the second generation to survive the period of low food and aragonite saturation state. Based on these observations we predict that in the future pteropods will likely be most vulnerable to changing CO2 regionally during the fall reproductive event when CO2 concentration already naturally rises and when there is the added stress of generating lipid stores.

Description: We use numerical simulations on petrographically characterized thin-section images to predict three-dimensional elastic compressibility of sandstones. We predict two key statistics of compressibility curves measured under uniaxial boundary conditions in a laboratory - i) minimum compressibility at 1500 psi or 10 MPa depletion stress, and ii) maximum compressibility. A new Digital Rock workflow was developed for predicting compressibility based on the simulation of stress field using a segmented two-dimensional thin-section image. We also propose linear and non-linear relationships of log base 10 (compressibility) with in-situ porosity that can be used for compressibility prediction in the absence of laboratory measurements or two-dimensional images. Based on the results of application of the proposed relationships on samples from different fields with laboratory measurements, we conclude that the best prediction for minimum compressibility is obtained using the Digital Rock workflow and the best prediction for maximum compressibility is obtained using the proposed non-linear relationship using in-situ porosity. The range of compressibility values given by the difference between maximum and minimum compressibility predicted using the proposed methods can be used in making better informed economic decisions in field development planning.

Description: Pteropods are holopelagic marine snails and slugs that are of particular interest to science due to their role in marine food webs, global carbon cycle and their potential sensitivity to ocean change. Due to their pelagic, often exclusively offshore occurrence, samples are difficult to obtain, resulting in a lack of knowledge about their physiology, ecology, anatomy, geographical ranges, phylogenetic relationships and reproductive biology. Despite a recent increase in interest surrounding pteropod taxonomy, many evolutionary uncertainties remain due to limited taxon sampling and inavailability of molecular vouchers, in particular for the lesser investigated groups Pseudothecosomata and Gymnosomata. The Northwest Pacific Ocean is one of the least investigated areas for pteropods and in the adjacent semi-enclosed Sea of Okhotsk basin, current knowledge is restricted to the epipelagic zone. We summarize results from plankton hauls (from up to 5900 m depth) conducted during the joint German/Russian SokhoBio and KuramBio II cruises to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Kuril-Kamchatka-Trench region. This study presents an integrative taxonomic overview of six pteropod species identified by detailed morphological methods, including serial semithin sectioning, µCT and SEM scanning supported by multimarker (COI, 28S, and H3) genetic barcoding. We found four species of Gymnosomata slugs (Clione limacina, Clione okhotensis, Notobranchaea grandis and Thliptodon sp.), three species of Euthecosomata snails (Limacina helicina and two genetically delimited Clio spp.) and one shelled pseudothecosome species that is probably new to science (Peracle n. sp.). Multilocus phylogenetic analyses support monophyly of major traditional groups such as Pteropoda, Thecosomata, Pseudothecosomata and Gymnosomata. Micro-CT scanning was applied for the first time on pteropod soft bodies, allowing direct comparison between detailed anatomical peculiarities and molecular barcodes of the respective species. Furthermore, taxonomic positions, geographical ranges and potential dispersal barriers are discussed, with implications for future biodiversity comparisons. This study serves as a solid foundation for monitoring pteropods in a changing ocean.

Description: Hybrid chemical compounds formed by conjugation of two or more bioactive molecules have shown wide variety of applications in biology, microelectronics as well as material sciences. In particular, the conjugates of steroid framework are known to have broad biological activity profile due to their ability to penetrate the biomembranes and bind to specific hormone receptors. Among the various conjugates of steroids, Steroid Amino Acid Conjugates (SAACs) are attractive because of the possibility of fine tuning of the amphiphilicity with position, orientation and nature of amino acids. The structural details, applications, mechanistic insights and their diverse pharmacological as well as other physicochemical properties of several SAACs are summarized in the present review. This review provides better insight for medicinal chemists to design and explore such novel conjugates which can be used as lead structures in the future drug discovery or as probes to understand the complex biological system.

Description: Microalgal oils are considered an important source of industrially valuable oleochemicals with significant applications ranging from the energy to pharmaceutical sectors. Industrial production of microalgal oil is emerging rapidly; however, the high cost associated with downstream processes may constrain this process. Oils are accumulated intracellularly in oleaginous microalgae in the form of lipid droplets, which in turn require cell wall disruption followed by extraction in order to recover them. Disruption of the microalgal cell is very challenging owing to its distinctive features like high water content, hard cell wall, presence of algaenan, and sporopollenin like biopolymers that in turn create hurdles in efficient extraction of lipids. Various conventional pretreatment methods have been explored to rupture the cellular integrity of microalgal cells to enhance lipid extraction, and each method has certain advantages and disadvantages. Supercritical fluid extraction is the oldest technique for the extraction of valuable compounds from microalgae and is considered an alternative to conventional solvent extraction methods. It has several advantageous features such as being free from organic solvents (and their disposal), environment-friendly, and operating at a mild range of temperature (40–80°C). CO2 is considered to be an ideal supercritical fluid due to its non-toxic, non-flammable, and lipophilic nature. In this chapter, use of supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of lipids from microalgae is discussed and compared with other available lipid extraction methods.

Description: Cell disruption is regarded as an indispensable pretreatment step before the extraction of microalgae with biomineralized cell walls. Here, two typical microalgae—diatom Chaetoceros gracilis (C. gracilis) and coccolithophore Pleurochrysis carterae (P. carterae)—covered by “hard” biomineralized cell walls were used as starting materials for lipid extraction using liquefied dimethyl ether (DME) without any pretreatment such as drying or cell disruption. The liquefied DME extraction experiments were performed at 25 °C and 0.59 MPa using a semi-continuous, flow-type system. The results of the yield, elemental composition, molecular weight distribution, fatty acid composition, and trace element composition indicated that the performance of liquefied DME extraction was similar to that of Bligh–Dyer extraction and better than that of hexane Soxhlet extraction, despite the latter two methods requiring pre-drying and cell disruption processes. It was also proven that the cell wall of microalgae would not affect lipid extraction of liquefied DME, thereby the liquefied DME extraction method is suitable for extracting lipids from microalgae with biomineralized cell walls. Besides, the lipids extracted by liquefied DME can be further used for biodiesel production.

Description: In recent years, metagenomic strategies have been widely used to isolate and identify new enzymes from uncultivable components of microbial communities. Among these enzymes, various lipases have been obtained from metagenomic libraries from different environments and characterized. Although many of these lipases have characteristics that could make them interesting for application in biocatalysis, relatively little work has been done to evaluate their potential to catalyze industrially important reactions. In the present article, we highlight the latest research on lipases obtained through metagenomic tools, focusing on studies of activity and stability and investigations of application in biocatalysis. We also discuss the challenges of metagenomic approaches for the bioprospecting of new lipases.

Description: There are no effective therapies for achondroplasia. An open-label study suggested that vosoritide administration might increase growth velocity in children with achondroplasia. This phase 3 trial was designed to further assess these preliminary findings. Methods This randomised, double-blind, phase 3, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial compared once-daily subcutaneous administration of vosoritide with placebo in children with achondroplasia. The trial was done in hospitals at 24 sites in seven countries (Australia, Germany, Japan, Spain, Turkey, the USA, and the UK). Eligible patients had a clinical diagnosis of achondroplasia, were ambulatory, had participated for 6 months in a baseline growth study and were aged 5 to less than 18 years at enrolment. Randomisation was done by means of a voice or web-response system, stratified according to sex and Tanner stage. Participants, investigators, and trial sponsor were masked to group assignment. Participants received either vosoritide 15·0 μg/kg or placebo, as allocated, for the duration of the 52-week treatment period administered by daily subcutaneous injections in their homes by trained caregivers. The primary endpoint was change from baseline in mean annualised growth velocity at 52 weeks in treated patients as compared with controls. All randomly assigned patients were included in the efficacy analyses (n=121). All patients who received one dose of vosoritide or placebo (n=121) were included in the safety analyses. The trial is complete and is registered, with EudraCT, number, 2015-003836-11. Findings All participants were recruited from Dec 12, 2016, to Nov 7, 2018, with 60 assigned to receive vosoritide and 61 to receive placebo. Of 124 patients screened for eligibility, 121 patients were randomly assigned, and 119 patients completed the 52-week trial. The adjusted mean difference in annualised growth velocity between patients in the vosoritide group and placebo group was 1·57 cm/year in favour of vosoritide (95% CI [1·22–1·93]; two-sided p〈0·0001). A total of 119 patients had at least one adverse event; vosoritide group, 59 (98%), and placebo group, 60 (98%). None of the serious adverse events were considered to be treatment related and no deaths occurred. Interpretation Vosoritide is an effective treatment to increase growth in children with achondroplasia. It is not known whether final adult height will be increased, or what the harms of long-term therapy might be.

Description: Biofouling is a challenge in global sea-based salmon farming. Norway's salmon-growing industry relies primarily on copper-based antifouling coatings. However, copper is an increasingly recognised environmental hazard, and there is a need to develop alternative antifouling products to prevent biofouling in marine aquaculture. Using field experiments, this study compared the efficacy of six novel antifouling coatings for fish farm nets (two with reduced copper content, three with alternative biocides and one biocide-free coating) against a popular commercial copper coating and uncoated samples. The performance of one of the new coatings with lower copper content was more similar to the commercial copper control while the rest were colonised by biofouling faster and/or at higher abundances. However, none of the tested products were able to prevent biofouling entirely, underlining the importance of the search for alternative and improved antifouling technologies.

Description: Seagrass meadows are important productive ecosystems; during the Summer period in touristic beaches, such as those located in the high Adriatic coast, seagrasses are removed from the shoreline and disposed in landfill. This study investigated anaerobic digestion potential of beach-cast seagrass wrack, considering the physicochemical characteristics of the substrate and analysing heavy metal presence in the digestate, with the aim of transporting the material to local wastewater treatment plants to increase biogas yield from excess sludge anaerobic digestion. The methane production obtained from seagrass wrack was compared with three theoretical models. Seagrass wrack had a good methane potential of 103.1–262.3 NmL CH4/g Volatile Solids (VS), depending on substrate humidity and applied inoculum-to-substrate ratio. Predictive models, based on elemental composition and proximate analysis, successfully estimated methane yields; heavy metal concentration in digestate was low, boosting for digestate agricultural reuse. A simplified energy analysis revealed that transport to local wastewater treatment plants and use in anaerobic digestion process would provide up to 245,000 Nm3/y of methane, with an estimated economic income of 33,500–193,300 €/y, considering local seagrass production (1,465–8,454 t/y). Actual yearly costs sustained by beach management company for landfill disposal was about 117,200–676,320 €/y. Seagrass reuse in local digesters would compensate for the lack of excess sludge encountered during the cold season, allowing the digester to operate more continuously, increasing biogas production and reducing plant energy need.

Description: The analysis of more than 400 papers found in the literature on Sargassum biosorption has shown the existence of more than 700 equilibrium entries corresponding to data at different temperature and pH conditions. The following ten single metals: Cd, Co, Cr(III, VI), Cu, Fe, Hg, La, Ni, Pb, and Zn, are the main focus of most of the equilibrium data (507) in more than half of the studied references. The studies reflecting the interaction of nine of these metals with Sargassum sp. is described and analyzed. The use of Langmuir equation, the effect of temperature and pH on sorption is critically reviewed. In addition, we also analyze all the data available on elemental chemical composition of native Sargassum. These data reflect the interaction of this kind of marine biomass with nine of the metals mentioned above, which are present in seawater worldwide.

Description: Six new compounds including two azaphilones, lunatoic acids D–E (1, 2), three isocoumarins, lunatinins B–D (3-5), and one α-pyrone derivative, lunatinin E (6), as well as four known ones, lunatoic acid A (7), lunatinin (8), penicipyran D (9) and chaetoquadrin F (10) were isolated from the rice medium of the gut fungus Paraphaeosphaeria sp. XZD2-1. Their planar structures were elucidated by analysis of 1D and 2D NMR as well as HRESIMS spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of compounds 1-3 were assigned by experimental and calculated ECD data and an ester hydrolysis reaction. Compounds 4 and 5 were a pair of enantiomeric excess mixture. Structure of compound 6 was further confirmed by comparing optical rotation with known compounds according to literature. The antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of compounds 1-10 were examined.

Description: As the frequency and intensity of storms increase, a growing need exists for resilient shore protection techniques that have both environmental and economic benefits. In addition to producing seafood, aquaculture farms may also provide coastal protection benefits either alone or with other nature-based structures. In this paper, a generalized three-layer frequency dependent theoretical model is derived for random wave attenuation due to presence of biomass within the water column. The biomass can be characterized as submerged, emerged, suspended and floating canopies that can consist of natural aquatic vegetation with potential aquaculture systems of kelp or mussels. The present analytical solutions can reduce to the solutions by Mendez and Losada (2004), Chen and Zhao (2012) and Jacobsen et al. (2019) for submerged rigid aquatic vegetation. The present theoretical model incorporates the motion of these canopies using a cantilever-beam model for slender components and a buoy-on-rope model for elements with concentrated mass and buoyancy. Analytical results are compared with existing laboratory and field datasets for submerged and suspended canopies. The theoretical model was then used (in a case study at a field site in Northeastern US) to investigate the capacity of suspended mussel farms with submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) to dissipate wave energy during a recent storm event. Compared to a dense SAV meadow in shallower water, the suspended aquaculture farms more effectively attenuate random waves with a smaller peak period and the higher frequency components of wave spectrum. The performance of suspended aquaculture farms is less affected by water level changes due to tides, surge and sea level rise, while the wave attenuation performance of SAV decreases with increasing water level due to decreased wave motion near the sea bed. Incorporating suspended aquaculture farms offshore significantly enhance the coastal protection effectiveness of SAV-based living shorelines and extend the wave attenuation capacity over a wider wave period and water level range. The combination of suspended aquaculture farms and traditional living shorelines provides a more effective nature-based coastal defense strategy than the traditional living shorelines alone.

Description: Application of polyester-degrading enzymes should be considered as an eco-friendly alternative to chemical recycling due to the huge plastic waste disposal nowadays. Many hydrolases from several fungi and bacteria have been discovered and successfully evaluated for their activity towards different aliphatic polyesters (PHA, PBS, PBSA, PCL, PLA), aromatic polyesters (PET, PBT, PMT) as well as their co-polyesters (PBST, PBAT, PBSTIL). This revision gives an up-to-date overview on the main biochemical features and biotechnological applications of those reported enzymes which are able to degrade polyester-based plastics, including different microbial polyester depolymerases, esterases, cutinase-like enzymes and lipases. Summarized information includes available protein sequences with the corresponding accession numbers deposited in NCBI server, 3D resolved structures, and data about optimal conditions for enzymatic activity and stability of many of these microbial enzymes that would be helpful for researchers in this topic. Although screening and identification of new native polyester hydrolases from microbial sources is undeniable according to literature, we briefly highlight the importance of the design of improved enzymes towards recalcitrant aromatic polyesters through different approaches that include site-directed mutagenesis and surface protein engineering.

Description: The subpopulation of Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea has experienced a significant increase in infections with anisakid nematode larvae of the species Contracaecum osculatum sensu lato (s.l.) since the year 2000. The life cycle of the parasite includes seals and especially the grey seal, Halichoerus grypus, as final hosts, carrying the adult nematodes in the stomach, crustaceans (copepods, amphipods) as first intermediate hosts and various fish species (clupeids, sandeel) including cod as second intermediate/paratenic hosts. Cod with a body length below 28 cm are generally non-infected but experience increasing infection levels when they switch to a piscine diet (infected intermediate/paratenic hosts). We present an overall frequency distribution analysis of worms in 166 cod (body length 30–49 cm) collected in the spawning area over the last 5 years. It shows a fit to the negative binomial distribution, a prevalence of infection of 89.8%, a mean intensity of 29.3 parasites per fish (range 1–377) and a variance/mean ratio of 59.2 (≫1), indicating overdispersion. We present measurements of the adult Contracaecum osculatum (s.l.) specimens in the seal stomach and show that the parasites reach a maximum length of 6.6 cm (females) and 5.8 cm (males). L3s in sprat have a total length from 1to 11 mm whereas the larvae in cod liver are 3–27 mm. A decreasing mean worm length associated with high worm densities in cod (number of nematodes per liver) was recorded. Possible explanations might include timing of feeding on infected intermediate/paratenic hosts, intraspecific competition (crowding) between larvae in cod and host responses (indicated by a significant antibody production in cod against C. osculatum (s.l.) antigens). A significant negative correlation between infection intensity and muscle mass of cod was found, suggesting parasite-induced down-regulation of growth factors in cod.

Description: Despite their critical role as the main energy pathway between phytoplankton and fish, the functional complexity of zooplankton is typically poorly resolved in marine ecosystem models. Trait-based approaches—where zooplankton are represented with functional traits such as body size—could help improve the resolution of zooplankton in marine ecosystem models and their role in trophic transfer and carbon sequestration. Here, we present the Zooplankton Model of Size Spectra version 2 (ZooMSSv2), a functional size-spectrum model that resolves nine major zooplankton functional groups (heterotrophic flagellates, heterotrophic ciliates, larvaceans, omnivorous copepods, carnivorous copepods, chaetognaths, euphausiids, salps and jellyfish). Each group is represented by the functional traits of body size, size-based feeding characteristics and carbon content. The model is run globally at 5° resolution to steady-state using long-term average temperature and chlorophyll a for each grid-cell. Zooplankton community composition emerges based on the relative fitness of the different groups. Emergent steady-state patterns of global zooplankton abundance, biomass and growth rates agree well with empirical data, and the model is robust to changes in the boundary conditions of the zooplankton. We use the model to consider the role of the zooplankton groups in supporting higher trophic levels, by exploring the sensitivity of steady-state fish biomass to the removal of individual zooplankton groups across the global ocean. Our model shows zooplankton play a key role in supporting fish biomass in the global ocean. For example, the removal of euphausiids or omnivorous copepods caused fish biomass to decrease by up to 80%. By contrast, the removal of carnivorous copepods caused fish biomass to increase by up to 75%. Our results suggest that including zooplankton complexity in ecosystem models could be key to better understanding the distribution of fish biomass and trophic efficiency across the global ocean.

Description: Mitigating human contributions to climate change is a highly debated topic, as it becomes evident that many nations do not adhere to optional reductions in global emission. Substantial research is taking place into negative carbon technologies that actively reduce the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) via greenhouse gas removal (GGR). Various GGR methods have been proposed, from reforestation to ocean fertilisation. This article discusses advantages of an approach based on enhanced input of tephra to the ocean, to increase the drawdown of atmospheric CO2. Natural addition of tephra to the ocean results in preservation of enhanced organic matter in sediment. Hence, augmenting its delivery should raise the level of sequestration. Calculations indicate that offshore tephra addition could sequester 2750 tonnes of CO2 per 50,000 tonnes of ash delivered (a typical bulk carrier’s capacity). The cost is estimated as ∼$55 per tonne of CO2 sequestered and is an order of magnitude cheaper than many proposed GGR technologies. Further advantages include: tephra addition is simply an augmentation of a natural Earth process, it is a low technology approach that requires few developments, and it may sequester carbon for thousands of years. Hence, offshore tephra addition warrants further investigation to assess its viability.

Description: Subsurface-intensified anticyclones are ubiquitous in the ocean, yet their impact on the large-scale transport of heat, salt and chemical tracers is poorly understood. These submesoscale coherent vortices (SCVs) can trap and advect waters thousands of kilometers away from the formation region, providing a transport pathway that is unresolved by low-resolution Earth System Models. However, knowledge of the importance of these eddies for the large scale circulation is hindered by the lack of systematic observations. Here, we take advantage of the global network of Argo floats to identify occurrences of these eddies, which appear as weakly stratified anomalous water masses with Gaussian-shaped vertical structures. We develop a general algorithm to detect subsurface eddies that have propagated away from their source region, and apply it to the database of Argo float profiles, resulting in roughly 4000 detections from more than 20 years of observations. We further group detections into regional populations to identify hot-spots of generation and mechanisms of formation. Analysis of regional SCV statistics reveals important sites of SCV generation in Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems, marginal sea overflows, and mode water formation regions along major open-ocean fronts. Because of the heat and salt anomaly contained within their cores, SCV could leave a significant imprint on the hydrographic properties of water masses in regions of high SCV density.

Description: Used during an oil spill to minimise the formation of an oil slick, dispersants have negative biological effects on marine model organisms. However, no study has investigated the impacts of dispersants on adult sponge individuals. Here, we examine the effects of water accommodated oil fraction (WAF - oil in seawater), chemically enhanced WAF (CEWAF - oil and dispersant in seawater) and Benzo[A]Pyrene on sponge Halichondria panicea at physiological and molecular levels. Sponge clearance rate decreased sharply when exposed to WAF and CEWAF but the oil loading at which the clearance rate was reduced by 50% (ED50) was 39-fold lower in CEWAF than in WAF. Transcriptomic analysis revealed a homogenous molecular response with the greatest number of differentially expressed genes identified in CEWAF samples (1,461 genes). Specifically, genes involved in stress responses were up-regulated. This study presents evidence that the use of dispersants should be considered carefully in areas where sponges are present.

Description: This study evaluated the application of a Halobacteriovorax isolated from water of the Adriatic Sea (Italy) in controlling V. parahaemolyticus in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis). Two 72 h laboratory-scale V. parahaemolyticus decontamination experiments of mussels were performed. The test microcosm of experiment 1 was prepared using predator/prey free mussels experimentally contaminated with Halobacteriovorax/V. parahaemolyticus at a ratio of 103 PFU/105 CFU per ml, while that of experiment 2 using mussels naturally harbouring Halobacteriovorax that were experimentally contaminated with 105 CFU per ml of V. parahaemolyticus. For experiment 1, was also tested a control microcosm only contaminated with 105 CFU per ml of V. parahaemolyticus.. Double layer agar plating and pour plate techniques were used to enumerate Halobacteriovorax and V. parahaemolyticus, respectively. 16 S rRNA analysis was used to identify Halobacteriovorax. For both experiments in the test microcosm the concentration of prey remained at the same level as that experimentally added, i.e. 5 log for the entire analysis period. In experiment 1, V. parahaemolyticus counts in mussels were significantly lower in the test microcosm than the control with the maximum difference of 2.2 log at 24 h. Results demonstrate that Halobacteriovorax can modulate V. parahaemolyticus level in the mussels. The public impact of V. parahaemolyticus in bivalves is relevant and current decontamination processes are not always effective. Halobacteriovorax is a suitable candidate in the development of a biological approach to the purification of V. parahaemolyticus in mussels.

Description: The ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi, ranking among the 100 most damaging bioinvaders in the world, is a major predator of zooplankton, known to alter the biodiversity and functioning of the ecosystems in which it has been introduced. This first survey on the trophic relationships of M. leidyi in a Mediterranean lagoon (Berre, South of France) was performed through stable isotope analyses. Carbon and nitrogen isotope composition was used (1) to determine the types of prey ingested by this ctenophore and (2) the influence of individual size on its isotope composition, and (3) to make assumptions to explore its trophic relationships with the native jellyfish Aurelia sp.. The two gelatinous species ingested mainly (79% to 97% of the diet) planktonic prey (copepods, cirriped nauplii, gastropod larvae and cladocerans), but also preyed upon benthic organisms (mainly harpacticoid copepods and the amphipod Monocorophium insidiosum) in lower proportions (2.5% to 21%). Size-related changes in M. leidyi diet were evidenced with an increase in trophic level and benthic prey consumption in the larger individuals. These two gelatinous organisms probably play an important and underestimated role in the benthic–pelagic​ coupling in coastal lagoons by transferring benthic organic matter to the pelagic food webs.

Description: Chemical disparities at the interface between subducting oceanic crustal rocks and the harzburgitic mantle lead to the formation of reaction zones in the mantle above the subducting slabs composed of hybrid rocks that may carry exotic trace-element patterns and isotopic signatures. Subsequent burial of these metasomatised rocks as part of the progressively subducted slab could deliver trace elements and volatiles to the source region of arc magma. A natural laboratory to study reactions at the slab–mantle interface maybe found in exhumed high-pressure mélanges, where sedimentary, mafic and ultramafic lithologies are juxtaposed and metamorphosed at high-P/T conditions. A mélange zone of that type is found in northern Syros, where metasomatic reaction zones (“blackwalls”) formed on a metre scale at the contact of metasedimentary blueschists and serpentinite. Five different zones within such a contact display the assemblages (I) glaucophane+garnet+phengite+epidote, (II) glaucophane+epidote+chlorite, (III) chlorite+epidote+omphacite±albite (IV) chlorite±titanite±rutile±apatite and (V) serpentine+chromite. Accessory phases, such as apatite, allanite, rutile, titanite, tourmaline, zircon and monazite are abundant in zones II to IV. The observed succession of assemblages together with whole-rock major and trace-element compositions reflect the two dominant processes that are thought to have operated along the lithological contact: (A) diffusion of chemical components driven by the compositional contrast of the juxtaposed rocks, and (B) flux of hydrous fluids along the contact, which depleted (e.g., LILE, SiO2) or enriched (e.g., B, LREE) certain elements in various zones. Thermodynamic modelling is able to closely predict the succession of mineral assemblages as they are expected from diffusion of Mg and Ca across the contact zone. Employed to various P–T conditions and different juxtaposed rock types, this type of modelling could be used to access and evaluate larger portions of the subduction system. Our results support existing models that suggest that mixing and redistribution of major and trace elements in subduction zones may be related to the formation of hybrid rocks in mélange zones

Description: Prompted by recent data analyses suggesting that the flux of particulate organic carbon sinking into deep waters is determined by fluxes of mineral ballasts, we undertook a study of the relationships among organic matter (OM), calcium carbonate, opal, lithogenic material, and excess aluminum fluxes as part of the MedFlux project. We measured fluxes of particulate components during Spring and Summer of 2003, and Spring of 2005, using a swimmer-excluding sediment trap design capable of measuring fluxes both in a time-series (TS) mode and in a configuration for obtaining particle settling velocity (SV) profiles. On the basis of these studies, we suggest that distinct OM–ballast associations observed in particles sinking at a depth of ∼200 m imply that the mechanistic basis of the organic matter–ballast association is set in the upper water column above the Twilight Zone, and that the importance of different ballast types follows the seasonal succession of phytoplankton. As in other studies, carbonate appears to enhance the flux of organic matter over opal. Particles must be at least half organic matter before their settling velocity is affected by ballast concentration. This lack of change in ballast composition with SV in particles with 〈40% OM content suggests that particle SV reaches a maximum because of the increasing importance of inertial drag. Relative amounts of OM and opal decrease with depth due to decomposition and dissolution; carbonates and lithogenic material contribute about the same amount to total mass, or increase slightly, throughout the water column. The high proportion of excess Al cannot be explained by its incorporation into diatom opal or reverse weathering, so Al is most likely adsorbed to particulate oxides. On shorter time scales, dust appears to increase particle flux through its role in aggregation rather than by nutrient inputs enhancing productivity. We suggest that the role of dust as a catalyst in particle formation may be a central mechanism in flux formation in this region, particularly when zooplankton fecal pellet production is low.

Description: Distributions of dissolved vitamin B12 and total dissolved Co were measured to gain an understanding of the cycling of these interdependent micronutrients in six marine settings including; an upwelling location, a semi-enclosed bay, two urban coastal systems, and two open ocean locations. Along the coast of Baja California, Mexico, concentrations of B12 and dissolved Co varied from 0.2 to 11 pM and 180 to 990 pM, respectively. At a nearby upwelling station, vitamin B12 and Co concentrations ranged from 0.3 to 7.0 pM and 22 to 145 pM, and concentrations did not correlate with upwelling intensity. Concentrations of B12 were highest within Todos Santos Bay, a semi-enclosed bay off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, during a dinoflagellate bloom, ranging from 2 to 61 pM, while Co concentrations varied between 61 and 194 pM. In the anthropogenically impacted Long Island Sound, NY, U.S.A., B12 levels were between 0.1 and 23 pM and Co concentrations varied from 60 to 1900 pM. However, anthropogenic inputs were not evident in B12 levels in the San Pedro Basin, located outside Los Angeles, Ca, U.S.A., where concentrations of B12 were 0.2–1.8 pM, approximating observed open ocean B12 concentrations. In the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean, B12 levels were 0.4–4 pM and 0.2–2 pM, respectively. Total Co concentrations in the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic tended to be low; measuring 26–59 pM and 15–80 pM, respectively. These low Co concentrations may limit B12 synthesis and its availability to B12-requiring phytoplankton because the total dissolved Co pool is not necessarily entirely bioavailable.

Description: The dissolution of in-situ generated methane hydrate in undersaturated, synthetic seawater (S = 35) was investigated in a series of laboratory-based experiments at P-/T-conditions within the hydrate stability field. A controlled flow field was generated across the smooth hydrate surface to test if, in addition to thermodynamic variables, the dissolution rate is influenced by changing hydrodynamic conditions. The dissolution rate was found to be strongly dependent on the friction velocity, showing that hydrate dissolution in undersaturated seawater is a diffusion-controlled process. The experimental data was used to obtain diffusional mass transfer coefficients kd, which were found to correlate linearly with the friction velocity, u★. The resulting kd/u★-correlation allows predicting the flux of methane from natural gas hydrate exposures at the sediment/seawater interface into the bulk water for a variety of natural P, T and flow conditions. It also is a tool for estimating the rate of hydrate regrowth at locations where natural hydrate outcrops at the seafloor persist in contact with undersaturated seawater

Description: Nd concentration and isotope data have been obtained for the Canada, Amundsen, and Makarov Basins of the Arctic Ocean. A pattern of high Nd concentrations (up to 58 pM) at shallow depths is seen throughout the Arctic, and is distinct from that generally seen in other oceans where surface waters are relatively depleted. A range of isotopic variations across the Arctic and within individual depth profiles reflects the different sources of waters. The dominant source of water, and so Nd, is the Atlantic Ocean, with lesser contributions from the Pacific and Arctic Rivers. Radiogenic isotope Nd signatures (up to epsilon(Nd) = -6.5) can be traced in Pacific water flowing into the Canada Basin. Waters from rivers draining older terrains provide very unradiogenic Nd (down to epsilon(Nd) = -14.2) that can be traced in surface waters across much of the Eurasian Basin. A distinct feature of the Arctic is the general influence of the shelves on the Nd concentrations of waters flowing into the basins, either from the Pacific across the Chukchi Sea, or from across the extensive Siberian shelves. Water-shelf interaction results in an increase in Nd concentration without significant changes in salinity in essentially all waters in the Arctic, through processes that are not yet well understood. In estuarine regions other processes modify the Nd signal of freshwater components supplied into the Arctic Basin, and possibly also contribute to sedimentary Nd that may be subsequently involved in sediment-water interactions. Mixing relationships indicate that in estuaries, Nd is removed from major river waters to different degrees. Deep waters in the Arctic are higher in Nd than the inflowing Atlantic waters, apparently through enrichments of waters on the shelves that are involved in ventilating the deep basins. These enrichments generally have not resulted in major shifts in the isotopic compositions of the deep waters in the Makarov Basin (epsilon(Nd) similar to -10.5), but have created distinctive Nd isotope signatures that were found near the margin of the Canada Basin (with epsilon(Nd) similar to -9.0). The deep waters of the Amundsen Basin are also distinct from the Atlantic waters (with epsilon(Nd) = -12.3), indicating that there has been limited inflow from the adjacent Makarov Basin through the Lomonosov Ridge. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Description: δ18O values of nine tropical–subtropical planktonic foraminiferal species with different preferential habitat depths collected from 62 core–top samples along an east–west transect across the tropical Atlantic/Caribbean were used to test the applicability of interspecific δ18O gradients for reconstructions of tropical upper ocean stratification. In general, the δ18O difference (Δδ18O) between intermediate- and shallow-dwelling species decreases, and Δδ18O between deep and intermediate dwellers increases with increasing thermocline depth towards the west. The statistical significance of regional differences in Δδ18O highlights Δδ18O between the intermediate dwellers (in particular Globorotalia scitula and Globorotalia tumida) and the shallow dweller Globigerinoides ruber pink, as well as Δδ18O between the deep dwellers Globorotalia crassaformis or Globorotalia truncatulinoides dextral and intermediate dwellers as most sensitive to changes in tropical Atlantic thermocline depth. Based on the observed regional variations in interspecific Δδ18O, we propose a multispecies stratification index “STRAtrop” = (δ18Ointermediate − δ18Oshallow) / (δ18Odeep − δ18Oshallow) for the tropical ocean. Statistically significant differences in STRAtrop values between the E-Atlantic and the Caribbean suggest that this index may be a useful tool to monitor variations in tropical upper ocean stratification in the geological record.

Description: The skill of numerical Lagrangian drifter trajectories in three numerical models is assessed by comparing these numerically obtained paths to the trajectories of drifting buoys in the real ocean. The skill assessment is performed using the two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test. To demonstrate the assessment procedure, it is applied to three different models of the Agulhas region. The test can either be performed using crossing positions of one-dimensional sections in order to test model performance in specific locations, or using the total two-dimensional data set of trajectories. The test yields four quantities: a binary decision of model skill, a confidence level which can be used as a measure of goodness-of-fit of the model, a test statistic which can be used to determine the sensitivity of the confidence level, and cumulative distribution functions that aid in the qualitative analysis. The ordering of models by their confidence levels is the same as the ordering based on the qualitative analysis, which suggests that the method is suited for model validation. Only one of the three models, a 1/10 degree two-way nested regional ocean model, might have skill in the Agulhas region. The other two models, a 1/2 degree global model and a 1/8 degree assimilative model, might have skill only on some sections in the region.

Description: We critically evaluate the applicability of Ca-isotope ratios in planktonic foraminifers as proxy for past sea surface temperatures (SST) and isotope composition of paleo-seawater (δ44Casw) reconstructions. Previous studies have shown discrepancies regarding the temperature sensitivity of Ca isotope fractionation in foraminifers of more than one order of magnitude. We present new data from the planktonic foraminifer species Orbulina universa, Globigerinoides sacculifer and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) from culture experiments, multinet deployments and coretop samples. Specimens of G. sacculifer cultured at low salinities (33–34.5) show predominantly no major temperature dependent Ca isotope fractionation, in contrast to previous individuals cultured at higher salinities of 34.5–36. The new data of O. universa are consistent with previously published results, revealing a small but significant temperature sensitivity. Calcium isotope fractionation in tests of N. pachyderma shows a significant variation with temperature, which is not uniform over the total investigated temperature range (−1.6 °C to +10 °C), possibly reflecting the influence of additional controlling factors besides temperature. Controlled dissolution experiments in the laboratory indicate that the Ca-isotope composition of G. sacculifer and N. pachyderma is relatively insensitive to partial dissolution of their tests. Calcium isotope ratios in the planktonic foraminifers G. sacculifer and N. pachyderma (s) reveal a complex Ca isotope fractionation behaviour, which is not yet fully understood. Additional validation studies are crucial to enhance the basic understanding of the calcium isotope systematics in planktic foraminifer shells, and the potential for applying Ca-isotope ratios as proxies for seawater temperature and the oceanic Ca budget.

Description: The first isotopic compositions of dissolved hafnium in seawater from across the Arctic Ocean are reported. Most samples from the four sub-basins of the Arctic Ocean have values within error of an average of epsilon(Hf) = +0.8. Combined Hf-Nd isotope compositions do not fall on the well-established positive correlation for mantle and crustal rocks. Instead, Arctic waters have Hf that is more radiogenic than that typically found in rocks with similar Nd isotope compositions, a feature previously found in ferromanganese crusts and waters from the Pacific Ocean. Arctic seawater samples generally fall on the lower part of the ferromanganese crust array, reflecting influences of inputs from Arctic rivers and interactions of shelf waters with underlying sediments. Arctic rivers have much higher Hf concentrations (7-30 pM) than Arctic seawater (0.36-4.2 pM). Water from the Mackenzie River has the least radiogenic Hf, with epsilon(Hf) = -7.1 +/- 1.7, and plots furthest away from the ferromanganese crust array, while waters from the Ob, Yenisey, and Lena Rivers have values that are indistinguishable from most Arctic waters. In the Amundsen, Makarov, and Canada basins, Hf concentrations are highest at the surface and lowest in the deeper waters, reflecting the influences of riverine inputs and of waters that have flowed over the extensive Siberian continental shelves and have Nd and Hf characteristics that reflect water-sediment interactions. This is in contrast to the relatively low near surface Hf concentrations reported for locations elsewhere. The Pacific water layer in the Canada Basin exhibits the highest value of epsilon(Hf) = +6.8 +/- 1.8, reflecting the Hf isotopic composition of waters entering the Arctic from the Pacific Ocean. Mixing relationships indicate that a substantial fraction of the Hf in the Mackenzie River is lost during estuarine mixing; the behaviour of Hf from other rivers is less constrained. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Description: Antarctic Bottom Water of the world ocean is derived from dense Shelf Water that is carried downslope by gravity currents at specific sites along the Antarctic margins. Data gathered by the AnSlope and CLIMA programs reveal the presence of energetic gravity currents that are formed over the western continental slope of the Ross Sea when High Salinity Shelf Water exits the shelf through Drygalski Trough. Joides Trough, immediately to the east, offers an additional escape route for less saline Shelf Water, while the Glomar Challenger Trough still farther east is a major pathway for export of the once supercooled low-salinity Ice Shelf Water that forms under the Ross Ice Shelf. The Drygalski Trough gravity currents increase in thickness from ∼100 to ∼400 m on proceeding downslope from ∼600 m (the shelf break) to 1200 m (upper slope) sea floor depth, while turning sharply to the west in response to the Coriolis force during their descent. The mean current pathway trends ∼35° downslope from isobaths. Benthic-layer current and thickness are correlated with the bottom water salinity, which exerts the primary control over the benthic-layer density. A 1-year time series of bottom-water current and hydrographic properties obtained on the slope near the 1000 m isobath indicates episodic pulses of Shelf Water export through Drygalski Trough. These cold (〈−1 °C), salty (〉34.75) pulses correlate with strong downslope bottom flow. Extreme examples occurred during austral summer/fall 2003, comprising concentrated High Salinity Shelf Water (−1.9 °C; 34.79) and approaching 1.5 m s−1 at descent angles as large as ∼60° relative to the isobaths. Such events were most common during November–May, consistent with a northward shift in position of the dense Shelf Water during austral summer. The coldest, saltiest bottom water was measured from mid-April to mid-May 2003. The summer/fall export of High Salinity Shelf Water observed in 2004 was less than that seen in 2003. This difference, if real, may reflect the influence of the large iceberg C-19 over Drygalski Trough until its departure in mid-May 2003, when there was a marked decrease in the coldest, saltiest gravity current adjacent to Drygalski Trough. Northward transport of cold, saline, recently ventilated Antarctic Bottom Water observed in March 2004 off Cape Adare was ∼1.7 Sv, including ∼0.4 Sv of High Salinity Shelf Water.

Description: Pressure solution is one of the main deformation mechanisms for lithify and stress release in the rocks from shallow subduction zones. We observed temperature-dependent pressure solution development in naturally deformed shale in Shimanto accretionary complex in southwest Japan. The pressure solution develops with shear-dominated or co-axial-dominated deformation. We evaluated apparent activation energy by applying the constitutive equation of pressure solution creep to the temperature-dependent relations. The activation energy of each deformation type was estimated as 18 kJ mol− 1 for shear-dominated and 45 kJ mol− 1 for co-axial-dominated shale. The energies enable us to speculate rate-limiting processes of pressure solution i.e. dissolution, diffusion and precipitation, by comparing the energies obtained in this study with energies had been measured by experiments. The lower activation energy estimated here was similar with that of diffusion. The similarity indicates that possible rate-limiting process of shale deformation in shallow subduction zone would be diffusion. The difference of energy between deformation types can be explained by distinctive grain boundary structure.

Description: Newly pre-stack depth-migrated seismic images resolve the structural details of the western Java forearc and plate interface. The structural segmentation of the forearc into discrete mechanical domains correlates with distinct deformation styles. Approximately 2/3 of the trench sediment fill is detached and incorporated into frontal prism imbricates, while the floor sequence is underthrust beneath the décollement. Western Java, however, differs markedly from margins such as Nankai or Barbados, where a uniform, continuous décollement reflector has been imaged. In our study area, the plate interface reveals a spatially irregular, nonlinear pattern characterized by the morphological relief of subducted seamounts and thicker than average patches of underthrust sediment. The underthrust sediment is associated with a low velocity zone as determined from wide-angle data. Active underplating is not resolved, but likely contributes to the uplift of the large bivergent wedge that constitutes the forearc high. Our profile is located 100 km west of the 2006 Java tsunami earthquake. The heterogeneous décollement zone regulates the friction behavior of the shallow subduction environment where the earthquake occurred. The alternating pattern of enhanced frictional contact zones associated with oceanic basement relief and weak material patches of underthrust sediment influences seismic coupling and possibly contributed to the heterogeneous slip distribution. Our seismic images resolve a steeply dipping splay fault, which originates at the décollement and terminates at the sea floor and which potentially contributes to tsunami generation during co-seismic activity.

Description: Detailed exploration with remotely operated and autonomous deep submergence vehicles has revealed, at 9 degrees 33'S, the presence of the southernmost active hydrothermal field known so far on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The size of the hydrothermal field, which we have named "Lilliput", is about 1000 m x 250 m. It lies in a water depth of 1500 m on a ridge segment (Segment A3) with considerably thickened crust of 11 km. Four relatively small diffuse vent sites occur on a large young (estimated 〈100 years old) lava flow, partly covering the flow with hydrothermal Fe-oxide/hydroxide sediments. Based on homogeneous major element compositions of ca. 25 lava samples, this flow covers an area of at least 5 km x 0.6 km. The lava flow erupted from a series of parallel fissures at the western edge of the flow and a volcanic ridge consisting of up to 30 m high pillow mounds. The volcanic ridge probably represents the surface expression of an underlying dike which fed the flow. Several drained lava pond structures were observed within the flow but only one shows hydrothermal activity. The hydrothermal venting and precipitation of abundant Fe-oxyhydroxides appear to be related to the young diking and eruption event and the four different hydrothermally active sites of the Lilliput field lie along and almost equidistant from the eastern flank of the supposed dike. Although a hydrothermal plume some 500 m above the seafloor was found in two consecutive years (2005 and 2006), no high-temperature venting associated with Lilliput has been found. in agreement with findings at other ridges with thick crust such as Reykjanes. High magma supply rate and frequent diking and eruption events may lead to hot hydrothermal vents being rare in slow-spreading segments with thick crust whereas diffuse venting is abundant. Interestingly, the fauna at the Lilliput vents largely consists of small and apparently juvenile mussels (Bathymodiolus sp.) and did not show any signs of growth during the four years of continuing observations possibly reflecting pulsing hydrothermal activity.

Description: Labrador Sea convection was most intense and reached the greatest depths in the early 1990s, followed by weaker, shallower, and more variable convection after 1995. The Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) version 2.0.2/2.0.4 assimilation model is used to explore convective activity in the North Atlantic Ocean for the period from 1992 to 2007. Hydrographic conditions, which are relatively well observed during this period, are used to compare modeled and observed winter mixed-layer depths and water mass anomalies in relation to Deep Western Boundary Current transports and meridional overturning circulation (MOC) changes at the exit of the subpolar basin. The assimilation differs markedly from local observations in the March mixed-layer depth, which represents deep convection and water mass transformation. However, mean MOC rates at the exit of the subpolar gyre, forced by stratification in the mid-latitudes, are similar to estimates based on observations and show no significant decrease during the 1992–2007 period. SODA reproduces the deep Labrador Sea Water formation in the western North Atlantic without any clear indication of significant formation in the Irminger Sea while the lighter upper Labrador Sea Water density range is reached in the Irminger Sea in the 1990s, in agreement with existing assumptions of deep convection in the Irminger Sea and also supported by computed lag correlations with the Labrador Sea. Deep Water transformation mainly takes place in the eastern North Atlantic. The introduction of CFC-11 into the SODA model as a tracer reproduces the mean and multiyear variations of observed distributions.

Description: Nicaragua comprises seven historically active volcanoes (Cosigüina, San Cristobal, Telica, Cerro Negro, Momotombo, Masaya, and Concepcion), five of which are in a state of continuous degassing. Published measurements of the atmospheric dispersion of continuous emissions from Nicaraguan volcanoes, the chemical and aerosol microphysical modifications of the released gases and aerosols, and related acid deposition and impacts on the environment cover only short periods of time. We applied a three-dimensional atmosphere-chemistry/aerosol numerical model over Central America focussing on Nicaraguan volcanic emissions for month long simulation periods during the dry and wet seasons of 2003. The model is able to reproduce observed monthly precipitation and wind speed throughout the year 2003. Model results for near surface SO2 concentrations and SO2 dry deposition fluxes around Masaya volcano are in very good agreement with field measurements. During the dry season, oxidation of SO2 to sulphate plays only a minor role downwind of the Nicaraguan volcanoes and over the Pacific Ocean, whereas SO2 released from Arenal and Poas in Costa Rica is oxidised to sulphate much faster and closer to the volcanoes due to higher humidity and cloud water availability. During the wet season, more variable wind conditions lead to reduced dispersion of SO2 over the Pacific Ocean and increased dispersion inland. The availability of liquid water in the atmosphere favours sulphate formation close to the Nicaraguan volcanoes via aqueous phase oxidation and represents another limitation for the dispersion of SO2. Strong precipitation removes sulphate quickly from the atmosphere by wet deposition. Atmospheric SO2 concentrations and in particular dry deposition close to the volcanoes show a pronounced diurnal cycle.

Description: The coastal upwelling off Mauritania and its connection with the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) in the tropical Atlantic is investigated in an eddy-resolving general circulation model. Two main supply routes for the upwelling are identified. First a southern eastward pathway crossing 23 degrees W between 3 degrees N and 10 degrees N related to the equatorial zonal current system supplies up to 50% of the water upwelled in winter, and about 30% in summer. Second, another eastward pathway crossing 23 degrees W further north between 28 degrees N and 38 degrees N supplies 35% of the upwelled water in spring compared to 25% during the rest of the year. Most of the water of the northern pathway is entrained into the mixed layer already before reaching the upwelling region. Only the southern pathway contributes not recently ventilated waters to the upwelling. The connection with the OMZ is very weak, only about 1% of the upwelling waters originate here. On the other hand, if water from the OMZ reaches the surface mixed layer within 6 years, this mostly (71%) happens in the upwelling region

Description: Cold-water coral ecosystems building cold-water carbonate mounds occur worldwide and are especially developed along the European margin, from northern Norway to the Gulf of Cadiz. A remarkable mound province is documented southwest of Ireland along the Porcupine and Rockall Banks. In this area carbonate mounds are formed in water depths between 500 and 1200 m and are often densely settled by cold-water coral ecosystems offering many ecological niches for benthic foraminifera. We investigated total (unstained) benthic foraminiferal assemblages from surface sediments (0–1 cm, 〉63 μm size fraction) of this region with the aim to trace their distribution patterns and to test if they can be used as bioindicators for facies characterization in different parts of carbonate mound systems. Our quantitative data were further statistically treated with non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) based on Bray–Curtis similarity matrix to highlight community patterns that were not readily apparent. Our results indicate that different benthic foraminiferal assemblages characterize different facies along cold-water carbonate mounds and are related to the environmental conditions and available substrates. The following facies can be described: (1) the Off-Mound Facies is dominated by uvigerinids and other infaunal species; (2) the Dropstone Facies is characterized by infaunal Globocassidulina subglobosa and attached-epifaunal Cibicidoides sp.; (3) the Dead Coral Facies is characterised by epifaunal species (e.g., Planulina ariminensis, Hanzawaia boueana) and infaunal species (Spiroplectinella wrightii, Angulogerina angulosa, Epistominella vitrea); (4) the Living Coral Facies includes both infaunal and epifaunal species, but is dominated by the epifaunal Discanomalina coronata; and (5) the Sandwave Facies contains high abundances of epifaunal species including D. coronata. Based on this distribution, we propose D. coronata, as an indicator species to identify active mounds and/or living cold-water coral ecosystems. Our results also emphasise the importance of studying the small size fractions that yield many infaunal species. A causal link exists between distribution patterns of benthic foraminifera and cold-water coral facies, thus providing an independent tool to identify and describe the different facies in this setting.

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.

Description: In July 2007, phosphorus input by an upwelling event along the east coast of Gotland Island and the response of filamentous cyanobacteria were studied to determine whether introduced phosphorus can intensify cyanobacterial bloom formation in the eastern Gotland Basin. Surface temperature, nutrient concentrations, phytoplankton biomass and its stoichiometry, as well as phosphate uptake rates were determined in two transects between the coasts of Gotland and Latvia and in a short grid offshore of Gotland. In the upwelling area, surface temperatures of 11–12 °C and average dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) concentrations of 0.26 μM were measured. Outside the upwelling, surface temperatures were higher (15.5–16.6 °C) and DIP supplies in the upper 10 m layer were exhausted. Nitrite and nitrate concentrations (0.01–0.22 μM) were very low within and outside the upwelling region. Abundances of filamentous cyanobacteria were highly reduced in the upwelling area, accounting for only 1.4–6.0% of the total phytoplankton biomass, in contrast to 18–20% outside the upwelling. The C:P ratio of filamentous cyanobacteria varied between 32.8 and 310 in the upwelling region, most likely due to the introduction of phosphorus-depleted organisms into the upwelling water. These organisms accumulate DIP in upwelling water and have lower C:P ratios as long as they remain in DIP-rich water. Thus, diazotrophic cyanobacteria benefit from phosphorus input directly in the upwelling region. Outside the upwelling region, the C:P ratios of filamentous cyanobacteria varied widely, between 240 and 463, whereas those of particulate material in the water ranged only between 96 and 224. To reduce their C:P ratio from 300 to 35, cyanobacteria in the upwelling region had to take up 0.05 mmol m−3 DIP, which is about 20% of the available DIP. Thus, a larger biomass of filamentous cyanobacteria may be able to benefit from a given DIP input. As determined from the DIP uptake rates measured in upwelling cells, the time needed to reduce the C:P ratio from 300 to 35 was too long to explain the huge bloom formations that typically occur in summer. However, phosphorus uptake rates increased significantly with increasing C:P ratios, allowing phosphorus accumulation within 4–5 days, a span of time suitable for bloom formation in July and August.

Description: The Quaternary history of Beringia and of the Arctic–Pacific marine connection via the Bering Strait is poorly understood because of the fragmentary stratigraphic record from this region. We report new borehole and seismic-reflection data collected in 2006 in the southwestern Chukchi Sea. Sediment samples were analyzed for magnetic properties, grain size, heavy minerals, and biostratigraphic proxies (spores and pollen, foraminifers, ostracodes, diatoms, and aquatic palynomorphs). Two shallow boreholes drilled between the Chukotka Peninsula and the Wrangel Island recovered sediments of two principal stratigraphic units with a distinct unconformity between them. Based on predominantly reverse paleomagnetic polarity of the lower unit and pollen spectra indicative of forested coasts and climate warmer than present, the age of this unit is estimated as Pliocene to early Pleistocene (broadly between ca. 5 and 2 Ma). Attendant sedimentary environments were likely alluvial to nearshore marine. These deposits can be correlated to the seismic unit infilling valleys incised into sedimentary bedrock across much of the study area, and possibly deposited during a transgression following the opening of the Bering Strait. The upper unit from both boreholes contains Holocene 14C ages and is clearly related to the last, postglacial transgression. Holocene sediments in Borehole 2 indicate fast deposition at the early stages of flooding (between ca. 11 and 9 ka) to very low deposition, possibly related to expansive sea ice. Closer to shore, deposition at Borehole 1 resumed much later (ca. 2 ka), likely due to a change in the pattern of coastal erosional processes and/or the demise of a landbridge between the Chukotka Peninsula and the Wrangel Island inferred from studies on mammoth distribution.

Description: Particles sinking out of the euphotic zone are important vehicles of carbon export from the surface ocean. Most of the particles produce heavier aggregates by coagulating with each other before they sink. We implemented an aggregation model into the biogeochemical model of Regional Oceanic Modelling System (ROMS) to simulate the distribution of particles in the water column and their downward transport in the Northwest African upwelling region. Accompanying settling chamber, sediment trap and particle camera measurements provide data for model validation. In situ aggregate settling velocities measured by the settling chamber were around 55 m d(-1). Aggregate sizes recorded by the particle camera hardly exceeded I mm. The model is based on a continuous size spectrum of aggregates, characterised by the prognostic aggregate mass and aggregate number concentration. Phytoplankton and detritus make up the aggregation pool, which has an averaged, prognostic and size dependent sinking. Model experiments were performed with dense and porous approximations of aggregates with varying maximum aggregate size and stickiness as well as with the inclusion of a disaggregation term. Similar surface productivity in all experiments has been generated in order to find the best combination of parameters that produce measured deep water fluxes. Although the experiments failed to represent surface particle number spectra, in the deep water some of them gave very similar slope and spectrum range as the particle camera observations. Particle fluxes at the mesotrophic sediment trap site off Cape Blanc (CB) have been successfully reproduced by the porous experiment with disaggregation term when particle remineralisation rate was 0.2 d(-1). The aggregation-disaggregation model improves the prediction capability of the original biogeochemical model significantly by giving much better estimates of fluxes for both upper and lower trap. The results also point to the need for more studies to enhance our knowledge on particle decay and its variation and to the role that stickiness play in the distribution of vertical fluxes

Description: This article will review major features of the 'giant' Cape Blanc filament off Mauritania with regard to the transport of chlorophyll and organic carbon from the shelf to the open ocean. Within the filament, chlorophyll is transported about 400 km offshore. Modelled particle distributions along a zonal transect at 21 degrees N showed that particles with a sinking velocity of 5 m d(-1) are advected offshore by up to 600 km in subsurface particle clouds generally located between 400 m and 800 m water depth, forming an Intermediate Nepheloid Layer (INL). It corresponds to the depth of the oxygen minimum zone. Heavier particles with a sinking velocity of 30 m d(-1) are transported from the shelf within the Bottom Layer (BL) of more than 1000 m thickness, largely following the topography of the bottom slope. The particles advected within the BL contribute to the enhanced winter-spring mass fluxes collected at the open-ocean mesotrophic sediment trap site CB-13 (similar to 200 nm offshore), due to a long distance advection in deeper waters. The lateral contribution to the deep sediment trap in winter-spring is estimated to be 63% and 72% for organic carbon and total mass, respectively, whereas the lateral input for both components on an annual basis is estimated to be in the order of 15%. Biogenic opal increases almost fivefold from the upper to the lower mesotrophic CB-13 trap, also pointing to an additional source for biogenic silica from eutrophic coastal waters. Blooms obviously sink in smaller, probably mesoscale-sized patches with variable settling rates, depending on the type of aggregated particles and their ballast content. Generally, particle sinking rates are exceptionally high off NW Africa. Very high chlorophyll values and a large size of the Cape Blanc filament in 1998-1999 are also documented in enhanced total mass and organic carbon fluxes. An increasing trend in satellite chlorophyll concentrations and the size of the Cape Blanc filament between 1997 and 2008 as observed for other coastal upwelling areas is not documented

Description: New high-resolution multi-beam bathymetry data allowed the recognition of several bathymetric lineaments (ca. 100 km long, trending WNW–ESE) in seafloor sediments of the Gulf of Cadiz, offshore SW Iberia. The interpretation of multi-channel (MCS) profiles crosscutting these lineaments showed that they are controlled by underlying deep seated faults, which have endured a polyphase reactivation history. To get insights on the Recent tectonic evolution of these structures, we performed two sets of analogue modelling experiments, assuming: 1) right-lateral strike-slip basement faulting and coupled passive shearing affecting an overlying soft cover; and 2) low-angle transpressive deformation along a narrow shear band overlying the fault. Our results show a good correlation between the experimentally obtained structural patterns and the natural morphotectonic lineaments, allowing the use of some of the observed natural features as strain gauges. Based on this, we conclude that the study lineaments correspond to the bathymetric expression of ongoing dextral wrenching reactivation of WNW–ESE pre-existing faults, and we estimate the age of this tectonic reactivation as being ca. 1.8 Ma (i.e. form late Pliocene to Present day). These characteristics agree with the most recent kinematic models derived from geodetic observations, indicating that Present day convergence between Nubia and Iberia is subparallel to the newly identified lineaments and occurs at a 4 mm/yr rate.

Description: The Gulf of Cadiz, off SW Iberia and the NW Moroccan margin, straddles the cryptic plate boundary between Africa and Eurasia, a region where the orogenic Alpine compressive deformation in the continental collision zone passes laterally to the west to strike-slip deformation. A set of new multibeam bathymetry, multi-channel and single-channel seismic data presented here image the main morphological features of tectonic origin of a significant part of the Gulf of Cadiz from the continental shelf to the abyssal plain. These morphotectonic features are shown to result from the reactivation of deeply rooted faults that changed their kinematics from the early Mesozoic rifting, through the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene collision, to the Pliocene–Quaternary thrusting and wrenching. The old faults control deep incised, more than 100 km long canyons and valleys. Several effects of neotectonics on deep water seabed are shown. These include: i) the complex morphology caused by wrenching on the 230 km long WNW–ESE faults that produced en echelon folds on the sediments; ii) the formation of up to 5 km wide crescent shaped scours at roughly 4 km water depth by reactivation of thrusts; iii) 10 km long creep folds on the continental slope; and iv) the formation of landslides on active fault escarpments. The present day deformation is partitioned on NE–SW thrusts and WNW–ESE to W–E strike-slip faults and is propagating northwards on N–S trending thrusts along the West Iberia Margin from 35.5°N to 38°N, which should be considered for seismic hazard.

Description: Sea ice is an important climate variable and is also an obstacle for marine operations in polar regions. We have developed a small and lightweight, digitally operated frequency-domain electromagnetic-induction (EM) system, a so-called EM bird, dedicated for measurements of sea ice thickness. It is 3.5 m long and weighs only 105 kg, and can therefore easily be shipped to remote places and operated from icebreakers and small helicopters. Here, we describe the technical design of the bird operating at two frequencies of f1 = 3.68 kHz and f2 = 112 kHz, and study its technical performance. On average, noise amounts to ± 8.5 ppm and ± 17.5 ppm for f1 and f2, respectively. Electrical drift amounts to 200 ppm/h and 2000 ppm/h for f1 and f2, during the first 0.5 h of operation. It is reduced by 75% after 2 h. Calibration of the Inphase and Quadrature ppm signals varies by 2 to 3%. A sensitivity study shows that all these signal variations do affect the accuracy of the ice thickness retrieval, but that it remains better than ± 0.1 m over level ice in most cases. This accuracy is also confirmed by means of comparisons of the helicopter EM data with other thickness measurements. The paper also presents the ice thickness retrieval from single-component Inphase data of f1.

Description: The Middle Cambrian (~ 540 Ma) Gahcho Kué Kimberlite Field is situated about 275 km ENE of Yellowknife, NWT, Canada. The kimberlites were emplaced into 2.6 Ga Archean granitic rocks of the Yellowknife Supergroup. Four larger kimberlite bodies (5034, Tesla, Tuzo, and Hearne) as well as a number of smaller pipes and associated sheets occur in the field. In plan view, the Tuzo pipe has a circular outline at the surface, and it widens towards deeper levels. The pipe infill consists of several types of coherent and fragmental kimberlite facies. Coherent or apparent coherent (possibly welded) kimberlite facies dominate at depth, but also occur at shallow levels, as dikes intruded late in the eruptive sequence or individual coherent kimberlite clasts. The central and shallower portions of the pipe consist of several fragmental kimberlite varieties that are texturally classified as Tuffisitic Kimberlites. The definition, geometry and extent of the geological units are complex and zones controlled by vertical elements are most significant. The fluidal outlines of some of the coherent kimberlite clasts suggest that at least some are the product of disruption of magma that was in a semi-plastic state or even of welded material. Ragged clasts at low levels are inferred to form part of a complex peperite-like system that intrudes the base of the root zone. A variable, often high abundance of local wall-rock xenoliths between and within the kimberlite phases is observed, varying in size from sub-millimeter to several tens of meters. Wall-rock fragments are common at all locations within the pipe but are especially frequent in a domain with a belt-like geometry between 120 and 200 m depth in the pipe. Steeply outward-dipping bedded deposits made up of wall-rock fragments occur in deep levels of the pipe and are especially common under the downward-widening roof segments. The gradational contact relationships of these deposits with the surrounding kimberlite-bearing rocks as well as their location suggest that they formed more-or-less in situ. Different breccia facies inside the pipe suggest an origin by slumping, grain flows, rock fall or pyroclastic deposition. The shape and facies architecture of the Tuzo pipe suggests that the studied section of the pipe lies at a root zone–diatreme transitional structural level. Composite coherent kimberlite clasts imply that recycling processes were active over time, while reworked wall-rock rich deposits and ductily-deformed clasts of welded kimberlite point to the presence of temporary cavities in the root zone. The emplacement of the Tuzo pipe did not occur in a single, violent explosion, but involved repetitive volcanic explosions alternating with periods of relative quiescence. The observed features are typical of phreatomagmatic processes, which may include phases of less-explosive magmatic activity.

Description: Planktic foraminiferal (PF) flux and faunal composition from three sediment trap time series of 2002–2004 in the northeastern Atlantic show pronounced year-to-year variations despite similar sea surface temperature (SST). The averaged fauna of the in 2002/2003 is dominated by the species Globigerinita glutinata, whereas in 2003/2004 the averaged fauna is dominated by Globigerinoides ruber. We show that PF species respond primarily to productivity, triggered by the seasonal dynamics of vertical stratification of the upper water column. Multivariate statistical analysis reveals three distinct species groups, linked to bulk particle flux, to chlorophyll concentrations and to summer/fall oligotrophy with high SST and stratification. We speculate that the distinct nutrition strategies of strictly asymbiontic, facultatively symbiontic, and symbiontic species may play a key role in explaining their abundances and temporal succession. Advection of water masses within the Azores Current and species expatriation result in a highly diverse PF assemblage. The Azores Frontal Zone may have influenced the trap site in 2002, indicated by subsurface water cooling, by highest PF flux and high flux of the deep-dwelling species Globorotalia scitula. Similarity analyses with core top samples from the global ocean including 746 sites from the Atlantic suggest that the trap faunas have only poor analogs in the surface sediments. These differences have to be taken into account when estimating past oceanic properties from sediment PF data in the eastern subtropical North Atlantic.

Description: Geophysical surveys and geological studies of gas hydrates in the western deep-water Ulleung Basin of the East Sea off the east coast of Korea have been carried out by the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) since 2000. The work included a grid of 4782 km of 2D multi-channel seismic reflection lines and 11 piston cores 5–8 m long. In the piston cores, cracks generally parallel to bedding suggest significant in-situ gas. The cores showed high amounts of total organic carbon (TOC), and from the southern study area showed high residual hydrocarbon gas concentrations. The lack of higher hydrocarbons and the carbon isotope ratios indicate that the methane is primarily biogenic. The seismic data show areas of bottom-simulating reflectors (BSRs) that are associated with gas hydrates and underlying free gas. An important observation is the numerous seismic blanking zones up to 2 km across that probably reflect widespread fluid and gas venting and that are inferred to contain substantial gas hydrate. Some of the important results are: (1) BSRs are widespread, although most have low amplitudes; (2) increased P-wave velocities above some BSRs suggest distributed low to moderate concentration gas hydrate whereas a velocity decrease below the BSR suggests free gas; (3) the blanking zones are often associated with upbowing of sedimentary bedding reflectors in time sections that has been interpreted at least in part due to velocity pull-up produced by high-velocity gas hydrate. High gas hydrate concentrations are also inferred in several examples where high interval velocities are resolved within the blanking zones. Recently, gas hydrate recoveries by the piston coring and deep-drilling in 2007 support the interpretation of substantial gas hydrate in many of these structures.

Description: Newly acquired bathymetric and seismic reflection data have revealed mass-transport deposits (MTDs) on the northeastern Cretan margin in the active Hellenic subduction zone. These include a stack of two submarine landslides within the Malia Basin with a total volume of approximately 4.6 km(3) covering an area of about 135 km(2). These two MTDs have different geometry, internal deformations and transport structures. The older and stratigraphic lower MTD is interpreted as a debrite that fills a large part of the Malia Basin, while the second, younger MTD, with an age of at least 12.6 cal. ka B.P., indicate a thick, lens-shaped, partially translational landslide. This MTD comprises multiple slide masses with internal structure varying from highly deformed to nearly undeformed. The reconstructed source area of the older MTD is located in the westernmost Malia Basin. The source area of the younger MTD is identified in multiple headwalls at the slope-basin-transition in 450 m water depth. Numerous faults with an orientation almost parallel to the southwest-northeast-trending basin axis occur along the northern and southern boundaries of the Malia Basin and have caused a partial steepening of the slope-basin-transition. The possible triggers for slope failure and mass-wasting include (i) seismicity and (ii) movement of the uplifting island of Crete from neotectonics of the Hellenic subduction zone, and (iii) slip of clay-mineral-rich or ash-bearing layers during fluid involvement. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Description: Heat flow anomalies provide critical information in active tectonic environments. The Gulf of Cadiz and adjacent areas are affected by the plate convergence between Africa and Europe, causing widespread deformation and faulting. Active thrust faults cause lateral movement and advection of heat that produces systematic variations in surface heat flow. In December 2003 new heat flow data were collected during the research vessel Sonne cruise SO175 in the Gulf of Cadiz over two sites of recent focused research activity: (i) the Gulf of Cadiz sedimentary prism and (ii) the Marques de Pombal escarpment. Both features have also been discussed as potential source areas of the Great Lisbon earthquake and tsunami of 1755. Background heat flow at the eastern terminus of the Horseshoe abyssal plain is about 52–59 mW/m2. Over the Gulf of Cadiz prism, heat flow decreases from ∼57 mW/m2 to unusually low values of 45 mW/m2 roughly 120 km eastward. Such low values and the heat flow trend are typical for active thrusting, supporting the idea of an east-dipping thrust fault. Slip rates are 10 ± 5 mm per year, assuming that the fault dips at 2°. A fault dipping at 5°, however, would result into slip rates of 1.5–5 mm per year, suggesting that subduction has largely ceased. Based on seismic data, the Marques de Pombal fault is interpreted as part of an active fault system located ∼100 km westward of Cape San Vincente. Heat flow over the fault is affected by refraction of heat caused by the 1 km high escarpment. Thermal models suggest that the slip rate along the fault must either be small or shear stresses acting on the fault are rather high. With respect to other fault zones, however, it is reasonable to assume that the fault's slip rate is small.

Description: We present the first comprehensive set of dissolved 10Be and 9Be concentrations in surface waters and vertical profiles of all major sub-basins of the Arctic Ocean, which are complemented by data from the major Arctic rivers Mackenzie, Lena, Yenisey and Ob. The results show that 10Be and 9Be concentrations in waters below 150 m depth are low and only vary within a factor of 2 throughout the Arctic Basin (350–750 atoms/g and 9–15 pmol/kg, respectively). In marked contrast, Be isotope compositions in the upper 150 m are highly variable and show systematic variations. Cosmogenic 10Be concentrations range from 150 to 1000 atoms/g and concentrations of terrigenous 9Be range from 7 to 65 pmol/kg, resulting in 10Be/9Be ratios (atom/atom) between 0.5 and 14 × 10−8. Inflowing Atlantic water masses in the Eurasian Basin are characterized by a 10Be/9Be signature of 7 × 10−8. The inflow of Pacific water masses across the Bering Strait is characterized by lower ratios of 2–3 × 10−8, which can be traced into the central Arctic Ocean, possibly as far as the Fram Strait. A comparison of the high dissolved surface 10Be and 9Be concentrations (corresponding to low 10Be/9Be signatures of ∼2 × 10−8) in the Eurasian Basin with hydrographic parameters and river data documents efficient and rapid transport of Be with Siberian river waters across the Siberian Arctic shelves into the central Arctic Basin, although significant loss and exchange of Be on the shelves occurs. In contrast, fresh surface waters from the Canada Basin also show high cosmogenic 10Be contents, but are not enriched in terrigenous 9Be (resulting in high 10Be/9Be signatures of up to 14 × 10−8). This is explained by a combination of efficient scavenging of Be in the Mackenzie River estuary and the shelves and additional supply of cosmogenic 10Be via atmospheric fallout and melting of old sea ice. The residence time of Be in the deep Arctic Ocean estimated from our data is 800 years and thus similar to the average Be residence time in the global ocean.

Description: The Earth's mantle is chemically and isotopically heterogeneous, and a component of recycled oceanic crust is generally suspected in the convecting mantle [Hofmann and White, 1982. Mantle plumes from ancient oceanic crust. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 57, 421–436]. Indeed, the HIMU component (high µ = 238U/204Pb), one of four isotopically distinct end-members in the Earth's mantle, is generally attributed to relatively old (≥ 1–2 Ga) recycled oceanic crust in the form of eclogite/pyroxenite, e.g. [Zindler and Hart, 1986. Chemical geodynamics. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 14, 493–571]. Although the presence of the recycled component is generally supported by element and isotopic data, little is known about its physical state at mantle depths. Here we show that the concentrations of Ni, Mn and Ca in olivine from the Canarian shield stage lavas, which can be used to assess the physical nature of the source material (peridotite versus olivine-free pyroxenite) [Sobolev et al., 2007. The amount of recycled crust in sources of mantle-derived melts. Science 316, 412–417], correlate strongly with bulk rock Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic ratios. The most important result following from our data is that the enriched, HIMU-type (having higher 206Pb/204Pb than generally found in the other mantle end-members) signature of the Canarian hotspot magmas was not caused by a pyroxenite/eclogite constituent of the plume but appears to have been primarily hosted by peridotite. This implies that the old (older than ~ 1 Ga) ocean crust, which has more evolved radiogenic isotope compositions, was stirred into/reacted with the mantle so that there is not significant eclogite left, whereas younger recycled oceanic crust with depleted MORB isotopic signature (〈 1 Ga) can be preserved as eclogite, which when melted can generate reaction pyroxenite.

Description: Lake Van is the fourth largest terminal lake in the world (volume 607 km(3), area 3570 km(2), maximum depth 460 m), extending for 130 km WSW-ENE on the Eastern Anatolian High Plateau, Turkey. The sedimentary record of Lake Van, partly laminated, has the potential to obtain a long and continuous continental sequence that covers several glacial-interglacial cycles (ca 500 kyr). Therefore, Lake Van is a key site within the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) for the investigation of the Quaternary climate evolution in the Near East ('PALEOVAN'). As preparation for an ICDP drilling campaign, a site survey was carried out during the past years. We collected 50 seismic profiles with a total length of similar to 850 km to identify continuous undisturbed sedimentary sequences for potential ICDP locations. Based on the seismic results, we cored 10 different locations to water depths of up to 420 m. Multidisciplinary scientific work at positions of a proposed ICDP drill site included measurements of magnetic susceptibility, physical properties, stable isotopes, XRF scans, and pollen and spores. This core extends back to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a more extended record than all the other Lake Van cores obtained to date. Both coring and seismic data do not show any indication that the deepest part of the lake (Tatvan Basin, Ahlat Ridge) was dry or almost dry during past times. These results show potential for obtaining a continuous undisturbed, long continental palaeoclimate record. In addition, this paper discusses the potential of 'PALEOVAN' to establish new results on the dynamics of lake level fluctuations, noble gas concentration in pore water of the lake sediment, history of volcanism and volcanic activities based on tephrostratigraphy, and paleoseismic and earthquake activities. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Description: Anthropogenic CO2 emissions lead to chronically elevated seawater CO2 partial pressures (hypercapnia). The induced ocean acidification will very likely be a relevant factor shaping future marine environments. CO2 exposure concomitantly challenges the animal's capacity of acid-base and ionic regulation as well as the ability to maintain energy metabolism and calcification. Under conditions of acute hypercapnia, numerous studies have revealed a broad range of tolerance levels displayed by various marine taxa. Thus, it is well known that, in contrast to many marine invertebrates, most teleost fish are able to fully compensate acid-base disturbances in short-term experiments (hours to several days). in order to determine whether marine fish are able to preserve aerobic scope following long-term incubation to elevated CO2, we exposed two groups of Atlantic Cod for 4 and 12 months to 0.3 and 0.6 kPa P-CO2, respectively. Measurements of standard and active metabolic rates, critical swimming speeds and aerobic scope of long-term incubated cod showed no deviations from control values, indicating that locomotory performance is not compromised by the different levels of chronic hypercapnia. While the maintenance of high activity levels is supported by a 2-fold increased Na+/K+-ATPase protein expression and 2-fold elevated Na+/K+-ATPase activity in the 12 month incubated fish (0.6 kPa P-CO2), no such elevation in Na+/K+-ATPase activity could be observed in the group treated with 0.3 kPa P-CO2. Owing to the relevance of Na+/K+-ATPase as a general indicator for ion regulatory capacity, these results point at an adjustment of enzymatic activity to cope with the CO2 induced acid-base load at 0.6 kPa P-CO2 while under milder hypercapnic conditions the 'standard' Na+/K+-ATPase capacity might still be sufficient to maintain acid-base status. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Description: We present major and trace element and Sr–Nd–Pb and U–Th–Pa–Ra isotope data for a small sample suite of primarily post-glacial, mildly alkalic volcanic rocks from the Snaefellsjökull central volcano situated off the main rift systems in western Iceland. The volcanic rocks are crystal-poor and range from olivine alkali basalt to trachyte and show tight correlations of major and trace elements that are explained by fractional crystallization involving removal of olivine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, Fe–Ti oxide and apatite. Sr–Nd–Pb isotopes are practically invariant, consistent with derivation from the same source region. During fractionation from primitive basalt to evolved trachyte, (230Th/232Th), (230Th/238U) and (231Pa/235U) decrease progressively at broadly constant (238U/232Th). A continuous closed-system fractionation model that assumes constant initial (230Th/232Th) in the basaltic precursor melt indicates that hawaiite was derived from olivine basalt by not, vert, similar50% fractional crystallization within View the MathML source and trachyte by not, vert, similar80% fractionation within View the MathML source. An overrepresentation of evolved basalts and hawaiites with young inferred magma ages in the dataset is consistent with the parental precursor to these magmas intruded into the sub-volcanic magma plumbing system as a consequence of lithospheric rebound caused by deglaciation. Lavas affected by apatite removal have higher (231Pa/235U) than predicted for simple radioactive decay, suggesting apatite significantly fractionates U from Pa. The proposed fractionation model consistently explains our U-series data assuming View the MathML source and View the MathML source and View the MathML source. If applicable, these D values would indicate that the effect of apatite fractionation must be adequately considered when assessing differentiation time scales using (231Pa/235U) disequilibria data.

Description: The small sepiolid cephalopod Rossia moelleri Steenstrup, 1856 transfers sperm by implantation of spermatangia into female tissue. Although this is a common sperm transfer and storage strategy in cephalopods, the mechanism behind implantation of spermatangia is poorly understood. In the lab, we artificially induced the spermatophoric reaction and spermatangia implanted into female tissue. The force necessary to penetrate the mantle was measured using a needle attached to a force transducer. Taking diameter and bluntness factor into account, this force was estimated to be 0.3 N. Analysis of the spermatophoric reaction showed that the maximum force (1.12 μN–9.36 μN) produced as a result of acceleration (1.57–3.59 mm/s2) of the forward moving sperm mass (2.6–7 mg) was insufficient to be solely responsible for the penetration of the spermatangia into tissue. Scanning electron microscopy revealed no structures that could have facilitated the implantation of the spermatangium. Histological sections of the implanted spermatangium visualized the cement body being orally secreted from the spermatangium, probably facilitating the implantation either by lysis of the surrounding tissue or by acting as a lubricant during implantation. This study shows that the autonomous implantation process of spermatangia of R. moelleri does not have a purely mechanical basis but necessitates an additional, probably chemical mechanism or a combination of these two.

Description: Until recently, the Arctic was assumed to be characterised by relatively warm conditions throughout the Early Cenozoic. However, recent investigations on deep-sea drilling cores from northern high latitudes, including the Arctic Ocean, give apparently contradicting results. Here we report the intermittent occurrence of certain temperature indicators in the Early Tertiary sedimentary sequence on Svalbard, which may represent the first direct northern high-latitude record of cold water temperatures for the early Cenozoic. Glendonites (calcite pseudomorphs after calcium carbonate hexahydrate) and erratics in otherwise fine-grained sediments require near-freezing temperatures and the presence of at least seasonal sea ice. This succession also contains coal seams and other warm climate indicators, but not on the same stratigraphical levels. These results imply the occurrence of cooling phases episodically during the warm background climate of the Paleocene and Eocene, suggesting that Arctic temperature variability was much greater than previously recognized.

Description: Isis mud volcano is located on the upper slope of the Nile deep-sea fan and has been described as the surface expression of a deep-seated gas chimney [Loncke, L., Gaullier, V., Mascle, J., Vendeville, B., 2002. Shallow structure of the Nile deep-sea fan: interactions between structural heritage and salt tectonics; consequences on sedimentary dispersal. In: CIESM (Ed.), Turbidite systems and deep-sea fans of the Mediterranean and the Black seas. CIESM Workshop Series. vol. 17. Monaco]. Detailed geothermal and geochemical investigations of Isis MV have been carried out during the NAUTINIL (2003) and MIMES (2004) cruises within the framework of the Euro-margins/Mediflux project. Sediment temperatures of more than 40 °C at 10 m below the seafloor at the center of the mud volcano indicate an exceptionally high level of activity. Rapidly decreasing temperature gradients away from the center support the hypothesis of a dominantly axisymmetric functioning of Isis MV. The microbathymetry along dive tracks of the submersible Nautile reveals the presence of terraces and shows that the temperature gradients at shallow sediment depth follow the morphology. At the center, porewater profiles are characterized by a rapid decrease of chlorinity within the uppermost meter of the sediments, whereas the chlorinity of cores taken at short distances away is equal to bottom water values. Applying simple analytical models to the data provides evidence of recent mud volcano activity but no straightforward explanation of the observed anomalies, which points to a transient regime of variable fluid flow, possibly accompanied by episodic mud eruptions. Numerical modeling suggests that rapid cooling of the sediment column and downward progression of the sharp decrease in porewater chlorinity observed between the two cruises is related to episodic infiltration of bottom seawater into the mud.

Description: The Logatchev hydrothermal field (14 degrees 45'N on the MAR) is one of a few submarine hydrothermal systems associated with ultramafic rocks. It is situated on the eastern inner flank of the rift valley wall, 7 km away from the spreading axis and its formation has previously been linked to detachment faulting and core complex formation. Geological mapping during various ROV dives, geological sampling, and shallow drilling reveal a structural control of hydrothermal activity as well as its location in a debris flow consisting of heterogeneous ultramafic and mafic intrusive rocks. The mixed mafic/ultramafic host rock lithology is in agreement with published vent fluid and gas chemical data showing characteristics for interaction with mafic as well as with ultramafic rocks. Massive sulfide formation is more focused than previously thought and likely limited to a thin veneer at the seafloor. The Logatchev hydrothermal field shows a number of peculiarities that are unusual for most other hydrothermal systems. One of these are so-called,smoking craters", seafloor depressions that are several meters wide, characterized by an elevated crater rim made up partly of sulfide talus but also of abundant wall rock material. At these smoking craters hydrothermal venting occurs directly from holes within the craters and from small, cm to dm high, Cu-rich chimneys occurring at the crater rim. Based on geological mapping and sampling we suggest that these smoking craters are the product of processes related to the regional and local geological setting in an ultramafic-hosted, off-axis location with abundant landslides, as well as off-axis gabbroic intrusions providing the heat for the hydrothermal convection cell. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Description: The feeding behaviour of adults of the marine calanoid copepod Centropages hamatus was studied in laboratory experiments with ciliates and phytoplankton as food sources. The ingestion rate of algal (flagellates, diatoms) and ciliate prey (oligotrichs) as a function of prey concentration could be described by a Holling type III functional response. with close to zero ingestion rates at concentrations below 5 mu g Cl-1. In general, ingestion of ciliates was higher than ingestion of algae, and maximum feeding rates by adult males reached were half the feeding rates of adult females at prey concentrations exceeding 50 mu g Cl-1. When diatoms and ciliates were offered together C. hamatus (both sexes) fed exclusively on ciliates as long as they contributed with more than 5% to the mixture. This indicates the capability of active prey selection and switching between suspension feeding and ambush predation. Therefore, the feeding behaviour of adult C hamaths can be characterised as omnivorous with a preference for larger motile prey. This implies a trophic level above two, if there is a sufficient abundance of protozoan food available. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Description: During the Last Glacial Maximum much of North America was covered by the Laurentide ice sheet. Its melting during termination 1 led to systematic changes in proglacial lake formation, continental runoff, and possibly North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The accompanying change in chemical weathering rates in the interior of North America throughout the deglaciation resulted in a pronounced change in seawater Pb isotope composition in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Here we present the first high-resolution records of seawater Pb isotope variations of North Atlantic Deep Water extracted from authigenic Fe–Mn oxyhydroxides in three sediment cores (51GGC, 1790 m depth; 31GGC, 3410 m depth; 12JPC, 4250 m depth) from the Blake Ridge off Florida. These data reveal a striking excursion from relatively unradiogenic 206Pb/204Pb as low as 18.93 towards highly radiogenic Pb isotope compositions that was initiated during the Bølling–Allerød interstadial and was most pronounced in both intermediate and deep waters during and after the Younger Dryas (206Pb/204Pb as high as 19.38 at 8.8 ka in 4250 m). This pattern is interpreted to be a direct function of increased inflow of continent-derived radiogenic Pb into the western North Atlantic, supplied through chemical weathering of North American rocks that had been eroded and freshly exposed during the preceding glacial cycle. These sediment-derived data are complemented by new laser ablation Pb isotope data from a ferromanganese crust from the Blake Plateau at 850 m water depth, which show only small glacial–interglacial Pb isotope variations of the Florida Current (206Pb/204Pb between 19.07 and 19.16). The lack of change in the Blake Plateau record at the same time as the radiogenic excursion in the deeper sediments supports a northern origin of the pulse of radiogenic Pb. After the Younger Dryas, the deep western North Atlantic has experienced a persistent highly radiogenic Pb supply that was most pronounced during the first half of the Holocene and still lasts until today.