ALBERT

Description: Middle Pleistocene strata of the Kidnappers Group consist of a conformable sequence of alternating fluvio-lacustrine and shallow marine sediments exposed along coastal cliffs near Cape Kidnappers, southern Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Three major paleomagnetic polarity intervals are recognised and interpreted as Jaramillo Normal Subchron, upper Matuyama Reversed Chron and Brunhes Normal Chron. This and biostratigraphy indicates an age range of 0.97 to 0.54 Ma for the group, compared to 0.85 to 〈 0.33 Ma previously suggested by fission track ages of tuffs. The new age control and facies interpretations suggest that the upper part of the group represents oxygen isotope stages 22 to 15. The duration and magnitude of isotope stages is reflected in the relative thicknesses of lithological units. Glacial periods are recorded as alluvial aggradation in the form of braidplain conglomerates, while estuarine and subaerial sands and muds with temperate climate pollens represent interglacial periods. This contrasts with many coastal and shelf sequences where glacial periods are represented by unconformities. Chemical and paleomagnetic characterisation of silicic tuffs in the Kidnappers Group establishes correlation to other sections and cores in New Zealand, the Tasman Sea and the western Pacific Ocean, thus providing temporal correlation for a range of sedimentary environments.

Description: Distribution and abundance of the horned octopus Eledone cirrhosa in the Tyrrhenian Sea are described on the basis of stratified-random bottom trawl surveys in spring and summer of the years 1985–1987. Specimens were caught between 25 and 630 m depth (higher densities between 50 and 200 m depth); mature males were found to prefer deeper bottoms than mature females. Young specimens occurred in spring samples from the Western Ligurian Sea and in summer samples from the Lower Tyrrhenian Sea, but were scarcely represented in the Higher Tyrrhenian Sea. Thus recruitment seems to be progressively delayed later in the season from north to south. The greatest abundance was recorded in the Higher Tyrrhenian Sea; wide seasonal variations of minimum stock biomass estimates have been observed and total biomass decreased from 1985 to 1987 in the surveyed areas.

Description: The oxygen isotopic composition of bulk chalk samples, the planktonic foraminifers Globotruncana and Rugoglobigerina, and the benthic bivalve Inoceramus are reported from the standard section of the Upper Cretaceous white chalk of Lägerdorf-Kronsmoor, NW Germany (Middle Coniacian to Lower Maastrichtian). The section shows the increasing impact of burial diagenesis with depth expressed by a significant negative trend in the oxygen isotopic values and increasing amounts of secondary, precipitated microspar. However, the biogenic components studied show different diagenetic characteristics. The planktonic foraminifers are completely recrystallized, whereas the prisms of Inoceramus are well preserved and only slightly overgrown by negligible amounts of secondary calcite. The original oxygen isotopic composition of the chalk is estimated on the basis of numerical elimination of the diagenetic trend and by use of a normalized carbonate content. It appears that the corrected isotopic signal of the bulk sediment, which primarily consisted of calcareous nannoplankton, significantly correlates with the isotopic composition of the Inoceramus prisms. Thus, the benthic bivalve Inoceramus and the nannoplankton probably lived in a water mass of the same isotopic composition. The Inoceramus oxygen isotope values suggest a mean temperature of approximately 16°C for the NW European Basin during the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian.

Description: A central tenet of Antarctic ecology suggests that increases in Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) populations during the last four decades resulted from an increase in prey availability brought on by the decrease in baleen whale stocks. We question this tenet and present evidence to support the hypothesis that these increases are due to a gradual decrease in the frequency of cold years with extensive winter sea ice cover resulting from environmental warming. Supporting data were derived from one of the first, major multidisciplinary winter expedition to the Scotia and Weddell seas; recent satellite images of ocean ice cover; and the analysis of long-term surface temperature records and penguin demography. Our observations indicate there is a need to pay close attention to environmental data in the management of Southern Ocean resources given the complexity of relating biological changes to ecological perturbations.

Description: The seabird and seal community at Heard Island and the McDonald Islands comprised an estimated total biomass of 27893 tonnes of which the 15 breeding species of seabirds made up 70%. The total annual consumption of marine resources was estimated to be approximately 521 000 t, of which 81% was consumed by seabirds Approximately 165 000 t of fish, 41 600 t of squid and 312 000 t of crustaceans are consumed annually by this seabird and seal community. The annual energy flux to this community was estimated to be 2.17·1012 kJ and approximately 56 000 t of carbon are consumed annually. Breeding populations of King Penguins and Antarctic Fur Seals are increasing, that of the Southern Elephant Seal is decreasing; there are no data on the population trend for Macaroni Penguins, the predominant consumer species. Commercial fisheries are presently operating at the nearby Iles Kerguelen, and similar activities may prove to be commercially viable at Heard Island. The fishery is for Champsocephalus gunnari, a major prey species of penguins and Antarctic Fur Seals at Heard Island during the summer breeding season.

Description: During cruise ARK IV/3 with RV Polarstern (1987) volcanic rocks were recovered from the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge (NGR), a slow spreading (half rate approximately 0.5 cm) ridge with an axial depth of more than 5000 m. The NGR is one of the slowest and deepest mid-ocean ridges so far known and calculations based on the distance of sampling location from the axial valley yielded ages of approximately 600 ka for the rocks investigated here. According to petrographic and geochemical results i.e. spinifex textures, mg 〉 70 and MgO 〉 9 wt.%, the volcanics are termed komatiitic basalts. Dark spherical droplets of basanitic composition within the komatiitic basalts are believed to be relicts of an incomplete magma-mixing whose basanitic end-member could well account for the enriched character of the NGR basalts in terms of rare earth elements, Ti and incompatible trace elements. Based on Nd-isotope as well as high Sm/Nd ratios, mantle metasomatism (i.e. veined-mantle model) could be responsible for the enrichment of incompatible trace elements in the source region of komatiitic basalts of the NGR.

Description: The flux of reactive organic carbon (C(org)) into sediments of the southern and eastern Weddell Sea was estimated by modelling measured oxygen and nitrate pore-water profiles. Highest flux of reactive organic carbon into the sediment was calculated for the shelf region (500 and 600 mmol C m-2 year-1), whereas for pelagic and continental slope sediments C(org) fluxes of less than 60 mmol C m-2 year-1 and 100-200 mmol C m-2 year-1 respectively were calculated. The oxygen penetration depth (OPD) ranged from less than 2 cm in shelf sediments to much greater than 40 cm in pelagic sediments. For the first time, sediments covered by the Filchner Ice Shelf (probably cut off from a source of primary production for a few decades) were sampled. In this area a restricted vertical flux of reactive organic carbon was expected. However, the C(org), content of these sediments was as high as that of Antarctic shelf sediments, which suggests lateral transport of organic matter. In contrast, pore-water profiles and calculated reactive organic carbon fluxes off Filchner Ice Shelf are similar to those of much deeper depositional environments (3000-4000 m water depth).

Description: Teleseismic P-wave travel time residuals recorded by a mobile, shortperiod network are interpreted using the composition of crustal and upper mantle xenoliths. A three-dimensional inversion of the P residuals revealed a small-scale anomalous domain with a velocity reduction of 3% in the crust and a broad low-velocity anomaly of 4% beneath the Moho down to a depth of 50 km. Xenoliths of the Miocene Urach volcanic field (“UVF”, 1300 km2; 355 eruptive centres, mostly diatremes) comprise phlogopite-bearing, clinopyroxene-rich mantle xenoliths, evidence for large ion lithophile element (LIL) metasomatism in an originally depleted harzburgitic mantle, reflecting chemical modification of the upper mantle beneath the UVF. The metasomatism caused partial melting in the spinel peridotite stability field, indicated by glasses in xenoliths, and a diapiric uprise of the partially molten metasomatized mantle. The observed reduction of the P-wave velocity of 4% in the lithospheric mantle can be explained by a local enrichment of phlogopite accompanied by increased temperatures. The crustal low-velocity body coincides very well with the postulated volume of an ancient intracrustal magma chamber or system of chambers required by the composition of xenoliths, the magnetization of the diatremes and the spatial distribution of the volcanic eruption centres.

Description: Crustal xenoliths in three Cenozoic volcanic fields of West Germany, the Northern Hessian Depression (NHD), the Eifel and the Urach/Hegau, include medium to high-grade meta sedimentary and felsic to mafic meta-igneous rocks. Also present in all three suites are pyroxenites and hornblendites. For each volcanic field, a model crustal profile is proposed based on calculated or measured P-wave velocities of xenoliths and depth-Vp relationships (EGT Central Segment and Rhenish Massif traverses). The xenolith lithologies from the NHD and the Eifel show some similarities. The middle crust between the depths of about 10 and 25 km consists mainly of meta-sediments, felsic gneisses and granulites. Meta-sedimentary rock types are particularly abundant in the Eifel at depths of between about 5 and 15 km but are less common within the NHD xenolith collection. The felsic gneisses range from meta-granites to meta-tonalites (I-and S-type). Eifel meta-sediments range from meta-pelites to meta-greywackes and meta-quartzites. The NHD xenolith suite contains a few highly depleted granulite-facies meta-sedimentary fragments. At depths between 24 and 26 km, the increase in Vp from about 6.8 to 〉 8 km s−1 (28–34 km) is correlated with the presence of mafic granulites intercalated with eclogites, pyroxenites and hornblendites. Beneath North Hessia, the granulite layer problably grades into a composite eclogite-peridotite layer at the lower part of this transition zone. The crust beneath the Urach/Hegau consists largely of meta-sediments with subordinate felsic meta-igneous rocks. Most of the meta-sedimentary samples seem to be depleted in felsic components, suggesting intra-crustal differentiation by partial melting. The Urach crust contains lithologies which are similar to the outcropping Moldanubian-type para-gneisses of the Black Forest. Mafic and ultramafic xenoliths from the Urach/Hegau differ in their mineralogy and chemical composition from the Eifel and NHD mafic granulites. They represent meta-cumulates derived from alkaline magmas which intruded the base of the crust and underwent deformation and recrystallization. Petrographic and chemical differences between Urach/Hegau and Eifel/NHD are believed to reflect the contrasting styles of crustal evolution in the Rhenohercynian and the Moldanubian belts of the Variscan orogen.

Description: Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important atmospheric trace gas. Changes in the concentration of N2O in the atmosphere have evoked considerable interest because of its role in (i) regulating stratospheric ozone levels, and (ii) contributing to the atmospheric greenhouse phenomenon. The global concentration of N2O in the atmosphere has been rising since the start of the Industrial Revolution, before which the concentration was almost constant at about 280–290 ppbv. In ad 1990, it reached about 310 ppbv and is rising at a rate of 0·5–1·1 ppbv (i.e. 0·2–0·3%) per year. In this paper, the history of N2O in the Earth's atmosphere, together with its latitudinal and altitudinal distributions, and seasonal oscillations, are described.