ALBERT

Description: A 0.25 m**2 United States Naval Electronics Laboratory box corer was used to take replicate samples from an oligotrophic bottom under the North Pacific Central Water Mass (~28°N, 155°W). The bottom is a red clay with manganese nodules at a depth of 5500-5800 m. Macrofaunal density ranges from 84 to 160 individuals per m**2 and is therefore much the same as in Northwest Atlantic Gyre waters. Of the macrofaunal taxa, polychaetes dominate (55 %), followed by tanaids (18 %), bivalves (7 %), and isopods (6 %). Meiofaunal taxa were only partially retained by the 297 µm screen used in washing. Even then, they are 1.5-3.9 times as abundant as the macrofaunal taxa, with nematodes being numerically dominant by far. Foraminifera seem to comprise an important portion of the community, but could not be assessed accurately because of the inability to discriminate living and dead tests. Remains of what are probably xenophyophoridans are also very important, but offer the same problem. Faunal diversity is extremely high, with deposit feeders comprising the overwhelming majority. Most species are rare, being encountered only once. The distributions of only three species show any significant deviation from randomness. The polychaete fauna from box cores collected from 90 miles to the north was not significantly different from that of the principal study locality. Concordance appeared at several taxonomic levels, from species through macrofaunal/meiofaunal relationships. As a result, the variation in total animal abundance shows aggregation among cores. We discuss Sokolova's concept of a deep-sea oligotrophic zone dominated by suspension feeders, and reconcile it with our present findings. The high diversity of the fauna combined with the low food level contradict theories that relate diversity directly with productivity.

Description: Small glassy spheres, ellipsoids, teardrops, cylinders and dumbbells occur in large numbers in Tertiary deep sea clays cored in the northeastern Pacific by the Deep Sea Drilling Project. These objects morphologically resemble microtektites, but have the composition of an oceanic tholeiite. On the basis of their composition and stratigraphic relationship it is considered that they are of volcanic origin and most likely have been formed in deep water by submarine volcanic processes.

Description: 1. On the cruises 3 and 15 of R.V. "Meteor" 6 grab samples, and 6 hauls with the 6 m Agassiztrawl were taken and at 2 stations the deep sea camera was lowered. This material gave quantitative results on the meiofauna and minimum counts of the macrofauna. 2. The nematodes constitute nearly 95% of the meiofauna, the copepoda only 2%. With increasing sediment depth the density of animals decrease gradually. In the uppermost centimeter of sediment 42.6% of the meiofauna are found while only 3.7% live in layer 6-7 cm. Meiofauna weight ranges from 0.6-5.7 mg/25 m**2 surface i.e. 0.24-2.8 g/m**2. 3. Mean numbers of individuals and weights show standard errors of 20-30 %. As an approximate average values for further considerations the weight of the meiofauna in the area was taken as 1 g/m**2 4. Quantitative information on the macrofauna is derived from the trawls and the photographs for the actinia Chitonanthus abyssorum only, which is found in the rate of 1 individual/36-72 m**2, but seems to be less abundant generally. 5. Animal density does not decrease steadily from nearshore to offshore biocoenoses, i.e. generally with increasing depth. The decrease is more pronounced for macro- than for meiofauna. For the deep sea the weight proportion of macrofauna : meiofauna is of the order of 1 : 1. 6. With the assumption, that adaptation of metabolism to deep sea conditions is similar in macro- and meiofauna total metabolism of invertebrates is ascribed to meiofauna to more than 80%. 7. The structure of the biocoenosis of the deep sea floor is characterized by the meiofauna living on and in the sediment and by the dominance of sediment feeders in the macrofauna. 8. Considering the large numbets and high partition rates of bacteria a comparative large part of the metabolism in the deep sea sediment must be ascribed to bacteria. This favours the hypothesis, that with increasing depth and decreasing addition of organic material to the sediment, the importance of meiofauna and microorganisms for total metabolism increases. 9. Considering the different modes of food transport to the deep sea environment, i.e. sinking of dead particles, transport by vertical migration of organisms, aggregation of organic particles, adsorption of dissoloved organic substance to inorganic particles, and heterotrophy, the sediment may be assumed to contain more food for invertebrates than the water above the bottom. 10. Suspensions feeders of macrofauna are fixed to hard substrates in the sediment surface. Some of them are shown to bend themselves down to the bottom in underwater photographs. This suggests the idea that some deep sea suspension feeders partly depend on food from the sediment surface, on which they feed directly.

Description: Compressional (Vp) and shear (Vs) wave velocities have been measured to 10 kb in 32 cores of basalt from 14 Pacific sites of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. Both Vp and V s show wide ranges (3.70 to 6.38 km/sec for Vp and 1.77 to 3.40 km/sec for V s at 0.5 kb) which are linearly related to density and sea floor age, confirming earlier findings by Christensen and Salisbury of decreasing velocity with progressive submarine weathering based on studies of basalts from five sites in the Atlantic. Combined Pacific and Atlantic data give rates of decreasing velocity of -1.89 and -1.35 km/sec per 100 my for Vp and Vs respectively. New analyses of oceanic seismic refraction data indicate a decrease in layer 2 velocities with age similar to that observed in the laboratory, suggesting that weathering penetrates to several hundred meters in many regions and is largely responsible for the extreme range and variability of layer 2 refraction velocities.

Description: Densities of layer 2 basalt recovered during the Deep Sea Drilling Project have been found to decrease steadily with age, a finding ascribed to progressive submarine weathering in the context of sea-floor spreading. The least-squares solution for 52 density measurements gives a rate of decrease in density of (Delta p)/(Delta t) = -0.0046 g per ccm m.y. = -16 percent per 100 m.y., which is in excellent agreement with earlier estimates based on observed chemical depletion rates of dredged oceanic basalt. Weathering of sea-floor basalt, should it penetrate to any considerable depth in layer 2, will decrease layer 2 seismic refraction velocities, act as a source of geothermal heat, and substantially influence the chemistry of sea water and the overlying column of sediment.

Description: Sediments from near the basement of a number of Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) sites, from the Bauer Deep, and from the East Pacific Rise have unusually high transition metal-to-aluminum ratios. Similarities in the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical compositions of these deposits point to a common origin. All the sediments studied have rare-earth-element (REE) patterns strongly resembling the pattern of sea water, implying either that the REE's were coprecipitated with ferromanganese hydroxyoxides (hydroxyoxides denote a mixture of unspecified hydrated oxides and hydroxides), or that they are incorporated in small concentrations of phosphatic fish debris found in all samples. Oxygen isotopic data indicate that the metalliferous sediments are in isotopic equilibrium with sea water and are composed of varying mixtures of two end-member phases with different oxygen isotopic compositions: an iron-manganese hydroxyoxide and an iron-rich montmorillonite. A low-temperature origin for the sediments is supported by mineralogical analyses by x-ray diffraction which show that goethite, iron-rich montmorillonite, and various manganese hydroxyoxides are the dominant phases present. Sr87/Sr86 ratios for the DSDP sediments are indistinguishable from the Sr87/Sr86 ratio in modern sea water. Since these sediments were formed 30 to 90 m.y. ago, when sea water had a lower Sr87/Sr86 value, the strontium in the poorly crystalline hydroxyoxides must be exchanging with interstitial water in open contact with sea water. In contrast, uranium isotopic data indicate that the metalliferous sediments have formed a closed system for this element. The sulfur isotopic compositions suggest that sea-water sulfur dominates these sediments with little or no contribution of magmatic or bacteriologically reduced sulfur. In contrast, ratios of lead isotopes in the metalliferous deposits resemble values for oceanic tholeiite basalt, but are quite different from ratios found in authigenic marine manganese nodules. Thus, lead in the metalliferous sediments appears to be of magmatic origin. The combined mineralogical, isotopic, and chemical data for these sediments suggest that they formed from hydrothermal solutions generated by the interaction of sea water with newly formed basalt crust at mid-ocean ridges. The crystallization of solid phases took place at low temperatures and was strongly influenced by sea water, which was the source for some of the elements found in the sediments.

Description: In 1970, the United States put forward the first detailed and comprehensive proposal for a regime which would apply to the mining of manganese nodules in the area beyond national jurisdiction. The United States' draft Convention on the International Seabed Area made a significant contribution towards moving the U.N. Seabed Committee from the stage of engaging in general debate to making specific proposals. In the U.S. draft, an "International Seabed Resource Authority" would have the power to license the mining of manganese nodules and would carry on certain supervisory activities in connection therewith. In the planning of the expected fast-approaching exploitation stage for manganese nodules the U.N. Seabed Committee collected and prepared documents and data in 1972 for an initial session of the Law of the Sea Conference which was expected to take place in 1973.

Description: The concentrations of rare-earth elements (REE) have been measured in 31 ferromanganese nodules from the Pacific and Indian Oceans and vary by almost a factor of 5. Too few nodules have been analyzed to define possible regional trends. The shale-normalized patterns, however, permit division of nodules into two groups: those from depth greater than 3000–3500 m and those from less depth. The factors that determine this change in the relative concentration of REE may be related to the mineralogy of manganese phases and/or the transport of REE to the deep ocean by particulate matter. Comparison of the REE patterns of nodules with those of phillipsite, phosphorite, clays, CaCO3 and seawater suggests that the patterns of these phases reflect fractionation from an initial pattern closely resembling that of shale. By assuming that the accumulation rate of REE in clays, CaCO3 and nodules is represented by that for surface sediments, it has been possible to estimate an accumulation rate of phillipsite in pelagic sediments of the Pacific of 0.02 mg/cm2/yr.

Description: Basalt underlying early Campanian chalk at Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 163 is divided into seven extrusive cooling units bounded by glassy margins. The margins have dips of 15° to 70°, suggestive of pillow flows rather than tabular flows. The margins are fresh sideromelane (glass) grading inward to opaque and reddish-brown globules containing microcrystalline material with radial, undulose extinction. Relative to adjacent sideromelane, the reddish-brown globules are enriched in sodium and calcium, whereas the opaque globules are depleted in these elements and enriched in iron and magnesium. It appears that basalt just inside the pillow margins has differentiated in place into globules of two distinct compositions. This globule zone grades inward to less rapidly cooled pyroxene varioles and intergrowths of plagioclase and opaque minerals. In the center of the thicker cooling units, the texture is diabasic. Alteration and calcite vein abundance are greatest at pillow margins and decrease inward; the interior of the thickest cooling unit is only slightly altered, and calcite veins are absent. Chemical analysis of whole rock by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and of sideromelane by electron microprobe, indicates that the rock is a slightly weathered tholeiite. The atomic absorption analyses, except the one nearest the top of the basalt, are relatively uniform and similar to the sideromelane microprobe analyses, including those near the top of the basalt. This suggests that deep penetration is not necessary to get through the severely altered layer at the basalt surface, and that within this altered layer, analyses of sideromelane may be more representative of crustal composition than analyses of whole rock.

Description: This site was accidentally spudded on a small basement pinnacle and was abandoned when hard rock was reached within a few meters from the surface. The section penetrated consisted of coarse winnowed calcareous sand over thin chalk ooze resting on a hard crust of ferromanganese oxide presumably covering basalt.

Description: DSDP 162 is located due north of DSDP 161 on the lower west flank of the East Pacific Rise about 3900 km west of the crest. It is in the Clarion-Clipperton block, about 80 km south of the Clarion Fracture Zone. The site lies at the extreme northern edge of the zone of thick sediments that parallels the equator in the Pacific and marks the region of high biological productivity.

Description: Site 41 marks the transition from the North Pacific gyral to the Equatorial Current System. The JOIDES Pacific Advisory Panel selected a site at this latitude along the longitudinal profile of 140°W in order to obtain information on the history of migrations of these current systems.

Description: DSDP 160 forms part of a series of sites in the eastern equatorial Pacific on the west flank of the East Pacific Rise. Earlier legs of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, in particular Legs 5 and 9, have reported sediments rich in oxides of iron and perhaps other transition metals just above basement in the eastern Pacific. These occurrences roughly define a broad zone on the west flank of the rise. Site DSDP 160 lies on this trend and were selected by the Pacific Site Selection Panel to test the extent of such deposits.

Description: Site 32 was proposed by the Pacific Advisory Panel at a location over a strong positive magnetic anomaly (Number 13 on the Pittman-Heirtzler scale, 38 million years) where samples of the basement and the basal sediment would be of value in testing hypotheses for origin of the linear magnetic anomalies from this part of the Pacific. Comparison of this site, south of the Pioneer Fracture Zone, with later sites north of the Fracture Zone would be the basis for evaluating the discontinuity formed by the Pioneer.

Description: The JOIDES Pacific Advisory Panel proposed Site 37 to meet two principal objectives: to determine the significance of the magnetic anomaly pattern, and the longitudinal profile of the sediment sequence in the eastern Pacific. Site 37 was to be located on the same magnetic anomaly as was Site 33 (#10, 32 million years age), for comparison across the intervening Mendocino Fracture Zone. As basement had not been reached at Site 33, this objective could not be met specifically. However, sediment comparison across the fracture zone was possible.

Description: The nonfossiliferous nature of most of the thin sediment sequence at Site 37 had provided little biostratigraphic information for the northern end of the proposed section of sites along 140°W longitude. In an attempt to provide a biostratigraphically more meaningful hole as the high latitude terminus of the meridional section, an additional site (Site 38) was drilled between the Mendocino and Pioneer Fracture Zones.

Description: The cruise 9 of the R/V Valdivia was held from the 11 August 1974 to the 5 December 1974 as a survey expedition of the manganese nodule fields situated in the Pacific Ocean between the Clarion and Clipperton fracture zones. It was part of international effort coordinated by the International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The stations details were stored in the SIO Ferromanganese Nodule - IDOE Portion ( http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/docucomp/page?xml=NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC/MGG/Geology/iso/xml/G00250.xml&view=getDataView&header=none)

Description: DSDP 161 is located on the lower west flank of the East Pacific Rise about midway between the Clipperton and Clarion fracture zones which define the boundaries of a large structural block in the eastern Pacific. The site is about 4,000 km west of the present crest of the Rise. It is located near the northern edge of a zone of thick Cenozoic sediments which marks the general location of the equatorial zone of high biological productivity.

Description: Buried manganese nodules or encrustations were encountered at five drill sites of Leg 16. Surface nodules were also sampled at two sites. With few exceptions, nodules within any one drill hole are fairly uniform in composition and are similar in composition to samples obtained previously from the eastern equatorial Pacific. Geochemical and paleontological evidence suggests that at least one of the buried samples was in situ when found and that at least one other was not. The remaining nodules may have fallen from the sediment surface to the positions in which they were found during the drilling process.

Description: Cruise MN-74-01 of the R/V Moana Wave was the first part of the field work of the NSF-IDOE Inter-University Ferromanganese Research Program in 1974. This program was designed to investigate the origin, growth, and distribution of copper/nickel-rich manganese nodules in the Pacific Ocean. The field effort was designed to satisfy sample requirements of the 15 principal investigators, while increasing general knowledge of the copper/nickel-rich nodule deposits of the equatorial Pacific. This report is the first of a series of cruise reports designed to assist sample requests for documented nodules, sediment, and water samples so the laboratory results can be realistically compared and related to the environment of nodule growth.

Description: The proposed location of Site 33 was over north-south Magnetic Anomaly 10 (Pittman-Heirtzler, 32 million years) in order (a) to provide a basis for comparison of the age of the basal sediments with the age based on the magnetic anomaly, (b) to provide a basis for evaluation of relative movement along the Pioneer and Mendocino Fracture Zones, and (c) by being paired with Site 34, to provide comparison of basement materials for adjacent positive and negative magnetic anomalies.

Description: Site 34 had been located by the JOIDES Pacific Advisory Panel to be over a negative magnetic anomaly (31 million years B.P.) immediately to the east of Anomaly 10 (Site 33). The primary objective was to obtain samples of basement and basal sediment to provide comparison between adjacent positive and negative magnetic anomalies. A second objective was to obtain samples which would permit an analysis of the variability in sediment over relatively short distances (about 10 miles). Although basement had not been reached at Site 33 because of the unexpected chert, the use of a massive diamond bit at Site 34 permitted coring through the chert to basement at 383 meters below the sea floor. Even though the near basement sections of the paired sites (33 and 34) could not be compared, comparison would be possible above the chert layer.

Description: Site 40 was located by the JOIDES Pacific Advisory Panel in the region between the Molokai and Clarion Fracture Zones with the objective of recovering a continuous sediment core for the paleontologic and biostratigraphic study of the variation in sediment components at the transition between the North Pacific gyral and the Equatorial Current System.

Description: DSDP 159 is one of a series of sites in the eastern equatorial Pacific on the west flank of the East Pacific Rise. It was selected by the Pacific Site Selection Panel on the premise that if hydrothermal processes on the crest of the East Pacific Rise supply the transition metals, a broad zone of such deposits should be present immediately above basement over the entire flank of the Rise.

Description: Site 39 was located in the region between the Pioneer and Murray Fracture Zones, with the objective of recovering a continuous sediment core for paleontologic and stratigraphic study of the longitudinal variations in sediment components in the eastern Pacific. This site was selected, together with the adjacent ones in the north-south line along 140°W, to provide information on the geologic history of the North Pacific gyral, insofar as this might be recorded in the sediments.

Description: Site 42 is one of the series of sites selected by the Pacific Advisory Panel along the 140th meridian to sample the longitudinal variation in sediment composition in the eastern Pacific. The site is located in an area of abyssal hills between the Clarion and Clipperton Fracture Zones, and is at the northern margin of the thick development of acoustically transparent sediment extending along the equator.

Description: A cruise, aboard the R/V Moana Wave was held during April-May 1974 and investigated an area 1,400 km S.S.E. of Honolulu, Hawaii, designated as DOMES site 'A' by a panel consisting of industry, government and academic representatives managing the Deep Ocean Mining Environmental Study (DOMES) under the coordination of NOAA Environmental Research Laboratory (ERL). This investigation was conducted in order to understand the effects of commercial ferromanganese mining on the oceanic environment. Baseline studies were made on the water column and ocean floor in typical areas prior to a possible full-scale mining operations in the area of the Pacific Occean stiruated between the Clarion and Clipperton fracture zones.

Description: The cores described in this report were taken on the SEVENTOW Expedition in February-September 1970 by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from the R/V Thomas Washington. A total of 193 cores and dredges were recovered and are available at Scripps for sampling and study.

Description: Compressional (Vp) and shear (Vs) wave velocities have been measured to 1.0 kbar for 14 cores of well-consolidated sedimentary rock from Atlantic and Pacific sites of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. The range of VP (2.05-5.38 km/sec at 0.5 kbar) shows significant overlap with the range of oceanic layer-2 seismic velocities determined by marine refraction surveys, suggesting that sedimentary rocks may, in some regions, constitute the upper portion of layer 2. Differing linear relationships between VP and Vs for basalts and sedimentary rocks, however, may provide a method of resolving layer-2 composition. This is illustra ted for a refraction survey site on the flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where layer-2 velocities agree with basalt, and two sites on the Saya de Malha Bank in the Indian Ocean where layer-2 velocities appear to represent sedimentary rock.

Description: Iron-rich sediments chemically similar to those forming at present on the crest of the East Pacific Rise have been found just above basement at widely separated drill sites in the eastern equatorial Pacific, including three sites of Leg 16 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. These sediments were probably formed when the basement was at the crest of this rise and have moved to their present location as a result of sea-floor spreading.