The White Stone Band of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, an integrated high resolution approach to understanding environmental change

The Kimmeridge Clay is a Jurassic mudrock succession that shows Milankovitch Band climatic cyclicity. A key issue is to determine how the subtle changes that define this cyclicity result from climatic change. Using material from the Natural Environment Research Council Rapid Global Geological Events (RGGE) Kimmeridge Drilling Project boreholes, the White Stone Band was investigated at the lamination scale using backscattered electron imagery and quantitative palynofacies. Fabric analysis shows the lamination to represent successive deposition of coccolith-rich and organic-matter-rich layers. Individual laminae contain unsorted palynological debris with a consistent ratio of marine and terrestrial components. Such mixed organic matter input is interpreted as the result of storm transport. Linking water column processes to laminae deposition suggests seasonal input with a coccolith bloom followed by a more diverse assemblage including dinoflagellates and photosynthetic chlorobiacean bacteria. As the photic zone extended into the euxinic water column organic matter export to the sea bed underwent minimal cycling through oxidation and subsequently became preserved through sulphurization with greatly increased sequestration of carbon. This was significantlyincreased by late season storm-driven mixing of euxinic water into the photic zone. Increased frequency ofstorm systems would therefore dilute the coccolith input to give an oil shale. Hence climatically induced changes in storm frequency would progressively vary the organic content of the sediment and generate the climate cycle signal. Keywords: Milankovitch theory, Kimmeridge Clay, organic matter, high-resolution methods, climate change

Migration of the Antarctic Polar Front through the mid-Pleistocene transition: evidence and climatic implications

The Antarctic Polar Front is an important biogeochemical divider in the Southern Ocean. Laminated diatom mat deposits record episodes of massive flux of the diatom Thalassiothrix antarctica beneath the Antarctic Polar Front and provide a marker for tracking the migration of the Front through time. Ocean Drilling Program Sites 1091, 1093 and 1094 are the only deep piston cored record hitherto sampled from the sediments of the circumpolar biogenic opal belt. Mapping of diatom mat deposits between these sites indicates a glacial-interglacial front migration of up to 6 degrees of latitude in the early / mid Pleistocene. The mid Pleistocene transition marks a stepwise minimum 7 degree northward migration of the locus of the Polar Front sustained for about 450 kyr until an abrupt southward return to a locus similar to its modern position and further south than any mid-Pleistocene locus. This interval from a “900 ka event” that saw major cooling of the oceans and a ?13C minimum through to the 424 ka Mid-Brunhes Event at Termination V is also seemingly characterised by 1) sustained decreased carbonate in the subtropical south Atlantic, 2) reduced strength of Antarctic deep meridional circulation, 3) lower interglacial temperatures and lower interglacial atmospheric CO2 levels (by some 30 per mil) than those of the last 400 kyr, evidencing less complete deglaciation. This evidence is consistent with a prolonged period lasting 450 kyr of only partial ventilation of the deep ocean during interglacials and suggests that the mechanisms highlighted by recent hypotheses linking mid-latitude atmospheric conditions to the extent of deep ocean ventilation and carbon sequestration over glacial-interglacial cycles are likely in operation during the longer time scale characteristic of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. The cooling that initiated the “900 ka event” may have been driven by minima in insolation amplitude related to eccentricity modulation of precession that also affected low latitude climates as marked by threshold changes in the African monsoon system. The major thresholds in earth system behaviour through the Mid-Pleistocene Transition were likely governed by an interplay of the 100 kyr and 400 kyr eccentricity modulation of precession

The position of graptolites within Lower Palaeozoic planktic ecosystems.

An integrated approach has been used to assess the palaeoecology of graptolites both as a discrete group and also as a part of the biota present within Ordovician and Silurian planktic realms. Study of the functional morphology of graptolites and comparisons with recent ecological analogues demonstrates that graptolites most probably filled a variety of niches as primary consumers, with modes of life related to the colony morphotype. Graptolite coloniality was extremely ordered, lacking any close morphological analogues in Recent faunas. To obtain maximum functional efficiency, graptolites would have needed varying degrees of coordinated automobility. A change in lifestyle related to ontogenetic changes was prevalent within many graptolite groups. Differing lifestyle was reflected by differing reproductive strategies, with synrhabdosomes most likely being a method for rapid asexual reproduction. Direct evidence in the form of graptolithophage 'coprolitic' bodies, as well as indirect evidence in the form of probable defensive adaptations, indicate that graptolites comprised a food item for a variety of predators. Graptolites were also hosts to a variety of parasitic organisms and provided an important nutrient source for scavenging organisms

A 2100 year BP record of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, El Niño Southern Oscillation and Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in marine production and fluvial input from Saanich Inlet, British Columbia

Exceptional varved sediments of 2100 years BP recovered from Saanich Inlet have been analysed using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and spectral analysis techniques. Each varve may contain up to 22 well defined individual laminae which can be attributed to seasonal-scale processes. Sediment flux comprises alternating diatom ooze/diatomaceous mud deposited during spring through autumn and a silty-clay deposited during winter. The latter may be sporadically punctuated by clay-rich laminae. Identification of some 2000 individual consecutive laminae, based on fabric and diatom assemblage, has allowed the construction of time series data for spectral analysis. Laminae types analysed include: early spring Thalassiosira spp., late spring/early summer Skeletonema costatum, multiple summer/autumn Chaetoceros spp. diatom oozes and sporadically present clay-rich winter flood deposits. Sub-decadal periods have been identified and linked to the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and decadal periods to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Comparison of spectral analysis results with modern analogues suggests associations may exist between: early spring Thalassiosira spp. laminae and stronger La Niña events; late spring/early summer S. costatum laminae and El Niño events; summer/autumn Chaetoceros spp. multiple laminae and negative Pacific Northwest Index (PNI) regimes; and sporadically present winter clay-rich laminae and PNI-regimes. The average period for an ENSO cycle was 3.6 years, QBO 2.5 years and PDO 14.8 years. Spectral analysis of the more recent PNI record shows similar significant periods of 13.2, 3.7 and 2.6 years. Multi-decadal periods recorded include: 42.2 and 31.3 years, which might suggest multiples of PDO

Palaeo-flux records from electron microscope studies of Holocene laminated sediments, Saanich Inlet, British Columbia

Holocene varved sediments recovered from Saanich Inlet, ODP Leg 169S, have been analysed using high-resolution scanning electron microscope techniques. The individual centimetre-scale varves form couplets, comprising diatom ooze/diatomaceous mud deposited during spring to autumn and silty clay deposited during winter. Each individual varve may contain up to 19 laminae, recording sub-seasonal to seasonal-scale processes. These intra-annual laminae contain a range of components, including pelagic faecal pellets and aggregates of diatomaceous material. The combination of these individual components in varying proportions with a heterogeneous sediment, leads to a range of laminae fabrics. These include intact monospecific Skeletonema costatum and Thalassiosira pacifica diatom oozes and highly fragmented, aggregate- and faecal pellet-dominated diatom oozes which are typically Chaetoceros spp.-dominated. Additional laminae fabrics include diatomaceous mud, stringer-type diatomaceous mud which contains discrete diatom aggregates, homogeneous and pelleted silty clay. The varved diatom succession typically commences in early spring with Thalassiosira spp./Chaetoceros spp., followed by Chaetoceros spp. in late spring. During late spring/early summer blooms of S. costatum may be recorded, and summer to autumn production is characterised by one to several Chaetoceros spp.-dominated blooms. Inter-annual variability in diatom flux typically comprises the presence/absence of Thalassiosira spp. and S. costatum. In addition, resting spores of Chaetoceros spp., Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii and Leptocylindricus danicus are intermittently recorded. There is a major change in varve thickness from thinner varves prior to approximately 2100 yr BP to thicker varves after this date, which is attributed to increased terrigenous input throughout the varve. The identification of laminae fabrics, diatom successions and a unique massive interval has enabled an inter-site correlation between sites 1033B and 1034B

A 160-k.y.-old record of El Nino-Southern Oscillation in marine production and coastal runoff from Santa Barbara Vasin, California, USA

A 160-k.y.-old laminated sediment record from the Santa Barbara Basin, California, analyzed using scanning electron microscope techniques, provides a history of interannual variability of marine production and coastal runoff. We used backscatter electron imagery to measure the components of the varve; these include a terrigenous lamina formed by seasonal runoff from winter rains together with a diatomaceous lamina that records marine production during the spring and early summer. Spectral analysis of terrigenous and diatomaceous laminae thickness reveals significant periodicities of 3.1 and 8.4 yr in the terrigenous series; these are indistinguishable, within the frequency resolution of the spectra, from significant periodicities of 3.5 and 7.6 yr in the diatomaceous series. The 3.1 and 3.5 yr periodicities record El Niño modulation of coastal runoff and marine production; the 8.4 and 7.6 yr periodicities are consistent with modulation by strong to very strong El Niño events. This is supported by the results of cross-spectral analysis of the terrigenous and diatomaceous records, which reveal inverse or antiphase relationships at 3.5 and 7.6 yr. Our work adds to a body of evidence that suggests that El Niño has been a persistent feature of late Quaternary climate variability

Microfabric study of diatomaceous and lithogenic deposition in laminated sediments from the Gotland Deep, Baltic Sea

The deep basins of the Baltic Sea are commonly anoxic, and finely laminated diatomaceous sediments have been deposited at intervals throughout the last 8000 yr. The origin and composition of individual laminae in Gotland Deep sediments have often proved difficult to characterise using traditional micropalaeontological and sedimentological studies. Here, we present a scanning electron microscope study in which lamina down to 30 m in thickness with distinct mineralogical or micropalaeontological composition have been identified and described. Depositional laminae sequences in the form of couplets, triplets and quadruplets of diatomaceous and lithogenic laminae are observed with an average thickness of approximately 700 m. Diagenetic Ca-rhodochrosite laminae also occur within these depositional sequences. Examination of the diatom assemblages suggests that these bundles of laminae represent annual deposits, or varves. Varves are relatively uncommon, and typically occur in small intervals of two to five varves, which are interrupted by more diffusely laminated and homogenous sediments. The origin of these more massive sediments probably relates to periodic re-oxygenation of the basin on inter-annual time scales and destruction of varves by bioturbation