HMAP Dataset 10: Catalonian Coast

Fish (various) landings and fishing effort in Catalonia, 1831-1984

Benthic foraminiferal turnover across the Dan-C2 event in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean (ODP Site 1262)

G.J.A.R. and L.A. acknowledge funding from projects CGL2017-84693-R and PID2019-105537RB-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and FEDER funds), and from Consolidated Group E05 (Government of Aragon/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional). E.T. recognises partial funding by NSF_OCE 1536611. G.J.A.R thanks the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Conacyt, México) for her predoctoral fellowship. J.S.K.B. and K.L. acknowledge funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Isotope Geosciences Facility at the British Geological Survey (IP-1581–1115) and D.N.S. support from the Royal Society via Wolfson Merit award. This research used samples provided by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and participating countries under management of Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), Inc.The Paleogene was punctuated by perturbations of the global carbon cycle, many associated with transient global warming events (hyperthermals). The Dan-C2 event (~160 kyr after Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary; K/Pg) was the oldest of these eccentricity-linked carbon cycle disturbances (ELCD). In contrast to other hyperthermals, the Dan-C2 event was not characterised by bottom water warming, and surface water warming probably was not global. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages across Dan-C2 at SE Atlantic Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1262 are diverse and strongly dominated by calcareous species. Epifaunal and infaunal morphogroups are equally abundant, suggesting meso-oligotrophic seafloor conditions. Assemblages decreased in diversity gradually before Dan-C2, and Nuttallides truempyi decreased in relative abundance while Stensioeina beccariiformis and the agglutinant Spiroplectammina spectabilis increased, suggesting enhanced food supply to the seafloor. Benthic foraminifera were not highly affected by the Dan-C2 event. An increase in relative abundance of the opportunistic species Bulimina kugleri and Seabrookia cretacea after Dan-C2 points to a change in the type of organic matter arriving at the seafloor. These changes may have been caused by ongoing environmental and/or evolutionary instability following K/Pg mass extinction of oceanic plankton. Variability in composition of pelagic ecosystems, thus the type and/or amount of food arriving at the seafloor, may have been caused by the gradual recovery of pelagic ecosystems after that extinction, possibly affected by warming and pH changes due to Deccan volcanism.PostprintPeer reviewe

Benthic foraminiferal turnover across the Dan-C2 event in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean (ODP Site 1262)

G.J.A.R. and L.A. acknowledge funding from projects CGL2017-84693-R and PID2019-105537RB-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and FEDER funds), and from Consolidated Group E05 (Government of Aragon/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional). E.T. recognises partial funding by NSF_OCE 1536611. G.J.A.R thanks the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Conacyt, México) for her predoctoral fellowship. J.S.K.B. and K.L. acknowledge funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Isotope Geosciences Facility at the British Geological Survey (IP-1581–1115) and D.N.S. support from the Royal Society via Wolfson Merit award. This research used samples provided by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and participating countries under management of Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), Inc.The Paleogene was punctuated by perturbations of the global carbon cycle, many associated with transient global warming events (hyperthermals). The Dan-C2 event (~160 kyr after Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary; K/Pg) was the oldest of these eccentricity-linked carbon cycle disturbances (ELCD). In contrast to other hyperthermals, the Dan-C2 event was not characterised by bottom water warming, and surface water warming probably was not global. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages across Dan-C2 at SE Atlantic Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1262 are diverse and strongly dominated by calcareous species. Epifaunal and infaunal morphogroups are equally abundant, suggesting meso-oligotrophic seafloor conditions. Assemblages decreased in diversity gradually before Dan-C2, and Nuttallides truempyi decreased in relative abundance while Stensioeina beccariiformis and the agglutinant Spiroplectammina spectabilis increased, suggesting enhanced food supply to the seafloor. Benthic foraminifera were not highly affected by the Dan-C2 event. An increase in relative abundance of the opportunistic species Bulimina kugleri and Seabrookia cretacea after Dan-C2 points to a change in the type of organic matter arriving at the seafloor. These changes may have been caused by ongoing environmental and/or evolutionary instability following K/Pg mass extinction of oceanic plankton. Variability in composition of pelagic ecosystems, thus the type and/or amount of food arriving at the seafloor, may have been caused by the gradual recovery of pelagic ecosystems after that extinction, possibly affected by warming and pH changes due to Deccan volcanism.PostprintPeer reviewe

Precessional pacing of tropical ocean carbon export during the Late Cretaceous

The marine biological carbon pump, which exports organic carbon out of the surface ocean, plays an essential role in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, thus impacting climate and affecting marine ecosystems. Orbital variations in solar insolation modulate these processes, but their influence on the tropical Pacific during the Late Cretaceous is unknown. Here we present a high-resolution composite record of elemental barium from deep-sea sediments as a proxy for organic carbon export out of the surface oceans (i.e., export production) from Shatsky Rise in the tropical Pacific. Variations in export production in the Pacific during the Maastrichtian, from 71.5 to 66 million years ago, were dominated by precession and less so by eccentricity modulation or obliquity, confirming that tropical surface-ocean carbon dynamics were influenced by seasonal insolation in the tropics during this greenhouse period. We suggest that precession paced primary production in the tropical Pacific and recycling in the euphotic zone by changing water column stratification, upwelling intensity, and continental nutrient fluxes. Benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates covaried with export production, providing evidence for bentho-pelagic coupling of the marine biological carbon pump across these high-frequency changes in a cool greenhouse planet.</p

Quadricuspid aortic valve not discovered by transthoracic echocardiography

BACKGROUND: Quadricuspid aortic valve is a rare congenital heart defect. Several different anatomical variations of a quadricuspid aortic valve has been described and aortic regurgitation is the predominant valvular dysfunction associated with quadricuspid aortic valve. CASE PRESENTATION: A 68-year-old woman presented with almost a years history of increasing dyspnoea on exertion. The patient have had two previous transthoracic echocardiographic exams in the last six years and they had only documented moderate aortic regurgitation. Transoesophageal echocardiography displayed a rare case of quadricuspid aortic valve with three cusps of equal size and one larger cusp. The malformation was associated with severe aortic regurgitation. CONCLUSION: Liberal use of transoesophageal echocardiography is often warranted if optimal display of valvular morphology is desired

The late Miocene-early Pliocene biogenic bloom: an integrated study in the Tasman sea

The Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Biogenic Bloom (∼9–3.5 Ma) was a paleoceanographic phenomenon defined by anomalously high accumulations of biological components at multiple open ocean sites, especially in certain regions of the Indian, and Pacific oceans. Its temporal and spatial extent with available information leaves fundamental questions about driving forces and responses unanswered. In this work, we focus on the middle part of the Biogenic Bloom (7.4–4.5 Ma) at International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1506 in the Tasman Sea, where we provide an integrated age model based on orbital tuning of the Natural Gamma Radiation, benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes, and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages suggest changes in deep water oxygen concentration and seafloor nutrient supply during generally high export productivity conditions. From 7.4 to 6.7 Ma, seafloor conditions were characterized by episodic nutrient supply, perhaps related to seasonal phytoplankton blooms. From 6.7 to 4.5 Ma, the regime shifted to a more stable interval characterized by eutrophic and dysoxic conditions. Combined with seismic data, a regional change in paleoceanography is inferred at around 6.7 Ma, from stronger and well-oxygenated bottom currents to weaker, oxygen-depleted bottom currents. Our results support the hypothesis that the Biogenic Bloom was a complex, multiphase phenomenon driven by changes in ocean currents, rather than a single uniform period of sustained sea surface water productivity. Highly resolved studies are thus fundamental to its understanding and the disentanglement of local, regional, and global imprints

The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Lutetian Stage at the Gorrondatxe section, Spain

The GSSP for the base of the Lutetian Stage (early/ middle Eocene boundary) is defined at 167.85 metres in the Gorrondatxe sea-cliff section (NW of Bilbao city, Basque Country, northern Spain; 43º22'46.47" N, 3º 00' 51.61" W). This dark marly level coincides with the lowest occurrence of the calcareous nannofossil Blackites inflatus (CP12a/b boundary), is in the middle of polarity Chron C21r, and has been interpreted as the maximumflooding surface of a depositional sequence that may be global in extent. The GSSP age is approximately 800 kyr (39 precession cycles) younger than the beginning of polarity Chron C21r, or ~47.8 Ma in the GTS04 time scale. The proposal was approved by the International Subcommission on Paleogene Stratigraphy in February 2010, approved by the International Commission of Stratigraphy in January 2011, and ratified by the International Union of Geological Sciences in April 2011.Published86-1082.2. Laboratorio di paleomagnetismoJCR Journalrestricte

KHK, PNPLA3 and PPAR as Novel Targets for the Anti-Steatotic Action of Bempedoic Acid

Bempedoic acid (BemA) is an ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) inhibitor used to treat hypercholesterolemia. We studied the anti-steatotic effect of BemA, and the mechanisms involved, in a model of fatty liver in female rats obtained through the administration of a high-fat diet supplemented with liquid fructose (HFHFr) for three months. In the third month, a group of rats was treated with BemA (30 mg/kg/day) by gavage. Plasma analytes, liver histology, adiposity, and the expression of key genes controlling fatty acid metabolism were determined, and PPAR agonism was explored by using luciferase reporter assays. Our results showed that, compared to HFHFr, BemA-treated rats exhibited lower body weight, higher liver/body weight, and reduced hepatic steatosis. In addition to ACLY inhibition, we found three novel mechanisms that could account for the anti-steatotic effect: (1) reduction of liver ketohexokinase, leading to lower fructose intake and reduced de novo lipogenesis; (2) increased expression of patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3, a protein related to the export of liver triglycerides to blood; and (3) PPARα agonist activity, leading to increased hepatic fatty acid β-oxidation. In conclusion, BemA may represent a novel approach to treat hepatic steatosis, and therefore to avoid progression to advanced stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease