Skeletal Extension, Density and Calcification of the Reef Coral, Montastrea Annularis: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Parameters of the annual and subannual skeletal growth of 61 Montastrea annularis corals, collected at a variety of shallow depth sites on reefs of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, are determined by X-radiography and scanning densitometry for each year in the 10-year period, 1970–1979. Extension (linear growth) of the coral skeleton is correlated negatively with bulk density (mass per unit volume) and positively with calcification (mass addition). Density and mass are slightly positively correlated. No one parameter, however, is a perfect predictor of another. At least two parameters, from which the third can be calculated, are required for complete description of coral growth. The variations of parameters of subannual density bands in this study do not convey information additional to those of annual bands.When compared to a pristine site in St. Croix, coral from Round Reef within Christiansted Harbor (a location of past dredging and sewage pollution) have equivalent (and high) extension but significantly lower density and calcification. On the south coast, corals from a location of major dredging activity in the past have relatively low extension and calcification. These growth anomalies are probably pollution related. Collections of corals from one south coast site may have been biased by hurricane effects to nonrepresentative samples

Non-cationic proteins are associated with HIV neutralizing activity in genital secretions of female sex workers.

CAPRISA, 2015.Abstract available in pdf

(Table 1) Clay mineralogy of ODP Site 116-717

We have measured the relative abundances of smectite, illite, chlorite, and kaolinite in a composite section of the distal Bengal Fan. Two sources of sediment appear to dominate, a smectite-poor, illite-rich source associated with rapid denudation of the Himalayas and a smectite-rich, illite-poor source probably on the continental margin of the Indian sub-continent. Changes in source appear to be related to uplift in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau both directly and through the climatic and oceanographic consequences of uplift

Pore-water chemistry of ODP Sites 124-767 and 124-768

The combination of multiple sediment sources and varying rates of sediment accumulation in the Celebes and Sulu seas have had significant impact on the processes of diagenesis, mineralization, and pore-fluid flow. Isotopic and mass-balance calculations help elucidate the various reactions taking place in these western Pacific basins, where ash alteration and basalt-seawater interactions are superimposed on the effects of sulfate oxidation of organic carbon and biogenic methane and of dolomitization of biogenic carbonates. Based on the shape of the calcium and magnesium depth profiles, two major reactive zones have been identified. The first is located near the zone of sulfate depletion and is characterized by carbonate recrystallization, dolomitization and ash alteration reactions at both Ocean Drilling Program Sites 767 and 768. The second reactive zone corresponds to the bottom of the sedimentary sequence and is characterized by alteration reactions in the basement (Site 767) and in the pyroclastic deposits beneath the sediment column (Site 768)

Geochemistry of ODP Leg 124 sediments

This data report tabulates results of X-ray fluorescence analysis of sediments from three sites drilled during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 124. Two of these sites were drilled in the abyssal plain of the Celebes (767) and Sulu (768) seas, in water depths of 4905 and 4385 m, respectively. The seismic records at these sites reveal a sedimentary section that appears complete enough to obtain a good stratigraphic history of the basins, one of the main drilling objectives at these sites. Site 769 is located on the southeast flank of the Cagayan Ridge in 3644 m of water. The Cagayan Ridge is 120 km wide and it is covered locally by reef carbonates and Quaternary volcanic rocks. Drilling at this site was designed to establish the Neogene evolution of the restricted paleoenvironment of the Sulu Sea in a position that has been protected from terrigenous turbidite input. These sediments record major changes in depositional processes and provenance of sediment that reflect the tectonic and paleoceanographic history of these western Pacific basins