Evaporites and the salinity of the ocean during the Phanerozoic: Implications for climate, ocean circulation and life

A compilation of data on volumes and masses of evaporite deposits is used as the basis for reconstruction of the salinity of the ocean in the past. Chloride is tracked as the only ion essentially restricted to the ocean, and past salinities are calculated from reconstructed chlorine content of the ocean. Models for ocean salinity through the Phanerozoic are developed using maximal and minimal estimates of the volumes of existing evaporite deposits, and using constant and declining volumes of ocean water through the Phanerozoic. We conclude that there have been significant changes in the mean salinity of the ocean accompanying a general decline throughout the Phanerozoic. The greatest changes are related to major extractions of salt into the young ocean basins which developed during the Mesozoic as Pangaea broke apart. Unfortunately, the sizes of these salt deposits are also the least well known. The last major extractions of salt from the ocean occurred during the Miocene, shortly after the large scale extraction of water from the ocean to form the ice cap of Antarctica. However, these two modifications of the masses of H2O and salt in the ocean followed in sequence and did not cancel each other out. Accordingly, salinities during the Early Miocene were between 37‰ and 39‰. The Mesozoic was a time of generally declining salinity associated with the deep sea salt extractions of the North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (Middle to Late Jurassic) and South Atlantic (Early Cretaceous). The earliest of the major extractions of the Phanerozoic occurred during the Permian. There were few large extractions of salt during the earlier Palaeozoic. The models suggest that this was a time of relatively stable but slowly increasing salinities ranging through the upper 40‰'s into the lower 50‰'s. Higher salinities for the world ocean have profound consequences for the thermohaline circulation of the ocean in the past. In the modern ocean, with an average salinity of about 34.7‰, the density of water is only very slightly affected by cooling as it approaches the freezing point. Consequently, salinization through sea-ice formation or evaporation is usually required to make water dense enough to sink into the ocean interior. At salinities above about 40‰ water continues to become more dense as it approaches the freezing point, and salinization is not required. The energy-consuming phase changes involved in sea-ice formation and evaporation would not be required for vertical circulation in the ocean. The hypothesized major declines in salinity correspond closely to the evolution of both planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton. Both groups were restricted to shelf regions in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous, but spread into the open ocean in the mid-Cretaceous. Their availability to inhabit the open ocean may be directly related to the decline in salinity. The Permian extraction may have created stress for marine organisms and may have been a factor contributing to the end-Permian extinction. The modeling also suggests that there was a major salinity decline from the Late Precambrian to the Cambrian, and it is tempting to speculate that this may have been a factor in the Cambrian explosion of life

The role of salinity in circulation of the Cretaceous ocean

The density of seawater is a complex function of temperature, salinity, and pressure. Because of the non-linearity of the equation of state of seawater, the densities of sea waters having the same temperature and the same salinity differences (with respect to the mean salinity of the ocean) will vary with the mean salinity of the ocean. Although this strange property of seawater is evident in a plot of the equation of state, it has never been considered in trying to reconstruct ancient ocean circulation. These differences in the density field may have caused the ocean to respond differently to atmospheric forcing in the past. The different response may hold the key to understanding "ocean anoxic events" and episodes of large-scale burial of organic carbon and production of petroleum source rocks

A simpler plate-tectonic history for the Caribbean

Evolution of the Caribbean Plate can be modeled by motions about six successive rotation poles. Opening of Cayman Trough has occurred since 49.5 Ma through westward motion of the Caribbean Plate, eastern Greater Antilles and Chortis Block. Before 49.5 Ma, the eastern Greater-Antilles were west of Cuba, and the southeastern margins of Yucatan and the Nicaragua Rise (Chortis) were aligned. From 67.5 to 49.5 Ma the Caribbean Plate rotated clockwise, opening the Yucatan Basin. From 100 Ma to 67.5 Ma, the Caribbean Plate, with Cuba attached, moved along the southeastern margin of Yucatan-Chortis. At 130 Ma it was attached to northwestern South America

Alternative global Cretaceous paleogeography

Plate tectonic reconstructions for the Cretaceous have assumed that the major continental blocks—Eurasia, Greenland, North America, South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica—had separated from one another by the end of the Early Cretaceous, and that deep ocean passages connected the Pacific, Tethyan, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean basins. North America, Eurasia, and Africa were crossed by shallow meridional seaways. This classic view of Cretaceous paleogeography may be incorrect. The revised view of the Early Cretaceous is one of three large continental blocks— North America–Eurasia, South America–Antarctica-India-Madagascar-Australia; and Africa—with large contiguous land areas surrounded by shallow epicontinental seas. There was a large open Pacific basin, a wide eastern Tethys, and a circum- African Seaway extending from the western Tethys (“Mediterranean”) region through the North and South Atlantic into the juvenile Indian Ocean between Madagascar-India and Africa. During the Early Cretaceous the deep passage from the Central Atlantic to the Pacific was blocked by blocks of northern Central America and by the Caribbean plate. There were no deep-water passages to the Arctic. Until the Late Cretaceous the Atlantic-Indian Ocean complex was a long, narrow, sinuous ocean basin extending off the Tethys and around Africa. Deep passages connecting the western Tethys with the Central Atlantic, the Central Atlantic with the Pacific, and the South Atlantic with the developing Indian Ocean appeared in the Late Cretaceous. There were many island land areas surrounded by shallow epicontinental seas at high sea-level stands

Optimization of the detection of microbes in blood from immunocompromised patients with haematological malignancies

AbstractThe present study aimed to improve the rate of detection of blood-borne microbes by using PCRs with pan-bacterial and Candida specificity. Seventeen per cent of the blood samples (n = 178) collected from 107 febrile patients with haematological malignancies were positive using standard culture (BacT/Alert system). Candida PCR was positive in 12 patients, only one of whom scored culture-positive. Bacterial PCR using fresh blood samples was often negative, but the detection rate increased when the blood was pre-incubated for 2 days. These data indicate that PCR assays might be a complement for the detection of blood-borne opportunists in immunocompromised haematology patients

Efficiency of Energy Conversion in Thermoelectric Nanojunctions

Using first-principles approaches, this study investigated the efficiency of energy conversion in nanojunctions, described by the thermoelectric figure of merit $ZT$. We obtained the qualitative and quantitative descriptions for the dependence of $ZT$ on temperatures and lengths. A characteristic temperature: $T_{0}= \sqrt{\beta/\gamma(l)}$ was observed. When $T\ll T_{0}$, $ZT\propto T^{2}$. When $T\gg T_{0}$, $ZT$ tends to a saturation value. The dependence of $ZT$ on the wire length for the metallic atomic chains is opposite to that for the insulating molecules: for aluminum atomic (conducting) wires, the saturation value of $ZT$ increases as the length increases; while for alkanethiol (insulating) chains, the saturation value of $ZT$ decreases as the length increases. $ZT$ can also be enhanced by choosing low-elasticity bridging materials or creating poor thermal contacts in nanojunctions. The results of this study may be of interest to research attempting to increase the efficiency of energy conversion in nano thermoelectric devices.Comment: 2 figure

Mass/age distribution and composition of sediments on the ocean floor and the global rate of sediment subduction

The total mass of sediments on the ocean floor is estimated to be 262 × 1021 g. The overall mass/age distribution is approximated by an exponential decay curve: (11.02 × 1021 g)e−0.0355t Ma. The mass/age distribution is a function of the area/age distribution of ocean crust, the supply of sediment to the deep sea, and submarine erosion and redeposition. About 140 × 1021 g of the sediment on the ocean floor is pelagic sediment, consisting of about 74% CaCO3, with the remainder opaline silica and red clay. Of the sediment on the ocean floor, 122 × 1021 g is detritus, mostly terrigenous, but a small portion (about 6 × 1021 g) is volcanic. Because very little pelagic sediment is obducted, virtually all of the pelagic sediment mass and some fraction of the terrigenous sediment is being subducted at a rate estimated to be about 1 × 1021 g per million years. The composition of sediment on the ocean floor differs significantly from that of average passive margin and continental sediment, so that the loss of ocean floor sediment through subduction may drive the composition of global sediment toward enrichment in silica, alumina, and potash and toward depletion in calcium

Surgical Parameters for Minimally Invasive Trans- Eustachian Tube CSF Leak Repair: A Cadaveric Study and Literature Review

Background Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea from a lateral skull base defect refractory to spontaneous healing and/or conservative management is most commonly managed via open surgery. Approach for repair is dictated by location of the defect, which may require surgical exploration. The final common pathway is the eustachian tube (ET). Endoscopic ET obliteration via endonasal and lateral approaches is under development. Whereas ET anatomy has been studied, surgical landmarks have not been previously described or quantified. We aimed to define surgical parameters of specific utility to endoscopic ET obliteration. Methods A literature review was performed of known ET anatomic parameters. Next, using a combination of endoscopic and open techniques in cadavers, we cannulated the intact ET and dissected its posterior component to define the major curvature position of the ET, defined as the genu, and quantified the relative distances through the ET lumen. The genu was targeted as a major obstacle encountered when cannulating the ET from the nasopharynx. Results Among 10 ETs, we found an average distance of 23 ± 5 mm from the nasopharynx to the ET genu, distance of 24 ± 3 mm from the genu to the anterior aspect of the tympanic membrane and total ET length of 47 ± 4 mm. Conclusions Although membranous and petrous components of the ET are important to its function, the genu may be a more useful surgical landmark. Basic surgical parameters for endoscopic ET obliteration are defined

Evidence for Quantum Interference in SAMs of Arylethynylene Thiolates in Tunneling Junctions with Eutectic Ga-In (EGaIn) Top-Contacts

This paper compares the current density (J) versus applied bias (V) of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of three different ethynylthiophenol-functionalized anthracene derivatives of approximately the same thickness with linear-conjugation (AC), cross-conjugation (AQ), and broken-conjugation (AH) using liquid eutectic Ga-In (EGaIn) supporting a native skin (~1 nm thick) of Ga2O3 as a nondamaging, conformal top-contact. This skin imparts non-Newtonian rheological properties that distinguish EGaIn from other top-contacts; however, it may also have limited the maximum values of J observed for AC. The measured values of J for AH and AQ are not significantly different (J ≈ 10-1 A/cm2 at V = 0.4 V). For AC, however, J is 1 (using log averages) or 2 (using Gaussian fits) orders of magnitude higher than for AH and AQ. These values are in good qualitative agreement with gDFTB calculations on single AC, AQ, and AH molecules chemisorbed between Au contacts that predict currents, I, that are 2 orders of magnitude higher for AC than for AH at 0 < |V| < 0.4 V. The calculations predict a higher value of I for AQ than for AH; however, the magnitude is highly dependent on the position of the Fermi energy, which cannot be calculated precisely. In this sense, the theoretical predictions and experimental conclusions agree that linearly conjugated AC is significantly more conductive than either cross-conjugated AQ or broken conjugate AH and that AQ and AH cannot necessarily be easily differentiated from each other. These observations are ascribed to quantum interference effects. The agreement between the theoretical predictions on single molecules and the measurements on SAMs suggest that molecule-molecule interactions do not play a significant role in the transport properties of AC, AQ, and AH.