International Year of Planet Earth 7. Oceans: Submarine Landslides and Consequent Tsunamis in Canada

Canada has the longest coastline and largest continental margin of any nation in the World. As a result, it is more likely than other nations to experience marine geohazards such as submarine landslides and consequent tsunamis. Coastal landslides represent a specific threat because of their possible proximity to societal infrastructure and high tsunami potential; they occur without warning and with little time lag between failure and tsunami impact. Continental margin landslides are common in the geologic record but rare on human timescales. Some ancient submarine landslides are massive but more recent events indicate that even relatively small slides on continental margins can generate devastating tsunamis. Tsunami impact can occur hundreds of km away from the source event, and with less than 2 hours warning. Identification of high-potential submarine landslide regions, combined with an understanding of landslide and tsunami processes and sophisticated tsunami propagation models, are required to identify areas at high risk of impact. SOMMAIRE Le Canada possède les plus longues zones côtières et marges continentales du monde. Donc, il est significativement exposé aux géorisques marins, comme les glissements de terrain sousmarins (GTSM) comportent également des risques de tsunamis. Les glissements côtiers représentent un risque significatif vu la proximité d’infrastructures et leur capacité de produire des tsunamis. Ils se produisent sans aver-tissement et peu de délai existe entre leur déclenchement et l’impact possible d’un tsunami. Les GTSM en marge continentale sont communs dans l’histoire géologique mais rare à l’échelle de l’histoire humaine. Quelques anciens dépôts glissés sont de dimensions importantes, mais les nouvelles évidences suggèrent que même les petits glissements sur les marges continentales peuvent générer des tsunamis. L’impact des tsunamis peut être ressenti à des centaines de km de la source et l’impact est possible avec moins de 2 heures d’avertissement. L’identification des régions à potentiel élevé pour l’instabilité des pentes combinées à la compréhension des processus de formation de GTSM et de tsunami, et à des modèles sophistiqués de propagation, sont nécessaires pour identifier les secteurs hautement à risque d’impact

Bacterial pathogens encode suppressors of RNA-mediated silencing

Bacterial suppressors of silencing that inhibit multiple steps of plant microRNA biogenesis and function have recently been identified

PolIVb influences RNA-directed DNA methylation independently of its role in siRNA biogenesis.

Comparative StudyJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tThis article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0709632105/DC1. Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USADNA-dependent RNA polymerase (Pol)IV in Arabidopsis exists in two isoforms (PolIVa and PolIVb), with NRPD1a and NRPD1b as their respective largest subunits. Both isoforms are implicated in production and activity of siRNAs and in RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM). Deep sequence analysis of siRNAs in WT Arabidopsis flowers and in nrpd1a and nrpd1b mutants identified >4,200 loci producing siRNAs in a PolIV-dependent manner, with PolIVb reinforcing siRNA production by PolIVa. Transposable element identity and pericentromeric localization are both features that predispose a locus for siRNA production via PolIV proteins and determine the extent to which siRNA production relies on PolIVb. Detailed analysis of DNA methylation at PolIV-dependent loci revealed unexpected deviations from the previously noted association of PolIVb-dependent siRNA production and RdDM. Notably, PolIVb functions independently in DNA methylation and siRNA generation. Additionally, we have uncovered siRNA-directed loss of DNA methylation, a process requiring both PolIV isoforms. From these findings, we infer that the role of PolIVb in siRNA production is secondary to a role in chromatin modification and is influenced by chromatin context

Laboratory and Well-Log Velocity and Density Measurements from the Ontong Java Plateau: New in-situ corrections to laboratory data for pelagic carbonates

During Ocean Drilling Program Leg 130, sonic velocity and bulk density/porosity well logs were measured in five separate holes drilled through the sequence of pelagic carbonate oozes, chalks, and limestones that comprise the thick, continuous sedimentary cover on the Ontong Java Plateau. An internally consistent and continuous suite of shipboard laboratory velocity and sediment physical properties measurements were made from the top of each hole down through the entire logged interval. Because of the high quality of the data, extensive overlap of 500 m or more between the log and laboratory measurements at each hole, and the homogeneous nature of the sediments, we have been able to compare laboratory and in-situ log measurements in detail and to evaluate factors that alter laboratory data from their in-situ values. For measurements of bulk density and porosity, differences between laboratory and in-situ log measurements are very small and remain constant over the entire range of depths studied. We have applied a simple hydraulic rebound correction to the laboratory data that compensates for pore fluid expansion after removal of a sediment sample from in-situ conditions. The small, correctable differences between the laboratory and log data imply that mechanical rebound is significantly less than previous estimates (maximum near 5%) of rebound in pelagic carbonates. Furthermore, porosity rebound cannot be used to correct laboratory sonic velocity measurements to in-situ values. Such a rebound correction implicitly requires that laboratory and in-situ data must occupy identical fields on velocity-porosity crossplots. This condition is not met for the Ontong Java Plateau results because laboratory and in-situ logging data occupy distinct trends with little overlap between the two types of measurement. Mechanical rebound in pelagic carbonates cannot be used to correct either laboratory porosity or velocity measurements to in-situ values. The complex porosity systematics of these carbonates resulting from varying abundances of hollow foraminifer grains precluded use of an empirical correction derived from the log porosity and velocity data. Laboratory sonic velocity measurements can be corrected to in-situ values at all of the Ontong Java Plateau sites using a depth-based function derived from downhole differences between log and laboratory velocities in Hole 807A. The applicability of the depth correction implies that the effect of overburden pressure reduction on sediment elastic moduli is the most significant factor affecting laboratory velocity measurements. The depth correction to laboratory velocity measurements appears to be generally applicable to pelagic carbonate oozes and chalks of the Ontong Java Plateau, regardless of depositional depth or sediment age

A Model for Calculating Desert Aerosol Turbidity Over the Oceans from Geostationary Satellite Data

A technique has been developed to infer the optical thickness of Saharan dust from Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS) brightness measurements at visible wavelengths. The scattering model consists of an air layer, a dust layer and a lower boundary of variable albedo. Single-scatter properties of the dust computed from Mie theory were the basis for calculations by plane-parallel theory of radiative transfer in the dust layer. Radiative interactions between air and dust layers and the lower boundary were calculated with an adding version of the doubling scheme. Optical thickness was determined from satellite brightness measurements through a lookup table produced by the adding program. SMS visible sensors were calibrated from the prelaunch calibration measurements and measurements of sun and space. Error analysis and tests indicate a potential accuracy of ∼0.1 unit of optical thickness. The main limits on accuracy are digitizing resolution of the SMS visible signals, and mistaking clouds for dust in the satellite imagery. This technique of inferring Saharan dust turbidity has been verified and fine-tuned using surface turbidity measurements during GATE and corresponding SMS imagery

Seismic stratigraphy of the Ontong Java Plateau

The Ontong Java Plateau, a large, deep-water carbonate plateau in the western equatorial Pacific, is an ideal location for studying responses of carbonate sedimentation to the effects of changing paleoceanographic conditions. These carbonate responses are often reflected in the physical properties of the sediment, which in turn control the appearance of seismic reflection profiles. Seismic stratigraphy analyses, correlating eight reflector horizons to each drill site, have been conducted in an attempt to map stratigraphic data. Accurate correlation of seismic stratigraphic data to drilling results requires conversion of traveltime to depth in meters. Synthetic seismogram models, using shipboard physical properties data, have been generated in an attempt to provide this correlation. Physical properties, including laboratory-measured and well-log data, were collected from sites drilled during Deep Sea Drilling Project Legs 30 and 89, and Ocean Drilling Program Leg 130, on the top and flank of the Ontong Java Plateau. Laboratory-measured density is corrected to in-situ conditions by accounting for porosity rebound resulting from removal of the sediment from its overburden. The correction of laboratory-measured compressional velocity to in situ appears to be largely a function of increases in elastic moduli (especially shear rigidity) with depth of burial, more than a function of changes in temperature, pressure, or density (porosity rebound). Well-log velocity and density data for the ooze intervals were found to be greatly affected by drilling disturbance; hence, they were disregarded and replaced by lab data for these intervals. Velocity and density data were used to produce synthetic seismograms. Correlation of seismic reflection data with synthetic data, and hence with depth below seafloor, at each drill site shows that a single velocity-depth function exists for sediments on the top and flank of the Ontong Java Plateau. A polynomial fit of this function provides an equation for domain conversion: Depth (mbsf) = 44.49 + 0.800(traveltime[ms]) + 3.308 × 10 4 (traveltime[ms]2 ) Traveltime (ms) = -35.18 + 1.118(depth[mbsf]) - 1.969 × KT* (depth[mbsf]2 ) Seismic reflection profiles down the flank of the plateau undergo three significant changes: (1) a drastic thinning of the sediment column with depth, (2) changes in the echo-character of the profile (development of seismic facies), and (3) loss of continuous, coherent reflections. Sediments on the plateau top were largely deposited by pelagic processes, with little significant postdepositional or syndepositional modification. Sediments on the flank of the plateau are also pelagic, but they have been modified by faulting, erosion, and mass movement. These processes result in disrupted and incoherent reflectors, development of seismic facies, and redistribution of sediment on the flank of the plateau. Seismic stratigraphic analyses have shown that the sediment section decreases in thickness by as much as 65% between water depths of 2000 m water depth (at the top of the plateau) and 4000 m (near the base of the plateau). Thinning is attributed to increasing carbonate dissolution with depth. If this assumption is correct, then changes in the relative thicknesses of seismostratigraphic units at each drill site are indicative of changes in the position of the lysocline and the dissolution gradient between the lysocline and the carbonate compensation depth. We think that a shallow lysocline in the early Miocene caused sediment thinning. A deepening of the lysocline in the late-early Miocene caused relative thickening at each site. Within the middle Miocene, a sharp rise in lysoclinal depth occurs, concurrent with a steepening of the dissolution gradient. These events result in sediment thinning at all four sites. The thicker sections in the late Miocene likely correspond to a deepening of the lysocline, and a subsequent rise in the lysocline again hinders accumulation of sediment in the very late Miocene and Pliocene

Heat flow in the Western Arctic Ocean (Amerasian Basin)

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth 124(8), (2019): 7562-7587, doi: 10.1029/2019JB017587.From 1963 to 1973 the U.S. Geological Survey measured heat flow at 356 sites in the Amerasian Basin (Western Arctic Ocean) from a drifting ice island (T‐3). The resulting measurements, which are unevenly distributed on Alpha‐Mendeleev Ridge and in Canada and Nautilus Basins, greatly expand available heat flow data for the Arctic Ocean. Average T‐3 heat flow is ~54.7 ± 11.3 mW/m2, and Nautilus Basin is the only well‐surveyed area (~13% of data) with significantly higher average heat flow (63.8 mW/m2). Heat flow and bathymetry are not correlated at a large scale, and turbiditic surficial sediments (Canada and Nautilus Basins) have higher heat flow than the sediments that blanket the Alpha‐Mendeleev Ridge. Thermal gradients are mostly near‐linear, implying that conductive heat transport dominates and that near‐seafloor sediments are in thermal equilibrium with overlying bottom waters. Combining the heat flow data with modern seismic imagery suggests that some of the observed heat flow variability may be explained by local changes in lithology or the presence of basement faults that channel circulating seawater. A numerical model that incorporates thermal conductivity variations along a profile from Canada Basin (thick sediment on mostly oceanic crust) to Alpha Ridge (thin sediment over thick magmatic units associated with the High Arctic Large Igneous Province) predicts heat flow slightly lower than that observed on Alpha Ridge. This, along with other observations, implies that circulating fluids modulate conductive heat flow and contribute to high variability in the T‐3 data set.B.V. Marshall of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was critical to the T‐3 heat flow studies and would have been included as a coauthor on this work if he were not deceased. The original T‐3 heat flow data acquisition program was supported by the USGS and by the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory of the Office of Naval Research. Over the decade of USGS research on T‐3 Ice Island, numerous researchers and technical staff, including B.V. Marshall, P. Twichell, D. Scoboria, J. Tailleur, B. Tailleur, and others, spent months on the island and endured difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions to acquire this data set alongside colleagues from other institutions. Outstanding support from the USGS Menlo Park office, transportation and logistics assistance from other U.S. federal government agencies, Arctic expertise supplied by native Alaskan communities, and collaboration with Lamont researchers made this research program possible. B. Lachenbruch and L. Lawver revived interest in this data set in 2016, and they, along with D. Darby and J. K. Hall, provided ancillary information on T‐3 studies. B. Clarke and M. Arsenault assisted with initial data digitization. We thank M. Jakobsson, R. Saltus, and G. Oakey for providing critical shapefiles and other data and R. Jackson and S. Mukasa for clarification on unpublished information. Reviews by J. Hopper, P. Hart, and W. Jokat improved the manuscript, and V. Atnipp Cross and A. Babb were instrumental in completion of data releases. The USGS's Coastal/Marine Hazards and Resources Program supported C.R. and D.H. between 2016 and 2019, and C.R. used office space provided by the Earth Resources Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during completion of this work. Data in Figure 11 were provided by the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) Project. The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the authors and the U.S. Geological Survey, but do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. ECS Project. Any use of trade, firm, or product name is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Digital data, metadata, and supporting plots for T‐3 heat flow, navigation, and radiogenic heat content, along with Lamont gravity and magnetics data, are available from Ruppel et al. (2019), and the original T‐3 expedition report with explanatory metadata can be downloaded from Lachenbruch et al. (2019)

Seismic velocities within the sedimentary succession of the Canada Basin and southern Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge, Arctic Ocean : evidence for accelerated porosity reduction?

Author Posting. © Crown Copyright, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of Oxford University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 204 (2016): 1-20, doi:10.1093/gji/ggv416.The Canada Basin and the southern Alpha-Mendeleev ridge complex underlie a significant proportion of the Arctic Ocean, but the geology of this undrilled and mostly ice-covered frontier is poorly known. New information is encoded in seismic wide-angle reflections and refractions recorded with expendable sonobuoys between 2007 and 2011. Velocity–depth samples within the sedimentary succession are extracted from published analyses for 142 of these records obtained at irregularly spaced stations across an area of 1.9E + 06 km2. The samples are modelled at regional, subregional and station-specific scales using an exponential function of inverse velocity versus depth with regionally representative parameters determined through numerical regression. With this approach, smooth, non-oscillatory velocity–depth profiles can be generated for any desired location in the study area, even where the measurement density is low. Practical application is demonstrated with a map of sedimentary thickness, derived from seismic reflection horizons interpreted in the time domain and depth converted using the velocity–depth profiles for each seismic trace. A thickness of 12–13 km is present beneath both the upper Mackenzie fan and the middle slope off of Alaska, but the sedimentary prism thins more gradually outboard of the latter region. Mapping of the observed-to-predicted velocities reveals coherent geospatial trends associated with five subregions: the Mackenzie fan; the continental slopes beyond the Mackenzie fan; the abyssal plain; the southwestern Canada Basin; and, the Alpha-Mendeleev magnetic domain. Comparison of the subregional velocity–depth models with published borehole data, and interpretation of the station-specific best-fitting model parameters, suggests that sandstone is not a predominant lithology in any of the five subregions. However, the bulk sand-to-shale ratio likely increases towards the Mackenzie fan, and the model for this subregion compares favourably with borehole data for Miocene turbidites in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The station-specific results also indicate that Quaternary sediments coarsen towards the Beaufort-Mackenzie and Banks Island margins in a manner that is consistent with the variable history of Laurentide Ice Sheet advance documented for these margins. Lithological factors do not fully account for the elevated velocity–depth trends that are associated with the southwestern Canada Basin and the Alpha-Mendeleev magnetic domain. Accelerated porosity reduction due to elevated palaeo-heat flow is inferred for these regions, which may be related to the underlying crustal types or possibly volcanic intrusion of the sedimentary succession. Beyond exploring the variation of an important physical property in the Arctic Ocean basin, this study provides comparative reference for global studies of seismic velocity, burial history, sedimentary compaction, seismic inversion and overpressure prediction, particularly in mudrock-dominated successions

Norovirus Epidemiology and Duration of Shedding in Michigan, 2007-2008

Background: In the United States, an estimated 23 million cases of norovirus (NoV) are reported each year, and although mortality is low, the morbidity and economic impact are substantial. Methods: RT-PCR and sequencing were used for identification of NoV genotypes obtained from outbreak and sporadic cases. RT Quant PCR was used to determine the viral load in fecal specimens. In order to rule out bacterial infection as the cause for acute gastroenteritis (AGE), bacterial culture for Salmonella, E.coli O157, Shigella, Campylobacter and Clostridium difficile was performed by standard laboratory procedures. The duration of NV shedding was investigated with longitudinal sampling in the sporadic cases and an evaluation of the association between viral load and days since clinical onset in the outbreak-associated cases. Results: We describe the epidemiology and strain identification for NoV circulating in Michigan during 2007-8 in concurrent sporadic and outbreak-associated cases. In 2007- 8, 138 norovirus outbreaks (3,437 cases) were reported to the MDCH. Among the 47 outbreak specimens sequenced, GI was identified in 14 (29.8%) and GII in 33 (70.2%). The predominant type was GII.4, found in 23 of the 33 (69.6%) GII specimens. The statistical analysis of outbreak-associated cases showed that neither NoV type nor number of days post-onset were associated with NoV log concentration. Among the sporadic cases, the repeated measures analysis of variance showed that NoV type (I or II) was not associated with log titer (P = 0.90), but that the number of weeks post-onset was statistically associated with declining log titer at p = 0.0005. Conclusion: We found no predominant strain difference between concurrent sporadic and outbreak-associated cases. Prevalent strains of NoV were shed in high concentration for at least two weeks past disease onset, suggesting that current public health recommendations for 2-3 days home isolation following clinical recovery may need to be lengthened