Evolution du système turbiditique profond du Nil au cours du quaternaire récent

Ce travail, basé sur l’analyse et l’interprétation de prélèvements (carottes kullenberg et calypso) calibrées avec des données acoustiques (sismique 3,5 kHz et multifaisceaux), propose une reconstruction du fonctionnement sédimentaire récent (derniers 250 ka) du système turbiditique profond du Nil (STPN). Pour cela, une étude stratigraphique détaillée et basée sur plusieurs outils a été nécessaire pour dater des séries sédimentaires riches en événements gravitaires et s’étendant sur plusieurs cycles glaciaire/interglaciaire. C’est l’établissement d’une écostratigraphie basée sur les assemblages de foraminifères planctoniques et calibrée avec des outils isotopiques et téphrochronologiques qui a permis d’atteindre une résolution d’étude proche de 2000 ans. Les résultats obtenus montrent que contrairement à la majorité des grands STP argilosilteux modernes, alimentés par une source ponctuelle, le domaine profond de la marge nilotique comprend plusieurs éventails dont certains ont été alimentés en même temps. L’analyse détaillée des faciès et séquences sédimentaires a permis de mettre en évidence un fonctionnement sédimentaire lié aux conditions environnementales affectant le bassin versant du fleuve Nil et son delta. Ainsi, dans le STPN, le forçage climatique nuance le forçage glacio-eustatique classique et à l’origine des modèles stratigraphiques actuels. Les contrastes climatiques de l’Afrique nord orientale permettent notamment l’alimentation d’éventails turbiditiques pendant des périodes de haut niveau marin. Les crues majeures du Nil sont également à l’origine de processus de transport et de dépôt jusque-là peu documentés.Based on the analysis and interpretation of cores (kullenberg and calypso) calibrated with acoustic data (3.5 kHz seismic and swath bathymetry data), this study proposes a reconstruction of the recent sedimentary history (last 250 kyrs) of the Nile deep-sea turbidite system (NDSTS). A detailed stratigraphic study based on several techniques has been necessary to date sedimentary series with abundant gravity events and spreading over several glacial/interglacial cycles. With the establishment of an ecostratigraphy based on planktonic foraminifer assemblages and calibrated with isotopic and tephrochronologic tools we have reached a study resolution close to 2000 yrs. The results obtained permit the interpretation of all channel-levee systems located on the margin as a multi-source system. Indeed, in contrast to the majority of large modern muddy DSTS, fed by a punctual source, the Nile margin has several small-sized channel-levee systems and some of them were fed at the same time. The detailed analysis of sedimentary facies and sequences provide evidence for a sedimentary functioning linked to environmental conditions affecting the drainage basin of the Nile River and its delta. Thus, in the NDSTS, the climate forcing qualifies the classical glacio-eustatic forcing at the source of modern stratigraphic models. Climatic contrasts in NE Africa allow in particular the feeding of turbiditic channel-levee systems during high sea-level stands. Major Nile floods are also the source of transport and depositional processes poorly documented until now

Variability in intermediate water circulation of the western Tyrrhenian margin (NE Corsica) over the past 56 kyr

The Marion Dufrene core MD01-2472 made of hemipelagic fine-grained sediments (silt and clays) was collected at 501 m depth on the East Corsica continental slope in 2001 and studied in detail in its 12 uppermost meters. The correlation between sedimentological parameters (Sortable Silt), isotopic data and 14C dating allowed to establish the chronology of main climate events (Younger Dryas/YD, Bölling-Alleröd/B-A, Heinrich events/HS) on this record and to evaluate the impact of major climate oscillations on bottom water condition variability. The sea temperature changes are identified thanks to the planktonic foraminifera assemblages. HS are marked by planktonic foraminifers with peaks of the polar species N. pachyderma (left-coiling), whilst interstadials are marked by warm planktonics that become very abundant during the B-A and Holocene. The occurrence of reworked ostracod species (originating from the continental shelf) and the presence of shallow water Elphidium/Ammonia benthic foraminifera are used to estimate the degree of along-slope transport at the core site. This has revealed two intervals of along-slope transport also associated with coarse-grained contourites, deposited during the YD and HS2 episodes. Intervals with Krithe spp. (ostracod), C. wuellerstorfi (benthic foraminifera) indicate bottom water oxygenation during stadials, whereas interstadials are typified by A. acuminata and Paracypris sp (ostracods) indicating low oxygenated environments. The Last Glacial Maximum is dominated by the planktonic foraminifer T. quinqueloba suggesting high surface primary productivity associated with the establishment of mestrophic bottom conditions. During the Holocene, benthic assemblages indicate oligo-mesotrophic conditions and weak hydrodynamic bottom regime. We hypothesize that there is relationship between the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) intensification during cold rapid climate events and benthic fauna assemblages due to changes in: 1) bottom water ventilation, corresponding to a significant reinforcement of the LIW velocity, and 2) the export of nutrients (generating changes in trophic conditions) and/or sediment particles by bottom currents (contributing to the formation of contourites)

Contourite porosity, grain size and reservoir characteristics

Acknowledgements Many people are to thank for the collection and release of the data used in this study. In particular, we thank the captain, officers and crew, and the scientific and technical shipboard parties of the different IODP expeditions utilised. We each thank our respective institutes for their ongoing support. Xiaohang Yu acknowledges financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41976067).Peer reviewedPostprin

The evolution of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the SouthwestPacific sector of the Southern Ocean throughout the Cenozoic era

EGU General Assembly in Viena, Austria, 7–12 April 2019The establishment and evolution of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) throughout the Cenozoic remainspoorly known, mainly because of the lack of continuous long-term records at strategic locations. Here we presentnew records from marine sediments collected by the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 278, located in theSouthwestern Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean (Southern Emerald Basin), spanning from the mid-Oligoceneto the Pleistocene (ie. the∼28-2 Ma). Our site is ideally situated to reconstruct changes in the ACC sincethe mid-Oligocene as it remained along the polar frontal zone as shown by paleolatitude reconstructions andmicrofossil assemblage data. To track its evolution, we combined (i) mean grain size of sortable silt (SS) datawith (ii) primary productivity proxies including biogenic silica (BSi), calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and organicmatter, and (iii) neodymium isotope ratios (εNd) generated from fossil fish teeth and debris. Our results documenta significant increase in SS, enhanced marine productivity and a decrease inεNd values towards present-dayCircumpolar deep waterεNd values, suggesting a progressive strengthening of the proto-ACC flow over the last28 Ma. However, we find that the development of a modern-like, homogenous and deep-reaching current wasfully established solely during the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, concomitantly with the onset of the NorthernHemisphere glaciation

Onset of Mediterranean outflow into the North Atlantic

Sediments cored along the southwestern Iberian margin during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 339 provide constraints on Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) circulation patterns from the Pliocene epoch to the present day. After the Strait of Gibraltar opened (5.33 million years ago), a limited volume of MOW entered the Atlantic. Depositional hiatuses indicate erosion by bottom currents related to higher volumes of MOW circulating into the North Atlantic, beginning in the late Pliocene. The hiatuses coincide with regional tectonic events and changes in global thermohaline circulation (THC). This suggests that MOW influenced Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), THC, and climatic shifts by contributing a component of warm, saline water to northern latitudes while in turn being influenced by plate tectonics

A reference time scale for Site U1385 (Shackleton Site) on the SW Iberian Margin

We produced a composite depth scale and chronology for Site U1385 on the SW Iberian Margin. Using log(Ca/Ti) measured by core scanning XRF at 1-cm resolution in all holes, a composite section was constructed to 166.5 meters composite depth (mcd) that corrects for stretching and squeezing in each core. Oxygen isotopes of benthic foraminifera were correlated to a stacked δ^18O reference signal (LR04) to produce an oxygen isotope stratigraphy and age model. Variations in sediment color contain very strong precession signals at Site U1385, and the amplitude modulation of these cycles provides a powerful tool for developing an orbitally-tuned age model. We tuned the U1385 record by correlating peaks in L* to the local summer insolation maxima at 37^oN. The benthic δ^18O record of Site U1385, when placed on the tuned age model, generally agrees with other time scales within their respective chronologic uncertainties. The age model is transferred to down-core data to produce a continuous time series of log(Ca/Ti) that reflect relative changes of biogenic carbonate and detrital sediment. Biogenic carbonate increases during interglacial and interstadial climate states and decreases during glacial and stadial periods. Much of the variance in the log(Ca/Ti) is explained by a linear combination of orbital frequencies (precession, tilt and eccentricity), whereas the residual signal reflects suborbital climate variability. The strong correlation between suborbital log(Ca/Ti) variability and Greenland temperature over the last glacial cycle at Site U1385 suggests that this signal can be used as a proxy for millennial-scale climate variability over the past 1.5 Ma. Millennial climate variability, as expressed by log(Ca/Ti) at Site U1385, was a persistent feature of glacial climates over the past 1.5 Ma, including glacial periods of the early Pleistocene (‘41-kyr world’) when boundary conditions differed significantly from those of the late Pleistocene (‘100-kyr world’). Suborbital variability was suppressed during interglacial stages and enhanced during glacial periods, especially when benthic δ^18O surpassed ~ 3.3-3.5‰. Each glacial inception was marked by appearance of strong millennial variability and each deglaciation was preceded by a terminal stadial event. Suborbital variability may be a symptomatic feature of glacial climate or, alternatively, may play a more active role in the inception and/or termination of glacial cycles.This research was supported by the Natural Environmental Research Council Grant NE/K005804/1 to DH and LS and NE/J017922/1 to DH.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2015.07.00

A reference time scale for Site U1385 (Shackleton Site) on the SW Iberian Margin

Variations in sediment color contain very strong precession signals at Site U1385, and the amplitude modulation of these cycles provides a powerful tool for developing an orbitally-tuned age model. We tuned the U1385 record by correlating peaks in L* to the local summer insolation maxima at 37°N. The benthic δ18O record of Site U1385, when placed on the tuned age model, generally agrees with other time scales within their respective chronologic uncertainties. The age model is transferred to down-core data to produce a continuous time series of log(Ca/Ti) that reflect relative changes of biogenic carbonate and detrital sediment. Biogenic carbonate increases during interglacial and interstadial climate states and decreases during glacial and stadial periods. Much of the variance in the log(Ca/Ti) is explained by a linear combination of orbital frequencies (precession, tilt and eccentricity), whereas the residual signal reflects suborbital climate variability. The strong correlation between suborbital log(Ca/Ti) variability and Greenland temperature over the last glacial cycle at Site U1385 suggests that this signal can be used as a proxy for millennial-scale climate variability over the past 1.5 Ma. Millennial climate variability, as expressed by log(Ca/Ti) at Site U1385, was a persistent feature of glacial climates over the past 1.5 Ma, including glacial periods of the early Pleistocene (‘41-kyr world’) when boundary conditions differed significantly from those of the late Pleistocene (‘100-kyr world’). Suborbital variability was suppressed during interglacial stages and enhanced during glacial periods, especially when benthic δ18O surpassed ~ 3.3–3.5‰. Each glacial inception was marked by appearance of strong millennial variability and each deglaciation was preceded by a terminal stadial event. Suborbital variability may be a symptomatic feature of glacial climate or, alternatively, may play a more active role in the inception and/or termination of glacial cycles