Between heaven and earth : the devil and the deep blue sea

Between Heaven and Earth, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea interweaves the story of planet Earth and the narrative of a marine geological expedition in the Arabian Sea. While specifically investigating the changes of the monsoon during Late Quaternary times, the expedition discloses aspects of the living planet in the shape and structure of the crust of the Earth. Daily routines, successes, disappointments and mishaps and the life of a mixed group of scientists, students, technicians and crew aboard the Dutch research vessel TYRO are the background of the story. Against that background the evolution of System Earth is analyzed, interpreted and discussed. Last but not least the present status of that system is evaluated and, more in particular, Man's influence on that condition. "And so today I begin my story on the sunny afternoon of September 3, 1992, to be precise, at the moment that Transavia Flight HV 607 takes off from Schiphol Airport. At the same time my story begins 4.6 billion years ago, to be precise, at the moment the Earth takes off from the Sun

The atlantic margin of Iberia and Morocco, a reinterpretation

Morphology, magnetic and seismic properties, and the geology of the sea-floor and adjacent continent indicate that the area west of Iberia and Morocco is a deformed passive continental margin. Formation of this margin is envisaged as having proceeded through a doming and rifting phase, whereby thinned continental fragments became detached from the continent and each other to form a wide zone with geophysical characteristics intermediate between those of the continent and those of the ocean. A wedge-shaped basin opened between Iberia and some of the larger detached continental fragments, the Madeira—Tore Rise and Galicia Bank. The opening of this basin and of the Bay of Biscay in Late Jurassic—Early Cretaceous time is a direct consequence of the counter-clockwise rotation of Iberia between relatively stable Europe and eastward-moving Africa. During the Tertiary the continental margin became compressed in the north—south direction and pieces of the sea-floor were thrust up and over each other to form the predominantly northeast oriented Horseshoe Seamounts. At the same time left-lateral shears developed in the margin between then northward-moving Africa and Iberia and the eastward-spreading Atlantic. Massive outpourings of Late Tertiary to Recent lavas along some of these shears are responsible for the ultimate shape of the Atlantic margins of northwest Africa and Iberia

Sedimentary structures and facies interpretation of some molasse deposits : Sense- Schwarzwasser area, Canton Bern, Switzerland

Burdigalian sand· and siltstones, belonging to the Upper Marine Molasse, have been studied in the Swiss "Mittel]and", to get an insight into the rela· tionships between primary sedimentary structures, their genesis and facies. To obtain information on the conditions, prevailing during the deposition of sand and silt in the investigated area, a synopsis is given from the paleogeography and paleoclimate. This synopsis together with the estimation of the paleocurrent pattern and the petrographic char'ac· teristics is given in chapter I. In chapters II, III and IV, the observed structures have been analysed. In these chapters the textural properties of the sediments have also been given and their mode of formation is discussed. Four main structural types have been distingu. ished: Giant ripples of fluviatile origin (chapter II). Mega flaser structures, belonging to deposits formed in the deeper part of the shallow marine zone (chapter III, § 1). Giant ripples, belonging to offshore bars (chapter III, § 2). Parallel bedded structures, belonging to lagoons and/or bays, cut off from the main basin by formerly built offshore bars (chapter IV, § 1). The gullies described in chapter IV, § 2 are the channels in the coastal area, through which the feeding rivers discharged their material into the basin. In relation with the tectonic movement of the basin floor, the sequence of the formation of the different structural types has been discussed (chapter V). In this chapter we also come to the con· clusion that the Sense-Schwarzwasser area during the Burdigalian (Miocene) can be characterized as the coastal zone of a shallow marine inland sea (the peri-Alpine depression). Rivers supplied the material, from which part accumulated as talus fans and giant ripples, whereas the finer material was dumped in the sea and reworked towards the coast forming a wave built terrace. The cyclic sedimentation pattern is more or less similar to that of the cyclothems of the Carboniferon