Orbitally tuned timescale and astronomical forcing in the middle Eocene to early Oligocene

Deciphering the driving mechanisms of Earth system processes, including the climate dynamics expressed as paleoceanographic events, requires a complete, continuous, and high-resolution stratigraphy that is very accurately dated. In this study, a robust astronomically calibrated age model was constructed for the middle Eocene to early Oligocene interval (31–43 Ma) in order to permit more detailed study of the exceptional climatic events that occurred during this time, including the middle Eocene climate optimum and the Eocene–Oligocene transition. A goal of this effort is to accurately date the middle Eocene to early Oligocene composite section cored during the Pacific Equatorial Age Transect (PEAT, IODP Exp. 320/321). The stratigraphic framework for the new timescale is based on the identification of the stable long eccentricity cycle in published and new high-resolution records encompassing bulk and benthic stable isotope, calibrated XRF core scanning, and magnetostratigraphic data from ODP Sites 171B-1052, 189-1172, 199-1218, and 207-1260 as well as IODP Sites 320-U1333, and 320-U1334 spanning magnetic polarity Chrons C12n to C20n. Subsequently orbital tuning of the records to the La2011 orbital solution was conducted. The resulting new timescale revises and refines the existing orbitally tuned age model and the geomagnetic polarity timescale from 31 to 43 Ma. The newly defined absolute age for the Eocene–Oligocene boundary validates the astronomical tuned age of 33.89 Ma identified at the Massignano, Italy, global stratotype section and point. The compilation of geochemical records of climate-controlled variability in sedimentation through the middle-to-late Eocene and early Oligocene demonstrates strong power in the eccentricity band that is readily tuned to the latest astronomical solution. Obliquity driven cyclicity is only apparent during 2.4 myr eccentricity cycle minima around 35.5, 38.3, and 40.1 Ma

Deglacial Variability in Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water Ventilation and Biogeochemistry: Implications for North Pacific Nutrient Supply and Productivity

Highlights • Multi-proxy, multi-site reconstruction of Okhotsk Sea palaeo-productivity and mid-depth ventilation changes from 8 to 18 ka. • Link between hinterland river discharge and downstream Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW) ventilation/nutrient signatures. • Surplus Fe, Si(OH)4 export in OSIW during Bølling-Allerød to pelagic Pacific supported transient nutrient-replete conditions. • Subarctic and subtropical Pacific gyres disconnected during Bølling-Allerød, with restricted OSIW flow to lower latitudes. • Deglacial OSIW export and mid-depth Pacific biogeochemistry modulate millennial-scale regional CO2 source/sink conditions. The modern North Pacific plays a critical role in marine biogeochemical cycles, as an oceanic sink of CO2 and by bearing some of the most productive and least oxygenated waters of the World Ocean. The capacity to sequester CO2 is limited by efficient nutrient supply to the mixed layer, particularly from deeper water masses in the Pacific's subarctic and marginal seas. The region is in addition only weakly ventilated by North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW), which receives its characteristics from Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW). Here, we present reconstructions of intermediate water ventilation and productivity variations in the Okhotsk Sea that cover the last glacial termination between eight and 18 ka, based on a set of high-resolution sediment cores from sites directly downstream of OSIW formation. In a multi-proxy approach, we use total organic carbon (TOC), chlorin, biogenic opal, and CaCO3 concentrations as indicators for biological productivity. C/N ratios and XRF scanning-derived elemental ratios (Si/K and Fe/K), as well as chlorophycean algae counts document changes in Amur freshwater and sediment discharge that condition the OSIW. Stable carbon isotopes of epi- and shallow endobenthic foraminifera, in combination with 14C analyses of benthic and planktic foraminifera imply decreases in OSIW oxygenation during deglacial warm phases from c. 14.7 to 13 ka (Bølling-Allerød) and c. 11.4 to 9 ka (Preboreal). No concomitant decreases in Okhotsk Sea benthic-planktic ventilation ages are observed, in contrast to nearby, but southerly locations on the Japan continental margin. We attribute Okhotsk Sea mid-depth oxygenation decreases in times of enhanced organic matter supply to maxima in remineralization within OSIW, in line with multi-proxy evidence for maxima in primary productivity and supply of organic matter. Sedimentary C/N and Fe/K ratios indicate more effective entrainment of nutrients into OSIW and thus an increased nutrient load of OSIW during deglacial warm periods. Correlation of palynological and sedimentological evidence from our sites with hinterland reference records suggests that millennial-scale changes in OSIW oxygen and nutrient concentrations were largely influenced by fluvial freshwater runoff maxima from the Amur, caused by a deglacial northeastward propagation of the East Asian Summer Monsoon that increased precipitation and temperatures, in conjunction with melting of permafrost in the Amur catchment area. We suggest that OSIW ventilation minima and the high lateral supply of nutrients and organic matter during the Allerød and Preboreal are mechanistically linked to concurrent maxima in nutrient utilization and biological productivity in the subpolar Northwest Pacific. In this scenario, increased export of nutrients from the Okhotsk Sea during deglacial warm phases supported subarctic Pacific shifts from generally Fe-limiting conditions to transient nutrient-replete regimes through enhanced advection of mid-depth nutrient- and Fe-rich OSIW into the upper ocean. This mechanism may have moderated the role of the subarctic Pacific in the deglacial CO2 rise on millennial timescales by combining the upwelling of old carbon-rich waters with a transient delivery of mid-depth-derived bio-available Fe and silicate

Boosting care and knowledge about hereditary cancer : European Reference Network on Genetic Tumour Risk Syndromes

Approximately 27-36million patients in Europe have one of the similar to 5.000-8.000 known rare diseases. These patients often do not receive the care they need or they have a substantial delay from diagnosis to treatment. In March 2017, twenty-four European Reference Networks (ERNs) were launched with the aim to improve the care for these patients through cross border healthcare, in a way that the medical knowledge and expertise travels across the borders, rather than the patients. It is expected that through the ERNs, European patients with a rare disease get access to expert care more often and more quickly, and that research and guideline development will be accelerated resulting in improved diagnostics and therapies. The ERN on Genetic Tumour Risk Syndromes (ERN GENTURIS) aims to improve the identification, genetic diagnostics, prevention of cancer, and treatment of European patients with a genetic predisposition for cancer. The ERN GENTURIS focuses on syndromes such as hereditary breast cancer, hereditary colorectal cancer and polyposis, neurofibromatosis and more rare syndromes e.g. PTEN Hamartoma Tumour Syndrome, Li Fraumeni Syndrome and hereditary diffuse gastric cancer

Stochastic gain in population dynamics

We introduce an extension of the usual replicator dynamics to adaptive learning rates. We show that a population with a dynamic learning rate can gain an increased average payoff in transient phases and can also exploit external noise, leading the system away from the Nash equilibrium, in a reasonance-like fashion. The payoff versus noise curve resembles the signal to noise ratio curve in stochastic resonance. Seen in this broad context, we introduce another mechanism that exploits fluctuations in order to improve properties of the system. Such a mechanism could be of particular interest in economic systems.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Data report: composite depth scale and splice revision for IODP Site U1488 (Expedition 363 Western Pacific Warm Pool) using XRF core scanning data and core images

The Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) is a major source of heat and moisture to the atmosphere. Small perturbations in WPWP sea-surface temperatures greatly influence local Hadley and Walker cells, thereby affecting global atmospheric circulation patterns. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 363 sought to document the regional expression and driving mechanisms of WPWP climate variability during the Neogene on millennial, orbital, and geological timescales. Located in the heart of the WPWP, IODP Site U1488 (02°02.59ʹN, 141°45.29ʹE) was drilled in 2604 m water depth on the southern part of the Eauripik Rise in the Caroline Basin. At Site U1488, a continuous shipboard composite stratigraphic section from 0 to ~331 m core composite depth below seafloor (CCSF) was compiled using high-resolution shipboard physical property data from three holes. This section comprises upper Miocene to recent foraminifer-rich nannofossil ooze and foraminifer-nannofossil ooze, making Site U1488 ideally suited to reconstruct the paleoceanographic history of the central WPWP region. However, the high carbonate content (>90% below ~180 m CCSF) of Site U1488 sediments means that the physical property data sets commonly used for splice construction (gamma ray attenuation bulk density, magnetic susceptibility, and natural gamma radiation) were too low amplitude to provide robust constraints on splice tie points below 120 m CCSF. As a result, P-wave data, which are relatively untested as a correlation tool, became critical for correlating between holes. Here, we verify and extend the Site U1488 shipboard composite splice using high-resolution (2 cm) X-ray fluorescence Ba/Sr core scanning data combined with composite linescan images. Overall, using these data at Site U1488 resulted in revised core offsets that differ by up to 0.84 m relative to the shipboard core offsets and a composite depth scale down to 329.33 m revised CCSF. The revised splice will allow optimization of postexpedition research and ensure that high-resolution studies of Site U1488 are conducted on a continuous stratigraphic section

Analytic Metaphysics versus Naturalized Metaphysics: The Relevance of Applied Ontology

The relevance of analytic metaphysics has come under criticism: Ladyman & Ross, for instance, have suggested do discontinue the field. French & McKenzie have argued in defense of analytic metaphysics that it develops tools that could turn out to be useful for philosophy of physics. In this article, we show first that this heuristic defense of metaphysics can be extended to the scientific field of applied ontology, which uses constructs from analytic metaphysics. Second, we elaborate on a parallel by French & McKenzie between mathematics and metaphysics to show that the whole field of analytic metaphysics, being useful not only for philosophy but also for science, should continue to exist as a largely autonomous field

Late Paleocene-middle Eocene benthic foraminifera on a Pacific seamount (Allison Guyot, ODP Site 865): Greenhouse climate and superimposed hyperthermal events

We investigated the response of late Paleocene-middle Eocene (~60-37.5 Ma) benthic foraminiferal assemblages to long-term climate change and hyperthermal events including the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 865 on Allison Guyot, a seamount in the Mid-Pacific Mountains. Seamounts are isolated deep-sea environments where enhanced current systems interrupt bentho-pelagic coupling, and fossil assemblages from such settings have been little evaluated. Assemblages at Site 865 are diverse and dominated by cylindrical calcareous taxa with complex apertures, an extinct group which probably lived infaunally. Dominance of an infaunal morphogroup is unexpected in a highly oligotrophic setting, but these forms may have been shallow infaunal suspension feeders, which were ecologically successful on the current-swept seamount. The magnitude of the PETM extinction at Site 865 was similar to other sites globally, but lower diversity postextinction faunas at this location were affected by ocean acidification as well as changes in current regime, which might have led to increased nutrient supply through trophic focusing. A minor hyperthermal saw less severe effects of changes in current regime, with no evidence for carbonate dissolution. Although the relative abundance of infaunal benthic foraminifera has been used as a proxy for surface productivity through bentho-pelagic coupling, we argue that this proxy can be used only in the absence of changes in carbonate saturation and current-driven biophysical linking

The Impact of Global Warming and Anoxia on Marine Benthic Community Dynamics: an Example from the Toarcian (Early Jurassic)

The Pliensbachian-Toarcian (Early Jurassic) fossil record is an archive of natural data of benthic community response to global warming and marine long-term hypoxia and anoxia. In the early Toarcian mean temperatures increased by the same order of magnitude as that predicted for the near future; laminated, organic-rich, black shales were deposited in many shallow water epicontinental basins; and a biotic crisis occurred in the marine realm, with the extinction of approximately 5% of families and 26% of genera. High-resolution quantitative abundance data of benthic invertebrates were collected from the Cleveland Basin (North Yorkshire, UK), and analysed with multivariate statistical methods to detect how the fauna responded to environmental changes during the early Toarcian. Twelve biofacies were identified. Their changes through time closely resemble the pattern of faunal degradation and recovery observed in modern habitats affected by anoxia. All four successional stages of community structure recorded in modern studies are recognised in the fossil data (i.e. Stage III: climax; II: transitional; I: pioneer; 0: highly disturbed). Two main faunal turnover events occurred: (i) at the onset of anoxia, with the extinction of most benthic species and the survival of a few adapted to thrive in low-oxygen conditions (Stages I to 0) and (ii) in the recovery, when newly evolved species colonized the re-oxygenated soft sediments and the path of recovery did not retrace of pattern of ecological degradation (Stages I to II). The ordination of samples coupled with sedimentological and palaeotemperature proxy data indicate that the onset of anoxia and the extinction horizon coincide with both a rise in temperature and sea level. Our study of how faunal associations co-vary with long and short term sea level and temperature changes has implications for predicting the long-term effects of “dead zones” in modern oceans

PEAT-CLSM : A Specific Treatment of Peatland Hydrology in the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model

Peatlands are poorly represented in global Earth system modeling frameworks. Here we add a peatland-specific land surface hydrology module (PEAT-CLSM) to the Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM) of the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) framework. The amended TOPMODEL approach of the original CLSM that uses topography characteristics to model catchment processes is discarded, and a peatland-specific model concept is realized in its place. To facilitate its utilization in operational GEOS efforts, PEAT-CLSM uses the basic structure of CLSM and the same global input data. Parameters used in PEAT-CLSM are based on literature data. A suite of CLSM and PEAT-CLSM simulations for peatland areas between 40 degrees N and 75 degrees N is presented and evaluated against a newly compiled data set of groundwater table depth and eddy covariance observations of latent and sensible heat fluxes in natural and seminatural peatlands. CLSM's simulated groundwater tables are too deep and variable, whereas PEAT-CLSM simulates a mean groundwater table depth of -0.20 m (snow-free unfrozen period) with moderate temporal fluctuations (standard deviation of 0.10 m), in significantly better agreement with in situ observations. Relative to an operational CLSM version that simply includes peat as a soil class, the temporal correlation coefficient is increased on average by 0.16 and reaches 0.64 for bogs and 0.66 for fens when driven with global atmospheric forcing data. In PEAT-CLSM, runoff is increased on average by 38% and evapotranspiration is reduced by 19%. The evapotranspiration reduction constitutes a significant improvement relative to eddy covariance measurements.Peer reviewe

Multi-basin depositional framework for moisture-balance reconstruction during the last 1300 years at Lake Bogoria, central Kenya Rift Valley

Multi-proxy analysis of sediment cores from five key locations in hypersaline, alkaline Lake Bogoria (central Kenya Rift Valley) has allowed reconstruction of its history of depositional and hydrological change during the past 1300years. Analyses including organic matter and carbonate content, granulometry, mineralogical composition, charcoal counting and high-resolution scanning of magnetic susceptibility and elemental geochemistry resulted in a detailed sedimentological and compositional characterization of lacustrine deposits in the three lake basins and on the two sills separating them. Thesepalaeolimnological data were supplemented with information on present-day sedimentation conditions based on seasonal sampling of settling particles and on measurement of physicochemical profiles through the water column. A new age model based on Pb-210, Cs-137 and C-14 dating captures the sediment chronology of this hydrochemically complex and geothermally fed lake. An extensive set of chronological tie points between the equivalent high-resolution proxy time series of the five sediment sequences allowed transfer of radiometric dates between the basins, enabling interbasin comparison of sedimentation dynamics through time. The resulting reconstruction demonstrates considerable moisture-balance variability through time, reflecting regional hydroclimate dynamics over the past 1300years. Between ca 690 and 950AD, the central and southern basins of Lake Bogoria were reduced to shallow and separated brine pools. In the former, occasional near-complete desiccation triggered massive trona precipitation. Between ca 950 and 1100AD, slightly higher water levels allowed the build-up of high pCO(2) leading to precipitation of nahcolite still under strongly evaporative conditions. Lake Bogoria experienced a pronounced highstand between ca 1100 and 1350AD, only to recede again afterwards. For a substantial part of the time between ca 1350 and 1800AD, the northern basin was probably disconnected from the united central and southern basins. Throughout the last two centuries, lake level has been relatively high compared to the rest of the past millennium. Evidence for increased terrestrial sediment supply in recent decades, due to anthropogenic soil erosion in the wider Bogoria catchment, is a reason for concern about possible adverse impacts on the unique ecosystem of Lake Bogoria