EFFICACY OF PLANT EXTRACT ON PERFORMANCE AND MORPHOLOGICAL AND HISTOCHEMICAL PATTERNS OF DIGESTIVE TRACT WALL IN CHICKENS

On-axis deep tow side scan sonar data are used together with off-axis bathymetric data to investigate the temporal variations of the accretion processes at the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge. Differences in the length and height of the axial volcanic ridges and various degrees of deformation of these volcanic constructions are observed in side scan sonar images of the ridge segments. We interpret these differences as stages in an evolutionary life cycle of axial volcanic ridge development, including periods of volcanic construction and periods of tectonic dismemberment. Using off-axis bathymetric data, we identify numerous abyssal hills with a homogeneous size for each segment. These abyssal hills all display an asymmetric shape, with a steep faulted scarp facing toward the axis and a gentle dipping volcanic slope facing away. We suggest that these hills are remnants of old split axial volcanic ridges that have been transported onto the flanks and that they result from successive periods of magmatic construction and tectonic dismemberment, i.e., a magmato-tectonic cycle. We observe that large abyssal hills are in ridge sections of thicker crust, whereas smaller abyssal hills are in ridge sections of thinner crust. This suggests that the magma supply controls the size of abyssal hills. The abyssal hills in ridge sections of thinner crust are regularly spaced, indicating that the magmato-tectonic cycle is a pseudoperiodic process that lasts ~0.4 m.y., about 4 to 6 times shorter than in ridge sections of thicker crust. We suggest that the regularity of the abyssal hills pattern is related to the persistence of a nearly constant magma supply beneath long-lived segments. By contrast, when magma supply strongly decreases and becomes highly discontinuous, regular abyssal hills patterns are no longer observed

Asymmetric generation of oceanic crust at the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge, 64ºE

We describe topographic, gravity, magnetic, and sonar data from a Southwest Indian Ridge spreading segment near 64E, 28S. We interpret these to reveal crustal structure, spreading history, and volcanic and tectonic processes over the last 12 Myr. We confirm that the crust is some 2 km thicker north of the ridge axis, though it varies along and across axis on scales of 10 km and 4 Myr. The plate separation rate remained approximately constant at 13 ± 1 km Myr1, but half-spreading rates were up to 40% asymmetric, varying between faster-to-the-north and faster-to-the-south on a 4 Myr timescale. Topography shows a dominant E–W lineation normal to the N–S spreading direction. This is superficially similar to faulted abyssal hill terrain of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), but inferred fault scarps are 3–4 times more widely spaced and have greater offsets. Conjugate pairs of massifs on either plate are interpreted as volcanic constructions similar to the large volcano currently filling the median valley at the segment center. They have temporal spacings of 4 Myr and are thought to reflect episodic melt focusing along an otherwise melt-poor ridge. Additionally, there are places, mainly on the southern plate, where lineated topography is replaced by a much blockier topography and embryonic ocean core complexes similar to those recently reported on the MAR near 13N. There is generally more extrusive volcanism on the northern plate and more tectonism on the southern one. Extrusive volcanism has propagated westward from the segment center since 2 Ma. The FUJI Dome core complex and adjacent seafloor to its east and west appear to be part of a single coherent block, capped by extrusive rock near the segment center, exposing gabbro via a detachment fault over the Dome and probably exposing deeper crust or upper mantle farther west near the segment end. Magnetic anomalies are continuous along this block. We suggest that at its eastern boundary the detachment is simply welded onto magmatically emplaced crust to the east in a similar way to young crust being welded to the old plate at ridge-transform intersections

Tectonic structure, evolution, and the nature of oceanic core complexes and their detachment fault zones (13°20′N and 13°30′N, Mid Atlantic Ridge)

Microbathymetry data, in situ observations, and sampling along the 138200N and 138200N oceanic core complexes (OCCs) reveal mechanisms of detachment fault denudation at the seafloor, links between tectonic extension and mass wasting, and expose the nature of corrugations, ubiquitous at OCCs. In the initial stages of detachment faulting and high-angle fault, scarps show extensive mass wasting that reduces their slope. Flexural rotation further lowers scarp slope, hinders mass wasting, resulting in morphologically complex chaotic terrain between the breakaway and the denuded corrugated surface. Extension and drag along the fault plane uplifts a wedge of hangingwall material (apron). The detachment surface emerges along a continuous moat that sheds rocks and covers it with unconsolidated rubble, while local slumping emplaces rubble ridges overlying corrugations. The detachment fault zone is a set of anostomosed slip planes, elongated in the alongextension direction. Slip planes bind fault rock bodies defining the corrugations observed in microbathymetry and sonar. Fault planes with extension-parallel stria are exposed along corrugation flanks, where the rubble cover is shed. Detachment fault rocks are primarily basalt fault breccia at 138200N OCC, and gabbro and peridotite at 138300N, demonstrating that brittle strain localization in shallow lithosphere form corrugations, regardless of lithologies in the detachment zone. Finally, faulting and volcanism dismember the 138300N OCC, with widespread present and past hydrothermal activity (Semenov fields), while the Irinovskoe hydrothermal field at the 138200N core complex suggests a magmatic source within the footwall. These results confirm the ubiquitous relationship between hydrothermal activity and oceanic detachment formation and evolution

Architecture and corals ecology of Tortonian-Messinian shallow-water bioherms (Las Negras basin, SE Spain).

International audienc

Paleoecological constraints on reef-coral morphologies in the Tortonian–early Messinian of the Lorca Basin, SE Spain

Coral reefs represent one of the main carbonate factories that contributed to the control of the stratigraphic architecture of carbonate platforms, which had a widespread development during the late Miocene in the paleo-Mediterranean area. The late Miocene reef complexes of the Lorca Basin in southeastern Spain are composed of five mixed siliciclastic/carbonate units, middle Tortonian to early Messinian in age. The development of coral reefs probably ceased when the first evaporitic event occurred in the basin centre in the early Messinian. This study mainly focuses on the response of reef communities and the modifications of reef organisation to global and regional parameters. At the platform scale, the carbonates are intermixed with terrigenous deposits related to two main types of clastic systems: torrential fans and fluvial to deltaic systems. The amount of clastic input greatly affected reef growth and coral morphologies. Three different types of stratal geometries were delineated in the reef complex: sigmoids, bioherms, and patches and carpets. The reef frameworks are mainly constructed by a poorly diversified assemblage of corals composed of poritids, faviids, and mussids. Porites is the principal reef builder of the sigmoids and carpets where it is widely distributed. Tarbellastraea is common in bioherms and Acanthrastraea appears generally associated with Porites in patches. Five basic growth forms of Porites are observed: thin branching or “finger-shaped”, thick branching to columnar, domed to hemispheric, encrusting, and platy to dish. Differences in coral morphology are used to define a relative water depth zonation in monogeneric reefs. The distribution of these growth forms was principally controlled by water depth. The reef flat is dominated by small thin branching or finger-shaped corals that are replaced towards the reef front by domed to hemispheric corals commonly encrusted by coralline algae. Downslope, columnar morphologies grade into thin branching shapes. The reef morphologies are variable throughout the five mixed siliciclastic/carbonate units at the platform scale. The first and oldest unit is dominated by bioclasts, whereas units 2, 3, and 5 are Porites-dominated, sigmoid complexes. Unit 4 is a well-developed biohermal complex mainly composed of Tarbellastraea. These units started to develop as early as middle Tortonian and stopped as late as early Messinian, and show a progradational trend, where the two latest units are well developed. Thus, carbonate production changed from grain-producing biota in the basal unit to framework-producing biota in the overlying units, consistent with evolution from a distally steepened ramp to a reef-rimmed shelf. At the scale of individual reef units, the relative water depth zonation of the corals is controlled by ecological changes (substrate, nutrients, synecologic relations, and diversification of coral species). In the transects across the carbonate platform related to the different units, the coral zonation records changes in spatial distribution of corals in response to ecological stresses and changes in regional and global environments (tectonic, relative sea-level changes, and runoff)

Evaporite control on mixed carbonated-clastic platform architecture and carbonate production: A Late Messinian case study (Sorbas Basin, SE Spain).

International audienc

Focused magmatism versus amagmatic spreading along the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge: evidence from TOBI side scan sonar imagery

The analysis of the Towed Ocean Bottom Instrument (TOBI) side scan sonar images along the Southwest Indian Ridge between 63°40 E and 65°40 E reveals strong focusing of magmatic activity and long amagmatic accretionary ridge segments. Fresh-looking volcanic terrains are observed at distinct locations along the axis separated by highly tectonized and sedimented terrains of an along-axis extent as much as 82 km. The largest tectonized section corresponds to a dramatically thin crust area with moderate magnetization anomalies. We suggest that seafloor spreading is mainly amagmatic in this tectonized section of the Southwest Indian Ridge with upper mantle rocks exposed at the seafloor. Amagmatic accretionary ridge segments of such dimensions are quite distinct from what is observed at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge but are also recognized at the Gakkel Ridge and may thus be characteristic of ultra-slow spreading ridges. The correlation between the distribution of fresh-looking volcanic terrains, the occurrence of shallow areas crowned by axial volcanic ridges, and high magnetization values suggests a shallow segmentation of the ridge mainly related to variation in the thickness and/or the intrinsic magnetization of the basaltic source layer. By contrast, strong along-axis variations of the gravity-derived crustal thickness are shrunken in length relative to this shallow segmentation of the ridge and occur only beneath the elevated segments. Adjacent to these elevated segments, small bathymetric swells with fresh-looking volcanic constructions do not correspond to thicker crust areas. This suggests a highly focused melt supply beneath the elevated segments which may feed volcanic constructions up to 60 km from the center of these segments by shallow lateral melt migration in the crust, probably through large dikes. Neither the ultra-slow spreading rate nor the ridge obliquity explains the variation of the magmatic vigor along the ridge. Mantle source heterogeneities together with lower mantle temperatures beneath the easternmost Southwest Indian Ridge could partly control its segmentation

Methane-derived stromatolitic carbonate crust from an active fluid seepage in the western basin of the Sea of Marmara: Mineralogical, isotopic and molecular geochemical characterization

Cold seeps along the North Anatolian fault in the Sea of Marmara (Turkey) were explored during submersible dives of the Marsite cruise in November 2014 when sediments, pore waters and carbonate crusts were sampled at active fluid seeping sites. In this study, we investigate the mineralogy, carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions and the lipid biomarkers of a carbonate crust from the western Tekirdağ basin of the Sea of Marmara. This crust exhibits a laminated domal structure that resembles stromatolite. The mineralogy of authigenic seep-carbonate is mostly represented by aragonite associated with minor amounts of high-magnesian calcite. The abundance of pyrite associated with the authigenic seep-carbonate points to very intense bacterial sulfate reduction. The carbon (−42.6‰ to −34.4‰) and oxygen (−1.5‰ to +1.1‰) isotopic compositions of the authigenic seep-carbonate crust indicate that carbonate precipitation was related to anaerobic oxidation of methane and occurred in mixtures of bottom seawater with brackish water expelled from the underlying sediments. Abundant microbial lipid biomarkers with negative δ13C values (−121‰ to −96‰), confirm that anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) coupled with sulfate reduction, was mediated by methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). Diagnostic lipid fingerprints indicate that ANME-2 archaea and associated SRB were the prevalent AOM-mediating consortia, which characterize moderate to high methane flow at this site. Moreover, changes in microbial lipid distribution within the carbonate crust suggest a variation in the intensity of methane emission