scholarly journals Dust, volcanic ash, and the evolution of the South Pacific Gyre through the Cenozoic

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1078-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann G. Dunlea ◽  
Richard W. Murray ◽  
Justine Sauvage ◽  
Arthur J. Spivack ◽  
Robert N. Harris ◽  
...  
2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Stemmann ◽  
D. Eloire ◽  
A. Sciandra ◽  
G. A. Jackson ◽  
L. Guidi ◽  
...  

Abstract. The French JGOFS BIOSOPE cruise crossed the South Pacific Gyre (SPG) on a transect between the Marquesas Islands and the Chilean coast on a 7500 km transect (8° S–34° S and 8° W–72° W). The number and volume distributions of small (3.5100 μm) were analysed combining two instruments, the HIAC/Royco Counter (for the small particles) and the Underwater Video Profiler (UVP, for the large particles). For the HIAC analysis, samples were collected from 12 L CTD Rosette bottles and immediately analysed on board while the UVP provided an estimate of in situ particle concentrations and size in a continuous profile. Out of 76 continuous UVP and 117 discrete HIAC vertical profiles, 25 had both sets of measurements, mostly at a site close to the Marquesas Islands (site MAR) and one in the center of the gyre (site GYR). At GYR, the particle number spectra from few μm to few mm were fit with power relationships having slopes close to −4. At MAR, the high abundance of large objects, probably living organisms, created a shift in the full size spectra of particles such that a single slope was not appropriate. The small particle pool at both sites showed a diel pattern while the large did not, implying that the movement of mass toward the large particles does not take place at daily scale in the SPG area. Despite the relatively simple nature of the number spectra, the volume spectra were more variable because what were small deviations from the straight line in a log-log plot were large variations in the volume estimates. In addition, the mass estimates from the size spectra are very sensitive to crucial parameters such as the fractal dimension and the POC/Dry Weight ratio. Using consistent values for these parameters, we show that the volume of large particles can equal the volume of the smaller particles. However the proportion of material in large particles decreased from the mesotrophic conditions at the border of the SPG to the ultra-oligotrophy of the center in the upper 200 m depth. We expect large particles to play a major role in the trophic interaction in the upper waters of the South Pacific Gyre.


2015 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 325-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert T. Letscher ◽  
Angela N. Knapp ◽  
Anna K. James ◽  
Craig A. Carlson ◽  
Alyson E. Santoro ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 2761-2791 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Van Wambeke ◽  
I. Obernosterer ◽  
T. Moutin ◽  
S. Duhamel ◽  
O. Ulloa ◽  
...  

Abstract. Spatial variations of heterotrophic bacterial production and phytoplankton primary production were investigated across South East Pacific Ocean (–141° W, –8° S to –72° W, –35° S) in November–December 2004. Bacterial production (³H leucine incorporation) integrated over the euphotic zone encompassed a wide range of values, from 43 mg C m−2 d−1 in the hyper-oligotrophic South Pacific Gyre to 392 mg C m−2 d−1 in the upwelling off Chile. Within the gyre (120° W, 22° S) records of low phytoplankton biomass (7 mg TChla m−2) were obtained and in situ 14C based particulate primary production rates were as low as 153 mg C m−2 d−1, thus equal to the value considered as a limit for primary production under strong oligotrophic conditions. In the South Pacific gyre average rates of ³H leucine incorporation rates, and leucine incorporation rates per cell (5–21 pmol L−1 h−1 and 15–56×10−21 mol cell−1 h−1, respectively), were in the same range as those reported for other oligotrophic sub tropical and temperate waters. Rates of dark community respiration, determined at selected stations across the transect varied in a narrow range (42–97 mmol O2 m−2 d−1), except for one station in the upwelling off Chile (245 mmol O2 m−2 d−1). Bacterial growth efficiencies varied between 5 and 38% and bacterial carbon demand largely exceeded 14C particulate primary production across the South Pacific Ocean. Net community production also revealed negative values in the South Pacific Gyre (–13±20 to –37±40 mmol O2 m−2 d−1). Such imbalances being impossible in this area far from any external input, we discuss the techniques involved for determining the coupling between primary production and bacterial heterotrophic production.


1991 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. Vinogradov

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 4-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D'Hondt ◽  
F. Inagaki ◽  
C. Alvarez Zarikian ◽  

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 329 made major strides toward fulfilling its objectives. Shipboard studies documented (1) fundamental aspects of habitability and life in this very low activity subseafloor sedimentary ecosystem and (2) first-order patterns of habitability within the igneous basement. A broad range of postexpedition studies will complete the expedition objectives. Throughout the South Pacific Gyre (SPG; Sites U1365–U1370), dissolved oxygen and nitrate are present throughout the entire sediment sequence, and sedimentary microbial cell counts are lower than at all previously drilled IODP/ Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)/Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP) sites. In contrast, at Site U1371 in the upwelling zone just south of the gyre, detectable oxygen and nitrate are limited to the top and bottom of the sediment column, manganese reduction is a prominent electron-accepting process, and cell concentrations are higher than at the same depths in the SPG sites throughout the sediment column. Geographic variation in subseafloor profiles of dissolved and solid-phase chemicals are consistent with the magnitude of organic-fueled subseafloor respiration declining from outside the gyre to the gyre center. <br><br> Chemical profiles in the sedimentary pore water and secondary mineral distributions in the basaltic basement indicate that basement alteration continues on the timescale of formation fluid replacement, even at the sites with the oldest basement (84–120 Ma at Sites U1365 and U1366). <br><br> doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2204/iodp.sd.15.01.2013" target="_blank">10.2204/iodp.sd.15.01.2013</a>


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 3159-3186 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Fischer ◽  
T. G. Ferdelman ◽  
S. D'Hondt ◽  
H. Røy ◽  
F. Wenzhöfer

Abstract. Benthic microbial oxygen consumption rates were investigated during an IODP site survey to the South Pacific Gyre. Primary production, particle fluxes and sedimentation rates are extraordinarily low in this most oligotrophic oceanic region on earth. We studied benthic microbial respiration rates from vertical oxygen profiles in sediments obtained on different spatial scales ex situ (in piston cores and multi cores), and in situ (using a benthic lander with a microelectrode profiler). Along a transect in the area 24 to 46° S and 165 to 117° W, cores at 10 of 11 sites were oxygenated for their entire lengths (as much as 8 m below seafloor), at concentrations >150 μmol L−1 O2. This represents the deepest oxygen penetration ever measured in marine sediments. Microprofiles from the top sediment layer revealed a diffusive oxygen flux to the sediment in the order of 0.2 mmol m−2 d−1. This is in the lower range of previously reported fluxes for oligotrophic sediments but corresponds well to the low surface water primary production. Because of the inert nature of the deeper sediment, oxygen that is not consumed in the surface layer diffuses downward to much greater depth. In deeper zones, a small O2 flux of ~0.1 μmol m−2 d−1 was therefore still present. This flux was constant with depth, indicating extremely low respiration rates. Modeling of the measured oxygen profiles suggests that the sediment is probably oxygenated down to the basalt, indicating an oxygen flux from the sediment into the basaltic basement.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 1685-1696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aymeric PM Servettaz ◽  
Yusuke Yokoyama ◽  
Shoko Hirabayashi ◽  
Markus Kienast ◽  
Yosuke Miyairi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe South Pacific Ocean contributes to the global carbon cycle by exchanging CO2 between the atmosphere and intermediate to deep water masses. The path of the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) in the South Pacific gyre has been inferred from salinity, oxygen, and nutrient measurements, but radiocarbon (14C) measurements—a direct tracer of the carbon cycle—remain sparse. Here, we present the first radiocarbon profiles in the western Coral Sea and compare our measurements with South Pacific stations from GLODAPv2, a database of ocean hydrochemistry. Surface and subsurface waters in the Coral Sea cannot be attributed to a single source based on their Δ14C signatures, and we observe a penetration of bomb-produced 14C. AAIW in the western Coral Sea shows Δ14C values comparable to those in the South Pacific gyre, consistent with circulation of AAIW in the lower part of the southern equatorial current. The deep waters of the western Coral Sea have significantly higher 14C than the South Pacific at the same isopycnal, consistent with a northward intrusion of Circumpolar Deep Water from the Tasman Sea, along with a westward influx of deep waters from the Central Pacific. In accordance with silicate concentrations published previously, this shows the dual origin of deep waters in the Coral Sea.


2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (Pt_8) ◽  
pp. 2522-2527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyang Fan ◽  
Zenghu Zhang ◽  
Zhao Li ◽  
Xiao-Hua Zhang

A Gram-stain-positive, strictly aerobic, coccus-shaped, non-motile, yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain XH208T, was isolated from a deep subseafloor sediment sample collected from the South Pacific Gyre (41° 58′ S 163° 11′ W) during the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 329. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain XH208T belonged to the genus Luteococcus and showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with Luteococcus peritonei CCUG 38120T (96.9 %), Luteococcus japonicus DSM 10546T (95.4 %) and Luteococcus sanguinis CCUG 33897T (95.2 %). The DNA G+C content of strain XH208T was 66.9 mol%. The cell wall of strain XH208T possessed a type A3γ peptidoglycan (ll-diaminopimelic acid–glycine), and ribose, glucose and galactose as the major whole-cell sugars. The major fatty acids were C17 : 1ω8c, C17 : 1ω6c, and C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c (summed feature 3). The major respiratory quinone was menaquinone MK-9(H4). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol. On the basis of data from the polyphasic analysis, strain XH208T is considered to represent a novel species in the genus Luteococcus , for which the name Luteococcus sediminum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is XH208T ( = DSM 27277T = JCM 19259T).


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