Deep-sea observations and modeling of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami in Drake Passage

Rare earth elements and yttrium (REY) are widely recognized as strategic materials for advanced technological applications. Deep-sea sediments from the eastern South Pacific and central North Pacific were first reported as potential resources containing significant amounts of REY that are comparable to, or greater than, those of land-based deposits. Despite nearly a decade of research, quantitative abundances and spatial distributions of these deposits remain insufficient. Age controls are generally absent due to the lack of biostratigraphic constraints. Thus, the factors controlling the formation of REY-rich sediments are still controversial. In this study, the REY contents of surface sediments (<2 m depth) in 14 piston cores from the Middle and Western Pacific were investigated. The results show that deep-sea sediments with high REY contents (>1000 μg/g) were mainly concentrated around seamounts (e.g., the Marshall Islands). The REY contents of surface sediments generally decreased with distance from the seamounts. Biostratigraphic and fish teeth debris (apatite) Sr isotopic stratigraphy of one piston cores (P10) from the Middle Pacific indicate that deep-sea sediments with high REY contents were aged from early Oligocene to early Miocene. Since the opening of the Drake Passage during the early Oligocene, the northward-flowing Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) would have led to an upwelling of nutrients around seamounts with topographic barriers, and at the same time, AABW would delay the rate of sediment burial to try for enough time for REY entering and enriching in the apatite (fish teeth debris). Understanding the spatial distribution of fertile regions for REY-rich sediments provides guidance for searching for other REY resources in the Pacific and in other oceans.

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Deep-sea polychaetes in the Weddell Sea and Drake Passage: first quantitative results

Polar Biology ◽

10.1007/s003000100259 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 24 (7) ◽

pp. 538-544 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Brigitte Hilbig

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Drake Passage ◽

Weddell Sea ◽

Quantitative Results

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Global Change and the Biostratigraphy of North Atlantic Cainozoic deep water Ostracoda

Journal of Micropalaeontology ◽

10.1144/jm.9.2.119 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 119-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Robin C. Whatley ◽

Graham P. Coles

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Middle Eocene ◽

Drake Passage ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Global Changes ◽

Climatic Fluctuations ◽

Faunal Turnover ◽

Extinction Rates ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Total Fauna

Abstract. The biostratigraphical distribution of deep-sea (>1000m) Palaeocene to Recent benthonic Ostracoda, based on nannofossil NP and NN zones is presented. By excluding very rare species and those represented by juveniles, 184 species are used in constructing range tables from a total fauna for the interval of 230 species. The vertical distribution of these specimens clearly allows of the recognition of all the major stratigraphical units within the Cainozoic and is also sufficiently precise to distinguish most of the nannofossil zones. The principal criteria employed are the first and last appearances of taxa. While eminently possible to create a series of ostracod zones, it is argued that they are best employed in the recognition of particular levels within the existing nannofossil scheme. The interpretation of the range tables is complicated in places by large numbers of Lazarus taxa and also by the fact that many of the ‘originations’ actually record the arrival of immigrants from the Indo-Pacific.Graphs of both simple and cumulative species diversity, and of origination and extinction rates, are used to demonstrate major faunal events such as the first arrival in the area, during the Middle Eocene, of cosmopolitan deep-sea species, or the very marked, but stepped, Palaeogene-Neogene faunal turnover. The distribution patterns of the Ostracoda record such global changes as the formation of the psychrosphere and the inception of a marked thermocline but they do not, as other authors have suggested, indicate a dramatic faunal turnover at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. The more vigorous circulation patterns of the Oligocene, related to the opening of the Drake Passage, are reflected in enhanced ostracod diversity at that time. Elevated late Oligocene extinction rates may be correlated with cooling consequent upon the growth of polar ice. Similarly, Lower Miocene low levels of diversity may be associated with the closure of the Iberian Portal and the effective isolation of the Tethys. The deep-sea ostracods do not, for the most part, record such events as the mid-Pliocene warming nor Quaternary climatic fluctuations.

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A new species ofThaumastoderma(Gastrotricha: Macrodasyida) from the Antarctic deep sea with a phylogenetic analysis of the whole genus

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom ◽

10.1017/s002531540900085x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 90 (3) ◽

pp. 575-584 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alexander Kieneke

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Analysis ◽

New Species ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Cladistic Analysis ◽

Drake Passage ◽

First Record ◽

South Shetland Islands ◽

The North ◽

The Antarctic ◽

A New Species

A new species of the marine gastrotrich taxonThaumastodermais described. A single specimen of this species,Thaumastoderma antarcticasp. nov., was extracted from silty sediment sampled at one station of the Andeep-1 cruise, about 150 km to the north of the South Shetland Islands (Drake Passage, South Atlantic Ocean). This paper provides the first record of this genus from the deep sea and the second description of a macrodasyid gastrotrich living in an abyssal habitat. The new species is characterized by several apomorphic features, among them a caudal pair of strongly elongated dorsal cirrata tubes. A phylogenetic analysis of the genusThaumastodermareveals thatTh. antarcticais closely related toTh. coronariumandTh. appendiculatum. Furthermore, the analysis offers an evolutionary scenario and a hypothesis for the internal phylogeny of this taxon while supporting its monophyly. It is the first time a cladistic analysis has been conducted for a delimited group of gastrotrichs, i.e. for all known members of a genus.

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Sea-ice control on deglacial lower cell circulation changes recorded by Drake Passage deep-sea corals

Earth and Planetary Science Letters ◽

10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116405 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 544 ◽

pp. 116405 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David J. Wilson ◽

Torben Struve ◽

Tina van de Flierdt ◽

Tianyu Chen ◽

Tao Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Ice ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Drake Passage ◽

Deep Sea Corals ◽

Circulation Changes ◽

Ice Control

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Furcarcturus polarsterni gen. nov., sp. nov., a large deep-sea arcturid isopod from the Drake Passage, with a preliminary molecular characterization

Polar Biology ◽

10.1007/s003000000160 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 23 (12) ◽

pp. 833-839 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Christian Baltzer ◽

Christoph Held ◽

Johann Wolfgang Wägele

Keyword(s):

Molecular Characterization ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Drake Passage

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Quaternary deep-sea ostracods from the north-western Pacific Ocean: global biogeography and Drake-Passage, Tethyan, Central American and Arctic pathways

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology ◽

10.1080/14772019.2017.1393019 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 91-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Moriaki Yasuhara ◽

Gene Hunt ◽

Hisayo Okahashi

Keyword(s):

Pacific Ocean ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Drake Passage ◽

Western Pacific ◽

Central American ◽

Western Pacific Ocean ◽

The North ◽

North Western ◽

North Western Pacific

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Biogeographical patterns among deep sea megabenthic communities across the Drake Passage

Antarctic Science ◽

10.1017/s0954102017000256 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (6) ◽

pp. 531-543 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Steven R. Auscavitch ◽

Rhian G. Waller

Keyword(s):

Deep Sea ◽

Multivariate Analyses ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Drake Passage ◽

Intermediate Water ◽

Western Antarctic Peninsula ◽

Mode Water ◽

Sea Floor ◽

Community Assemblage ◽

Quantitative Measurements

AbstractBiogeographical patterns among deep sea benthic communities in the Drake Passage remain poorly understood as a consequence of poor sampling resolution and the spatial remoteness of many sea floor features. Hard-bottom features, including at least 20 seamounts, remain uncharacterized with respect to their benthic megafaunal community assemblages. Here, we present community assemblage patterns from several locations across the Drake Passage to better understand the faunal relationships between deep sea floor communities in the region. Towed camera surveys were conducted on nine topographical features ranging from shelf environments on the southern Chilean Margin, the western Antarctic Peninsula shelf and seamounts in the central Drake Passage. These are the first quantitative measurements of megafaunal abundance at two seamount complexes in the central Drake Passage and multivariate analyses are used to examine the factors influencing species distributions. Three biogeographical groupings were identified based on species assemblages and environmental variables specific to major water mass boundaries in the region: sub-Antarctic Mode Water (318–523 m), Antarctic Intermediate Water (504–1128 m) and Circumpolar Deep Water (1837–3034 m). Further examination of megafaunal associations between sea floor structures may provide clues as to how sub-Antarctic communities are connected throughout the greater Southern Ocean.

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