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We report the first direct turbulence observations in the Samoan Passage (SP), a 40 km wide notch in the South Pacific bathymetry through which flows most of the water supplying the North Pacific abyssal circulation. The observed turbulence is 1000 to 10,000 times typical abyssal levels —strong enough to completely mix away the densest water entering the passage—confirming inferences from previous coarser temperature and salinity sections. Accompanying towed measurements of velocity and temperature with horizontal resolution of about 250 m indicate the dominant processes responsible for the turbulence. Specifically, the flow accelerates substantially at the primary sill within the passage, reaching speeds as great as 0.55 m s−1. A strong hydraulic response is seen, with layers first rising to clear the sill and then plunging hundreds of meters downward. Turbulence results from high shear at the interface above the densest fluid as it descends and from hydraulic jumps that form downstream of the sill. In addition to the primary sill, other locations along the multiple interconnected channels through the Samoan Passage also have an effect on the mixing of the dense water. In fact, quite different hydraulic responses and turbulence levels are observed at seafloor features separated laterally by a few kilometers, suggesting that abyssal mixing depends sensitively on bathymetric details on small scales.

Abstract Free-air, Bouguer and isostatic gravity anomalies of the Arctic regions, derived from 350,000 irregularly distributed gravity observations, were gridded at a 10 km interval and plotted against rock-equivalent topography. All of these anomalies show various degrees of correlation with topography, depending on the type of anomaly, which tend to mask the geological source of the anomalies. As an aid to gravity interpretation, a new type of gravity anomaly, the enhanced isostatic anomaly (EIA), was developed. The EIA emphasizes anomalies related to local geological structures while reducing the regional effects of topography and bathymetry, of crust-mantle interfaces, of continent-ocean boundaries, of glacial loading and of abnormal thermal conditions within the lithosphere. The use of the EIA as an interpretative tool is shown in an example from the Queen Elizabeth Islands. Colour maps illustrate the four different types of gravity anomaly fields of the Arctic regions. Areas of positive EIA are suggested to be associated with relatively young (Late Cretaceous or younger) crust characterized by higher seismicity and heat flow values, and areas of negative EIA with older, more stable crust. On continents, young mountain formations, volcanic areas, and areas with uncompensated sedimentary deposits are characterized by positive EIA, while unmetamorphosed sedimentary basins tend to be located in areas with negative EIA

article i nfo This study utilizes geomorphology, marine sediment data, environmental reconstructions and the Gorham's Cave occupational record during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition to illustrate the impacts of climate changes on human population dynamics in the Western Mediterranean. Geomorphologic evolution has been dated and appears to be driven primarily by coastal dune systems, sea-level changes and seismo-tectonic evolution. Continental and marine records are well correlated and used to interpret the Gorham's Cave sequence. Specific focus is given to the three hiatus sections found in Gorham's Cave during Heinrich periods 4, 3 and 2. These time intervals are compared with a wide range of regional geomorphologic, climatic, paleoseismic, faunal and archeological records. Our data compilations indicate that climatic and local geo- morphologic changes explain the Homo sapiens spp. occupational hiatuses during Heinrich periods 4 and 3. The last hiatus corresponds to the replacement of Homo neanderthalensis by H. sapiens. Records of dated cave openings, slope breccias and stalactite falls suggest that marked geomorphologic changes, seismic activ- ity and ecological perturbations occurred during the period when Homo replacement took place.

Arctic Ocean primary productivity is limited by light and inorganic nutrients. With sea ice cover declining in recent decades, nitrate limitation has been speculated to become more prominent. Although much has been learned about nitrate supply from general patterns of ocean circulation and water column stability, a quantitative analysis requires dedicated turbulence measurements that have only started to accumulate in the last dozen years. Here we present new observations of the turbulent vertical nitrate flux in the Laptev Sea, Baffin Bay, and Young Sound (North-East Greenland), supplementing a compilation of 13 published estimates throughout the Arctic Ocean. Combining all flux estimates with a Pan-Arctic database of in situ measurements of nitrate concentration and density, we found the annual nitrate inventory to be largely determined by the strength of stratification and by bathymetry. Nitrate fluxes explained the observed regional patterns and magnitudes of both new primary production and particle export on annual scales. We argue that with few regional exceptions, vertical turbulent nitrate fluxes can be a reliable proxy of Arctic primary production accessible through autonomous and large-scale measurements. They may also provide a framework to assess nutrient limitation scenarios based on clear energetic and mass budget constraints resulting from turbulent mixing and freshwater flows.

Nautilus pompilius at Fiji lives abundantly to about 600 m depth while the shell implodes between 730–900 m when sunk in a cage. From this, and the average parameters of the septum, its tensile strength is calculated to 110–140 MPa. This is markedly higher than the latest value from direct tensile tests (78 MPa). In recent pressure tests by Saunders and Wehman with dry shells from the Philippines, implosion occurred at pressure equivalents to 310–680 m depth, without significant correlation with septal thickness. We attribute this excessive range and non-correlation to structural damage by postnecrotic processes. The recalculated tensile strength from their original data is 56–137 MPa; the higher values are compatible with our values for septal nacre of Nautilus and Spirula (c. 155 MPa). Septal curvature and thickness in orthocones thus remain useful guides to bathymetry.

Abstract The Kerguelen Plateau is the largest topographic barrier to the eastward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean. The plateau is separated into a northern and southern plateau by the Fawn Trough. The northern plateau has a shallow bathymetry (

Abstract Carbonate sedimentary successions that developed on isolated oceanic islands typically comprise a series of unconformity-bounded packages of strata that reflect eustatic sea level changes superimposed on local tectonic movements. Resolving the subsidence and/or uplift of these islands, which are often assumed to have simple tectonic histories, is challenging because the tectonic movements are commonly of similar magnitudes to the eustatic oscillations. The uncertainty associated with each of the components involved in the construction of subsidence diagrams (e.g., age constraints, decompaction, eustatic sea level curves, paleobathymetry), therefore, introduces significant error margins when assessing the tectonic histories of isolated carbonate platforms. By using two end-member subsidence diagrams for the Paleogene to Neogene successions on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac, it can be shown that their subsidence rates were heterogeneous over time and that the evolution of these islands vary significantly even though they are situated in the same basin. Although these islands, located 150 km apart, were subject to uniform changes in eustatic sea level, they have different stratigraphic architectures owing to their independent tectonic histories. From the Oligocene to the late Pliocene, the tectonic histories of Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac were analogous, and they subsided at a rate of 5.6 to 9.9 m/Myr. From the late Pliocene to ~400 ka, however, northeast Cayman Brac was uplifted by 165 m and tilted with a rotational axis offshore from the southwest end of the island, whereas Grand Cayman was uplifted by ~10 m with no rotational component. The results of this study challenge the assumption that isolated carbonate platforms have simple tectonic histories, while exploring and highlighting the common problems that are encountered with the construction of subsidence diagrams.

Megaflutes – erosional scours normally found in deep water on continental slopes – were identified in 1978 on sidescan sonograms and seismic reflection profiles from Placentia Bay on the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Data from recent extensive multibeam sonar surveys provide an opportunity to describe the morphology and distribution of the megaflutes in detail, and to consider the formative processes. They occur on the east side of the outer bay, at a depth of ~ 200 m, in a 2–3 km-wide swath that continues to the south into Halibut Channel, over a total distance of ~ 100 km. The megaflutes have been formed by removal of a layer of postglacial mud, exposing underlying glaciomarine sediments and releasing a volume of 4.5 km3. They occur in a range of forms, including single, multiple, and coalescent types, and in some areas at least their inception was related to pre-existing pockmarks. Radiocarbon dates from piston cores are used to demonstrate that megaflute formation post-dated ca. 9 ka. Megaflute formation in Placentia Bay has been attributed to a ‘reverse flow’ from the tsunami generated by the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake, and this is still the accepted hypothesis. We argue that the return flow from a tsunami did not generate the megaflutes, and suggest instead that they could be formed during south-flowing density currents generated when volumes of cold saline water stored in the deep (> 250 m) basins at the head of Placentia Bay are intermittently displaced and spilled south in a shallow channel at the east side of the bay after intense coastal surface dense water formation events, perhaps during very cold winters We thank the masters and crews of various survey vessels used in geological surveys. The vessels include the R.V. Navicula (surveys in 1989), CCGS Creed (multibeam surveys in 1995, 2004 and 2005), CCGS Matthew (geological surveys in 1999 and 2006, multibeam surveys in 2004, 2005 and 2006), and CCGS Hudson (geological survey in 2006). We also acknowledge the staff of the Canadian Hydrographic Service who participated in multibeam surveys, who also conducted their own surveys, and who archived the multibeam data. Pere Puig benefited from a travel grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (Ref. PR2011-0538) to conduct this study at Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Jean-Pierre Guilbault analyzed foraminifers, and grain size analyses were performed at GSC Atlantic by Owen Brown.We also acknowledge the contributions of Gordon B. J. Fader, formerly of theGeological Survey of Canada,who collectedmuch of the data used in thiswork, supplied us with many graphics, and participated in fruitful discussions. GH acknowledges the funding support from the Centre for Ocean Model Development and Applications, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Government Related Initiative Program(GRIP), Canadian Space Agency. The paper was internally reviewed by Edward L. King and Gordon Cameron. This is Earth Sciences Sector Contribution no. 16763 14 pages, 14 figures, 1 table Peer reviewed