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- Hardisty, Dalton S., et al.
(author)
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A Holocene History Of Dynamic Water Column Redox Conditions In The Landsort Deep, Baltic Sea
- 2016
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In: American Journal of Science. - : American Journal of Science (AJS). - 0002-9599 .- 1945-452X. ; 316:8, s. 713-745
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The modern Baltic Sea is the world's largest anthropogenically forced anoxic basin. Using integrated geochemical records collected during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 347 from the deepest and one of the most reducing sub-basins in the Baltic Sea, Landsort Deep, we explore the degree and frequency of natural anoxia through the Baltic Holocene. A marked decrease in carbon-to-sulfur ratios (C/S) from the cores indicate the transition from the Baltic Ice Lake to the current brackish sea, which occurred about 8.5 kyrs B.P. Following this, laminations throughout sediments recording brackish deposition suggest sustained anoxia or extreme low oxygen, while high molybdenum (Mo) concentrations of >100 ppm and iron (Fe) geochemistry suggest water column sulfide accumulation, or euxinia, that persisted beyond seasonal timescales during deposition of two distinct sapropel units. Sedimentary Mo isotope values range from +1.11 to -0.50 permil, which are distinctly fractionated from modern Baltic seawater (+2.26 to -2.67 parts per thousand) and thus indicate that each of the sapropels experienced only weak and/or oscillatory euxinia-in contrast to the more stable euxinic conditions of more restricted basins. A shift in delta Mo-98 starting above the lower sapropel to a distinctly more negative range suggests particularly weak and oscillatory euxinia, with an enhanced contribution of manganese (Mn) redox cycling to Mo deposition relative to the lower portion of the profile. This conclusion is supported by extreme sedimentary Mn enrichments of up to 15 weight percent. We interpret the combined data to indicate episodic but major Baltic inflow events of saline and oxygenated North Sea water into the anoxic Landsort Deep that limited the concentrations and residence time of water column sulfide and caused episodic oxide deposition. Considering the temporal overlap between the most reducing conditions and periods of redox instability, we hypothesize that major Baltic inflows, as is observed today, lead to short-term instability while simultaneously supporting longer-term Baltic anoxia by strengthening the halocline. Ultimately, our results indicate that periods more reducing than the modern Baltic Sea have occurred naturally over the Holocene, but the characteristic dynamic saline inputs have historically prevented the relatively more widespread and stable anoxia observed in other classic restricted basins and will likely continue to do so.
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| 2. |
- Kleine, Barbara I., et al.
(author)
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RAPID FLUID FLOW ALONG FRACTURES AT GREENSCHIST FACIES CONDITIONS ON SYROS, GREECE
- 2016
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In: American Journal of Science. - : American Journal of Science (AJS). - 0002-9599 .- 1945-452X. ; 316:2, s. 169-201
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Brittle fractures cut through greenschist facies metavolcanic rocks at Delfini on Syros, Greece. An equation for one-dimensional transport by advection along a single fracture and transverse diffusion outwards from this fracture was used to calculate time-averaged fluid velocities and the duration of fluid flow along the brittle fractures. These quartz and carbonate filled fractures are surrounded by symmetrical dark reaction halos. These reaction halos were formed by diffusion of CO2 outwards from the fracture in a hydrous fluid which caused carbonation of the country rock. Changes in concentration of relatively mobile elements (for example K, Na, Cs, Ba, Pb and Sr) occurred. However, little to no changes in most of the major elements and less mobile trace elements were observed. This implies that carbonation was largely isochemical with respect to most non-volatile components. The Sr/Ca ratio was used to model time-averaged fluid velocities and the duration of fluid flow along the fractures. Fluid flow along narrower fractures with discernibly tapering haloes was found to be rapid (10(-6) - 10(-5) ms(-1)) and short lived (0.1-400 years). These are time-averaged values and can therefore alternatively record a series of even shorter and faster pulses, perhaps associated with fracture propagation and associated seismicity. Within the widest fractures with constant halo widths (ca. 60 cm) fluid flow was slower (10(-8) to 10(-6) ms(-1)) and longer lived (100-15000 years). We suspect that the constant width of these haloes reflects a steady state having been reached at which halo width was controlled by the relative rates of fluid flow along the fracture and in the surrounding rock.
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