Description: Marine geophysical surveys employing Seabeam, multi- and single-channel seismic reflection, gravity and magnetic instruments were conducted at two locations along the continental slope of the Peru Trench during the Seaperc cruise of the R/V “Jean Charcot” in July 1986. These areas are centered around 5°30′S and 9°30′S off the coastal towns of Paita and Chimbote respectively. These data indicate that (1) the continental slope off Peru consists of three distinct morpho-structural domains (from west to east are the lower, middle and upper slopes) instead of just two as previously reported; (2) the middle slope has the characteristics of a zone of tectonic collapse at the front of a gently flexured upper slope; (3) the upper half of the lower slope appears to represent the product of mass wasting; (4) thrusting at the foot of the margin produces a continuous morphologic feature representing a deformation front where the products of mass-wasting are overprinted by a compressional tectonic fabric; (5) a change in the tectonic regime from tensional to compressional occurs at the mid-slope-lower slope boundary, the accretionary prism being restricted to the very base of the lower slope in the Paita area. The Andean margin off Peru is an “extensional active margin” or a “collapsing active margin” developing a subordinated accretionary complex induced by massive collapse of the middle slope area.

Description: Detrital sediment is carried from land to the sea by three agents, rivers, glaciers, and winds. The shoreline is an arbitrary boundary within the detrital sediment transport system, which extends from a site of origin across areas of temporary storage to a site of long-term deposition. The most important of the agents moving sediment across the land is river transport, estimated to be in the order of 20×1012 kg of sediment annually at present. Analysis of drainage basins indicates that relief and runoff are the most important factors in determining the sediment load of rivers. The competence of rivers to transport sediment is governed by the volume flow, gradient, and the sediment load itself. Today, most large rivers are fed by snowmelt in highland areas, runoff from rainfall in the drainage basin, and groundwater inflow. Along the river course, water is lost to evaporation and groundwater infiltration. River courses can often be divided into two segments, a degradational section in which the gradient is relatively steep and little temporary storage of sediment takes place, and an aggradational section where the gradient is sharply reduced through meandering, and where large-scale temporary sediment storage forms a flood plain. Lakes trap sediment inland and prevent its transport to the sea. Today, many high and mid-latitude rivers are interrupted by lakes of glacial origin. There are also some large areas of internal drainage that deliver no sediment to the sea. The load carried by rivers has been markedly altered by human activity, and may have doubled over the past few thousand years, only to be reduced in the past century by the widespread construction of dams. The ancient use of fire in hunting and its subsequent use in clearing land has increased erosion. Extensive deforestation and cultivation processes have also increased the sediment supply. Dam construction is a relatively new factor and affects the sediment transport system by trapping sediment before it can reach the sea. The resulting lower sediment supply from rivers is, at least in part, compensated by increased coastal erosion. Glacial erosion is difficult to estimate. There is an ongoing controversy whether ice sheets are effective erosive agents or not. Estimates of the present global flux of glacial detritus range from 0.8–50×1012 kg annually, with the lower value most probable. The dust flux is in the order of 0.5 to 0.9×1012 kg annually, but may vary greatly with time.

Description: About 900 slags and iron objects from the period 700 b.c. to 1850 a.d. have been examined and analyzed by classical optical microscopy and by energy dispersive analytical methods. Although ancient iron objects are extremely heterogeneous, a definite correlation between the metal phase and its slag inclusions is shown; for example, wüstite-rich slags are located in ferrite, whereas glassy slags are located in pearlite. The ratios SiO2/Al2O3, Al2O3/CaO, and so forth, of the slag inclusions are shown to be helpful in identifying the production site or provenance of an ancient iron object. These ratios are further shown not to be the same in irons produced by the direct process and in irons produced by fining or puddling. Emphasis is on iron production methods in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, illuminating Scandinavian iron-making practices through 2500 years. The slag analysis method developed here may, however, be extended to yield information on other European sites.

Description: A total of 131 current meter records of between 6 and 24 month duration are analysed to describe the deep flow field of the eastern North Atlantic from 19° to 54°N and from the Continental Slope to the Mid Atlantic Ridge. Mean flows are weak and may be statistically indeterminate in some records and locations, but appear to indicate cyclonic circulations around the Iberia and Porcupine abyssal plains with a generally southward flow along the Mid Atlantic ridge and a deep northward slope current (where measurements exist) along the eastern boundary. The deepest inflow to the north-eastern basin that has been identified to date takes place through the Discovery Gap of 〉4,700 m sill-depth at 37° 25′N 15° 45′W in the Azores-Portugal ridge. South of that ridge, observations are sparse and no systematic circulation is yet evident. These observations are discussed in relation to recent geostrophic estimates of the deep circulation.

Description: Microbial anaerobic oxidation of methane in sediments is a kinetic process associated with a carbon isotope effect which enriches the remaining methane in 13C. Three, models: % residual methane, higher hydrocarbon enrichment, and CO2-CH4 coexisting pairs are used to independently calculate fractionation factors (αc) in the range of 1.002–1.014, which overlap the range determined by culture studies, αc is smaller than that associated with methanogenesis by CO2 reduction or by acetate-type fermentation, and comparison of the coexisting CO2-CH4 pairs can distinguish between the formation and consumption processes. Methane oxidation in sediments continues to a threshold concentration of ca. 0.2 mM; the residual methane is either unavailable or unattractive to consumption. Minor amounts of methane may also be produced simultaneously in the methane consumption zone, influencing the apparent fractionation factor in this zone.

Description: In the Neil Brown Instruments' MKIIIB-CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth profiler), the system's digital outputs for the three basic measurements of temperature, conductivity and pressure typically show some small amplitude deviations from smooth calibrations which should be corrected for to achieve high accuracies, as required, e.g. within the Hydrographic Program (WHP) of the current World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). These deviations show up as (i) a strong nonlinearity or even discontinuity of several mK close to 0°C in temperature output leading to too high subzero temperatures; (ii) a jump of order 0.002 mS cm−1 in conductivity output when passing the half-range value 32.768 mS cm−1, which causes jumps in the relation of potential temperature and salinity; and (iii) errors in pressure measurements of up to 4 dbar due to mechanical hysteresis and both static and dynamic responses to temperature changes. The existence of these effects is demonstrated, and methods to reduce the associated errors are suggested.

Description: It is well known that spatial scales of oceanic eddies are smaller than scales of atmospheric eddies. Since the spectral distribution of kinetic energy of atmospheric eddies may influence the properties of wind driven oceanic eddies, an excellent resolution of small scale variability of wind fields used as input fields of coupled models of atmosphere and ocean is necessary. Analysis of spatial scales of atmospheric fields is done in terms of spectral energy densities. These are determined in two different ways: directly from objectively analysed fields or by using spatial correlation functions of direct observations averaged for 20 km × 20 km boxes. In the spectral range of wavelengths of less than 1000 km spectral energy densities of analysed fields have lost about 15 to 50% of the variance compared to direct observations. A considerable part of this loss of the variance depends on smoothing done by interpolation schemes themselves. Concerning problems of air-sea interaction care should be taken also to avoid that systematic errors of analysed wind fields lead to systematic errors in turbulent exchange. It is shown that high observed wind speeds are considerably underestimated in analysed fields of numerical models of weather prediction.

Description: Sediments on high Arctic shelves result from modern processes and the effect of former glaciations. Based on data from the northern Barents Sea, an area with input from large and numerous surging glaciers, we define two principal zones with different environmental regimes and corresponding sedimentary facies: (1) a glacier-proximal zone influenced by grounding-line processes and the immediately adjacent areas affected by glacial sediment input, and (2) a glacier-distal, sea-ice and current-controlled zone, which also includes a wide sediment-starved region dominated by biogenic carbonate accumulation. Characteristic of the glacier-proximal zone are glacial surges which affect sedimentation rates and leave a diagnostic pattern of sea-floor morphologies. Extensive ice gouging causes a homogeneous sediment texture. In the glacier-distal zone, fine-grained mud supplied from sea ice and infrequent coarser material deposited from icebergs is reworked by modern oceanographic processes. On shallow banks, in 30–50 m of water, carbonates accumulate from a prolific bottom fauna formed in response to extensive reworking and nutrient supply.