Description: Changes in the dissolved oxygen content, the alkalinity, and the pH in sea water near the ocean floor are interpreted in terms of chemical and biochemical processes at the sediment water interface. A simple model provides a plausible explanation of the observed phenomena. Special emphasis is given to the importance of borate corrections in the calculation of the solution effects of calcium carbonate.

Description: Hydrographie data (salinity, temperature, oxygen, silicate, and phosphate) obtained on 5 stations ("Meteor" cruise 23, leg C, 8 to 26 June 1971) on a section from Lisbon, Portugal, to 44° N, 43° W (Newfoundland Basin) by both water sampling and in situ observation by the "Bathysonde" (STD), are summarized. A strong core of Mediterranean water was found at the eastern boundary of the section (38.5° N, 11.5° W). At this station, the core is accompanied by low nutrient concentrations and brings about an extended oxygen minimum (ca. 500 to 1400 m depth). The core quickly weakens towards the west and is, at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, only apparent in the Bathysonde data. Two salinity maxima are observed within the core of Mediterranean water, the center of which speads along the isopycnal σt = 27.7. Dissolved oxygen shows a rapid concentration increase with depth below the Mediterranean water core; concentration variations with depth below the range of this increase are only small. The mean deep-water oxygen concentration increases from 5.5 ml/kg (below 2500 m) to 6.20 ml/kg (below 1500 m) in an east-west direction on the section. The upper boundary of the deep-water oxygen concentration range thereby rises from 2000 to 1300 m; this boundary marks the upper boundary of the Arctic Intermediate water. Core depths of Arctic Intermediate and of Iceland-Scotland overflow water, are derived from the potential-temperature/salinity diagrams obtained in the western basin, and are extended to the other stations by assuming lateral spreading to occur along isopycnal surfaces. The core depths for the Intermediate water obtained in this manner, are supported also by the potential-temperature to silicate relations. The bottom water of the westernmost station of the section, at 44° N, 43° W, is of Denmark Strait origin, and it produces a distinct reversal in the vertical trends of salinity, silicate, phosphate, and oxygen, at 4300 m depth. The concentration of the nuclear-weapon produced nuclide tritium increases within the Denmark Strait water core towards the bottom. Further tritium concentration peaks appear in the intermediate and deep water at this station. At the next Station east on the section at 43° N 34 ° W, tritium concentrations are essetially zero below 2000 m depth, and are distinctly smaller than on the westernmost station, between 600 m and 2000 m depth. This "Meteor" section was track F of the Atlantic network of the international Geochemical Ocean Sections Program (GEOSECS).

Description: Data were presented to compare pore fluids from Sites 1037 and 1038 in the Escanaba Trough, Gorda Ridge. Site 1037 constitutes the reference site, and Site 1038 is the hydrothermally affected site. The program was undertaken for two purposes: (1) to make a detailed analysis of the halide chemistry of these two sites, with the specific aim of discerning any potential differences in the generation of dissolved halides as a result of sediment diagenesis in these drill sites and (2) to investigate the geochemistry of Ba2+ and Mn2+ at these two sites to discover potential hydrothermal effects reflected in the concentration-depth distributions of these elements.

Description: The entire suite of halogens was measured in the pore fluids of Hole 1033B and 1034B from Saanich Inlet: ODP Leg 169S. The fast sedimentation rates and large amount of organic carbon burial coupled with anoxia of the overlying waters promotes an advanced stage of diagenesis within the sediment column. Chloride interstitial water profiles suggest salinity variations within the waters of Saanich Inlet. Concentration profiles for iodide and bromide support the argument that they are produced through the degradation of organic matter. Although the concentration increases in I- and Br- indicate that these halides are not regenerated in similar proportions to marine organic matter, it appears that iodide and bromide are regenerated to similar degrees within the sediment column and in similar proportions to the sediment halide concentrations. Fluoride porewater values show a complicated pattern, most likely caused by secondary reactions involving complexation with Mg2+, carbonate fluorapatite precipitation, carbonate mineral diagenesis, and/or uptake into alumino-silicate minerals.