Description: Meteor Cruise M121 was dedicated to the investigation of the distribution of dissolved and particulate trace metals and their isotopic compositions (TEIs) in the full water column of the Angola Basin and the northernmost Cape Basin. A key aim was to determine the driving factors for the observed distributions, which includes the main external inputs, as well as internal cycling and ocean circulation. The research program of the cruise is official part of the international GEOTRACES program (www.geotraces.org) and cruise M121 corresponds to GEOTRACES cruise GA11. Subject of the cruise was the trace metal clean and contamination-free sampling of waters and particulates for subsequent analyses of the TEIs in the home laboratories of the national and international participants. Besides a standard rosette for the less contaminant prone metals, trace metal clean sampling was realized by using for the first time a new dedicated, coated trace metal clean rosette equipped with Teflon-coated GO-FLO bottles operated via a plastic coated cable from a mobile winch of GEOMAR Kiel. The particulate samples were collected under trace metal clean conditions using established in-situ pump systems operated from Meteor’s Aramid line. The cruise track led from Walvis Bay northwards along the West African margin until 3°S, then turned west until the Zero Meridian, which was followed southwards until 30°S. Then the cruise track turned east again until the Namibian margin was reached and then completed the near shore track northwards until Walvis Bay. The track crossed areas of major external inputs including dust from the Namib Desert and exchange with the west African continental margin and with the oxygen depleted shelf sediments of the Benguela upwelling, as well as with the plume of the Congo outflow, that was followed from its mouth northwards. Our investigations of internal cycling included the extremely high productivity associated with the Benguela Upwelling and the elevated productivity of the Congo plume contrasting with the extremely oligotrophic waters of the southeastern Atlantic Gyre. The links between TEI biogeochemistry and the nitrogen cycle forms an important aspect of our study. The major water masses contributing the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation were sampled in order to investigate if particular TEI signatures are suitable as water mass tracers, in particular near the ocean margin and in the restricted deep Angola Basin. A total of 51 full water column stations were sampled for the different dissolved TEIs, which were in most cases accompanied by sampling for particulates and radium isotopes using the in-situ pumps. In addition, surface waters were continuously sampled under trace metal clean conditions using a towed fish and aerosol and rain samples were continuously collected.

Description: The scientific objectives of METEOR cruise M84/5 focused on the measurement and analysis of the environmental controls of modern and fossil cold-water coral growth along a transect in the Bay of Biscay. In four working areas we successfully deployed lander systems and CTD/Ro’s to document the physical and hydrochemical characteristics of bottom water masses and the water column in general. These are used to shed light on potential linkages to modern cold-water coral growth and distribution. These investigations were flanked by plankton tows in surface waters. The base for all investigations was a thorough hydroacoustic survey to characterize potential cold-water coral bearing areas with living colonies. Based on these maps we deployed all video-guided gear such as the OFOS-video sled, the TV grab, and the lander systems. Benthic assemblages and sedimentary structures have been documented and sampled with the OFOS and a box corer. Simultaneously, genetic samples of the living coral material were taken for additional studies. Furthermore, we have taken gravity cores to investigate the paleoceanographic conditions as well as the timing of cold-water coral colonization in the Bay of Biscay. Along with the coring efforts, a detailed sampling and study of porewater properties was performed. An additional aim of this cruise was to investigate the influence of boundary exchange processes on the Neodymium isotopy in bottom waters along the pathway of the Mediterranean Outflow water (MOW) by taking multiple samples with the CTD/Ro. The new data and samples of this METEOR cruise will provide the framework to investigate the timing of cold-water coral colonization in the Bay of Biscay, as well as its interplay with the ambient hydrography and geochemistry. This successful cruise has provided the basis to investigate the scientific aims of this expedition in great detail.

Description: Summary Meteor Cruise M81/1 was dedicated to the investigation of the distribution of dissolved and particulate trace metals and their isotopic compositions (TEIs) in the full water column of the tropical Atlantic Ocean and their driving factors including main external inputs and internal cycling and ocean circulation. The research program is embedded in the international GEOTRACES program (e.g. Henderson et al., 2007), which this cruise was an official part of and thus corresponds to GEOTRACES cruise GA11. This cruise was completely dedicated to the trace metal clean and contamination-free sampling of waters and particulates for subsequent analyses of the TEIs in the home laboratories of the national and international participants. Besides a standard rosette for the less contaminant prone metals, trace metal clean sampling was realized by using a dedicated and coated trace metal clean rosette equipped with Teflon-coated GO-FLO bottles operated via a polyester coated cable from a mobile winch that was thankfully made available by the U.S. partners of the GEOTRACES program for this cruise. The particulate samples were also collected under trace metal clean conditions using established in-situ pump systems. The cruise track led the cruise southward from the Canary Islands to 11°S and then continued northwestward along the northern margin of South America until it reached Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. The track crossed areas of major external inputs including exchange with the volcanic Canary Islands, the Saharan dust plume, as well as the plume of the Amazon outflow. In terms of internal cycling the equatorial high biological productivity band, as well as increased productivity associated with the Amazon Plume were covered. All major water masses contributing the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, as well as the distinct narrow equatorial surface and subsurface east-west current bands were sampled. A total of 17 deep stations were sampled for the different dissolved TEIs, which were in most cases accompanied by particulate sampling. In addition, surface waters were continuously sampled under trace metal clean conditions using a towed fish.

Description: A high-resolution multiparameter stratigraphy allows the identification of late Quaternary glacial and interglacial cycles in a central Arctic Ocean sediment core. Distinct sandy layers in the upper part of the otherwise fine-grained sediment core from the Lomonosov Ridge (lat 87.5°N) correlate to four major glacials since ca. 0.7 Ma. The composition of these ice-rafted terrigenous sediments points to a glaciated northern Siberia as the main source. In contrast, lithic carbonates derived from North America are also present in older sediments and indicate a northern North American glaciation since at least 2.8 Ma. We conclude that large-scale northern Siberian glaciation began much later than other Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.

Description: We report here the discovery of Miocene, Pliocene, and early Pleistocene shallow-marine carbonates on Mayaguana Island (southeastern Bahamas) that have so far not been observed on any other Bahamian island. Spanning more than 17 m.y., but 〈12 m thick, this stratigraphic succession only occurs along the northern coast of the island, indicating that the Mayaguana Bank underwent minor subsidence throughout the late Cenozoic and was tilted toward the south during the Quaternary. In addition to considerably extending the stratigraphic record of the Bahamas Islands, our findings demonstrate that these carbonate banks were at different elevations and subsided at different rates during the Neogene. The young age of the tilting event detected on Mayaguana further shows that parts of the southeastern margin of North America have recently undergone tectonic activity a long way from its actual boundary with the Caribbean plate.

Description: Early diagenetic dolomite formation in methanogenic marine sediments is enigmatic because acidifi cation by CO2, a by-product of methanogenesis, should lead to carbonate dissolution and not precipitation. However, petrographic relationships indicate that dolomite breccia layers with δ13C values of ~+15‰, recovered from the lower slope of the Peru continental margin (Ocean Drilling Program Site 1230), formed deep in the methanogenic zone during tectonic activity of a décollement. Based on radiogenic Sr isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr 〉 0.711) and positive δ18O values (+6‰), we present evidence that the dolomite breccias mainly formed from fl uids originating from deep sedimentary units within the accretionary prism, where they interacted with continental crust and/or siliciclastic rocks of continental affi nity. Due to silicate alteration and dehydration, such fl uids are likely alkaline and thus have the potential to neutralize the acidifi cation imposed by the high dissolved CO2 concentrations. This scenario provides a potential mechanism by which dolomite formation can be induced deep in a highly active methanogenic zone.

Description: Largely continuous millennial-scale records of benthic delta O-18, Mg/Ca-based temperature, and salinity variations in bottom waters were obtained from Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 548 (East Atlantic continental margin near Ireland, 1250 m water depth) for the period 3.7-3.0 Ma ago. High epsilon(Nd) values of -10.7 to -9 show that this site monitored changes in Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) throughout the mid-Pliocene. Bottom water variability at Ocean Drilling Progam (ODP) Site 978 (Alboran Sea, 1930 m water depth) provides a complementary record of MOW composition near its West Mediterranean source. Both sites show a singular and persistent rise in bottom water salinities by 0.7-1.4 psu, and in densities by similar to 1 kg m(-3) from 3.5 to 3.3 Ma ago, which is matched by an similar to 3 degrees C increase in bottom water temperature at Site 548. This event suggests the onset of strongly enhanced deep-water convection in the Mediterranean Sea and a related increase in MOW flow as a result of major aridification in the Mediterranean source region. In harmony with model suggestions, the enhanced MOW flow has possibly intensified Upper North Atlantic Deep Water formation.

Description: Two Nd and Pb isotope time series of hydrogenous ferromanganese crusts, one from the Tehuantepec Ridge in the deep eastern equatorial Pacific and the other from Blake Plateau in the shallow northwestern Atlantic, which cover the past 7–8 m.y., show no variations coincident with the final closure of the Panama gateway, estimated as ca. 3.5 Ma. The record of the Atlantic crust located in the present-day Gulf Stream shows a shift in isotope composition from ca. 8 to 5 Ma that is explained by a diminishing supply of Pacific water. It is argued that the major restriction of water-mass exchange through the Panama gateway occurred before 5 Ma and thus cannot serve as a direct cause of the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. The absence of a significant signature in the isotope records from the Pacific crust suggests that the volume of water exchanged with the Atlantic through shallow archipelagic straits of the gateway during the 3–4 m.y. prior to closure was too small to influence the radiogenic isotope composition of Pacific deep water.