A note on the relationships between organic matter and some geotechnical properties of a marine sediment

Abstract

An analysis of the relationship between organic matter and liquid and plastic limits, and grain‐specific gravity of a marine sediment was accomplished by making a stepwise adjustment in the organic content of that sediment. The sample used was from Santa Barbara Basin (off southern California) and is typical of fine‐grained marine sediments: it is a clayey silt with a common suite of minerals and other constituents. During the experiment, texture and composition (except organic content) were constant; only the quantity of natural, indigenous organic matter was changed.

A strong linear relationship exists between the independent variable, the amount of organic carbon present in the sample, and the dependent variables. Liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index all increased with increasing organic content over the range studied (0.57–3.20% organic carbon). Grain‐specific gravity decreased. All had linear correlation coefficients (r) greater than |0.90| and r ² values greater than 90%, except the plasticity index (83%).

Comparing the results of regression analyses from this and several similar studies shows that although there is good qualitative agreement, there are quantitative inconsistencies. In particular there is considerable overall variability in the regression coefficients. Among studies on marine sediments the inconsistencies are less pronounced, yet still evident. The increase in liquid limit as organic carbon increased by 1 % sediment dry weight ranged from 9 to 28% water content; in the plastic limit the range was from 4 to 18%. However, in these marine studies regression coefficients are relatively close in value in some cases, levels of significance of the regressions are high in most cases, and in all cases the relationships appear to be linear over the range of organic carbon percentage studied. Finally, we believe that a relatively clear relationship between plasticity and organic carbon begins to emerge when the latter exceeds a value of 2%.     

Assessing the role of North Atlantic freshwater forcing in millennial scale climate variability: a tropical Atlantic perspective

This study analyzes a three-member ensemble of experiments, in which 0.1 Sv of freshwater was applied to the North Atlantic for 100 years in order to address the potential for large freshwater inputs in the North Atlantic to drive abrupt climate change. The model used is the GFDL R30 coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation model. We focus in particular on the effects of this forcing on the tropical Atlantic region, which has been studied extensively by paleoclimatologists. In response to the freshwater forcing, North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is reduced to roughly 40% by the end of the 100 year freshwater pulse. Consequently, the North Atlantic region cools by up to 8°C. The extreme cooling of the North Atlantic increases the pole-to-equator temperature gradient and requires more heat be provided to the high latitude Atlantic from the tropical Atlantic. To accommodate the increased heat requirement, the ITCZ shifts southward to allow for greater heat transport across the equator. Accompanying this southward ITCZ shift, the Northeast trade winds strengthen and precipitation patterns throughout the tropical Atlantic are altered. Specifically, precipitation in Northeast Brazil increases, and precipitation in Africa decreases slightly. In addition, we find that surface air temperatures warm over the tropical Atlantic and over Africa, but cool over northern South America. Sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic warm slightly with larger warm anomalies developing in the thermocline. These responses are robust for each member of the ensemble, and have now been identified by a number of freshwater forcing studies using coupled OAGCMs. The model responses to freshwater forcing are generally smaller in magnitude, but have the same direction, as paleoclimate data from the Younger Dryas suggest. In certain cases, however, the model responses and the paleoclimate data directly contradict one another. Discrepancies between the model simulations and the paleoclimate data could be due to a number of factors, including inaccuracies in the freshwater forcing, inappropriate boundary conditions, and uncertainties in the interpretation of the paleoclimate data. Despite these discrepancies, it is clear from our results that abrupt climate changes in the high latitude North Atlantic have the potential to significantly impact tropical climate. This warrants further model experimentation into the role of freshwater forcing in driving climate change.     

Geoid models around Sognefjord using depth data

Bathymetry data from Sognefjord, Norway, have been included in a terrain model, and their influence on the geoid has been calculated. The test area, located in the western part of Norway, was chosen due to its deep fjords and high mountains. Inclusion of bathymetry data in the terrain model altered the computed gravimetric geoid by as much as a few decimeters. The effect was detectable to a distance of more than 100 km. All calculated geoids, both with and without bathymetry data in the terrain model, fit the geoidal heights determined by available Global Positioning System (GPS) and levelling heights at the sub-decimetre level. Contrary to expectations, the accuracy in geoid prediction was reduced when using bathymetric data. The geoid changes were largest over the fjord where no GPS points were located. Different methods on the same area [isostatic and Residual Terrain Model (RTM)-terrain reductions] showed differences of approximately 1 m. Rigorous distinction between quasigeoid and geoid was found to be essential in this kind of area. Received: 12 May 1997 / Accepted 7 May 1998     

A Cheap, Quick and Safe Way of Surveying Glaciers

The use of a 35 mm or similar camera set up over a theodolite is described for surveying mountain and polar glaciers where conditions do not allow for extensive detailed surveying or the use of heavy phototheodolites. Though used initially by Spender and Wright in the 1930s on Mount Everest and in Greenland and Arctic Canada, but apparently not by others since then, it was again tried out by Wright in Iceland in 1992. Modern analytical techniques have shown that heights accurate to within 2 m can be obtained from these photographs at distances up to 5 km. In addition, five times as many points can be identified and intersected in the laboratory from the photographs as was possible using sketches in difficult field conditions. Some reasons are suggested for the lack of use of this technique by others. The potential of existing survey photographs taken in Arctic Canada for large scale surveys of high polar glaciers in 1938 is described, with the hope that glaciologists and photogrammetrists might undertake their analysis.     

Radiocarbon wiggle-match dating of proglacial lake sediments – Implications for the 8.2 ka event

The problem of insufficient age-control limits the utilisation of the 8.2 ka BP event for modelling freshwater forcing in climate change studies. High-resolution radiocarbon dates, magnetic susceptibility and lithostratigraphic evidence from a lake sediment core from Nedre Hervavatnet located at Sygnefjell in western Norway provide a record of the early Holocene. We use the method of radiocarbon wiggle-match dating of the lake sediments using the non-linear relationship between the ¹⁴C calibration curve and the consecutive accumulation order of the sample series in order to build a high-resolution age-model. The timing and duration of Holocene environmental changes is estimated using 38 AMS radiocarbon dates on terrestrial macrofossils, insects and chironomids covering the time period from 9750 to 1180 cal BP. Chironomids, Salix and Betula leaves produce the most consistent results. Sedimentological and physical properties of the core suggest that three meltwater events with high sedimentation rates are superimposed on a long-term trend with glacier retreat between 9750 and 8000 cal BP. The lake sediment sequence of Nedre Hervavatnet demonstrates the following: only a reliable high-resolution geochronology based on carefully selected terrestrial macrofossils allows the reconstruction of a more refined and complex environmental change history before and during the 8.2 ka event.     

Ejby—A new H5/6 ordinary chondrite fall in Copenhagen,Denmark

On February 6, 2016 at 21:07:19 UT, a very bright fireball was seen over the eastern part of Denmark. The weather was cloudy over eastern Denmark, but many people saw the sky light up—even in the heavily illuminated Copenhagen. Two hundred and thirty three reports of the associated sound and light phenomena were received by the Danish fireball network. We have formed a consortium to describe the meteorite and the circumstances of the fall and the results are presented in this paper. The first fragment of the meteorite was found the day after the fall, and in the following weeks, a total of 11 fragments with a total weight of 8982 g were found. The meteorite is an unbrecciated, weakly shocked (S2), ordinary H chondrite of petrologic type 5/6 (Bouvier et al. 2017). The concentration of the cosmogenic radionuclides suggests that the preatmospheric radius was rather small ~20 cm. The cosmic ray exposure age of Ejby (83 ± 11 Ma) is the highest of an H chondrite and the second highest age for an ordinary chondrite. Using the preatmospheric orbit of the Ejby meteoroid (Spurny et al. 2017) locations of the recovered fragments, and wind data from the date of the fall, we have modeled the dark flight (below 18 km) of the fragments. The recovery location of the largest fragment can only be explained if aerodynamic effects during the dark flight phase are included. The recovery location of all other fragments are consistent with the dark flight modeling.     

The ‘Little Ice Age’ glacial expansion in western Scandinavia: summer temperature or winter precipitation?

Reconstructing the temporal and spatial climate development on a seasonal basis during the last few centuries, including the ‘Little Ice Age’, may help us better understand modern-day interplay between natural and anthropogenic climate variability. The conventional view of the climate development during the last millennium has been that it followed a sequence of a Medieval Warm Period, a cool ‘Little Ice Age’ and a warming during the later part of the 19th century and in particular during the late 20th/early 21st centuries. However, recent research has challenged this rather simple sequence of climate development. Up to the present, it has been considered most likely that the ‘Little Ice Age’ glacial expansion in western Scandinavia was due to lower summer temperatures. Data presented here, however, indicate that the main cause of the early 18th century glacial advance in western Scandinavia was mild and humid winters associated with increased precipitation and high snowfall on the glaciers.     

Sea-bed acoustic parameters from dispersion analysis and transmission loss in the East China Sea

As a part of the Asian Seas International Acoustic Experiment (ASIAEX) in the East China Sea, sound propagation signals from wideband explosive sources were measured using a 32-element vertical line array. Measurements were made as a function of range in two perpendicular tracks. Sea-bed geoacoustic parameters based on a fluid half-space geoacoustic model (sound speed, density, and attenuation) are inverted from the sound propagation in the frequency range 100-500 Hz. The sea-bed sound speed and density were first derived from mode arrival time differences which were obtained using a spatial mode filtering technique. Sea-bed acoustic attenuation was subsequently estimated by comparing measured transmission loss with model results.     

Palaeoclimatic and regional implications of Older Dryas and Younger Dryas local glacier activity in the low-Arctic valley Finnkongdalen,Andøya,northern Norway

Continuous glacier margin and equilibrium-line altitude fluctuations of a former glacier on central Andøya, northern Norway, are reconstructed during the Lateglacial based on moraines and AMS ¹⁴C-dated sediments from the distal glacier-fed lake Ner-Finnkongdalsvatnet. The results indicate that a valley glacier occupied the entire valley during the Last Glacial Maximum (before 21 970±620 cal. a BP). The glacier remained large throughout the early Lateglacial until a significant glacier retreat took place about 14 300±330 cal. a BP. Major advances occurred during the Older Dryas (OD) and during the Younger Dryas (YD), while minor advances are suggested to have taken place during the Intra Allerød Cold Period and the Late Allerød Cooling. Additionally, three smaller glacier retreats/re-advances within the YD are suggested to have taken place, the latter being the largest. The glacier re-formations/advances during the Lateglacial are consistent with increases in temperature, and they are thus suggested to be the result of increased winter precipitation. Comparing the results with relevant glacier and sea-surface temperature records, a south–north migration of storm tracks may have occurred between 12 100–11 810±220 cal. a BP. The high temporal resolution of local glacier activity in Finnkongdalen improves our understanding of the climate forcing of the regional glacier fluctuations of the northwestern sector of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet during the Skarpnes- (OD) and Tromsø-Lyngen (YD) re-advances.