Search results for "Oceanography"

A multidisciplinary approach to reveal the Sicily Climate and Environment over the last 20 000 years

2010

Abstract We present a thorough review of the knowledge on the climate and environment in Sicily over the last 20 000 years, taking into account results of several studies carried using terrestrial and marine records. We obtain a coherent framework of the most important changes succeeded in the island, even if some points need further investigation. All the reconstructions of surface temperatures of the seas and the air surrounding Sicily point out severe climatic conditions during the last glacial period. The steppe- and semisteppe-like vegetation pattern testifies, together with additional evidence from geochemical data of lacustrine evidence, markedly arid conditions. Fi-nally, significan…

Plio-Pleistocene geological evolution of the northern Sicily continental margin (southern Tyrrhenian Sea): new insights from high-resolution, multi-e…

2003

High-resolution seismic profiles were acquired in the north Sicily offshore region with an innovative, multi-tip sparker array which lacks ringing and has a base frequency around 600 Hz. The new data, combined with published data, suggest that intra-slope and extensional basins formed as a consequence of the late Miocene (?)–early Pliocene shortening and thrusting, and the middle (?)–late Pliocene continental rifting affecting the internal side of the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain. Early (?) Pleistocene to Holocene high-amplitude and high-frequency sea-level changes resulted in repeated sub-aerial exposure and flooding of the shelf, and the deposition of cyclically arranged hemipelagic and shel…

Structure, evolution, and dynamics of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea in the Blue Road Geotraverse area

1981

The orogeny of the Scandinavian and Greenland Caledonides is shortly reviewed, and a structural sketch map of the Scandinavian Caledonide part of the Geotraverse is presented. Post-Caledonian rifting episodes prior to the formation of the North Atlantic Ocean are briefly discussed, as well as the opening of the northern North Atlantic Ocean and its spreading rates. Computations of density models carried out on the basis of the Simplex-Algorithm which allows a least-squares solution under certain constraints show clearly a Moho-depression beneath the Caledonides and a comparatively thick oceanic crust in the Norwegian Sea. The transition zone oceanic continental crust has a complex structure…

Mesoscale eddies, surface circulation and the scale of habitat selection by immature loggerhead sea turtles

2007

17 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables

Beach ridges from the Varanger Peninsula (Arctic Norwegian coast): Characteristics and significance

2009

The most common coastal sedimentary forms on the arctic coast of the Varanger Peninsula are raised beach ridge plains. The majority of the ridges consist of coarse material, but there are also sandy beach ridge areas close to the river mouths of some of the major rivers. Some bays having the same isostatic rebound and dynamic conditions have been studied to test if the number of beach ridges in each locality is significant to prove climatic changes, storminess, and rates of sediment accumulation, or if the number of beach ridges in each bay is only dependent on their intrinsic characteristics and self organization. Because the number of ridges varies not only from bay to bay, but even withi…

Improved constraints on open-system processes in fossil reef corals by combined Th/U, Pa/U and Ra/Th dating: A case study from Aqaba, Jordan

2019

Abstract Here we present 230Th/U, 231Pa/U as well as 226Ra/230Th isotope ratios from five fossil reef corals of Last Interglacial origin from the Gulf of Aqaba, Northern Red Sea. The results show clear evidence for open-system behaviour with strongly elevated δ234U values and U concentrations indicating post-depositional U addition. The combined application of all isotope systems enables us to better constrain the nature and timing of the open-system processes than only based on the 230Th/U data. Quantitative modelling of the diagenetic processes allowed us to reproduce the trends in the isotope ratios. Two of the five corals were probably affected by two separate phases of U addition with …

2015

Large volcanic eruptions are major geohazards, so identifying their frequency in the geologic record is critical for making predictions and hazard assessments. Following the discovery of a thick (18 cm) tephra layer in marine sediments from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1396 between Montserrat and Guadeloupe in the Caribbean Sea, we document here how high-precision Pb isotopes, trace elements, and grain morphological analyses of the tephra can be used, together with volcanological models, to identify a large (Volcanic Explosivity Index ?6) Plinian eruption from Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, at ca. 2.36 Ma. This previously unrecognized eruption is believed to be the largest docum…

Late Holocene erosion of the Canopic promontory (Nile Delta, Egypt)

2017

International audience; The mouths of the Nile Delta are sensitive coastal areas, their geomorphology primarily being mediated by relative sea-level rise and sediment supply. To further document the Holocene evolution of the Nile's Canopic mouth, a core was taken from the southern shores of Abu Qir Bay, close to the ancient Canopic channel. Core bio-sedimentology and chronostratigraphy highlight four stages of marine incursion which are juxtaposed upon the general progradation trend of the Nile coast in this area. Compiled age-depth points from sediment cores taken in Abu Qir Bay underscore two phases of negative sediment budget at the Canopic mouth: (1) a first period, between 3.5 and 2 ka…

El Niño in the Eocene greenhouse recorded by fossil bivalves and wood from Antarctica

2011

[1] Quasi-periodic variation in sea-surface temperature, precipitation, and sea-level pressure in the equatorial Pacific known as the El Nino – Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an important mode of interannual variability in global climate. A collapse of the tropical Pacific onto a state resembling a so-called ‘permanent El Nino’, with a preferentially warmed eastern equatorial Pacific, flatter thermocline, and reduced interannual variability, in a warmer world is predicted by prevailing ENSO theory. If correct, future warming will be accompanied by a shift toward persistent conditions resembling El Nino years today, with major implications for global hydrological cycles and consequent impact…

Reorganization of the North Atlantic Oscillation during early Holocene deglaciation

2016

Laurentide ice-sheet retreat continued into the mid-Holocene. Speleothem-based precipitation records suggest the cessation of melt led to the establishment of the present precipitation patterns associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. The North Atlantic Oscillation is the dominant atmospheric pressure mode in the North Atlantic region and affects winter temperature and precipitation in the Mediterranean, northwest Europe, Greenland, and Asia1. The index1 that describes the sea-level pressure difference between Iceland and the Azores is correlated with a dipole precipitation pattern over northwest Europe and northwest Africa. How the North Atlantic Oscillation will develop as the Gree…