Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

About: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a nonprofit organization based out in Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Mantle (geology). The organization has 5685 authors who have published 18396 publications receiving 1202050 citations. The organization is also known as: WHOI.

Late Neogene chronology: New perspectives in high-resolution stratigraphy

Abstract: We present an integrated geochronology for late Neogene time (Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene Epochs) based on an analysis of data from stable isotopes, magnetostratigraphy, radiochronology, and calcareous plankton biostratigraphy. Discrepancies between recently formulated astronomical chronologies and magnetochronologies for the past 6 m.y. have been resolved on the basis of new, high-precision Ar/Ar ages in the younger part of this interval, the so-called Brunhes, Matuyama, and Gauss Epochs (5 Chrons C1n‐C2An; 0‐3.58 Ma), and revised analysis of sea floor anomalies in the Pacific Ocean in the older part, the so-called Gilbert Epoch (5 Chron C2Ar‐C3r; 3.58‐5.89 Ma). The magneto- and astrochronologies are now concordant back to the Chron C3r/C3An boundary at 5.89 Ma. TheNeogene(Miocene,Pliocene,Pleistocene, and Holocene) and Paleogene are treated here as period/system subdivisions oftheCenozoicEra/Erathem,replacements for the antiquated terms Tertiary and Quaternary.TheboundarybetweentheMiocene and Pliocene Series (Messinian/Zanclean Stages),whoseglobalstratotypesectionand point (GSSP) is currently proposed to be in Sicily,islocatedwithinthereversedinterval just below the Thvera (C3n.4n) Magnetic Polarity Subchronozone with an estimated age of 5.32 Ma. The Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary, whose GSSP is located at Vrica (Calabria,Italy),islocatednearthetopof the Olduvai (C2n) Magnetic Polarity Subchronozone with an estimated age of 1.81 Ma. The 13 calcareous nannoplankton and 48 planktonic foraminiferal datum events for the Pliocene, and 12 calcareous nannoplankton and 10 planktonic foraminiferal datum events for the Pleistocene, are calibrated to the newly revised late Neogeneastronomical/geomagneticpolarity time scale.

Salt nuclei in marine air as a function of altitude and wind force

Abstract: Large differences are shown to occur in the numbers and sizes of sea-salt particles in marine air over the sea as the altitude, position, and the time of sampling are varied. Increases in the amount of air-borne salt near cloud base are related to increases in wind force at the sea surface. The greatest proportionate increase in particle number occurs at the large end of the weight range. Most of the samples reported here were taken near the Hawaiian Islands. The differences in nuclei number and size with increasing altitude in the lower atmosphere are similar in pattern in Hawaii, Florida and South Australia. It is suggested that bursting air bubbles in “white caps” on the open sea are a major source of the salt nuclei, and that a greater portion of the sea surface may act as a source of these particles during average winds than might be judged from the relatively small area usually covered by white caps.

Organic–inorganic interactions in petroleum-producing sedimentary basins

Abstract: Petroleum deposits form as a consequence of the increased temperatures that accompany progressive burial of organic matter deep within sedimentary basins. Recent advances in petroleum geochemistry suggest that inorganic sedimentary components participate in organic transformations associated with this process. Water is particularly important because it facilitates reaction mechanisms not available in dry environments, and may contribute hydrogen and oxygen for the formation of hydrocarbons and oxygenated alteration products. These findings suggest that petroleum generation and stability is influenced by subsurface chemical environments, and is a simple function of time, temperature and the composition of sedimentary organic matter.

Imminent ocean acidification in the Arctic projected with the NCAR global coupled carbon cycle-climate model

Abstract: . Ocean acidification from the uptake of anthropogenic carbon is simulated for the industrial period and IPCC SRES emission scenarios A2 and B1 with a global coupled carbon cycle-climate model. Earlier studies identified seawater saturation state with respect to aragonite, a mineral phase of calcium carbonate, as a key variable governing impacts on corals and other shell-forming organisms. Globally in the A2 scenario, water saturated by more than 300%, considered suitable for coral growth, vanishes by 2070 AD (CO2≈630 ppm), and the ocean volume fraction occupied by saturated water decreases from 42% to 25% over this century. The largest simulated pH changes worldwide occur in Arctic surface waters, where hydrogen ion concentration increases by up to 185% (ΔpH=−0.45). Projected climate change amplifies the decrease in Arctic surface mean saturation and pH by more than 20%, mainly due to freshening and increased carbon uptake in response to sea ice retreat. Modeled saturation compares well with observation-based estimates along an Arctic transect and simulated changes have been corrected for remaining model-data differences in this region. Aragonite undersaturation in Arctic surface waters is projected to occur locally within a decade and to become more widespread as atmospheric CO2 continues to grow. The results imply that surface waters in the Arctic Ocean will become corrosive to aragonite, with potentially large implications for the marine ecosystem, if anthropogenic carbon emissions are not reduced and atmospheric CO2 not kept below 450 ppm.