B22A-01
Biodiversity Science In The Deep Sea: The ESF EuroDEEP Programme
What little we know of deep-sea ecosystems indicates that they host one of the highest biodiversities on the planet as well as important mineral and biological resources, which are increasingly being exploited. Understanding deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, from viruses to megafauna, is essential to assess the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors and provide management options. The aim of the multidisciplinary ESF EUROCORES Programme EuroDEEP, Ecosystem Functioning and Biodiversity in Deep Sea, is to further explore and identify the different deep-sea habitats, assessing both the abiotic and biotic processes that sustain and maintain deep-sea communities. The scope is to interpret variations of biodiversity within and between deep-sea habitats, and the interactions of the biota with the ecosystems in which they live. The resulting scientific data are a prerequisite for the sustainable use and the development of management and conservation options aiming at the sustainable use of marine resources that will benefit society as a whole. The Programme aims at providing the necessary framework and funding for the development of top-quality deep- sea research at the European level in a global context (Census of Marine Life and SCOR/IGBP). In particular, it builds on sharing of national large-scale resources, which are essential for deep-sea research (i.e. ships, ROVs, submersibles, AUVs, deep-towed vehicles, deep-sea sampling equipment, new sensors, etc.) as well as the coordination of efforts amongst scientists and laboratories from the countries involved and links with ongoing projects. EuroDEEP will participate in the development of new technologies as well as data management, analysis and modelling. Most of all, EuroDEEP will catalyse excellent research on what biodiversity exists in the deep sea, how it is generated and maintained by abiotic and biotic processes, and what the role of the deep-sea is in the biogeochemical processes affecting the global biosphere. EuroDEEP is a Programme for deep-sea biology and ecology that strongly depends and requires collaboration between taxonomists, microbiologists, ecologists, physical and chemical oceanographers and geologists. The EuroDEEP Programme has been officially launched in June 2007 and four international, multidisciplinary collaborative research projects are supported particularly by research funding agencies from Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain, and by the European Science Foundation through contract No. ERAS-CT-2003-980409 of the European Commission, DG Research, FP6. EuroDEEP is coordinated by Dr. Inge Jonckheere at the ESF, Strasbourg, France. http://www.esf.org/eurodeep
B22A-02 INVITED
Reefs of the Deep: Moving Toward Integrated Ocean Basin-scale Study of Cold-water Coral Ecosystems
Scleractinian hard corals in deep, cold waters have been known since the eighteenth century but advances in deep-ocean exploration are now revealing the true scale and distribution of cold-water coral reefs. Hundreds of tropical coral species build shallow reefs, but less than ten cold-water species form deep reef frameworks. Of these the best characterised is Lophelia pertusa which dominates in the north east Atlantic. Assemblages of octocorals and hydrocorals are found in other parts of the world's oceans, such as the north Pacific. Cold-water coral skeletons provide well-preserved, high resolution palaeoclimatic archives and recent advances have been made in interpreting geochemical proxies for seawater temperature and ocean ventilation history. The reefs form long-lived, structurally complex habitats supporting many other species. This complexity makes them vulnerable to mechanical damage from deep-water bottom trawling and modelled scenarios suggest that cold-water coral reefs may be threatened by ocean acidification. Despite these threats, our understanding of many aspects of cold-water coral ecosystems remains in its infancy and studies have been geographically limited in their scope. Here I summarise recent advances and emerging research themes and discuss the importance of moving toward integrated interdisciplinary study at the scale of an ocean basin if we are to appreciate the broad scale importance and connections between these reefs of the deep. http://www.lophelia.org
B22A-03 [WITHDRAWN]
Detection and Characterization of Deep-coral Banks in the Cap de Creus Canyon (North western Mediterranean) Using Visual and Acoustic Methods
Dense banks of the white coral Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa have been visually detected along the walls of the Cap de Creus Canyon, north-western Mediterranean, by using ROVs and the man submersible JAGO (IFM-GEOMAR) during three cruises (October 2005, July 2006, September 2007), in the walls of the Cap de Creus canyon (North-western Mediterranean), by 200-400 m depth range. The obtained images offered valuable information for the characterization of the communities (species composition) and abundance of the coral species as well as the conservation stage of them. We identified several patches and sampled selectively organisms in order to identify and set up experimental ecological work with coral species (feeding and physiological ecology). Visual inspections were complemented with two sidescan sonar surveys, carried out in the study area in February and April 2007, using the C-Max 2 model operating at 100 kHz. Acoustic mapping turned out to be a reliable tool in the study of coral facies, offering the possibility to survey greater areas than the ones covered with visual inspections. Moreover, sidescan sonar images gave accurate information about the seafloor backscatter, and some of the high-reflective patches could suggest the presence of corals. During the last survey, carried out in September 2007, we assay to calibrate the side scan sonar images using the video images from the JAGO, During the surveys we also analysed the water composition (Particulate Organic Carbon, C/N and Nutrients), as well as the planktonic community close to the sea floor in order to have a comprehensive picture of the whole system.
B22A-04
The Distribution and Appearance of Cold-Water Coral Carbonate Mounds and Mound-Like Structures in the NE Atlantic: Pre-site Appraisal for CARBONATE Drilling
Cold-water coral carbonate mounds on the continental slope of the northeast Atlantic are certainly among the most amazing geological discoveries of the last decade. They developed as a result of hydrological, biological and geological processes with thickets of cold-water corals mainly Lophelia pertus and Madrepora oculata reported from numerous mound sites. Over the last years, research focused on selected mounds e.g. IODP Sites 1317 visited during IODP Expedition 307 has revealed that many of the investigated mounds are true coral built-ups. The recovered mound sediments were composed of loose coral frameworks embedded in a matrix of fine grained hemipelagic sediments. The additional calcium carbonate added by the corals was in the form of fragments and bioeroded fine grained carbonate flakes. This increase in calcium carbonate classifies the mounds as spots of enhanced carbonate accumulation in intermediate water depth. So far, the carbonate stored in submarine carbonate mounds in the northeast Atlantic has not been included in any carbon budget estimations. This was mainly due to the lack of information on the abundance and distribution of those mounds. The recently available high resolution multi-beam bathymetry data recorded during the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS) allows, for the first time, a mapping of these mounds and mound-like structures enabling an estimation of their abundance and quantification of their contribution to continental slope sediments. Here, we present the first comprehensive overview and quantification of mounds and mound-like structures based on 25m rastered bathymetric data for the Irish sector of the NE Atlantic. Based on the data, we identified over 1600 mound-like structures along the NE Atlantic slope between 46°45'N and 57°30'N. The structures elevate up to 300m above the surrounding seafloor and were usually grouped into distinct provinces often associated with erosive structures such as canyons and moats. 90% of the identified features occurred in water depth between 500 and 1500m. Assessment of this data will be used to target mounds for drilling during the ESF CARBONATE project.
B22A-05 INVITED
Origin, growth history and glacial-interglacial responses of a cold-water coral mound in NE Atlantic: Results from O-isotope and Sr-isotope stratigraphy in IODP Expedition 307
Cold-water corals may cover as a large area as the better-known warm-water corals forming shallow reefs, and they occur in a variety of forms and settings, from small isolated colonies or patch reefs to giant mound structures such as those found west of Ireland. In May 2005, IODP Expedition 307 sailed to Challenger Mound, which is one of thousands of cold-water coral mounds in Porcupine Seabight, 150 km offshore of southwestern Ireland, and recovered the first complete section through to the base of a modern cold-water coral mound which is composed of up to 155 m of unlithified coral-bearing (Lophelia pertusa) sediments. The coral-bearing sediments lie on an angular unconformable surface above the lower-middle Miocene glauconitic siltstones and sandstones. Mound growth could have been continuous, and the repeated 10-m-scale alternations in lithology between lighter- colored calcareous layers (interglacials) and darker-colored clayey layers (glacials) could be essentially related to the glacial-interglacial cycles, which supported by correspondence of the two curves of O-isotopes of planktic foraminifers and natural Gamma radiation. O-isotope results of planktic foraminifers show cold-water coral L. pertusa, which are organisms sensitive to environmental change, were able to maintain a cold-water coral mound community (e.g. temperature remained above 4°C) under the latest Pliocene-Pleistocene glacial- interglacial changes. Sr-isotopic stratigraphy revealed that the section is divided into two growth stages at 23.6 mbsf, and mound of the first stage started growing on the mid-Miocene basement around 2.6 Ma, when Northern Hemisphere glaciation was intensified. The mound growth reached a maximum rate (24 cm/ky) around 2.0Ma, and ceased at 1.7Ma. The second stage (1.0-0.5 Ma) shows a lower growth rate (5 cm/ky). Corals require zooplanktons that tend to condense in density gradient of ~800 m deep developed between Eastern North Atlantic Water (ENAW) and the underlying Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW). This oceanographic setting favorable for the coral growth has likely established with the intensified glaciation. The mound sediments contain 58 % of calcium carbonate. Even by evaluating with its optimum carbonate production rate (184 ton/year), contribution of the cold-water coral mounds in all oceans could be insignificant as a carbon sink.
B22A-06
Hydrodynamic Conditions Influencing Cold-Water Coral Carbonate Mound Development (Challenger Mound, Porcupine Seabight, NE Atlantic): a Contribution to IODP Exp307
Cold-water coral carbonate mounds are complex geo-biological systems, originating from the interplay of hydrodynamic, sedimentological and biological factors. As changes in hydrodynamic and sedimentary regime are assumed to be amongst the main controls on mound evolution, reconstruction of the hydrodynamic and palaeoclimatic microenvironment on-mound, compared to the background environmental conditions (as seen off- mound), contributes to the fundamental understanding of these intriguing features and the development of a cold- water coral carbonate mound development model. Challenger Mound, one of the large cold-water coral carbonate mounds along the eastern Porcupine Seabight continental margin (NE Atlantic, SW off Ireland), was successfully drilled during IODP Expedition 307, providing the first complete recovery of a continuous sedimentary sequence through a carbonate mound. High-resolution particle size analysis of the terrigenous sediment component is used as primary proxy for reconstructing the hydrodynamic conditions during mound development. First results indicate repeated shifts in hydrodynamic conditions during sediment deposition on Challenger Mound, from lower-energetic conditions to higher-energetic environments and visa versa, which might reflect environmental variation over interglacial-glacial timescales throughout the whole mound development period. In conjunction with other available data, this dataset provides insight in local current regimes and sediment dynamics, the specific role of cold-water corals in these complex geo-biological systems and the differentiation of different sediment contributors to the coral mound system and its surroundings.
B22A-07
Isotope Biogeochemistry of Sulfur in a Cold-Water Carbonate Mound (IODP Site 1317)
To establish a depositional model for cold-water carbonate mounds, Challenger Mound and adjacent continental slope sites were drilled during IODP Expedition 307 in May 2005. Although a role for methane seepage and subsequent anaerobic oxidation was discounted both as a hard-round substrate for mound initiation and as a principal source of carbonate within the mound succession, interstitial water profiles of sulfate, alkalinity, Mg, and Sr indicated a tight coupling between carbonate diagenesis and mircrobial sulfate reduction. The reaction of sulfide with siliciclastic iron-bearing minerals to form pyrite was proposed to account for enhanced diagenetic carbonate precipitation (Ferdelman et al., 2006; Proc. IODP, vol. 307; doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.307.2006). To characterize these geomicrobial sulfur transformations in the carbonate mound sediments, the inorganic and stable isotope geochemical compositions of pore water sulfate and solid phase reduced sulfur compounds were performed. Acid-volatile sulfur (AVS) and pyrite del 34S compositions were usually similar and exhibited an increasing trend of from -40 per mil near surface to -20 per mil at the mound base at 132 mbsf. However, several excursions to more 34S sulfur enriched pyrite to values >0 per mil were observed in the deeper sections of the mound sequence. These excursions may be linked transitory changes in the depth of the methane-sulfate transition zone during mound build-up. The oxygen isotopic composition of residual dissolved sulfate indicates intracellular isotope exchange processes within the cells of SRBs, leading to increasing equilibration between extracellular pore water and sulfate. http://www.iodp.org
B22A-08 INVITED
Deep-Sea Corals in Paleoceanography
Deep-sea corals are a promising new archive of paleoclimate information. The fossil skeletons of scleractinia are closed systems for U-series decay and contain many of the common paleo-tracers used in other biogenic carbonates. However, one of the major limiting factors to their widespread use in solving paleoclimate problems is their perceived paucity in the deep ocean. Relatively recently, several coral focused expeditions with a variety of deep-sea exploration tools including submarines, ROVs, AUVs, dredges, and a variety of sediment cores have demonstrated that large, localized abundances of living and fossil coral material can be recovered. One exciting result of this work is that there are clear temporal and spatial patterns in the fossil record over the last glacial cycle. I will attempt to summarize these results and provide a possible tool for predicting where to find corals more efficiently in the future based on our nascent understanding of their biogeography. I will also describe the on-line use of our fossil coral database at Caltech and how the community can obtain samples from this growing collection. The second largest obstacle to widespread use of deep-sea corals is the classic problem of "vital effects". Modern calibrations for several promising tracers are underway or already published. But there are several groups trying to move beyond establishing these empirical relationships. The corals are a unique laboratory for understanding calcification's contribution to tracer offsets from inorganic equilibrium and may provide important "rules" for unpacking climate information in light of a vital effect overprint. I will show several examples of successes and "failures" on this tracer calibration front.
B22A-09
Near Seabed Dynamics and Turbulence at Tisler Cold Water Coral Reef
The Tisler Reef, Norway, is a 2 km long cold-water coral reef, comprising principally of Lophelia pertusa, located at a sill in the north western Skagerrak at depths between 70 and 160 metres. The reef has been the subject of intensive multi-disciplinary observations as part of the EU wide project HERMES. Measurements have been made to asses the temporal and spatial variability in the environmental parameters that control organic matter and biogeochemical fluxes to the reef community. In general the reef is subject to small tidal currents, < 10 cm s-1, with tidal excursions no more than the extent of the reef structure. Residual flow velocities may be larger and controlled by density forcing at the sill. Variability in the residual flow strength, therefore, determines residence times for water over the reef and consequently the biogeochemical fluxes. Significant modulation of the near seabed flow, associated with the coral reef structures, was measured, generating complex small scale flow patterns. Measurements with a Nortek Aquadopp high resolution ADCP and Vector Velocimeter have been used to characterise both the turbulence generated within and outside the reef structure. A number of different approaches to estimating the magnitude of the turbulence have been used and compared. Stresses of up to 1 Pa have been calculated at velocities of 40 cm s-1. Results indicated that levels of turbulence are dependant not only on the presence of coral structures, or incident flow strength, but also on the incident flow direction relative to the reef itself. Acoustic backscatter data suggested that local re-suspension of material occurred at high turbulent stresses. In addition, higher turbidity observed downstream of the main reef at periods of high velocities, may have indicated a sweeping of material from the reef. This also implies that reefs may easily entrap material in low energy conditions. Implications for the distribution patterns and feeding behaviour, of the coral community will be highlighted.
B22A-10 INVITED
Atmospheric Cold Fronts Affecting Cold-Water Corals in the Deep Straits of Florida
The Straits of Florida (SoF) are considered an ideal habitat for cold-water corals with the north flowing Florida Current (FC) providing a continuous supply of food. The FC does, however, not fill the entire Straits and deep, opposing undercurrents and coastal countercurrents occur off Florida and the Bahamas. New observational and model data document that, in addition to the well-known perturbation of upper ocean currents by atmospheric cold front passages, the near-bottom current field in the SoF is also repeatedly perturbed by atmospheric cold fronts none of which is reflected in the cold-water mound morphology. Measurements of the near-bottom flow field by an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), cruising 40 m above sea floor at five coral mound fields ranging from 14–48 km2 in 590–875 m water in December 2005, record a complicated current pattern in space and time. Near-bottom currents are bi-directional, dominated by semi- diurnal tides, on the lower slopes of the Bahamas where mounds form kilometer long ridges as high as 120 m. Near-bottom currents flow north in the middle of Straits but generally south along the Miami Terrace. The mound morphology varies widely between sites and no obvious (i.e., direct, linear) correlation exists between current strength and mound height. The 12 to 48 h AUV observational data at each site compare well with results of the quasi-operational 3D ocean circulation model EFSIS (East Florida Shelf Information System). The Model enables the analysis of the bottom currents over extended periods and confirms that the near-bottom flow field in the SoF is highly variable on time scales ranging from 6 hours to several days, with magnitudes of +/- 0.2 to 0.6 m/s, depending upon location. During the observation period of December 2005, a recurring current variability is due to a sequence of deep cyclonic eddies that originate approximately every ten days near Cay Sal Bank and move northward on the eastern side of the FC. Offshore Bimini, where the SoF narrows and shoals, and the FC accelerates, the near-bottom eddies intensify and start to move westward. When reaching the Miami Terrace the eddies occupy the entire water column. The timing of the eddies correlate remarkably well with the passage of atmospheric cold fronts. During cold front passages the FC axis is displaced offshore the Florida Keys. A probable mechanism for the generation of the near bottom cyclones is the interaction of FC meanders with Cay Sal Bank. The impact of these "cold-front" perturbations on the deep-water coral communities remains to be quantitatively assessed.