Maritime Sediments

The processes occurring in surface marine sediments have a profound effect on the local and global cycling of many elements. This graduate text presents the fundamentals of marine sediment geochemistry by examining the complex chemical, biological, and physical processes that contribute to the conversion of these sediments to rock, a process known as early diagenesis. Research over the past three decades has uncovered the fact that the oxidation of organic matter deposited in sediment acts as a causative agent for many early diagenetic changes. Summarizing and discussing these findings and providing a much-needed update to Robert Berner's Early Diagenesis: A Theoretical Approach, David J. Burdige describes the ways to quantify geochemical processes in marine sediment. By doing so, he offers a deeper understanding of the cycling of elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, along with important metals such as iron and manganese. No other book presents such an in-depth look at marine sediment geochemistry. Including the most up-to-date research, a complete survey of the subject, explanatory text, and the most recent mathematical formulations that have contributed to our greater understanding of early diagenesis, Geochemistry of Marine Sediments will interest graduate students of geology, geochemistry, and oceanography, as well as the broader community of earth scientists. It is poised to become the standard text on the subject for years to come.

'Deep-Sea Sediments' focuses on the sedimentary processes operating within the various modern and ancient deep-sea environments. The chapters track the way of sedimentary particles from continental erosion or production in the marine realm, to transport into the deep sea, to final deposition on the sea floor.

The phenomenon of sound transmissions through marine sediments is of extreme interest to both the United States civilian and Navy research communities. Both communities have conducted research within the field of this phenomenon approaching it from different perspectives. The academic research community has approached it as a technique for studying sedimentary and crustal structures of the ocean basins. The Navy research community has approached it as an additional variable in the predictability of sound trans mission through oceanic waters. In order to join these diverse talents, with the principal aim of bringing into sharp focus the state-of-the-science in the problems relating to the behavior of sound in marine sediments, the Office of Naval Research organized and sponsored an invited symposium on this subject. The papers published in this volume are the results of this symposium and mark the frontiers in the state-of-the-art. The symposia series were based on five research areas identified by ONR as being particularly suitable for critical review and for the appraisal of future research trends. These areas include: 1. Physics of Sound in Marine Sediments, 2. Physical and Engineering Properties of Deep-Sea Sediments, 3. The Role of Bottom Currents in Sea Floor Geological Processes, 4. Nephelometry and the Optical Properties of the Ocean I'laters, S. Natural Gases in Marine Sediments and Their Mode of Distribution. These five areas also form some of the research priorities of the ONR program in Marine Geology and Geophysics.

As part of its continuing program to stimulate superior basic research in the marine environment, the Office of Naval Research, Ocean Science and Technology Division, sponsored a series of closed seminar-workshops in 1972-1973. Each seminar focused upon one re search area of marine geology which is relatively new and in need of a critical evaluation and accelerated support. The subjects areas chosen for the seminars were: 1. natural gases in marine sediments and their mode of distribution, 2. nephelometry and the optical properties of ocean waters, 3. physical and engineering properties of deep-sea sediments, and 4. physics of sound in marine sediments. The objectives of each seminar-workshop were to bring into sharper focus the state-of-the-science within each subject area, to effect some degree of coordination among the investigators working within each of these areas and to provide the Ocean Science and Technology Division guidance for national program support. This volume.contains most of the papers presented at the semi nar on the physical and engineering properties of deep-sea sediments. The seminar was held at Airlie House, Airlie, Virginia on April 24- 27, 1973 and was organized and chaired by A. Inderbitzen. The at tendees were invited from among the leading investigators in this field from both the engineering and scientific disciplines. Each attendee was requested to prepare a paper within his area of spe ciality.

This accessible textbook provides an ideal point of entry into the field, providing basic information on the nature of soft-sediment ecosystems, examples of how and why we research them, the new questions these studies inspire, and the applications that ultimately benefit society.

Over 60% of the Earth's surface is covered with deep marine sediments, however, until the early 1980s, no comprehensive text books appeared to support the rapid expansion in the study of these sediments. While the whole field of marine geology has expanded enormously and entirely new disciplines, such as paleoceanography, have been developed, there remains a lack of reference texts on study techniques that investigators in the marine community can turn to. Minerals and Mineraloids in Marine Sediments is an optical identifica tion guide that I believe will become a standard reference text for use in the microscope analysis of marine sediment& and sedimentary rocks. The systematic collection of sediment cores from the deep ocean floor began in earnest with the Swedish Deep Sea Expedition, 1947-1948. Much of the microscopic examination of the sediments collected in these piston cores (10 m+ long) was conducted on separated grain mounts or thin sections of impregnated sediments. By the late 1960s a simpler technique of examining a mounted smear of the cored silt and clay size sediment on a microscope slide had become standard practice in American oceanographic institutions. This semi quantitative technique became the standard tool used in core description aboard Glomar Challenger through the 15 years of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP), 1968-1983. Visual percentage estimates of biogenic and mineral components were made using petrologic micro scopes.

Marine sediments support complex interactions between macro-and microorganisms that have global implications for carbon and nutrient cycles. What is the state of the science on such interactions from coastal and estuarine environments to the deep sea? How does such knowledge effect environmental management? And what does future research hold in store for scientists, engineers, resource managers, and educators?Interactions between Macro- and Microorganisms in Marine Sediments responds to these questions, and more, by focusing on:? Interactions between plants, microorganisms, and marine sediment? Interactions between animals, microorganisms, and marine sediment? Interactions between macro- and microorganisms and the structuring of benthic communities? Impact of macrobenthic activity on microbially-mediated geochemical cycles in sediments? Conceptual and numeric models of diagenesis that incorporate interactions between macro- and microorganismsHere is an authoritative overview of the research, experimentation and modeling approaches now in use in our rapidly evolving understanding of life in marine sediments.