Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We present reconstructions of late Holocene changes in the source of organic matter and siliceous export production in the Relocanví Fjord (41°S, 72°W), Northern Chilean Patagonia, based on organic carbon content, δ13Corg, N/C ratio, diatom assemblages and biogenic silica contents from three sediment cores. The age models are based on a combination of 210Pb profiles, AMS 14C dating, and on the first occurrence of the diatom Rhizosolenia setigera f. pungens, as a stratigraphic marker in the fjords. The cores span the last 300 to 700 yr. Diatoms dominate the siliceous assemblages in the three cores (98% on average). Our results suggest that precipitation seasonality in the region of Reloncaví was high in CE 1300–1400 and CE 1700–1850, with a clear decreasing trend since CE 1850. The latter trend is in agreement with instrumental records and tree-ring reconstructions. These fluctuations seem to be associated with the Southern Annular Mode (SAM).
ISSN: 0033-5894

hal-01217176
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01217176
DOI : 10.1016/j.yqres.2015.05.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Trace metals (Cd, U, Co, Ni, Cu, Ba, Fe, Mn), total organic carbon (TOC) and C and N stable isotope signatures (delta C-313 and delta N-15) were determined in short sediments cores from the inner and outer shelf off Concepcion, Chile (similar to 36 degrees S). The objectives were to establish the effect of environmental conditions on trace metal distributions at two shelf sites, one affected by seasonal oxygenation and the other by permanent low oxygen conditions due to the presence of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). We evaluate trace metals as proxies of past changes in primary productivity and the bottom water oxygen regime. Concentrations of pore water sulfides and NH4+ were also measured as indicators of the main diagenetic pathways at each site. Our results for the inner shelf (seasonal suboxia) suggest that the oxidative state of the sediments responds to seasonal pulses of organic matter and that seasonal oxygenation develops during high and low primary productivity in the water column. Here, positive fluxes (to the water column) estimated from pore water concentrations of several elements were observed (Ba, Co, Ni, Fe and Mn). The less reduced environment at this site produces authigenic enrichment of Cu associated with the formation of oxides in the oxic surface sediment layer, and the reduction of U within deeper sediment sections occur consistently with negative estimated pore water fluxes. In the outer shelf sediments (permanent suboxia, OMZ site), negative fluxes (to the sediment) were estimated for all elements, but these sediments showed authigenic enrichments only for Cd, Cu and U. The short oxygenation period during the winter season did not affect the accumulation of these metals on the shelf. The distribution of Cu, Cd and U have been preserved within the sediments and the authigenic accumulation rates estimated showed a decrease from the deep sections of the core to the surface sediments. This could be explained by a gradual decrease in the strength of the OMZ in the last 100 years, in combination with periods of strong oxygenations during El Nino events. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0278-4343

hal-00745672
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00745672
DOI : 10.1016/j.csr.2011.11.006