Collaborative Research: Understanding the Southern Ocean's Contribution to Cenozoic Deep-Water Circulation

海洋环流在地球上的热量运输和海洋中碳和营养物质的循环中起着重要作用，直接影响生命和气候。该项目旨在更好地了解两个最大和最重要的深海洋流的历史。来自南大洋和北大西洋的海水团与阿根廷大陆边缘相交，这些水域的环流如何随时间变化的记录被沿着这一边缘积累的海洋沉积物保存下来。地震成像、海底沉积物取样和海水性质测量的综合计划将用于调查阿根廷南部边缘及其过去海洋环流的沉积记录。地震技术将用于对海底表面和1公里以下的沉积物进行成像。这种成像将使我们更好地了解影响新生代（过去6500万年）边缘的大规模海洋/地质过程。沉积物岩心和海水性质数据将在一定水深范围内收集，以重建晚更新世水团组成和几何形状的时间演变。地震调查还将为未来的科学钻探计划提供必要的信息。该项目包括学生培训，通过博物馆展览进行公众教育，以及可能包括海上教师在内的海上活动。实地部分将提供培训研究生在专业相关的数据采集和解释技术的机会。南大洋是今天深水到中水循环的引擎，为深海混合提供了大约一半的能量；然而，对晚更新世温盐环流变化的大多数理解来自北大西洋。由于缺乏这些水团的深海沉积记录，对南大洋水团作用的认识受到限制。沿着阿根廷边缘大陆斜坡沉积的沉积物提供了一个独特的机会，可以重建靠近其起源的南大洋中深水的综合历史，并更好地了解它们与晚更新世全球海洋环流和气候的基本联系。在为期43天的海洋巡航期间，研究小组将收集地震数据（多波束测绘、高分辨率海底剖面和多通道地震测量）和沉积物岩心（多岩心和活塞岩心），水深约500至5000米，该范围涵盖了南大西洋所有主要的中深水区。船上和岸上对一系列物理和地球化学指标的分析将使研究人员能够重建晚更新世时期水体组成和几何形状的时间演变。将地震和沉积物数据结合起来，将有助于更好地了解构成阿根廷南部边缘的沉积物的性质，以及在晚更新世和新生代期间影响该边缘的海洋学/地质过程。后者将提供一个广泛的区域和时间背景，以更好地了解沉积物和海底洋流之间的相互作用，可以通过科学的海洋钻探进一步利用；此外，多通道地震数据将用于定位建议的钻井地点。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ocean circulation plays an important role in the transport of heat around the planet and the cycling of carbon and nutrients in the ocean, directly affecting life and climate. This project aims to better understand the histories of two of the largest and most important sets of deep ocean currents. Ocean water masses that originate from both the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean intersect the continental margin of Argentina and records of how the circulation of these waters changed over time are preserved by the marine sediments that accumulate along this margin. An integrated program of seismic imaging, seafloor sediment sampling, and seawater property measurements will be used to investigate the southern Argentine margin and its sedimentary records of past ocean circulation. Seismic techniques will be used to image the surface of the seafloor and the underlying sediments down to 1 km. This imaging will enable better understanding of the large-scale oceanographic/geological processes that affected the margin over the Cenozoic (the past 65 million years). Sediment cores along with ocean water property data will be collected from a range of water depths to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the compositions and geometries of the water masses during the late Pleistocene. The seismic survey will also provide the requisite information to locate sites for future scientific drilling programs. The project includes student training, public education through museum exhibits, and at-sea activities potentially including a teacher-at-sea. The field component will provide opportunities to train graduate students in professionally relevant data acquisition and interpretation techniques.The Southern Ocean is the engine for today's deep- to intermediate-water circulation, supplying about half of the energy for deep ocean mixing; yet, most understanding of late Pleistocene thermohaline circulation changes derives from the North Atlantic. Understanding of the role of Southern Ocean water masses is limited by a paucity of deep-sea sedimentary records of these water masses. Sediments deposited along the continental slope of the Argentine margin offer a unique opportunity to reconstruct comprehensive histories of Southern Ocean sourced intermediate and deep waters close to their origin, and to better understand their fundamental connections to global ocean circulation and climate during the late Pleistocene. During a 43-day oceanographic cruise to the margin, the research team will collect seismic data (multibeam-mapping, high-resolution subbottom profiling, and multichannel seismic surveying) and sediment cores (multicores and piston cores) from water depths of ~500 to ~5000 meters, a range that spans the depths where all major intermediate and deep waters in the South Atlantic occur today. Ship- and shore-based analyses of a broad suite of physical and geochemical proxies will allow the researchers to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the compositions and geometries of the water masses during the late Pleistocene. The seismic and sediment data combined will enable better understanding of the nature of the sediments that comprise the southern Argentine margin and the oceanographic/geological processes that influenced the margin during both the late Pleistocene and the Cenozoic. The latter will provide a broad regional and temporal context to better understand the interaction between sediments and bottom currents that can be further exploited with scientific ocean drilling; moreover, the multichannel seismic data will be used to situate proposed drilling sites.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.