Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis addressed questions about the Fe cycle by measuring detailed profiles and transects of Fe species in the ocean and also by exploring the use of a new tracer of Fe, Fe isotopic fractionation. In the subtropical and tropical Atlantic Ocean, transects and profiles are presented for dissolved Fe ([less than]0.4 m), soluble Fe ([less than]0.02 gm), and colloidal Fe (0.02 to 0.4 Im). Surface dissolved Fe distributions reflect atmospheric deposition trends with colloidal Fe following dust deposition more strongly than the soluble fraction of Fe. Observed surface maxima and shallow minima in dissolved Fe were always due to variations in the colloidal Fe fraction. Deep-water dissolved and colloidal Fe concentrations vary with water mass source, age, and transport path. Elevated dissolved Fe concentrations ([greather than]1 nmol/kg) were associated with an oxygen minimum zone in the tropical Atlantic at 100N, 45 degrees W. Fractionation of iron isotopes could be an effective tool to investigate the geochemistry of iron. Trace metal clean plankton tows, river samples, aerosol leachates, and porewater samples were measured for their iron isotopic composition using a GV Instruments IsoProbe Multi-collector ICPMS. The Fe isotopic composition of plankton tow samples varied by over 4%o (in 56Fe/54Fe). North Pacific plankton tow samples had isotopically lighter Fe isotopic compositions than samples from the Atlantic. The overall isotopic range observed in the Amazon River system was 1.5%o, with variability observed for different types of tributaries. / (cont.) The main channel river dissolved Fe samples and suspended loads were isotopically similar ( -0.2 to -0.45%o relative to igneous rocks). The isotopically heaviest sample collected was dissolved Fe from an organic rich tributary, the Negro River (+0.16%o). In contrast, the suspended load from the Negro River was isotopically light (-1%o). The isotopically lightest sample from the Amazon region was shelf porewater (-1.4%o). In river water-seawater mixing experiments, the Fe isotopic signal of dissolved Fe of river water was modified by flocculation of isotopically heavy Fe. The observed range in the Fe isotopic composition of the natural samples including biological and aqueous samples demonstrates that significant and useful fractionation is associated with Fe biogeochemistry in the environment ... / by Bridget A. Bergquist. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-91). / by Donna Kay Blackman. / M.S.

Thesis (S.M.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-69). / Methods which measure seafloor resistivity are uniquely suited to studying hydrothermal circulation in the crust. The magnetometric resistivity (MMR) technique is a galvanic method which uses a bipole current source with a magnetometer receiver. The resistivity of the subsurface can be estimated from the magnetic field read in MMR. In order to analyze and invert MMR data taken near Mid Ocean Ridges, it is important to understand the effects of ridge topography on MMR models. To analyze these effects a 3D MMR forward modeling program MMR3Df̲wd is used to model Mid Ocean Ridges with varying slopes, resistivities, and source/receiver geometries. The modeled magnetic fields are compared with models with a flat seafloor to determine the impact of the ridge topography. Results show that for some of the ridges modeled, the effects of the topography were significant, suggesting that in some instances it is important to include ridge topography in forward models to obtain accurate results from data inversion. / by Lisa A. Lassner. / S.M.

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2016. / Page 231 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / Marine microbes produce a wide variety of metal binding organic ligands that regulate the solubility and availability of biologically important metals such as iron, copper, cobalt, and zinc. In marine environments where the availability of iron limits microbial growth and carbon fixation rates, the ability to access organically bound iron confers a competitive advantage. Thus, the compounds that microbes produced to acquire iron play an important role in biogeochemical carbon and metal cycling. However, the source, abundance, and identity of these compounds are poorly understood. To investigate these processes, sensitive methodologies were developed to gain a compound-specific window into marine iron speciation by combining trace metal clean sample collection and chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LCICPMS) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESIMS). Coupled with isotope pattern assisted search algorithms, these tools provide a means to quantify and isolate specific iron binding ligands from seawater and marine cultures, identify them based on their mass and fragmentation spectra, and investigate their metal binding kinetics. Using these techniques, we investigated the distribution and diversity of marine iron binding ligands. In cultures, LC-ICPMS-ESIMS was used to identify new members of siderophore classes produced by marine cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria, including synechobactins and marinobactins. Applications to natural seawater samples from the Pacific Ocean revealed a wide diversity of both known and novel metal compounds that are linked to specific nutrient regimes. Ferrioxamines B, E, and G were identified in productive coastal waters near California and Peru, in oligotrophic waters of the North and South Pacific Gyre, and in association with zooplankton grazers. Siderophore concentrations were up to five-fold higher in iron-deficient offshore waters (9pM) and were dominated by amphibactins, amphiphilic siderophores that partition into cell membranes. Furthermore, synechobactins were detected within nepheloid layers along the continental shelf. These siderophores reflect adaptations that impact dissolved iron bioavailability and thus have important consequences for marine ecosystem community structures and primary productivity. The ability to map and characterize these compounds has opened new opportunities to better understand mechanisms that link metals with the microbes that use them. / by Rene M. Boiteau. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2005. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis uses trace elements and radiogenic isotope tracers to define elemental abundances in reservoirs of the Earth's mantle, including EM2 (the Enriched Mantle 2), as seen in the Samoan hotspot track, and DMM (the depleted upper mantle), which is sampled at mid-ocean ridges. Together these components comprise up to [approx.] 50% of the total mantle mass. Much of the mantle's chemical heterogeneities are suspected to originate by either the removal of mass from the mantle (in the case of DMM) or the addition of mass to the mantle through subduction zones (in the case of EM2). We show that DMM represents mantle that 1) has been previously depleted by 2-3% melt removal, 2) mass-balances well with the continental crust, 3) has only 15% of the radiogenic heat production in primitive upper mantle and 4) can generate present-day ocean crust by 6% aggregated fractional melting. EM2 is classically interpreted as mantle material enriched in trace elements through the ancient, subduction-zone recycling of terrigenous sediments; here we show this model is unlikely and provide two other working hypotheses. / (cont.) The first is recycling of melt- impregnated oceanic lithosphere; the second is recycling of a mantle wedge impregnated with melt from a subducting oceanic plate. / by Rhea K. Workman. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. / To provide a new perspective on the fate of both natural organic matter and hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) in marine sediments, we have investigated the relationship between radiocarbon (14C) age and the different modes of association in aquatic sediments and soils. Radiocarbon is a sensitive tracer of OM provenance, with variations in its natural abundance reflecting the age and origin of material. The main objective has been to determine the significance of these associations, and to assess how they affect the transport, bioavailability, preservation and residence times of organic compounds in the environment. Our results indicate that the majority of HOCs that persist in marine sediments are solvent-extractable and incorporation into insoluble sediment residues is not quantitatively significant. For pristine sediments, systematic variations in 14C content are observed between different chemically defined sedimentary organic fractions. These variations are dependent on organic matter inputs and/or the affects of diagenesis. Our observations also provide evidence for the protection of labile marine carbon by chemical binding. / (cont.) Finally, the persistence of n-alkanes from biogenic sources compared to those derived from petroleum indicates that protective matrix association can play a crucial role in determining the long-term fate of a compound. Overall, it is clear that both natural organic compounds and HOCs can undergo very different fates depending on their mode of introduction to, and physical disposition in environmental matrices. / by Helen K. White. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. / Benthic and planktonic foraminiferal [delta]18O ([delta 18Oc) from a suite of well-dated, high-resolution cores spanning the depth and width of the Straits of Florida reveal significant changes in Gulf Stream cross-current density gradient during the last millennium. These data imply that Gulf Stream transport during the Little Ice Age (LIA: 1200-1850 A.D.) was 2-3 Sv lower than today. The timing of reduced flow is consistent with cold conditions in Northern Hemisphere paleoclimate archives, implicating Gulf Stream heat transport in centennial-scale climate variability of the last 1,000 years. The pattern of flow anomalies with depth suggests reduced LIA transport was due to weaker subtropical gyre wind stress curl. The oxygen isotopic composition of Florida Current surface water ([delta]18Ow) near Dry Tortugas increased 0.4%0/ during the course of the Little Ice Age (LIA: -1200-1850 A.D.), equivalent to a salinity increase of 0.8-1.5 psu. On the Great Bahama Bank, where surface waters are influenced by the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, [delta]18Ow increased by 0.3%o during the last 200 years. Although a portion (-O. 1%o) of this shift may be an artifact of anthropogenically-driven changes in surface water [Epsilon]CO2, the remaining [delta]18Ow signal implies a 0.4 to 1 psu increase in salinity after 200 yr BP. / (cont.) The simplest explanation of the [delta]18Ow, data is southward migration of the Atlantic Hadley circulation during the LIA. Scaling of the [delta]18Ow records to salinity using the modern low-latitude 180,w-S slope produces an unrealistic reversal in the salinity gradient between the two sites. Only if [delta]18Ow is scaled to salinity using a high-latitude [delta]18Ow-S slope can the records be reconciled. Changes in atmospheric 14C paralleled shifts in Dry Tortugas [delta]18Ow, suggesting that variable solar irradiance paced centennial-scale Hadley cell migration and changes in Florida Current salinity during the last millennium. / by David C. Lund. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-197). / Oceanic spreading centers are sites of magmatic, tectonic, and hydrothermal processes. In this thesis I present experimental and seismological constraints on the evolution of these complex regions of focused crustal accretion and extension. Experimental results from drained, triaxial deformation experiments on partially molten olivine reveal that melt extraction rates are linearly dependent on effective mean stress when the effective mean stress is low and non-linearly dependent on effective mean stress when it is high. Microearthquakes recorded above an inferred magma reservoir along the TAG segment of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge delineate for the first time the arcuate, subsurface structure of a long-lived, active detachment fault. This fault penetrates the entire oceanic crust and forms the high-permeability pathway necessary to sustain long-lived, high-temperature hydrothermal venting in this region. Long-lived detachment faulting exhumes lower crustal and mantle rocks. Residual stresses generated by thermal expansion anisotropy and mismatch in the uplifting, cooling rock trigger grain boundary microfractures if stress intensities at the tips of naturally occurring flaws exceed a critical stress intensity factor. / (cont.) Experimental results coupled with geomechanical models indicate that pervasive grain boundary cracking occurs in mantle peridotite when it is uplifted to within 4 km of the seafloor. Whereas faults provide the high-permeability pathways necessary to sustain high-temperature fluid circulation, grain boundary cracks form the interconnected network required for pervasive alteration of the oceanic lithosphere. This thesis provides fundamental constraints on the rheology, evolution, and alteration of the lithosphere at oceanic spreading centers. / by Brian J. deMartin. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 1988. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-259). / by Michael Anthony Kaminski. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-270). / This thesis studies the dynamics of mantle melting during continental breakups by geophysical, geochemical, and numerical analyses. The first part focuses on the mantle melting and crustal accretion processes during the formation of the Southeast Greenland margin, on the basis of deep-crustal seismic data. A new seismic tomographic method is developed to jointly invert refraction and reflection travel times for a compressional velocity structure, and a long-wavelength structure with strong lateral heterogeneity is successfully recovered, including 30- to 15-km-thick igneous crust within a 150-km-wide continent-ocean transition zone. A nonlinear Monte Carlo analysis is also conducted to establish the absolute uncertainty of model parameters. The derived crustal structure is first used to resolve the origin of a margin gravity high, with new inversion schemes using both seismic and gravity constraints. Density anomalies producing the gravity high seem to be confined within the upper crust, not in the lower crust as suggested for other volcanic margins. A new robust framework is then developed for the petrological interpretation of the velocity structure of igneous crust, and the thick igneous crust formed at the continentocean transition zone is suggested to have resulted from vigorous active upwelling of mantle with only somewhat elevated potential temperature. In the second part, the nature of mantle melting during the formation of the North Atlantic igneous province is studied on the basis of the major element chemistry of erupted lavas. A new fractionation correction scheme based on the Ni concentrations of mantle olivine is used to estimate primary melt compositions, which suggest that this province is characterized by a large degree of major element source heterogeneity. In the third part, the nature of preexisting sublithospheric convection is investigated by a series of finite element analyses, because the strength of such convection is important to define the "normal" state of mantle, the understanding of which is essential to identify any anomalous behavior of mantle such as a mantle plume. The results suggest that small-scale convection is likely in normal asthenosphere, and that the upwelling velocity in such convection is on the order of 1- 10 cm/yr. / by Jun Korenaga. / Ph.D.