Fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from marine sediments represent a poorly constrained component of the oceanic carbon cycle that may affect the concentration and composition of DOC in the ocean. Here we report the first in situ measurements of DOC fluxes from continental margin sediments (water depths ranging from 95 to 3,700 m), and compare these fluxes with measured benthic fluxes fro...

Around the globe, and in a variety of settings including active and inactive mountain belts, increases in sedimentation rates as well as in grain sizes of sediments were recorded at ,2±4 Myr ago, implying increased erosion rates. A change in climate represents the only process that is globally synchronous and can potentially account for the widespread increase in erosion and sedimentation, but ...

Crustal thickness is a critical parameter for understanding the processes of continental rifting and breakup and the evolution of petroleum systems within passive margins. However, direct measurements of crustal thickness are sparse and expensive, highlighting the need for methodologies using gravity anomaly data, jointly with other geophysical data, to estimate crustal thickness. We evaluated ...

We study internal wave generation in a laboratory model of oscillating tidal flow on a continental margin. Waves are found to be generated only in a near-critical region where the slope of the bottom topography matches that of internal waves. Fluid motion with a velocity an order of magnitude larger than that of the forcing occurs within a thin boundary layer above the bottom surface. The reson...

In regard to the tectonic history of the Lachlan Fold Belt, Aitchison and Buckman (2012) argued that "numerous aspects of the observed geology appear to be incompatible with the existing model" and that an "alternative model envisages arc-continent collision events (quantum tectonics) as a primary means of largescale continental growth". My purpose is to challenge these arguments and to questio...

The Deccan Trap continental flood basalt eruptions of India occurred c. 67–63 Ma, thus spanning the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary (65 Ma). Deccan eruptions were coeval with an interval of profound global environmental and climatic changes and widespread extinctions, and this timing has sparked controversy regarding the relative influence of Deccan volcanism upon endCretaceous catastrophic events...

Multichannel seismic-reflection data collected on the Peru margin as part of Leg 112 of the Ocean Drilling Program predrilling site survey define some tectonic and sedimentary features of the Lima and Yaquina basins. A narrow accretionary prism is imaged at the toe of the trench slope in both areas. Landward of the accretionary prism is a transition zone that may be underlain by older accreted ...