In September of 1989, the site of an active seafloor methane vent was confirmed
approximately 20 km off the coast of Oregon in shelf waters 135 m deep. The location of
the vent had been described to Oregon State University oceanographers by a local
commercial fisherman. Preliminary observations in 1989...
The microbial loop plays a crucial role in remineralization of organic matter and fuels recycled production in the aquatic environment. The capability of microbes to utilize particular compounds can be examined through their ectoenzyme (found outside the cell) activities using fluorogenic substrate analogs. These catalysts hydrolyze polymers otherwise too large...
This thesis describes the development of a rare earth element (REE) proxy for paleoceanographic studies of climate change. This work was done in three stages with the goal: (1) To develop a cleaning method that overcomes the problems of REE readsorption; (2) To measure pore water REEs for evaluation of...
During the Callianassa californiensis larval release period, weekly zooplankton samples were taken through daylight tidal cycles near the mouth of a small, fast flushing estuary on the Central Oregon coast. Although C. californiensis adults are confined to estuaries and embayments, stage I zoeal larvae were shown to be exported from...
The shallow water benthic habitat of the SW Beaufort Sea is frequently
gouged by the keels of ice pressure ridges. This natural physical
disturbance was hypothesized to be an important factor affecting the
structure of the benthic community. Smith-McIntyre grab samples were
taken from three discrete gouge axes and from...
The distribution of barite (BaSO₄) in marine sediments has long been studied as a proxy for paleoproductivity. While pure barite is known to be a stable mineral in oxic sediments, it is also known that variations in the Sr/Ba ratio influence its solubility and liability during early diagenesis. To extract...
The Cretaceous was a period of extreme climatic conditions accompanied
by major perturbations in ocean-atmosphere biogeochemical cycles. One of the
most intriguing features is the sporadic interruption of normal marine pelagic
sediment deposition by organic rich sediments deposited during oxygen-deficient
conditions (ocean anoxic events OAEs). A current model for the...