Paleoclimatology of the southern ocean

need to protect the Antarctic as much as possible from contamination. Antarctic pristinity, at least in terms of bacterial flora, is certainly suspect in some areas, especially where people have been present. Aerial, soil, and aquatic microorganisms should be monitored, perhaps by automated, remote, biological and ecological monitoring stations tied to the global

Table 1 (concluded). Antarctic species Nonantarctic habitats Micrococcus caseolyticus milk, dairy utensils, especially cheese *Micrococcus conglomeratus infections, dairy products, water Micrococcus flavus skin glands, secretions, dairy products .Micrococcus freudenreichii milk, dairy utensils, Micrococus luteus milk, dairy utensils and dust particles *Mirococcus roseus widespread—dust Micrococcus rubens natural and artificial brines Mycococcus luteus isolates from soil (infrequently found in soil) Mycococcus ruber isolated from soil—Yershovo Station, Russia (infrequently found in soil) Nocardia albicans soil *pseudomonas fragi soil and water—widely distributed in nature *organisms found in air samples but not in soil samples.

Table 2. Summary of numbers of bacterial genera isolated from soil and air of the Antarctic Continent. General Location of Collected Isolants Bacteria genera Coast of McMurdo Dry Sound' valleys2 Interior' Peninsula4 Soil Air Soil Air Soil Air Soil Air Achro,nobacter 2 4 2 Art hro bacter 8 2 42 2 4 1 10 2 2 1 12 17 1 5 Bacillus Brevibacterium 1 15 2 1 Corynebacterium 13 2 52 5 3 1 1 Cytophaga 1 Flavobacterium 3 1 Micrococcus 5 1 15 7 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 Mycococcus Nocardia 2 6 1 Pseudomonas Streptornyces 3 7 2 1 McMurdo Station, Cape Royds, Romanes Beach, Marble Point, Brown Peninsula. 2 Arena Valley, Beacon Valley, Turnabout Valley, "No Name Valley" (unofficial), Taylor Valley, Pearse Valley, Asgard Range (Conrow Valley, David Valley, King Valley, Matterhorn Valley), Wright Valley, Bull Pass, McKelvey, Valley, Balham Valley, Barwick Valley, Olympus Range, Victoria Valley, and Wheeler Valley. 3 "Berg Moraine" (unofficial), Coalsack Bluff (west), Mount Astor, Moraine Canyon, La Gorce Mountains, and Mount Howe. Deception Island.

September-October 1972

monitoring system. Baseline soils and other materials, properly stored, provide a valuable background for this study (Cameron and Conrow, 1968). These materials also are invaluable in establishing reserve materials for later comparison with any possible microorganisms found in an extraterrestrial environment such as Mars. If microbial life forms are found on Mars, it may be extremely important to be able to differentiate between indigenous life forms and possible contaminating life forms that may have survived the spaceborne trip to Mars. References Breed, R. W., E. G. D. Murray, and N. R. Smith et al. 1957. Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, Seventh Edition. The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore. 1094 pp. Cameron, R. E. In press. Aerobiology of the antarctic terrestrial ecosystem. Proceedings of Workshop/ Conference I. Ecological Systems Approach to Aerobiology, U.S/International Biological Program Aerobiology Program. Handbook No. 2 (W. Benninghoff and R. Edmonds, eds.). University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Cameron, R. E. 1971. Antarctic soil microbial and ecological investigations. In: Research in the Antarctic, L. Quam and H. D. Porter, editors. Washington, D. C., American Association for the Advancement of Science. Publication, No. 93. p. 137-189. Cameron, R. E., and H. P. Conrow. 1968. Antarctic simulator for soil storage and processing. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., 111(5): 219-221. Horowitz, N. H., R. E. Cameron, and J . S. Hubbard. 1972. Microbiology of the dry valleys of Antarctica. Science, 176: 242-245. Johnson, R. M., and B. Holaday. 1970. Physiology of desert bacteria. Bacteriology Proceedings Abstracts for 1970. p. 41. Morelli, F. A., R. E. Cameron, D. R. Gensel, and L. P. Randall. 1972. Monitoring of antarctic dry valley drilling sites. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., VII (4) : 92-94. Parker, B. C. (ed.). 1972. Proceedings of the Colloquium on Conservation Problems in Antarctica. Lawrence, Kansas, Allen Press, Inc. 356 p.

Paleoclimatology of the southern ocean LAWRENCE A. FRAKES

Department of Geology Florida State University

For the past year, research in the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility, Florida State University, has been aimed primarily toward understanding oceanographic and atmospheric influences on past climates. The materials have been bottom sediments cored and dredged by USNS Eltanin, a National Science Foundation research ship. The methods have been varied, including work with radiolarians, diatoms, coccoliths, foraminifera, and spores and pollen 189

on the biological side, and geochemical and granulometric techniques on the physical side. The effort is to deduce physical and chemical conditions in the ancient water column and on the seafloor, and their effects on life, and then to relate these especially to oceanic circulation systems of the past. A model for near-shore sedimentation in the polar regime has been developed by Anderson (in press) using such an approach, and another is being prepared to relate the midocean situation to the nearshore model. The general case for migration of oceanic facies due to climate change can be treated by use of the techniques of Frakes and Kemp (1972). This combination of models is necessary because of the obviously different conditions in the two environments. From material taken during recent cruises, it appears that in the Eocene the narrow seaway between Antarctica and Australia (Weissel and Hayes, 1972) was very warm, and also that vegetation was widespread in Antarctica (Kemp, in press), two facts in conflict with the notion of extensive ice in Antarctica at that time. Geitzenauer et al. (1968) concluded from ice rafted debris in a South Pacific core that glaciation was under way in the Eocene (see also Le Masurier, 1970; Margolis and Kennett, 1971). On the other hand, oxygen isotope paleotemperatures from southern Australia and New Zealand (Dorman, 1966; Devereaux, .1967) indicate a warm southern ocean that cooled markedly in the early Oligocene. To date the earliest glaciation in Antarctica is extremely difficult, first because the record is so incomplete on the continent and so controversial in the deep ocean, and second because glaciation must have varied in intensity depending on local and regional geography. The second point assures us that the answer to this very important question lies in detailed study of near-shore marine sediments around the continent. This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant GV-2 7549. References Anderson, J. B. In press. The marine geology of the Weddell Sea. Florida State University, Sediment Research Labora-

tory. Report.

Devereaux, I. 1967. Oxygen isotope paleotemperature measurements of New Zealand Tertiary fossils. New Zealand Journal of Geology, 10: 988-1011. Dorman, F. H. 1966. Australian Tertiary paleotemperatures. Journal of Geology, 74: 49-61. Frakes, L. A., and E. M. Kemp. 1972. Generation of sedimentary facies on a spreading ocean ridge. Nature, 236: 1l4-1l7. Geitzenauer, K. R., S. V. Margolis, and D. S. Edwards. 1968. Evidence consistent with Eocene glaciation in a South Pacific deep sea sedimentary core. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 4(2) : 173-177.

190

Kemp, E. M. In press. Reworked palynomorphs from the West Ice Shelf area, East Antarctica, and their possible geological and palaeoclimatological significance. Marine

Geology.

LeMasurier, W. E. 1970. Volcanic evidence for early Tertiary glaciation in Marie Byrd Land. Antarctic Journal of the U.S., V(5): 154-155. Margolis, S. V., and J . P. Kennett. 1971. Cenozoic paleoglacial history of Antarctica recorded in subantarctic deepsea cores. American Journal of Science, 271(1): 1-36. Weissel, J . K., and D. E. Hayes. 1972. Magnetic anomalies in the southeast Indian Ocean. Antarctic Research Series, 19: 165-196.

Recycled palynomorphs in continental shelf sediments from Antarctica ELIZABETH M. KEMP Department of Geology Florida State University

Analyses have shown that bottom sediments from the continental shelf around Antartica frequently contain abundant recycled spores, pollen, and dinoflagellates. This palynological material is assumed to derive from the erosion of older strata on, or close to, the Antarctic Continent and from the abrasive action of glaciers, and to have been transported seaward by ice-rafting mechanisms. Some redistribution by bottom currents may have occurred, but it seems likely that the predominant direction of movement of this material by all mechanisms has been northward, away from the land mass. The assemblages are of mixed age and provenance, but can still provide useful data concerning the paleontology and paleoclimatology of Antarctica. Their usefulness lies in providing checklists of species frequently in excess of those known from in situ localities; in suggesting the presence of sedimentary strata of certain ages in ice-covered areas; and in providing a clue to the nature of the vegetation— and hence to the climatic regimes—that existed during particular time intervals. To date, samples from three widely separated localities have been examined in detail. From the Ross Sea, Wilson (1968) reported Permian , Triassic, and Early Tertiary spores and pollen and Early Tertiary dinoflagellates. In the Florida State University Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility, studies have been initiated on some 50 samples from widely spaced localities in the Ross Sea and environs. The aim is to discern distribution patterns of recycled palynomorphs and to correlate these with sediment distribution patterns (Chriss and Frakes, in press), ANTARCTIC JOURNAL