Data on the assessment of the dynamics of sedimentary waves over the western slope of the Caspian Sea are presented. The process of formation of the wave structure of sedimentary waves under the influence of hydraulic pressure jumps during the spreading of gravitational turbidity flows downslope is discussed.

This work presents data on the study of the sorption of heavy metal cations in sediments of the Central Depression of the Barents Sea. During experiments the naturally moistened sediments of different fractions and those after squeezing out the interstitial water were studied. The maximum values of the equilibrium exchange capacity of sediments containing interstitial water and those free of it are in close agreement with each other. The capacity increases in the series (Mn < Ni < Zn < Cd) < (Pb < Cu) and ranges from 0.30 Mn to 0.71 Cu mg-eqiv/g. According to the values obtained, the studied sediments can be classified as adsorbents. The influence of grain size and mineral composition of sediments and the concentration of solutions of metal salts on the absorption capacity of sediments was studied. It was concluded that sediments can be considered as both cleaners and pollutants of marine waters.

Впервые для акватории Белого моря определены закономерности вертикального и латерального распределения ртути в донных осадках. Выявлен скачкообразный характер изменения концентраций валовой ртути с общей тенденцией к уменьшению с глубиной. Установлены природные вариации концентраций ртути в пределах 0.01–0.03 мкг/г с.м. Верхнее значение, равное 0.03 мкг/г с.м., принято за естественное «фоновое» содержание элемента. На распределение концентраций ртути по разрезу донных осадков оказывают влияние как антропогенные, так и природные факторы и процессы. По мере удаления от морской границы устьевой области реки Северной Двины ее роль в поставке ртути в Белое море снижается, а роль глобального и регионального атмосферного переноса элемента возрастает. Содержание ртути использовано в качестве индикатора проявления оползневых процессов в Кандалакшском заливе Белого моря. Изучена хронология накопления элемента в донных осадках Белого моря и рассчитана доля ртути антропогенного происхождения.

Results of field observations of current dynamics in the frontal zone of the western Middle Caspian are given. The cyclonic circulation over the western slope in winter is shown to be a unidirectional intense current with velocities up to 100 cm/s. In summer, the current slows down and separates into branches—it turns southwestward and westward at the slope depth down to 150 m, southward and southeastward at the depth of ~100–350 m, and eastward at larger depths. In summer, shelf currents interact with the flow of Middle Caspian cyclonic circulation, resulting in that anticyclonic vortices reach the shelf.

The mineralogy and geochemistry of a fragment of an active hydrothermal edifice from the Hydrothermal Hill of the Southern Trough valley of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California were studied. The sample was collected from a depth of 1995 m by the Pisces manned submersible on cruise 12 of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences. The fragment and the edifice itself consists of two accrete pipes: ore (pyrrhotite) and barren (carbonate) combined in a single edifice by an outer barite–opal zone. The ore edifice is located in the rift zone of the Guaymas Basin with a thick sedimentary cover and is depleted in metals in comparison with ores from rift zones of the open ocean, which are not blocked by sedimentary deposits. This is explained by loss of metals at the boundary between hot sills and sedimentary rocks and by the processes of interaction of hydrothermal solutions with sedimentary deposits. The sedimentary series faciitates long-term preservation of endogenous heat and the ore formation process. Ore edifices of the Guaymas Basin are mostly composed of pyrrhotite, have a specific set of major elements, microelements and REEs, and contain naphthenic hydrocarbons. They may be search signs of hidden polymetallic deposits, considered to be the roots of ore occurrences localized under the surface of the bottom in young active rifts with high spreading and sedimentation rates, i.e., in near-continental areas of rifts of the humid zone with avalanche sedimentation.