South American Hydrological Balance and Paleoceanography during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene (SAMBA) – Cruise No. M125, March 21 – April 15, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) – Fortaleza (Brazil)

R/V METEOR expedition M125 (“SAMBA”) focused on the influence of paleoceanographic changes off NE Brazil on the continental hydrological cycle. For this purpose, we obtained 202 m of gravity (24 stations) and piston cores (9) at seven sections on the shelf and continental slope close to river mouths from Cabo Frio in the south to the Rio Sao Francisco in the north. Coring stations were determined after intensive echosounder surveys (total: 1221 NM). On-board foraminiferal biostratigraphy, as well as color and XRF-scanning already provided first stratigraphic constraints, indicating the preservation of different regional paleoclimatic signals at the respective sections. Based on the preliminary stratigraphy, we retrieved high-resolution archives, covering Holocene sediments on the shelf and late Pleistocene sediments on the slope. These high-resolution archives are complemented by long-term records covering up to 900 ka of continuous sedimentation at deeper sites at smaller rivers. For proxy-calibration and the study of present-day sedimentation dynamics and biogeochemical processes, surface sediments were sampled via multicorer (47), Van Veen Grab (6) and box corer (3). Water samples for determination of the water chemistry (trace elements, stable and radiogenic isotopes) and nutrient composition were retrieved by 55 CTD/Rosette casts. In addition, we run multinet-hauls at seven stations to investigate the planktonic foraminiferal communities in the water column down to 700 m water depth, complemented by filtering water from the ship’s pump twice a day.