Agelastatin A, isolated from the axinellid sponge Agelas dendromorpha of the Coral Sea, is a new-skeleton alkaloid with, unusually for the oroidin family to which it belongs, marked cytotoxicity toward tumour cells in culture.

SMIB 4, SMIB 5

The Lansdowne Bank is a partly drowned, isolated carbonate platform of around 4000 km2 located 300 km west of New Caledonia, in the SW Pacific Ocean, in water depths of 20 to 100 m. New multibeam bathymetric data, high resolution seismic reflection profiles and sediment gravity cores have been acquired on the bank top and adjacent slopes. This dataset reveals an almost continuous 4 km wide outer reef rim located in ca. 50 m water depth, surrounding a gently deepening inner platform, reaching up to 100 m water depth. The bank is bordered by very steep slopes showing numerous erosional morphologies such as canyons, channels and gullies. Along with these bypass features, spectacular bank margin collapses and slope failures are evidenced by up to 20 kmwide bank edge and intraslope failure scars, respectively, resulting in a typical “scalloped” geometry of the bank margin. These failure scars can lead to a complete collapse of the outer reef rim and impact subsequent reef development. Bank margin collapses are evidenced by hectometer to kilometer-scale blocks and debris shed on the slope, likely emplaced by rock fall/avalanching processes originating from the brittle failure of early cemented bank edge and upper slope sediments. In turn, failures triggered on the un-cemented mud-prone middle to lower slopes likely generate more cohesive, submarine debris flows that could be at the origin of erosive morphologies within the debris fields. Estimated individual failure volumes can reach up to 3 km3. Quaternary sea-level lowstands, that would have led to platform exposure, fracturing and karstification, and the development of an erosional sea cliff, as well as subsequent rising sea-level are believed to play a significant role in mass wasting event emplacement, yet “bottom up” submarine processes such as the upslope propagation of bypass morphologies by retrogressive headward erosion cannot be ruled out. In terms of geomorphic and stratigraphic constraints, the documented bank margin collapses affect a terrace located in 70 m water depth around the bank, which, depending on its age and origin, could provide a minimum age for collapse events. Finally, considering the shallow water depth of failure headscarps, the volumes of material involved in the slides as well as their vicinity to the nearby main island of New Caledonia, numerical simulations of the tsunamigenic potential of submarine slides have been performed. They showed that these slides would have been able to produce a meter-scale wave that would reach the northern coast of the island in less than an hour.

SEDLAB

Seamounts are vulnerable ecosystems targeted by fishing and potentially by future mineral exploitation. Their abundance, widespread distribution, and heterogeneity of faunal and abiotic components require integrated studies at multiscale to describe spatial patterns and identify environmental drivers needed by conservation plans. There is also a lack of knowledge on seamount benthic ecosystems in some regions, such as the Indian Ocean. These gaps, in the context of Marine Protected Areas establishment in the region, have motivated the present study focusing on the Mozambique Channel Eparses islands and flat top seamounts, along a 10-degree latitude gradient. These structures are characterized by complex volcanic and carbonate geomorphologies at multiscale and are distributed along a highly dynamic turbulent ocean circulation area with large anticyclonic eddies. For the first time, we analysed, from seabed image transects obtained by towed-camera on four seamounts, and two volcanic islands - Bassas da India and Mayotte - external slopes, and from multiscale environmental data, how benthic communities respond to this high habitat heterogeneity at regional, and local scales. This study reveals high discrepancies of benthic megafauna richness, density, and beta diversity among seamounts and among slopes of the same islands. Moreover, at similar latitude, seamounts display higher densities than island slopes. The highest densities found on a seamount of the Glorieuses archipelago are explained by strong currents and flat homogeneous geomorphology. Except on this seamount, the beta diversity is high, despite the quite limited depth range explored (84–734 m) and is the highest on island slopes and Hall Bank, driven by the diversity and hardness of the substrate. Beta diversity is mainly due to taxa turnover, with high contribution of the habitat-forming sponges and cnidarians, together with a few mobile taxa. We identified from biogeographic network analysis 12 dominant faunal assemblages, displaying a patchy distribution, with variability in composition both among and within sites. Currents and primary productivity explain ~15% of the observed assemblage structure along the channel, while geomorphology (km scale), topography (60–500 m scale) and substrate (60-m units) explain together 24% of the faunal spatial patterns. Analysis of spatial structures along island slopes detected some small (100–200 m), medium (~1 km) and large scale (~2–6 km) megabenthic community structures, partly explained by topography, substrate, depth, and slope. Despite limited taxonomic identifications for this poorly sampled area, this study reveals an outstanding heterogeneity of megabenthic assemblages at multispatial scales in the Mozambique Channel seamounts and island slopes, in response to the complex hydrography and geology of the area. Further characterization of environmental drivers with greater focus at local scales including hydro­ graphic variables are therefore needed to improve predictions of suitable habitats of vulnerable marine ecosystems.

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Neogene and Quaternary shallow-water carbonate records surrounding New Caledonia main island, Grande Terre, provide a good example for understanding the stratigraphic architecture of tropical mixed carbonatesiliciclastic systems. Due to a southeastern tilt of the eastern margin, the eastern shelf of Grande Terre has been better preserved from erosion than the western part, favouring the development and preservation of shallow-water carbonates. Based on the integration of bathymetric and seismic data, along with paleoenvir­ onmental and biostratigraphic constraints derived from dredged carbonate rocks, a comprehensive geomor­ phological and architectural characterization of the offshore eastern margin of Grande Terre has been made. During the Mio-Pliocene, a wide, up to 750 m-thick carbonate build-up developed and extended over at least 350 km from north to south. This Mio-Pliocene build-up, currently lying at 300 to 600 m water depths, is overlain by a Pleistocene-Holocene barrier reef-lagoon complex and associated slope deposits. The switch from aggrading Neogene carbonate banks to backstepping Quaternary platforms likely reflects an increase in accommodation due to a high subsidence rate or to relative sea-level rise, and/or results from a switch in carbonate producers associated with global environmental changes. The internal architecture of the Quaternary barrier reef-lagoon complex is highlighted, especially the development of lowstand siliciclastic prisms alternating with trans­ gressive shallow-water carbonate sequences. This pattern agrees with the reciprocal sedimentation model typically invoked for mixed sedimentary systems. This stratigraphic pattern is well developed in front of the Cap Bayes inlet in the north of our study area, yet it is not observed southward along the eastern margin. This dif­ ference suggests that other factors than relative sea-level variations directed the architecture of the margin, such as low terrigenous inputs, lagoon paleo-drainage networks or sediment by-pass towards deep basins.

KANACONO

Delineating biogeographical regions can provide important insights into the processes shaping large‐scale species distribution patterns. Here we aimed to 1) identify global marine benthic biogeographical regions for ophiuroids extending from shallow waters to the deep sea and 2) quantify the importance of contemporary environmental conditions and geological features in shaping the delineated biogeographical regions. We delineated marine benthic biogeographical regions using a bipartite network analysis applied to a historical dataset of brittle stars. We then examined the faunal exchanges between the regions, and applied random forest models to evaluate the relative role of contemporary environmental conditions and tectonic configuration underlying the proposed biogeographic scheme. We propose ten main large biogeographical regions across the benthos. The biogeographical regions with the highest species richness and endemicity rates were found in the Indo‐Pacific region, Tropical West Atlantic and Southern Ocean, and South America. The key transition regions fall within the subarctic areas of the Pacific and the waters surrounding Southern Australia and New Zealand. Tectonic configuration, surface temperature and salinity were found to be the most important predictors of the ten delineated biogeographical regions. Our biogeographic delineation, including the deep sea, is in partial agreement with those proposed in previous studies. Our results suggest that contemporary environmental conditions (sea water temperature and salinity) strongly influence the modern distribution of ophiuroids, but that plate tectonics left a marked imprint on regional species pools. Future work based on multiple benthic taxa, and with a better understanding of the environmental conditions in the deep sea, are needed to evaluate the robustness of our proposed division.

ATIMO VATAE, AURORA 2007, AZTEQUE, BATHUS 1, BATHUS 2, BATHUS 3, BATHUS 4, BENTHAUS, BERYX 11, BIOCAL, BIOGEOCAL, BIOPAPUA, BOA1, BORDAU 1, BORDAU 2, CHALCAL 1, CHALCAL 2, CORAIL 2, CORINDON 2, DongSha 2014, EBISCO, EXBODI, GUYANE 2014, HALIPRO 1, HALIPRO 2, KANACONO, KANADEEP, KARUBAR, KARUBENTHOS 2, LAGON, LITHIST, MIRIKY, MUSORSTOM 1, MUSORSTOM 10, MUSORSTOM 2, MUSORSTOM 3, MUSORSTOM 4, MUSORSTOM 5, MUSORSTOM 6, MUSORSTOM 7, MUSORSTOM 8, MUSORSTOM 9, NORFOLK 1, PALEO-SURPRISE, PAPUA NIUGINI, SALOMON 2, SALOMONBOA 3, SANTO 2006, SMIB 1, SMIB 2, SMIB 3, SMIB 4, SMIB 5, SMIB 6, TAIWAN 2000, TARASOC, VAUBAN 1978-1979, VOLSMAR, Walters Shoal