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1.
Dynamics of the submarine permafrost regime, including distribution, thickness, and temporal evolution, was modeled for the Laptev and East Siberian Sea shelf zones. This work included simulation of the permafrost-related gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ). Simulations were compared with field observations. Model sensitivity runs were performed using different boundary conditions, including a variety of geological conditions as well as two distinct geothermal heat flows (45 and 70 mW/m2). The heat flows used are typical for the coastal lowlands of the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea. Use of two different geological deposits, that is, unconsolidated Cainozoic strata and solid bedrock, resulted in the significantly different magnitudes of permafrost thickness, a result of their different physical and thermal properties. Both parameters, the thickness of the submarine permafrost on the shelf and the related development of the GHSZ, were simulated for the last four glacial-eustatic cycles (400,000 years). The results show that the most recently formed permafrost is continuous to the 60-m isobath; at the greater depths of the outer part of the shelf it changes to discontinuous and patchy permafrost. However, model results suggest that the entire Arctic shelf is underlain by relic permafrost in a state stable enough for gas hydrates. Permafrost, as well as the GHSZ, is currently storing probable significant greenhouse gas sources, especially methane that has formed by the decomposition of gas hydrates at greater depth. During climate cooling and associated marine regression, permafrost aggradation takes place due to the low temperatures and the direct exposure of the shelf to the atmosphere. Permafrost degradation takes place during climate warming and marine transgression. However, the temperature of transgressing seawater in contact with the former terrestrial permafrost landscape remains below zero, ranging from –0.5 to –1.8°C, meaning permafrost degradation does not immediately occur. The submerged permafrost degrades slowly, undergoing a transformation in form from ice bonded terrestrial permafrost to ice bearing submarine permafrost that does not possess a temperature gradient. Finally the thickness of ice bearing permafrost decreases from its lower boundary due to the geothermal heat flow. The modeling indicated several other features. There exists a time lag between extreme states in climatic forcing and associated extreme states of permafrost thickness. For example, permafrost continued to degrade for up to 10,000 years following a temperature decline had begun after a climate optimum. Another result showed that the dynamic of permafrost thickness and the variation of the GHSZ are similar but not identical. For example, it can be shown that in recent time permafrost degradation has taken place at the outer part of the shelf whereas the GHSZ is stable or even thickening.  相似文献   

2.
Regularities of changes in the number of thermokarst lakes in the cryolithozone of Western Siberia have been studied using multitemporal satellite images. The studies were conducted on 33 test sites selected in different landscape zones of the study area with the use of 134 cloud-free Landsat images obtained during warm months in the period from 1973 to 2013. It is shown that the total number of new lakes is significantly (almost 20 times) higher than the number of disappeared lakes. The area of newly formed thermokarst lakes is, on average, 22 times smaller than the size of disappearing lakes. Therefore, one can assume that the rapid growth in the number of small thermokarst lakes that is observed under the conditions of global warming will lead to an increase in methane emissions into the atmosphere in permafrost zones in the Arctic territories. Results of remote sensing of statistical distribution of small thermokarst lakes with respect to their sizes are given. The studies were performed on eight test sites selected in different permafrost zones of Western Siberia. The size of small lakes was determined according to QuickBird super-high resolution satellite images. It is shown that histograms of distribution of lakes with respect to their sizes allow their approximation by power and exponential functions, which can be used for modeling and predicting the dynamics of thermokarst methane emission in permafrost zones.  相似文献   

3.
Jan Kavan 《Marine Geodesy》2020,43(3):234-247
Abstract

Changes in the position of the shore in the vicinity of Kapp Napier in central Svalbard was described. The overall advance of the shore was probably related to high input of the sediment material originating from erosion of the coastal areas south of the Kapp Napier locality and high input of material from adjacent glacifluvial system of Nordenskiöld glacier with its marginal water streams. Fast evolution of glacier retreat related processes after the Little Ice Age was a secondary driver of the dynamic changes in the central Svalbard coastal areas especially in the first half of the 20th century. The highly dynamic longshore currents in the area altogether with still ongoing glacio-isostatic uplift played an important role in the process as well. The most active parts of the shore experienced advance of almost 100 m since 1908 to 2009. On the other hand, a small part of the coast retreated of about 20 m. Most of the study area experienced aggradation (65%), 30% of the coast was stable and about 5% of the coast has undergone minor retreat. The maximum aggradation rate of 0.96?m/year corresponds well with similar sites in the vicinity.  相似文献   

4.
High-resolution multi-beam/single-beam bathymetric data and seismic profiling data from the latest surveys are used to map and interpret the detailed seafloor geomorphology of the western region of the North Yellow Sea (NYS), China. The mapping area covers 156 410 km2, and incorporates a flat shelf plain, subaqueous accumulation shoals, tidal scouring troughs, and tidal sand ridge groups. Offshore areas with water depths less than 50 m in the western region of the NYS are mainly covered by thick, loose sediments, forming wide spread accumulation geomorphological features; these include the Liaodong Peninsula subaqueous accumulation system containing shoals and rugged scouring troughs, and the large mud wedge of the Shandong Peninsula. In the central part of the NYS, there is a relatively flat residual shelf plain with coarser sediment deposits. This flat shelf plain has a water depth larger than 50 m and a thin layer of sediment, on which there is a large pockmark field caused by seafloor seepage. These geomorphological structures indicate that modern sedimentary processes are the main driving force controlling the sculpture of the current seafloor surface landform. Extensive strong tidal current systems and abundant sediment sources provide the critical external forces and essential conditions for the formation of seafloor geomorphology. The tectonic basement controls the macroscopic morphological shape of the NYS, but is reflected very little in the seafloor geomorphic elements. Our results provide a detailed seafloor geomorphological map of the western region of the NYS, an area that has not previously mapped and also provide a scientific framework for further research into offshore seafloor geomorphology, shelf sedimentary processes, and submarine engineering construction in this region.  相似文献   

5.
The distribution and abundance of Thaliacea on the south-eastern continental shelf of the U.S.A. (29°30′–31°N) was studied at 4- to 10-day intervals. During July, Thalia democratica and doliolids covered the same geographic area of the outer middle shelf (～2 800 km2 on 27–29 July). By 8–12 August, these organisms occupied the entire middle shelf from 29°30′ to 30°50′N (～9 300 km2). The increase in area covered was due to the shoreward advection of water. Over a period of 10 days, concentrations of salps increased by as much as 25-fold in the thermocline, which amounted to a daily increase of zooids of 50 per cent. Doliolids increased five-fold during the same period. Both increases resulted from asexual reproduction and indicate that Thaliacea, through asexual reproduction, can respond almost instantaneously to favourable food conditions. Thaliacea seem to be the only metazooplankton taxon that can respond immediately, with large increases in population, to upwelling events.  相似文献   

6.
High-resolution shallow seismic-reflection profiles obtained from the western Mersin Bay have revealed the existence of the two distinct depositional sequences (C and B) lying on a narrow and relatively steeply-sloping continental shelf which mainly receives its sediments from the ephemeral rivers. The upper Holocene sedimentary sequence (C) is characterized by stratified (simple to complex) to chaotic reflection configurations produced by the development of a prograding wedge of terrigenous sediment. Particular occurrences of slope- and front-fill facies and the lack of a sharp boundary, which has, however, been observed on the western shelf of this bay, between the Early Holocene and latest Pleistocene deposits are related to possible movement of underlying deposits due to local gravity mass movements or synsedimentary tectonics due to adjustment of the underlying evaporites in adjacent basin. The maximum thickness of the topmost sequence C is associated with the Tarsus–Seyhan delta, which lies to the northeast of the area and is prograding along the shelf. Other variations in thickness (5–40 m) of this topmost sequence are related to the variable sediment discharge along the coast, and the distance from the coast. It is at a maximum (40 m) in the nearshore area just west of the Lamas river mouth and at a minimum (5–15 m) in the offshore area.

The lower depositional pre-Holocene sequence (B) is characterized by continuous to wavy reflection configurations and how some cyclicity, suggesting coarse, heterogeneous sediments deposited under high energy conditions (fan-deltas) of Plio-Pleistocene age.

The combined interpretation of seismic reflection profiles with the available bore-hole data reveals the existence of a widespread Miocene acoustic basement (A) off the Susanoğlu–Tırtar coasts and Karapınar–Gilindirez rivers mouths. Unusual features in some profiles suggest the escape of coastal freshwater into the accumulating sediment.  相似文献   


7.
In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2011, distinct Oegopsida squid egg masses were observed by scuba divers on the narrow southern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) shelf in depths of 35–50 m off the coastal resorts of Park Rynie, Pumula and Port Edward, South Africa. In 2006, larvae in the egg balloons were sampled. DNA barcoding (i.e. cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 sequencing) linked the larvae to the genus Lycoteuthis, a group commonly found on the continental slope of the Agulhas Bank and the west coast of South Africa. In all cases, the sightings were concomitant with low water temperatures of 14–18 °C, indicative of shelf edge upwelling. Historical ship-collected CTD data show these cooler waters to originate from a depth of 100–180 m on the KZN continental slope. Complementary satellite imagery revealed the cooler water and discoveries of the egg balloons to be coincident with cold core cyclonic eddies embedded in the shoreward boundary of the Agulhas Current. The temperature data suggest that these egg balloons, in the absence of cyclonic eddy activity, would normally be found in the current on a density surface at a depth of ～130 m where velocities are typically around 100 cm s–1.  相似文献   

8.
The presence of a wedge of offshore permafrost on the shelf of the Canadian Beaufort Sea has been previously recognized and the consequence of a prolonged occurrence of such permafrost is the possibility of an underlying gas hydrate regime. We present the first evidence for wide-spread occurrences of gas hydrates across the shelf in water depths of 60–100 m using 3D and 2D multichannel seismic (MCS) data. A reflection with a polarity opposite to the seafloor was identified ∼1000 m below the seafloor that mimics some of the bottom-simulating reflections (BSRs) in marine gas hydrate regimes. However, the reflection is not truly bottom-simulating, as its depth is controlled by offshore permafrost. The depth of the reflection decreases with increasing water depth, as predicted from thermal modeling of the late Wisconsin transgression. The reflection crosscuts strata and defines a zone of enhanced reflectivity beneath it, which originates from free gas accumulated at the phase boundary over time as permafrost and associated gas hydrate stability zones thin in response to the transgression. The wide-spread gas hydrate occurrence beneath permafrost has implications on the region including drilling hazards associated with the presence of free gas, possible overpressure, lateral migration of fluids and expulsion at the seafloor. In contrast to the permafrost-associated gas hydrates, a deep-water marine BSR was also identified on MCS profiles. The MCS data show a polarity-reversed seismic reflection associated with a low-velocity zone beneath it. The seismic data coverage in the southern Beaufort Sea shows that the deep-water marine BSR is not uniformly present across the entire region. The regional discrepancy of the BSR occurrence between the US Alaska portion and the Mackenzie Delta region may be a result of high sedimentation rates expected for the central Mackenzie delta and high abundance of mass-transport deposits that prohibit gas to accumulate within and beneath the gas hydrate stability zone.  相似文献   

9.
Ongoing geological research into processes operating on the nearshore continental shelf and beyond is vital to our understanding of modern tsunami-generated sediment transport and deposition. This paper investigates the southern part of Sendai Bay, Japan, by means of high-resolution seismic surveys, vibracoring, bathymetric data assimilation, and radioisotope analysis of a core. For the first time, it was possible to identify an erosional surface in the shallow subsurface, formed by both seafloor erosion and associated offshore-directed sediment transport caused by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. The area of erosion and deposition extends at least 1,100 m offshore from the shoreline down to water depths of 16.7 m. The tsunami-generated sedimentological signature reaches up to 1.2 m below the present seafloor, whereas bathymetric changes due to storm-related reworking over a period of 3 years following the tsunami event have been limited to the upper ~0.3 m, despite the fact that the study area is located on an open shelf facing the Pacific Ocean. Tsunami-generated erosion surfaces may thus be preserved for extended periods of time, and may even enter the rock record, because the depth of tsunami erosion can exceed the depth of storm erosion. This finding is also important for interpretation of modern submarine strata, since erosion surfaces in shallow (depths less than ~1 m) seismic records from open coast shelves have generally been interpreted as storm-generated surfaces or transgressive ravinement surfaces.  相似文献   

10.
The Cabo Frio region in the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeast coast of Brazil, is characterized by a local coastal upwelling system and converging littoral sediment transport systems that are deflected offshore at Cabo Frio, as a consequence of which a thick cross-shelf sediment deposit has developed over time. To investigate the evolution of this muddy deposit, geophysical, sedimentological and geochemical data from four sediment cores (3.8–4.1 m in length) recovered in water depths between 88 and 141 m were analyzed. The high-resolution seismic data show variable sediment thicknesses ranging from 1 to 20 m, comprising two sedimentary units separated by a high-impedance layer at a depth of about 10 m below the seafloor at the coring sites. According to the available age datings, the upper sedimentary unit is late Pleistocene to Holocene in age, whereas the lower unit (not dated) must, by implication, be entirely Pleistocene in age. The boomer-seismic reflection signal can be divided into three echo-types, namely transparent (inner shelf), stratified (middle shelf) and reflective (outer shelf), each type seemingly related to the local sediment composition. The upper 4 m of the upper sedimentary unit is dominated by silty sediment on the middle shelf, and by upward-fining sediments (silty sand to sandy silt) on the inner and outer shelf. The downcore trends of P-wave velocity, gamma-ray density and acoustic impedance are largely similar, but generally reversed to those of water and organic carbon contents. Total organic carbon contents increase with decreasing mean grain size, periodic fluctuations suggesting temporal changes in the regional hydrodynamics and primary productivity fuelled by the local upwelling system. The reconstruction of sedimentation rates in the course of the Holocene is based on 35 AMS age datings of organic material recovered from variable downcore depths. These range from a maximum of 13.3 cm/decade near the base of the inner shelf core (7.73–7.70 ka BP) to generally very low values (<0.11 cm/century) over the last thousand years in all cores. Over the last 6 ka there appear to have been three distinct sedimentation peaks, one between 6 and 5 ka BP, another between 4 and 3 ka PB, and one around 1 ka BP. Due to different time intervals between dates, not every peak is equally well resolved in all four cores. Based on the similar sedimentology of the inner and outer shelf cores, an essentially identical sedimentation model is proposed to have been active in both cases, albeit at different times. Thus, already during the last glacial maximum, alongshore sediment transport was deflected offshore by a change in shoreline orientation caused by the Cabo Frio structural high. The source of terrigenous material was probably a barrier-island complex that was subsequently displaced landward in the course of sea-level rise until it stabilized some 6.5 ka BP along the modern coast.  相似文献   

11.
Through 10 years of support from the Minerals Management Service Association of American State Geologists' Continental Margins Program we have mapped along the Maine coast, seaward to the 100 m isobath. In all, 1,773 bottom sample stations were occupied, 3,358 km of side-scan sonar and 5,011 km of seismic reflection profiles were gathered. On the basis of these data, a surficial sediment map was created for the Maine inner continental shelf during the Year 8 project, and cores and seismic data were collected to evaluate sand thickness during Years 9 and 10. Sand covers only 8 % of the Maine shelf, and is concentrated seaward of beaches off southern Maine in water depths less than 60 m. Sand occurs in three depositional settings: (1) in shoreface deposits connected dynamically to contemporary beaches; (2) in submerged deltas associated with lower sea-level positions; and (3) in submerged lowstand shoreline positions between 50 and 60 m. Seismic profiles over the shoreface off Saco Bay, Wells Embayment, and off the Kennebec River mouth each imaged a wedge-shaped acoustic unit which tapered off between 20 and 30 m. Cores determined that this was sand that was underlain by a variable but thin (commonly 1 m) deposit of estuarine muddy sand and a thick deposit of glacial-marine mud. Off Saco Bay, more than 55 million m3 of sand exists in the shoreface, compared with about 22 million m3 on the adjacent beach and dunes. Seaward of the Kennebec River, a large delta deposited between 13 ka and the present time holds more than 300 million m3 of sand and gravel. The best sorted sand is on the surface nearshore, with increasing amounts of gravel offshore and mud beneath the surficial sand sheet. Bedforms indicate that the surficial sand is moved by waves to at least 55 m depth. Seaward of the Penobscot River, no significant sand or gravel was encountered. Muddy estuarine sediments overlie muddy glacial-marine sediment throughout the area offshore area of this river. No satisfactory explanation is offered for lack of a sandy delta seaward of Maine's largest river. Lowstand-shoreline deposits were cored in many places in Saco Bay and off the Kennebec River mouth. Datable materials from cores indicated that the lowstand occurred around 10.5 ka off the Kennebec. Cores did not penetrate glacial-marine sediment in the lowstand deposits, and seismic profiles were ambiguous about the vertical extent of sand in these units. For these reasons, no total thickness of sand was determined from the lowstand deposits, but given the area of the surficial sand, the volume is probably in the hundreds of millions of cubic meters.  相似文献   

12.
High-resolution Chirp profiling and coring reveals an elongated(ca. 400 km) Holocene Zhujiang River(Pearl River)-derived mud area(maximum thickness 20 m) extending from the Zhujiang River Delta, southwestward off the Guangdong coast, to the Leizhou Peninsula. Two depo-centers, one proximal and one distal, are identified. On the continental shelf off the west Guangdong Province, the mud is deposited in water depth shallower than 50 m; while to the southeast of the Zhujiang River Estuary, the mud area can extend to the-120 m isobath. A combined analysis with the stratigraphic sequences of other muddy deposits in the Western Pacific marginal seas(mainly Changjiang(Yangtze) and Huanghe(Yellow) Rivers derived) indicates that the initiation of the Zhujiang River muddy deposit can be further divided into two stages: Stage 1 is before the mid-Holocene sea-level highstand(ca. 7.0 cal. ka BP), the proximal mud was mostly deposited after 9.0 cal. ka BP, when the sea-level rose slowly after the Meltwater Pulse-1C; Stage 2, after the mid-Holocene sealevel highstand, clinoform developed on the continental shelf off the west Guangdong Province, extending ca. 400 km from the Zhujiang River Estuary. The proximal clinoform thins offshore, from ca. 10 m thickness around 5–10 m water depth to less than 1–2 m around 20–30 m water depth. In addition, we also find a developed distal clinoform in the east of the Leizhou Peninsula.  相似文献   

13.
Here we present the results of lithological and microfossil (Ostracoda and Foraminifera) analyses and reconstruct the transgressive–regressive changes on the Northern Caspian Sea shelf during the Holocene. Modern and Novocaspian faunas consist of abundant Ostracoda (Cyprideis torosa) and Foraminifera (Ammonia beccarii), which are characteristic of dynamic shallow water conditions. Novocaspian sediments in core profiles GS 194-08-01 and GS 194-08-14 obtained at water depths of 7.5 and 10.3 m, respectively, were deposited in shallower and fresher water environments compared to modern ones. We distinguished Mangyshlak, Novocaspian, and modern sediments in the studied cores from the Northern Caspian shelf. The age of the boundary between Mangyshlak and Novocaspian sediments in the study area correspond to approximately 10550 years BP.  相似文献   

14.
Grain-size distributions, total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations, and TOC/TN ratios (C/N) were analysed for surface sediments from the Lower Yangtze River-East China Sea (ECS) shelf system. Hierarchical cluster analysis of grain-size parameters (mode, mean, sorting, skewness and kurtosis) has been employed to characterize grain-size compositions. The results suggest there are five grain-size compositional types (type-I–V) that fingerprint distinct depositional conditions. In areas with high sedimentation rates, hydrological sorting preferentially enriches the fraction coarser than 6.4ø (12 μm) in shallow seafloor sediments (water depth<30 m) by transporting the finer fraction to the deeper seafloor (water depth>30 m), and thus forms grain-size compositional type-I (shallow) and type-II (deep). In the open shelf, where modern sediment supply is very limited, grain-size types-III–V are identified according to different winnowing intensity. Overall TOC contents significantly correlate with mud proportions, suggesting muddy sediments are the primary control on OM accumulation. However, de-association of terrestrial OM from fine sediments in the Estuary and the occurrence of presumably relict OM in the open shelf exert additional controls on OM dispersal and carbon cycling in the ECS. By considering geography, oceanography, sediment source, and the relation between sedimentation conditions and sedimentary OM distributions, we define six depositional settings: the lower river, the estuary, the coast, the offshore upwelling area, the erosional area, and the open shelf. These settings describe the sediment dispersal and associated organic matter cycling in the Lower Yangtze River-ECS shelf system.  相似文献   

15.
《Marine Geology》2003,193(1-2):61-91
The Gargano subaqueous delta formed on the eastern and southeastern sides of the Gargano promontory, in the western Adriatic. This subaqueous deposit represents the southernmost portion of the late-Holocene highstand systems tract (HST) growing along the western side of the Adriatic as an extensive wedge of deltaic and shallow-marine mud. The late-Holocene HST rests above a regional downlap surface that marks the time of maximum landward shift of the shoreline attained around 5.5 cal. kyr BP, at the end of the late-Pleistocene–Holocene sea-level rise. High-resolution seismic–stratigraphic and tephra correlation indicate the presence of a thin basal unit recording condensed deposition between 5.5 and 3.7 cal. kyr BP over much of the basin. Above this unit, sediment accumulation rates increased to high values (as much as 1.5 cm yr−1) reflecting the stabilisation of relative sea level and the forcing from high frequency climatic or anthropogenic changes affecting river dynamics. The late-Holocene mud wedge, of which the Gargano subaqueous delta is a significant component, reaches up to 35 m in thickness and has a volume of ca 180 km3. The shore-parallel thickness distribution of the mud wedge reflects the dominant oceanographic regime of the basin and the asymmetric location of the mostly western sediment sources (with a combined modern delivery of 51.7×106 t yr−1 of mean suspended load). In sections perpendicular to the coast the late-Holocene mud wedge appears composed of forestepping clinoforms with gently dipping foresets (typically 0.5°). The Gargano subaqueous delta is characterised by a submarine topset in water depths shallower than 25–28 m, and accounts for about 1/7th of the total volume of the late-Holocene mud wedge, despite the absence of direct river supply to the Gargano area. In the area of maximum interaction between shore-parallel currents and basin morphology, progradation occurs onto a flat and barren bedrock outcrop in about 50–80 m water depth. The rapid transition from a thickness of 30 m of late-Holocene mud to nil is a good indication of the role of southward-flowing bottom-hugging shelf currents in causing the redistribution of sediment along the Adriatic inner shelf. Additional evidence of this regime comes from: (1) the most recent sigmoid (defined at seismic–stratigraphic scale) deposited since the onset of the Little Ice Age, showing a shore-parallel thickness distribution and a main depocentre to the southeast of the Gargano promontory; (2) the maximum values of sediment accumulation rates over the last century (documented by 210Pb measurements) defining a narrow shore-parallel belt immediately seaward of the depocentre of the most recent sigmoid. The Gargano subaqueous delta grows from the outbuilding of progressively younger progradational sigmoids that tend to parallel the previous ones. The Gargano subaqueous delta differs from other documented late-Holocene subaqueous deltas because its growth reflects: (1) sediment transport dominated by bottom currents sub-parallel to the strike of the composing clinoforms; (2) a complex supply regime including the Po delta (350 km to the north) and several coalescing Apennine rivers acting as ‘line source’; (3) several alternating intervals of enhanced outbuilding and condensed deposition; and (4) an in-phase growth of the most recent sigmoid with the major progradation of the Po delta during the Little Ice Age.  相似文献   

16.
The existence and strength of the annual KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) sardine run has long been a conundrum to fishers and scientists alike ― particularly that the sardine Sardinops sagax migrate along the narrow Transkei shelf against the powerful, warm Agulhas Current. However, examination of ship-borne acoustic Doppler current profiler (S–ADCP) data collected during two research surveys in 2005 indicated that northward-flowing coastal countercurrents exist at times between the Agulhas Bank and the KZN Bight, near Port Alfred, East London, Port St Johns and Durban. The countercurrent near Port Alfred extended as far east as the Keiskamma River, within an upwelling zone known to exist there. An ADCP mooring at a depth of 32 m off Port Alfred indicated that the countercurrent typically lasted a few days, but at times remained in the same direction for as long as 10 days. Velocities ranged between 20 and 60 cm s?1 with maximum values of ～80 cm s?1. The S–ADCP data also highlighted the existence of cyclonic flow in the Port St Johns–Waterfall Bluff coastal inset, with a northward coastal current similarly ranging in velocity between 20 and 60 cm s?1. CTD data indicated that this was associated with shelf-edge upwelling, with surface temperatures 2–4 °C cooler than the adjacent core temperature (24–26 °C) of the Agulhas Current. Vertical profiles of the S–ADCP data showed that the countercurrent, about 7 km wide, extends down the slope to at least 600 m, where it appeared to link with the deep Agulhas Undercurrent at 800 m. S–ADCP and sea surface temperature (SST) satellite data confirmed the existence of the semi-permanent, lee-trapped, cyclonic eddy off Durban, associated with a well-defined northward coastal current between Park Rynie and Balito Bay. Analysis of three months (May–July 2005) of satellite SST and ocean colour data showed the shoreward core-boundary of the Agulhas Current (24 °C isotherm) to commonly be close to the coast along the KZN south coast, as well as between the Kei and Mbhashe rivers on the Transkei shelf. The Port St Johns–Waterfall Bluff cyclonic eddy was also frequently visible in these satellite data. Transient cyclonic eddies, which spanned 150–200 km of shelf, appeared to move downstream in the shoreward boundary of the Agulhas Current at a frequency of about once a month. These seemed to be break-away Durban eddies. Data collected by ADCP moorings deployed off Port Edward in 2005 showed that these break-away eddies and the well-known Natal Pulse are associated with temporary northward countercurrents on the shelf, which can last up to six days. It is proposed that these countercurrents off Port Alfred, East London and Port St Johns assist sardine to swim northwards along the Transkei shelf against the Agulhas Current, but that their progress north of Waterfall Bluff is dependent on the arrival of a transient, southward-moving, break-away Durban cyclonic eddy, which apparently sheds every 4–6 weeks, or on the generation of a Natal Pulse. This passage control mechanism has been coined the ‘Waterfall Bluff gateway’ hypothesis. The sardine run survey in June–July 2005 was undertaken in the absence of a cyclonic eddy on the KZN south coast, i.e. when the ‘gate’ was closed.  相似文献   

17.
Large sediment deposits on the reef front around Oahu are a possible resource for replenishing eroded beaches. High-resolution subbottom profiles clearly depict the deposits in three study areas: Kailua Bay off the windward coast, Makua to Kahe Point off the leeward coast, and Camp Erdman to Waimea off the north coast. Most of the sediment is in water depths between 20 and 100?m, resting on submerged shelves created during lowstands of sea level. The mapped deposits have a volume of about 4?×?108?m3 in water depths less than 100?m, being thickest off the mouth of channels carved into the modern insular shelf, from which most of the sediment issues. Vibracore samples contain various amounts of sediment of similar size to the sand on Oahu beaches, with the most compatible prospects located off Makaha, Haleiwa, and Camp Erdman, and the least compatible ones located in Kailua Bay. Laboratory tests show a positive correlation of abrasion with Halimeda content: samples from Kailua Bay suffered high amounts of attrition, but others were comparable to tested beach samples. The common gray color of the offshore sediment, aesthetically undesirable for sand on popular tourist beaches, was diminished in the laboratory by soaking in heated hydrogen peroxide.  相似文献   

18.
《Marine Geology》2005,214(4):411-430
The Atchafalaya River in Louisiana shares the third largest drainage basin in the world with the Mississippi River. Sediment cores and seismic profiles were used to examine the development and impact on land accretion of an early-stage subaqueous delta accumulating on the shallow (<25 m water depth) continental shelf seaward of the Atchafalaya River mouths in the period (∼100 years) since the Atchafalaya has captured a significant fraction of the overall Mississippi discharge. The subaqueous clinoform is muddy (70–100% finer than 63 μm) and extends approximately 21–26 km seaward of the shell reef (to 8 m water depth) across the mouth of the Atchafalaya Bay, with a discontinuous, and, in places, mobile modern mud layer <20 cm thick covering a relict deltaic shoal area further seaward. The sigmoidal clinoform has a topset surface that steepens from east to west (1:2500 to 1:1600), a foreset with maximum slopes of about 1:550, and a limited bottomset region (<0.5 km wide). 210Pb and 137Cs geochronology show maximum sediment accumulation rates (>3 cm/year) correspond to the foreset and bottomset region, with rates decreasing to as low as 0.9 cm/year on the shelf topset region and its extension inside Atchafalaya Bay. Seven sedimentary facies are observed in the subaqueous delta, with differences created by degree of biological destruction of physical stratification, which is inversely related to sediment accumulation rate, and by the proximity of an area to the riverine sand source. There is a marked alongshore sediment dispersal pattern observed by the progressive winnowing of sand and coarse silt to the west. There is also a significant increase in shell content in Atchafalaya Bay relative to shelf facies. The resulting sigmoidal clinoform deposit (<3 m thick) more closely resembles strata geometries of subaqueous mud deltas associated with energetic systems (e.g., Amazon, Ganges–Brahmaputra, Fly), than it does the mature Mississippi delta 180 km to the east, albeit on a smaller scale and in shallow water.  相似文献   

19.
Multidisciplinary investigations carried out in the Cape Zhelaniya area and on the Severny ice dome of Severny Island in the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago during cruise 63 of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in September 2015 included a study of the environmental radiation level. The landscape?geochemical and radiation?glaciological data show that the Severny ice dome serves as a secondary source of radionuclides on the surface of the ice sheet; this source originated from past nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere over the Severnaya Zemlya test site. Some samples taken from the periglacial zone near the edge of the Severny ice dome yielded specific activity levels of radioactive cesium of 450–650 Bq/kg. The study of ice cores obtained by shallow (up to 5.4 m) drilling of three boreholes revealed no significant activity values. At the same time, glaciological investigations made it possible to obtain the first data on the previously unexamined glacier, which indicate that the radioactively contaminated layer is located at a depth of 15?20 m at the boundary of the glacier alimentation zone. No similar investigations had been conducted earlier either by Russian or international scientific teams.  相似文献   

20.
Data on ocean temperature, currents, salinity and nutrients were obtained in an area off Algoa Bay on the south-east coast of South Africa during a ship's cruise in early November 1986. Satellite imagery provided information on the position of the Agulhas Current during the cruise period, while wind data were available from weather stations on the eastern and western sides of Algoa Bay. It is surmised that wind-forcing plays a major role in water circulation in the Bay and over the inshore continental shelf remote from the influence of the open ocean. The predominantly barotropic current flow, of the order of 0,5 m·s?1, was downwind and influenced by topographic features and coastline shape. The Agulhas Current influences the ocean structures by long-term (large episodic meanders) and short-term (upwelling forced by the Current, core upwelling in frontal eddies and warm frontal plumes at the surface) fluctuations. Temperature structures showed well mixed water in Algoa Bay and a strong thermocline over the continental shelf, and were typical of a western boundary current in the Agulhas Current itself. The presence of a thermocline at 30–50 m over the shelf prevented upward mixing of nutrients. The Current exerted a dominant effect on shelf waters north of Algoa Bay.  相似文献   

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