Green algal ropes: A novel estuarine phenomenon in the gulf of Maine     

R. L. Vadas  Brian Beal 《Estuaries and Coasts》1987,10(2):171-176

During late summer and early autumn of both 1984 and 1985 we observed and photographed the development of a green algal bloom on intertidal mudflats in eastern Maine. The bloom culminated in the formation of thick (8–10 cm) mats and long (>50 m) erpentine rope-like structures. The algal mat was polytypic but composed primarily ofEnteromorpha intestinalis L. We describe the probable sequence of events which led to the formation of algal ropes. The processes involved appear to parallel the development of ball-like masses in other algae. Algal ropes developed after mat formation, as prevailing winds and tidal currents rolled individual and entwined strands across the mudflat. The great mass of algae eventually became embedded into the sediment surface producing anoxic conditions in the substrate up to several cm deep. The ecological significance and possible negative effects of this altered environment on a commercially important bivalve species are discussed.  相似文献   

Geochemistry and petrogenesis of the Fiskenaesset anorthosite complex,southern West Greenland: Nature of the parent magma. Reply to a Comment by P. Henderson     

Barry L Weaver  John Tarney  Brian F Windley 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1984,48(2):417-418

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Archaean crustal evolution in southern West Greenland: A review based on observations in the Buksefjorden region     

Brian Chadwick  Kenneth Coe 《Tectonophysics》1984,105(1-4)

Thermal, metamorphic and tectonic processes associated with the two major crust-forming events expressed as voluminous generation of Amîtsoq and Nûk tonalitic-granitic gneisses, ca. 3750 Ma and ca. 2800 Ma respectively, in southern West Greenland are reviewed briefly in the light of recent studies in the Buksefjorden region.  相似文献   

The distribution and stable carbon isotopic composition of dissolved organic carbon in estuaries     

Bruce Peterson  Brian Fry  Meredith Hullar  Susan Saupe  Richard Wright 《Estuaries and Coasts》1994,17(1):111-121

The distributions of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the natural carbon isotope ratio of DOC (DO¹³C) in estuaries reflect the predominant sources and sinks of organic matter from both allochthonous and autochthonous origins. The traditional view is that DOC in land-margin ecosystems reflects mainly the mixing of land-derived and oceanic DOC. However, this view is not consistent with the bulk of our data from a survey of DOC and DO¹³C distributions in estuaries on the East and Gulf coasts of the USA. While it is accurate that the DOC in estuaries includes material derived from land and from the ocean, the distributions of DOC and DO¹³C in several estuaries reflect additional DOC inputs from estuarine phytoplankton and tidal marshes. Even when DOC concentrations were distributed conservatively, the isotopic composition of the DOC revealed the existence of a dynamic cycle of DOC input and removal in some systems.  相似文献   

Mineralization of organic material and bacterial dynamics in Mississippi River plume water     

Wayne S. Gardner  James B. Cotner  Brian J. Eadie  Joann F. Cavaletto  Ronald Benner  Gerardo Chin-Leo 《Estuaries and Coasts》1994,17(4):816-828

Net remineralization rates of organic matter and bacterial growth rates were observed in dark-bottle incubation experiments conducted in July–August and February with water samples collected from sites in the Mississippi River plume of the Gulf of Mexico. Our objectives were to measure site-specific degradation rates of labile dissolved and particulate organic matter, quantify the potential importance of bacteria in these processes, and examine the kinetics of degradation over time. Unfiltered samples, and samples treated to remove (or dilute out) particles larger than bacteria, were enclosed in 9-1 bottles and incubated in the dark for 3–5 d. Respiration rates and inorganic compound accumulation rates were higher in summer than in winter and were highest in unfiltered surface samples at sites of intermediate salinities where phytoplankton were most abundant. The ratio of ammonium accumulation to oxygen removal in summer experiments suggested that the mineralized organic material resembled “Redfield” stoichiometry. Chemical fluxes were greater in bottles containing large (>1–3 μm) particles than in the bottles with these particles removed, but bacterial activities were generally similar in both treatments. These results suggest that particle consumers were an important component of total organic matter degradation. However, these experiments may have underestimated natural bacterial degradation rates because the absence of light could affect the production of labile organic substrates by phytoplankton. In agreement, with this hypothesis, bacterial growth rates tended to decrease over time in summer in surface plume waters where phytoplankton were abundant. In conjunction with other data, our results indicate that heterotrophic processes in the water column are spatially and temporally dependent on phytoplankton production.  相似文献   

Application of fluid-rock reaction studies to in situ recovery from oil sand deposits,Alberta, Canada—I. Aqueous phase results for an experimental-statistical study of water-bitumen-shale reactions     

J.A. Boon  Brian Hitchon 《Geochimica et cosmochimica acta》1983,47(2):235-248

In situ recovery operations in oil sand deposits effectively represent man-imposed low to intermediate temperature metamorphism of the sediments in the deposit. In order to evaluate some of the reactions which occur, a factorial experiment was earned out in which a shale from the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation in the Athabasca oil sand deposit of Alberta, in the presence or absence of bitumen, was subjected to hydrothermal treatment with aqueous fluids of varying pH and salinity, at two different temperatures, for periods up to 92 hours. The aqueous fluid was analyzed and the analytical data subjected to statistical factor analysis and analysis of variance, which enabled identification of the main processes, namely, cation exchange, the production of two types of colloidal material, and the dissolution of quartz There is also saturation of the aqueous phase by. as yet unidentified, “total organic carbon” and complete conversion and removal of all nitrogen in the shale to the aqueous phase. These reactions have implications with regards to the economics of the in situ recovery process, specifically with respect to the reuse and/or disposal of the produced water and the plugging of the pore space and hence of reduction of permeability between the injection and production wells. As a result of these experiments it is suggested that monitoring of the composition of the produced water from in situ recovery operations in oil sand deposits would be advisable.  相似文献   

Assessing the impact of modern recharge on a sandstone aquifer beneath a suburb of Doncaster, UK   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Brian L. Morris  W. George Darling  Aidan A. Cronin  Joerg Rueedi  Emily J. Whitehead  Daren C. Gooddy 《Hydrogeology Journal》2006,14(6):979-997

A major water quality issue in urban areas underlain by a productive aquifer is the impact of modern recharge. Using a variety of sample sources including multi-level boreholes, detectable concentrations of CFCs and SF₆ have been found throughout the upper 50 m of the saturated aquifer beneath a suburb of Doncaster, UK, indicating that modern (<50-year old) recharge has penetrated to at least this depth. Additional support for this deep penetration is provided by the detection of sulphite-reducing clostridia and faecal streptococci. Despite the upper aquifer being a poorly cemented sandstone, the residence time indicators suggest that some modern recharge is travelling via fracture systems in addition to that moving down by simple piston flow. However, the overall impact of 80 years of steady urbanisation on water quality in the aquifer beneath this suburb has in general been limited. This is attributed to a combination of factors including previous land use, dilution by direct recharge of rainfall through green-space areas including gardens, and locally high storage in the friable upper aquifer.  相似文献   

Evaluating Proportions of Undetected Geological Events in the Case of Erroneous Identifications     

Jerry L. Jensen  Jeffrey D. Hart  Brian J. Willis 《Mathematical Geology》2006,38(2):103-112

Some geological events occur infrequently but still have a significant impact upon reservoir characteristics. By their very nature, however, it can be difficult to properly estimate the proportions of uncommon events because they may not appear during limited sampling. For example, even with 40 observations and an event proportion of 0.05, there is a 0.13 chance that no events will be observed. We provide some results and guidance concerning methods to estimate proportions when such events are not detected. Two cases are discussed, estimating proportions without errors in identification and estimating proportions when errors may arise. It is well-known that the distribution of possible proportions in the error-free case can be calculated using Bayesian analysis. If one assumes a standard uniform distribution as the prior for the proportion, Bayesian analysis gives a Beta distribution for the posterior. The situation becomes more complicated, however, when detection errors are included; the true proportion has a distribution consisting of several Beta distributions. The difference in results between the error-free and with-error situations can be considerable. For example, when 10 error-free observations are made and no uncommon events are detected, there is a 0.50 chance that the true proportion exceeds 0.06 and a 0.10 chance that it exceeds 0.19. Including the effects of erroneous identifications, however, increases the median proportion to 0.09 and the upper decile to 0.27. We also examine the case where there may be prior geological information, which can be incorporated by amending the prior distribution of the proportion. We find that the use of such a prior makes little difference unless there are very few observations or there are major differences between the anticipated and the observed proportions.  相似文献   

The Table Rocks Sandstone: A fluvial, friction-dominated lobate mouth bar sandbody in the Westphalian B Coal Measures, NE England     

Brian R. Turner  Gillian N. Tester   《Sedimentary Geology》2006,190(1-4):97-119

Westphalian B (Duckmantian) alluvial Coal Measures along the Northumberland coast, NE England, comprise coal-capped coarsening-upward crevasse-splay sequences of shale, siltstone and sandstone, interbedded with a number of major distributary channel sandbodies, including the Table Rocks Sandstone. Lithofacies, architectural analysis and outcrop geometries divide the Table Rocks Sandstone into flaggy sandstone, massive sandstone, heterolithic, and mudstone facies associations, each comprising up to 7 lithofacies types. The three sandy facies associations are characterised by lenticular bed geometries on different scales producing a hierarchy of lensoid packages and associated bounding surfaces, all showing typical offset stacking patterns: (1) lenses, represent individual lenticular cross-bed sets, bounded by 1st order surfaces; (2) packages of lenses, called lens clusters are bounded by 2nd order surfaces, and are the basic architectural building block of the sandy facies associations; and (3) vertically stacked lens clusters called amalgamated lens clusters, bounded by 3rd order surfaces. The Table Rocks sandbody has a laterally extensive, irregular, lobate subsurface plan geometry, it displays a radial palaeocurrent pattern with 180° dispersion, and it forms part of a 14-m thick coarsening-upward regressive sequence. It is interpreted as a composite, lobate crevasse-splay delta system that prograded into a shallow interdistributary fresh to brackish water lake up to 14 m deep. The shallow lake water, fluvial input, and extensive development of traction structures such as cross-bedding and ripple cross-lamination suggests a friction-dominated delta, in which the four facies associations can be interpreted in terms of discrete elements of the mouth bar environment. The flaggy sandstone facies association represents the main, axial part of the mouth bar system, the erosively based massive sandstone facies association major subaqeous distributary channels, the lithologically more variable heterolithic facies association the medial mouth bar, and the mudstone facies association the distal mouth bar fringe and prodelta. Within this environmental setting amalgamated lens clusters are interpreted as small, discrete mouth bar sand lobes, whose offset, imbricate stacking pattern reflects channel spacing and bifurcation, the rate of channel shifting, or shallow depths and lack of accommodation space. Thus, lens clusters are interpreted as discrete growth elements of the mouth bar sand lobes, and lenses as individual bedforms making up these growth elements. Because of the high rate of channel shifting, lack of extensive erosion of the mouth bar lobes, and deposition of low discharge fines, the lobes retained much of their original depositional geometry, thereby providing advantageous gradients for offset deposition and stacking of adjacent sand lobes. Although the delta complex was maintained by frequent crevassing from the feeder channel, and by subsidence due to contemporaneous compaction and/or local tectonism, it was deeply incised on two occasions by subaqeous channels in response to high magnitude floods or falling lake level.  相似文献   

Hydrologic variation with land use across the contiguous United States: Geomorphic and ecological consequences for stream ecosystems   总被引：5，自引：1，他引：5  

N. LeRoy Poff  Brian P. Bledsoe  Christopher O. Cuhaciyan 《Geomorphology》2006,79(3-4):264

Using daily discharge data from the USGS, we analyzed how hydrologic regimes vary with land use in four large hydrologic regions that span a gradient of natural land cover and precipitation across the continental United States. In each region we identified small streams (contributing area < 282 km²) that have continuous daily streamflow data. Using a national database, we characterized the composition of land cover of the watersheds in terms of aggregate measures of agriculture, urbanization, and least disturbed (“natural”). We calculated hydrologic alteration using 10 ecologically-relevant hydrologic metrics that describe magnitude, frequency, and duration of flow for 158 watersheds within the Southeast (SE), Central (CE), Pacific Northwest (NW), and Southwest (SW) hydrologic regions of the United States. Within each watershed, we calculated percent cover for agriculture, urbanized land, and least disturbed land to elucidate how components of the natural flow regime inherent to a hydrologic region is modified by different types and proportions of land cover. We also evaluated how dams in these regions altered the hydrologic regimes of the 43 streams that have pre- and post-dam daily streamflow data. In an analysis of flow alteration along gradients of increasing proportion of the three land cover types, we found many regional differences in hydrologic responses. In response to increasing urban land cover, peak flows increased (SE and CE), minimum flows increased (CE) or decreased (NW), duration of near-bankfull flows declined (SE, NW) and flow variability increased (SE, CE, and NW). Responses to increasing agricultural land cover were less pronounced, as minimum flows decreased (CE), near-bankfull flow durations increased (SE and SW), and flow variability declined (CE). In a second analysis, for three of the regions, we compared the difference between least disturbed watersheds and those having either > 15% urban and > 25% agricultural land cover. Relative to natural land cover in each region, urbanization either increased (SE and NW) or decreased (SW) peak flows, decreased minimum flows (SE, NW, and SW), decreased durations of near-bankfull flows (SE, NW, and SW), and increased flow variability (SE, NW, and SW). Agriculture had similar effects except in the SE, where near-bankfull flow durations increased. Overall, urbanization appeared to induce greater hydrologic responses than similar proportions of agricultural land cover in watersheds. Finally, the effects of dams on hydrologic variation were largely consistent across regions, with a decrease in peak flows, an increase in minimum flows, an increase in near-bankfull flow durations, and a decrease in flow variability. We use this analysis to evaluate the relative degree to which land use has altered flow regimes across regions in the US with naturally varying climate and natural land cover, and we discuss the geomorphic and ecological implications of such flow modification. We end with a consideration of what elements will ultimately be required to conduct a more comprehensive national assessment of the hydrologic responses of streams to land cover types and dams. These include improved tools for modeling hydrologic metrics in ungauged watersheds, incorporation of high-resolution geospatial data to map geomorphic and hydrologic drivers of stream response to different types of land cover, and analysis of scale dependence in the distribution of land-use impacts, including mixed land uses. Finally, ecological and geomorphic responses to human alteration of land cover will have to be calibrated to the regional hydroclimatological, geologic, and historical context in which the streams occur, in order to determine the degree to which stream responses are region-specific versus geographically independent and broadly transferable.  相似文献