Thioploca spp. sheaths as niches for bacterial and protistan assemblages     

Kurt R. Buck  James P. Barry  Steven J. Hallam 《Marine Ecology》2014,35(3):395-400

Sulfide oxidizing bacterial mats are common in regions of the continental shelves characterized by high primary production and the resultant oxygen minimum zone. These mats are made up of several species of Beggiatoa and/or Thioploca, which oxidize sulfide that is generated in the sediment. Thioploca spp. inhabit a large polysaccharide sheath that encompasses bundles of 1–20 filaments (trichomes), each ranging from 3 to 60 μm in diameter. This sheath has been shown to be a critical component of the autecology of Thioploca. Analysis of Thioploca from cold seeps in Monterey Bay using light and transmission electron microscopy identified new and diverse microbial assemblages associated with interstitial spaces between trichomes, inside the sheath. Small diameter, non‐vacuolate, filamentous prokaryotes were numerous. Amoebae, euglenozoa, ciliates and other protists of unknown affiliation were observed in sheaths. Most of the protists possessed food vacuoles and some protists showed ultrastructural evidence of endosymbionts. These observations suggest that Thioploca sheaths may serve as oases on the sea floor, providing nutritional and detoxification services to previously unrecognized microbial partners.  相似文献   

A new pathway for Deep water exchange between the Natal Valley and Mozambique Basin?     

Errol Wiles  Andrew Green  Mike Watkeys  Wilfried Jokat  Ralf Krocker 《Geo-Marine Letters》2014,34(6):525-540

Although global thermohaline circulation pathways are fairly well known, the same cannot be said for local circulation pathways. Within the southwest Indian Ocean specifically there is little consensus regarding the finer point of thermohaline circulation. We present recently collected multibeam bathymetry and PARASOUND data from the northern Natal Valley and Mozambique Ridge, southwest Indian Ocean. These data show the Ariel Graben, a prominent feature in this region, creates a deep saddle across the Mozambique Ridge at ca. 28°S connecting the northern Natal Valley with the Mozambique Basin. Results show a west to east change in bathymetric and echo character across the northern flank of the Ariel Graben. Whereby eroded plastered sediment drifts in the west give way to aggrading plastered sediment drift in the midgraben, terminating in a field of seafloor undulations in the east. In contrast, the southern flank of the Ariel Graben exhibits an overall rugged character with sediments ponding in bathymetric depressions in between rugged sub/outcrop. It is postulated that this change in sea-floor character is the manifestation of deep water flow through the Ariel Graben. Current flow stripping, due to increased curvature of the graben axis, results in preferential deposition of suspended load in an area of limited accommodation space consequently developing an over-steepened plastered drift. These deposited sediments overcome the necessary shear stresses, resulting in soft sediment deformation in the form of down-slope growth faulting (creep) and generation of undulating sea-floor morphology. Contrary to previous views, our works suggests that water flows from west to east across the Mozambique Ridge via the Ariel Graben.  相似文献   

Scales and causes of heterogeneity in bars in a large multi‐channel river: Río Paraná, Argentina     

Arnold J. H. Reesink  Philip J. Ashworth  Gregory H. Sambrook Smith  James L. Best  Daniel R. Parsons  Mario L. Amsler  Richard J. Hardy  Stuart N. Lane  Andrew P. Nicholas  Oscar Orfeo  Steven D. Sandbach  Christopher J. Simpson  Ricardo N. Szupiany 《Sedimentology》2014,61(4):1055-1085

To date, published studies of alluvial bar architecture in large rivers have been restricted mostly to case studies of individual bars and single locations. Relatively little is known about how the depositional processes and sedimentary architecture of kilometre‐scale bars vary within a multi‐kilometre reach or over several hundreds of kilometres downstream. This study presents Ground Penetrating Radar and core data from 11, kilometre‐scale bars from the Río Paraná, Argentina. The investigated bars are located between 30 km upstream and 540 km downstream of the Río Paraná – Río Paraguay confluence, where a significant volume of fine‐grained suspended sediment is introduced into the network. Bar‐scale cross‐stratified sets, with lengths and widths up to 600 m and thicknesses up to 12 m, enable the distinction of large river deposits from stacked deposits of smaller rivers, but are only present in half the surface area of the bars. Up to 90% of bar‐scale sets are found on top of finer‐grained ripple‐laminated bar‐trough deposits. Bar‐scale sets make up as much as 58% of the volume of the deposits in small, incipient mid‐channel bars, but this proportion decreases significantly with increasing age and size of the bars. Contrary to what might be expected, a significant proportion of the sedimentary structures found in the Río Paraná is similar in scale to those found in much smaller rivers. In other words, large river deposits are not always characterized by big structures that allow a simple interpretation of river scale. However, the large scale of the depositional units in big rivers causes small‐scale structures, such as ripple sets, to be grouped into thicker cosets, which indicate river scale even when no obvious large‐scale sets are present. The results also show that the composition of bars differs between the studied reaches upstream and downstream of the confluence with the Río Paraguay. Relative to other controls on downstream fining, the tributary input of fine‐grained suspended material from the Río Paraguay causes a marked change in the composition of the bar deposits. Compared to the upstream reaches, the sedimentary architecture of the downstream reaches in the top ca 5 m of mid‐channel bars shows: (i) an increase in the abundance and thickness (up to metre‐scale) of laterally extensive (hundreds of metres) fine‐grained layers; (ii) an increase in the percentage of deposits comprised of ripple sets (to >40% in the upper bar deposits); and (iii) an increase in bar‐trough deposits and a corresponding decrease in bar‐scale cross‐strata (<10%). The thalweg deposits of the Río Paraná are composed of dune sets, even directly downstream from the Río Paraguay where the upper channel deposits are dominantly fine‐grained. Thus, the change in sedimentary facies due to a tributary point‐source of fine‐grained sediment is primarily expressed in the composition of the upper bar deposits.  相似文献   

Geoarchaeological and Bioarchaeological Studies at Mira,an Early Upper Paleolithic Site in the Lower Dnepr Valley,Ukraine     

John F. Hoffecker  Vance T. Holliday  Vadim N. Stepanchuk  Alexis Brugre  Steven L. Forman  Paul Goldberg  Oleg Tubolzev  Igor Pisarev 《Geoarchaeology》2014,29(1):61-77

New geoarchaeological and bioarcheological research was undertaken at the open‐air site of Mira, which is buried in deposits of the Second Terrace of the Dnepr River, roughly 15 km downstream from the city of Zaporozhye in Ukraine. Previous excavation of the site revealed two occupation layers dating to ∼32,000 cal BP. The lower layer (II/2) yielded bladelets similar to those of the early Gravettian, while the upper layer (I) contained traces of an artificial shelter and hundreds of bones and teeth of horse (Equus latipes). Mira represents the only firmly dated early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) site in the Dnepr Basin, and occupies a unique topographic setting for the EUP near the center of the broad floodplain of the Dnepr River. The site was visited during a period of floodplain stability, characterized by overbank deposition and weak soil formation under cool climate conditions. Mira was used as a long‐term camp, but also was the locus of large‐mammal carcass processing associated with a nearby kill of a group of horses (Layer I).  相似文献   

An evaluation of the relative importance of the effects of climate change and groundwater extraction on seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers in Atlantic Canada     

N. R. Green  K. T. B. MacQuarrie 《Hydrogeology Journal》2014,22(3):609-623

To investigate the relative importance of projected sea-level rise, climate change effects on recharge, and groundwater extraction on seawater intrusion in important coastal aquifers in Atlantic Canada, a three-dimensional numerical model of density-dependent groundwater flow coupled with solute transport was developed for the Richibucto region of New Brunswick. The model was used, with an efficient 2^k factorial design approach, to perform simulations for the period 2011–2100. The results of the factorial analyses indicate that the relative importance of the three factors investigated varies depending on the model location considered. The effect of declining recharge is most significant at shallow to intermediate depths along the freshwater–seawater transition zone, while the effect of increasing pumping rates dominates at a location relatively close to the well field. The effect of sea-level rise is shown to be significant only at the much deeper inland toe of the transition zone. The spatial variation in importance is related to how different model boundary conditions influence freshwater flow at the different locations within the model domain. This investigation indicates that sea-level rise has the least significant effect (of the three factors considered) on future seawater intrusion in sandstone aquifers in the Richibucto region.  相似文献   

Transport of Crustacean Larvae Between a Low-Inflow Estuary and Coastal Waters     

Steven G. Morgan  Jennifer L. Fisher  Skyli T. McAfee  John L. Largier  Seth H. Miller  Megan M. Sheridan  Joseph E. Neigel 《Estuaries and Coasts》2014,37(5):1269-1283

The effectiveness of larval behavior in regulating transport between well-mixed, low-inflow estuaries and coastal waters in seasonally arid climates is poorly known. We determined the flux of an assemblage of benthic crustacean larvae relative to physical conditions between a shallow estuary and coastal waters on the upwelling coast of northern California (38°18′N, 123°03′W) from 29 to 31 March 2006. We detected larval behaviors that regulate transport in adjacent coastal waters and other estuaries for only two taxa in the low-inflow estuary, but they were apparent for taxa outside the estuary. Vertical mixing in the shallow estuary may have overwhelmed larvae of some species, or salinity fluctuations may have been too slight to cue tidal vertical migrations. Nevertheless, all larval stages of species that complete development in nearshore coastal waters were present in the estuary, because they remained low in the water column reducing seaward advection or they were readily exchanged between the estuary and open coast by tidal flows. Weak tidal flows and gravitational circulation at the head of the estuary reduced seaward transport during development for species that completed development nearshore, whereas larval release during nocturnal ebb tides enhanced seaward transport for species that develop offshore. Thus, nonselective tidal processes dominated larval transport for most species back and forth between the low-inflow estuary and open coastal waters, whereas in adjacent open coastal waters, larval behavior in the presence of wind-induced shear was more important in regulating migrations between adult and larval habitats along this upwelling coast.  相似文献   

A portable extruder for accurate and precise high-resolution subsampling of unconsolidated sediment cores     

Patterson  R. Timothy  Nasser  Nawaf A.  Tremblay  Steven  Galloway  Jennifer M. 《Journal of Paleolimnology》2022,67(2):183-189

Journal of Paleolimnology - We developed a portable extruder for precise and accurate high-resolution subsampling of unconsolidated sediment cores. This extruder is capable of producing subsamples...  相似文献   

Application of a vanishing, quasi-sigma, vertical coordinate for simulation of high-speed, deep currents over the Sigsbee Escarpment in the Gulf of Mexico   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Dmitry S. Dukhovskoy  Steven L. Morey  Paul J. Martin  James J. O&#x;Brien  Cortis Cooper 《Ocean Modelling》2009,28(4):250-265

Recent observations over the Sigsbee Escarpment in the Gulf of Mexico have revealed extremely energetic deep currents (near 1 m s⁻¹), which are trapped along the escarpment. Both scientific interest and engineering needs demand dynamical understanding of these extreme events, and can benefit from a numerical model designed to complement observational and theoretical investigations in this region of complicated topography. The primary objective of this study is to develop a modeling methodology capable of simulating these physical processes and apply the model to the Sigsbee Escarpment region. The very steep slope of the Sigsbee Escarpment (0.05–0.1) limits the application of ocean models with traditional terrain-following (sigma) vertical coordinates, which may represent the very complicated topography in the region adequately, can result in large truncation errors during calculation of the horizontal pressure gradient. A new vertical coordinate system, termed a vanishing quasi-sigma coordinate, is implemented in the Navy Coastal Ocean Model for application to the Sigsbee Escarpment region. Vertical coordinate surfaces for this grid have noticeably gentler slopes than a traditional sigma grid, while still following the terrain near the ocean bottom. The new vertical grid is tested with a suite of numerical experiments and compared to a classical sigma-layer model. The numerical error is substantially reduced in the model with the new vertical grid. A one-year, realistic, numerical simulation is performed to simulate strong, deep currents over the Escarpment using a very-high-resolution nested modeling approach. The model results are analyzed to demonstrate that the deep-ocean currents in the simulation replicate the prominent dynamical features of the observed intense currents in the region.  相似文献   

Ultraviolet Studies of Interacting Binaries     

Boris T. Gänsicke  Domitilla de Martino  Thomas R. Marsh  Carole A. Haswell  Christian Knigge  Knox S. Long  Steven N. Shore 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2006,306(3):177-177

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The evidence of absence: galaxy voids in the excursion set formalism     

Steven R. Furlanetto  Tsvi Piran 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2006,366(2):467-479

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