Magnesian calcites are the most abundant authigenic minerals associated with hydrocarbon vents at 25 sites, in water depths ranging from 100 to 600 m in the Green Canyon area and about 2200 m in the Alaminos Canyon area on the Continental Slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The most frequently encountered magnesian calcites have 10–15 mol% MgCO3 and the apparent structural disorder revealed by XRD peak widths increases with Mg substitution. There are no systematic variations in Mg content with respect to water depth or geographic location. The calcite saturation state of the precipitating fluid is primarily determined by the nature of the fluids escaping from the vents, not the ambient seawater. 相似文献
The sedimentary record of 130 km of microtidal (0.9 m tidal range) high wave energy (1.5 m average wave height) barrier island shoreline of the Cape Lookout cuspate foreland has been evaluated through examination of 3136 m of subsurface samples from closely spaced drill holes. Holocene sedimentation and coastal evolution has been a function of five major depositional processes: (1) eustatic sea-level rise and barrier-shoreline transgression; (2) lateral tidal inlet migration and reworking of barrier island deposits; (3) shoreface sedimentation and local barrier progradation; (4) storm washover deposition with infilling of shallow lagoons; and (5) flood-tidal delta sedimentation in back-barrier environments.
Twenty-five radiocarbon dates of subsurface peat and shell material from the Cape Lookout area are the basis for a late Holocene sea-level curve. From 9000 to 4000 B.P. eustatic sea level rose rapidly, resulting in landward migration of both barrier limbs of the cuspate foreland. A decline in the rate of sea-level rise since 4000 B.P. resulted in relative shoreline stabilization and deposition of contrasting coastal sedimentary sequences. The higher energy, storm-dominated northeast barrier limb (Core and Portsmouth Banks) has migrated landward producing a transgressive sequence of coarse-grained, horizontally bedded washover sands overlying burrowed to laminated back-barrier and lagoonal silty sands. Locally, ephemeral tidal inlets have reworked the transgressive barrier sequence depositing fining-upward spit platform and channel-fill sequences of cross-bedded, pebble gravel to fine sand and shell. Shoreface sedimentation along a portion of the lower energy, northwest barrier limb (Bogue Banks) has resulted in shoreline progradation and deposition of a coarsening-up sequence of burrowed to cross-bedded and laminated, fine-grained shoreface and foreshore sands. In contrast, the adjacent barrier island (Shackleford Banks) consists almost totally of inlet-fill sediments deposited by lateral tidal inlet migration. Holocene sediments in the shallow lagoons behind the barriers are 5–8 m thick fining-up sequences of interbedded burrowed, rooted and laminated flood-tidal delta, salt marsh, and washover sands, silts and clays.
While barrier island sequences are generally 10 m in thickness, inlet-fill sequences may be as much as 25 m thick and comprise an average of 35% of the Holocene sedimentary deposits. Tidal inlet-fill, back-barrier (including flood-tidal delta) and shoreface deposits are the most highly preservable facies in the wave-dominated barrier-shoreline setting. In the Cape Lookout cuspate foreland, these three facies account for over 80% of the sedimentary deposits preserved beneath the barriers. Foreshore, spit platform and overwash facies account for the remaining 20%. 相似文献
Walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) is an ecologically and economically important groundfish in the eastern Bering Sea. Its population size fluctuates widely,
driving and being driven by changes in other components of the ecosystem. It is becoming apparent that dramatic shifts in
climate occur on a decadal scale, and these “regime shifts” strongly affect the biota. This paper examines quantitative collections
of planktonic eggs and larvae of pollock from the southeastern Bering Sea during 1976–1979. Mortality, advection, and growth
rates were estimated, and compared among the years encompassing the 1970s’ regime shift. These data indicate that pollock
spawning starts in late February over the basin north of Bogoslof Island. Over the shelf, most spawning occurs north of Unimak
Island near the 100 m isobath in early or mid April. Pollock eggs are advected to the northwest from the main spawning area
at 5–10 cm/sec. Larvae are found over the basin north of Bogoslof Island in April, and over the shelf between Unimak Island
and the Priblof Islands in May. Compared to 1977, the spawning period appeared to be later in 1976 (a cold year) and earlier
in 1978 (a warm year) in the study area. At the lower temperatures in 1976, egg duration would be longer and thus egg mortality
would operate over a longer period than in the other years. Mean larval growth appeared to be lower in 1976 than in 1977 and
1979. Estimated egg mortality rate in 1977 was 0.6 in April and 0.3 in early May. 相似文献
Zooplankton sampling at Station 18 off Concepción (36°30′S and 73°07′W), on an average frequency of 30 days (August 2002 to December 2005), allowed the assessment of seasonal and inter-annual variation in zooplankton biomass, its C and N content, and the community structure in relation to upwelling variability. Copepods contributed 79% of the total zooplankton community and were mostly represented by Paracalanus parvus, Oithona similis, Oithona nana, Calanus chilensis, and Rhincalanus nasutus. Other copepod species, euphausiids (mainly Euphausia mucronata), gelatinous zooplankton, and crustacean larvae comprised the rest of the community. Changes in the depth of the upper boundary of the oxygen minimum zone indicated the strongly seasonal upwelling pattern. The bulk of zooplankton biomass and total copepod abundance were both strongly and positively associated with a shallow (<20 m) oxygen minimum zone; these values increased in spring/summer, when upwelling prevailed. Gelatinous zooplankton showed positive abundance anomalies in the spring and winter, whereas euphausiids had no seasonal pattern and a positive anomaly in the fall. The C content and the C/N ratio of zooplankton biomass significantly increased during the spring when chlorophyll-a was high (>5 mg m−3). No major changes in zooplankton biomass and species were found from one year to the next. We concluded that upwelling is the key process modulating variability in zooplankton biomass and its community structure in this zone. The spring/summer increase in zooplankton may be largely the result of the aggregation of dominant copepods within the upwelling region; these may reproduce throughout the year, increasing their C content and C/N ratios given high diatom concentrations. 相似文献
A densely populated soft-sediment community was experimentally analysed for interspecific competition for space in laboratory experiments. No interspecific competitive interactions leading to a decrease in survivorship could be documented over a five-week period. The four most abundant species all coexisted in laboratory microcosms. The two tube-buiding species, the tanaid Leptochelia dubia and the polychaete Rhynchospio arenincola, could not exclude the mobile bivalve Transennella tantilla or the burrowing amphipod Paraphoxus spinosus. None of the species increases its emigration frequency when other species are present. Paraphoxus is found to be a browsing predator on Phynchospio but inflicts no detectable mortality. The coexistence of these species is permitted by virtue of the fact that none of the species can alter the soft-sediment habitat sufficiently to make the habitat unsuitable for the other species. 相似文献
Internal waves with periods of about 5 minutes and trough to crest heights of up to 6.2 m were observed acoustically over the actively accreting delta front of the Huanghe (Yellow River) in the western portion of the Gulf of Bohai, Peoples Republic of China. The radian frequency of the internal waves was close to the locally-observed Brunt-Vaisala frequency. Through the relatively short (one hour) duration of an internal wave train, the amplitude was observed to decrease progressively with time. These internal waves may cause resuspension of delta-front sediments. 相似文献
The first oceanographic research (hydrography, nutrient salts, chlorophyll, primary production and phytoplankton assemblages) in a Middle Galician Ria was carried out in Corme-Laxe during 2001, just a year before the Prestige oil spill, being the only reference to evaluate eventual changes in the phytoplankton community. Due to the small size of this ria (6.5 km2), oceanographic processes were driven by the continental water supplied by Anllons River during the wet season (20–30 m3 s−1 in winter), and the strong oceanic influence from the nearby shelf during the dry season. The annual cycle showed a spring bloom with high levels of chlorophyll (up to 14 μg Chl-a L−1) and primary production (3 g C m−2 d−1) and a summer upwelling bloom (up to 8 μg Chl-a L−1 and 10 g C m−2 d−1) where the proximity of the Galician upwelling core (<13.5 °C at sea surface) favors the input of upwelled seawater (up to 9 μM of nitrate and silicate) to the bottom ria layer, even during summer stratification events (primary production around 2 g C m−2 d−1). Thus, phytoplankton assemblages form a “continuum” from spring to autumn with a predominance of diatoms and overlapping species between consecutive periods; only in autumn dinoflagellates and flagellates characterized the phytoplankton community. In the Middle Rias as Corme-Laxe, the nutrient values, Chl-a, primary production and phytoplankton abundance for productive periods were higher than those reported for the Northern (Ria of A Coruña) and Southern Rias (Ria of Arousa) for year 2001; this suggests the importance of the hydrographic events occurring in the zone of maximum upwelling intensity of the Western Iberian Shelf, where a lack of annual cycles studies exists. 相似文献
The recent benthic meiofaunal foraminiferal assemblage from the continental slope (590-2 003 m) off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina exhibits high species richness and evenness, moderate diversity values, and lacks numerically dominant species. The preserved planktic assemblage has relatively low species richness, high evenness, low diversity, and a few numerically dominant species. Approximately 9% of the benthic species are those that typically live within continental shelf depth ranges. The benthic assemblage abundances and diversities do not follow depth patterns or geophysical characteristics. No biogeographic boundary can be described within the study area for meiofaunal foraminifera. Oxygen limitation does not appear to be a factor affecting the benthos of the North Carolina continental slope based upon the community structure of the benthic foraminifera, if total assemblage is assumed to reflect the recently living community. The high carbonate content of sediments in the area may be explained by foraminiferal tests. Within the study area, the foraminiferal assemblages are uniform, and probably reflect relative consistency of primary environmental variables as well as dynamic downslope transport and high influx of material from the water column in the vicinity where the Gulf Stream and the Western Boundary Undercurrent cross. 相似文献