Long-term evolution of sand waves in the Marsdiep inlet. II: Relation to hydrodynamics

A discussion is presented about the mechanisms that govern the spatial and seasonal variability in sand-wave height and migration speed in the 4 km wide Marsdiep tidal inlet, the Netherlands. Since 1998, current velocities and water depths have been recorded with an ADCP that is mounted under the ferry ‘Schulpengat’. In this paper, the current measurements were used to explain the sand-wave observations presented in Buijsman and Ridderinkhof [this issue. Long-term evolution of sand waves in the Marsdiep inlet. I: high-resolution observations. Continental Shelf Research, doi:10.1016/j.csr.2007.10.011]. Across nearly the entire inlet, the sand waves migrate in the flood direction. In the flood-dominated southern part of the inlet, the ‘measured’ (i.e. based on sand-wave shape and migration speed) and predicted bedload transport agree in direction, magnitude, and trends, whereas in the ebb-dominated northern part the predicted bedload and suspended load transport is opposite to the sand-wave migration. In the southern part, 55% of the bedload transport is due to tidal asymmetries and 45% due to residual currents. In addition to the well-known tidal asymmetries, asymmetries that arise from the interaction of _M2${\mathrm{M}}_2$ and its overtides with _S2${\mathrm{S}}_2$ and its compound tides are also important. It is hypothesised that in the northern part of the inlet the advection of suspended sand and lag effects govern the sand-wave migration. The relative importance of suspended load transport also explains why the sand waves have smaller lee-slope angles, are smaller, more rounded, and more three-dimensional in the northern half of the inlet. The sand waves in this part of the inlet feature the largest seasonal variability in height and migration speed. This seasonal variability may be attributed to the tides or a seasonal fluctuation in fall velocity. In both cases sediment transport is enhanced in winter, increasing sand-wave migration and decreasing sand-wave height. The influence of storms and estuarine circulation on the sand-wave variability is negligible.     

Modeling bio-geomorphological influences for offshore sandwaves

The coastal environment shows a wide range of bed patterns, for which sandwaves and sandbanks are among the most common. Less known in this context is the high benthic diversity in the coastal environment, which gives rise to the question to what extend the benthos interacts with the shape of the seabed. This paper reviews field and flume experiments on bio-geomorphological influences between benthos and sediment and tests the hypothesis that both the occurrence and the dimensions of sandwaves are dependent on the benthic diversity in the North Sea. Mathematical inclusions to account for biological activity in idealized models reveal that biota is able to influence the wavelength of sandwaves significantly, compared to the default case. More importantly, the models indicate that biota is able to induce bed patterns under conditions when the physical parameters suggest a stable flat bed and vice versa. Present model explorations indicate that future research should focus on the parameterization of subtidal biological activity on sediment dynamics and thereby on seabed patterns. Such knowledge will enable process-based modeling of the spatial and temporal variation in biological activity on seabed morphodynamics and validate the proposed modeling approach with field measurements.     

Mixing,hypersalinity and gradients in Hervey Bay,Australia

Hervey Bay, a large coastal embayment situated off the central eastern coast of Australia, is a shallow tidal area (average depth = 15 m), close to the continental shelf. It shows features of an inverse estuary, due to the high evaporation rate (approx. 2 m/year), low precipitation (less than 1 m/year) and on average almost no freshwater input from rivers that drain into the bay. The hydro- and thermodynamical structures of Hervey Bay and their variability are presented here for the first time, using a combination of four-dimensional modelling and observations from field studies. The numerical studies are performed with the Coupled Hydrodynamical Ecological Model for Regional Shelf Seas (COHERENS). Due to the high tidal range (>3.5 m), the bay is considered as a vertically well-mixed system, and therefore, only horizontal fronts are likely. Recent field measurements, but also the numerical simulations, indicate characteristic features of an inverse/hypersaline estuary with low salinity (35.5 psu) in the open ocean and peak values (>39.0 psu) in the head water of the bay. The model further predicts a nearly persistent mean salinity gradient of 0.5 psu across the bay (with higher salinities close to the shore). The investigation further shows that air temperature, wind direction and tidal regime are mainly responsible for the stability of the inverse circulation and the strength of the salinity gradient across the bay. Due to an ongoing drying trend, the occurrence of severe droughts at the central east coast of Australia and, therefore, a reduction in freshwater supply, the salinity flux out of the bay has increased, and the inverse circulation has also strengthened.     

The equatorial Atlantic oscillation and its response to ENSO

An internal equatorial Atlantic oscillation has been identified by analyzing sea surface temperature (SST) observations. The equatorial Atlantic oscillation can be viewed as the Atlantic analogue of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific, but it is much less vigorous. The equatorial Atlantic oscillation is strongly influenced by the Pacific ENSO with the equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature lagging by about six months. This lag can be explained by the dynamical adjustment time of the equatorial Atlantic to low-frequency wind stress variations and the seasonally varying background state, which favours strongest growth of perturbations in summer. Results of an extended-range simulation with a coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM support this picture.     

Tectono-sedimentary evolution of Jurassic–Cretaceous diapiric structures: Miravete anticline,Maestrat Basin,Spain

Integration of extensive fieldwork, remote sensing mapping and 3D models from high-quality drone photographs relates tectonics and sedimentation to define the Jurassic–early Albian diapiric evolution of the N–S Miravete anticline, the NW-SE Castel de Cabra anticline and the NW-SE Cañada Vellida ridge in the Maestrat Basin (Iberian Ranges, Spain). The pre shortening diapiric structures are defined by well-exposed and unambiguous halokinetic geometries such as hooks and flaps, salt walls and collapse normal faults. These were developed on Triassic salt-bearing deposits, previously misinterpreted because they were hidden and overprinted by the Alpine shortening. The Miravete anticline grew during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous and was rejuvenated during Cenozoic shortening. Its evolution is separated into four halokinetic stages, including the latest Alpine compression. Regionally, the well-exposed Castel de Cabra salt anticline and Cañada Vellida salt wall confirm the widespread Jurassic and Early Cretaceous diapiric evolution of the Maestrat Basin. The NE flank of the Cañada Vellida salt wall is characterized by hook patterns and by a 500-m-long thin Upper Jurassic carbonates defining an upturned flap, inferred as the roof of the salt wall before NE-directed salt extrusion. A regional E-W cross section through the Ababuj, Miravete and Cañada-Benatanduz anticlines shows typical geometries of salt-related rift basins, partly decoupled from basement faults. These structures could form a broader diapiric region still to be investigated. In this section, the Camarillas and Fortanete minibasins displayed well-developed bowl geometries at the onset of shortening. The most active period of diapiric growth in the Maestrat Basin occurred during the Early Cretaceous, which is also recorded in the Eastern Betics, Asturias and Basque-Cantabrian basins. This period coincides with the peak of eastward drift of the Iberian microplate, with speeds of 20 mm/year. The transtensional regime is interpreted to have played a role in diapiric development.     

Tectonic evolution of the Cape and Karoo basins of South Africa

The Cape and Karoo basins formed within the continental interior of Gondwana. Subsidence resulted from the vertical motion of rigid basement blocks and intervening crustal faults. Each basin episode records a three-stage evolution consisting of crustal uplift, fault-controlled subsidence, and long periods of regional subsidence largely unaccompanied by faulting or erosional truncation. The large-scale episodes of subsidence were probably the result of lithospheric deflection due to subduction-driven mantle flow. The early Paleozoic Cape basin records the combined effects of a north-dipping intra-crustal décollement (a late Neoproterozoic suture) and a right-stepping offset between thick Rio de la Plata craton and Namaqua basement. Following the Saldanian orogeny, a suite of small rift basins and their post-rift drape formed at this releasing stepover. Great thicknesses of quartz sandstone (Ordovician–Silurian) and mudstone (Devonian) accumulation are attributed to subsidence by rheological weakening and mantle flow. In contrast, the Karoo basin is a cratonic cover that mimics the underlying basement blocks. The Permian Ecca and lower Beaufort groups were deposited in a southward-deepening ramp syncline by extensional decoupling on the intra-crustal décollement. Reflection seismic and deep-burial diagenetic studies indicate that the Cape orogeny started in the Early Triassic. Deformation was partitioned into basement-involved strike-slip faults and thin-skinned thrusting. Uplift of the Namaqua basement resulted in erosion of the Beaufort cover. East of the Cape fold belt, contemporaneous subsidence and tilting of the Natal basement created a late Karoo transtensional foreland basin, the Stormberg depocentre. Early Jurassic tectonic resetting and continental flood basalts terminated the Karoo basin.     

Chemical analysis of mineral dust grains by SIMS: Application to a cometary mission

Analysis of a dust sample (e.g. collected during a cometary rendezvous mission) by SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy) can provide information on elemental abundances (? 100 amu), the molecular composition of grain surfaces, and isotopic ratios of selected elements. This can be accomplished with dust covering as little as 10^?4 of the collector surface area. In order to demonstrate these capabilities a special experimental set-up for substrate preparation, dust collection and SIMS analysis of dust under ultrahigh vacuum conditions was developed. The comparison of elemental abundance ratios for different olivines and pyroxenes measured with the special SIMS equipment with that measured by an electron microprobe indicated an accuracy for SIMS of the elemental abundance measurements of ? 30%. By varying the energy threshold of secondary ions to be mass-analysed from 0 to 50 eV it is possible to identify molecular ions in the spectra and to estimate their abundance with respect to elemental ions on the same mass line. The ratios of molecular to elemental ions vary by a factor of 1–25. The concept for a future cometary rendezvous experiment as well as first results of chemical investigation on mineral dust samples obtained are reported.     

Preliminary Analysis of V and Hp Light Curves of 26 Carbon Miras

Light variations of a representative sample of 26 more or less periodically variable carbon stars were analyzed on the basis of 2220 individual observations made by the Hipparcos satellite and 33 544 visual observations listed in AFOEV and VSOLJ databases within the interval JD = 2 448 000 (1988) ±6 cycles. We found the osculating linear ephemerides of all stars and their mean light curves, as well. We found that the light curves of the carbon Miras in our set can be satisfactorily expressed as a linear combination of only two basic light curves. The analysis was done by an own method combining robust regression and principal component analysis.     

An inflationary cosmological model in Dunn's scalar-tensor theory of gravitation

The gravitational field equations in Dunn's scalar-tensor theory of gravitation are generalized by including a cosmological constant. The resulting equations are solved for a Robertson-Walker line-element with flat three-space. The solution represents a cosmological model that develops into an inflationary era.