Large sand waves on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf around Wilmington Canyon,off Eastern United States

New seismic-reflection data show that large sand waves near the head of Wilmington Canyon on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf have a spacing of 100–650 m and a relief of 2–9 m. The bedforms trend northwest and are asymmetrical, the steeper slopes being toward the south or west. Vibracore sediments indicate that the waves apparently have formed on a substrate of relict nearshore sediments. Although the age of the original bedforms is unknown, the asymmetry is consistent with the dominant westerly to southerly drift in this area which has been determined by other methods; the asymmetry, therefore, is probably modern. Observations in the sand-wave area from a submersible during August 1975, revealed weak bottom currents, sediment bioturbation, unrippled microtopography, and lack of scour. Thus, the asymmetry may be maintained by periodic water motion, possibly associated with storms or perhaps with flow in the canyon head.     

A Method for Installing Piezometers in Large Cobble Bed Rivers

An impact drive point method is described for emplacing piezometers in a cobble river bottom where this has previously been difficult without the use of drilling rigs. To force the drive point piezometers through coble, the vibrational impact of an air-powered hammer was carried directly to the drive point by the use of an internal drive rod. After insertion to depth, the drive rod was removed from the lower portion of the piezometer and a standpipe was added to extend the piezometer above the river level. Piezometers installed in this way have permitted water quality analysis and dynamic measurement of vertical potentials in cobble sediments ranging in size from 2.5 to >30 cm and the method has been successfully used in the Columbia River, USA, and Töss River, Switzerland. This innovative method provides information on the hydrodynamics of pore water in highly permeable, cobble deposits that are common in high-energy river and lake bottoms. Piezometers installed using the internal drive rod method facilitate the assessment of the temporal and spatial dynamics of recharge and discharge at the ground water/surface water interface and analyses of the ecological connectivity between the hyporheic zone and surface water of rivers and streams. This information will lead to improved management decisions related to our nation's ground water and surface water supplies.     

Spatial and temporal variability in the lower food web of the tidal freshwater Hudson River

The mid Hudson River is a heterotrophic system where allochthonous inputs apparently fuel the largest proportion of secondary production and ecosystem metabolism. We have analyzed a 6-yr dataset collected quarterly at six stations spanning a 150-km reach to assess variability at inter- and intra-annual time scales and regional spatial scales. The major components of the lower food web: bacterial biomass, detrital particulate organic carbon (POC), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), show surprisingly discordant patterns in temporal and spatial variability. Bacterial abundance shows significant variability at all three scales, but the interannual variability is by far the greatest. DOC concentrations showed greatest variability among years, with intra-annual and spatial variability roughly equal. Freshwater flow is commonly considered a major driving force in river-estuarine variability but simple discharge was not a strong predictor of any component of suspended matter or DOC. For organisms in the Hudson River food web, these multiple scales of variability indicate highly unpredictable food resources in time and space, and these fluctuations may contribute to the variability in higher trophic levels.     

Interactions of biogenic opal,sediment and seawater in the Central Equatorial Pacific

The solution rate of biogenic opal in near-surface sediments in the Central Equatorial Pacific is three to eight orders of magnitude lower than similar acid-cleaned samples. Iron, magnesium and calcium aluminosilicates may be the minerals which are forming on the surface of the opal and reducing its solution rate. The scale height of the system studied suggests that diffusive and not advective processes are primarily responsible for the removal of dissolved silica in sediments. Solution budget calculations for this area suggest that 90–99 per cent of the biogenic opal produced in surface waters dissolves before reaching the sediment-water interface; an additional amount dissolves within the sediment and diffuses into bottom waters leaving 0.05–0.15 per cent of the original amount of opal produced by organisms in the sedimentary record. The relative solution potential of the upper 1000 m of the water column varies by more than an order of magnitude from the Antarctic to Equator and may have a pronounced effect on the accumulation rate of biogenic opal in underlying sediments.     

Changes in Arctic clouds during intervals of rapid sea ice loss

We investigate the behavior of clouds during rapid sea ice loss events (RILEs) in the Arctic, as simulated by multiple ensemble projections of the 21st century in the Community Climate System Model (CCSM3). Trends in cloud properties and sea ice coverage during RILEs are compared with their secular trends between 2000 and 2049 during summer, autumn, and winter. The results suggest that clouds promote abrupt Arctic climate change during RILEs through increased (decreased) cloudiness in autumn (summer) relative to the changes over the first half of the 21st century. The trends in cloud characteristics (cloud amount, water content, and radiative forcing) during RILEs are most strongly and consistently an amplifying effect during autumn, the season in which RILEs account for the majority of the secular trends. The total cloud trends in every season are primarily due to low clouds, which show a more robust response than middle and high clouds across RILEs. Lead-lag correlations of monthly sea ice concentration and cloud cover during autumn reveal that the relationship between less ice and more clouds is enhanced during RILEs, but there is no evidence that either variable is leading the other. Given that Arctic cloud projections in CCSM3 are similar to those from other state-of-the-art GCMs and that observations show increased autumn cloudiness associated with the extreme 2007 and 2008 sea ice minima, this study suggests that the rapidly declining Arctic sea ice will be accentuated by changes in polar clouds.     

European precipitation connections with large-scale mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) fields

Abstract

To advance understanding of hydroclimatological processes, this paper links spatiotemporal variability in gridded European precipitation and large-scale mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) time series (1957–2002) using monthly concurrent correlation. Strong negative (positive) correlation near Iceland and (the Azores) is apparent for precipitation in northwest Europe, confirming a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) association. An opposing pattern is found for southwest Europe, and the Mediterranean in winter. In the lee of mountains, MSLP correlation is lower reflecting reduced influence of westerlies on precipitation generation. Importantly, European precipitation is shown to be controlled by physically interpretable climate patterns that change in extent and position from month to month. In spring, MSLP–precipitation correlation patterns move and shrink, reaching a minimum in summer, before expanding in the autumn, and forming an NAO-like dipole in winter. These space–time shifts in correlation regions explain why fixed-point NAO indices have limited ability to resolve precipitation for some European locations and seasons.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor A. Montanari

Citation Lavers, D., Prudhomme, C., and Hannah, D.M., 2013. European precipitation connections with large-scale mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) fields. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (2), 310–327.     

Trends in marine debris along the U.S. Pacific Coast and Hawai'i 1998-2007

We assessed amounts, composition, and trends of marine debris for the U.S. Pacific Coast and Hawai'i using National Marine Debris Monitoring Program data. Hawai'i had the highest debris loads; the North Pacific Coast region had the lowest debris loads. The Southern California Bight region had the highest land-based debris loads. Debris loads decreased over time for all source categories in all regions except for land-based and general-source loads in the North Pacific Coast region, which were unchanged. General-source debris comprised 30-40% of the items in all regions. Larger local populations were associated with higher land-based debris loads across regions; the effect declined at higher population levels. Upwelling affected deposition of ocean-based and general-source debris loads but not land-based loads along the Pacific Coast. LNSO decreased debris loads for both land-based and ocean-based debris but not general-source debris in Hawai'i, a more complex climate-ocean effect than had previously been found.     

The role of granites in volcanic-hosted massive sulphide ore-forming systems: an assessment of magmatic�Chydrothermal contributions

Assessment of geological, geochemical and isotopic data indicates that a significant subgroup of volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposits has a major or dominant magmatic?Chydrothermal source of ore fluids and metals. This group, which is typically characterised by high Cu and Au grades, includes deposits such as those in the Neoarchean Doyon-Bousquet-LaRonde and Cambrian Mount Lyell districts. These deposits are distinguished by aluminous advanced argillic alteration assemblages or metamorphosed equivalents intimately associated with ore zones. In many of these deposits, ??³⁴S_sulphide is low, with a major population below ?3??; ??³⁴S_sulphate differs from coexisting seawater and ??³⁴S_{sulphate?Csulphide}????20?C30??. These characteristics are interpreted as the consequence of disproportionation of magmatic SO₂ as magmatic?Chydrothermal fluids ascended and cooled and as a definitive evidence for a significant magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution. Other characteristics that we consider diagnostic of significant magmatic?Chydrothermal input into VHMS ore fluids include uniformly high (>3 times modern seawater values) salinities or very ¹⁸O-enriched (??¹⁸O?>?5??) ore fluids. We do not consider other criteria [e.g. variable salinity, moderately high ??¹⁸O_fluid (2?C5??), ??³⁴S_sulphide near 0??, metal assemblages or a spatial association with porphyry Cu or other clearly magmatic-hydrothermal deposits] that have been used previously to advocate significant magmatic?Chydrothermal contributions to be diagnostic as they can be produced by non-magmatic processes known to occur in VHMS mineral systems. However, in general, a small magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution cannot be excluded in most VHMS systems considered. Conclusive data that imply minimal magmatic?Chydrothermal contributions are only available in the Paleoarchean Panorama district where coeval seawater-dominated and magmatic?Chydrothermal systems appear to have been physically separated. This district, which is characterised by chloritic and sericitic alteration assemblages and lacks aluminous advanced argillic alteration assemblages, is typical of many VHMS deposits around the world, suggesting that for ??garden variety?? VHMS deposits, a significant magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution is not required. Other than deposits associated with advanced argillic alteration assemblages, the only deposit for which we ascribe a major magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution is the Devonian Neves Corvo deposit. This deposit differs from other deposits in the Iberian Pyrite Belt and around the world in being extremely Sn-rich, with the Sn closely associated with Cu and in having formed from high ¹⁸O-rich fluids (??¹⁸O_fluid ??8.5??). We consider these characteristics, particularly the last, as diagnostic of a significant magmatic hydrothermal contribution. Our analysis indicates that two subgroups of VHMS deposits have a major magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution: Cu/Au-rich deposits with aluminous alteration assemblages and reduced, very Sn-rich deposits in which Sn was introduced in a high-temperature ore assemblage. Comparison with ??normal?? VHMS deposits suggests that these subgroups of VHMS deposits may form in specialised tectonic environments. The Cu/Au-rich deposits appear to form adjacent to magmatic arcs, an environment conducive to the generation of hydrous, oxidised melts by melting metasomatised mantle in the wedge above the subducting slab. This contrasts with the back-arc setting of ??normal?? VHMS deposits in which relatively dry granites (In this contribution, we use the term granite sensu latto) formed by decompression melting drive seawater-dominated hydrothermal circulation. The tectonic setting of highly Sn-rich VHMS deposits such as Neves Corvo is less clear; however, thick continental crust below the ore-hosting basin may be critical, as it is in other Sn deposits.     

Climate,environment, and humans in North America’s Great Basin during the Younger Dryas, 12,900–11,600 calendar years ago

Global climate change associated with the onset of the Younger Dryas chronozone affected different regions of the northern hemisphere in different ways. In the Great Basin of western North America, the effect was positive for human populations. Relatively cool temperatures causing effectively wetter conditions filled some pluvial basins with shallow but permanent lakes and other basins with well-watered marshes or meadows. Vegetation communities dominated by sagebrush and grasses promoted healthy and diverse animal populations. Ten archaeological sites from the region have been dated to the Younger Dryas chronozone. Evidence from these sites indicates that Paleoindians with skull shapes and mitochondrial DNA similar to modern western North American Indians occupied the region. These early humans produced a material culture characterized predominantly by large stemmed bifacial points, although one site contained a small fluted point. Curated tool forms and technological activities represented in analyzed lithic assemblages suggest a highly mobile settlement strategy, and redundant short-term occupations of sites indicate frequent and long-distance residential moves across territories spanning distances of up to 400 km. Paleoindian subsistence pursuits focused on artiodactyls (primarily mule deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope), leporids (chiefly jackrabbits), birds (sage grouse and waterfowl), insects (grasshoppers), and possibly fish. Easy-to-process plants like cactus pads were also eaten, but small seeds do not seem to have been an important part of Great Basin human diets until long after the Younger Dryas, closer to 9500 cal BP. The Great Basin record contains no evidence for natural catastrophe at the onset of the chronozone. Instead, the Younger Dryas appears to have been among the best of times for human foragers in this region of North America.