Spatial and temporal variabilities of hypoxia in the Rappahannock River,Virginia

Hypoxia/anoxia in bottom waters of the Rappahannock River, a tributary estuary of Chesapeake Bay, was observed to persist throughout the summer in the deep basin near the river mouth; periodic reoxygenation of bottom water occurred on the shallower sill at the river mouth. The reoxygenation events were closely related to spring tide mixing. The dissolved oxygen (DO) in surface waters was always near or at the saturation level, while that of bottom waters exhibited a characteristic spatial pattern. The bottom DO decreased upriver from river mouth, reaching a minimum upriver of the deepest point of the river and increasing as the water becaume shallower further upriver. A model was formulated to describe the longitudinal distribution of DO in bottom waters. The model is based on Lagrangian concept—following a water parcel as it travels upriver along the estuarine bottom. The model successfully describes the characteristic distribution of DO and also explains the shifting of the minimum DO location in response to spring-neap cycling. A diagnostic study with the model provided insight into relationships between the bottom DO and the competing factors that contribute to the DO budget of bottom waters. The study reveals that both oxygen demand, either benthic or water column demand, and vertical mixing have a promounced effect on the severity of hypoxia in bottom waters of an estary. However, it is the vertical mixing which controls the longitudinal location of the minimum DO. The strength of gravitational circulation is also shown to affect the occurrence of hypoxia. An estuary with stronger circulation tends to have less chance for hypoxia to occur. The initial DO deficit of bottom water entering an estuary has a strong effect on DO concentration near the river mouth, but its effect diminishes in the upriver direction.     

Hailstone trajectories determined from crystallography,deuterium content and radar backscattering

Time-resolved hailstone samples have been collected in the region of maximum radar echo (=10 cm) from four severe hailstorms in Central Switzerland. Thin sections of 1220 hailstones have been prepared and their embryos were classified according to their bubble structure and crystallography. From this embryo trajectories were deduced. Thick sections of seven hailstones were then prepared in order to measure the deuterium content of the different growth layers. This allows an independent check of the embryo and hailstone trajectories as well as an approximate calculation of the updraft velocities. The deuterium content of the vapor feeding the cloud (R ₀) has been determined from structural features of the stones as well as from the heightH _–10: in this latter, new method the lowest deuterium values are attributed to those isotherms at which the top of the region of high radar reflectivity (Z _m–10 dBZ) is observed. It is shown that both embryo and hailstone trajectories determined by the two methods are generally in good agreement and that deuterium measurements in conjunction with structural analyses and radar data result in realistic updraft velocities which are in substantial agreement with results from a numerical cloud model. In the temperature interval –10<T _c<–25C upward motion of the hailstones generally corresponds to accretion of clear layers and downward motion to accretion of opaque layers at the same temperature. This is thought to be due to higher liquid water contents in the stronger updrafts resulting in growth near the wet limit.Dedicated to Prof. H. U. Dütsch on the occasion of his 60th anniversary.     

Untersuchungen an spilitischen Gesteinen der variskischen Geosynkline in Nordwestdeutschland

21 samples of spilitic rocks of Devonian to Carboniferous age from NW-Germany have been analyzed for major elements, a large group of minor elements and the modal mineral composition. Their major element and mineral composition is comparable to Recent spilites from oceanic ridges. Major emphasis has been given to the absolute and relative abundance of the lanthanides and yttrium. Their pattern, which is most probably not altered during processes of spilitization is that of tholeiitic basalts occuring on the continents and in oceanic islands.Spilitization of the rocks under investigation is explained as a metamorphic process in a partially open system (loss of Si, Ca, and gain of H₂O, CO₂, Na) in a temperature range from 200° to about 400° C. Most abundant new minerals are: albite and chlorite; basaltic relict minerals are: plagioclase (high in Ca) and diopsidic pyroxene. Minerals typical for the temperature range mentioned are: prehnite, pumpellyite, actinolithe, epidote biotite. Microprobe analyses of several typical minerals are listed.

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Unsere Untersuchungen wurden im Rahmen des Sonderforschungsbereichs 48 durchgeführt und die Probenpräparation sowie die Spektrenauswertung aus dessen Mitteln finanziert.

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Wir danken den Herren Dr. Alfred Schneider und Dr. Malte Gramse für die Durchführung der quantitativen Mikrosondenanalysen von zahlreichen Spilitmineralen (Tabelle 6).

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Die Herren Professor D. Meischner und Dr. J. Schneider, Göttingen, unterstützten uns bei der Probenauswahl im Kellerwald. Herr Dozent Dr. S. Meisl (Wiesbaden) überließ uns Proben Pumpellyit-führender Spilite für die Mikrosondenanalyse und das Zentrale Geologische Institut, Berlin, stellte die Probe Mellenbach (Gesteinsstandard BM) zur Verfügung.     

The fractal geometry of tidal-channel systems in the Dutch Wadden Sea

Horton's hierarchical and fractal analysis of channel circumference reveals that tidal-channel systems in the Dutch Wadden Sea have similar branching patterns. Channel systems have the same characteristics as three- to four-times branching networks. The branch lengths of these channels decrease logarithmically. The channel systems can be regarded as statistical self-similar fractal networks, considering the natural variability in branch lengths and channel positions. Branching of channels does not continue below the 500 m scale. The channel-system circumference length is logarithmically related to the tidal prism and drainage area. The similarity of the channel systems, regardless of their size, relative amount of intertidal flats, and tidal amplitude, points to a self-organising nature. All processes depend on the feedback between morphology and hydrodynamics. At first sight, the channel systems can be regarded as an ebb-driven drainage network, governed by erosion. However, flood-dominated net sedimentation occurs in large parts of the drainage basins and modifies the ebb-driven network. The complex interaction of hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes in tidal basins limits the applicability of process-based models. Behaviour-oriented modelling has a wide applicability and can be improved using the fractal geometry as the dynamical equilibrium morphology. The fractal-network geometry can also be used for stochastic reconstructions of fossil tidal-channel systems, when only limited observations are available.     

Marine pollution in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, with an exploding population rising from 600,000 in 1945 to over 4 million in 1970, has had to give first priority to housing. It is not surprising that there is heavy pollution of coastal waters. Tolo Harbour, already dangerously polluted, is an area which is scheduled for a great increase in population. This preliminary study of conditions in the bay will aid planning of future sewage treatment.     

Lithogeochemistry of Carlin-type gold mineralization in the Gold Bar district, Battle Mountain-Eureka trend, Nevada

The Gold Bar district contains five Carlin-type gold deposits and four resources for a combined gold endowment of 1.6 M oz [50 t]. The gold deposits are hosted in Devonian carbonate rocks below parautochthonous and allochthonous Paleozoic siliciclastic rocks emplaced during the Early Mississippian Antler orogeny. The district is in the Battle Mountain-Eureka trend, a long-lived structural feature that localized intrusions and ore deposits of different types and ages.The whole-rock geochemistry of four different mineralized and unmineralized Devonian carbonate rock units (two favorable and two unfavorable) were determined and interpreted in the context of the regional geology. A combination of basic statistics, R-mode factor analysis, isocon plots, and alteration diagrams were utilized to (1) identify favorable geochemical attributes of the host rocks, (2) characterize alteration and associated element enrichments and depletions, and (3) identify the mechanism of gold precipitation. This approach also led to the recognition of other types of alteration and mineralization in host rocks previously thought to be solely affected by Carlin-type mineralization.Unit 2 of the Upper Member of the Denay Formation, with the highest Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and SiO₂ contents and the lowest CaO content, is the most favorable host rock. Based on the high regression coefficients of data arrays on X–Y plots that project toward the origin, Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ were immobile and K₂O and Fe₂O₃ were relatively immobile during alteration and mineralization. Specific element associations identified by factor analysis are also prominent on isocon diagrams that compare the composition of fresh and altered equivalents of the same rock units. The most prominent associations are: Au, As, Sb, SiO₂, Tl, –CaO and –LOI, the main gold mineralizing event and related silicification and decalcification; Cd, Zn, Ag, P, Ni and Tl, an early base metal event; and MgO, early dolomitization. Alteration diagrams, consisting of X–Y plots of SiO₂/Al₂O₃, K₂O/Al₂O₃, CO₂/Al₂O₃, [S/Al₂O₃]/[Fe₂O₃/Al₂O₃], provide evidence for progressive silicification, decarbonation (decalcification and dedolomitization), argillization (illite), and sulfidation as a function of gold mineralization. The latter process is identified as the principal mechanism of gold precipitation.The lithogeochemistry of the ores in the Gold Bar district is typical of that documented in classic Carlin-type gold deposits in the region, but the size of the deposits and the intensity of alteration and mineralization are less. The presence of other types of mineralization in the Gold Bar district is also common to most of the other Carlin-type districts located in major mineral belts. The approach used in this study is well suited to the interpretation of multi-element geochemical data from other study areas with superimposed alteration and mineralization.     

Distribution and movement of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) in the Chesapeake Bay

During a reward program for Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus), 40 federally endangered shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) were captured and reported by commercial fishers between January 1996 and January 2000 from the Chesapeake Bay. Since this is more than double the number of published records of shortnose sturgeon in the Chesapeake Bay between 1876 and 1995, little information has been available on distributions and movement. We used fishery dependent data collected during the reward program to determine the distribution of shortnose sturgeon in the Chesapeake Bay. Sonically-tagged shortnose sturgeon in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River were tracked to determine if individuals swim through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Shortnose sturgeon were primarily distributed within the upper Chesapeake Bay. The movements of one individual, tagged within the Chesapeake Bay and later relocated in the canal and Delaware River, indicated that individuals traverse the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.     

Thermal radiative fluxes through inhomogeneous cloud fields: a sensitivity study using a new stochastic cloud generator

We analyze the effects of flat and bumpy top, fractional and internally inhomogeneous cloud layers on large area-averaged thermal radiative fluxes. Inhomogeneous clouds are generated by a new stochastic model: the tree-driven mass accumulation process (tdMAP). This model is able to provide stratocumulus and cumulus cloud fields with properties close to those observed in real clouds. A sensitivity study of cloud parameters is done by analyzing differences between 3D fluxes simulated by the spherical harmonic discrete ordinate method and three “standard” models likely to be used in general circulation models: plane-parallel homogeneous cloud model (PPH), PPH with fractional cloud coverage model (FCPPH) and independent pixel approximation model (IPA). We show that thermal fluxes are strong functions of fractional cloud coverage, mean optical depth, mean geometrical thickness and cloud base altitude. Fluctuations of “in-cloud” horizontal variability in optical depth and cloud-top bumps have negligible effects in the whole. We also showed that PPH, FCPPH and IPA models are not suitable to compute thermal fluxes of flat top fractional inhomogeneous cloud layer, except for completely overcast cloud. This implies that horizontal transport of photon at thermal wavelengths is important when cloudy cells are separated by optically thin regions.