The GIS approach to evaporite-karst geohazards in Great Britain

Evaporite karst in Great Britain has formed in Permian and Triassic gypsum, and in Triassic salt. Active dissolution of these deposits can occur on a human rather than a geological timescale causing subsidence and building damage. The British Geological Survey has taken two approaches towards understanding and advising on hazards caused by dissolution of these soluble rocks. At a detailed level, a national database and GIS of karstic features is being populated. Information gathered includes dolines, springs, stream sinks, caves and building damage. At a national level, the soluble rocks in Great Britain have been identified and digital-map polygon information relating to them was extracted from the British 1:50,000-scale digital geological map. These areas have been assessed, and in places their margins extended to include some overlying rocks where subsidence features are known to penetrate upwards through the overlying sequence. The national areas have then been assessed using detailed local information to assign a susceptibility rating from A (extremely low) to E (high), depending on the nature and regularity of the subsidence events that occur. This national zonation of the soluble rocks can be used for planning, construction and in the insurance businesses. This has proved useful for assessing the potential stability of linear routes, such as roads and pipelines or for other important structures such as bridges and buildings. The information can also be used to delineate zones of karstic groundwater flow.     

Fish communities and life history attributes of English sole (Pleuronectes vetulus) in Vancouver Harbour

Data on demersal fish abundance, distribution, and spatial variation in community composition are given for Vancouver harbour and a far field reference station in outer Howe Sound. Flatfish (F. Pleuronectidae) were the dominant taxa in the trawl sampling, with the English sole (Pleuronectes vetulus) one of the most abundant species, especially in Port Moody Arm. Cluster and ordination analyses suggested a different community in Port Moody Arm relative to the outer harbour and the reference site. Length data from English sole suggested the Vancouver harbour fish may be from a different population relative to the far field reference station, with more juveniles in the harbour. Both male and female English sole were older and larger in Port Moody Arm and females were more common in this area. Growth rates of female English sole were slower at Port Moody and Indian Arm in comparison to the central harbour. Feeding habits of English sole were different at various parts of the harbour, with possible implications for contaminant uptake. The diet of English sole was dominated by polychaetes in Port Moody Arm and by bivalve molluscs at the far field reference station. Fish from the middle and outer harbour fed on a mixture of polychaetes, bivalve molluscs, and crustaceans enabling multiple pathways for bioaccumulation of pollutants.     

Bowers Swell: Evidence for a zone of compressive deformation concentric with Bowers Ridge, Bering Sea

Bowers Swell is a newly discovered bathymetric feature which is up to 90 m high, between 12 and 20 km wide, and which extends arcuately about 400 km along the northern and eastern sides of Bowers Ridge. The swell was first revealed on GLORIA sonographs and subsequently mapped on seismic reflection and 3.5 kHz bathymetric profiles. These geophysical data show that the swell caps an arcuate anticlinal ridge, which is composed of deformed strata in an ancient trench on the northern and eastern sides of Bowers Ridge. The trench fill beneath the swell is actively deforming, as shown by faulting of the sea floor and by thinning of the strata across the crest of the swell. Thinning and faulting of the trench strata preclude an origin for the swell by simple sediment draping over an older basement high. We considered several models for the origin of Bowers Swell, including folding and uplift of the underlying trench sediment during the interaction between the Pacific plate beneath the Aleutian Ridge and a remnant oceanic slab beneath Bowers Ridge. However, such plate motions should generate extensive seismicity beneath Bowers Ridge, which is aseismic, and refraction data do not show any remnant slab beneath Bowers Ridge. Another origin considered for Bowers Swell invokes sediment deformation resulting from differential loading and diapirism in the trench fill. However, diapirism is not evident on seismic reflection profiles across the swell. We favour a model in which sediment deformation and swell formation resulted from a few tens of kilometers of low seismicity motion by intraplate crustal blocks beneath the Aleutian Basin. This motion may result from the translation of blocks in western Alaska to the south-west, forcing the movement of the Bering Sea margin west of Alaska into the abyssal Aleutian Basin.     

Identifying storm impacts on an embayed, high-energy coastline: examples from western Ireland

Large sections of the western Irish coast are characterised by a highly compartmentalised series of headland-embayment cells in which sand and gravel beaches are backed by large vegetated dune systems. Exposure to modally high-energy swell renders most of these beaches dissipative in character. A mesotidal range (c. 3.5–4.5 m) exists along much of the coast. Analysis of instrumental wind records from three locations permitted the identification of a variety of storm types and the construction of storm catalogues. Few individual storms were recorded at all three stations indicating a lack of regional consistency in storm record. Of the total storms recorded, only a small percentage are potentially damaging (onshore directed) and even fewer span a high tide and thus potentially induce a measurable morphological response at the coast.

Through a combination of historical records, meteorological records, field observations and wave modelling we attempt to assess the impact of storms. Quantifiable records of coastal morphology (maps, air photos and beach profiles) are few in number and do not generally record responses that may be definitely attributed to specific storms. Numerical wave simulations and observations at a variety of sites on the west Irish coast, however, provide insights into instantaneous and medium term (decadal) storm responses in such systems.

We argue that beaches and dunes that are attuned to modally high-energy regimes require extreme storms to cause significant morphological impact. The varying orientation of beaches, a spatially nonuniform storm catalogue and the need for a storm to occur at high water to produce measurable change, impart site-specific storm susceptibility to these embayments. Furthermore, we argue that long-period wave energy attenuation across dissipative shorefaces and beaches reduces coastal response to distant storms whereas short-period, locally generated wind waves are more likely to cause major dune and beach erosion as they arrive at the shoreline unrefracted.

This apparently variable response of beach and dune systems to storm forcing at a decadal scale over a coastline length of 200 km urges caution in generalising regarding regional-scale coastal responses to climatic change.     

Ocean circulation and exchanges through the northern Bering Sea—1979–2001 model results

We have developed and run a model with sufficiently high resolution (9 km and 45 levels) and a large enough spatial domain to allow for realistic representation of flow through the narrow and shallow straits in the northern Bering Sea. This is potentially important for quantification of long-term mean and time-dependent ocean circulation, and water mass and property exchanges between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Over a 23 year interval (1979–2001), mean transport through Bering Strait is estimated to be 0.65 Sv. Comparison of our model results with published observations indicates that ocean circulation is not only variable at seasonal to interdecadal scales but it is also responsive to short-term atmospheric forcing. One of such events occurred during the winter of 2000–2001 with reversed oceanic flow in some areas and much reduced sea-ice cover. Analyses of eddy kinetic energy fields identify some high biological productivity regions of the Chirikov Basin coincident with persistent high energy (up to 2700 cm² s⁻² in the surface layer and up to 2600 cm² s⁻² at mid-depth) throughout the annual cycle. Model output in the Bering Strait region is validated against several time series of moored observations of water mass properties. Comparison with shipboard observations of near-bottom salinity from late winter through autumn indicates that the model reasonably represents the major water-mass properties in the region. The modeled vertical water-column structure in the northern Bering Sea allows increased understanding of the mechanisms of water transformation and transport northward through Bering Strait into the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. We conclude that the long-term model results for the northern Bering Sea provide important insights into the ocean circulation and fluxes and they are a useful frame of reference for limited observations that are short-term and/or cover only a small geographic region.     

Recovery of the seabed following marine aggregate dredging on the Hastings Shingle Bank off the southeast coast of England

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dredging intensity on the physical and biological recovery times of the seabed following marine aggregate dredging. Two areas of seabed, previously subject to, respectively, relatively high and lower levels of dredging intensity, were identified on the Hastings Shingle Bank. Two reference areas were also selected for comparative purposes. All four sites were monitored annually over the period 2001–2004, using a combination of acoustic, video and grab sampling techniques. Since the site was last dredged in 1996, this was intended to provide a sequence of data 5–8 years after cessation of dredging. However, an unexpected resumption of dredging within the high intensity site, during 2002 and 2003, allowed an additional assessment of the immediate effects and aftermath of renewed dredging at the seabed. The early stages of recovery could then be assessed after dredging ceased in 2003. Results from both dredged sites provide a useful insight into the early and latter stages of physical and biological recovery. A comparison of recent and historic dredge track features provided evidence of track erosion. However, tracks were still visible 8 years after the cessation of dredging. Within the high dredging intensity site, recolonisation was relatively rapid after the cessation of dredging in 2003. Rather than indicating a full recovery, we suggest that this initial ‘colonization community’ may enter a transition phase before eventually reaching equilibrium. This hypothesis is supported by results from the low intensity site, where biological recovery was judged to have taken 7 years. Further monitoring is needed in order to test this. An alternative explanation is that the rapid recovery may be explained by the settlement of large numbers of Sabellaria spinulosa. As the resumption of dredging within the high intensity site limited our assessment of longer-term recovery it is not yet possible to assume that a 7-year biological recovery period will be applicable to other, more intensively dredged areas at this or more distant locations.     

Histopathological alterations in Mya arenaria following a # 2 fuel oil spill in the arthur kill, Elizabeth, New Jersey

Following a 2270000-liter #2 fuel oil spill on 1 January 1990 studies were carried out to evaluate histopathological alterations in a population of Mya arenaria inhabiting an impacted tidal mud flat in the Arthur Kill, Elizabeth, New Jersey. Approximately 30 clams were collected 1 week after the spill and on a monthly basis thereafter. The lesion incidence found in M. arenaria following the spill was compared to a base-line incidence established at the same location during 1988 and 1989. There was an increased incidence of moderate and severe lesions of the digestive gland, gills, and mantle 1 week after the spill, returning to pre-spill levels by 1 month. During the first 3 months post-spill an increase in lesion incidence of the intestines was observed which returned to previous levels by 6 months post-spill. The heart and kidney showed a latent increase in lesion incidence 2 and 3 months following the spill, which by 4 months returned to previous levels. Examination of the gonadal development indicated that ova and sperm development were not adversely affected and spawning occurred both in late spring and late summer. The siphon, gill, stomach, foot muscle, and body epithelium were not found to be adversely affected.     

Measurements of atmospheric dimethyl sulfide and carbon disulfide in the western Atlantic boundary layer

Shipboard measurements of atmospheric dimethyl sulfide were made during two transects along the east coast of the United States and at several stations in the Gulf of Maine. Limited measurements of carbon disulfide and hydrogen sulfide are also reported. The mean DMS mixing ratio was 29 pptv (=25, n=84, median 19 pptv) during the Atlantic transects, and 101 pptv (=67, n=77, median 79 pptv) in the Gulf of Maine. Distinct diurnal variations were found in the DMS data from the transects. The meteorology of the study area appears to control day-to-day differences in the magnitude of these diurnal variations, although rapid daytime oxidation is suggested in some cases. Diurnal variations were also evident in near-shore stations in the Gulf of Maine due to nocturnal boundary-layer inversion. Diurnal variation was not evident at other sites in the Gulf due to large scale changes in the atmospheric circulation pattern, which effectively masked any effects due to oxidation processes. Model simulations confirm that the DMS levels and diurnal variation found during the transects are not consistent with atmospheric oxidation processes alone. Atmospheric CS₂ and H₂S mixing ratios were less than 3 pptv during the transects, except for a single period of higher CS₂ mixing ratios (reaching 11 pptv) during advection of continental air. Calculations of the flux of oceanic sulfur to the eastern United States show that the contribution of natural sulfur to the North American sulfur budget is small compared to anthropogenic sources.