Puzzling mass movement features in the Navarinsky Canyon head,Bering Sea

Two types of morphologic features in the head of Navarinsky Canyon are attributed to mass movement of near-surface sediment. A series of pull-aparts is located downslope of large sand waves. These pull-aparts, possibly induced by liquefaction, affect the upper 5 to 10 m of sandy sediment (water depths 350 to 600 m) on a 1^o slope. A hummocky elongate mound of muddy sand (water depths 550 to 800 m) contains chaotic internal reflectors to a subbottom depth of 30 to 40 m and possibly is the product of a shallow slide. We speculate that Holocene seismicity is the likely triggering mechanism.     

Water transport at subtidal frequencies in the Marsdiep inlet

Long-term time series of subtidal water transport in the 4-km wide Marsdiep tidal inlet in the western Dutch Wadden Sea have been analysed. Velocity data were obtained between 1998 and the end of 2002 with an acoustic Doppler current profiler that was mounted under the hull of the ferry ‘Schulpengat’. Velocities were integrated over the cross-section and low-pass filtered to yield subtidal water transport. A simple analytical model of the connected Marsdiep and Vlie tidal basins was extended to include wind stress and water-level and density gradients and applied to the time series of subtidal water transport. In accordance with the observations, the model calculates a mean throughflow from the Vlie to the Marsdiep basin. The mean water transport through the Marsdiep inlet consists of an export due to tidal stresses and freshwater discharge and an import due to southwesterly winds. In contrast, the variability in the subtidal water transport is mainly governed by wind stress. In particular, southwesterly winds that blow along the main axis of the Marsdiep basin force a throughflow from the Marsdiep to the Vlie basin, whereas northwesterly winds that blow along the main axis of the Vlie basin force a smaller mean water transport in the opposite direction. The contribution of remote sea-level change to the water transport, or coastal sea-level pumping, has been found to be much smaller than the contribution of local wind stress.     

Extending F‐Perceptory to model fuzzy objects with composite geometries for GIS

When analyzing spatial issues, geographers are often confronted with many problems with regard to the imprecision of the available information. It is necessary to develop representation and design methods which are suited to imprecise spatiotemporal data. This led to the recent proposal of the F‐Perceptory approach. F‐Perceptory models fuzzy primitive geometries that are appropriate in representing homogeneous regions. However, the real world often contains cases that are much more complex, describing geographic features with composite structures such as a geometry aggregation or combination. From a conceptual point of view, these cases have not yet been managed with F‐Perceptory. This article proposes modeling fuzzy geographic objects with composite geometries, by extending the pictographic language of F‐Perceptory and its mapping to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) necessary to manage them in object/relational databases. Until now, the most commonly used object modeling tools have not considered imprecise data. The extended F‐Perceptory is implemented under a UML‐based modeling tool in order to support users in fuzzy conceptual data modeling. In addition, in order to properly define the related database design, an automatic derivation process is implemented to generate the fuzzy database model.     

The late Cretaceous Arman flora of Magadan oblast,Northeastern Russia

The Arman flora from the volcanogenic-sedimentary beds of the Arman Formation is systematically studied using materials from the Arman River basin and the Nelkandya-Khasyn interfluve (Magadan oblast, Northeastern Russia). Seventy-three species of fossil plants belonging to 49 genera are described. They consist of liverworts, horsetails, ferns, seed ferns, cycadaleans, bennettitaleans, ginkgoaleans, czekanowskialeans, conifers, gymnosperms of uncertain systematic affinity, and angiosperms. The Arman flora shows a unique combination, with relatively ancient Early Cretaceous ferns and gymnosperms occurring alongside younger Late Cretaceous plants, primarily angiosperms. The similarity of the Arman flora to the Penzhina and Kaivayam floras of northwestern Kamchatka and the Tylpegyrgynai flora of the Pekul’nei Ridge allows the Arman flora to be dated as Turonian and Coniacian (Late Cretaceous), which is corroborated by isotopic (U-Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar) age determination for the plant-bearing layers.     

Ecosystem Engineering Effects of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aster tripolium</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salicornia procumbens</Emphasis> Salt Marsh on Macrofaunal Community Structure

This paper examines how perennial Aster tripolium and annual Salicornia procumbens salt marshes alter the biomass, density, taxon diversity, and community structure of benthic macrofauna, and also examines the role of elevation, sediment grain size, plant cover, and marsh age. Core samples were collected on a fixed grid on an intertidal flat in the Westerschelde estuary (51.4° N, 4.1° E) over 5 years (2004–2008) of salt marsh development. In unvegetated areas, macrobenthic biomass, density, and taxon diversity were highest when elevation was highest, benthic diatoms were most abundant, and sediment median grain size was smallest. In contrast, in salt marsh areas, macrobenthic biomass and taxon diversity increased with median grain size, while the effects of elevation and diatom abundance on macrobenthic biomass, density, and diversity were not significant. In fine sediments, macrofaunal community structure in the salt marsh was particularly affected; common polychaetes such as Nereis diversicolor, Heteromastus filiformis, and Pygospio elegans had low abundance and oligochaetes had high abundance. Marsh age had a negative influence on the density of macrofauna, and A. tripolium stands had lower macrofaunal densities than the younger S. procumbens stands. There were no significant effects of marsh age, plant cover, and vegetation type on macrobenthic biomass, taxon diversity, and community structure. The results highlight that ecosystem engineering effects of salt marsh plants on macrofauna are conditional. Organic enrichment of the sediment and mechanical hindering of macrofaunal activity by plant roots are proposed as plausible mechanisms for the influence of the salt marsh plants on macrofauna.     

Internally consistent geothermometers for garnet peridotites and pyroxenites

Mutual relationships among temperatures estimated with the most widely used geothermometers for garnet peridotites and pyroxenites demonstrate that the methods are not internally consistent and may diverge by over 200°C even in well-equilibrated mantle xenoliths. The Taylor (N Jb Min Abh 172:381–408, 1998) two-pyroxene (TA98) and the Nimis and Taylor (Contrib Mineral Petrol 139:541–554, 2000) single-clinopyroxene thermometers are shown to provide the most reliable estimates, as they reproduce the temperatures of experiments in a variety of simple and natural peridotitic systems. Discrepancies between these two thermometers are negligible in applications to a wide variety of natural samples (≤30°C). The Brey and Köhler (J Petrol 31:1353–1378, 1990) Ca-in-Opx thermometer shows good agreement with TA98 in the range 1,000–1,400°C and a positive bias at lower T (up to +90°C, on average, at T _TA98 = 700°C). The popular Brey and Köhler (J Petrol 31:1353–1378, 1990) two-pyroxene thermometer performs well on clinopyroxene with Na contents of ~0.05 atoms per 6-oxygen formula, but shows a systematic positive bias with increasing Na_Cpx (+150°C at Na_Cpx = 0.25). Among Fe–Mg exchange thermometers, the Harley (Contrib Mineral Petrol 86:359–373, 1984) orthopyroxene–garnet and the recent Wu and Zhao (J Metamorphic Geol 25:497–505, 2007) olivine–garnet formulations show the highest precision, but systematically diverge (up to ca. 150°C, on average) from TA98 estimates at T far from 1,100°C and at T < 1,200°C, respectively; these systematic errors are also evident by comparison with experimental data for natural peridotite systems. The older O’Neill and Wood (Contrib Mineral Petrol 70:59–70, 1979) version of the olivine–garnet Fe–Mg thermometer and all popular versions of the clinopyroxene–garnet Fe–Mg thermometer show unacceptably low precision, with discrepancies exceeding 200°C when compared to TA98 results for well-equilibrated xenoliths. Empirical correction to the Brey and Köhler (J Petrol 31:1353–1378, 1990) Ca-in-Opx thermometer and recalibration of the orthopyroxene–garnet thermometer, using well-equilibrated mantle xenoliths and TA98 temperatures as calibrants, are provided in this study to ensure consistency with TA98 estimates in the range 700–1,400°C. Observed discrepancies between the new orthopyroxene–garnet thermometer and TA98 for some localities can be interpreted in the light of orthopyroxene–garnet Fe³⁺ partitioning systematics and suggest localized and lateral variations in mantle redox conditions, in broad agreement with existing oxybarometric data. Kinetic decoupling of Ca–Mg and Fe–Mg exchange equilibria caused by transient heating appears to be common, but not ubiquitous, near the base of the lithosphere.     

Use of chemical tracers in assessing the diet and foraging regions of eastern North Pacific killer whales

Top predators in the marine environment integrate chemical signals acquired from their prey that reflect both the species consumed and the regions from which the prey were taken. These chemical tracers-stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen; persistent organic pollutant (POP) concentrations, patterns and ratios; and fatty acid profiles-were measured in blubber biopsy samples from North Pacific killer whales (Orcinus orca) (n=84) and were used to provide further insight into their diet, particularly for the offshore group, about which little dietary information is available. The offshore killer whales were shown to consume prey species that were distinctly different from those of sympatric resident and transient killer whales. In addition, it was confirmed that the offshores forage as far south as California. Thus, these results provide evidence that the offshores belong to a third killer whale ecotype. Resident killer whale populations showed a gradient in stable isotope profiles from west (central Aleutians) to east (Gulf of Alaska) that, in part, can be attributed to a shift from off-shelf to continental shelf-based prey. Finally, stable isotope ratio results, supported by field observations, showed that the diet in spring and summer of eastern Aleutian Island transient killer whales is apparently not composed exclusively of Steller sea lions.