Digital Elevation Models of the Bottom in the Operational Oceanography System

Oceanology - A new area of oceanography, operational oceanography, involves a comprehensive assessment and forecast of the variability of the state of the marine environment. This requires...     

Depositional architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Karoo basin floor to shelf edge succession, Laingsburg depocentre, South Africa

The Laingsburg depocentre of the SW Karoo Basin, South Africa preserves a well-exposed 1200 m thick succession of upper Permian strata that record the early filling of a basin during an icehouse climate. Uniformly fine-grained sandstones were derived from far-field granitic sources, possibly in Patagonia, although the coeval staging and delivery systems are not preserved. Early condensed shallow marine deposits are overlain by distal basin plain siltstone-prone turbidites and volcanic ashes. An order of magnitude increase in siliciclastic input to the basin plain is represented by up to 270 m of siltstone with thin sandstone turbidites (Vischkuil Formation). The upper Vischkuil Formation comprises three depositional sequences, each bounded by a regionally developed zone of soft sediment deformation and associated 20-45 m thick debrite that represent the initiation of a major sand delivery system. The overlying 300 m thick sandy basin-floor fan system (Unit A) is divisible into three composite sequences arranged in a progradational-aggradational-retrogradational stacking pattern, followed by up to 40 m of basin-wide hemipelagic claystone. This claystone contains Interfan A/B, a distributive lobe system that lies 10 m beneath Unit B, a sandstone-dominated succession that averages 150 m thickness and is interpreted to represent a toe of slope channelized lobe system. Unit B and the A/B interfan together comprise 4 depositional sequences in a composite sequence with an overall basinward-stepping stacking pattern, overlain by 30 m of hemipelagic claystone. The overlying 400 m thick submarine slope succession (Fort Brown Formation) is characterized by 10-120 m thick sand-prone to heterolithic packages separated by 30-70 m thick claystone units. On the largest scale the slope stratigraphy is defined by two major cycles interpreted as composite sequence sets. The lower cycle comprises lithostratigraphic Units B/C, C and D while the upper cycle includes lithostratigraphic Units D/E, E and F. In each case a sandy basal composite sequence is represented by an intraslope lobe (Units B/C and D/E respectively). The second composite sequence in each cycle (Units C and E respectively) is characterized by slope channel-levee systems with distributive lobes 20-30 km down dip. The uppermost composite sequence in each cycle (Units D and F respectively) are characterised by deeply entrenched slope valley systems. Most composite sequences comprise three sequences separated by thin (<5 m thick) claystones. Architectural style is similar at individual sequence scale for comparable positions within each composite sequence set and each composite sequence. The main control on stratigraphic development is interpreted as late icehouse glacio-eustasy but along-strike changes associated with changing shelf edge delivery systems and variable bathymetry due to differential substrate compaction complicate the resultant stratigraphy.     

花岗岩上发育的亚热带红土岩石磁学特征

本文对发育于花岗岩上的两个亚热带红土剖面进行了系统的岩石磁学研究,测试了磁化率、频率磁化率、等温剩磁、非磁滞剩磁、磁滞回线等常温磁学参数,选取代表性样品进行了高低温岩石磁学分析,拟探讨亚热带红土磁性矿物的特征及湿热环境下土壤中磁性矿物的转化规律。实验结果表明：亚热带红土的强磁性矿物为磁铁矿、磁赤铁矿;弱磁性矿物为赤铁矿和针铁矿,滞水土层中含有纤铁矿。花岗岩具有较强的磁性,在其上发育的红土也因此具有较强的磁性。花岗岩中的亚铁磁性矿物的磁畴以多畴占主导地位,随着风化强度的增强,逐渐形成较细粒的超顺磁与单畴磁性矿物。亚热带红土中的磁赤铁矿与位于半干旱区黄土高原成土作用形成的磁赤铁矿存在着磁学性质上的差异,表现为具有更高的居里点（约600℃和640℃）,可能说明亚热带红土中的磁赤铁矿粒径更粗。两个剖面在磁学性质上存在着明显的差异,泉州剖面磁性矿物以磁铁矿为主,磁化率最高可达1823×10-8m3/kg,平均值为1033.1×10-8m3/kg,具有较低的剩磁矫顽力;福州剖面磁性矿物以磁铁矿和部分热稳定磁赤铁矿为主,磁化率最高为385.73×10-8m3/kg,平均值为91.5×10-8m3/kg。基于磁学参数分析,认为母质与后期成土作用共同造成了两个剖面的磁学性质差异,但后者起主导作用。磁化率在两个剖面中,均随着深度减小而减小,与温带地区表层土磁化率增强有很大区别。湿热环境条件下,强磁性矿物溶解或转化为弱磁性矿物的程度主导剖面磁化率变化。     

Detrital subsidy to the supratidal zone provides feeding habitat for intertidal crabs

Beach-cast wrack of marine origin is considered a spatial subsidy to the marine-terrestrial transition zone. We found that the wrack line on sand and gravel beaches of Vancouver Island was frequented by intertidal purple shore crabs,Hemigrapsus nudus (Dana 1851) and densely colonized by detritivorous talitrid amphipods. Amphipods spend the day buried in sand and forage on beach wrack during the night.H. nudus were found in supratidal wrack putches immediately after nightly high tides in field censuses, but spent most of the day and ebb tides either submerged subtidally or hidden underneath intertidal rocks and boulders. In feeding trials, intertidal shore crabs were capable of preying on talitrid amphipods. We considerH. nudus an omnivore feeding on both fresh and decaying macroalgae as well as animal prey. Although living supratidally, amphipods were significantly preferred over intertidal littorine snails by foraging shore crabs. Handling time of amphipods was significantly shorter than for littorine snails. While amphipods had a reduced risk of predation byH. nudus when buried in the sand, foraging undern eath wrack patches did not reduce predation pressure on amphipods by shore crabs. Rates of amphipod consumption by shore crabs were higher at darkness than daylight. In addition to an apparent day-night rhythm, tidal height and time elapsed since previous high tide had a significant influence on shore crab density wrack. We conclude that beach-cast wrack acts as a spatial subsidy by virtue of providing a valuable food source to talitrid amphipods, which are in turn consumed by shore crabs that ride the nightly high tide into supratidal wrack patches to reduce the risk of passing bare sand on theiry way to a feeding habitat rich in valuable prey.     

Hydraulics of sediment-laden sheetflow and the influence of simulated rainfall

Laminar sheetflows, transporting sediment at their capacity rates, both with and without rainfall disturbance, were investigated. Values of flow depth and relative submergence were very small. In the flows without rainfall, measured velocities exceeded the predictions of the smooth-surface, clear-water laminar model by an average of 12 per cent. Reduced flow resistance due to high sediment concentrations may explain this result. Velocities in the rainfall-disturbed flows were not significantly different from the predictions of the smooth-surface, clear-water model, and the velocity reduction due to rainfall was about 12 per cent. Although the uniformity of rainfall intensity under the single-nozzle rainfall simulator is high, variation of momentum and kinetic energy fluxes along the 1-5 m long flume was significant. The rainfall angle of incidence was highly correlated with deviations from expected flow velocities in the upper and lower sections of the flume.     

Geographical information system approaches for hazard mapping of dilute lahars on Montserrat, West Indies

Many research tools for lahar hazard assessment have proved wholly unsuitable for practical application to an active volcanic system where field measurements are challenging to obtain. Two simple routing models, with minimal data demands and implemented in a geographical information system (GIS), were applied to dilute lahars originating from Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat. Single-direction flow routing by path of steepest descent, commonly used for simulating normal stream-flow, was tested against LAHARZ, an established lahar model calibrated for debris flows, for ability to replicate the main flow routes. Comparing the ways in which these models capture observed changes, and how the different modelled paths deviate can also provide an indication of where dilute lahars, do not follow behaviour expected from single-phase flow models. Data were collected over two field seasons and provide (1) an overview of gross morphological change after one rainy season, (2) details of dominant channels at the time of measurement, and (3) order of magnitude estimates of individual flow volumes. Modelling results suggested both GIS-based predictive tools had associated benefits. Dominant flow routes observed in the field were generally well-predicted using the hydrological approach with a consideration of elevation error, while LAHARZ was comparatively more successful at mapping lahar dispersion and was better suited to long-term hazard assessment. This research suggests that end-member models can have utility for first-order dilute lahar hazard mapping.     

Observation of the solar eclipse 1966 May 20 in the region between 3.2 cm to 2.7 m wavelength

The solar eclipse 1966 May 20 was observed at 3.2, 10, 15, 20, 54, 59 cm, 1.05, 1.34 and 2.7 m wavelength by the observatories of the Heinrich-Hertz-Institut. The meter-wavelength observations were superposed by a noise storm. The result shows a region of enhanced radiation from the plages near the central meridian at the short wavelengths. Consulting additionally the observations made at Kiel, NERA, and Ondejov in the region of about 1.2 m wavelength it is possible to localize the source of the noise storm.     

The relation of Holocene fluvial terraces to changes in climate and sediment supply,South Fork Payette River,Idaho

Well-preserved Holocene terraces along the South Fork Payette River in central Idaho provide a record of fluvial system behavior in a steep mountain watershed characterized by weathered and erodible Idaho Batholith granitic rocks. Terrace deposit ages were provided by ¹⁴C dating of charcoal fragments and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sandy sediments. Along with pairing of many terrace tread heights, these data indicate episodic downcutting during the Holocene, with a mean incision rate of ～0.9 m/ka from ～7 ka to present. Prior to 7 ka, the river incised to within～3 m of current bankfull, but then aggraded by ～5 m over at least a ～10 km-long reach in an episode centered ～7–6 ka. Aggradation may relate to (1) increased hillslope sediment input from landslides and debris flows in steep tributary basins with abundant grussified granitic bedrock, (2) possible local landslide-damming of the channel, (3) decreased peak discharge, or (4) a combination of these factors. Middle Holocene channel aggradation ca. 7–6 ka corresponds with a period of prolonged and widespread aridity in the northern Rocky Mountains. Between ～5 and 1.3 ka, the river aggraded slightly and then remained stable, forming a prominent terrace tread at ～3 m above current bankfull. Modest aggradation to vertical stability of the South Fork Payette River at the 1.5 m terrace level ～1.0–0.7 ka corresponds with large fire-related debris flows in tributaries during Medieval droughts. Three intervals of incision (～5.5–5 ka, 1.3–1.0 ka and 0.5 ka) correspond with frequent but small fire-related sedimentation events and generally cooler, wetter conditions suggesting increased snowmelt runoff discharges. Other possible drivers of channel incision include an increase in stochastic or climate-modulated large storms and floods and a reduction in delivery of hillslope sediment to the channel. Aggradation is more confidently tied to climate through increases in hillslope sediment delivery and (or) decreased stream power, both likely related to warmer, drier conditions (including high-severity fires) that reduce snowmelt and decrease vegetation cover on steep slopes. Thus, the Holocene terraces of the South Fork Payette River do not reflect simple stepwise incision with periods of vertical stability and lateral migration, but record substantial episodes of aggradation as well. We infer that increases in hillslope erosion and mass movements combined with reduced discharges during prolonged droughts episodically reverse the post-glacial trend of downcutting, in particular during the middle Holocene. The present bedrock-dominated channel implies a strong tendency toward incision in the late Holocene.     

Full scale decay test of a tanker: field data and theoretical analysis

This paper presents results from a full scale decay test made with a tanker in a relatively protected area in the Brazilian coast. In at least two tests the environmental loads (wind, waves and current) were very small and the time history of the surge motion was well behaved, making it possible to check some proposed models for the damping in the hull and mooring lines. Field data seem to confirm that the damping is indeed of the fluid viscosity type and the theoretical models are able to recover roughly 75% of the observed damping, the energy dissipation in the mooring lines being, by far, the major contribution. The remaining 25% are likely due to non modeled effects, such as the environment influence, which although small and not measured certainly exists, and to the friction between the mooring lines and the seabed.