Spatial and diurnal distribution of invertebrate and fish fauna of a Zostera marina bed and nearby unvegetated sediments in Damariscotta River, Maine (USA)

Fish, epibenthos and macroinfauna were collected in a Zostera marina bed and nearby unvegetated sediments in the estuary of the Damariscotta River, on the mid-coast of Maine. Samples of epibenthic fauna and fish were collected at low tides both during day and night, and samples of infauna at low tides during the day. The mean density of Zostera shoots in the study area was 335 m⁻². Abundance and species number of fish were greater at night than during the day and greater in eelgrass beds (Z. marina) than in unvegetated habitats. Daytime fish collections were dominated by Atlantic silversides (Medinia medinia), while juvenile winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) dominated night collections. Also Zostera-associated epifaunal abundances and number of species were significantly higher at night than during the day. Mysis stenolepis, Idotea balthica and Littorina obtusata were dominant species in the epifauna samples. Of the total of 37 invertebrate species encountered, only five occurred both in the infaunal and epifaunal samples. Nineteen different taxa were collected from the benthic core samples. The most abundant invertebrate infaunal taxa were sipunculids, the polychaete Nereis virens, and oligochaetes. Infaunal invertebrate abundances and species diversity were significantly higher in eelgrass beds than in unvegetated sediments. The abundance and number of species of benthic invertebrates were also positively correlated to seagrass biomass. Community diversity values (H′) were relatively low but fit well in the general pattern of decreasing diversity towards northern latitudes.     

Oxygen and organic carbon fluxes in sediments of the Bay of Biscay

The relationship between particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations measured in modern sediment and fluxes of exported POC to the sediment surface needs to be understood in order to use POC content as a proxy of paleo-environmental conditions. The objective of our study was to compare POC concentrations, POC mineralization rates calculated from O₂ consumption and POC burial rates. Benthic O₂ distributions were determined in 58 fine-grained sediment cores collected at different periods at 14 stations in the southeastern part of the Bay of Biscay with depths ranging from 140 to 2800 m. Depth-dependent volume-specific oxygen consumption rates were used to assess rates of aerobic oxidation of organic matter (OM), assuming that O₂ consumption solely was related to heterotrophic activity at the sediment–water interface. Heterogeneity of benthic O₂ fluxes denoted changes in time and space of fresh organic material sedimentation. The most labile fraction of exported POC engendered a steep decrease in concentration in the upper 5 mm of vertical O₂ profiles. The rupture in the gradient of O₂ microprofile may be related to the bioturbation-induced mixing depth of fast-decaying carbon. Average diffusive O₂ fluxes showed that this fast-decaying OM flux was much higher than buried POC, although diffusive O₂ fluxes underestimated the total sediment oxygen demand, and thus the fast-decaying OM flux to the sediment surface. Sedimentary POC burial was calculated from sediment mass accumulation rate and the organic carbon content measured at the top of the sediment. The proportion of buried POC relative to total exported POC ranged at the most between 50% and 10%, depending on station location. Therefore, for a narrow geographic area like the Bay of Biscay, burial efficiency of POC was variable. A fraction of buried POC consisted of slow-decaying OM that was mineralized within the upper decimetres of sediment through oxic and anoxic processes. This fraction was deduced from the decrease with depth in POC concentration. At sites located below 500 m water depth, where the fast-decaying carbon did not reach the anoxic sediment, the slow-decaying pool may control the O₂ penetration depth. Only refractory organic material was fossilized in sedimentary records at locations where labile OM did not reach the anoxic portion of the sediment.     

Constraints on spatial variability in soft-sediment communities affected by contamination from an Antarctic waste disposal site

A small-scale (<500 m length) transect-based survey was conducted in December 1998 to examine the spatial distribution of soft-sediment communities and of concentrations of heavy metals and hydrocarbons in sediments in Brown Bay, adjacent to an abandoned waste dump, at Casey Station, Antarctica. Samples were taken along three transects at increasing distances (nine stations) from the shore-line waste dump. A gradient of contamination was detected, but concentrations of contaminants were very variable with "hotspots" or high levels of contaminants at some stations. Multivariate analysis revealed that the distribution of soft-sediment communities was distinctly different between the inner, middle and outer stations. Abundances of most taxa were very variable with few patterns apparent, but some fauna displayed an abundance gradient from the inner to the outer part of the bay. Many taxa had maximum abundances at outer stations and minimum at inner stations. Multivariate correlations between environmental variables and soft-sediment communities indicated that combinations of some metals (Cd, Cu, Sn, Pb) and grain size (mainly finer fractions, fine sands and coarse silts) were the variables that best "matched" the community patterns within Brown Bay. This study indicated that there were significant correlations between the presence of contaminants and the distribution and composition of soft-sediment communities over very small spatial scales.     

臭氧和平流层动力学的相互作用

讨论了给定的南极春季臭氧洞(取自1979—1985年臭氧减少的观测结果)对二维平流层—对流层模式中温度和环流的影响。11月份,南极上空约17km处,温度最多可降低6℃。这种温度变化引起的平均经向环流对臭氧洞起填塞作用,不过,这种影响很小,每年仅产生14DU的变化。观测事实表明,近年来10月份,南半球波活动减弱。为此,我们作了南半球波作用全年都减少一半,并考虑了臭氧洞的数值试验。结果表明,臭氧柱在11月份76°S减少了44DU,在赤道却增加了12DU。     

The Neogene and Quaternary of England: landscape evolution,tectonics, climate change and their expression in the geological record

During the Neogene and Quaternary, tectonic and climatic processes have had a profound impact upon landscape evolution in England and, perhaps as far back as 0.9 Ma, patterns of early human occupation. Until the Late Miocene, large-scale plate tectonic processes were the principal drivers of landscape evolution causing localised basin inversion and widespread exhumation. This drove, in places, the erosion of several kilometres of Mesozoic cover rocks and the development of a regional unconformity across England and the North Sea Basin. By the Pliocene, the relative influence of tectonics on landscape evolution waned as the background tectonic stress regime evolved and climatic influences became more prominent. Global-scale climate-forcing increased step-wise during the Plio-Pleistocene amplifying erosional and depositional processes that operated within the landscape. These processes caused differential unloading (uplift) and loading (subsidence) of the crust (‘denudational isostasy’) in areas undergoing net erosion (upland areas and slopes) and deposition (basins). Denudational isostasy amplified during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (c.0.9 Ma) as landscapes become progressively synchronised to large-scale 100 ka ‘eccentricity’ climate forcing. Over the past 0.5 Ma, this has led to the establishment of a robust climate record of individual glacial/interglacial cycles enabling comparison to other regional and global records. During the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition and early Holocene (c.16–7 ka), evidence for more abrupt (millennial/centennial) scale climatic events has been discovered. This indicates that superimposed upon the longer-term pattern of landscape evolution is a more dynamic response of the landscape to local and regional drivers.     

Fluvial process and the establishment of bottomland trees

The effects of river regulation on bottomland tree communities in western North America have generated substantial concern because of the important habitat and aesthetic values of these communities. Consideration of such effects in water management decisions has been hampered by the apparent variability of responses of bottomland tree communities to flow alteration. When the relation between streamflow and tree establishment is placed in a geomorphic context, however, much of that variability is explained, and prediction of changes in the tree community is improved.The relation between streamflow and establishment of bottomland trees is conditioned by the dominant fluvial process or processes acting along a stream. For successful establishment, cottonwoods, poplars, and willows require bare, moist surfaces protected from disturbance. Channel narrowing, channel meandering, and flood deposition promote different spatial and temporal patterns of establishment. During channel narrowing, the site requirements are met on portions of the bed abandoned by the stream, and establishment is associated with a period of low flow lasting one to several years. During channel meandering, the requirements are met on point bars following moderate or higher peak flows. Following flood deposition, the requirements are met on flood deposits ;high above the channel bed. Flood deposition can occur along most streams, but where a channel is constrained by a narrow valley, this process may be the only mechanism that can produce a bare, moist surface high enough to be safe from future disturbance. Because of differences in local bedrock, tributary influence, or geologic history, two nearby reaches of the same stream may be dominated by different fluvial processes and have different spatial and temporal patterns of trees. We illustrate this phenomenon with examples from forests of plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides ssp. monilifera) along meandering and constrained reaches of the Missouri River in Montana.     

English Jurassic Limestone Country: Stroud,Central Cotswolds

The area around Stroud, a small English market town perched on the steep west‐facing Cotswold escarpment, offers some of the most dramatic outcrops of Jurassic limestone in the UK. From sweeping vistas of the Severn Vale, to the deeply wooded river valleys that indent the escarpment, its landscape is undeniably one of the area's greatest assets. Recently, the geology and physiography of the landscape has been drawn into close focus by several notable UK media stories: protests against hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the underlying Lias clays; landslides causing weeks of repeated disruption across the Cotswold road and railway networks; and the recent death of a local engineer in a pit collapse of Fuller's Earth. In order to understand these stories in greater depth, it is useful to consider the story of Stroud's unique physical setting.     

Observations of the Labrador Sea eddy field

This paper is an observational study of small-scale coherent eddies in the Labrador Sea, a region of dense water formation thought to be of considerable importance to the North Atlantic overturning circulation. Numerical studies of deep convection emphasize coherent eddies as a mechanism for the lateral transport of heat, yet their small size has hindered observational progress. A large part of this paper is therefore devoted to developing new methods for identifying and describing coherent eddies in two observational platforms, current meter moorings and satellite altimetry. Details of the current and water mass structure of individual eddy events, as they are swept past by an advecting flow, can then be extracted from the mooring data. A transition is seen during mid-1997, with long-lived boundary current eddies dominating the central Labrador Sea year-round after this time, and convectively formed eddies similar to those seen in deep convection modeling studies apparent prior to this time. The TOPEX / Poseidon altimeter covers the Labrador Sea with a loose “net” of observations, through which coherent eddies can seem to appear and disappear. By concentrating on locating and describing anomalous events in individual altimeter tracks, a portrait of the spatial and temporal variability of the underlying eddy field can be constructed. The altimeter results reveal an annual “pulsation” of energy and of coherent eddies originating during the late fall at a particular location in the boundary current, pinpointing the time and place of the boundary current-type eddy formation. The interannual variability seen at the mooring is reproduced, but the mooring site is found to be within a localized region of greatly enhanced eddy activity. Notably lacking in both the annual cycle and interannual variability is a clear relationship between the eddies or eddy energy and the intensity of wintertime cooling. These eddy observations, as well as hydrographic evidence, suggest an active role for boundary current dynamics in shaping the energetics and water mass properties of the interior region.     

Hydraulic and flood-loss modeling of levee,floodplain, and river management strategies,Middle Mississippi River,USA

In this investigation, four scenarios were used to quantify the balance between the benefits of levees for flood protection and their potential to increase flood risk using Hazards U.S. Multi-Hazard flood-loss software and hydraulic modeling of the Middle Mississippi River (MMR). The goals of this study were (1) to quantify the flood exposure under different flood-control configurations and (2) to assess the relative contributions of various engineered structures and flood-loss strategies to potential flood losses. Removing all the flood-control structures along the MMR, without buyouts or other mitigation, reduced the average flood stages between 2.3 m (100-year flood) and 2.5 m (500-year), but increased the potential flood losses by $4.3–6.7 billion. Removing the agricultural levees downstream of St. Louis decreased the flood stages through the metro region by ~1.0 m for the 100- and 500-year events; flood losses, without buyouts or other mitigation, were increased by $4.3–6.7 billion. Removing the agricultural levees downstream of St. Louis decreased the flood stages through the metro region by ~1.0 m for the 100- and 500-year events; flood losses, without buyouts or other mitigation, were increased by 155 million for the 100-year flood, but were decreased by $109 million for the 500-year flood. Thus, agricultural levees along the MMR protect against small- to medium-size floods (up to the ~100-year flood level) but cause more damage than they prevent during large floods such as the 500-year flood. Buyout costs for the all the buildings within the 500-year floodplain downstream of urban flood-control structures near St. Louis are ~40% less than the cost of repairing the buildings damaged by the 500-year flood. This suggests large-scale buyouts could be the most cost-effective option for flood loss mitigation for properties currently protected by agricultural levees.     

The effective number of cycles of earthquake ground motion

The seismic response of any system that accumulates damage under cyclic loading is dependent not only on the maximum amplitude of the motion but also its duration. This is explicitly recognized in methods for estimating the liquefaction potential of soil deposits. Many researchers have proposed that the effective number of cycles of the ground motion is a more robust indicator of the destructive capacity of the shaking than the duration. However, as is the case with strong‐motion duration, there is no universally accepted approach to determining the effective number of cycles of motion, and the different methods that have been proposed can give widely varying results for a particular accelerogram. Definitions of the effective number of cycles of motion are reviewed, classified and compared. Measurements are found to differ particularly for accelerograms with broad‐banded frequency content, which contain a significant number of non‐zero crossing peaks. The key seismological parameters influencing the number of cycles of motion and associated equations for predicting this quantity for future earthquakes are identified. Correlations between cycle counts and different duration measures are explored and found to be rather poor in the absence of additional parameters. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.