Mixed terrigenous—Carbonate sedimentation in the Hispaniola—Caicos turbidite basin

Sedimentation in the 9500 km², 4100 m deep Hispaniòla—Caicos Basin is dominated by turbidity currents. Carbonate turbidites originate from the Bahama Islands, Great Inagua and Caicos at the north end of the basin. Mixed carbonate—non-carbonate flows come from Hispaniola and perhaps Cuba. Most flows originate on insular slopes rather than in shallow water. The relatively low CaCO₃ content of hemipelagic sequences throughout the entire basin reveals that the influence of non-carbonate Hispaniola—Cuba sources is widespread.The basin was sampled with closely spaced piston cores. Sand-layer isopach and frequency maps reveal four or five major basin entry points for turbidity currents. Flow size is proportional to the size of source areas. Average volumes of flows originating from Hispaniola—Cuba, the largest source, are 10⁹ m³. This compares to an average flow volume of 10⁶ m³ for flows derived from the smallest source area, the Southeastern Caicos Bank. Measures of turbidity-current activity, such as thickness and frequency, change in a regular fashion away from each entry point. Average lutite thickness (combining hemipelagic and turbiditic lutite) are greatest near the basin entry points. On the abyssal plain occupying the south half of the basin, Bouma turbidite sedimentary structure sequences tend to be complete. However, on the Caicos Fan, the sedimentary structure sequences in turbidites are characterized by missing or repeated units. Six radiocarbon dates of two widespread presumed pelagic units in the basin yielded younger dates in stratigraphically older positions. The reversed dates are assumed to reflect storm erosion of older sediment on adjacent insular shelves.Consideration of a north—south reflection seismic profile over the basin indicates that the present sediment regimen has pertained through much of the Neogene. The coherence, convergence and termination of reflections in the seismic section are consistent with and tend to confirm conclusions based on the core study regarding the greater extent and volume of sediment deposits derived from the Hispaniola source area.     

Use of Rhodamine water tracer in the marshland upwelling system

Rhodamine water tracer (RWT) was used to characterize the migration of waste water within the saline subsurface of a marshland upwelling system (MUS), which is an alternative on-site waste water treatment system for coastal areas. Field tracer studies were performed to investigate the fresh waste water plume movement within the saline ground water. Pore velocities were calculated using first detection times and ranged from 0.68 to 10.7 x 10(-4) cm/sec for the loamy sandy soil matrix present at the site. Use of RWT in the field also allowed determination of main and preferential flowpaths. One- and two-dimensional laboratory experiments were performed using silica sand to investigate the interactions of the organically rich waste water with RWT within the zone surrounding the point of injection (one-dimensional) and the impact of background salinity on plume movement (two-dimensional). The results from these studies were used to help explain the field data. One-dimensional breakthrough curves revealed retardation factors for the RWT in the waste water mixture of 1.73 to 1.90. These results were similar to other researchers, indicating little interaction between the waste water and RWT. Variations in pore water salinity (5, 15, 25, and 35 ppt) were found to have a significant effect on pore water velocities of the fresh water plume (two-dimensional), indicating the need to incorporate background salinities into the design process for MUS.     

Anisotropy of > 35keV ions in corotating particle events at 1 AU

The anisotropy of 35–1000 keV ions in two corotating particle events associated with high-speed solar wind streams at 1 AU is examined in terms of the diffusion-convection propagation model using data from the Energetic Proton Anisotropy Spectrometer on ISEE-3. The calculated diffusive anisotropy in the solar wind frame is found to be sunward and closely field-aligned, with a nearly energy-independent magnitude of ～ 40%. For one stream, using the Voyager 2 data of Decker et al. (1981), a positive gradient of ～ 100%/AU is found for ? 50 keV ions between 1 and 4 AU. The observations do not appear to support the scatter-free propagation model and indicate that ions with energies as low as a few tens of keV may be in diffusive equilibrium with the solar wind in this class of events.     

Partitioning of rainfall in a eucalypt forest and pine plantation in southeastern australia: IV the relationship of interception and canopy storage capacity,the interception of these forests,and the effect on interception of thinning the pine plantation

A study of partitioning of rainfall into throughfall, stemflow, and interception was conducted in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest and an adjacent pine plantation over a period of seven years, on a rainfall event basis. The following three issues are discussed: (1) the relationship between canopy storage capacity and interception of continuous events, (2) interception, throughfall, and stemflow, and (3) the effect on interception of thinning the pine plantation.

• 1 The canopy storage capacity/interception interaction for the eucalypt forest was assessed by comparing a gravimetric estimate of canopy storage capacity with interception. The maximum possible value for canopy storage capacity was found to be a small proportion of interception for events of all sizes. This suggests that evaporation of intercepted water during the continuous events was responsible for most of the interception. This ‘within event’ evaporation appears to be responsible also for the net rainfall/gross rainfall estimate of canopy storage capacity being four times the gravimetric value. For the pines the regression estimate was more closely related to interception.
• 2 Interception, throughfall, and stemflow of these forests were measured for four years. Data are presented for each year with overall average interception being 11-4 per cent of precipitation for the eucalypt forest and 18-3 per cent for the pine plantation. Topography and rainfall event type are considered in the comparison.

Species composition and tree type are considered when comparing these results with published studies from similar forest types in southeastern Australia. The periodic (annual) variations of interception in this and the other studies makes comparison difficult.

• 3 The effect of thinning on the throughfall, stemflow, and interception in a Pinus radiata plantation is examined. Throughfall increased, interception decreased but not in proportion to the removed biomass; stemflow decreased on an area basis, but increased on a per tree basis. A positive relationshiip is established between interception and stemflow on the thinned plantation but not in the unthinned. Reasons for this are suggested. The results are compared to those reported from similar experiments in other forests.
• 4 The periodic variations in interception and errors inherent in its estimation suggest that caution should be exercised when using average interception figures in water balance studies.

     

The transformation of the British building society movement: Managerial divisions and corporate reorganization, 1986–1997

The paper examines the impact of re-regulation of the British building society industry, between 1986 and 1997. Re-regulation of retail financial markets has split the building society movement between those, mainly large societies, which regard regulation as too restrictive and have decided to become more broadly-based public-limited companies, and the remaining, predominantly medium and smaller-sized building societies, that intend to continue to focus on personal savings and mortgage business. Both sets of companies are pursuing a strategy of consolidation in response to the more competitive environment promoted by regulatory change. The analysis of this restructuring provides a different perspective on the British financial sector, because unlike most of the financial sector, the building society movement is northern-based. Nevertheless, analysis of branch networks suggests that large societies are being attracted to the South East by the higher levels of income and wealth in that area. In contrast, branch closures have been mainly in smaller urban centres, in the north and west of Britain. It seems, however, in the short term at least, that this rationalization is unlikely to be on the scale found in the banking sector.     

Response of epiphytic foraminiferal communities to natural eutrophication in seagrass habitats off Man O'War Cay, Belize

Eutrophication from a variety of anthropogenic sources is an increasingly prevalent problem in coastal waters, and is one of the factors contributing to the decline of seagrass ecosystems worldwide. This study investigated the impact of natural nutrient enrichment derived from nesting seabird colonies on Man O'War Cay, Belize, on the epiphytic foraminiferal communities living on the seagrass Thalasssia testudinum. Man O'War Cay, a small mangrove island in the central region of the barrier reef complex, hosts nesting colonies of magnificent frigate birds and brown boobies. Epiphytic foraminiferans were surveyed from five stations spaced at 10‐m intervals along a 40‐m transect in a seagrass meadow located off the eastern end of the island (March 2004). Low species diversity and high dominance of the encrusting, dendritic species Cornuspiramia antillarum characterized the epiphytic foraminiferal biota. Species diversity, as measured by the Shannon's H, and evenness, as measured by Buzas–Gibson's E, decreased in an offshore direction. The density of individuals per square centimeter of blade, however, increased in an offshore direction, with the lowest values observed at the station closest to the island, and the highest values recorded at the station farthest from the shore. The results obtained in this study indicate that epiphytic foraminiferal populations respond to nutrient enrichment, and thus may be useful indicators of ecosystem decline in subtropical–tropical, oligotrophic marine habitats.     

Tests of models for high-frequency seafloor backscatter

The interaction of high-frequency sound with the seafloor is inherently a stochastic process. Inversion techniques must, therefore employ good stochastic models for bottom acoustic scattering. An assortment of physical models for bottom backscattering strength is tested by comparison with scattering strength data obtained at 40 kHz at three shallow water sites spanning a range of sediment types from fine silt to coarse sand. These acoustic data are accompanied by sediment physical property data obtained by core sample analysis and in situ probes. In addition, stereo photography was used to measure the power spectrum of bottom relief on centimeter scales. These physical data provided the inputs needed to test the backscatter models, which treat scattering from both the rough sediment-water interface and the sediment volume. For the three sites considered here, the perturbation model for scattering from a slightly rough fluid seafloor performs well. Volume scattering is predicted to be weak except at a site having a layer of methane bubbles