Diet of albacore Thunnus alalunga from the waters of Mauritius (western Indian Ocean) inferred from stomach contents and fatty acid analysis

The diet of albacore Thunnus alalunga from their spawning ground in the waters of Mauritius was investigated. The stomach contents of 249 albacore individuals, caught by industrial longliners and artisanal fishers, was analysed, and the dominant prey taxa were selected for lipid and fatty acid (FA) analysis. The FA profiles of prey were compared with those of liver tissue of spawning-capable and post-spawning female albacore, using multivariate analysis. Whereas stomach content analysis identified cephalopods and crustaceans as the dominant prey items in number, FA-profile analysis identified crustaceans and fishes as the most-frequently consumed prey of post-spawning female albacore. In contrast, the FA profiles of spawning-capable albacore and those of prey showed very low similarity. Analysis of the prey suggests that although cephalopods, crustaceans and fishes could all provide albacore with the required lipids and FAs, cephalopod prey seem to be less desirable owing to their lower energy content (i.e. low in total lipid, triacylglycerol, 16:0, 18:0 and 18:1ω9). Instead, the most beneficial food appeared to be locally available fishes, which are more energy-rich and have a higher docosahexaenoic acid/ eicosapentaenoic acid ratio. These results provide new information on the trophic ecology of albacore, promote our understanding of the importance of prey type for successful reproduction of albacore, and highlight the advantages of FA profiling to study diet.     

Offshore permafrost and gas hydrate stability zone on the shelf of East Siberian Seas

Dynamics of the submarine permafrost regime, including distribution, thickness, and temporal evolution, was modeled for the Laptev and East Siberian Sea shelf zones. This work included simulation of the permafrost-related gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ). Simulations were compared with field observations. Model sensitivity runs were performed using different boundary conditions, including a variety of geological conditions as well as two distinct geothermal heat flows (45 and 70 mW/m²). The heat flows used are typical for the coastal lowlands of the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea. Use of two different geological deposits, that is, unconsolidated Cainozoic strata and solid bedrock, resulted in the significantly different magnitudes of permafrost thickness, a result of their different physical and thermal properties. Both parameters, the thickness of the submarine permafrost on the shelf and the related development of the GHSZ, were simulated for the last four glacial-eustatic cycles (400,000 years). The results show that the most recently formed permafrost is continuous to the 60-m isobath; at the greater depths of the outer part of the shelf it changes to discontinuous and patchy permafrost. However, model results suggest that the entire Arctic shelf is underlain by relic permafrost in a state stable enough for gas hydrates. Permafrost, as well as the GHSZ, is currently storing probable significant greenhouse gas sources, especially methane that has formed by the decomposition of gas hydrates at greater depth. During climate cooling and associated marine regression, permafrost aggradation takes place due to the low temperatures and the direct exposure of the shelf to the atmosphere. Permafrost degradation takes place during climate warming and marine transgression. However, the temperature of transgressing seawater in contact with the former terrestrial permafrost landscape remains below zero, ranging from –0.5 to –1.8°C, meaning permafrost degradation does not immediately occur. The submerged permafrost degrades slowly, undergoing a transformation in form from ice bonded terrestrial permafrost to ice bearing submarine permafrost that does not possess a temperature gradient. Finally the thickness of ice bearing permafrost decreases from its lower boundary due to the geothermal heat flow. The modeling indicated several other features. There exists a time lag between extreme states in climatic forcing and associated extreme states of permafrost thickness. For example, permafrost continued to degrade for up to 10,000 years following a temperature decline had begun after a climate optimum. Another result showed that the dynamic of permafrost thickness and the variation of the GHSZ are similar but not identical. For example, it can be shown that in recent time permafrost degradation has taken place at the outer part of the shelf whereas the GHSZ is stable or even thickening.     

Numerical experiments on double-diffusive intrusions in the ocean and their relation to laboratory experiments

Numerical experiments on double-diffusive intrusions are reviewed briefly. Though the number of studies is very limited at present, they have undoubtedly an advantage that a heat–salt system can be studied without undesired heat loss from the boundaries.Several possibilities for future numerical experiments are summarized.     

Sedimentology of a subtidal,tide-dominated sand body in the Yellow Sea,southwest Korea

Odanam Satoe, a subtidal, tide-dominated sand body in the Yellow Sea, Korea, is linear in plan and asymmetrical in cross-section. It consists of fine- to medium-grained, well-sorted subangular sand. Bedforms consist of high-amplitude (1–2 m) sandwaves on the lower flanks of the gentler-sloping bar surface, and medium-amplitude (0.5-1 m) sandwaves on the sand body trough adjoining the steeper face, the bar crest and shallower parts of the gently sloping bar surface. Bedforms are absent on the relatively steeper bar surface, which is characterized by 2° slopes. Bedform orientation on the gentler slope is oblique by 30° to the bar crest, parallel to the sand-body crest on the crest itself, and opposite to the steeper sand-body face in the trough below the steeper slope of the bar.Bottom current velocity data show that tidal currents are semi-rotary with a flood time—velocity asymmetry over the gentler slope, and ebb time—velocity asymmetry over the steeper slope during most of the tidal cycle. Tidal-current flow parallels bar elongation over the steeper slope, whereas over the gentler slope, tidal-current flow is directed at 30° to the bar crest and changes to normal to the crest one hour prior to low tide. Bedform orientation mapped with side-scan sonar shows agreement with these flow directions.Sand dispersal around the sand body is controlled by time—velocity asymmetry and partial rotary flow directions of tidal currents. This circulation causes not only a trapezoidal mode of grain dispersal, but also westerly migration of the sand body documented from comparative bathymetric surveys in 1964 and 1980.     

Interstitial water chemistry of the inner continental shelf sediments off the gironde estuary

The interstitial water composition ( , alkalinity, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Sr²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺) and the cation exchange capacity (CEC) were determined for the muddy sediments of the continental shelf off the Gironde Estuary (France), in the area where the sediment represents the deposit of the muddy suspension of the river. In comparison with seawater concentrations, the pore waters below 10 cm depth, show depletions of and Ca²⁺ and below a 30 cm depth show depletions of Mg²⁺. Inversely, the upper 10 cm an enrichment of Ca²⁺ concentration, and an increase of K⁺ concentration to a 40 cm depth. High values of are observed at the top 4 cm. Alkalinity enrichment is observed along the length of the core. Applying the alkalinity models for the sediment below a 10 cm depth demonstrates generally that calculated alkalinities are higher than the measured ones. Ca²⁺ dissolution occurs at the first 10 cm and authigenic carbonate precipitation starts beneath that level. Mg²⁺ depletion is accompanied by bicarbonate loss. This proves that Mg²⁺ depletion is due to a Mg-silicate reaction. The result of the CEC does not confirm the Mg²⁺ uptake by clay minerals in exchangeable site, under reducing conditions. Diffusion and bioturbation play an important role in the pore water concentration at the top of the core.     

A simple shaker table for seismometer calibration

A unique and simple shaker table (shake table or shaking table), designed, constructed, and installed at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, has proven to be a valuable aid in testing and calibrating short period seismometers, as well as ocean bottom and ocean sub-bottom seismometer/tilt meter packages. It consists of a platform suspended in a stairwell by a single elastic cord (10 m extended length) driven by GeoSpace HS-10 geophones. Platform motion is monitored by orthogonal reference geophones and tilt meters. The relatively low natural periods of the platform, about 1.9 sec vertical and 6.5 sec horizontal, provide sufficient isolation from local vibrations that calibration can be made near operational amplitudes. Vertical or horizontal driver geophones can be driven by a commercial signal generator or white noise generator, or from magnetic tape output. The table can also be tilted with respect to the drivers to determine tilt tolerances and to calibrate tilt meters. A Hewlett-Packard 3582-A spectrum analyzer, used to analyze both reference and output signals, provides near real-time system cabibration and is an efficient means for investigating parasitic system resonances. The analyzer can also provide a white noise signal source to the driver geophones.Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Contribution 1443.     

Sediment-starved sand ridges on a mixed carbonate/siliciclastic inner shelf off west-central Florida

High-resolution side-scan mosaics, sediment analyses, and physical process data have revealed that the mixed carbonate/siliciclastic, inner shelf of west-central Florida supports a highly complex field of active sand ridges mantled by a hierarchy of bedforms. The sand ridges, mostly oriented obliquely to the shoreline trend, extend from 2 km to over 25 km offshore. They show many similarities to their well-known counterparts situated along the US Atlantic margin in that both increase in relief with increasing water depth, both are oriented obliquely to the coast, and both respond to modern shelf dynamics. There are significant differences in that the sand ridges on the west-central Florida shelf are smaller in all dimensions, have a relatively high carbonate content, and are separated by exposed rock surfaces. They are also shoreface-detached and are sediment-starved, thus stunting their development. Morphological details are highly distinctive and apparent in side-scan imagery due to the high acoustic contrast. The seafloor is active and not a relict system as indicated by: (1) relatively young AMS ¹⁴C dates (<1600 yr BP) from forams in the shallow subsurface (1.6 meters below seafloor), (2) apparent shifts in sharply distinctive grayscale boundaries seen in time-series side-scan mosaics, (3) maintenance of these sharp acoustic boundaries and development of small bedforms in an area of constant and extensive bioturbation, (4) sediment textural asymmetry indicative of selective transport across bedform topography, (5) morphological asymmetry of sand ridges and 2D dunes, and (6) current-meter data indicating that the critical threshold velocity for sediment transport is frequently exceeded. Although larger sand ridges are found along other portions of the west-central Florida inner shelf, these smaller sand ridges are best developed seaward of a major coastal headland, suggesting some genetic relationship. The headland may focus and accelerate the N–S reversing currents. An elevated rock terrace extending from the headland supports these ridges in a shallower water environment than the surrounding shelf, allowing them to be more easily influenced by currents and surface gravity waves. Tidal currents, storm-generated flows, and seasonally developed flows are shore-parallel and oriented obliquely to the NW–SE trending ridges, indicating that they have developed as described by the Huthnance model. Although inner shelf sand ridges have been extensively examined elsewhere, this study is the first to describe them in a low-energy, sediment-starved, dominantly mixed siliciclastic/carbonate sedimentary environment situated on a former limestone platform.     

Effect of free surface and strut on fins attached to a strut

An extensive experimental and computational investigation of the combined and separate effects of free surface and body on the lift characteristics of a pair of fins attached to a strut and fin alone is conducted. The results reveal that the free-surface effect becomes significant when the depth of submergence to chord ratio (H/c) is less than three. The effect of the strut is also realized for shallower depth of submergence of the fins through free-surface deformation leading to a significant change in the incidence angle of the flow to the fins. The numerical results based on the Higher Order Boundary Element Method with the linearized free-surface condition show good agreement with the experimental results for fin (foil) alone even at shallow submergence, but some discrepancies appear for the fin attached to the strut at higher speeds mostly due to the neglect of the nonlinear free-surface effect.