Occurrence of juvenile Atlantic sturgeon,Acipenser oxyrhynchus,in the upper tidal Delaware River

Eighty-nine juvenile Atlantic sturgeon,Acipenser oxyrhynchus oxyrhynchus, including 10 recaptures, were collected, tagged and released in the upper tidal Delaware River between July 1981 and December 1984. All were captured in the river channel between Roebling and Trenton, New Jersey, using bottom-set experimental gill nets during daylight hours. The species was present from July through December and collected in increased numbers in the past two years. The fork lengths ranged from 284 to 862 mm (mean±SD = 516 mm±106 mm) and the weights from 140 to 4,250 g (mean±SD = 1,369 g±815 g). Ten juvenile Atlantic sturgeon were recaptured between September 1983 and December 1984 and were at large from one to 418 d. Recapture data suggest that these sturgeon utilize this area annually from July through December, possibly as a nursery. Juvenile Atlantic sturgeon appear to utilize the upper tidal portion of the Delaware River for a much longer period of time and at lower temperatures than in other river systems.     

Pressure dependence of melt viscosities on the join diopside-albite

The pressure dependence of melt viscosities on the join diopside-albite has been studied using falling-sphere viscometry. The five melt compositions investigated are: diopside, Ab₂₅Di₇₅, Ab₅₀Di₅₀, Ab₇₅Di₂₅ and albite. Experiments were performed at 1500° and 1600°C and at pressures of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 kbar. The positive and negative pressure dependence of the viscosity of diopside and albite, respectively, were confirmed. All intermediate compositions show an initial decrease in viscosity with increasing pressure; however, melt of Ab₂₅Di₇₅ composition passes through a minimum viscosity at approximately 12 kbar and 1600°C. This behavior is analogous to the variation in the viscosity of water with pressure at low temperature.

It is suggested that the three-dimensional, fully polymerized, albite structure dominates flow at low pressures. With increasing pressure, disruption of this structure and decrease in the average size of the flow units leads to domination by the diopside structure. The variation in viscosity with composition along the join at one atmosphere can be adequately modelled using the and (1965) configurational entropy model with an additional two-lattice configurational entropy of mixing term. The pressure dependence of viscosity in the diopside-albite system, however, cannot be predicted by the model, because there is an absence of information on the pressure dependence of the model parameters.

It is probable that relatively polymerized magmas (e.g. rhyolites to SiO₂-saturated basalts) show a negative pressure dependence of viscosity to depths where they originate in the lower crust or upper mantle. In contrast, the most depolymerized, naturally-occurring melts, such as strongly SiO₂-undersaturated basalts and picrites, may exhibit a viscosity minimum. The viscosity of these melts may be sufficiently high at depths within the upper mantle to inhibit their segregation, rise and eventual eruption at the surface.     

Geomorphic evolution of the Southern Alps,New Zealand

The Southern Alps are the topographic expression of late Cenozoic (<8 Ma ago) uplift of the crust of the leading edge of the Pacific plate in South Island, New Zealand. New fission track data on the basement exposed in the Southern Alps quantify the age, amount, and rate of rock uplift, and in combination with geomorphic parameters permit the construction of a new model of the geomorphic evolution of the Southern Alps. The model emphasizes the development over time and space of rock uplift, mean surface elevation, exhumation of crustal section, and relief. The earliest indications of mean surface uplift are between 4 and 5 Ma ago at the Alpine Fault. Mean surface uplift, which lagged the start of rock uplift, propagated southeastward from the Alpine Fault at a rate of 30 km/Ma. By about 4 Ma ago, exhumation had exposed greywacke basement adjacent to and east of the entire 300 km long central section of the Alpine Fault. At 3 Ma ago, greenschist was exposed in the southern parts of the Southern Alps near Lake Wanaka, and since then has become exhumed along a narrow strip east of the Alpine Fault. The model infers that amphibolite grade schist has been exhumed adjacent to the Alpine Fault only in the last 0·3 Ma. The age of the start of rock uplift and the amount and rate of rock uplift, all of which vary spatially, are considered to be the dominant influences on the development of the landscape in the Southern Alps. The Southern Alps have been studied in terms of domains of different rock uplift rate. At present the rate of rock uplift varies from up to 8–10 mm/a adjacent to the Alpine Fault to 0·8–1·0 mm/a along the southeastern margin of the Southern Alps. This spectrum can be divided into two domains, one northwest of the Main Divide where the present rock uplift rates are very high (up to 8–10 mm/a) and exceed the long-term value of 0·8–1·0 mm/a, and another to the southeast of the Main Divide where the long-term rate is 0·8–1·0 mm/a. A domain of no uplift lies immediately to the east of the Southern Alps, and is separated from them by a 1·0–1·5 km step in the basement topography. We argue that this spatial sequence of uplift rate domains represents a temporal one. The existing models of the geomorphic development of the Southern Alps—the dynamic cuesta model of J. Adams and the numerical model of P. Koons—are compared with the new data and evolutionary model. Particular constraints unrealized by these two earlier models include the following: the earlier timing of the start of rock uplift of the Southern Alps (8 Ma ago); the spatial variation in the timing of the start of rock uplift (8 Ma ago to 3 Ma ago); the lower long-term rock uplift rate (0·8–1·0 mm/a) of the Southern Alps for most of the late Cenozoic; the lag between the start of rock uplift and the start of mean surface uplift; and the patterns of the amounts of late Cenozoic rock uplift and erosion across the Southern Alps.     

Geochemical Indicators of Intrinsic Bioremediation

A detailed field investigation has been completed at a gasoline-contaminated aquifer near Rocky Point, NC, to examine possible indicators of intrinsic bioremediation and identify factors that may significantly influence the rate and extent of bioremediation. The dissolved plume of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) in ground water is naturally degrading. Toluene and o-xylene are most rapidly degraded followed by m-, p-xylene, and benzene. Ethylbenzene appears to degrade very slowly under anaerobic conditions present in the center of the plume. The rate and extent of biodegradation appears to be strongly influenced by the type and quantity of electron acceptors present in the aquifer. At the upgradient edge of the plume, nitrate, ferric iron, and oxygen are used as terminal electron acceptors during hydrocarbon biodegradation. The equivalent of 40 to 50 mg/I of hydrocarbon is degraded based on the increase in dissolved CO₂ relative to background ground water. Immediately downgradient of the source area, sulfate and iron are the dominant electron acceptors. Toluene and o-xylene are rapidly removed in this region. Once the available oxygen, nitrate, and sulfate are consumed, biodegradation is limited and appears to be controlled by mixing and aerobic biodegradation at the plume fringes.     

Kohala revisited

We present new isotopic data for Sr and Nd in basalts and alkalic volcanics from Kohala volcano, Hawaii, which had previously been described by Feigenson et al. (1983). These data complement our own isotopic data presented in that paper and those given in the companion paper by Lanphere and Frey (1986). We show that in spite of appearances to the contrary, there is no significant analytical bias in our previously published analyses. Accidental sampling bias and one erroneous value prevented us from recognizing the isotopic heterogeneity in our previously published data. The new data both confirm the Sr-isotopic distinction between Pololu and Hawi volcanics discovered by Lanphere and Frey and narrow the gap between them significantly. The two data sets agree for the Hawi samples, but the mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr=0.703651±13 for our Pololu basalts is significantly lower than the mean ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr= 0.703748±18 found by Lanphere and Frey. The Ndisotopic ratios are also heterogeneous, but they overlap for the two formations. We agree with the assessment of Lanphere and Frey that some of our samples originally classified as belonging to the Hawi Formation are actually derived from the uppermost Pololu Formation, but with some stratigraphic ambiguities remaining.We believe that our previous results of inverse modelling are valid for the tholeiitic and moderately alkalic Pololu Formation despite the isotopic heterogeneity because this heterogeneity does not correlate with the trace element chemistry of the Pololu samples.The severe depletion of Sc, which correlates with decreasing CaO/Al₂O₃ ratios and increasing Yb concentrations, confirms the importance of clinopyroxene fractionation in the evolved lavas of the Hawi Formation. In addition, apatite precipitation did fractionate the P/Ce ratios in the more evolved Hawi lavas, but its effect on the REE abundances is still uncertain and may not be significant.The MgO — P₂O₅ plot of Lanphere and Frey does not provide compelling evidence against a simple genetic relationship between Pololu and Hawi lavas. The internal consistency of the (fractionation corrected) trace element ratios such as Ba/Ce indicates that Ba is depleted in both the Hawi and the Pololu sources and that these sources do have similar chemistry.Finally, we show that contrary to the conclusions of Lanphere and Frey the REE patterns of Kohala volcanics can be generated from sources with only slightly negatively sloping REE patterns without involvement of garnet, as was indicated by the formal inversion analysis. Models which include garnet yield more highly anomalous source abundance patterns and calculated bulk-source partition coefficients which are inconsistent with the presence of garnet. The persistence of residual garnet is also inconsistent with the absence of significant heavy-REE fractionation among the Pololu basalts.     

Occurrence and distribution of shortnose sturgeon,Acipenser brevirostrum,in the upper tidal Delaware River

Sampling in the upper tidal Delaware River between Trenton, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 1981 through December 1984 demonstrated the existence of a significant population of shortnose sturgeon. The sturgeon aggregate in the river channel during daylight hours, especially in the area between Trenton and Florence, New Jersey (river km 211.8 to 198.8). Occurrence in the river downstream of Florence appears to be restricted by poor water quality during summer months. Sturgeon were present in the study area throughout the year, but largest numbers were collected from May though November. No spawning was observed during this study, but presence of males with milt suggests that spawning possibly occurs in the Trenton area. Preliminary population estimates (Peterson, Schnabel and Seber-Jolly) indicate an adult population of approximately 6,000–14,000 shortnose sturgeon occupying the upper tidal Delaware River.     

Late Cretaceous genesis of the Kula plate

We propose that the Pacific-Kula ridge began spreading approximately 85 m.y. B.P., during Late Cretaceous time. Extrapolation of the Great Magnetic Bight backwards in time results in an implausible ridge configuration. This implies that plate velocity vectors for the Pacific, Kula, and Farallon plates were not constant during this interval. Evidence for splitting of the Kula plate from the Pacific plate along the Chinook trough is the relationship between the north-striking Amlia and Adak fracture zones, the Chinook and Emperor troughs, and the magnetic lineations south of the Aleutian trench. If this hypothesis is correct, it will require that Mesozoic reconstructions of the Pacific basin and their relation to Cenozoic reconstructions be re-examined. A previously unrecognized Mesozoic plate may be required. We propose calling this the Izanagi plate.     

The structure of two South Carolina estuarine tide pool fish assemblages

The fish assemblages of two South Carolina estuarine tide pools located in the North Edisto River were sampled from June to October 1977, and during June and July 1978, by haul seine, lift net and channel net. The nekton was dominated numerically byFundulus heteroclitus, Leiostomus xanthurus, Menidia menidia andAnchoa mitchilli. Oyster reef areas were dominated numerically byGobiosoma bosci andF. heteroclitus. The relative abundance of tide pool fishes differs from deep water areas of the North Edisto River as described from otter trawls, but is similar to that described by others for South Carolina tidal creeks.