Nitrogen inputs to seventy-four southern New England estuaries: Application of a watershed nitrogen loading model

Excess nitrogen inputs to estuaries have been linked to deteriorating water quality and habitat conditions which in turn have direct and indirect impacts on aquatic organisms. This paper describes the application of a previously verified watershed loading model to estimate total nitrogen loading rates and relative source contributions to 74 small-medium sized embayment-type estuaries in southern New England. The study estuaries exhibited a gradient in nitrogen inputs of a factor of over 7000. On an areal basis, the range represented a gradient of approximately a factor of 140. Therefore, all other factors being equal, the study design is sufficient to evaluate ecological effects conceptually tied to excess nitrogen along a nitrogen gradient. In addition to providing total loading inputs rates to the study estuaries, the model provides an estimate of the relative contribution of the nitrogen sources from each watershed to each associated estuary. Cumulative results of this analysis reveal the following source ranking (means): direct atmospheric deposition (37%), ≈wastewater (36%), >indirect atmospheric deposition (16%) > fertilizer (12%). However, for any particular estuary the relative magnitudes of these source types vary dramatically. Together with scientific evidence on symptoms of eutrophication, the results of this paper can be used to develop empirical pressure-state models to determine critical nitrogen loading limits for the protection of estuarine water quality.     

Importance of wave-induced bed liquefaction in the fine sediment budget of Cleveland Bay,Great Barrier Reef

Data from a three-year long field study of fine sediment dynamics in Cleveland Bay show that wave-induced liquefaction of the fine sediment bed on the seafloor in shallow water was the main process causing bed erosion under small waves during tradewinds, and that shear-induced erosion prevailed during cyclonic conditions. These data were used to verify a model of fine sediment dynamics that calculates sediment resuspension by both excess shear stress and wave-induced liquefaction of the bed. For present land-use conditions, the amount of riverine sediments settling on the bay may exceed by 50–75% the amount of sediment exported from the bay. Sediment is thus accumulating in the bay on an annual basis, which in turn may degrade the fringing coral reefs. For those years when a tropical cyclone impacted the bay there may be a net sediment outflow from the bay. During the dry, tradewind season, fine sediment was progressively winnowed out of the shallow, reefal waters.     

What meta-analysis can tell us about vulnerability of marine biodiversity to ocean acidification?

Ocean acidification has been proposed as a major threat for marine biodiversity. Hendriks et al. [Hendriks, I.E., Duarte, C.M., Alvarez, M., 2010. Vulnerability of marine biodiversity to ocean acidification: a meta-analysis. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2009.11.022.] proposed an alternative view and suggested, based on a meta-analysis, that marine biota may be far more resistant to ocean acidification than hitherto believed. However, such a meta-analytical approach can mask more subtle features, for example differing sensitivities during the life-cycle of an organism. Using a similar metric on an echinoderm database, we show that key bottlenecks present in the life-cycle (e.g. larvae being more vulnerable than adults) and responsible for driving the whole species response may be hidden in a global meta-analysis. Our data illustrate that any ecological meta-analysis should be hypothesis driven, taking into account the complexity of biological systems, including all life-cycle stages and key biological processes. Available data allow us to conclude that near-future ocean acidification can/will have dramatic negative impact on some marine species, including echinoderms, with likely consequences at the ecosystem level.     

Miocene facies associations and sedimentary evolution of the Southern Transylvanian Basin (Romania): Implications for hydrocarbon exploration

The Transylvanian Basin is a mature hydrocarbon province of Romania characterized by two petroleum systems: Mesozoic (thermogenic) and Miocene (biogenic). An extensive outcrop-based sedimentological and micropaleontological study correlated to seismic and well data discusses the elements of the Miocene petroleum system. The facies associations are indicative of alluvial, fandelta, shallow- and deep-marine settings. These are grouped into four different depositional systems (evaporite, mud-carbonate, sand-mud and sand-gravel). Their evolution in time and space shows large differences between various parts of the basin that have important consequences for exploration.     

pT-effects of Pleistocene glacial periods on permafrost,gas hydrate stability zones and reservoir of the Mittelplate oil field,northern Germany

During the past two million years low surface temperatures as well as episodically advancing ice sheets from Scandinavia acted on the subsurface pT-regime of northern Germany. Their likely effects on the petroleum system of Schleswig-Holstein were investigated. For the entire Quaternary mean annual ground temperature (MAGT) was reconstructed at a resolution of 1000 years by calibrating oxygen isotope records from ODP-site 659 to the climate of northern Germany of the past 120 kyr. The resulting MAGT trend served as input to an ice sheet model and a permafrost model along a 2D section crossing the petroleum bearing south-western part of Schleswig-Holstein. Here advances and retreats of the Scandinavian ice sheet during Saalian and Elsterian glaciation Stages were reconstructed. Maximum ice thicknesses of up to 1700 m and up to 20 periods of regional permafrost in northern Germany were reconstructed for the past 1.25 million years. Based on a basal heat flow of 50 mW/m² permafrost thicknesses exceeded 100 m during most of these periods, temporarily extending down to depths of more than 300 m. Favourable surface temperatures and long durations of cold periods provided favourable conditions for onshore gas hydrate stability zones at Mittelplate. Implementing these glacial dynamics into 2D basin modelling (PetroMod, IES, Aachen, Germany) of the Mittelplate oil field reveals five phases of gas hydrate stability at depths down to 750 m. The latest of these events occurred during the Weichselian about 20 kyr ago. The effect of the ice sheets on pore pressure in the subsurface strongly depends on the hydraulic boundary conditions at the ice base (e.g. frozen vs. temperate ice sheet base). Excess pore pressure in the reservoir of more than 10 MPa during ice overriding is possible and probable. The calculated temperature effect of the Pleistocene cooling on the Mittelplate reservoir is in the range of 3–7 °C. Even today temperature in the reservoir is still lowered by about 4 °C in comparison to pre-Pleistocene times. Despite the fact that a significant influence of glacial effects on petroleum generation can be ruled out at Mittelplate, we state that pT-effects in reservoirs related to glacial processes in formerly glaciated areas have been underestimated in the past.     

Structurally controlled hydrothermal dolomites in Albian carbonates of the Asón valley,Basque Cantabrian Basin,Northern Spain

Shallow marine carbonate sedimentation dominated during the Albian in the western part of the Basque Cantabrian Basin in Northern Spain, forming the large Ramales Platform. This platform originated on a less subsiding tectonic block facing deeper and more subsiding areas to the south and east, which were created by tectonic activity in the Basin. Fracture-related hydrothermal dolomites hosted in these Albian carbonates are well exposed in the Asón valley area. Mapping in the studied area revealed several dolomite bodies related to main faults that cut the stratification almost at right angles. The bodies show a vertical development along fault-strike up to 900 m thick from which kilometre-scale branches expand following the stratification. Dolomitization is pervasive and independent of the limestone facies. Main dolomite facies are fine replacive, sucrosic and saddle. Petrography, C, O and Sr isotopes and fluid-inclusion analysis support a polyphase hydrothermal dolomitization at fluid temperatures between 75 °C and 240 °C and highly variable salinity of up to 22 wt.% NaCl. Fine dolomite replaced limestone first and then, sucrosic and saddle dolomites replaced part of the first dolomite and cemented newly created fracture porosity together with different calcite cements. Zebra dolomites and hydroclastic breccias are products of this later stage. Burial analysis of the host rock supports maximum burial temperatures of 80 °C and intense tectonic activity from the Albian to Turonian with a latest Albian peak subsidence. Albian stretching of the crust and subsequent ascent of the isotherms in the area is suggested to have produced sufficient heat to the dolomitizing fluids. The structural analysis indicates a strong transtensional tectonic activity in the studied area during Albian to Turonian time with the creation of an overstep between W–E trending and N–S trending faults. Fluids moved from subsiding areas to fractured uplifted parts of the Ramales Platform, enhanced by diapiric activity.     

Experimental study of turbulent-wake expansion from a surface ship

We studied the time dynamics of a turbulent region excited by a moving surface vessel in a field experiment. The time dependences of the geometrical sizes of the turbulent region are obtained, and it is shown that the time dependence of the width of the turbulent wake at the initial stage is close to the power-law function with an exponent of 0.4 for different experiments (the depth of the wake remaining practically constant). In the semiempirical turbulence theory, we suggested a qualitative model describing the process of the initial expansion of a ship wake as a diffusion of a one-dimensional layer of turbulized liquid due to a pulsed source.     

Permafrost as a factor of the dynamics of the coastal zone of the Russian East Arctic Seas

Some regularities that are generally accepted in the theory about the development of sea coasts as applied to the East Arctic coast of Russia do not conform to reality. To find out the reasons for these contradictions, the connection between the coastal processes and the perennially frozen sediment of the underwater coastal slope in the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea was studied. The frozen state of the deposits of the coastal zone exerts a substantial influence on the coastal dynamics and determines several features of the thermoabrasion development. In particular, the subaqual permafrost does not allow the forming of a storm profile with dynamic balance. This fact causes the more effective action of the sea on the coastal cliffs and the more active recession of the frozen coasts as compared with their counterparts outside the cryolitozone.     

Bottom fauna associated with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bathymodiolus azoricus</Emphasis> (Mytilidae) mussel beds in the hydrothermal fields of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

The structure of the assemblages associated with the mussel aggregations of Bathymodiolus azoricus was investigated. The mussel beds were found on the hydrothermal vent fields on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (the Menez Gwen, Lucky Strike, and Rainbow areas) at the depths of 850–2400 m. The community structure of the mussel bed assemblages varied between the studied areas. Large number of species was unique to Menez Gwen mussel beds; the most observed taxa were not specialized hydrothermal species. All the other, nonunique species were found for the Lucky Strike region. The lowest mussel assemblage structure evenness was observed in the shallowest area, the Menez Gwen area (850 m depth). We assume that two types of mussel assemblages—nematode-dominated and copepod-dominated ones—exist in the Lucky Strike field. The assemblages of B. azoricus differ significantly from the assemblages of B. thermophilus inhabiting the Pacific hydrothermal vents.     

Simulating the influence of an atmospheric fine inhomogeneous structure on long-range propagation of pulsed acoustic signals

The results of simulating the influence of an atmospheric fine structure on the characteristics of acoustic signals propagating throughout the atmosphere for long distances from their sources are presented. A numerical model of an atmospheric fine inhomogeneous structure within the height range z = 20…120 km is proposed to perform calculations. This model and its numerical parameters are based on the current notions of the formation of an atmospheric fine structure due to internal gravity waves. The numerical calculations were performed using the parabolic-equation method. A spatial structure of the acoustic field and the structure of an acoustic signal at long distances from a pulsed source were calculated. It is shown that the presence of an atmospheric fine structure results in a scattering of acoustic signals and their recording in the geometric shadow region. The results of calculations of signal forms are in a satisfactory agreement with data on signals recorded in the geometric shadow region which is formed at a distance of about 300 km from an experimental explosion.