The distributions of particulate atmospheric trace metals and mineral aerosols over the Indian Ocean

Data are presented for the concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn, Ni, Co, Cr, V, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in aerosols collected over two contrasting regions of the Indian Ocean. These are: (1) the northern Arabian Sea (AS), from which samples were collected in the northeast monsoon, during which the region receives an input of crustal material from the surrounding arid land masses; and (2) the Tropical Southern Indian Ocean (TSIO), a remote region from which samples were collected from air masses for which there were no large-scale up-wind continental aerosol sources. The TSIO samples can be divided into two populations: Population I aerosols, collected from air masses which have probably impinged on Madagascar, and Population II aerosols, which have been confined to open-ocean regions to the south of the area.The data indicate that there are strong latitudinal variations in the chemical signatures of aerosols over the Indian Ocean. The input of crustal material to the Arabian Sea gives rise to an average Al concentration of about 1000 ng m⁻³ of air in the northeast monsoon regime. As a result, the concentrations of all trace metals are relatively high, and the values of crustal enrichment factors are less than 10 for most metals, in the AS aerosols. In contrast, TSIO Population II ‘open-ocean southern air’ sampled during the southwest monsoon season, has an average Al concentration of only about 10 ng m⁻³ of air. Trace metal concentrations in the TSIO ‘open-ocean southern air’ during the southwest monsoon season are representative of ‘clean’ remote marine air and are generally similar to those reported over the central North Pacific.Mineral dust concentrations over the Indian Ocean decrease in a north to south direction, from about 15–20 μg m⁻³ of air in the extreme north to about 0.01–0.25 μg m⁻³ of air in the far south. The deposition of mineral dust over the northern Arabian Sea can account for approximately 75% of the non-carbonate material incorporated into the underlying sediments.In the Arabian Sea the dissolved atmospheric inputs of all the trace metals, with the exception of Cu and Co, exceed those from fluvial run-off by factors which range from 9.6 for Pb to 1.6 for Cr.     

Paleocene to lower Eocene clay sedimentation in the Bay of Biscay

A study of the mineralogy of red clay sequences overlying basalt in the Bay of Biscay revealed two successive units: unit one (lower unit) indicates that clay minerals are the result of subaerial weathering of acid or basic continental rocks, occurring in the Galice province (northwest Spain); and unit two (upper unit) consists of fine-grained particles which suggest distinct volcanic activity. Clay materials from the first unit (Paleocene) are deposited in shallow environments, whereas the second unit materials (lower Eocene) Occur in deeper environments followed by neoformation of clay Minerals and concentration of chemical elements (cobalt, nickel, lead, zinc, and barium).     

Holocene sedimentation of a wave-dominated barrierisland shoreline: Cape Lookout, North Carolina

The sedimentary record of 130 km of microtidal (0.9 m tidal range) high wave energy (1.5 m average wave height) barrier island shoreline of the Cape Lookout cuspate foreland has been evaluated through examination of 3136 m of subsurface samples from closely spaced drill holes. Holocene sedimentation and coastal evolution has been a function of five major depositional processes: (1) eustatic sea-level rise and barrier-shoreline transgression; (2) lateral tidal inlet migration and reworking of barrier island deposits; (3) shoreface sedimentation and local barrier progradation; (4) storm washover deposition with infilling of shallow lagoons; and (5) flood-tidal delta sedimentation in back-barrier environments.

Twenty-five radiocarbon dates of subsurface peat and shell material from the Cape Lookout area are the basis for a late Holocene sea-level curve. From 9000 to 4000 B.P. eustatic sea level rose rapidly, resulting in landward migration of both barrier limbs of the cuspate foreland. A decline in the rate of sea-level rise since 4000 B.P. resulted in relative shoreline stabilization and deposition of contrasting coastal sedimentary sequences. The higher energy, storm-dominated northeast barrier limb (Core and Portsmouth Banks) has migrated landward producing a transgressive sequence of coarse-grained, horizontally bedded washover sands overlying burrowed to laminated back-barrier and lagoonal silty sands. Locally, ephemeral tidal inlets have reworked the transgressive barrier sequence depositing fining-upward spit platform and channel-fill sequences of cross-bedded, pebble gravel to fine sand and shell. Shoreface sedimentation along a portion of the lower energy, northwest barrier limb (Bogue Banks) has resulted in shoreline progradation and deposition of a coarsening-up sequence of burrowed to cross-bedded and laminated, fine-grained shoreface and foreshore sands. In contrast, the adjacent barrier island (Shackleford Banks) consists almost totally of inlet-fill sediments deposited by lateral tidal inlet migration. Holocene sediments in the shallow lagoons behind the barriers are 5–8 m thick fining-up sequences of interbedded burrowed, rooted and laminated flood-tidal delta, salt marsh, and washover sands, silts and clays.

While barrier island sequences are generally 10 m in thickness, inlet-fill sequences may be as much as 25 m thick and comprise an average of 35% of the Holocene sedimentary deposits. Tidal inlet-fill, back-barrier (including flood-tidal delta) and shoreface deposits are the most highly preservable facies in the wave-dominated barrier-shoreline setting. In the Cape Lookout cuspate foreland, these three facies account for over 80% of the sedimentary deposits preserved beneath the barriers. Foreshore, spit platform and overwash facies account for the remaining 20%.     

A statistical analysis of non-linear random waves

A statistical analysis of unidirectional non-linear random waves is presented which is based on second-order random wave theory. The analysis technique is similar to a method which is available for the statistical analysis of a two-term Volterra series. It is shown that the statistical problem can be reduced to that of finding the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of two real symmetric matrices, from which the cumulants, the characteristic function, and the probability density function of the surface elevation can be found. Various numerical examples are considered, and the possibility of extending the technique to deal with spreading seas is discussed.     

An alternative approach to the structural motion analysis of wedge-beam offshore structures supporting a load

For convenience of dynamic analysis, some offshore structures such as fixed-type platforms are often modeled as the wedge beams supporting tip lumped masses. It is well-known that, due to the effect of the surrounding water, the natural frequencies of a beam in air (or dry beam) are different from those of the same beam immersed in water (or wet beam). However, if the natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of a dry beam are calculated by taking account of the “added mass” for the immersed beam, then the last natural frequencies and mode shapes will be equal to the corresponding ones of the wet beam. Based on the last concept, the closed form solutions for natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of the dry beam were determined first, then the partial differential equation of motion for the wet beam was transformed into a matrix equation by using the expansion theorem and the foregoing closed form solutions of free vibration responses for the dry beam. Solving the last matrix equation will give the required natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of the wet beam. The formulation of this paper is available for the fully or partially immersed double tapered beams with either circular, square or rectangular cross-sections. The taper ratio for width and that for depth may be equal or unequal. The numerical results of this paper were compared with the existing results or the finite-element-method results and good agreement was achieved.     

Estimation of Contamination of ERS-2 and POSEIDON Satellite Radar Altimetry Close to the Coasts of Australia

It is broadly acknowledged that the precision of satellite-altimeter-measured instantaneous sea surface heights (SSH) is lower in coastal regions than in open oceans, due partly to contamination of the radar return from the coastal sea-surface state and from land topography. This study investigates the behavior of ERS-2 and POSEIDON altimeter waveform data in coastal regions and estimates a boundary around Australia's coasts in which the altimeter range may be poorly estimated by on-satellite tracking software. Over one million 20 Hz ERS-2 (March to April 1999) and POSEIDON (January 1998 to January 1999) radar altimeter waveform data were used over an area extending 350 km offshore Australia. The DS759.2 (5'resolution) ocean depth model and the GSHHS (0.2 km resolution) shoreline model were used together to define the coastal regions. Using the 50% threshold retracking points as the estimates of expected tracking gate, we determined that the sea surface height is contaminated out to maximum distance of between about 8 km and 22 km from the Australian shoreline for ERS-2, depending partly on coastal topography. Using the standard deviation of the mean waveforms as an indication of the general variability of the altimeter returns in the Australian coastal region shows obvious coastal contamination out to about 4 km for both altimeters, and less obvious contamination out to about 8 km for POSEIDON and 10 km for ERS-2. Therefore, ERS-2 and POSEIDON satellite altimeter data should be treated with some caution for distances less than about 22 km from the Australian coast and probably ignored altogether for distances less than 4 km.     

Statistical Modeling of Monthly Anomalies of Atmospheric Precipitations for the Region of the Ukraine and Black Sea

The data array accumulated for the period 1946–1995 is used to select the most significant predictor of monthly anomalies of precipitation in the region of the Ukraine and Black Sea, namely, a large-scale circulation in a sector covering the North Atlantic and Europe. Three large-scale predictors (geopotential at a level of 500GPa, sea-level pressure, and the difference between the geopotentials at levels of 500 and 1000GPa) give almost identical results: their correlation with anomalies of precipitation is equal to 0.7–0.8 in winter and 0.4–0.5 in summer. The predominant mechanism of the influence of circulation on precipitations at low frequencies is the response of the trajectories of European cyclones to changes in the upper-tropospheric jet currents in the Atlantic-European sector described as the superposition of the North-Atlantic oscillation and the Eurasian mode. The decomposition of the fields of precipitations and circulation in the eigenmodes of the canonical correlation analysis opens a possibility of direct computation of the monthly average fields of precipitations for the entire territory of the Ukraine and Black Sea region according to the large-scale geopotential fields.     

Release into the environment of metals by two vascular salt marsh plants

Metals in contaminated salt marshes are mainly locked in the anaerobic layer of sediments, where they are tightly bound as sulfides and organic complexes. Vascular plants survive in saturated soils in part by pumping O2 into their root zones, changing their microenvironment to an oxic one. This, along with chelating exudates, mobilizes metals, allowing uptake by the roots. We compared the common reed Phragmites australis and cordgrass Spartina alterniflora in lab and field studies for ways in which they handle trace metals. Both plants store most of their metal burden in their roots, but some is transported to aboveground tissues. Spartina leaves contain approximately 2-3 x more Cr, Pb, and Hg than Phragmites leaves, but equivalent Cu and Zn. Furthermore, Spartina leaves have salt glands, so leaf excretion of all metals is twice that of Phragmites. In-depth studies with Hg indicate that Hg excretion correlates with Na release but not with transpiration, which is 2.2 x higher in Phragmites; and that more Hg accumulates in early-appearing leaves than in upper (i.e. later) leaves in both species. Spartina thus makes more metals available to salt marsh ecosystems than Phragmites by direct excretion and via dead leaves which will enter the food web as detritus.