Designation processes for marine protected areas in the coastal wetlands of South Korea

The history of Korean tidal flat management and the process for designating Coastal Wetland Protected Areas (CWPAs) are described. Korean coastal wetlands have a long history of intensive use through reclamation for agricultural and industrial uses in the 20th century. Recently, the management policy is shifting away from intensive use towards the conservation of wetlands. This shift is caused by increasing public awareness of the value of wetlands and strong institutional support from the government. Since the Wetlands Conservation Act was passed in 1999, a total of twelve CWPAs have been designated through both top-down and bottom-up processes. Three designation paths are classified based on the relevant drivers, namely government-driven designations (seven CWPAs), local community driven designations (three CWPAs), and conflict resolution (trade-offs) driven designation (two CWPAs). The lessons learned from the designation of Korean CWPAs is that diversification of designation process could facilitate voluntary participation of local stakeholders and thereby enhance the chance of successful implementation of wise use strategy of tidal flats.     

Approaches to knowledge sharing and capacity building: The role of local information systems in marine and coastal management

This paper explores how coastal data and information can be mobilised in information systems and applied in coastal management. The concept of an Information System is defined and described, and the potential role of Local Information System (LIS) in integrated coastal management (ICM) is considered. Three examples, from the Severn Estuary, UK the coast of the North West of England and North Wales, and the Fal and Helford estuaries, are used to demonstrate the requirements of a LIS for coastal areas. The role of GIS as part of the solution is considered in detail. The paper demonstrates how ideas from the disciplines of information systems and information science can be practically applied in coastal areas. The findings promote a holistic approach for those involved in the development of technologies and dealing with data and information about coasts and oceans.     

Mapping sediment acoustic impedance using remote sensing acoustic techniques in a shallow-water carbonate environment

 Real-time trackline plots of surficial sediment acoustic impedance delineate several sedimentary facies off Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas. The sea floor within a 6×6 km surveyed area consists of carbonate muds (silts), sands and shell, rock, and live corals. The 4-kHz acoustic data supports this finding by providing a pictographic representation of the distribution and structure of several sediment facies types. Plotting the gridded acoustic data with commercial mapping software (Surfer) provides a three-dimensional (3D) perspective of the bottom topography with a color contour map of surficial sediment impedance (upper 0.4 m) draped over the 3D surface.     

Trends in marine debris along the U.S. Pacific Coast and Hawai'i 1998-2007

We assessed amounts, composition, and trends of marine debris for the U.S. Pacific Coast and Hawai'i using National Marine Debris Monitoring Program data. Hawai'i had the highest debris loads; the North Pacific Coast region had the lowest debris loads. The Southern California Bight region had the highest land-based debris loads. Debris loads decreased over time for all source categories in all regions except for land-based and general-source loads in the North Pacific Coast region, which were unchanged. General-source debris comprised 30-40% of the items in all regions. Larger local populations were associated with higher land-based debris loads across regions; the effect declined at higher population levels. Upwelling affected deposition of ocean-based and general-source debris loads but not land-based loads along the Pacific Coast. LNSO decreased debris loads for both land-based and ocean-based debris but not general-source debris in Hawai'i, a more complex climate-ocean effect than had previously been found.     

European precipitation connections with large-scale mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) fields

Abstract

To advance understanding of hydroclimatological processes, this paper links spatiotemporal variability in gridded European precipitation and large-scale mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) time series (1957–2002) using monthly concurrent correlation. Strong negative (positive) correlation near Iceland and (the Azores) is apparent for precipitation in northwest Europe, confirming a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) association. An opposing pattern is found for southwest Europe, and the Mediterranean in winter. In the lee of mountains, MSLP correlation is lower reflecting reduced influence of westerlies on precipitation generation. Importantly, European precipitation is shown to be controlled by physically interpretable climate patterns that change in extent and position from month to month. In spring, MSLP–precipitation correlation patterns move and shrink, reaching a minimum in summer, before expanding in the autumn, and forming an NAO-like dipole in winter. These space–time shifts in correlation regions explain why fixed-point NAO indices have limited ability to resolve precipitation for some European locations and seasons.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor A. Montanari

Citation Lavers, D., Prudhomme, C., and Hannah, D.M., 2013. European precipitation connections with large-scale mean sea-level pressure (MSLP) fields. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (2), 310–327.     

The role of granites in volcanic-hosted massive sulphide ore-forming systems: an assessment of magmatic�Chydrothermal contributions

Assessment of geological, geochemical and isotopic data indicates that a significant subgroup of volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposits has a major or dominant magmatic?Chydrothermal source of ore fluids and metals. This group, which is typically characterised by high Cu and Au grades, includes deposits such as those in the Neoarchean Doyon-Bousquet-LaRonde and Cambrian Mount Lyell districts. These deposits are distinguished by aluminous advanced argillic alteration assemblages or metamorphosed equivalents intimately associated with ore zones. In many of these deposits, ??³⁴S_sulphide is low, with a major population below ?3??; ??³⁴S_sulphate differs from coexisting seawater and ??³⁴S_{sulphate?Csulphide}????20?C30??. These characteristics are interpreted as the consequence of disproportionation of magmatic SO₂ as magmatic?Chydrothermal fluids ascended and cooled and as a definitive evidence for a significant magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution. Other characteristics that we consider diagnostic of significant magmatic?Chydrothermal input into VHMS ore fluids include uniformly high (>3 times modern seawater values) salinities or very ¹⁸O-enriched (??¹⁸O?>?5??) ore fluids. We do not consider other criteria [e.g. variable salinity, moderately high ??¹⁸O_fluid (2?C5??), ??³⁴S_sulphide near 0??, metal assemblages or a spatial association with porphyry Cu or other clearly magmatic-hydrothermal deposits] that have been used previously to advocate significant magmatic?Chydrothermal contributions to be diagnostic as they can be produced by non-magmatic processes known to occur in VHMS mineral systems. However, in general, a small magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution cannot be excluded in most VHMS systems considered. Conclusive data that imply minimal magmatic?Chydrothermal contributions are only available in the Paleoarchean Panorama district where coeval seawater-dominated and magmatic?Chydrothermal systems appear to have been physically separated. This district, which is characterised by chloritic and sericitic alteration assemblages and lacks aluminous advanced argillic alteration assemblages, is typical of many VHMS deposits around the world, suggesting that for ??garden variety?? VHMS deposits, a significant magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution is not required. Other than deposits associated with advanced argillic alteration assemblages, the only deposit for which we ascribe a major magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution is the Devonian Neves Corvo deposit. This deposit differs from other deposits in the Iberian Pyrite Belt and around the world in being extremely Sn-rich, with the Sn closely associated with Cu and in having formed from high ¹⁸O-rich fluids (??¹⁸O_fluid ??8.5??). We consider these characteristics, particularly the last, as diagnostic of a significant magmatic hydrothermal contribution. Our analysis indicates that two subgroups of VHMS deposits have a major magmatic?Chydrothermal contribution: Cu/Au-rich deposits with aluminous alteration assemblages and reduced, very Sn-rich deposits in which Sn was introduced in a high-temperature ore assemblage. Comparison with ??normal?? VHMS deposits suggests that these subgroups of VHMS deposits may form in specialised tectonic environments. The Cu/Au-rich deposits appear to form adjacent to magmatic arcs, an environment conducive to the generation of hydrous, oxidised melts by melting metasomatised mantle in the wedge above the subducting slab. This contrasts with the back-arc setting of ??normal?? VHMS deposits in which relatively dry granites (In this contribution, we use the term granite sensu latto) formed by decompression melting drive seawater-dominated hydrothermal circulation. The tectonic setting of highly Sn-rich VHMS deposits such as Neves Corvo is less clear; however, thick continental crust below the ore-hosting basin may be critical, as it is in other Sn deposits.     

Interactions of biogenic opal,sediment and seawater in the Central Equatorial Pacific

The solution rate of biogenic opal in near-surface sediments in the Central Equatorial Pacific is three to eight orders of magnitude lower than similar acid-cleaned samples. Iron, magnesium and calcium aluminosilicates may be the minerals which are forming on the surface of the opal and reducing its solution rate. The scale height of the system studied suggests that diffusive and not advective processes are primarily responsible for the removal of dissolved silica in sediments. Solution budget calculations for this area suggest that 90–99 per cent of the biogenic opal produced in surface waters dissolves before reaching the sediment-water interface; an additional amount dissolves within the sediment and diffuses into bottom waters leaving 0.05–0.15 per cent of the original amount of opal produced by organisms in the sedimentary record. The relative solution potential of the upper 1000 m of the water column varies by more than an order of magnitude from the Antarctic to Equator and may have a pronounced effect on the accumulation rate of biogenic opal in underlying sediments.     

Secondary chaotic terrain formation in the higher outflow channels of southern circum-Chryse, Mars

Higher outflow channel dissection in the martian region of southern circum-Chryse appears to have extended from the Late Hesperian to the Middle Amazonian Epoch. These outflow channels were excavated within the upper 1 km of the cryolithosphere, where no liquid water is expected to have existed during these geologic epochs. In accordance with previous work, our examination of outflow channel floor morphologies suggests the upper crust excavated by the studied outflow channels consisted of a thin (a few tens of meters) layer of dry geologic materials overlying an indurated zone that extends to the bases of the investigated outflow channels (1 km in depth). We find that the floors of these outflow channels contain widespread secondary chaotic terrains (i.e., chaotic terrains produced by the destruction of channel-floor materials). These chaotic terrains occur within the full range of outflow channel dissection and tend to form clusters. Our examination of the geology of these chaotic terrains suggests that their formation did not result in the generation of floods. Nevertheless, despite their much smaller dimensions, these chaotic terrains are comprised of the same basic morphologic elements (e.g., mesas, knobs, and smooth deposits within scarp-bound depressions) as those located in the initiation zones of the outflow channels, which suggests that their formation must have involved the release of ground volatiles. We propose that these chaotic terrains developed not catastrophically but gradually and during multiple episodes of nested surface collapse. In order to explain the formation of secondary chaotic terrains within zones of outflow channel dissection, we propose that the regional Martian cryolithosphere contained widespread lenses of volatiles in liquid form. In this model, channel floor collapse and secondary chaotic terrain formation would have taken place as a consequence of instabilities arising during their exhumation by outflow channel dissection. Within relatively warm upper crustal materials in volcanic settings, or within highly saline crustal materials where cryopegs developed, lenses of volatiles in liquid form within the cryolithosphere could have formed, and/or remained stable.In addition, our numerical simulations suggest that low thermal conductivity, dry fine-grained porous geologic materials just a few tens of meters in thickness (e.g., dunes, sand sheets, some types of regolith materials), could have produced high thermal anomalies resulting in subsurface melting. The existence of a global layer of dry geologic materials overlying the cryolithosphere would suggest that widespread lenses of fluids existed (and may still exist) at shallow depths wherever these materials are fine-grained and porous. The surface ages of the investigated outflow channels and chaotic terrains span a full 500 to 700 Myr. Chaotic terrains similar in dimensions and morphology to secondary chaotic terrains are not observed conspicuously throughout the surface of Mars, suggesting that intra-cryolithospheric fluid lenses may form relatively stable systems. The existence of widespread groundwater lenses at shallow depths of burial has tremendous implications for exobiological studies and future human exploration. We find that the clear geomorphologic anomaly that the chaotic terrains and outflow channels of southern Chryse form within the Martian landscape could have been a consequence of large-scale resurfacing resulting from anomalously extensive subsurface melt in this region of the planet produced by high concentrations of salts within the regional upper crust. Crater count statistics reveal that secondary chaotic terrains and the outflow channels within which they occur have overlapping ages, suggesting that the instabilities leading to their formation rapidly dissipated, perhaps as the thickness of the cryolithosphere was reset following the disruption of the upper crustal thermal structure produced during outflow channel excavation.