Sonographs of submarine sediment failure caused by the 1980 earthquake off northern California

In 1980, a large earthquake caused extensive sediment failure on the shallow continental shelf off the Klamath River in northern California. Side-scan sonography was used to complement detailed geophysical profiling in identifying specific features and resolving modes of failure. The features include a nearly flat failure terrace mantled with sand boils, collapse craters and sediment flows, and bounded on the seaward side by a meandering continuous toe ridge. Seaward of the terrace lies a compression zone delineated by small pressure ridges. Our findings indicate a temporal progression of failure from lique-faction of shallow subsurface sand to lateral spread of intact blocks to sediment collapse and flow.     

Four-dimensional analysis of the variability of hydrophysical fields in the tropical atlantic and on the shelf of guinea

The problem of monitoring of the mesoscale variability of hydrophysical fields in the shelf zone is considered. The usefulness of the data available in regional information centres is discussed. The possibility of monitoring the dynamics of the oceanic fields in the tropical Atlantic encompassing separate observation sites is demonstrated using the oceanographic databank of the scientific research centre (CERESCOR) in Conakry-Rogbane as an example. The results of assimilation of the hydrophysical survey data derived on the shelf in a telescopic model of the region are given.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Mineral assemblages occurring around hydrocarbon vents in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Magnesian calcites are the most abundant authigenic minerals associated with hydrocarbon vents at 25 sites, in water depths ranging from 100 to 600 m in the Green Canyon area and about 2200 m in the Alaminos Canyon area on the Continental Slope of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The most frequently encountered magnesian calcites have 10–15 mol% MgCO₃ and the apparent structural disorder revealed by XRD peak widths increases with Mg substitution. There are no systematic variations in Mg content with respect to water depth or geographic location. The calcite saturation state of the precipitating fluid is primarily determined by the nature of the fluids escaping from the vents, not the ambient seawater.     

Unevenly compressed flexural-gravitity waves

Free flexural-gravity waves unevenly compressed in an ice-covered basin have been studied using a linear formulation. The conditions were specified allowing determination of the bounds of the angular area of wave disturbances and of the oscillation frequency intervals due to compression. The paper considers the distribution of the wave characteristics over frequency depending on compressive stresses and the direction of wave propagation.Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Artificial Reefs in the Low Productive Marine Environments of the Southeastern Mediterranean

Abstract. Fishery yields in the oligotrophic waters of the Southeastern Mediterranean arc low due to habitat and food limitations. A four year study of a complex of artificial structures established in the coastal waters of Israel points to several possible solutions to these problems. One approach is the artificial enrichment of the man-made reef with trash fish. This, together with the configuration of the reef, caused a significant increase in the abundance of fish predators such as groupers of the genus Epinephclus. Omnivores and herbivores were attracted only by the presence of artificial structures. Some species, such as the slipper lobster Scyllurides lulus, only use the man-made reef for shelter during part of the day or season; they forage over a much larger area the rest of the time and are important "importers" of food to the artificial habitat. Artificial kelp were effective in recruiting juveniles and small fishes to the site.     

Study of a Crustacea Decapoda Taxocoenosis of Posidonia oceanica Beds from the Southeast of Spain

Abstract. During 1986 and 1987 a decapod crustacean taxocoenosis of Posidonia oceanica beds from the southeast of Spain has been studied.
Data on abundance-dominance of the 50 species found and other information such as reproduction and the selective use of gastropod shells by the dominant hermit crabs arc given.
Differences in richness and cquitability between shallow (3–4 m) and deeper (5–7 m) samples arc also shown.
The taxocoenosis presents a geometrical distribution in which only 9 species have a relative abundance higher than 1 % and in which the structure is basically controlled by the two dominant hermit crabs, Cestopagitius limidus and Calcium tubularis , and hydrodynamic conditions.     

黄海的风、潮混合特征及其对冷水团边界的影响

本文第一作者早在1985年就提出,潮混合效应控制着夏季黄海冷水团的边界及海面冷水分布(赵保仁,1985)。1987年又进一步通过水文调査资料和卫星图片给出了黄海周围的浅水陆架锋(或称潮汐锋)的分布及强锋区的跨锋断面中的温度、盐度和坏流结构特征,并指出夏季的黄海沿岸流在性质上属沿锋面运动的强流(赵保仁,1987a,b),而后又对黄海西部的陆架锋进行了一次专门调査(赵保仁等,1991)。此外,他还指出黄海的强温跃层的形成和转移现象也与潮混合现象密切相关(赵保仁,1989)。因此,研究潮混合现象对阐明发生在黄海的多水文物理现象都是至关重要的。 为深入了解黄海的潮混合特征,作者把渤海、黄海和东海作为一个整体完成了一次精度较高的潮汐、溯流数值计算,在潮汐、潮流的分布方面,揭示了前人尚未阐明的一些特征。本文根据这些数值结果,计算了近最大潮流流速和层化参数,阐明了渤海、黄海和东海的潮混合特征及其对降温期黄海冷水团分布变化的影响。此外,还用 Sim pson等人(1981)的能量模式计算了南黄海西部的风、潮混合效率。