Correspondence between the distribution of hydrodynamic time parameters and the distribution of biological and chemical variables in a semi-enclosed coral reef lagoon

Hydrodynamic modeling can be used to spatially characterize water renewal rates in coastal ecosystems. Using a hydrodynamic model implemented over the semi-enclosed Southwest coral lagoon of New Caledonia, a recent study computed the flushing lag as the minimum time required for a particle coming from outside the lagoon (open ocean) to reach a specific station [Jouon, A., Douillet, P., Ouillon, S., Fraunié, P., 2006. Calculations of hydrodynamic time parameters in a semi-opened coastal zone using a 3D hydrodynamic model. Continental Shelf Research 26, 1395–1415]. Local e-flushing time was calculated as the time requested to reach a local grid mesh concentration of 1/e from the precedent step. Here we present an attempt to connect physical forcing to biogeochemical functioning of this coastal ecosystem. An array of stations, located in the lagoonal channel as well as in several bays under anthropogenic influence, was sampled during three cruises. We then tested the statistical relationships between the distribution of flushing indices and those of biological and chemical variables. Among the variables tested, silicate, chlorophyll a and bacterial biomass production present the highest correlations with flushing indices. Correlations are higher with local e-flushing times than with flushing lags or the sum of these two indices. In the bays, these variables often deviate from the relationships determined in the main lagoon channel. In the three bays receiving significant riverine inputs, silicate is well above the regression line, whereas data from the bay receiving almost insignificant freshwater inputs generally fit the lagoon channel regressions. Moreover, in the three bays receiving important urban and industrial effluents, chlorophyll a and bacterial production of biomass generally display values exceeding the lagoon channel regression trends whereas in the bay under moderate anthropogenic influence values follow the regressions obtained in the lagoon channel. The South West lagoon of New Caledonia can hence be viewed as a coastal mesotrophic ecosystem that is flushed by oligotrophic oceanic waters which subsequently replace the lagoonal waters with water considerably impoverished in resources for microbial growth. This flushing was high enough during the periods of study to influence the distribution of phytoplankton biomass, bacterial production of biomass and silicate concentrations in the lagoon channel as well as in some of the bay areas.     

Geological implications of new biostratigraphic data from East and West Kalimantan, Indonesia

This paper presents palaeontological ages based on new nannofossil and foraminiferal studies from a range of sedimentary rocks from the provinces of West and East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The age of sedimentary rocks in Kalimantan, away from the main hydrocarbon exploration areas of the coastal regions, represents a major gap in our basic knowledge of the island of Borneo. The implications of these new results and existing and new correlations are reviewed and suggested. In particular, the base of the Tertiary section in the Kutai Basin is shown to be upper Middle Eocene in age, rather than Late Eocene as originally thought. The limestones of the Batu Belah member of the Ujoh Bilang Formation are dated as NP24–25, Late Oligocene, rather than Early Oligocene as earlier work had suggested. In the western part of the Mangkalihat Peninsula area the base of the Tertiary section is determined to be Late Oligocene. Various basement units from both East and West Kalimantan contained Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous microfossils.     

Trough structures in the Western syenite of Kûngnât, S Greenland: mineralogy and mechanism of formation

In the Western layered syenite stock of the Kûngnât complex, close to the intrusion wall, there are two groups of regularly spaced, horizontally aligned, stacks of infilled troughs. These features resemble, to some extent, the trough layering within the UZa trough zone of the gabbroic Skaergaard¹ intrusion. Such features have never before been described in syenitic rocks. The lower group comprises six stacks of infilled troughs; the upper group comprises seven. The two groups are vertically separated by about 10 m of sparsely layered syenite. The infilled troughs in the upper group are stacked vertically; those in the lower group gradually shift laterally and appear to converge over an antiformal structure. It is not possible to measure the plunge of the troughs due to outcrop geometry. Troughs are up to about 80 cm deep. The material filling the troughs is more melanocratic than the syenite that surrounds them. Individual troughs exhibit normal grading. The syenite within the troughs contains large amphibole and biotite oikocrysts. Faintly layered syenite occurs laterally between stacks. Minerals in the host syenite are more ferroan than those in the troughs, this is thought to represent re-equilibration with residual melt. Feldspar textures, irregular pyroxene and apatite zoning, and the presence of irregular shaped amphibole patches within pyroxene grains all imply alteration by a pervasive deuteric fluid in both troughs and host syenite. We suggest the following hypothesis for the formation of the troughs. A mafic crystal sheath which grows on the walls of the magma chamber becomes detached and flows downwards. The descending slurry forms a series of regularly spaced streams which erode trough shaped channels into the crystal pile at the base of the chamber. Uneroded crystal material separates the channels. Crystals are deposited from these streams. Successive streams flow over each other to generate stacks of troughs.     

Tree-Ring Based Reconstructions of Precipitation for the Southern Canadian Cordillera

This paper reconstructs precipitation variability in the southern Canadian Cordillera over the past 3–400 years using dendroclimatologicaltechniques. Fifty-three total ring-width (RW) chronologies, 28 earlywood (EW) and 28 latewood (LW) chronologies were developed from open-grown, low-elevation stands of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir) and Pinusponderosa (ponderosa pine) across the southern Canadian Cordillera. RW, EW and LW chronologies from both species were used to develop 13 annual (prior July to current June) precipitation reconstructions across the region. The reconstructions range in length from 165 to 688 years, pass verification tests and capture 39–64% of the variancein the instrumental record. Coincident, prolonged intervals of dry conditions are estimated for the years: 1717–1732, 1839–1859, 1917–1941 and1968–1979. Shorter dry intervals are identified between 1581–1586, 1626–1630,1641–1653 1701–1708, 1756–1761, 1768–1772, 1793–1800,1868–1875, 1889–1897 and 1985–1989. The historic drought of the 1920–1930s was the longest but not the most intense across this area in the last 300 years. Wet conditions occur in the majority of reconstructions for the years: 1689–1700, 1750–55,1778–1789, 1800–1830, 1880–1890, 1898–1916 and 1942–1960. Thesedata, in conjunction with data from adjacent areas, are used to provide the first maps of decadal precipitation anomalies for the region between 1700 and 1990.     

Further examples of ventifacts and unusual patterned ground from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic

Abstract Examples of ventifacts and forms of unusual patterned ground that differ in situation, characteristics and/or origin to types reported previously are described from the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic. The ventifacts, represented by clasts projecting from an eroding tillite shore platform, have been grooved by the passage of windblown sand. The patterned ground forms comprise stone polygons on clay loam regolith, stone polygons on peat, peat‐filled desiccation cracks on peat, and clusters of on‐edge clasts (stone packings) on a gravel beach. Aeolian transport of particles is considered responsible for the infill of the polygonal cracks. The clusters of on‐edge clasts are thought to have developed as a result of wave action, in particular backwash and/or undertow. Although these features occupy small surface areas they provide useful information about local geomorphic processes and testify to the marked diversity of such features in nature.