Horizontal spatial and temporal distribution patterns of nearshore larval fish assemblages at a temperate rocky shore

There have been no previous studies of the composition of nearshore larval fish assemblages along the coast of Portugal. We aimed to describe the composition and horizontal distribution patterns of larval fish assemblages and their temporal dynamics near a rocky reef at depths shallower than 13 m (inshore) and at two miles (3.70 km) from shore (offshore), as well as along transects perpendicular to the shoreline, from the reef to 10 miles offshore (18.52 km). Samples were taken using 5 min sub-surface trawls at the rocky shore of the Arrábida Marine Park (W Portugal). A total of 1021 larvae were collected, belonging to 61 taxa inshore and to 29 taxa offshore. Along transects, 626 larvae of 52 taxa were collected. Most larvae belonged to coastal species associated with rocky reefs. Total larval abundance and diversity were higher from May to July, which is consistent with the spawning activity of adults. Diversity and total larval abundance decreased significantly with increasing distance from shore, both in the inshore/offshore comparison and in the transects, where this decrease was evident at a very small spatial scale (within the first mile from the reef). Species assemblages differed in the pattern of distribution, with most species clearly associated to the extreme nearshore. The distribution patterns obtained were independent of the spawning mode of species. Results are discussed in the light of the possible physical mechanisms that can potentially act at the Arrábida Marine Park to facilitate larvae retention and the role of larval behaviour.     

Population dynamics of Callichirus major (Say, 1818) (Crustacea, Thalassinidea) on a beach in northeastern Brazil

We describe the structure, reproductive cycle, fecundity, growth, and mortality of a harvested population of the ghost shrimp Callichirus major. Samples were collected at monthly intervals from September 1999 to October 2000 on an urban sandy beach (08°11′S 34°55′W) in northeastern Brazil. During this period the sex ratio did not differ significantly from 1:1 (0.98 M: 1 F). Minimum and maximum sizes of the Dorsal Oval were 2.59 and 12.19 mm for males and 4.46 and 12.62 mm for females, respectively. Ovigerous females were found throughout the period, except between August and September 2000. Maximum lifespan was estimated as 3.3 and 3.4 years for females and males, respectively. This northeastern population differed from others previously studied in southern and southeastern Brazil, in regard to sex ratio, maximum attained size, maturation size, period and duration of the reproductive cycle, and fecundity. We interpret these regional differences as evidence for over-fishing at the study site, and suggest that large-scale management plans for callianassid populations should use regional population parameters.     

The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) 4-dimensional variational data assimilation systems: Part II - Performance and application to the California Current System

The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) 4-dimensional variational (4D-Var) data assimilation systems have been systematically applied to the mesoscale circulation environment of the California Current to demonstrate the performance and practical utility of the various components of ROMS 4D-Var. In particular, we present a comparison of three approaches to 4D-Var, namely: the primal formulation of the incremental strong constraint approach; the dual formulation “physical-space statistical analysis system”; and the dual formulation indirect representer approach. In agreement with theoretical considerations all three approaches converge to the same ocean circulation estimate when using the same observations and prior information. However, the rate of convergence of the dual formulation was found to be inferior to that of the primal formulation. Other aspects of the 4D-Var performance that relate to the use of multiple outer-loops, preconditioning, and the weak constraint are also explored. A systematic evaluation of the impact of the various components of the 4D-Var control vector (i.e. the initial conditions, surface forcing and open boundary conditions) is also presented. It is shown that correcting for uncertainties in the model initial conditions exerts the largest influence on the ability of the model to fit the available observations. Various important diagnostics of 4D-Var are also examined, including estimates of the posterior error, the information content of the observation array, and innovation-based consistency checks on the prior error assumptions. Using these diagnostic tools, we find that more than 90% of the observations assimilated into the model provide redundant information. This is a symptom of the large percentage of satellite data that are used and to some extent the nature of the data processing employed. This is the second in a series of three papers describing the ROMS 4D-Var systems.     

Numerical studies of methane production from Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations enhanced with carbon dioxide injection

Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations are characterized by a permeable hydrate-bearing interval overlying a permeable interval with mobile gas, sandwiched between two impermeable intervals. Depressurization-induced dissociation is currently the favored technology for producing gas from Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations. The depressurization production technology requires heat transfer from the surrounding environment to sustain dissociation as the temperature drops toward the hydrate equilibrium point and leaves the reservoir void of gas hydrate. Production of gas hydrate accumulations by exchanging carbon dioxide with methane in the clathrate structure has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments and proposed as a field-scale technology. The carbon dioxide exchange technology has the potential for yielding higher production rates and mechanically stabilizing the reservoir by maintaining hydrate saturations. We used numerical simulation to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of using carbon dioxide injection to enhance the production of methane from Class 1 gas hydrate accumulations. Numerical simulations in this study were primarily concerned with the mechanisms and approaches of carbon dioxide injection to investigate whether methane production could be enhanced through this approach. To avoid excessive simulation execution times, a five-spot well pattern with a 500-m well spacing was approximated using a two-dimensional domain having well boundaries on the vertical sides and impermeable boundaries on the horizontal sides. Impermeable over- and under burden were included to account for heat transfer into the production interval. Simulation results indicate that low injection pressures can be used to reduce secondary hydrate formation and that direct contact of injected carbon dioxide with the methane hydrate present in the formation is limited due to bypass through the higher permeability gas zone.     

Evolution of deep-water stratigraphic architecture, Magallanes Basin, Chile

The ˜4000 m thick and ∼20 Myr deep-water sedimentary fill of the Upper Cretaceous Magallanes Basin was deposited in three major phases, each with contrasting stratigraphic architecture: (1) the oldest deep-water formation (Punta Barrosa Formation) comprises tabular to slightly lenticular packages of interbedded sandy turbidites, slurry-flow deposits, and siltstone that are interpreted to record lobe deposition in an unconfined to weakly ponded setting; (2) the overlying, 2500 m thick and shale-dominated Cerro Toro Formation includes a succession of stacked conglomeratic and sandstone channel-fill deposits with associated finer-grained overbank deposits interpreted to record deposition in a foredeep-axial channel-levee system; (3) the final phase of deep-water sedimentation is characterized by sandstone-rich successions of highly variable thickness and cross-sectional geometry and mudstone-rich mass transport deposits (MTDs) that are interpreted to record deposition at the base-of-slope and lower slope segments of a prograding delta-fed slope system. The deep-water formations are capped by shallow-marine and deltaic deposits of the Dorotea Formation.These architectural changes are associated with the combined influences of tectonically driven changes and intrinsic evolution, including: (1) the variability of amount and type of source material, (2) variations in basin shape through time, and (3) evolution of the fill as a function of prograding systems filling the deep-water accommodation. While the expression of these controls in the stratigraphic architecture of other deep-water successions might differ in detail, the controls themselves are common to all deep-water basins. Information about source material and basin shape is contained within the detrital record and, when integrated and analyzed within the context of stratigraphic patterns, attains a more robust linkage of processes to products than stratigraphic characterization alone.     

Sedimentological criteria to differentiate submarine channel levee subenvironments: Exhumed examples from the Rosario Fm. (Upper Cretaceous) of Baja California, Mexico, and the Fort Brown Fm. (Permian), Karoo Basin, S. Africa

Two scales of levee confinement are commonly recognised from submarine channel-levee systems on the seafloor and in the subsurface. Large-scale external levees bound the entire system whilst smaller-scale internal levees bound individual thalweg channels within the channel-belt. Although thin beds are commonly identified in core and well logs, their origin, and consequently their stratigraphic significance is currently poorly understood. This knowledge gap stems, in part, from the lack of unambiguously identified outcrop analogues of channel-levees, and in particular the lack of identifiable internal and external levees. Here we report from two exhumed channel-levee systems where both scales of confinement can be recognised: the Rosario Fm. of Baja California, and the Fort Brown Fm. of South Africa. A suite of characteristic sedimentary features are recognised from internal and external levees respectively: internal levees are characterised by structures indicative of complexity in the waxing-waning style of overspill, interactions with topography and flow magnitude variability; in contrast, external levees are characterised by structures indicative of simple surge-like waning flows, relatively uniform flow directions, laterally extensive beds, and a lack of erosive events. Using these observations, together with published literature, we propose a simple nomenclatural scheme for levee sub-environments, and criteria to differentiate between levee sub-environments in core or outcrop.     

Quantifying the influence of channel sinuosity on the depositional mechanics of channelized turbidity currents: A laboratory study

Here we present results from a suite of laboratory experiments that highlight the influence of channel sinuosity on the depositional mechanics of channelized turbidity currents. We released turbidity currents into three channels in an experimental basin filled with water and monitored current properties and the evolution of topography via sedimentation. The three channels were similar in cross-sectional geometry but varied in sinuosity. Results from these experiments are used to constrain the run-up of channelized turbidity currents on the outer banks of moderate to high curvature channel bends. We find that a current is unlikely to remain contained within a channel when the kinetic energy of a flow exceeds the potential energy associated with an elevation gain equal to the channel relief; setting an effective upper limit for current velocity. Next we show that flow through bends induces a vertical mixing that redistributes suspended sediment back into the interiors of depositional turbidity currents. This mixing counteracts the natural tendency for suspended sediment concentration and grain size to stratify vertically, thereby reducing the rate at which sediment is lost from a current via deposition. Finally, the laboratory experiments suggest that turbidity currents might commonly separate from channel sidewalls along the inner banks of bends. In some cases, sedimentation rates and patterns within the resulting separation zones are sufficient to construct bar forms that are attached to the channel sidewalls and represent an important mechanism of submarine channel filling. These bar forms have inclined strata that might be mistaken for the deposits of point bars and internal levees, even though the formation mechanism and its implications to channel history are different.     

Depositional architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Karoo basin floor to shelf edge succession, Laingsburg depocentre, South Africa

The Laingsburg depocentre of the SW Karoo Basin, South Africa preserves a well-exposed 1200 m thick succession of upper Permian strata that record the early filling of a basin during an icehouse climate. Uniformly fine-grained sandstones were derived from far-field granitic sources, possibly in Patagonia, although the coeval staging and delivery systems are not preserved. Early condensed shallow marine deposits are overlain by distal basin plain siltstone-prone turbidites and volcanic ashes. An order of magnitude increase in siliciclastic input to the basin plain is represented by up to 270 m of siltstone with thin sandstone turbidites (Vischkuil Formation). The upper Vischkuil Formation comprises three depositional sequences, each bounded by a regionally developed zone of soft sediment deformation and associated 20-45 m thick debrite that represent the initiation of a major sand delivery system. The overlying 300 m thick sandy basin-floor fan system (Unit A) is divisible into three composite sequences arranged in a progradational-aggradational-retrogradational stacking pattern, followed by up to 40 m of basin-wide hemipelagic claystone. This claystone contains Interfan A/B, a distributive lobe system that lies 10 m beneath Unit B, a sandstone-dominated succession that averages 150 m thickness and is interpreted to represent a toe of slope channelized lobe system. Unit B and the A/B interfan together comprise 4 depositional sequences in a composite sequence with an overall basinward-stepping stacking pattern, overlain by 30 m of hemipelagic claystone. The overlying 400 m thick submarine slope succession (Fort Brown Formation) is characterized by 10-120 m thick sand-prone to heterolithic packages separated by 30-70 m thick claystone units. On the largest scale the slope stratigraphy is defined by two major cycles interpreted as composite sequence sets. The lower cycle comprises lithostratigraphic Units B/C, C and D while the upper cycle includes lithostratigraphic Units D/E, E and F. In each case a sandy basal composite sequence is represented by an intraslope lobe (Units B/C and D/E respectively). The second composite sequence in each cycle (Units C and E respectively) is characterized by slope channel-levee systems with distributive lobes 20-30 km down dip. The uppermost composite sequence in each cycle (Units D and F respectively) are characterised by deeply entrenched slope valley systems. Most composite sequences comprise three sequences separated by thin (<5 m thick) claystones. Architectural style is similar at individual sequence scale for comparable positions within each composite sequence set and each composite sequence. The main control on stratigraphic development is interpreted as late icehouse glacio-eustasy but along-strike changes associated with changing shelf edge delivery systems and variable bathymetry due to differential substrate compaction complicate the resultant stratigraphy.     

Defining the concept of stratigraphic grade and applying it to stratal (reservoir) architecture and evolution of the slope-to-basin profile: An outcrop perspective

Stratigraphic grade is the similarity of the morphology of successive slope-to-basin profiles in a genetically related depositional system. In this article we use data collected from regional cross-sections of six depositional systems, stratal architecture derived from outcrops of the Lewis Shale (Wyoming, USA), and the Ross Sandstone (Ireland), and supplementary outcrop and subsurface data from other depositional systems to determine how stratigraphic grade relates to stratal (reservoir) architecture in deepwater systems.Four methods are developed that collectively define stratigraphic grade: (1) regional stacking patterns of fourth-order stratigraphic surfaces, (2) the relationship between the trajectory of the shelf edge (T_se) and the trajectory of the depocenter (T_d) for fourth-order stratigraphic units, (3) morphology of the slope-to-basin profiles of fourth-order stratigraphic surfaces, and (4) the similarity of the morphologies of slope-to-basin profiles of fourth-order surfaces in a system (σ_s, σ_r). Several characteristics of stratigraphic (reservoir) architecture of fourth-order stratigraphic cycles are related to stratigraphic grade: (1) longitudinal distribution of sandstone in fourth-order cycles, (2) location of maximum sandstone relative to the depocenter of fourth-order cycles, (3) lengths of fourth-order submarine fans, and (4) longitudinal and vertical distribution of architectural elements. Stratigraphic grade is thus a predictor of reservoir architecture and can thereby be used to reduce the uncertainty in the interpretation of subsurface data.The concept of stratigraphic grade is useful in understanding the stratigraphic evolution of deepwater systems. Most deepwater systems analyzed in this study initiated as out-of-grade and temporally evolved to graded systems over a time span of millions of years. Systems rarely evolve from graded to out-of-grade. First-order controls on stratigraphic grade are determined to be angle of slope, tectonically forced changes in angle of slope during deposition, and sediment supply.     

The continent-ocean transition at the southeastern margin of the South China Sea

The South China Sea formed by magma-poor, or intermediate volcanic rifting in the Paleogene. We investigate the structure of the continent-ocean transition (COT) at its southern margin, off NW Palawan between the continental blocks of Reed Bank and the islands of Palawan and Calamian. Several surveys, recorded by the BGR from 1979 to 2008, established a comprehensive database of regional seismic lines, accompanied with magnetic and gravity profiles.We interpret two major rifted basins, extending in the NE direction across the shelf and slope, separated by a structural high of non volcanic origin.The continent-ocean transition is interpreted at the seaward limit of the continental crust, when magnetic spreading anomalies terminate some 80-100 km farther north. The area in between displays extensive volcanism - as manifest by extrusions that occasionally reach and cut the seafloor, by dykes, and by presumed basaltic lava flows - occurring after break-up.The COT is highly variable along the NW Palawan slope: One type shows a distinct outer ridge at the COT with a steep modern seafloor relief. The other type is characterised by rotated fault blocks, bounded by listric normal faults ramping down to a common detachment surface. Half-grabens developed above a strongly eroded pre-rift basement. The seafloor relief is smooth across this other type of COT.We suggest the pre-rift lithospheric configuration had major influence on the formation of the COT, besides transfer zones. Volcanic domains, confined to the north of competent crustal blocks correlate with the style of the COT.Gravity modelling revealed an extremely thinned crust across the shelf. We propose a depth-dependent extension model with crust being decoupled from mantle lithosphere, explaining the discrepancy of subsidence observed across the South China Sea region.