Fingerprint of tropical climate variability and sea level in sediments of the Cariaco Basin during the last glacial period

High‐resolution palaeorecords of climate are critical to improving current understanding of climate variability, its sensitivity and impact on the environment in the past and in the future. Sediments from the Cariaco Basin off the coast of Venezuela have proven to be sensitive recorders of tropical palaeoclimate variability down to an annual scale. However, the fingerprint of climate and sea level in the sediments of the last glacial period is still not completely understood. In this study, lamination analysis of sediments from the Cariaco Basin is extended to the last glacial period. Detailed sedimentological and geochemical analysis (laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry) reveals couplets of light‐coloured, terrigenous‐rich and dark‐coloured, biogenic opal‐rich laminae, which are interpreted to reflect the seasonal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. In addition, a previously undescribed, nearly pure terrigenous lamina type is observed, which is referred to hereafter as a ‘C‐layer’. The C‐layers in the sedimentary sequence are interpreted as flood layers that originate from local rivers. The occurrence of these C‐layers is investigated for two core locations in the Cariaco Basin over the last 110 kyr by continuous X‐ray fluorescence scanning. Dansgaard–Oeschger oscillations are most clearly traced by proxies reflecting productivity and marine organic matter content of the sediment. In contrast, the abundance of terrigenous material differs at times between the two sites. On an interglacial to glacial timescale, the ability to record events causing C‐layers is likely to be influenced by changes in sea level and source proximity. On a millennial scale, both sediment cores contain more C‐layers during warmer interstadials compared with colder stadials during Marine Isotope Stage 3. This finding implies that interstadials were not only wetter than stadials, but probably also characterized by increased rainfall variability, leading to an enhanced frequency of flooding events in the hinterland of the Cariaco Basin.     

Management of transboundary estuaries in Latin America and the Caribbean

The need for integrated resource management in coastal and marine areas is increasingly urgent. Estuaries, as a representation of the relationship between river basins and coastal areas are spaces of convergence due to their natural characteristics. Transboundary estuaries also historically represent divisions between regions and countries, often presenting overlaid administrative domains and a complex situation to manage. This paper makes a meta-analysis of the main geographical and managerial characteristics of 17 cases of transboundary estuaries in Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC). These cases are presented as examples of bilateral relations of cooperation and co-management of shared systems (fluvial, coastal and marine). The analysis of these estuaries in LAC demonstrated that there is an inadequate integration between River Basin Management and Coastal Areas Management, not considering the scope of a management based in ecosystems. It was also exposed that the articulation of international and national policies and the land and sea domains that take place at these locations determine the system management, as well as the use and distribution of shared resources.     

Historical analysis (2000-2005) of the coastal water quality in San Andrés Island, SeaFlower Biosphere Reserve, Caribbean Colombia

To understand the coastal water quality of San Andrès Island, and provide tools for the management of its marine resources, we present the historical analysis of the island monitoring, which includes ammonia, nitrites, nitrate, phosphates, fecal and total coliforms. The anthropogenic pressure on the coastal system is heavy, with water nutrification, posing at risk seagrass and coral ecosystems. During dry season, biologically available nitrogen is 3-9 times higher than the maximum recommended for coral reefs, while during wet season values are 2-6.4 times the maximum. Biologically available phosphorous is also high, 1-8 times the maximum during dry season, 2-13 times during wet season. In some sites the concentration of pathogenic bacteria is above the limits set by law for primary and secondary contact. It is urgent to improve the management of sewage discharge, the main polluting source of San Andres coastal waters.     

Tectonic controls on carbonate sequence formation in an active strike–slip setting: Serranilla Basin, Northern Nicaragua Rise, Western Caribbean Sea

The Serranilla Basin is a flat-floored, semi-circular bathymetric depression (100×100 km; 1100–1200 m deep) at the western end of the northern Nicaragua Rise (NNR) in the Caribbean Sea. It is bound to the north by the Cayman Trough, an area of active sea floor spreading, and is part of the Northern Caribbean Plate Boundary Zone (NCPBZ). Single-channel, high-resolution seismic data were calibrated to rock dredges and ODP Site 1000 to define the geologic evolution and attempt to tie sequence formation within the basin to tectonic developments in this part of the Caribbean. Five seismic sequences were identified within the basin. The two lower sequences (A and B) are interpreted as neritic and shallow periplatform deposits which infill three distinct basins that make up the early to late Miocene Serranilla Basin. The three upper sequences (C through E) are interpreted as periplatform and pelagic deposits interspersed with turbidites, and in some areas, megabreccias. Faulting is prevalent in sequences A through C in the central basin, and becomes progressively younger toward the south, disrupting the seafloor in places and perhaps indicating renewed activity along the Pedro Fracture Zone. The timing of sequence boundary formation has been correlated to tectonic activity along the NCPBZ and closure of the Central American Seaway. Possible mechanisms of sequence boundary formation include tectonic tilting within the basin in conjunction with increased turbidite deposition, carbonate platform drowning and subsequent back-stepping associated with circulation changes resulting from tectonic ‘gateway' closure, and megabreccia deposition associated with bank demise. Although a direct genetic relationship is not proven, regional tectonic changes are considered more important than eustatic sea-level changes in controlling depositional sequence formation in the Serranilla Basin.     

Early Benthic Organism Colonization on a Caribbean Coral Reef (Barbados, West Indies): a Plate Experimental Approach

Abstract. Macrofaunal colonization was studied using coral plates fixed at 10 m depth on a fringing reef in Barbados, West Indies. Two sites were compared: Spring Garden, a site that is affected by eutrophication, and Six Men's Bay which is relatively free of this effect. Two sets of plates were immersed in winter and spring 1990 at each site and monitored for 28 and 19 weeks, respectively. Green and brown algae colonized first, followed 2 weeks later by ostracods, cumaceans, amphipods and polychaetes: terebellids, nereidids and syllids. Most colonizers either nestled or encrusted. A total of 11 017 invertebrates belonging to 145 species were collected. Polychaetes were the most abundant and diverse zoological group. Considering polychaetes, crustaceans and molluscs, the study sites shared around 75% of the species. Overall, densities were higher on lower (shaded) surfaces while diversities were higher on upper (illuminated) sides. Similarity coefficients and correspondence analysis showed different macrobenthic assemblages and colonization patterns in light and shaded and in polluted and unpolluted sites. Coral plates were associated according to their 'immersion time' and were closely linked to their stage of development. Spring Garden (polluted) presented a higher number of soft-bottom and deposit-feeder species ( e.g. , Capitella capitata ).     

Organochlorine contamination (PCBs, DDTs, HCB, HCHs) in sediments from Cienfuegos bay, Cuba

The spatial distribution of various organochlorinated compounds, e.g. PCBs, DDTs, HCB and HCHs, were investigated in sediments from Cienfuegos bay, Cuba. Their concentrations appeared to be relatively low by global standards and only sediments receiving the impact from the residual waters of the city and thermoelectrical power approached the sediment quality guidelines for PCBs and DDTs. Relatively higher ΣDDT concentrations and high DDT/DDE + DDD ratios in two sites near the outfalls of the city indicated a current DDT usage, probably linked to public health emergencies. These results contribute to the sparse regional database for organochlorinated compounds in the Caribbean marine environment.     

Source processes of large (M≥6.5) earthquakes of the Southeastern Caribbean (1926–1960)

We have conducted body waveform modeling studies of 13 historic earthquakes to provide a better understanding of the long-term spatial and temporal pattern of seismicity and deformation within a region extending from Barbuda, Lesser Antilles, to Cumana, Venezuela. Our results suggest that shallow earthquakes (<50 km deep) along the South American-Caribbean plate margin reflect right-lateral and extensional deformation. Intermediate depth events (100 km) show left-lateral strike-slip motion beneath the Paria peninsula of Venezuela. In the Lesser Antilles the 1960 Barbuda and 1946 Martinique earthquakes appear to be interplate thrust events, however the greatest moment release in the region has occurred at intermediate depths as a mixture of normal and strike-slip faulting, generally along trends oblique to the arc. The deformation rate estimated from the seismic moment release between 1926 and 1960 is only 1 to 10% of the estimated plate convergence rate for the region.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Geography and the Third World. International Seminar, 14–18 May 1980, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia . Ishmail Ahmad and Jamaluddin Md Jahi, eds. The Growth Dilemma: Residents' Views and Local Population Change in the United States . Mark Baldassare. Sport and Place: A Geography of Sport in England, Scotland & Wales . John Bale. The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry . Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison. Selected Essays 1963–1975: Carl O. Sauer . Bob Callahen, ed. Housing and Planning in the Countryside . G. Clark. Conflict, Politics and the Urban Scene . Kevin R. Cox and R. J. Johnston, eds. Thematic Maps: Their Design and Production . David J. Cuff and Mark T. Mattson. Wine: A Geographic Appreciation . Harm Jan de Blij. USSR in Maps . J. C. Dewdney. Political Geography: A Contemporary Perspective . Ramesh D. Dikshit. Rethinking Human Adaptation . Rada Dyson-Hudson and Michael A. Little, eds. Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the indiana Dunes . J. Ronald Engel. Geography of the Biosphere . A. Furley and Walter W. Newey. Disaster and Reconstruction . Robert Geipel. Glasgow: The Making of a City . Andrew Gibb. Design for Arid Regions . Giden S. Golany, ed. Urbanization and Cancer Mortality: The United States Experience, 1950–1975 . Michael R. Greenberg. Geology in the Nineteenth Century: Changing Views of a Changing World . Mott T. Greene. Colonización y Destrucción de Bosques en Panamá . Stanley Heckadon Moreno and Alberto McKay, eds. Urban Geography: A First Approach . David T. Herbert and Colin J. Thomas. The Visual and Spatial Structure of Landscapes . Tadahiko Higuchi. Climate from Tree Rings . M. K. Hughes, P. M. Kelly, J. R. Pilcher, and V. C. LaMarche, Jr., eds. The structure of Nineteenth Century Cities . James H. Johnson and Colin G. Pooley, eds. The American Planner: Biographies and Recollections . Donald A. Krueckeberg, ed. Urban Land Policy For the 1980s, the Message for State and Local Government . George Lefcoe, ed. Regional Planning: Evolution, Crisis and Prospects . Gill C. Lim, ed. Relevance and Ethics In Geography . Bruce Mitchell and Dianne Draper. China: The Geography of Development and Modernization . Clifton W. Pannell and Laurence J. C. MA. The Urban Retailing System . Robert B. Potter. Hants. Nonconventional Energy Resources . Philip R. Pryde. Caribbean Migrants: Environment and Human Survival on St. Kitts and Nevis . Bonham C. Richardson. Population and Resources . Harry Robinson. East Los Angeles: History of A Barrio . Ricardo Romo. Integrated Impact Assessment . Frederick A. Rossini and Alan L. Porter, eds. Environmental Aesthetics: Essays in Interpretation . Barry Sadler and Allen Carlson, eds. Earthwatch . Charles Sheffield. Field Techniques and Research Methods in Geography . Robert H. Stoddard. Haiti: Land of Poverty . Robert J. Tata. Weathering and Erosion: Sources and Methods in Geography . Stephen T. Trudgill. Once Beneath the Forest. Prehistoric Terracing in the Río Bec Region of the Maya Lowlands . B. L. Turner, II. The Historical Geography of Scotland since 1707 . David Turnock.     

Crustal attenuation for Jamaica, West Indies

The S and coda wave spectra of small earthquakes on the island of Jamaica were used to determine the near surface and coda Q attenuation, and Q _c,respectively. Q _c determined by the single-station method was found in the range of 1 to 10 Hertz to be given by the relationship, Q _c= 60 ± 5f ^0.87±0.05. This suggests that the Jamaican crust is highly attenuating which is further supported by the observation of rapid intensity fall-off with distance for earthquakes that have affected the island in the past. , determined from S-wave spectra with short travel times was found to be 0.058 ± 0.012 on the central crustal block, which makes up nearly two-thirds of the island, and 0.080 ± 0.014 in surrounding belt sub-regions. The pattern of values seems to fit with the surface geology in that the central block has areas of exposed outcrops of older and harder rock than the belts, which are characterized by thicker sedimentary sequences as well as intense fracturing and faulting.Atkinson and Boore (1998) and Atkinson(2001) presented an alternative method to stochastic modelling for ground motion in Eastern North America, whereby California attenuation relationships were modified to account for crustal differences invelocity-depth profile, Q and between both regions. Following their example, the California spectral attenuation relation of Boore, Joyner and Fumal (1997) was modified to account for differences between the California and Jamaica crust, resulting in an attenuation relation that is deemed to be more appropriate for Jamaica. Spectral accelerations for Jamaica when compared to California, are especially reduced beyond 20 km from the source and at high frequencies, f 1 hertz.The study concludes that the Jamaican crust, although having an oceanic composition is highly attenuating, which may be a result of intensive tectonic processes, whereas is consistent with near-rock conditions on the central block and soft rock conditions elsewhere on the island.     

Observations on the Aggregative Behavior of Mysidium columbiae, the Mangrove Mysid

Abstract. The mangrove mysid Mysidium columbine (Z immer ) occurs in aggregations of tens to millions of individuals. Few indepth studies on the aggregative behavior of this species have examined structural composition, response to light intensity changes, and its ability to reduce prcdation. Snorkel and SCUBA observations, as well as aquarium experimentation on shoals/ schools of this species in shallow waters around a mangrove archipelago were made at irregular intervals to determine their structure, dynamics, and influence on prcdation. In summer, aggregations occurred as large cylindrical shoals, in winter as small ovoid schools. In daylight, shoals/schools were very sensitive to changes in light intensity. At night the smallest juveniles formed compact swarms, while larger individuals became solitary. At sunrise a definite rc-shoaling behavior existed. Shoals/schools were stratified by life stages. A hypothesis stating that conspecific schools in winter did not mix was tested. Mysidium shoals/schools seemed to discourage prcdation by fishes.