Transient oceanic and tidal contributions to water exchange and residence times in a coastal upwelling system in the NE Atlantic: the Pontevedra Ria, Galicia

An analysis of the intra-annual variability of hydrographic residence times, tau, is presented for the Pontevedra Ria--a large coastal system in NW Spain with a deep, unobstructed connection with the Atlantic Ocean. Ria-offshore water exchange and tau were quantified with an iterative approach to the fraction of freshwater method using 23 quasi-steady state water-salt budgets. Excluding prolonged flushing due to downwelling events at the end of the upwelling season, mean was 6 +/- 2 day in the central ria and 2 +/- 1 day in the internal ria. The tidal contribution, equal to 10-25% of total water renewal, was quantified for the first time for a Galician ria with the hydrodynamic model estuarine contaminant simulator (ECoS). The relationship between tau and residual freshwater input, Qz, was atypical, since Qz played a minor role in water exchange in comparison to periodic upwelling of East North Atlantic Central Water (ENACW) from the continental shelf mainly during spring and summer. During positive upwelling stress, the intrusion of ENACW into the ria produced enhanced flushing and tau < 4 day in the central ria and < 2 days in the internal ria. Under downwelling favourable conditions, water was retained and tau prolonged to >8 and >5 days, respectively. A quantitative parameterisation of tau with upwelling and Qz was weakly significant, due to the short-term variability in ria salinity. This paper elucidates problems associated with the use of water budgets to transient coastal systems such as the Pontevedra Ria.     

Seasonal Variations of Nutrients, Seston and Phytoplankton, and Upwelling Intensity off La Coruña (NW Spain)

This study describes the main seasonal stages in oceanographic conditions and phytoplankton off La Coruña (Galicia, NW Spain), during 1991 and 1992, based mainly on monthly cruises near the coast. Upwelling conditions were studied using an upwelling index calculated from local winds. The Galician coast is affected by a long upwelling season for most of the year. The upwelling pulses interact with the thermal stratification-mixing cycle of surface waters, primarily affecting the dynamics of phytoplankton. In addition, the presence of water masses of different salinity in the subsurface layers changes the stratification of the water column. The less-saline North Atlantic Central Water (NACW) was normally associated with upwelling events during summer. However, on several occasions during the study, the presence of Eastern North Atlantic Water (ENAW) of subtropical origin was observed with salinities up to 36·22 and temperatures between 13 and 14 °C.Observations were grouped into five main stages related to the degree of surface stratification and characteristics of phytoplankton communities. These stages were recognized in both annual cycles, and were termed: winter mixing, spring and autumn blooms, summer upwelling, thermal stratification and special events (red tides and downwelling). A homogeneous water column was the main characteristic of the winter stage, with high nutrient concentrations and low phytoplankton biomass. Eastern North Atlantic Water appeared at the end of this stage, which lasted from November to February. The spring and autumn blooms occurred along with weak thermohaline gradients at the surface, producing high phytoplankton concentrations. Favourable upwelling conditions and the presence of ENAW in a subsurface layer were the factors that most likely induced earlier blooms, while thermal gradients developed at the surface could have been more important for later blooms. Upwelling events during summer were related to a reduction in the depth of the surface mixed layer as the pycnocline moved upwards, and can produce significant phytoplankton accumulations. These summer blooms interrupted the thermal stratification stage, characterized by low nutrient and phytoplankton concentrations at the surface. The dominant phytoplankton in the study was composed mainly of diatoms, especially during blooms. However, a proliferation of red-tide dinoflagellates was observed along with weak upwelling conditions in late summer. Also in late summer, strong downwelling conditions caused the accumulation of warmer shelf waters inshore, inducing the sinking of particulate matter produced at the surface.     

Variability in plankton community structure, metabolism, and vertical carbon fluxes along an upwelling filament (Cape Juby, NW Africa)

The variability in dissolved and particulate organic matter, plankton biomass, community structure and metabolism, and vertical carbon fluxes were studied at four stations (D₁–D₄), placed along a coastal-offshore gradient of an upwelling filament developed near Cape Juby (NW Africa). The filament was revealed as a complex and variable system in terms of its hydrological structure and distribution of biological properties. An offshore shift from large to small phytoplankton cells, as well as from higher to lower autotrophic biomass, was not paralleled by a similar gradient in particulate (POC) or dissolved (DOC) organic carbon. Rather, stations in the central part of the filament (D₂ and D₃) presented the highest organic matter concentrations. Autotrophic carbon (POC_Chl) accounted for 53% (onshore station, D₁) to 27% (offshore station, D₄) of total POC (assuming a carbon to chlorophyll ratio of 50), from which nano- and pico-phytoplankton biomasses (POC_{A < 10 μm}) represented 14% (D₁) to 79% (D₄) of POC_Chl. The biomass of small hetrotrophs (POC_{H < 10 μm}) was equivalent to POC_{A < 10 μm}, except at D₁, where small autotrophs were less abundant. Dark community respiration (R_d) in the euphotic zone was in general high, almost equivalent to gross production (P_g), but decreasing offshore (D₁–D₄, from 108 to 41 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹). POC sedimentation rates (POC_sed) below the euphotic zone ranged from 17 to 6 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹. Only at D₄ was a positive carbon balance observed: P_g−(R_d + POC_sed) = 42 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹. Compared to other filament studies from the NE Atlantic coast, the Cape Juby filament presented lower sedimentation rates and higher respiration rates with respect to gross production. We suggest that this is caused by the recirculation of the filament water, induced by the presence of an associated cyclonic eddy, acting as a trapping mechanism for organic matter. The export capacity of the Cape Juby filament therefore would be constrained to the frequency of the interactions of the filament with island-induced eddies.     

Microstructural analysis of faulting in quartzite,Assynt, NW Scotland: Implications for fault zone evolution

Macroscopic fracture arrays, microstructures and interpreted deformation mechanisms are used to assess the development of a minor reverse fault (backthrust) in quartzite from the Moine Thrust Zone, Assynt, NW Scotland. Fracturing dominates the faulting via the progression: intragranular extension microcracks; transgranular, cataclasite absent extension fractures; through-going, cataclasite filled shear microfaults, within which fracturing and particulate flow operate. However, both diffusive mass transfer (DMT) and intracrystalline plasticity (low temperature plasticity, LTP) processes also contribute to the fault zone deformation and lead to distinct associations of deformation mechanisms (e.g., DMT-fracture and LTP-fracture or low-temperature ductile fracture, LTDF). Over a large range of scales the fault zone consists of blocks of relatively intact rock separated by narrow zones of intense deformation where fracture processes dominate. The populations of fragments/blocks of different sizes in the fault zone have a power-law relationship which is related to the dimension of the fault zone. These observations are used to develop a general model for fault zone evolution based on the distribution of deformation features as a function of either time or space. A systematic variation in the deformation rate: time histories is recognised, associated with different positions within the fault zone. Thus, the fault zone preserves elements of the birth, life and death sequences associated with the displacement history and strain accommodation.Dedicated to the memory of Will Ramsbotham (1967–93).     

The Bekten Fault: the palaeoseismic behaviour and kinematic characteristics of an intervening segment of the North Anatolian Fault Zone,Southern Marmara Region,Turkey

The Bekten Fault is 20-km long N55°E trending and oblique-slip fault in the dextral strike-slip fault zone. The fault is extending sub-parallel between Yenice-Gönen and Sar?köy faults, which forms the southern branch of North Anatolian Fault Zone in Southern Marmara Region. Tectonomorphological structures indicative of the recent fault displacements such as elongated ridges and offset creeks observed along the fault. In this study, we investigated palaeoseismic activities of the Bekten Fault by trenching surveys, which were carried out over a topographic saddle. The trench exposed the fault and the trench stratigraphy revealed repeated earthquake surface rupture events which resulted in displacements of late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. According to radiocarbon ages obtained from samples taken from the event horizons in the stratigraphy, it was determined that at least three earthquakes resulting in surface rupture generated from the Bekten Fault within last ~1300 years. Based on the palaeoseismological data, the Bekten Fault displays non-characteristic earthquake behaviour and has not produced any earthquake associated with surface rupture for about the last 400 years. Additionally, the data will provide information for the role of small fault segments play except for the major structures in strike-slip fault systems.     

The subducted oceanic crust within continental-type UHP metamorphic belt in the North Qaidam, NW China: Evidence from petrology, geochemistry and geochronology

Three types of eclogite, together with a serpentinized harzburgite, coexist as blocks within granitic and pelitic gneisses along the Shaliuhe cross section, the eastern part of the North Qaidam continental-type ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt, NW China. The olivine (Ol¹) and orthopyroxene in the harzburgite are compositionally similar to present-day abyssal peridotites. The kyanite–eclogite is derived from a troctolitic protolith, whereas the epidote–eclogite from a gabbroic protolith, both having distinct positive Eu anomalies, low TiO₂, and high Al₂O₃ and MgO. The kyanite–eclogite shows inherited cumulate layering. The phengite–eclogite has high TiO₂, low Al₂O₃ and MgO with incompatible trace elements resembling enriched-type MORB. Sr–Nd isotope data indicate that the protoliths of both kyanite–eclogite and epidote–eclogite ([⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr]_i ~ 0.703–0.704; ε_Nd(T) ~ 5.9–8.0) are of mantle origin (e.g., ocean crust signatures). On the other hand, while the lower ε_Nd(T) value (1.4–4.1) of phengite–eclogite is more or less consistent with an enriched MORB protolith, their high [⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr]_i ratio (0.705–0.716) points to an additional enrichment in their history, probably in an subduction-zone environment. Field relations and geochemical analyses suggest that the serpentinized harzburgite and the three types of eclogite constitute the oceanic lithological section of an ophiolitic sequence from mantle peridotite, to cumulate, and to upper basaltic rocks. The presence of coesite pseudomorphs and quartz exsolution in omphacite plus thermobarometric calculations suggests that the eclogites have undergone ultrahigh pressure metamorphism (i.e., peak P ≥ 2.7 GPa). The harzburgite may also have experienced the same metamorphism, but the lack of garnet suggests that the pressure conditions of ≤ 3.0 GPa. Zircon U–Pb SHRIMP dating shows that the eclogites have a protolith age of 516 ± 8 Ma and a metamorphic age of 445 ± 7 Ma. These data indicate the presence of a Paleo-Qilian Ocean between Qaidam and Qilian blocks before the early Ordovician. The ophiolitic assemblage may be the relics of subducted oceanic crust prior to the subduction of continental materials during Ordovician–Silurian times and ultimate continent collision. These rocks, altogether, record a complete history of ocean crust subduction, to continental subduction, and to continental collision.