Morpho-tectonic analysis of the Azores Volcanic Plateau from a new bathymetric compilation of the area

The existing studies of the Azores triple junction, although based on specific geological or geophysical data, largely rely upon morphological considerations. However, there is no systematic bathymetric coverage of this area, and the quality of the available bathymetric charts does not allow consistent morpho-structural analysis.In this work we present a new bathymetric grid elaborated with all the available data sources in an area comprised between 24° W to 32° W and 36° N to 41° N. The basic data set corresponds to the merge of NGDC data with new swath profiles. This new map, included as an Appendix, combined with other results from seismology and neotectonics, is the basis for the study of the morpho-structural pattern of the Azores area, the present day stress field and its implications on the current view of the Azores geodynamics.As a major result, we conclude that the Azores region is controlled by two sets of conjugated faults with 120° and 150° strikes that establish the framework for the onset of volcanism, expressing as linear volcanic ridges or as point source volcanism. This interaction develops what can be considered as the morphological signature of the Azores Spreading axis segmentation. We argue that the Azores domain, presently in a broad transtensional regime, is acting simultaneously as a ultra slow spreading centre and as a transfer zone between the MAR and the dextral Gloria Fault, as it accommodates the differential shear movement between the Eurasian and African plates.     

GNSS PPP/INS紧组合模式下的远海无验潮水深测量

为实现高精度远海水深测量潮位改正,基于GNSS/INS组合系统开展了远海多波束无验潮水深测量方法研究,并给出了无验潮水深测量基本原理及实施技术流程。结合GNSS/INS组合形式及滤波原理,分别探讨了在GNSS有效和失效状态下PPP/INS松组合与紧组合的性能差异。以PPP/INS紧组合解算结果为基础进行无验潮水深测量改正,并与传统预报潮位改正方法进行了对比,经试验验证,基于PPP/INS紧组合模式下的远海无验潮水深测量准确度可达0.14 m,并有效消除了动态吃水影响,在典型水深断面处的水深测量准确度明显优于预报潮位改正模式。     

沿岸多模式GNSS三维水深测量方法研究

在沿岸水下地形测量中,高程控制是难点,在远离岸边的区域,不仅布设潮位站困难,而且潮位站水位改正的精度也难以保证,为提高沿岸水域测量的可靠性和灵活性,在河口区域的水深测量项目中进行了RTK、PPK、PPP3种模式的同步作业方式研究。结果表明,基于GNSS多模式三维水深测量的方法能有效提高水位改正的精度和可靠性。无论测区离岸距离多远,可以同步采用RTK、PPK和PPP的方式进行高程控制,这3种模式的高程测量差值均方差接近0.10m,精度能满足沿岸水域一般比例尺地形测量的高程精度要求。     

利用MVDR算法削弱多波束测深声纳的隧道效应

分析了海底多波束测深声纳中存在的隧道效应及其产生机理,指出旁瓣干扰是引起隧道效应的重要因素,隧道效应的出现导致多波束测深声纳把相对平坦的海底误测成凹面向上的水平半圆柱面海底地形。研究了基于GSC结构的自适应波束形成算法,推导提出了MVDR算法的连续自适应实现方案,并利用该算法对多波束测深声纳湖试数据中存在的隧道效应进行处理,结果表明该算法能够有效削弱多波束测深数据边缘波束中存在的旁瓣干扰。     

Hydrology of Okarito Lagoon and the inferred effects of selective logging in Okarito Forest

Okarito Lagoon (43° 11′S, 170° 14′E) is a small (20 km²) shore‐parallel, predominantly subtidal estuary, deepest near the landward end, and linked to the sea by two subtidal channels incised through shallow subtidal and intertidal flats which occupy the southern third of the lagoon. Tides at sea vary from 2.1m (spring) to 1.2 m (neap), but in the lagoon the tidal range is constant through the lunar cycle and varies from 0.80 m at the entrance to 0.17 m in the upper lagoon. Tidal water level and flow asymmetries in the subtidal channels are separated by a 1.7 h phase difference. Variations in the net discharge through the inlet result from changing flow cross‐sections rather than from variations in current velocities. Both the tidal‐averaged volume and the tidal compartment of the lagoon vary through the lunar cycle, from maxima at spring tides to minima at neap tides.

Freshwater inflows vary from less than 11 m³.s^‐1 to more than 750 m³.s^‐1. During storms, water level in the lagoon rises rapidly by 2–3 m, then declines to normal over several days. Three water masses, two with salinity and turbidity largely controlled by antecedent rainfall, normally occur in the lagoon. Suspended sediment concentrations in both freshwater inflows and lagoon waters are normally low but increase during floods. Most sediment is supplied by the Waitangi‐taona River or by erosion of tidal channel margins. The lagoon is floored with organic‐rich mud and sandy mud, deposited predominantly from suspension. Surface sediment is consistently muddier than subsurface sediment, probably reflecting an increase in the mud supply since diversion of the Waitangi‐taona River in 1967.

Comparisons of the estimated sediment yield and water inflow effects of the 1967 river diversion with short‐term observations during selective logging suggest that the effects of logging on sediment yield, water balance of the lagoon, and dissolved solids inputs will be small compared with changes caused by diversion of the Waitangi‐taona River.     

Merged GLORIA sidescan and Hydrosweep pseudo-sidescan: Processing and creation of digital mosaics

We have replaced the usual band of poor-quality data in the near-nadir region of our GLORIA long-range sidescan-sonar imagery with a shaded-relief image constructed from swath bathymetry data (collected simultaneously with GLORIA) which completely cover the nadir area. We have developed a technique to enhance these pseudo-sidescan images in order to mimic the neighbouring GLORIA backscatter intensities. As a result, the enhanced images greatly facilitate the geologic interpretation of the adjacent GLORIA data, and geologic features evident in the GLORIA data may be correlated with greater confidence across track. Features interpreted from the pseudo-sidescan may be extrapolated from the near-nadir region out into the GLORIA range where they may nt have been recognized otherwise, and therefore the pseudo-sidescan can be used to ground-truth GLORIA interpretations. Creation of digital sidescan mosaics utilized an approach not previously used for GLORIA data. Pixels were correctly placed in cartographic space and the time required to complete a final mosaic was significantly reduced. Computer software for digital mapping and mosaic creation is incorporated into the newly-developed Woods Hole Image Processing System (WHIPS) which can process both low- and high-frequency sidescan, and can interchange data with the Mini Image Processing System (MIPS) most commonly used for GLORIA processing. These techniques are tested by creating digital mosaics of merged GLORIA sidescan and Hydrosweep pseudo-sidescan data from the vicinity of the Juan Fernandez microplate along the East Pacific Rise (EPR).     

Effects of Bathymetric Grid-Cell Sizes on Habitat Suitability Analysis of Cold-water Gorgonian Corals on Seamounts

We investigated the effects of the spatial resolution of bathymetry data on the predicted local distribution of large gorgonian corals on the southern Emperor Seamounts in the high seas of North Pacific. Terrain attributes were calculated from bathymetric survey data at six different grid-cell sizes (25–800 m) to investigate how the values of bottom terrain attributes and the prediction of MaxEnt habitat suitability models would vary with grid-cell size. The values of each terrain attribute showed different patterns among different grid-cell sizes, and MaxEnt demonstrated better performance at grid-cell size of 100 m or less than at larger sizes.     

滨浅海单波束测深潮汐改正的方法

单波束测深仪在现在的海上地质调查中被广泛应用,潮汐校正是必不可少的内容。我们给出一种利用潮汐预报值进行潮汐改正的方法和过程,并介绍该方法在黄河三角洲环境地质补充调查项目中的应用。     

Orthogonal intersections of megatrends in the Western Pacific ocean basin: a case study of the Mid-Pacific mountains

Present-day tectonic concepts of events on the western paleo-Pacific lithosphere must be assessed relative to new data. Data collected by the newer techniques of geophysical surveying reveal leaky fracture zones, trending NNW–SSE and WSW–ENE; non-sequential in-line ages on most seamount chains; and orthogonal intersections of fracture zones. The fracture zones meander, braid, merge, splay, start and stop at any place, and are generally aligned with, or contain, linear chains of seamount. The combination of these in-line features is called megatrends. When the GEOSAT data are compared to the available bathymetry, this seemingly jumbled tectonic structure is verified. As the pole of rotation changes, the stress field changes alignment to agree with the Chandler wobble of Earth. Younger megatrends, propagating ever eastward, cross the older, already imprinted megatrends. During the Cretaceous, the voluminous outpouring of igneous rock created the large Pacific plateaus and rises where the megatrends, active and inactive, orthogonally intersected. The magma floods at the intersections flowed outwardly, and the outward flooding accounts for the fanning magnetic lineations around the Manihiki, Magellan, Shatskiy, and Hess rises. A case study of the Mid-Pacific Mountains (MPM), lying in the north-central Pacific Ocean basin, shows that the MPM formed about 125–110-Ma by overprinting the orthogonal intersections of fracture zones at the Molokai and Easter/Krusenstern–Emperor megatrends and the Murray and Tubai/Mamua megatrends. The MPM have been undergoing distortion into a vortex structure, a feature which has been confirmed by updated bathymetry, GEOSAT altimetry data, and drillsite information.