The impact of shrimp trawling and associated sediment resuspension in mud dominated, shallow estuaries

To address the relative importance of shrimp trawling on seabed resuspension and bottom characteristics in shallow estuaries, a series of disturbance and monitoring experiments were conducted at a bay bottom mud site (2.5 m depth) in Galveston Bay, Texas in July 1998 and May 1999. Based on pre- and post-trawl sediment profiles of ⁷Be; pore water dissolved oxygen and sulfide concentration; and bulk sediment properties, it was estimated that the trawl rig, including the net, trawl doors, and “tickler chain,” excavate the seabed to a maximum depth of approximately 1.5 cm, with most areas displaying considerably less disturbance. Water column profile data in the turbid plume left by the trawl in these underconsolidated muds (85–90% porosity; <0.25 kPa undrained shear strength) demonstrate that suspended sediment inventories of up to 85–90 mg/cm² are produced immediately behind the trawl net; an order of magnitude higher than pre-trawl inventories and comparable to those observed during a 9–10 m/s wind event at the study site. Plume settling and dispersion caused suspended sediment inventories to return to pre-trawl values about 14 min after trawl passage in two separate experiments, indicating particles re-settle primarily as flocs before they can be widely dispersed by local currents. As a result of the passage of the trawl rig across the seabed, shear strength of the sediment surface showed no significant increase, suggesting that bed armoring is not taking place and the trawled areas will not show an increase in critical shear stress.     

Modern sediment supply to the lower delta plain of the Ganges-Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh

Vibracores and auger samples collected from the lower (tidal) delta plain of the Ganges-Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh were examined to determine whether the area is a significant sink for riverine sediments. Measurements of ¹³⁷Cs activity and radiocarbon in the sediments indicate sediment accumulation is taking place on decadal and millennial time scales at rates reaching 1.1 cm/year. The sediment of the lower delta plain is primarily derived from an offshore source after having originally been supplied by the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system, carried westward by prevailing currents and advected inland by monsoonal coastal setup and cyclonic events.     

Using Topological Relationships to Inform a Data Integration Process

When spatial datasets are overlaid, corresponding features do not always coincide. This may be a result of the datasets having differing quality characteristics, being captured at different scales or perhaps being in different projections or datums. Data integration methods have been developed to bring such datasets into alignment. Although these methods attempt to maintain topological relationships within each dataset, spatial relationships between features in different datasets are generally not considered. The preservation of inter‐dataset topology is a research area of considerable current interest. This research addresses the preservation of topology within a data integration process. It describes the functional models established to represent a number of spatial relationships as observation equations. These are used to provide additional information concerning the relative positions of features. Since many topological relationships are best modelled as inequalities, an algorithm is developed to accommodate such relationships. The method, based on least squares with inequalities (LSI), is tested on simulated and real datasets. Results are presented to illustrate the optimal positioning solutions determined using all of the available information. In addition, updated quality parameters are provided at the level of the individual coordinate, enabling communication of local variation in the resultant quality of the integrated datasets.     

Neoproterozoic crustal evolution in Southern Chad: Pan-African ocean basin closing, arc accretion and late- to post-orogenic granitic intrusion

In the Lake Léré region, southern Chad, Neoproterozoic terrains are distributed in four lithostructural groups that reveal the geotectonic evolution of a part of the Pan-African orogenic domain. The first group includes basaltic volcanic rocks and fine-grained detrital sedimentary rocks of pre-tectonic basins that were emplaced in an extensional regime, close to a volcanic arc. The second and third groups include calc-alkaline gabbroic intrusions emplaced at an upper crustal level and a midcrustal tonalite, respectively, that are interpreted to be the roots of an active margin volcanic arc. These first three groups experienced WNW to ESE compression, and may belong to a fore-arc basic—volcanic arc—back-arc basin system that was accreted eastward to the Palaeoproterozoic Adamaoua-Yadé Block. The fourth group includes post-tectonic granite plutons invading the older groups. This paper documents the accretion processes in the southern margin of the Saharan Metacraton.     

Combined Digital Photogrammetry and Time-of-Flight Laser Scanning for Monitoring Cliff Evolution

Although cliffs form approximately 75% of the world's coastline, the understanding of the processes through which they evolve remains limited because of a lack of quantitative data on the morphological changes they undergo. In this paper the combination of terrestrial time-of-flight laser scanning with high-resolution digital photogrammetry is examined to generate high-quality data-sets pertaining to the geomorphic processes governing cliff development. The study was undertaken on a section of hard rock cliffs in North Yorkshire, UK, which has been monitored over a 12-month period. High-density, laser-scanned point clouds have been used to produce an accurate representation of these complex surfaces, free from the optical variations that degrade photographic data. These data-sets have been combined with high-resolution photographic monitoring, resampled with the fixed accuracies of the terrestrial laser survey, to generate a new approach to recording the volumetric changes in complex coastal cliffs. This has led to significant improvements in the understanding of the activity patterns of coastal cliffs.     

A thermodynamic model for Fe–Mg dioctahedral K white micas using data from phase-equilibrium experiments and natural pelitic assemblages

The purpose of this study is to derive a solid-solution model for potassic white micas (KWM) encountered in rocks of various bulk compositions, over a wide range of P-T conditions. A compilation of phengite compositions lead us to propose a seven-thermodynamic-component (muscovite, Fe²⁺-Al-celadonite, Mg-Al-celadonite, annite, phlogopite, pyrophyllite and paragonite) ionic solid-solution model which accounts for the Tschermak, Fe-Mg, di/trioctahedral, pyrophyllitic and paragonitic substitutions observed in nature. A four-site mixing model with symmetric Margules parameters to model the Tschermak substitutions, asymmetric Margules parameters to model the other substitutions, and ideal intersite interaction has been adopted. In contrast to previous models, the relevant thermodynamic data and solid-solution properties are calibrated with independent sets of published experiments conducted for the KMASH, KFASH, KFMASH, and KNASH systems, as well as about 200 natural data involving KWM assemblages. The constraints span a wide range of pressure and temperature conditions (150 to 750 °C, 0.5 to 30 kbar), so that our model does not need to be extrapolated outside the calibration range to be used for P-T thermobarometric purposes. The calculated thermodynamic data are interconsistent with the TWQ thermodynamic database and solid-solution models, including that recently published for chlorites.     

Strontium in coral aragonite: 2. Sr coordination and the long-term stability of coral environmental records

We have used X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Sr K-edge Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) to determine the structural state of Sr in a suite of coral aragonite samples. Our samples encompassed a selection of coral species (Porites lobata, Porites lutea, Pocillopora eydouxi, Montastrea annularis, Pavona gigantea and Pavona clavus) including some commonly used for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Aragonite was the only carbonate observed by XRD. We refined the isolated EXAFS against structural models for Sr in aragonite and two-phase strontianite/aragonite mixes. Our data are indistinguishable from Sr ideally substituted in aragonite and strontianite was present below detection levels (estimated at <5% of Sr present). Comparisons of recent and ancient coral aragonite show no sign of exsolution, either by spinodal decomposition or by the direct nucleation of strontianite domains. Published diffusion rates of Sr in ionic solids support the view that exsolution would occur prohibitively slowly. Coral aragonites are metastable materials with slow diffusion kinetics that have the potential to encode environments over timescales of millions of years.     

A precise monitoring of snow surface height in the region of Lambert Glacier basin-Amery Ice Shelf,East Antarctica

The net surface snow accumulation on the Antarctic ice sheet is determined by a combination of precipitation, sublimation and wind redistribution. We present a one-year record of hourly snow-height measurements at LGB69 (70°50'S, 77°04'E, 1850 m a.s.l.). east side of Lambert Glacier basin (LGB), and 4 year record at G3 (70°53'S, 69°52'E, 84 m a.s.l.), Amery Ice Shelf (AIS). The measurements were made with ultrasonic sensors mounted on automatic weather stations installed at two sites. The snow accumulation at LGB69 is approximately 70 cm. Throughout the winter, between April and September, there was little change in surface snow height (SSH) at the two sites. The negative SSH change is due to densification at LGB69, and is due to both ablation and densification at G3. The strongest accumulation at two sites occurred during the period between October and March (accounting for 101.6% at LGB69), with four episodic increasing events occurring during 2002 for LGB69, and eight events during 1999-2002 for G