Microzooplankton and mesozooplankton in an upwelling filament off Galicia: modelling and sensitivity analysis of the linkages and their impact on the carbon dynamics

This paper reports estimates of trophic flows of carbon off the Galician coast from a 1D ecological model, which are compared with field data from a two week Lagrangian drift experiment. The model consists of 9 biological components: nitrate, ammonium, >5μm phytoplankton, <5μm phytoplankton, heterotrophic nanoflagellates/dinoflagellates (5–20 μm), heterotrophic dinoflagellates (>20 μm), ciliates, fast sinking detritus and slow sinking detritus. Calculations were made for the fluxes of carbon between biological components within the upper 45m of the water column. The temporal development of primary production during the simulation period of two weeks was in good agreement with field estimates, which varied between 248 and 436mgC.m⁻².d⁻¹. Heterotrophic nanoflagellates had the greatest impact on carbon flux, with a grazing rate of 168mgC.m⁻².d⁻¹. Herbivorous grazing by microzooplankton amounted to 215mgC.m⁻².d⁻¹, whereas grazing by copepods on phytoplankton was 35mgC.m⁻² d⁻¹. Copepods grazing on microzooplankton was minor (0.47mgC.m⁻².d⁻¹) and the export flux from the upper 45m was 302mgC.m⁻².d⁻¹. Sensitivity analyses, in which the grazing parameters (i.e the functional relationship between ingestion and food concentration) were changed, were carried out on the heterotrophic dinoflagellate, ciliate and heterotrophic nanoflagellates/dinoflagellate components of the model. These changes did not alter the temporal development of heterotrophic nanoflagellates/dinoflagellates biomass significantly, but ciliates and heterotrophic dinoflagellates were more sensitive to variations in the grazing parameters. The overall conclusion from this modelling study is that the coupling between small phytoplankton and heterotrophic nanoflagellates was the quantitatively most important process controlling carbon flow in this region.     

The primary magnetic remanence of a dolerite sill from northeast Spitsbergen

An Upper Jurassic dolerite sill from Lomfjord, northeast Spitsbergen, has been submitted to rock- and palaeomagnetic studies. In the cooling stage the original titanomagnetite underwent a high-temperature alteration forming exsolution of ilmenite lamellas. Due to rapid cooling the border zones in part escaped the high-temperature alteration but instead low-temperature oxidation, producing at least a low-temperature metastable magnetic mineral, is fairly pronounced in these parts of the sill. Thermal demagnetization has established that both mineral phases carry the same general magnetization direction suggesting the total remanence (reverse) to be of deuteric origin. Consideration of the cooling rate indicates that the accumulated geomagnetic secular variation may cover a time span of the order of 10³ years. The relative pole position is at 61°N, 210°E, a result which is in agreement with some other Mesozoic results from Spitsbergen, but in rather marked disagreement with other published data for the Mesozoic of Europe.     

Improved near-well approximation for prediction of the gas/oil production ratio from oil-rim reservoirs

A model with short computational time has previously been developed to predict the rate-dependent gas/oil ratio (GOR) from a horizontal well. The oil flow towards the wellbore is based on a one-dimensional model by Konieczek. The model performs remarkably well for medium-time production optimization (weeks, months), while the predictions during the first days after a large change in the production can be poor. An improved one-dimensional model for the flow towards the wellbore is proposed, where the oil flow is treated as a superposition of three terms:

The magnetic fabric of some dolerite intrusions,northeast Spitsbergen; implications for their mode of emplacement

The titanomagnetite fabric of some dolerites from two areas of northeast Spitsbergen, Lomfjorden and the Bastian, and Rønnbeck islands have been studied by means of magnetic susceptibility anisotropy measurements. The shape and orientation of the susceptibility ellipsoids were determined with an a.c. bridge. Both areas showed a dominating magnetic foliation in the horizontal plane. A weakly developed preferred orientation of the maximum (K^I) and intermediate (K^II) susceptibility axis within the magnetic foliation plane was found, the K^I-axis striking predominantly E-W and the K^II-axis striking N-S. The magnetic fabric is interpreted as resulting from horizontal movement of magma. It is concluded that the Bastian and Rønnbeck islands are the relics of one or more larger sills.     

The Bayesian bridge between simple and universal kriging

Kriging techniques are suited well for evaluation of continuous, spatial phenomena. Bayesian statistics are characterized by using prior qualified guesses on the model parameters. By merging kriging techniques and Bayesian theory, prior guesses may be used in a spatial setting. Partial knowledge of model parameters defines a continuum of models between what is named simple and universal kriging in geostatistical terminology. The Bayesian approach to kriging is developed and discussed, and a case study concerning depth conversion of seismic reflection times is presented.     

The contribution of microzooplankton to the diet of mesozooplankton in an upwelling filament off the north west coast of Spain

Incubation experiments were carried out daily during a Lagrangian experiment within an upwelled filament off the Galician coast to determine the importance of microzooplankton in the diet of calanoid copepods. Despite low chlorophyll concentrations the microzooplankton formed the minor component of the diet of the copepod community (7 to 15% of carbon ingested through autotrophic and heterotrophic prey). Ingestion of ciliates was greater than that of heterotrophic dinoflagellates, which reflected a higher abundance of ciliates in the water column. Heterotrophic nanoflagellates appeared also to be consumed by the copepods, although the very small size fraction (2–5μm) was probably not grazed by the larger copepods of Calanus spp. Grazing pressure by the copepods enumerated in the net samples was not sufficient to impact significantly the microzooplankton populations (2 to 51% of daily microzooplankton production was removed). Allometric relationships of grazing on microzooplankton for a range of numerically dominant copepod species are developed from the experimental results. The grazing pressure of the whole copepod community is estimated from these relationships. By considering the total mesozooplankton community we suggest that microzooplankton growth was probably restricted by metazoan grazers.     

The Paleo Heat Flow Contents in Vitrinite Reflectance Observations

The heat flow content in vitrinite reflectance (VR) observations is studied based on a simple model of burial at a constant rate. The model is made dimensionless, and it has just one parameter except for the paleo heat flow. The question of existence and uniqueness of a solution is studied, and there exist in general no paleo heat flow that will reproduce a given VR-depth curve. But a solution is unique if it exists. A computed VR-depth function is shown to be smooth, even for piecewise constant heat flow histories. The paleo heat flow can be obtained from a VR-depth function after two times with derivations. It is also shown how the present day thermal gradient can be obtained by derivation of a VR-depth representation. The one-parameter model allows for approximate expressions for the optimal paleo heat flow as a step function. The results obtained from the one-parameter model is also compared with similar results from a real case study from the North Sea using a state-of-the-art basin simulator.