Bathymetric preference of four major genera of rectilinear benthic foraminifera within oxygen minimum zone in Arabian Sea off central west coast of India

Fifty two surface sediment samples collected from the region off Goa, central west coast of India from water depths of 15–3300 m were analyzed with special emphasis on foraminiferal content. Rectilinear benthic foraminiferal morphogroup shows a high relative abundance within Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ), both shallow marine (50–60 m water depth) and intermediate to deep water (150–1500 m water depth). We gave special emphasis on four rectilinear foraminiferal genera, namely Fursenkoina, Bolivina, Bulimina and Uvigerina to observe their individual distribution among OMZ. We found genus Fursenkoina predominates at the shallow water OMZ, within the water depth zone of 50–60 m. Within 150–1500 m water depth, which is considered as intermediate to deep water OMZ in this region, genus Uvigerina shows its highest abundance above 1000 m water depth, whereas genus Bulimina shows its affinity with deeper water environment (>1000 m water depth). Genus Bolivina does not show any such depth preference, except its higher abundance in only intermediate to deep water OMZ. This depth differentiation among four rectilinear benthic foraminiferal genera presents the basic data for palaeoclimatic study based on the extent and intensity of OMZ along with the palaeobathymetry study.     

Methods of computation of suspended load from bed materials and flow parameters

Computation of the grain-size distribution of the suspended load above a sand bed must take into consideration: (1) sorting processes from the bed to the bed layer and (2) sorting between the bed layer and suspension. Grain-size distributions of the bed layers above sand beds of three different types have been computed in this work, both by the Einstein and the Gessler methods. Using these as references, suspended load distributions have been obtained in each case by the Rouse suspension equation. A new formula has also been developed in partial modification of Hunt's method for direct computation of bed load and suspended load from a bed's grain-size distribution and flow parameters. Comparison of the computed data with actual observations in laboratory flumes show that no one method is particularly superior to the others, but the present method is advantageous because it affords direct computation of the suspended load from a bed's grain-size distribution, without going through an intermediate stage (bed load). The possible sources of error in each of the methods have been discussed.     

Contributions of burst-sweep cycles to Reynolds shear stress over fluvial obstacle marks generated in a laboratory flume

This paper investigates the phenomena of turbulent bursting events,and to make a comparative study among the events in the scour geometry developed by short circular cylinders of fixed length with different diameters placed on the sand bed transverse to the flow.The distributions of turbulent kinetic energy(TKE),turbulent diffusion in both longitudinal and vertical directions at different locations of scour marks,and the contributions of burst-sweep cycles to the Reynolds shear stress are presented.     

Turbulence, suspension and downstream fining over a sand-gravel mixture bed

Flume experiments were carried out to study the turbulence and its impact on suspension and segregation of grain-sizes under unidirectional flow conditions over the sand-gravel mixture bed. The components of fluid velocity with fluctuations were measured vertically using 3-D Micro-acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV). The theoretical models for velocity and sediment suspension have been developed based on the concept of mixing length that includes the damping effect of turbulence due to sediment suspension in the flow over the sand-gravel mixture bed. Statistical analysis of segregation of grain-sizes along downstream of the bed has been performed using the principle of unsupervised learning or clustering problem. Exploratory data analysis suggests that there is a progressive downstream fining of sediment sizes with selective depositions of gravels, sand-gravels and sand materials along the stream, which may be segmented into three regions such as, the upstream, the transitional and the downstream respectively. This contribution is relevant to understand the direction of ancient rivers, the bed material character in the river form, sorting process and its role in controlling the sediment flux through landscape.     

Grain size distribution in suspension from bed materials

Experimental results show that the grain size distribution of suspended material is related to flow parameters and grain size distribution in the bed. A theoretical model has been developed to compute the suspension grain size distribution on the basis of diffusion equations, taking into account the effect of hindered settling due to the increased concentration in suspension. Fluid velocity closest to the bed is estimated by using the concept of migration velocities of particles in the bed layer. Comparisons of data computed by the proposed method and data from actual observations show generally good agreement.     

COMPUTATION OF RETURN FLOWS DUE TO NAVIGATION TRAFFICS IN RESTRICTED WATERWAYS

1 INTRODUCTION Movement of navigation traffic in restricted waterway can generate various hydrodynamic phenomena including return flow (RF), surge wave, drawdown and sediment re-suspension which are absent in open water conditions (Schofield and Martin, 1…     

Mineralogical and geochemical variation in hydrothermal sulfides from Vienna Woods field, Manus Basin, Papua New Guinea: constraints on their evolution

Polymetallic sulfides from two hydrothermal chimneys and talus deposit from the Vienna Woods field of Manus Basin were studied for mineralogy, elemental composition, and S-isotope ratio to understand their evolution. The factors including the nature of source fluid, mineral paragenesis, and related geochemical processes have been discussed. Mineralogy and elemental concentration of Cu and Fe-rich large chimney at the central part of this hydrothermal field was completely different from the smaller Zn-rich peripheral chimney and Fe-rich talus deposit, suggesting the variable degree of alterations generate physico-chemically different source fluids responsible for these hydrothermal structures. Similarly, S-isotope ratios also indicate chemically diverse fluids and different modes of precipitation were involved in their evolution. Distinct mineral zonings and associated elemental and isotopic compositions within individual deposit confirm paragenetic shifts were involved during their growth process.     

Erratum to: Simulating the impacts of climate change, prices and population on California’s residential electricity consumption

We discovered an error in the computer code generating the simulation results in section 5 of Auffhammer and Aroonruengsawat (Clim Chang 109(Supplement 1):191–210, 2011). While four out of five main findings are unaffected, the simulated impacts of climate change on annual residential electricity consumption are an order of magnitude smaller, which is consistent with findings in the previous literature.     

VELOCITY AND SUSPENSION CONCENTRATION IN SEDIMENT-MIXED FLUID

1 INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW Numerous investigations related to vertical velocity and suspension concentration distributions have been undertaken to the steady, uniform, open channel turbulent flow. The problems of sediment mixed water flows are of direct interest to the practical situations in the field of river sedimentation, coastalsediment transport and in the field of two-phase flow in particular. In hydraulic open channel flow, the vertical velocity profile is usually described by…