Search results for "GULF"
showing 10 items of 53 documents
Surface sediment dynamics along the shore of Hammamet Gulf (Tunisia, southern Mediterranean)
2016
International audience; In the summer of 2015 the authors analysed grain size and surface sediment composition through high spatial resolution from samples taken at 53 stations along the Hammamet coast (southern Mediterranean Sea). The Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler deployed in this study showed that the surface current flows toward the north-east, parallel to the coast at a maximum speed along the main axis of about 5.9 cm s−1. Near the bottom the current flows toward the north-west at a maximum speed of 2.2 cm s−1. The tide plays a relatively small role in water circulation in Hammamet Gulf. Spatial distribution of particle size, along with speed and current direction analysis, furnish…
Climate change: A driver of future conflicts in the Persian Gulf Region?
2021
Ongoing global change and its direct environmental impacts, in addition to securing economic transition to the post-oil era, could trigger complex socio-economic and political crises in oil-dependent economies of the Persian Gulf Region (PGR). To evaluate the role of climate change and related policies in degrading the environment and its socio-economic impacts in the PGR, we have used a variety of available global datasets and published data. The results show that the countries of the PGR pursue some types of socio-economic reforms to alleviate the impacts of climate change. However, it seems that these attempts are not compatible with the environment's capacity. The main problem stems fro…
Geoarchaeology as a tool to understand ancient navigation in the northern Persian Gulf and the harbour history of Siraf
2020
International audience; Historical texts and archaeological studies attest to the maritime and trade importance of the Persian Gulf since the Sassanid Empires. Nonetheless, there is a paucity of data regarding ancient navigation and the reasons for a shift in m aritim e trade from the western (e.g. Shatt-al-Arab) to eastern (Siraf) Persian Gulf by the Abbasid dynasty. For som e scholars, Siraf was occupied between 360 and 977 CE, after which tim e an earthquake en-trained the dem ise of the city. However, it is unclear when Siraf was founded and how natural navigation conditions changed for ocean-going vessels in harbours of the NW Persian Gulf. To address this knowledge gap, we here presen…
ISOTOPIC TEMPERATURES FROM THE EARLY AND MID-PLIOCENE OF THE US MIDDLE ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN, AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CAUSE OF REGIONAL MARIN…
2017
Mean seasonal extreme temperatures on the seafloor calculated from the shell d 18 Oofthescallop Placopecten clintonius from the basal part of the early Pliocene Sunken Meadow Member (Yorktown Formation) in Virginia are very similar to those from the same horizon at the latitude of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina ( ~ 210 km to the south). The lowest and highest temperatures calculated from each shell (using d 18 O seawater ¼þ 0.7 % )givemean values for winter and summer of 8.4 6 1.1 8 C( 6 1 r ) and 18.2 6 0.6 8 CinVirginia,and8.6 6 0.4 8 Cand16.5 6 1.1 8 C in North Carolina (respective median temperatures: 13.3 8 C and 12.6 8 C). Patterns of ontogenetic variation in d 18 O, d 13 C and micro…
Vaquita Face Extinction from Bycatch. Comment on Manjarrez-Bringas, N. et al., Lessons for Sustainable Development: Marine Mammal Conservation Polici…
2019
We are among the scientists who have documented the environmental and ecological changes to the Upper Gulf of California following the reduction in the Colorado River’s flow. We object to any suggestion that our research supports Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusion that the decline in the Colorado River’s flow is the reason for the decline in the population of the endangered vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus). Manjarrez-Bringas et al.’s conclusions are incongruent with their own data, their logic is untenable, their analyses fail to consider current illegal fishing practices, and their recommendations are unjustified and misdirected. Vaquita face extinction because of bycatch, not because …
Plankton community composition in relation to availability and uptake of oxidized and reduced nitrogen
2003
Centre de Recherche en Ecologie Marine et Aquaculture de L'Houmeau (CNRS-IFREMER), BP 5, 17137 L'Houmeau, France ABSTRACT: Trends in nitrogen utilization, determined with 15 N-labeled substrates, were related to blooms of distinct phytoplankton groups in the Gulf of Riga, Baltic Sea, during May, June and July 1999. The dominant phytoplankton groups included diatoms, cryptophytes, dinoflagellates, and fila- mentous cyanobacteria. As the water column became progressively more stratified over the growing season, diatoms comprised a smaller proportion of the total phytoplankton assemblage and almost disappeared by late summer. Their disappearance correlated with undetectable surface-water nitra…
Seasonal cycle of benthic denitrification and DNRA in the aphotic coastal zone, northern Baltic Sea
2020
Current knowledge on the seasonality of benthic nitrate reduction pathways in the aphotic, density stratified coastal zone of the Baltic Sea is largely based on data from muddy sediments, neglecting the potential contribution of sandy sediments. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of seasonality in this part of the Baltic Sea coast, we measured rates of benthic denitrification, anammox and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) monthly in the ice-free period of 2016 in both sandy and muddy aphotic sediments, northwestern Gulf of Finland. No anammox was observed. The seasonal cycle of denitrification in both sediment types was related to the hydrography-driven development …
High-resolution numerical modelling of the barotropic tides in the Gulf of Gabes, eastern Mediterranean Sea (Tunisia)
2017
International audience; A high-resolution 2D barotropic tidal model was developed for the Gulf of Gabes and used to characterise hydrodynamic processes and tidal dynamics. The model is based on the Regional Ocean Modelling System. It is forced at the open boundaries by the semidiurnal M2 and S2 astronomical components while meteorological forcing has been neglected. The model results show good agreement with observations confirming that it reproduces the gulf's main tidal characteristics reasonably well. In fact, the simulated semidiurnal tidal components M2 and S2 generate important sea level variations and coastal currents. Tidal propagation is directed to the gulf's western sector while …
Deep-Sea Bioluminescence Blooms after Dense Water Formation at the Ocean Surface
2013
The deep ocean is the largest and least known ecosystem on Earth. It hosts numerous pelagic organisms, most of which are able to emit light. Here we present a unique data set consisting of a 2.5-year long record of light emission by deep-sea pelagic organisms, measured from December 2007 to June 2010 at the ANTARES underwater neutrino telescope in the deep NW Mediterranean Sea, jointly with synchronous hydrological records. This is the longest continuous time-series of deep-sea bioluminescence ever recorded. Our record reveals several weeks long, seasonal bioluminescence blooms with light intensity up to two orders of magnitude higher than background values, which correlate to changes in th…
Biogeography and diversity of South Atlantic Cretaceous echinoids: implications for circulation patterns
2000
Abstract This survey of echinoid species living on the African and South American margins of the South Atlantic Ocean in Cretaceous times is based on a review of published species and abundant unpublished material. The synthetic approach is used to ascertain how the South Atlantic was colonised by echinoids from the time it first opened in the Early Cretaceous until communications were established with the North Atlantic and Mediterranean–Tethys in the Late Cretaceous. The survey focuses on the biogeographical origin of immigrant species and their relations with Indo-Madagascan, North Atlantic and Mediterranean–Tethyan faunas. Qualitative variations in species diversity are also studied whe…