Basin Size (basin + size)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Geological constraints on Antarctic palaeo-ice-stream retreat

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 4 2008
Colm Ó Cofaigh
Abstract Submarine landforms preserved in bathymetric troughs on the Antarctic continental shelf show that the style of ice stream retreat across the shelf following the last glacial maximum varied between different troughs. Three styles of retreat are inferred from the geological evidence: rapid, episodic and slow. Rapid retreat by ice stream floatation and calving is recorded by the preservation of a landform assemblage of unmodified streamlined subglacial bedforms including mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGLs) that record streaming flow along these troughs. These elongate bedforms are not overprinted by recessional glacial landforms formed transverse to ice flow such as moraines or grounding-zone wedges, and overlying deglacial sediments are thin. A second type of landform assemblage consists of MSGLs overprinted or interrupted by transverse grounding-zone wedges. This assemblage implies episodic retreat between successive grounding-zone positions. The third type of landform assemblage is that of numerous, closely spaced, recessional moraines and intermittent grounding-zone wedges that overlie and interrupt MSGLs. This assemblage records the slow retreat of grounded ice across the shelf. Variation in the style of ice stream retreat between the different bathymetric troughs indicates that Antarctic palaeo-ice-streams did not respond uniformly to external forcing at the end of the last glacial cycle. Rather, their diachronous retreat reflects the dominance of local controls in the form of bathymetry and drainage basin size. More broadly, these data show that retreat of marine-based ice sheets in areas of reverse bed slope is not necessarily catastrophic, and they provide important constraints for numerical models that attempt to predict the dynamics of large polar ice sheets. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Redox control of N:P ratios in aquatic ecosystems

GEOBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
T. M. QUAN
ABSTRACT The ratio of dissolved fixed inorganic nitrogen to soluble inorganic phosphate (N:P) in the ocean interior is relatively constant, averaging ~16 : 1 by atoms. In contrast, the ratio of these two elements spans more than six orders of magnitude in lakes and other aquatic environments. To understand the factors influencing N:P ratios in aquatic environments, we analyzed 111 observational datasets derived from 35 water bodies, ranging from small lakes to ocean basins. Our results reveal that N:P ratios are highly correlated with the concentration of dissolved O2 below ~100 µmol L,1. At higher concentrations of O2, N:P ratios are highly variable and not correlated with O2; however, the coefficient of variation in N:P ratios is strongly related to the size of the water body. Hence, classical Redfield ratios observed in the ocean are anomalous; this specific elemental stoichiometry emerges not only as a consequence of the elemental ratio of the sinking flux of organic matter, but also as a result of the size of the basins and their ventilation. We propose that the link between N:P ratios, basin size and oxygen levels, along with the previously determined relationship between sedimentary ,15N and oxygen, can be used to infer historical N:P ratios for any water body. [source]


Spatial patterns of suspended sediment yields in a humid tropical watershed in Costa Rica

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 12 2001
Jagdish Krishnaswamy
Abstract An Erratum has been published for this article in Hydrological Processes 16(5) 2002, 1130,1131. Humid tropical regions are often characterized by extreme variability of fluvial processes. The Rio Terraba drains the largest river basin, covering 4767 km2, in Costa Rica. Mean annual rainfall is 3139±419sd mm and mean annual discharge is 2168±492sd mm (1971,88). Loss of forest cover, high rainfall erosivity and geomorphologic instability all have led to considerable degradation of soil and water resources at local to basin scales. Parametric and non-parametric statistical methods were used to estimate sediment yields. In the Terraba basin, sediment yields per unit area increase from the headwaters to the basin mouth, and the trend is generally robust towards choice of methods (parametric and LOESS) used. This is in contrast to a general view that deposition typically exceeds sediment delivery with increase in basin size. The specific sediment yield increases from 112±11·4sd t km,2 year,1 (at 317·9 km2 on a major headwater tributary) to 404±141·7sd t km,2 year,1 (at 4766·7 km2) at the basin mouth (1971,92). The analyses of relationships between sediment yields and basin parameters for the Terraba sub-basins and for a total of 29 basins all over Costa Rica indicate a strong land use effect related to intensive agriculture besides hydro-climatology. The best explanation for the observed pattern in the Terraba basin is a combined spatial pattern of land use and rainfall erosivity. These were integrated in a soil erosion index that is related to the observed patterns of sediment yield. Estimated sediment delivery ratios increase with basin area. Intensive agriculture in lower-lying alluvial fans exposed to highly erosive rainfall contributes a large part of the sediment load. The higher elevation regions, although steep in slope, largely remain under forest, pasture, or tree-crops. High rainfall erosivity (>7400 MJ mm ha,1 h,1 year ,1) is associated with land uses that provide inadequate soil protection. It is also associated with steep, unstable slopes near the basin mouth. Improvements in land use and soil management in the lower-lying regions exposed to highly erosive rainfall are recommended, and are especially important to basins in which sediment delivery ratio increases downstream with increasing basin area. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Distribution of migratory fishes and shrimps along multivariate gradients in tropical island streams

JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2001
E. Fičvet
Among the 16 species of fishes and shrimps studied at 51 sites along several small streams at Basse Terre, Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles, more than 60% showed a spatial distribution significantly influenced by environmental conditions. These included altitude, basin size, terrestrial vegetation and land use. However, the range of the species habitat was generally high, except for three species limited to the downstream stretches (two fishes and one shrimp). The habitat characteristics of fish and shrimp species tended to differ, but the difference was not significant (P<0·05). On the contrary, the habitat characteristics of amphidromous and catadromous species clearly differed, with a lower occurrence at the most elevated sites of catadromous species than amphidromous species. [source]


RAINGAGE NETWORK DESIGN USING NEXRAD PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES,

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 5 2002
A. Allen Bradley
ABSTRACT: A general framework is proposed for using precipitation estimates from NEXRAD weather radars in raingage network design. NEXRAD precipitation products are used to represent space time rainfall fields, which can be sampled by hypothetical raingage networks. A stochastic model is used to simulate gage observations based on the areal average precipitation for radar grid cells. The stochastic model accounts for subgrid variability of precipitation within the cell and gage measurement errors. The approach is ideally suited to raingage network design in regions with strong climatic variations in rainfall where conventional methods are sometimes lacking. A case study example involving the estimation of areal average precipitation for catchments in the Catskill Mountains illustrates the approach. The case study shows how the simulation approach can be used to quantify the effects of gage density, basin size, spatial variation of precipitation, and gage measurement error, on network estimates of areal average precipitation. Although the quality of NEXRAD precipitation products imposes limitations on their use in network design, weather radars can provide valuable information for empirical assessment of rain-gage network estimation errors. Still, the biggest challenge in quantifying estimation errors is understanding subgrid spatial variability. The results from the case study show that the spatial correlation of precipitation at subgrid scales (4 km and less) is difficult to quantify, especially for short sampling durations. Network estimation errors for hourly precipitation are extremely sensitive to the uncertainty in subgrid spatial variability, although for storm total accumulation, they are much less sensitive. [source]