Unconformities of the North Atlantic

Lowstands of sea level produce significant unconformities, both on the continental shelves as subaerial unconformities and on the ocean basin slopes and floors by submarine erosion and shifts in depositions patterns. This report utilizes seismic data from the eastern Atlantic off Africa and the western Atlantic off the Blake Escarpment to illustrate the recognition and dating of deep sea unconformities. Twenty-eight major and minor deep sea unconformities are identified on these seismic data and tentatively dated by means of well control and a chart showing global relative changes of sea level. The major unconformities identified are basal Sinemurian, basal Callovian, basal Valanginian, basal middle Aptian, basal middle Cenomanian, basal Thanetian, basal upper Ypresian, basal middle Chattian, basal Burdigalian, basal middle Tortonian, and basal Messinian. Unconformity identification and correlation on seismic data from the deep sea is useful for building a stratigraphic framework for palaeoenvironmental studies and correlating deep-sea stratigraphy with the stratigraphy of continental shelves and interior basins.

Author(s):  
Robert Y. George ◽  
Robert J. Menzies

SynopsisIn this paper the subject of faunal zonation in the ocean floor from the intertidal, and over the continental shelf, slope and rise and to the abyssal plain is examined on the basis of faunal change at the generic and species level. The region investigated over a period of five years aboard R/V Eastward is a Beaufort-Bermuda transect, approximately 75 kilometres wide and 500 kilometres long and bounded between 32° and 36°N latitude and 64° and 79°W longitude. A new method, involving numerical indices reflecting changes in the composition of taxa, endemism and diversity between adjacent depth levels, was developed for defining faunal boundaries. Isotherms and isobaths utilised by earlier authors for characterising deep-sea boundary on a global scale do not coincide with natural faunal boundaries. This study analyses the vertical distribution of 128 species of isopod crustaceans and 28 species of large epibenthic invertebrates. The zonation patterns seem to correspond with correlations in environmental conditions such as currents, topography and sediments.We suggest four major vertical faunal provinces, characterised at the generic level, namely (1) the Intertidal Faunal Province; (2) the Shelf Faunal Province; (3) the Archibenthal Zone of Transition; and (4) the Abyssal Faunal Province and internal zones within these characterised at the species level. The main aspects of interest include the presence of a narrow ‘meso abyssal zone’ with a species maximum, the demonstration of the true transitional nature of the Archibenthal Zone in biotic and abiotic factors and the characteristic low-biomass Red Clay environment showing definite faunal isolation from the continental margin.


2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 1083-1088 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.A. Cardoso ◽  
C.H.J.M. Fransen

The hippolytid genusLeontocarisincludes eight species, all restricted to the deep sea (240–2182 m). Associations with deep sea coralline habitats were reported and are herein confirmed. Three Australian species were recorded at seamounts as were the specimens herein identified asL. smarensissp. nov. These specimens were sampled at the South Mid-Atlantic Ridge (SMAR) by the Mar Eco project during 12 bottom trawls using a Sigsbee trawl. The SMAR is a seamount chain that rises from 4000 m depth, with mountains of 100–200 km wide and 14,000 km length.Leontocaris smarensissp. nov. shows closest affinity toL. larfrom the north-western Atlantic andL. yarramundi, from Australia and New Zealand. It differs fromL. larmainly in: (1) the scaphocerite distolateral tooth reaching the distal margin of the blade while clearly falling short in the latter species; and (2) the mandibular palp possessing three distal setae while setae are absent inL. lar. The new species differs fromL. yarramundiin the number and disposition of dorsal teeth on rostrum and in the absence of an acute posterolateral spine on abdominal somites 4 and 5.


2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1845-1862 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Jørgensen ◽  
W. Scheer ◽  
S. Thomsen ◽  
T. O. Sonnenborg ◽  
K. Hinsby ◽  
...  

Abstract. Geophysical techniques are increasingly being used as tools for characterising the subsurface, and they are generally required to develop subsurface models that properly delineate the distribution of aquifers and aquitards, salt/freshwater interfaces, and geological structures that affect groundwater flow. In a study area covering 730 km2 across the border between Germany and Denmark, a combination of an airborne electromagnetic survey (performed with the SkyTEM system), a high-resolution seismic survey and borehole logging has been used in an integrated mapping of important geological, physical and chemical features of the subsurface. The spacing between flight lines is 200–250 m which gives a total of about 3200 line km. About 38 km of seismic lines have been collected. Faults bordering a graben structure, buried tunnel valleys, glaciotectonic thrust complexes, marine clay units, and sand aquifers are all examples of geological structures mapped by the geophysical data that control groundwater flow and to some extent hydrochemistry. Additionally, the data provide an excellent picture of the salinity distribution in the area and thus provide important information on the salt/freshwater boundary and the chemical status of groundwater. Although the westernmost part of the study area along the North Sea coast is saturated with saline water and the TEM data therefore are strongly influenced by the increased electrical conductivity there, buried valleys and other geological elements are still revealed. The mapped salinity distribution indicates preferential flow paths through and along specific geological structures within the area. The effects of a future sea level rise on the groundwater system and groundwater chemistry are discussed with special emphasis on the importance of knowing the existence, distribution and geometry of the mapped geological elements, and their control on the groundwater salinity distribution is assessed.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 415 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-239
Author(s):  
MARION A. WOLF ◽  
ALESSANDRO BUOSI ◽  
ABDUL-SALAM F. JUHMANI ◽  
ADRIANO SFRISO

Centroceras Kützing is a small red algal genus with 18 currently accepted species (Guiry & Guiry 2019), characterized by simple filamentous thalli with erect axes arising from a prostrate system and di-trichotomous branching (Hommersand 1963). The characters used to distinguish species are primarily cortical filament morphology: shape and number of the acropetal cortical cells, shape of gland cells, and shape of spines (Won et al. 2009). The generitype C. clavulatum (C. Agardh) Montagne has been viewed for a long time as a highly variable and cosmopolitan species (Hommersand 1963). Molecular and detailed morphological analyses brought Barros-Barreto et al. (2006) to report that C. clavulatum may consist of a species complex and Won et al. (2009) confirmed this hypothesis identifying eight taxonomic entities phylogenetically segregated from genuine C. clavulatum. Seven of these entities were assigned to the following species: C. gasparrinii (Meneghini) Kützing, C. hommersandii Won, T.O. Cho & Fredericq, C. hyalacanthum Kützing, C. micracanthum Kützing, C. natalensis Won, T.O. Cho & Fredericq, C. rodmanii Won, T.O. Cho & Fredericq, and C. tetrachotomum Won, T.O. Cho & Fredericq, (Won et al. 2009). Centroceras gasparrinii, C. hyalacanthum, and C. micracanthum are three western Atlantic species listed as synonyms of C. clavulatum since the middle of the 19th century and resurrected from the ‘C. clavulatum complex’ by Won et al. (2009). In particular, two of these taxa were described from specimens of the Mediterranean Sea: C. gasparrinii (as Ceramium gasparrinii Meneghini, type locality Palermo, Italy) and C. micracanthum (reported with the synonym Centroceras leptacanthum Kützing, type locality Genoa, Italy). Therefore, the numerous Mediterranean records of C. clavulatum (e.g., Gómez Garreta et al. 2001; Verlaque 2001; Sfriso & Curiel 2007; Taşkýn et al. 2013) most probably belong to one of these two species and have to be re-examined for a correct identification and to understand the spatial distribution of the different taxa (Tsiamis et al. 2010). For this reason, in the last years in Greece (Tsiamis et al. 2010), Spain (Gallardo et al. 2016) and Morocco (Hassoun et al. 2018) accurate sampling and morphological analyses of specimens previously identified as C. clavulatum were conducted to determine their correct taxonomic identities. In all cases the recognized species was C. gasparrinii, which can be distinguished morphologically from the other ones previously known as C. clavulatum by the presence of ovoid gland cells and ovoid terminal acropetal cortical cells (Won et al. 2009). As reported by Tsiamis et al. (2010), Greek samples differed from those described by Won et al. (2009), in the smaller number of periaxial cells (10–12 against 13–19).


Eos ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 67 (44) ◽  
pp. 835 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. E. Esaias ◽  
G. C. Feldman ◽  
C. R. McClain ◽  
J. A. Elrod

1898 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
A. J. Jukes-Browne ◽  
John Milne

Moreseat is in the parish of Cruden, in the east of Aberdeenshire. It lies at an elevation of 300 feet above sea-level, and the surface of the ground slopes to the sea at Cruden Bay, distant five miles to the south. On the north the ground rises gradually, reaching the height of 450 feet above sea in Torhendry Ridge, which is strewn with chalk-flintsingreat abundance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (7) ◽  
pp. 1619-1644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Dias Pimenta ◽  
Bruno Garcia Andrade ◽  
Ricardo Silva Absalão

A taxonomic revision of the Nystiellidae from Brazil, including samples from the Rio Grande Rise, South Atlantic, was performed based on shell morphology. Five genera and 17 species were recognized. For the richest genus,Eccliseogyra, the three species previously recorded from Brazil were revised:E. brasiliensisandE. maracatu, previously known only from their respective type series, were re-examined. Newly available material ofE. maracatuexpanded the known geographic range of this species to off south-east Brazil.Eccliseogyra nitidais now recorded from north-eastern to south-eastern Brazil, as well as from the Rio Grande Rise. Three species ofEccliseogyraare newly recorded from the South Atlantic:E. monnioti, previously known from the north-eastern Atlantic, occurs off eastern Brazil and on the Rio Grande Rise; its protoconch is described for the first time, confirming its family allocation.Eccliseogyra pyrrhiasoccurs off eastern Brazil and on the Rio Grande Rise, andE. folinioff eastern Brazil. The genusIphitusis newly recorded from the South Atlantic.Iphitus robertsiwas found off northern Brazil, although the shells show some differences from the type material, with less-pronounced spiral keels. Additional new finds showed thatIphitus cancellatusranges from eastern Brazil to the Rio Grande Rise, and Iphitusnotiossp. nov. is restricted to the Rio Grande Rise.Narrimania, previously recorded from Brazil based on dubious records, is confirmed, including the only two living species described for the genus:N. azelotes, previously only known from the type locality in Florida, andN. concinna, previously known from the Mediterranean. A third species,Narrimania raquelaesp. nov. is described from eastern Brazil, diagnosed by its numerous and thinner cancellate sculpture. To the three species ofOpaliopsispreviously known from Brazil, a fourth species,O. arnaldoisp. nov., is added from eastern Brazil, and diagnosed by its very thin spiral sculpture, absence of a varix, and thinner microscopic parallel axial striae.Papuliscala nordestina, originally described from north-east Brazil, is recorded off eastern Brazil and synonymized withP. elongata, a species previously known only from the North Atlantic.


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