scholarly journals Architecture of rifted continental margins and break-up evolution: insights from the South Atlantic, North Atlantic and Red Sea–Gulf of Aden conjugate margins

2012 ◽  
Vol 369 (1) ◽  
pp. 497-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Webster Ueipass Mohriak ◽  
Sylvie Leroy
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Gulf Of Aden ◽  
The South ◽  
Break Up ◽  
Conjugate Margins

Observed seasonal regimes of North-South Atlantic Ocean interbasin exchange

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed D. Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Volume Flux ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Interbasin Exchange ◽  
North And South

North and South Atlantic lateral volume exchange is a key component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) embedded in Earth’s climate. Northward AMOC heat transport within this exchange mitigates the large heat loss to the atmosphere in the northern North Atlantic. Because of inadequate climate data, observational basin-scale studies of net interbasin exchange between the North and South Atlantic have been limited. Here ten independent climate datasets, five satellite-derived and five analyses, are synthesized to show that North and South Atlantic climatological net lateral volume exchange is partitioned into two seasonal regimes. From late-May to late-November, net lateral volume flux is from the North to the South Atlantic; whereas from late-November to late-May, net lateral volume flux is from the South to the North Atlantic. This climatological characterization offers a framework for assessing seasonal variations in these basins and provides a constraint for climate models that simulate AMOC dynamics.

scholarly journals Stalked crinoids (Echinodermata) collected by the R/V Polarstern and Meteor in the south Atlantic and in Antarctica

Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3425 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARC ELÉAUME ◽  
JENS-MICHAEL BOHN ◽  
MICHEL ROUX ◽  
NADIA AMÉZIANE
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Walvis Ridge ◽  
The North ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Stalked Crinoids ◽  
Hard Substrates

During the last decades, R/V Meteor and R/V Polarstern deep-sea investigations in the south Atlantic and neighbouringSouthern Ocean collected new samples of stalked crinoids belonging to the families Bathycrinidae, Phrynocrinidae andHyocrinidae which are herein described. The species found are Bathycrinus australis A.H. Clark, 1907b (the most abun-dant), Dumetocrinus aff. antarcticus (Bather, 1908), Hyocrinus bethellianus Thomson, 1876, Feracrinus heinzelleri newspecies, and Porphyrocrinus cf. incrassatus (Gislén, 1933). As only stalk fragments of bathycrinids were frequently col-lected, a distinction between the two Atlantic species B. australis and B. aldrichianus is proposed using characters of co-lumnal articulations. A few specimens attributed to Porphyrocrinus cf. incrassatus, Hyocrinus bethellianus and Hyocrinussp. collected by the N/O Jean Charcot on the Walvis Ridge are also described, plus a new specimen of Porphyrocrinusincrassatus collected in the central mid-Atlantic. Biogeography and close affinities between species in the genera Bathy-crinus and Porphyrocrinus suggest an Antarctic origin of some stalked crinoids among the north Atlantic deep-sea fauna.The presence of B. australis in both the Angola and Cape basins suggests that the Walvis Ridge is not a bio-geographicalbarrier for this relatively eurybathic species, which can attach to hard substrates as well as anchor in sediment. The genusDumetocrinus seems to be an example of colonization of the west Antarctic platform from deeper environment where its ancestor lived.

scholarly journals A Climatology of Subtropical Cyclones in the South Atlantic

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (21) ◽  
pp. 7328-7340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni L. Evans ◽  
Aviva Braun
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Hybrid Structure ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Rossby Wave Breaking ◽  
The North ◽  
Brazil Current ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Upper Level

A 50-yr climatology (1957–2007) of subtropical cyclones (STs) in the South Atlantic is developed and analyzed. A subtropical cyclone is a hybrid structure (upper-level cold core and lower-level warm core) with associated surface gale-force winds. The tendency for warm season development of North Atlantic STs has resulted in these systems being confused as tropical cyclones (TCs). In fact, North Atlantic STs are a regular source of the incipient vortices leading to North Atlantic TC genesis. In 2004, Hurricane Catarina developed in the South Atlantic and made landfall in Brazil. A TC system had been previously unobserved in the South Atlantic, so the incidence of Catarina highlighted the lack of an ST climatology for the region to provide a context for the likelihood of future systems. Sixty-three South Atlantic STs are documented over the 50-yr period analyzed in this climatology. In contrast to the North Atlantic, South Atlantic STs occur relatively uniformly throughout the year; however, their preferred location of genesis and mechanisms for this genesis do exhibit some seasonal variability. Rossby wave breaking was identified as the mechanism for the ST vortex initiation for North Atlantic STs. A subset of South Atlantic STs forms via this mechanism, however, an additional mechanism for ST genesis is identified here: lee cyclogenesis downstream of the Andes in the Brazil Current region—an area favorable for convection. This formation mechanism is similar to development of type-2 east coast lows in the Tasman Sea off eastern Australia.

Magmatism and continental break-up in the South Atlantic: high precision40Ar-39Ar geochronology

1994 ◽  
Vol 121 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 333-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Turner ◽  
Marcel Regelous ◽  
Simon Kelley ◽  
Chris Hawkesworth ◽  
Marta Mantovani
Keyword(s):  
South Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Break Up

scholarly journals An Objective Climatology of Tropical Plumes

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 5044-5060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luise Fröhlich ◽  
Peter Knippertz ◽  
Andreas H. Fink ◽  
Esther Hohberger
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Minimum Length ◽  
Width Ratio ◽  
The South ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Upper Level

Abstract The first global objective climatology of tropical plumes (TPs), obtained from a novel algorithm based on gridded 10.8-μm brightness temperatures Tb, is presented for 1983–2006. TPs are defined as continuous cloud bands (>2000 km) crossing 15°N or 15°S with Tb anomalies of less than −20 K and a lifetime of at least 3 h. A minimum length-to-width ratio of 3 filters out elongated features. Numbers of identified TPs are sensitive to the chosen thresholds but not their geographical distribution and seasonal cycle. TPs are an important indicator of tropical–extratropical interactions with impacts on radiation and moisture. TP occurrence during boreal winter is largely confined to oceanic regions with main maxima over the South Pacific and South Atlantic as well as the eastern North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The geographical distribution during boreal summer is similar, but with lower frequencies, except for monsoon-influenced regions. Interannual variations over the Indo-Pacific region are strongly related to El Niño. TPs often develop downstream of extratropical upper-level troughs propagating into low latitudes, particularly over the wintertime eastern North Pacific and North Atlantic, but also in regions where mean upper-level easterlies do not generally favor equatorward Rossby wave propagation. Synoptic-scale variations in the quasi-permanent cloud bands associated with the South Pacific and South Atlantic convergence zones frequently produce TP-like anomalies, which are climatologically associated with downstream upper-level troughs. Some regions also feature TPs associated with mesoscale tropical disturbances. The new TP algorithm will serve as a basis for more in-depth studies in the future.

scholarly journals Kinematics of the South Atlantic rift

Solid Earth ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Heine ◽  
J. Zoethout ◽  
R. D. Müller
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Kinematic Model ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
West African ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
Equatorial Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Break Up ◽  
Extension Direction

Abstract. The South Atlantic rift basin evolved as a branch of a large Jurassic–Cretaceous intraplate rift zone between the African and South American plates during the final break-up of western Gondwana. While the relative motions between South America and Africa for post-break-up times are well resolved, many issues pertaining to the fit reconstruction and particularly the relation between kinematics and lithosphere dynamics during pre-break-up remain unclear in currently published plate models. We have compiled and assimilated data from these intraplated rifts and constructed a revised plate kinematic model for the pre-break-up evolution of the South Atlantic. Based on structural restoration of the conjugate South Atlantic margins and intracontinental rift basins in Africa and South America, we achieve a tight-fit reconstruction which eliminates the need for previously inferred large intracontinental shear zones, in particular in Patagonian South America. By quantitatively accounting for crustal deformation in the Central and West African Rift Zones, we have been able to indirectly construct the kinematic history of the pre-break-up evolution of the conjugate west African–Brazilian margins. Our model suggests a causal link between changes in extension direction and velocity during continental extension and the generation of marginal structures such as the enigmatic pre-salt sag basin and the São Paulo High. We model an initial E–W-directed extension between South America and Africa (fixed in present-day position) at very low extensional velocities from 140 Ma until late Hauterivian times (≈126 Ma) when rift activity along in the equatorial Atlantic domain started to increase significantly. During this initial ≈14 Myr-long stretching episode the pre-salt basin width on the conjugate Brazilian and west African margins is generated. An intermediate stage between ≈126 Ma and base Aptian is characterised by strain localisation, rapid lithospheric weakening in the equatorial Atlantic domain, resulting in both progressively increasing extensional velocities as well as a significant rotation of the extension direction to NE–SW. From base Aptian onwards diachronous lithospheric break-up occurred along the central South Atlantic rift, first in the Sergipe–Alagoas/Rio Muni margin segment in the northernmost South Atlantic. Final break-up between South America and Africa occurred in the conjugate Santos–Benguela margin segment at around 113 Ma and in the equatorial Atlantic domain between the Ghanaian Ridge and the Piauí-Ceará margin at 103 Ma. We conclude that such a multi-velocity, multi-directional rift history exerts primary control on the evolution of these conjugate passive-margin systems and can explain the first-order tectonic structures along the South Atlantic and possibly other passive margins.

Millennial-scale climate changes on South Georgia, Southern Ocean

2003 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 470-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunhild C. Rosqvist ◽  
Pernilla Schuber
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
The South ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
South Georgia ◽  
The North ◽  
Suitable Site ◽  
Millennial Scale

AbstractThe location of South Georgia (54°S, 36°W) makes it a suitable site for the study of the climatic connections between temperate and polar environments in the Southern Hemisphere. Because the mass balance of the small cirque glaciers on South Georgia primarily responds to changes in summer temperature they can provide records of changes in the South Atlantic Ocean and atmospheric circulation. We use grey scale density, weight-loss-on-ignition, and grain size analyses to show that the proportion of glacially eroded sediments to organic sediments in Block Lake was highly variable during the last 7400 cal yr B.P. We expect that the glacial signal is clearly detectable above noise originating from nonglacial processes and assume that an increase in glacigenic sediment deposition in Block Lake has followed Holocene glacier advances. We interpret proglacial lake sediment sequences in terms of summer climate warming and cooling events. Prominent millennial-scale features include cooling events between 7200 and 7000, 5200 and 4400, and 2400 and 1600 cal yr B.P. and after 1000 cal yr B.P. Comparison with other terrestrial and marine records reveals that the South Georgian record captures all the important changes in Southern Hemisphere Holocene climate. Our results reveal a tentative coupling between climate changes in the South Atlantic and North Atlantic because the documented temperature changes on South Georgia are anti-phased to those in the North Atlantic.

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