scholarly journals Deglacial Land-Ocean Linkages at the Alaskan Continental Margin in the Bering Sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Wang ◽  
Gerhard Kuhn ◽  
Xun Gong ◽  
Boris K. Biskaborn ◽  
Rainer Gersonde ◽  
...  

A marine sediment record from the central Bering Sea, spanning the last 20 thousand years (ka), was studied to unravel the depositional history with regard to terrigenous sediment supply and biogenic sedimentation. Methodic approaches comprised the inference of accumulation rates of siliciclastic and biogenic components, grain-size analysis, and (clay) mineralogy, as well as paleoclimatic modelling. Changes in the depositional history provides insight into land-ocean linkages of paleoenvironmental changes. During the finale of the Last Glacial Maximum, the depositional environment was characterized by hemipelagic background sedimentation. A marked change in the terrigenous sediment provenance during the late Heinrich 1 Stadial (15.7–14.5 ka), indicated by increases in kaolinite and a high glaciofluvial influx of clay, gives evidence of the deglaciation of the Brooks Range in the hinterland of Alaska. This meltwater pulse also stimulated the postglacial onset of biological productivity. Glacial melt implies regional climate warming during a time of widespread cooling on the northern hemisphere. Our simulation experiment with a coupled climate model suggests atmospheric teleconnections to the North Atlantic, with impacts on the dynamics of the Aleutian Low system that gave rise to warmer winters and an early onset of spring during that time. The late deglacial period between 14.5 and 11.0 ka was characterized by enhanced fluvial runoff and biological productivity in the course of climate amelioration, sea-level rise, seasonal sea-ice retreat, and permafrost thaw in the hinterland. The latter processes temporarily stalled during the Younger Dryas stadial (12.9-11.7 ka) and commenced again during the Preboreal (earliest Holocene), after 11.7 ka. High river runoff might have fertilized the Bering Sea and contributed to enhanced upper ocean stratification. Since 11.0 ka, advanced transgression has shifted the coast line and fluvial influence of the Yukon River away from the study site. The opening of the Bering Strait strengthened contour currents along the continental slope, leaving behind winnowed sand-rich sediments through the early to mid-Holocene, with non-deposition occurring since about 6.0 ka.

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Kazuhisa A. Chikita ◽  
Tomoyuki Wada ◽  
Isao Kudo ◽  
Sei-Ichi Saitoh ◽  
Mitsuhiro Toratani

In the Bering Sea around and off the Yukon River delta, surface sediment plumes are markedly formed by glacier-melt and rainfall sediment runoffs of the Yukon River, Alaska, in June– September. The discharge and sediment load time series of the Yukon River were obtained at the lowest gauging station of US Geological Survey in June 2006–September 2010. Meanwhile, by coastal observations on boat, it was found out that the river plume plunges at a boundary between turbid plume water and clean marine water at the Yukon River sediment load of more than ca. 2500 kg/s. Grain size analysis with changing salinity (‰) for the river sediment indicated that the suspended sediment becomes coarse at 2 to 5‰ by flocculation. Hence, the plume’s plunging probably occurred by the flocculation of the Yukon suspended sediment in the brackish zone upstream of the plunging boundary, where the differential settling from the flocculation is considered to have induced the turbid water intrusion into the bottom layer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Delchiaro ◽  
Giulia Iacobucci ◽  
Francesco Troiani ◽  
Marta Della Seta ◽  
Paolo Ballato ◽  
...  

<p>The Seymareh landslide is the largest rock slope failure (44 Gm<sup>3</sup>) ever recorded on the exposed Earth surface. It detached ∼10 ka BP from the northeastern flank of the Kabir-Kuh anticline (Zagros Mts., Iran) originating the natural dam responsible for the formation of a three-lake system (Seymareh, Jaidar, and Balmak lakes, with an area of 259, 46, and 5 km<sup>2</sup>, respectively). The lake system persisted for ∼3000 yr during the Holocene before its emptying phase due to overflow. A sedimentation rate of 21 mm yr<sup>−1</sup> was estimated for the Seymareh lacustrine deposits, which increased during the early stage of lake emptying because of enhanced sediment yield from the lake tributaries. </p><p>To reconstruct the climatic and environmental impact on the lake infilling, we reviewed the geomorphology of the basins and combined the results with multi-proxy records from a 30 m thick lacustrine sequence in Seymareh Lake. Major analyses comprise grain size analysis, carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of carbonate-bearing sediments, and X-ray diffraction analysis of clay minerals.</p><p>Lake overflowing is largely accepted as the main response to variations in water discharge and sediment supply since the alternation from dry to wet phases enhances sediment mobilization along hillslopes decreasing the accommodation space in the downstream sedimentary basins. In this regard, during the early-middle Holocene, the Seymareh area, as well as the entire Middle East, was affected by short-term climate changes at the millennial-scale, as testified by both paleoecological and archaeological evidence. Indeed, several records from Iranian lakes (i.e., Mirabad, Zeribar, Urmia) well documented the temperature and the moisture conditions of the western Zagros Mountains during the Holocene. During the early Holocene, the precipitation remained low up to 6 ka BP, reaching the driest condition around 8-8.2 ka BP. The impact of this abrupt climate change is evident across West Asia, where the first large villages with domesticated cereals and sheeps disappeared, converting to small hamlets and starting habitat-tracking. As regards the Seymareh area, a more irregular distribution of rainfalls and their increasing seasonality may support rhexistasy conditions, during which the scarce vegetation cover enhances both the hillslope erosion and sedimentation rate in the basins, most likely contributing to the overflow of Seymareh Lake. </p>


Author(s):  
Suryantini Suryantini ◽  
Aris Ismanto ◽  
Indarta Kuncoro Aji ◽  
Dwi Fajar Saputri ◽  
Helfinalis Helfinalis

A sedimentology survey was conducted during “Pelayaran Kebangsaan” research activities with a marine vessel of "Baruna Jaya VIII" in Karimun Java Sea. The objectives of the research were to determine the characteristics of marine water and its sediment, which are important control for coral reef growth in the study area. The survey acquired samples of Total Suspended Sediment (TSS) and gravity coring. Several analyses were then carried out on those samples; TSS analysis to determine the amount of suspended sediments in sea water that reflect the water quality for marine ecology, stratigraphic profile and sediment thickness pattern analyses to determine the sources of sediment, and grain-size analysis based on granulometry to determine deposition energy and grain-size distribution in the area. Those analyses were both conducted on-board Baruna Jaya VIII research vessel and P2O LIPI laboratory in Jakarta. The results showed that in Java Sea nearby Karimun Java Islands, the sediment supply came from the surrounding islands. Two sedimentary units were found in this area. The first units has thickness of tens centimeter from sea bed surface. It is characterized by grayish green color, grain size variation from clay to coarse sand, soft or low density and abundance with shells. The second unit is located beneath the first one, indicated by sharp contact. It is characterized by brownish color, higher density resembling the density of rock, less compacted and can be broken easily by hand, with occasionally thin carbon lenses or remnant of decomposed vegetation, and less shell or fossil At sea surface, TSS distribution shows value between 0.018 and 0.034 gr/l, with average of 0.025 gr/l, whereas at near bottom sea, it ranges between 0.024 and 0.030 gr/l, with average value of 0.027 gr/l. The granulometry shows that more than 50% of sediment is characterized by the abundance of grain size greater than 3 phi. It suggest that sea water around Karimun Java Islands was clear and the current was relatively calm. These conditions were relatively stable for a long time span. Those sea characteristics were important for successful growth of coral reefs and its complementary marine biotas. However, further studies and researches based on chemical and physical characteristics of sea water, and plankton and microbiology variation and abundances are necessary to confirm those presuppositions.Keywords: total suspended solid, gravity coring, stratigraphic profile, granulometry, Karimun Java Sea


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tímea Kiss ◽  
Márton Balogh

Abstract Before the extensive engineering works the Dráva River had braided pattern. However in the 19-20th centuries river regulation works became widespread, thus meanders were cut off, side-channels were blocked and hydroelectric power plants were completed. These human impacts significantly changed the hydro-morphology of the river. The aim of the present research is to analyse meander development and the formation of a point-bar from the point of view of indirect human impact. Series of maps and ortho-photos representing the period of 1870-2011 were used to quantify the longterm meander development, rate of bank erosion and point-bar aggradation. Besides, at-a-site erosion measurements and grain-size analysis were also carried out. As the result of reservoir constructions during the last 145 years floods almost totally disappeared, as their return period increased to 5-15 years and their duration decreased to 1-2 days. The channel pattern had changed from braided to sinuous and to meandering, thus the rate of bank erosion increased from 3.7 m/y to 32 m/y. On the upstream part of the point-bar the maximum grain size is 49.7-83.4 mm and the mean particle size is 7.6 mm, whilst on the downstream part the maximum grain size was only 39.7-39.9 mm and mean sediment size decreased to 6.1 mm. Due to the coarse sediment supply and the decreasing stream energy the point-bars develop quickly upstream and laterally too.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Curoy ◽  
Raymond Ward ◽  
John Barlow

<p>In Thailand landslides and flooding are two major natural disasters affecting more than 11 million people living in coastal provinces. Such events have significant human and economic impacts. For example, in 1988, landslides resulted in 373 deaths and caused up to US$80 million in damage (Tanavud, 2008); in 2011, floods and landslides affected more than two million people and killed 53 across Southern Thailand with a village of about 100 households being buried by one large slide (EarthObservatory, 2021). Landslides in the Krabi province in Thailand are predominantly shallow and rainfall-induced, they also represent the main source of sediment pulses for coastal environments such as mangroves and beaches. This study aims at investigating the link between sediment availability from 3 river catchments in the province of Krabi in Southern Thailand and sedimentation rate evolution in mangroves directly downstream in order to understand coastal the sediment shortages and therefore coastal erosion in that area.</p><p>Landslide inventories were evaluated using high resolution imagery (<10m) such as aerial photographs, Theos and EO-1 satellite imagery, Google Earth historical tool covering a time period from 2007 to present. Calculations of the surface areas and volumes of landslides was calculated in ArcMap using the formulae developed by Larsen et al. (2010). Landslide erosion was modelled using an approach based upon the negative power law scaling properties of rockfall magnitude–frequency distribution to establish total volumes of sediment for specific years or seasons.</p><p>Core samples taken in the mangroves near the river mouths were used to identify markers of landslide events and associated sediment cascades based on grain size distribution and <sup>137</sup>Cs dating.</p><p>Preliminary results show sedimentation rates in the mangroves from 0.9 to 2 mm/year since 1963 and sediment volumes made available to transport from 0.3 to 68300 m<sup>3</sup>/year since 2007 across the 3 catchments.</p><p>Grain size analysis shows variations of the D<sub>50</sub> and the sorting coefficient throughout the sediment recording indicators of landslides and high intensity rainfall events.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
David Olson

<p>Mixed Sand and Gravel (MSG) Beach research in recent decades has overwhelmingly focussed on open-oceanic environments, however, those found in fetch limited settings remain poorly understood. This thesis has examined spatial and temporal morphological change through such a system in Eastbourne, Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. This site has only recently prograded following several decades of erosion. This accretion has been the result of a northward migrating gravel front, which is introducing gravel sized sediment into the previously sandy system resulting in significant changes in beach morphology and volume. The aim of this study is to quantify these spatial and temporal changes and to assess shoreline stability on a decadal timescale. Additionally it aims to ascertain whether the current progradation is a long term change to the system or the result of a short term sediment increase. This assessment has been conducted in the form of topographic surveying, grain size and aerial photograph analysis. The topographic surveying and grain size analysis provides an accurate description of beach morphology. This is compared to the established MSG beach morphology models for the open coast, but operating on a smaller scale because of the lower energy fetch-limited environment of the study area. Aerial photograph analysis is used to show the longer term changes in beach width and the northern migration of the gravel fraction of the sediment supply regime. The spatial analysis results show that the beach morphology is highly variable. In the embayments that are more exposed to oceanic swell waves beach profiles are broad and steep, and in the beaches in the northern sections of the coastline which are more sheltered from oceanic swell waves, profiles are flat and narrow. The temporal results show that the coastal accretion observed through the study area has been initially rapid, followed by sustained increased beach width. These results suggest that the morphological variation on this coastline is part of a long term adjustment to a change in sediment supply, initiated by tectonic uplift and subsequently driven by longshore sediment transport. The observed mechanism of longshore transport has been suggested to be a function of sediment properties, relative wave energy and bathymetry/topography. The findings of this research are used to develop a conceptual model of shoreline evolution for the study area in response to changes that have occurred over the last 154 years.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
David Olson

<p>Mixed Sand and Gravel (MSG) Beach research in recent decades has overwhelmingly focussed on open-oceanic environments, however, those found in fetch limited settings remain poorly understood. This thesis has examined spatial and temporal morphological change through such a system in Eastbourne, Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. This site has only recently prograded following several decades of erosion. This accretion has been the result of a northward migrating gravel front, which is introducing gravel sized sediment into the previously sandy system resulting in significant changes in beach morphology and volume. The aim of this study is to quantify these spatial and temporal changes and to assess shoreline stability on a decadal timescale. Additionally it aims to ascertain whether the current progradation is a long term change to the system or the result of a short term sediment increase. This assessment has been conducted in the form of topographic surveying, grain size and aerial photograph analysis. The topographic surveying and grain size analysis provides an accurate description of beach morphology. This is compared to the established MSG beach morphology models for the open coast, but operating on a smaller scale because of the lower energy fetch-limited environment of the study area. Aerial photograph analysis is used to show the longer term changes in beach width and the northern migration of the gravel fraction of the sediment supply regime. The spatial analysis results show that the beach morphology is highly variable. In the embayments that are more exposed to oceanic swell waves beach profiles are broad and steep, and in the beaches in the northern sections of the coastline which are more sheltered from oceanic swell waves, profiles are flat and narrow. The temporal results show that the coastal accretion observed through the study area has been initially rapid, followed by sustained increased beach width. These results suggest that the morphological variation on this coastline is part of a long term adjustment to a change in sediment supply, initiated by tectonic uplift and subsequently driven by longshore sediment transport. The observed mechanism of longshore transport has been suggested to be a function of sediment properties, relative wave energy and bathymetry/topography. The findings of this research are used to develop a conceptual model of shoreline evolution for the study area in response to changes that have occurred over the last 154 years.</p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suryantini Suryantini ◽  
Aris Ismanto ◽  
Indarta Kuncoro Aji ◽  
Dwi Fajar Saputri ◽  
Helfinalis Helfinalis

<p>A sedimentology survey was conducted during “Pelayaran Kebangsaan” research activities with a marine vessel of "Baruna Jaya VIII" in Karimun Java Sea. The objectives of the research were to determine the characteristics of marine water and its sediment, which are important control for coral reef growth in the study area. The survey acquired samples of Total Suspended Sediment (TSS) and gravity coring. Several analyses were then carried out on those samples; TSS analysis to determine the amount of suspended sediments in sea water that reflect the water quality for marine ecology, stratigraphic profile and sediment thickness pattern analyses to determine the sources of sediment, and grain-size analysis based on granulometry to determine deposition energy and grain-size distribution in the area. Those analyses were both conducted on-board Baruna Jaya VIII research vessel and P2O LIPI laboratory in Jakarta. The results showed that in Java Sea nearby Karimun Java Islands, the sediment supply came from the surrounding islands. Two sedimentary units were found in this area. The first units has thickness of tens centimeter from sea bed surface. It is characterized by grayish green color, grain size variation from clay to coarse sand, soft or low density and abundance with shells. The second unit is located beneath the first one, indicated by sharp contact. It is characterized by brownish color, higher density resembling the density of rock, less compacted and can be broken easily by hand, with occasionally thin carbon lenses or remnant of decomposed vegetation, and less shell or fossil At sea surface, TSS distribution shows value between 0.018 and 0.034 gr/l, with average of 0.025 gr/l, whereas at near bottom sea, it ranges between 0.024 and 0.030 gr/l, with average value of 0.027 gr/l. The granulometry shows that more than 50% of sediment is characterized by the abundance of grain size greater than 3 phi. It suggest that sea water around Karimun Java Islands was clear and the current was relatively calm. These conditions were relatively stable for a long time span. Those sea characteristics were important for successful growth of coral reefs and its complementary marine biotas. However, further studies and researches based on chemical and physical characteristics of sea water, and plankton and microbiology variation and abundances are necessary to confirm those presuppositions.</p><p>Keywords: total suspended solid, gravity coring, stratigraphic profile, granulometry, Karimun Java Sea</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 334 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.P. Karageorgis ◽  
Chr. Ioakim ◽  
G. Rousakis ◽  
D. Sakellariou ◽  
G. Vougioukalakis ◽  
...  

An extensive oceanographic survey was conducted in the marine area between Kimolos and Sifnos Islands, a rather poorly-studied sector of the Aegean Sea, in order to gain better understanding of submarine geomorphological features and associated sediment provenance. Multi-beam bathymetry and surface sediment sampling with a box corer were carried out on board R/V Aegaeo, followed by grain-size analysis, XRD and XRF measurements. A large circular depression was identified north of Kimolos reaching a water depth of 743 m, filled with fine grained sediments. Surface sediment distribution is characterized by gradual decrease in grain-size from silty sand to silt in a S-N direction. The mineralogical composition comprises calcite, Mgcalcite, aragonite, dolomite, quartz, K feldspars, plagioclase, amphiboles and clay minerals. Major sediment provinces identified were: (i) the shallow sector proximal to Kimolos, characterized by higher contents in Si, Al, K, Rb and Ba; (ii) the deep area west of Sifnos, including the large depression, characterized by higher contents in Fe, Ti, Na, Mg, S, Cr, Cu, Ni, V, Zn; and (iii) the south passage between Kimolos and Sifnos, which exhibits higher Ca, S, and Sr contents. Manganese enrichment was observed in and around the bathymetric depression, where Mn oxides act efficiently as scavengers of a suite of metals.


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