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Spectral analysis of Japanese sea level records
Oceanographic Abstracts
1071
currents as the driving agency, the proposed model is basically akin to convection currents insofar as the driving energy in the last instance is the potential thermal energy o f the globe. In conventional convection, thermal global energy is transferred to mechanical work through the process o f continuous expansion and contraction during heating and cooling o f a homogeneous medium, and consequent buoyancy in the field o f gravity. In the proposed model it is a matter of discontinuous, and also much larger, expansion and contraction during melting and crystallization, with consequent buoyant tendency of the melt and sinking tendency of the crystalline phases. Absorption of heat of melting at depth and release o f heat o f crystallization at levels close to the surface make this kind o f heterogeneous '" convection" a much more efficient " c o o l e r " of the earth than homogeneous convection. Since the conventional current works in a homogeneous plastic or visco-elastic medium, whereas the working material in the proposed model is a heterogeneous mixture o f solids and melts, it is quite clear that considerable difference must be expected in the movement pattern at depth as well as the surficial reflection of the movement on the earth's surface. RANDALL J. E., 1963. A fatal attack by the shark Carcharhinus galapagensis at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Caribb. J. Sei., 3 (4): 201-205. On April 20, 1963 a 10-foot ridge-back carcharhinid shark attacked and killed Lt. John Gibson, USN who was swimming at the surface in Magens Bay, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands without swim mask or flippers. The shark was caught the following day in the bay with the right hand and other remains of the man in its stomach. The shark was examined by the author and ultimately identified as Carcharhinus galapagensis by J. A. F. Garrick who is revising the genus. This is apparently the first authenticated shark attack in the Virgin Islands and the first record of galapagensis from the western Atlantic. RATTRAY MAURICEJR., 1964. Time-dependent motion in an ocean; a unified two-layer, beta-plane approximation. In: Studies on Oceanography dedicated to Professor Hidaka in Commemoration o f his Sixtieth Birthday, 19-29. The linearized equations for time-dependent motion in a two-layer ocean with variable Coriolis parameter are transformed into equations identical in form for the surface and internal modes of oscillation. A single equation in meridional transport, valid over the complete range of frequency and wave number, is obtained for each mode of oscillation. This normal-mode equation is compared with the approximate relations used by various authors in previous studies of certain classes of timedependent motion and shows the range of conditions in which such approximations are valid. Solutions to this normal-mode equation together with the Kelvin wave solution include all the linear time-dependent motions in a frictionless, two-layer ocean. In the beta-plane approximation, the free-wave equation is separable into x- and y-dependent parts, thus permitting boundary conditions to be expressed in a simple manner. Representative solutions are obtained for free waves in zonal canals. REYNOLDS R. C., Jr., 1965. The concentration of boron in Precambrian seas. Geochimica cosmochimica Acta, 29 (1): 1-16. Measurements have been made o f the boron contents of Precambrian illites from relatively unmetamorphosed carbonate rocks. The samples range in age from upper Proterozoic to Archaean. The boron contents are similar to those reported elsewhere for normal-marine illites from post-Precambrian rocks. These data suggest that the boron concentration in sea water has been fairly constant for the past two to three billion years. The results support the view that the oceans have grown throughout geologic time by the accumulation o f degassing products o f the Earth's crust. The boron method for determining paleosalinities is reviewed, and its limitations are considered. The method is concluded to be valid subject to the following conditions : (I) individual paleosalinities may not be significant within a range of approximately 23 per cent because of uncertainties in the nominal K20 content for pure illite; (2) all samples studied should consist of clay fractions in which the illite is predominantly of the 1 Md polymorph; and (3) the accurate determination o f the amount of illite present, based on ~ K 2 0 , requires that the data be corrected for the presence of K-feldspar. RILEY J. P. and M. TONGUDAI,1964. The lithium content of sea water. Deep-Sea Research 11 (4) : 563-568. Lithium has been separated from the other ions present in sea water by ion exchange, and determined by flame spectrophotometry--the method shows a variance of 1.I ~ . Thirty samples of sea water from all the oceans and major seas have been analysed, and it was found that their lithium contents were proportional to the chlorinity. The average lithium content of water of chlorinity 19"374~o was 183/J.g/l. RODEN GUNNAR I., 1964. Spectral analysis of Japanese sea level records. In: Studies on Oceanography dedicated to Professor Hidaka in Commemoration o f his Sixtieth Birthday. 166-180. Spectra o f monthly sea levels are investigated for the frequency range between zero and six cycles per year. It is found that the root mean square amplitude o f the annual sea level oscillation increases from about 5 cm in southern Sakhalin, to about 14 cm in southwestern Japan. The corresponding
1072
Oceanographic Abstracts
amplitudes of the nonannual sea level oscillations vary between 4 cm and 6 cm, and are largel~ independent of latitude. In northern Japan, there is good coherence between the nonannual oscillations of sea level and atmospheric pressure at all frequencies investigated here, indicating a fasl response between these variables. Along the Japan Sea coast, there is good coherence between se~ level oscillations at stations 400 k m to 500 k m apart. This coherence is not markedly reduced whera the hydrostatic effect of atmospheric pressure is eliminated from the records. Along the Pacific coast of Japan, significant coherence of sea level oscillations over distances of 500 km is observed only, if the stations are affected by the same current regime. No relation is found between the n o ~ annual oscillations of sea level and sea surface temperature.
ROMANOVSKYV,, 1964. Coastal effects of the Cape Sici6 sewer outfall (French Meditcrranca~ coast west of Toulon). Int. J. Air Wat. Potlut., 8 (10): 557--589. On behalf of the Ministry of Construction a study has been made of the effect of the Cape Sicic outfall sewer, particularly the relationship between pollution and the physico-chemical factors of sea water which is influenced by fresh and turbid water having certain characteristic properti~..The results of this study are described in the present paper. ROSSBY H. T., 1965. On thermal convection driven by non-uniform heating from below : z~ experimental study. Deep-Sea Res., 12 {1): 9 16. It was shown with streak photographs and temperature diagrams that a linear temperature distribtt~ tion will generate a single convecting cell of marked asymmetric structure. Rayleigh and Nusseli numbers were defined and numerical values for these were computed for the different studies. With the experiments in mind, a simple scale analysis was developed to provide a more forma! interpretation of the results. It was inferred that under certain limitations the N~sselt ~tmabe~ should he proportional to the Rayleigh number to the one-fifth power. These experiments were conducted in a non-rotating system, but it is believed that they arc oi interest in understanding the effect of differential insolation on large-scale ocean circulation systems. RUBEY WILLIAM W., 1964. Geologic history of sea water. In: The origin and evohttion ofatmo.~ pheric and oceans, P. J. Brancanzio and A. G. W. Cameron, Editors, John Wiley & Sons, 1- 63: Paleontology and. biochemistry together nmy yield fairly definite information, eventually, about the paleochemistry of sea water and atmosphere. Several less conclusive lines of evidence now available suggest that the composition of both sea water and atmosphere may have varied somewhat during the past; but the geologic record indicates that these variations have probably been within relatively narrow limits. A primary problem is how conditions could have remained so nearly constant for ,~o long. It is clear, even from inadequate data on the quantities and compositions of ancient sediments. that the more volatile materials- -water, carbon dioxide, chlorine, nitrogen, and sulfur--are much too abundant in the present atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and in ancient sediments to be explained, like the commoner rock-forming oxides, as the products of rock weathering alone. If the earth were once entirely gaseous or molten, these " e x c e s s " volatiles may be residual from a primitive atmosphere. But if so, certain corollaries should follow about the quantity of water dissolved in the molten earth and the expected chemical effects of a highly acid, primitive ocean. These corollaries appear to be contradicted by the geologic record, and doubt is therefore cast on this hypothesis of a dense primitive atmosphere. It seems more probable that only a small fraction of the total " e x c e s s " volatiles was ever present at one time in the early atmosphere and ocean. Carbon plays a significant part in the chemistry of sea water and in the realm of living m a t t e r The amount now buried as carbonates and organic carbon in sedimentary rocks is about 600 times as great as that in today's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. I f only ~/x00of this buried carboJ~ were suddenly added to the present atmosphere a n d ocean, many species of marine organisms would probably be exterminated. Furthermore, unless CO2 is being added continuously to the atmosphereocean system from some source other than rock weathering, the present rate of its subtraction by sedimentation would, in only a few million years, cause brucite to take the place of calcite as a common marine sediment. Apparently, the geologic record shows no evidence of such simultaneous extinctio~ of many species nor such deposits o f brucite. Evidently the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and ocean has remained relatively constant throughout much of the geologic past. This calls for some source of gradual and continuous supply, over and above that from rock weathering and from the metamorphism of older sedimentary rocks. A clue to this source is afforded by the relative amounts of the different " excess "" volatiles. These are similar to the relative amounts o f the same materials in gases escaping from volcanoes, fumaroles, and hot springs, and in gases occluded in igneous rocks. Conceivably, therefore, the hydrosphere and atmosphere may have come almost entirely from such plutonic gases. During the crystallization of magmas, volatiles such as H~,O and CO2 accumulate in the remaining melt and are largely expelled as part of the final fractions. Volcanic eruptions and lava flows have brought volatiles to the earth's surface throughout the geologic past; but intrusive rocks are probably a much more adequate source o f the constituents of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Judged by the thermal springs of the United States, hot springs (carrying only 1 ~ or less of juvenile matter) may b e th~ principal channels by which the " e x c e s s " volatiles have escaped from cooling magmas below~
1071
currents as the driving agency, the proposed model is basically akin to convection currents insofar as the driving energy in the last instance is the potential thermal energy o f the globe. In conventional convection, thermal global energy is transferred to mechanical work through the process o f continuous expansion and contraction during heating and cooling o f a homogeneous medium, and consequent buoyancy in the field o f gravity. In the proposed model it is a matter of discontinuous, and also much larger, expansion and contraction during melting and crystallization, with consequent buoyant tendency of the melt and sinking tendency of the crystalline phases. Absorption of heat of melting at depth and release o f heat o f crystallization at levels close to the surface make this kind o f heterogeneous '" convection" a much more efficient " c o o l e r " of the earth than homogeneous convection. Since the conventional current works in a homogeneous plastic or visco-elastic medium, whereas the working material in the proposed model is a heterogeneous mixture o f solids and melts, it is quite clear that considerable difference must be expected in the movement pattern at depth as well as the surficial reflection of the movement on the earth's surface. RANDALL J. E., 1963. A fatal attack by the shark Carcharhinus galapagensis at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Caribb. J. Sei., 3 (4): 201-205. On April 20, 1963 a 10-foot ridge-back carcharhinid shark attacked and killed Lt. John Gibson, USN who was swimming at the surface in Magens Bay, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands without swim mask or flippers. The shark was caught the following day in the bay with the right hand and other remains of the man in its stomach. The shark was examined by the author and ultimately identified as Carcharhinus galapagensis by J. A. F. Garrick who is revising the genus. This is apparently the first authenticated shark attack in the Virgin Islands and the first record of galapagensis from the western Atlantic. RATTRAY MAURICEJR., 1964. Time-dependent motion in an ocean; a unified two-layer, beta-plane approximation. In: Studies on Oceanography dedicated to Professor Hidaka in Commemoration o f his Sixtieth Birthday, 19-29. The linearized equations for time-dependent motion in a two-layer ocean with variable Coriolis parameter are transformed into equations identical in form for the surface and internal modes of oscillation. A single equation in meridional transport, valid over the complete range of frequency and wave number, is obtained for each mode of oscillation. This normal-mode equation is compared with the approximate relations used by various authors in previous studies of certain classes of timedependent motion and shows the range of conditions in which such approximations are valid. Solutions to this normal-mode equation together with the Kelvin wave solution include all the linear time-dependent motions in a frictionless, two-layer ocean. In the beta-plane approximation, the free-wave equation is separable into x- and y-dependent parts, thus permitting boundary conditions to be expressed in a simple manner. Representative solutions are obtained for free waves in zonal canals. REYNOLDS R. C., Jr., 1965. The concentration of boron in Precambrian seas. Geochimica cosmochimica Acta, 29 (1): 1-16. Measurements have been made o f the boron contents of Precambrian illites from relatively unmetamorphosed carbonate rocks. The samples range in age from upper Proterozoic to Archaean. The boron contents are similar to those reported elsewhere for normal-marine illites from post-Precambrian rocks. These data suggest that the boron concentration in sea water has been fairly constant for the past two to three billion years. The results support the view that the oceans have grown throughout geologic time by the accumulation o f degassing products o f the Earth's crust. The boron method for determining paleosalinities is reviewed, and its limitations are considered. The method is concluded to be valid subject to the following conditions : (I) individual paleosalinities may not be significant within a range of approximately 23 per cent because of uncertainties in the nominal K20 content for pure illite; (2) all samples studied should consist of clay fractions in which the illite is predominantly of the 1 Md polymorph; and (3) the accurate determination o f the amount of illite present, based on ~ K 2 0 , requires that the data be corrected for the presence of K-feldspar. RILEY J. P. and M. TONGUDAI,1964. The lithium content of sea water. Deep-Sea Research 11 (4) : 563-568. Lithium has been separated from the other ions present in sea water by ion exchange, and determined by flame spectrophotometry--the method shows a variance of 1.I ~ . Thirty samples of sea water from all the oceans and major seas have been analysed, and it was found that their lithium contents were proportional to the chlorinity. The average lithium content of water of chlorinity 19"374~o was 183/J.g/l. RODEN GUNNAR I., 1964. Spectral analysis of Japanese sea level records. In: Studies on Oceanography dedicated to Professor Hidaka in Commemoration o f his Sixtieth Birthday. 166-180. Spectra o f monthly sea levels are investigated for the frequency range between zero and six cycles per year. It is found that the root mean square amplitude o f the annual sea level oscillation increases from about 5 cm in southern Sakhalin, to about 14 cm in southwestern Japan. The corresponding
1072
Oceanographic Abstracts
amplitudes of the nonannual sea level oscillations vary between 4 cm and 6 cm, and are largel~ independent of latitude. In northern Japan, there is good coherence between the nonannual oscillations of sea level and atmospheric pressure at all frequencies investigated here, indicating a fasl response between these variables. Along the Japan Sea coast, there is good coherence between se~ level oscillations at stations 400 k m to 500 k m apart. This coherence is not markedly reduced whera the hydrostatic effect of atmospheric pressure is eliminated from the records. Along the Pacific coast of Japan, significant coherence of sea level oscillations over distances of 500 km is observed only, if the stations are affected by the same current regime. No relation is found between the n o ~ annual oscillations of sea level and sea surface temperature.
ROMANOVSKYV,, 1964. Coastal effects of the Cape Sici6 sewer outfall (French Meditcrranca~ coast west of Toulon). Int. J. Air Wat. Potlut., 8 (10): 557--589. On behalf of the Ministry of Construction a study has been made of the effect of the Cape Sicic outfall sewer, particularly the relationship between pollution and the physico-chemical factors of sea water which is influenced by fresh and turbid water having certain characteristic properti~..The results of this study are described in the present paper. ROSSBY H. T., 1965. On thermal convection driven by non-uniform heating from below : z~ experimental study. Deep-Sea Res., 12 {1): 9 16. It was shown with streak photographs and temperature diagrams that a linear temperature distribtt~ tion will generate a single convecting cell of marked asymmetric structure. Rayleigh and Nusseli numbers were defined and numerical values for these were computed for the different studies. With the experiments in mind, a simple scale analysis was developed to provide a more forma! interpretation of the results. It was inferred that under certain limitations the N~sselt ~tmabe~ should he proportional to the Rayleigh number to the one-fifth power. These experiments were conducted in a non-rotating system, but it is believed that they arc oi interest in understanding the effect of differential insolation on large-scale ocean circulation systems. RUBEY WILLIAM W., 1964. Geologic history of sea water. In: The origin and evohttion ofatmo.~ pheric and oceans, P. J. Brancanzio and A. G. W. Cameron, Editors, John Wiley & Sons, 1- 63: Paleontology and. biochemistry together nmy yield fairly definite information, eventually, about the paleochemistry of sea water and atmosphere. Several less conclusive lines of evidence now available suggest that the composition of both sea water and atmosphere may have varied somewhat during the past; but the geologic record indicates that these variations have probably been within relatively narrow limits. A primary problem is how conditions could have remained so nearly constant for ,~o long. It is clear, even from inadequate data on the quantities and compositions of ancient sediments. that the more volatile materials- -water, carbon dioxide, chlorine, nitrogen, and sulfur--are much too abundant in the present atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and in ancient sediments to be explained, like the commoner rock-forming oxides, as the products of rock weathering alone. If the earth were once entirely gaseous or molten, these " e x c e s s " volatiles may be residual from a primitive atmosphere. But if so, certain corollaries should follow about the quantity of water dissolved in the molten earth and the expected chemical effects of a highly acid, primitive ocean. These corollaries appear to be contradicted by the geologic record, and doubt is therefore cast on this hypothesis of a dense primitive atmosphere. It seems more probable that only a small fraction of the total " e x c e s s " volatiles was ever present at one time in the early atmosphere and ocean. Carbon plays a significant part in the chemistry of sea water and in the realm of living m a t t e r The amount now buried as carbonates and organic carbon in sedimentary rocks is about 600 times as great as that in today's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. I f only ~/x00of this buried carboJ~ were suddenly added to the present atmosphere a n d ocean, many species of marine organisms would probably be exterminated. Furthermore, unless CO2 is being added continuously to the atmosphereocean system from some source other than rock weathering, the present rate of its subtraction by sedimentation would, in only a few million years, cause brucite to take the place of calcite as a common marine sediment. Apparently, the geologic record shows no evidence of such simultaneous extinctio~ of many species nor such deposits o f brucite. Evidently the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and ocean has remained relatively constant throughout much of the geologic past. This calls for some source of gradual and continuous supply, over and above that from rock weathering and from the metamorphism of older sedimentary rocks. A clue to this source is afforded by the relative amounts of the different " excess "" volatiles. These are similar to the relative amounts o f the same materials in gases escaping from volcanoes, fumaroles, and hot springs, and in gases occluded in igneous rocks. Conceivably, therefore, the hydrosphere and atmosphere may have come almost entirely from such plutonic gases. During the crystallization of magmas, volatiles such as H~,O and CO2 accumulate in the remaining melt and are largely expelled as part of the final fractions. Volcanic eruptions and lava flows have brought volatiles to the earth's surface throughout the geologic past; but intrusive rocks are probably a much more adequate source o f the constituents of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Judged by the thermal springs of the United States, hot springs (carrying only 1 ~ or less of juvenile matter) may b e th~ principal channels by which the " e x c e s s " volatiles have escaped from cooling magmas below~