. The Eastern Bering Sea Shelf : oceanography and resources / edited by Donald W. Hood and John A. Calder. Oceanography Bering 1092 Benthic biology STUDY AREA The area of interest to this study ranges from the Alaska Peninsula to St. Matthew Island (Fig. 63-1), thus complementing the existing picture of infaunal zonation on the shelf, exclusive of Norton Sound. Since the physical characteristics of this area are treated at length in other sections of the book, only salient features distinguishing major shelf zones will be discussed here. Although the bottom is a very gradually sloping pl
. The Eastern Bering Sea Shelf : oceanography and resources / edited by Donald W. Hood and John A. Calder. Oceanography Bering 1092 Benthic biology STUDY AREA The area of interest to this study ranges from the Alaska Peninsula to St. Matthew Island (Fig. 63-1), thus complementing the existing picture of infaunal zonation on the shelf, exclusive of Norton Sound. Since the physical characteristics of this area are treated at length in other sections of the book, only salient features distinguishing major shelf zones will be discussed here. Although the bottom is a very gradually sloping plane, dramatic differences in both the sedimentary and water-column environments are found in cross-shelf transects. Three general zones have been described: (1) A coastal domain (shoreline to 50-m water depth) that is generally homogeneous and subject to temperature extremes during both summer and winter. Water movements due to both tidal and wind mixing apparently limit the sediment environment to predominantly sand- and gravel- sized particles (See Figs. 63-2a and b). (2) A shelf-water domain that is vertically homo- geneous in winter but strongly stratified in summer, resulting in low summer bottom temperatures and a limit to mixing activities with a corresponding increase in the deposition of silt-sized particles (see Fig. 63-2b). (3) An outer-shelf domain of warmer and rela- tively constant temperature Bering Sea/Alaska Stream water. The increasing deposition of fine particles seems to be modified in the shelf-break area (see Stations 16, 31 in Figs. 63-2a and b). Although the positions of fronts separating the water masses appear to vary little annually, bottom temperature fluctuations do occur on a yearly basis. Such variance may influence benthic populations in all domains, but it is probably more significant in the middle- and outer-shelf areas that do not ex- perience large annual fluctuations in bottom tempera- ture. Kihara and Uda (1969) suggest that even minor chan
Size: 2044px × 1223px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., book, bookcentury1900, bookcollectionamericana, bookleafnumber480
