Seagrass communities in the Shoalwater Bay region, Queensland: Spring (September) 1995 and Autumn (April) 1996

The Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry into Shoal water Bay (Commission of Inquiry 1994) recommended equal priority be given to conservation and defence force training use in the Shoalwater Bay area, and that integrated management plans be developed for the terrestrial and marine environments. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) was given responsibility for developing management plans for a special Shoalwater Bay Marine Park. The GBRMPA commissioned a number of studies of marine resource inventories and use patterns in the Shoalwater Bay area for marine park zone planning. The present Spring and Autumn baseline surveys of seagrass resources is one of these studies. Seagrasses have seasonal differences in distribution and abundance, so two baseline surveys Spring (pre-wet) and Autumn (post-wet) - were recommended. This report presents the results of the two surveys conducted September 1995 and April 1996. The objectives were: to map the distribution of seagrass meadows in Shoa/water Bay during the Spring and Autumn periods; to estimate seagrass species biomass for the major seagrass meadows; to identify juvenile prawn and fish species present on selected seagrass areas; and to provide quantitative data 011 seagrass communities of Shoalwater Bay for use as a baseline for future monitoring of seagrass species composition, area or biomass

Monitoring Oyster Point seagrasses : 1995 to 1999

In the present report, an assessment of changes in seagrass distribution and abundance since the baseline (November 1995) and previous monitoring surveys of December 1997 and November 1998 is included. We provide a quantification of changes between years and comment on the possible impacts of the dredging program

Seagrass and marine resources in the Dugong protection areas of Upstart Bay, Newry Region, Sand Bay, Llewellyn Bay, Ince Bay and the Clairview Region, April/May 1999 and October 1999

The Marine Plant Ecology Group (Queensland Fisheries Service, Queensland Department of Primary Industries) was commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to undertake two (one autumn and one spring) detailed seagrass surveys of the Dugong Protection Areas in Upstart Bay, Newry region, Sand Bay, Llewellyn Bay, Ince Bay, and a reconnaissance survey in the Clairview region. The information gathered from these surveys enhances the understanding and subsequent management of seagrass resources for fisheries and as dugong feeding habitats

Preliminary evaluation of an acoustic technique for mapping tropical seagrass habitats

Seagrass meadows in Queensland are important nursery habitat for commercial species of penaeid prawns and fish. Seagrasses are essential food for dugong, Dugong dugon, and green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus) and act as nutrient and sediment sinks. Seagrasses in coastal regions play important roles in maintaining sediment stability and water clarity. Coastal seagrass meadows are therefore an important resource economically and ecologically. Information on the species composition, abundance and distribution of seagrasses is used by management to zone for protection of seagrass habitats

Baseline survey of Hinchinbrook region seagrasses - October (spring) 1996

Current coastal zone management issues in the Hinchinbrook region include protection of fisheries habitats, dugong habitat areas and increases in aquaculture, agriculture and tourist operations. A regional coastal management plan which is being developed, also requires detailed information on seagrass resources for the coastal zone from Dunk Island in the north, to Cleveland Bay in the south. Decreases in estimates of dugong abundance in the southern half of the Great Barrier Reef region since the 1980's have also prompted the need for detailed baseline and monitoring surveys of seagrasses in this and other regions

Comparison of the physical and geotechnical properties of gas-hydrate-bearing sediments from offshore India and other gas-hydrate-reservoir systems

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Marine and Petroleum Geology 58A (2014): 139-167, doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2014.07.024.The sediment characteristics of hydrate-bearing reservoirs profoundly affect the formation, distribution, and morphology of gas hydrate. The presence and type of gas, porewater chemistry, fluid migration, and subbottom temperature may govern the hydrate formation process, but it is the host sediment that commonly dictates final hydrate habit, and whether hydrate may be economically developed. In this paper, the physical properties of hydrate-bearing regions offshore eastern India (Krishna-Godavari and Mahanadi Basins) and the Andaman Islands, determined from Expedition NGHP-01 cores, are compared to each other, well logs, and published results of other hydrate reservoirs. Properties from the hydrate-free Kerala-Konkan basin off the west coast of India are also presented. Coarser-grained reservoirs (permafrost-related and marine) may contain high gas-hydrate-pore saturations, while finer-grained reservoirs may contain low-saturation disseminated or more complex gas-hydrates, including nodules, layers, and high-angle planar and rotational veins. However, even in these fine-grained sediments, gas hydrate preferentially forms in coarser sediment or fractures, when present. The presence of hydrate in conjunction with other geologic processes may be responsible for sediment porosity being nearly uniform for almost 500 m off the Andaman Islands. Properties of individual NGHP-01 wells and regional trends are discussed in detail. However, comparison of marine and permafrost-related Arctic reservoirs provides insight into the inter-relationships and common traits between physical properties and the morphology of gas-hydrate reservoirs regardless of location. Extrapolation of properties from one location to another also enhances our understanding of gas-hydrate reservoir systems. Grain size and porosity effects on permeability are critical, both locally to trap gas and regionally to provide fluid flow to hydrate reservoirs. Index properties corroborate more advanced consolidation and triaxial strength test results and can be used for predicting behavior in other NGHP-01 regions. Pseudo-overconsolidation is present near the seafloor and is underlain by underconsolidation at depth at some NGHP-01 locations.This work was supported by the Coastal and Marine Geology, and Energy Programs of the U.S. Geological Survey. Partial support for this research was provided by Interagency Agreement DE-FE0002911 between the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and the U.S. Department of Energy's Methane Hydrates R&D Program

SU(3)c⊗SU(3)L⊗U(1)x as an SU(6)⊗U(1)x subgroup

ABSTRACT: An extension of the standard model to the local gauge group SU(3) c ^ SU(3)L ^ U(1)X as a family independent model is presented. The mass scales, the gauge boson masses, and the masses for the spin 1/2 particles in the model are studied. The mass differences between the up and down quark sectors, between the quarks and leptons, and between the charged and neutral leptons in one family are analyzed. The existence of two Dirac neutrinos for each family, one light and one very heavy, is predicted. By using experimental results from CERN LEP, SLC and atomic parity violation we constrain the mixing angle between the two neutral currents and the mass of the additional neutral gauge boson to be 20.00015<sin u<0 and 1.5 TeV<MZ2 at 95% C.L

Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with a Modulated Proton Bunch

The plasma wakefield amplitudes which could be achieved via the modulation of a long proton bunch are investigated. We find that in the limit of long bunches compared to the plasma wavelength, the strength of the accelerating fields is directly proportional to the number of particles in the drive bunch and inversely proportional to the square of the transverse bunch size. The scaling laws were tested and verified in detailed simulations using parameters of existing proton accelerators, and large electric fields were achieved, reaching 1 GV/m for LHC bunches. Energy gains for test electrons beyond 6 TeV were found in this case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

The energy dependence of ptp_t angular correlations inferred from mean-ptp_{t} fluctuation scale dependence in heavy ion collisions at the SPS and RHIC

We present the first study of the energy dependence of $p_t$ angular correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly with $\ln \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from the onset of observable jet-related fluctuations near 10 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Search for Extra Dimensions in Boson and Fermion Pair Production in e+e- Interactions at LEP

Extra spatial dimensions are proposed by recent theories that postulate the scale of gravity to be of the same order as the electroweak scale. A sizeable interaction between gravitons and Standard Model particles is then predicted. Effects of these new interactions in boson and fermion pair production are searched for in the data sample collected at centre-of-mass energies above the Z pole by the L3 detector at LEP. In addition, the direct production of a graviton associated with a Z boson is investigated. No statistically significant hints for the existence of these effects are found and lower limits in excess of 1 TeV are derived on the scale of this new theory of gravity