Calcium carbonate budget of the Southern California Continental Borderland

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What does this data set describe?

Title:
Calcium carbonate budget of the Southern California Continental Borderland
Abstract:
"Calcium carbonate sedimentation of the Southern California Continental Borderland can be examined by means of a budget. Carbonate transfer is the change in amount of calcium carbonate in the Borderland with time. Transfer can be divided into deposition, mechanical transfer other than deposition, biological transfer, and chemical transfer. Most Borderland carbonate deposition occurs on basin floors and basin slopes. Carbonate deposition in the Borderland is 125 x 10e10 g/yr. Aragonite and Mg-calcite percentage decrease with depth; dolomite percentage is a function of geographic coordinate (a response to source area). Total carbonate content of the sediment is independent of depth and geography. Potentially important forms of mechanical transfer include river influx, aerial transfer, and ocean current transfer. Of these, only river influx is an important Borderland carbonate transfer process (16 x 10e10 g/yr). Aerial transfer cycles material produced in the Borderland without removing or adding significant amounts. Ocean currents may be important to intra-system transportation but not to transfer. River input is low-Mg-calcite, with minor amounts of dolomite. Discussion of biological transfer includes only input. Biological input categories are shallow (<30 meters) rocky macrobenthos production, slope macrobenthos production, basin macrobenthos production, foraminifera production, and other production. Shallow rocky macrobenthos production is evaluated from estimates by divers of standing crop and from various estimates of turnover. This production amounts to 40 x 10e10 g/yr. Sandy shelf, slope, and basin macrobenthos production is 34 x 10e10 g/yr. Foraminifera production is 247 x 10e10 g/yr, and other production is assumed to be 25 x 10e10 g/yr. Production by shallow rocky macrobenthos is particularly interesting, because this second-largest of the biological production processes occurs over only 1 percent of the Borderland area. The total production is dominated by low Mg-calcite, with minor amounts of high Mg-calcite and aragonite. Chemical transfer involves solution on the basin floor, where waters are enriched with solution products of 400 x 10e10 g CaCO3. Deep water flushing has been estimated by other workers to be biennial, so 200 x 10e10 g/yr is dissolved. Dolomite is not dissolved; the other carbonate minerals are dissolved to varying extent. Aragonite solution is diminished because only minor amounts of fine-grained aragonite are moved to deep water. Dissolved calcium input rate to the Borderland by rivers can account for 30 per cent of the annual calcium carbonate sedimentation. The remainder of the calcium must be extracted from ocean water flowing through the Borderland. Calcium carbonate production rate in temperate-water shallow rocky bottom areas is comparable to tropical, non-reef production (about 500 g/m2)/yr). Coral reef production is about 10,000 (g/m2)/yr. Pelagic production is about 50 (g/m2)/yr. Pelagic production rates over the world's oceans are capable of exceeding dissolved calcium supply rate of the world's rivers by an order of magnitude. The other two environments may also be able to match river supply of calcium. Excess calcium carbonate is re-dissolved. Tertiary limestones of the Pacific coast of North America are generally either dominated by recognizable debris from one or two phyla or are fine-grained, impure limestones. Both characteristics might be expected of limestones forming in an area similar to the present Borderland. This investigation has demonstrated that considering the budget of carbonate input to and output from an area is an adequate method of enumerating processes controlling carbonate content of marine sediment."
Supplemental_Information:
Sediment samples for this investigation were furnished by several organizations. Samples designated to USC identification were provided by the University of Southern California (D. Gorsline, P. Barnes, G. Rattman). SB samples are from the University of California at Santa Barbara (from J. Clarke and D. Doerner). Scripps samples have the prefixes LC, MEN, LFGS, and were supplied by N. Marshall and T. Walsh. DSSP samples were supplied by the Naval Oceanographic Office (from O. Huh). The remainder of the samples (NR, BR, PP, CI, and SC) were collected for this investigation. Data digitized by the USGS for inclusion into usSEABED (<http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/usseabed>)Data may be overlapped by the USC SEDDATA base.
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Smith, Stephen V. , 1970, Calcium carbonate budget of the Southern California Continental Borderland: Hawaii Institute of Geophysics HIG-70-11, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Financed by the Office of Naval Research NR 083 603 and the Naval Undersea Research and Development Center.

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -120.652
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -117.268
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 34.568
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 31.990

  3. What does it look like?

    Smith_PhD_70 (.jpg)
    Sample distribution with coastline and bathymetry for reference.

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Beginning_Date: 1956
    Ending_Date: 1968
    Currentness_Reference: Publication date

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: Paper

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • Entity point (106)

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.01. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.01. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees.

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    Point
    SDTS point (Source: Source report)

    Sample number
    Sample number (Source: University of Washington)

    Alpha numeric code dependent on sample institution's naming scheme.

    Water depth
    Water depth (Source: Source report)

    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:2200
    Units:Meters
    Resolution:1.0

    Calcium carbonate
    Calcium carbonate (Source: Land, 1966)

    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:80
    Units:Percent
    Resolution:1.0

    Aragonite
    Aragonite percent in the calcium carbonate (Source: Source report)

    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:81
    Units:Percent
    Resolution:1.0

    Dolomite
    Dolomite in the calcium carbonate (Source: Source report)

    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:100
    Units:Percent
    Resolution:1.0

    Mg-Calcite
    Mg-calcite (Source: Source report)

    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:13
    Units:Not stated
    Resolution:0.01

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

    Stephen V. Smith at the University of Hawaii for the collection and analysis of data. For inclusion into usSEABED: Digitization: Jane Reid (USGS); Formatting corrections: Jane Reid (USGS) and Chris Jenkins (University of Colorado).

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    Stephen V. Smith
    University of Hawaii
    Department of Oceanography
    Honolulu, HI 96822

    808-956-8693 (voice)
    808-956-7112 (FAX)
    svsmith@soest.hawaii.edu

Why was the data set created?

"The present investigation has been directed at learning why the Southern California Continental Borderland is a carbonate-poor province."

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: Unknown (process 1 of 1)
    Mineral identification by X-ray diffraction on ground sample. Calcium carbonate content measured by cation analysis, using EDTA titration (Land, 1966). CO2 analysis by infrared analyzer (Beckman Model IR-215). Calcium and CO2 analyses have precision of less than one percent.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Stephen V. Smith
    University of Hawaii
    Department of Oceanography
    Honolulu, HI 96822

    808-956-8693 (voice)
    808-956-7112 (FAX)
    svsmith@soest.hawaii.edu

    Data sources used in this process:
    • Land, 1966

    Data sources produced in this process:

    • Smith_PhD_1970

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

    No estimate made for the accuracy of the data in the original report. Data digitized by the USGS and partners were visually compared to the source data, and corrected. Where appropriate, data were tested for completeness using MS Excel. Locations checked using GIS.

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

    Navigation method unknown; no assessment made for location accuracy.

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

    Depth determination method unknown; no assessment made for accuracy.

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

    All data from Table 23 were digitized. For USC samples, a more precise locations were found using NGDC archived data.

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

    Data fall within normal ranges for analytical results.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints:
None. Report is available at the USGS Library and other libraries.
Use_Constraints:
Cite Steve Smith and the University of Hawaii as originators of the data.

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 2)

    University of Hawaii
    Department of Oceanography
    Honolulu, HI 96822

    (808) 956-7633 (voice)

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    Smith_PhD_1970, HIG-70-11

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    Although this dataset has been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data. Users of the data should be aware of limitations of the data due to possible imprecision due to navigational inaccuracies and limitations of the statistical data.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?

    None

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 2 of 2)

    U.S. Geological Survey
    345 Middlefield Road
    Menlo Park, CA 94025

    650.329.5026 (voice)
    men_lib@usgs.gov

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    HIG-70-11

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    Although this dataset has been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data. Users of the data should be aware of the limitations of the data due to possible imprecision due to navigational inaccuracies, statistical limitations, and digitizing errors.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 2005
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey
c/o Jane A. Reid
Geologist
400 Natural Bridges Drive
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

831-427-4727 (voice)
jareid@usgs.gov

Contact_Instructions: Email preferred
Metadata standard:
CSDGM Version 2 (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

Generated by mp version 2.8.17 on Sat May 20 21:23:54 2006