Seabed geodiversity in a glaciated shelf area, the Baltic Sea

Kaskela, Anu; Kotilainen, Aarno

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.07.014

Cited by 33 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…While the first attempts to quantify geodiversity were mainly limited to topographical/ relief features (Xavier-da- Silva et al 2001;Serrano and Flaño 2007;Benito-Calvo et al 2009;Zwolinski 2009;Hjort and Luoto 2010;Muller 2011;Manosso 2012;Pellitero 2012), other approaches tried to considerer all types of geodiversity elements (Carcavilla et al 2007;Forte 2014;Silva et al 2015). More recently, other authors made new approaches to geodiversity assessment (Argyriou et al 2016;Manosso and Nóbrega 2016;Najwer et al 2016;Kaskela and Kotilainen 2017;Stepisnik and Trenchovska 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kernel Density Applied to the Quantitative Assessment of Geodiversity

et al. 2018

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The development of research involving the geodiversity concept has been growing in the last two decades. The quantification of spatial patterns of geodiversity seems to be one of the most promising lines of research related with natural diversity, since it explores the relations between abiotic elements. This last aspect can be crucial, not only for territorial management, but also for conservation initiatives associated with biodiversity. The main aim of this study was to develop a new GIS procedure, based on centroid analysis, to calculate a geodiversity index, using kernel density, and to test its application in two municipalities with different area surfaces and geological setting. The proposed method is an upgrade of those previously published based on a spatial grid system at a landscape scale. The results of this method show that it is possible to obtain a spatial geodiversity standard that reflects the spatial variation of natural abiotic elements on both territories and that lithology and geomorphology are the key drivers that control the geodiversity index. In addition, the testing procedures have demonstrated that this method can be applied to areas with any geological and geomorphological setting and at different scales and also to be a useful tool for land use planning.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kernel Density Applied to the Quantitative Assessment of Geodiversity

et al. 2018

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“…Crystalline bedrock areas provide more diverse seabed environments than sedimentary rock areas . The main factors that have contributed to the characteristics of the seafloor in the Finnish sea areas include the pre-glacial bedrock surface and processes related to it, glacial erosion and deposition, and post-glacial sedimentary processes (Winterhalter et al, 1981;Kaskela and Kotilainen, 2017).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive Coverage of Marine Mineral Concretions Revealed in Shallow Shelf Sea Areas

et al. 2019

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Ferromanganese (FeMn) concretions are mineral precipitates found on soft sediment seafloors both in the deep sea and coastal sea areas. These mineral deposits potentially form a three-dimensional habitat for marine organisms, and contain minerals targeted by an emerging seabed mining industry. While FeMn concretions are known to occur abundantly in coastal sea areas, specific information on their spatial distribution and significance for marine ecosystems is lacking. Here, we examine the distribution of FeMn concretions in Finnish marine areas. Drawing on an extensive dataset of 140,000 sites visited by the Finnish Inventory Programme for the Underwater Marine Environment (VELMU), we examine the occurrence of FeMn concretions from seabed mapping, and use spatial modeling techniques to estimate the potential coverage of FeMn concretions. Using seafloor characteristics and hydrographical conditions as predictor variables, we demonstrate that the extent of seafloors covered by concretions in the northern Baltic Sea is larger than anticipated, as concretions were found at ∼7000 sites, and were projected to occur on over 11% of the Finnish sea areas. These results provide new insights into seafloor complexity in coastal sea areas, and further enable examining the ecological role and resource potential of seabed mineral concretions.

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“…Ruggedness might be relevant to a number of geoscientific fields as a heterogeneous seafloor, for example: represents an aspect of 'geodiversity', with implications for habitats (biodiversity) (Kaskela and Kotilainen, 2017); has implications for mixing and stratification (Umlauf et al, 2018;Jayne et al, 2015); influences flow over the seafloor, both now (bottom currents, sediment transport) and in the past (ice flow, glacial erosion and sediment transport, ice flow stability) (Kietzig et al, 2009). On an 15 ocean-wide scale, for instance, the vertical mixing that occurs over rough sections of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and other topographically complex areas in the world oceans, influences the global overturning circulation (Wunsch and Ferrari, 2004;Ledwell et al, 2000).…”

Section: Seafloor Ruggednessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Baltic Sea's bathymetric properties, including its hypsometry, bottom ruggedness and depths of critical sills, influencing water, nutrient and carbon exchange between the major basins (e.g. Bendtsen et al, 2009;Gogina and Zettler, 2010;Omstedt et al, 2014;Stigebrandt, 2001;Rolff and Elfwing, 2015), internal mixing in deep waters (Lappe and Umlauf, 2016;Nohr and 30 Gustafsson, 2009), and bottom habitats (Kaskela and Kotilainen, 2017), are necessary input parameters to many physical and Ocean Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org /10.5194/os-2019-18 Manuscript under review for journal Ocean Sci.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bathymetric Properties of the Baltic Sea

Stranne¹,

O’Regan²,

Greenwood³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Abstract. Marine science and engineering commonly require reliable information about seafloor depth (bathymetry), e.g. for studies of ocean circulation, bottom habitats, fishing resources, sediment transport, geohazards and site selection for platforms and cables. Baltic Sea bathymetric properties are analysed here using the using the newly released Digital Bathymetric Model (DBM) by the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). The analyses include hypsometry, volume, descriptive depth statistics, and km-scale seafloor ruggedness, i.e. terrain heterogeneity, for the Baltic Sea as a whole as well as for 17 sub-basins defined by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM). We compare the new EMODnet DBM with IOWTOPO, the previously most widely used DBM of the Baltic Sea which has served as the primary gridded bathymetric resource in physical and environmental studies for nearly two decades. The area of deep water exchange between the Bothnian Sea and the Northern Baltic Proper across the Åland Sea is specifically analysed in terms of depths and locations of critical bathymetric sills. The EMODnet DBM provides a bathymetric sill depth of 88 m at the northern side of the Åland Sea and 60 m at the southern side, differing from previously identified sill depths of 100 and 70 m respectively. High-resolution multibeam bathymetry acquired from this deep water exchange path, where vigorous bottom currents interacted with the seafloor, allows us to assess what we are missing in presently available DBMs in terms of physical characterisation and our ability to then interpret seafloor processes and highlights the need for continued work towards complete high-resolution mapping of the Baltic Sea seafloor.

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Seabed geodiversity in a glaciated shelf area, the Baltic Sea

Cited by 33 publications

References 82 publications

Kernel Density Applied to the Quantitative Assessment of Geodiversity

Kernel Density Applied to the Quantitative Assessment of Geodiversity

Extensive Coverage of Marine Mineral Concretions Revealed in Shallow Shelf Sea Areas

Bathymetric Properties of the Baltic Sea

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