Currents and water characteristics around the West Flower Garden Bank. [West Flower Garden Bank, coral reef, Texas continental shelf]
The West Flower Garden Bank is a coral reef on the Texas Continental shelf. The corals on the bank are vulnerable to sediment contamination and to excess turbidity in the overlying water column. Concern for the environmental impact on this and other banks in the region exposed to nearby hydrocarbon production prompted the Bureau of Land Management to fund a data collection effort on the Texas/Louisiana shelf which provided the data analyzed here. Data analyzed includes profiles of velocity, temperature and salinity taken around the Bank in Oct., 1980 and March, 1981. Fixed current meter moorings and a dye experiment conducted in the bottom boundary layer provided additional input. The data reveals a very complicated flow regime around the bank, with some intensification of flow around and over the bank but no movement of water from the bottom of the surrounding shelf up onto the bank.
- Research Organization:
- Texas A and M Univ., College Station (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 7132150
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
CNIDARIA
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
CORALS
CURRENTS
DATA
ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUID FLOW
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
LOUISIANA
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
REEFS
SALINITY
SEDIMENTS
SENSITIVITY
TEXAS
USA
VELOCITY
WATER CURRENTS