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
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CONTINENTAL SHELF
WATER CURRENTS
CORALS
ECOLOGY
SENSITIVITY
HYDROCARBONS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUID FLOW
LOUISIANA
REEFS
SALINITY
SEDIMENTS
TEXAS
VELOCITY
CNIDARIA
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CURRENTS
DATA
FEDERAL REGION VI
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
INFORMATION
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
USA
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
520200 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)