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Laurentian Channel
The Laurentian Channel is a deep submarine valley off the coast of eastern Canada in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The channel is of glacial origin and is the submerged valley of the historic Saint Lawrence River, running from a sharp escarpment downstream from the confluence of the St. Lawrence with the Saguenay River, past Anticosti Island and through the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the edge of the continental shelf off the island of Newfoundland. Its depth ranges from with sub-tidal shelves on each side of the channel ranging in depths of less than . The channel ranges from a minimum width of to as much as at the Laurentian fan which is located at the edge of the continental shelf. Deep waters with temperatures between enter the Gulf at the continental slope and are slowly advected up the channel by estuariane circulation. Over the 20th century, the bottom waters of the end of the channel (i.e. in the Saint Lawrence estuary) have become hypoxic. Ecological importance Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gulf Of Saint Lawrence
The Gulf of St. Lawrence is a gulf that fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in North America. The Gulf of St. Lawrence connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River. Geography Extent The Gulf of St. Lawrence is bounded on the north by the Labrador Peninsula and Quebec, on the east by Saint-Pierre and Newfoundland, on the south by the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island, and on the west by the Gaspé Peninsula, New Brunswick, and Quebec. The Gulf of St. Lawrence contains numerous islands, including Anticosti, Prince Edward, Saint Pierre, Cape Breton, Miquelon-Langlade, and the Îles-de-la-Madeleine archipelago. Half of Canada's ten provinces adjoin the Gulf: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec. There is no consens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basking Sharks
The basking shark (''Cetorhinus maximus'') is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark. It is one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Typically, basking sharks reach in length, but large individuals have been known to grow more than long. It is usually greyish-brown, with mottled skin, with the inside of the mouth being white in colour. The caudal fin has a strong lateral keel and a crescent shape. Other common names include bone shark, elephant shark, sailfish, and sunfish. The basking shark is a cosmopolitan migratory species found in all the world's temperate oceans. A slow-moving filter feeder, its common name derives from its habit of feeding at the surface, appearing to be basking in the warmer water there. It has anatomical adaptations for filter-feeding, such as a greatly enlarged mouth and highly developed gill rakers. Its snout is conical, and the gill slits extend around the top and bott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurentian Slope Seismic Zone
The Laurentian Slope Seismic Zone is a seismically active area in Atlantic Canada located on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. It was the epicenter of the 7.2 magnitude 1929 Grand Banks earthquake The 1929 Grand Banks earthquake (also called the Laurentian Slope earthquake and the South Shore Disaster) occurred on November 18, 1929. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Rossi–Forel intensity of VI (''Strong tremor'') .... References Geology of Newfoundland and Labrador Seismic zones of Canada {{Seismology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1929 Grand Banks Earthquake
The 1929 Grand Banks earthquake (also called the Laurentian Slope earthquake and the South Shore Disaster) occurred on November 18, 1929. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Rossi–Forel intensity of VI (''Strong tremor'') and was centered in the Atlantic Ocean off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Laurentian Slope seismic zone. Earthquake The earthquake was centred on the edge of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, about south of the island. It was felt as far away as New York City and Montreal. The quake, which occurred along two faults south of the Burin Peninsula, triggered a large submarine landslide displacing (). It snapped 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and led to a tsunami that arrived in three waves. Newfoundland, Canada and Saint Pierre and Miquelon had the largest impact, both from the snapped 12 submarine cables, and the tsunami. This was Canada's largest submarine landslide ever recorded, up to 500 times the size of 1894 Sain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cabot Strait
Cabot Strait (; , ) is in Atlantic Canada between Cape Ray, Newfoundland, and Cape North, Cape Breton Island. The strait, approximately 110 kilometres wide, is the widest of the three outlets for the Gulf of Saint Lawrence into the Atlantic Ocean, the others being the Strait of Belle Isle and Strait of Canso. It is named for the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto. Geography and geology Bathymetry The strait's bathymetry is varied, with the Laurentian Channel creating a deep trench through its centre, and comparatively shallow coastal waters closer to Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. These bathymetric conditions have been known by mariners to cause rogue waves. The steep slope of the Laurentian Channel was the site of a disastrous submarine landslide at the southeastern end of the strait, triggered by the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake and leading to a tsunami that devastated communities along Newfoundland's south coast and parts of Cape Breton Island. St. Paul Islan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurentian River System
The Southern Laurentian Channel is an ancient underground river in southern Ontario, Canada. The river predates the recent ice ages. The river valley was filled with glacial debris. Water still flows down this old valley—underground. The source of the aquifer is the Georgian Bay, approximately away. In 2003 it was discovered that the southern section of the Laurentian aquifer reaches under High Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is believed to be where the Laurentian River System drains into Lake Ontario. An overflow pipe is visible running into Spring Creek in High Park and is always at a steady flow. Its current purpose is to enrich local coldwater wildlife in the creek and relieve hydrostatic pressure. The area surrounding the outlet is stained red indicating a high iron content. The water flowing from it is naturally pure and cool, at around 6-9 degrees Celsius or 42-48 degrees Fahrenheit. During the discovery of the Laurentian Channel, a well was drilled to investig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SLOSS Debate
The SLOSS debate was a debate in ecology and conservation biology during the 1970's and 1980's as to whether a single large or several small (SLOSS) reserves were a superior means of conserving biodiversity in a habitat fragmentation, fragmented habitat. Since its inception, multiple alternate theories have been proposed. There have been applications of the concept outside of the original context of habitat conservation. History In 1975, Jared Diamond suggested some "rules" for the design of protected areas, based on Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson's book ''The Theory of Island Biogeography''. One of his suggestions was that a single large reserve was preferable to several smaller reserves whose total areas were equal to the larger. Since species richness increases with habitat (ecology), habitat area, as established by the Species–area relationship, species area curve, a larger block of habitat would support more species than any of the smaller blocks. This idea was popul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oceans Act (Canada)
The ''Oceans Act'' () is a law enacted by the Parliament of Canada, and addresses Canada's self-definition of its territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, and other maritime boundaries. It additionally governs the creation of marine protected zones, the powers of the Canadian Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and houses the legislative enactment the Canadian Coast Guard. Legislative history Canada has only made formal claims to territorial waters in legislation since 1970, under the ''Territorial Sea and Fishing Zones Act,'' which the ''Oceans Act'' superseded. The 1970 Act established the Canadian adherence to measuring waters by establishing a shore baseline, and measuring outward, with specific determinations delegated to the Fisheries minister, and was superseded in 1996. In April 1996, the Act was introduced as Bill C-26 in the House of Commons by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Fred Mifflin, and was identical to another bill, C-98, introduced before a parlia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benthic Zone
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". Organisms living in this zone are called benthos and include microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and Fungus, fungi) as well as larger invertebrates, such as crustaceans and polychaetes. Organisms here, known as bottom dwellers, generally live in close relationship with the substrate and many are permanently attached to the bottom. The benthic boundary layer, which includes the bottom layer of water and the uppermost layer of sediment directly influenced by the overlying water, is an integral part of the benthic zone, as it greatly influences the biological activity that takes place there. Examples of contact soil layers include sand bottoms, rocky outcrops, coral, and bay mud. Description Oceans The benthic region of the ocean begins at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Pen
Sea pens are marine cnidarians belonging to the superfamily Pennatuloidea, which are colony-forming benthic filter feeders within the order Scleralcyonacea. There are 14 families within the order and 35 extant genera, and it is estimated as of 2011 that, of 450 described species, around 200 are valid. Sea pens have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide, from intertidal shallow waters to deep seas of more than . The earliest accepted sea pen fossils are known from the Cambrian-aged Burgess Shale ('' Thaumaptilon''). Similar fossils from the Ediacaran may show the dawn of sea pens. Precisely what these early fossils are, however, is not decided. Taxonomy The superfamily Pennatulacea consists of the following families: * Anthoptilidae * Balticinidae * Chunellidae * Echinoptilidae * Funiculinidae * Gyrophyllidae * Kophobelemnidae * Pennatulidae * Protoptilidae * Pseudumbelludlidae * Renillidae * Scleroptilidae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coral
Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral reef, reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. A coral "group" is a colony of very many cloning, genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in height. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening. Each polyp excretes an exoskeleton near the base. Over many generations, the colony thus creates a skeleton characteristic of the species which can measure up to several meters in size. Individual colonies grow by asexual reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning: polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously overnight, often around a full moon. Fertilized eggs form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
