In an attempt to understand the phase equilibria and petrogenesis of MORB anorthitic plagioclase, Cr-spinel commonly hosted within anorthitic plagioclase has been investigated petrographically and compositionally. Based on spinel-anorthite relationships from three samples of plagioclase ultra-phyric basalt (PUB; Southeast Indian Ridge, Axial Seamount and West Valley Segment, Juan de Fuca...
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami raised concern among marine park managers and
hazard mitigation professionals about the significant impact of major coastal hazards
on marine park natural resources and ecosystems. The main reason for this concern is
the strong linkage of marine parks and their rich assortment of ecosystem services...
Recent studies have found that equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) variability may be influencing tropical Indian Ocean climate (Kucharski 2009, Wang 2009). Due to the economic and social impact of tropical cyclones, it is important to investigate how an Atlantic-Indian Ocean connection may be affecting tropical cyclone behavior in...
In this thesis, data collected during the Dynamics of the Madden Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign, conducted in the Indian Ocean in Fall of 2011, is used to compute heat fluxes at the air-sea interface by evaluating eddy covariances and bulk aerodynamic formulae. Errors in daily average gridded fluxes computed...
Oceanic crust covers nearly 70% of the Earth's surface, of which, the upper,
sediment layer is estimated to harbor substantial microbial biomass. Marine crust;
however, extends several kilometers beyond this surficial layer, and includes the
basalt and gabbro layers. In particular, the basalt layer has high permeabilities which
allows for...
Tropical coral reef ecosystems are very important from both the ecological and economical
points of view. However, they are also particularly fragile, and have been
declining in recent years in most regions of the world, since they are highly susceptible
to anthropogenic stressors operating at global scales (e.g., global warming...
The seismicity at the northern section of the Gorda Ridge has been
studied with Ocean Bottom Seismographs. Nearly one hundred earthquakes
were located with RMS travel time residuals less than 0.5 seconds.
Most of these events lie within or near the array and they are probably
associated with the dynamics...
This investigation focuses on gaining a better understanding of the complex relationship between melt generation, source variability and mid-ocean ridge morphology. The approach adopted here uses a variety of geochemical techniques to evaluate the ability of 'global' models to predict regional scale geochemical variability associated with axial depth and axial...