Evidence of pleistocene events in the structure of the continental shelf off the northeastern United States

Knott, S. T.; Hoskins, Hartley

doi:10.1016/0025-3227(68)90007-8

Cited by 79 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Rock headlands and high-energy beaches predominate north of Cape Cod and through Atlantic Canada (the Bay of Fundy and southern Gulf of St. Lawrence are notable exceptions) with muddy bays common in between headlands. The geographic distribution of rock was especially important during the last glacial maximum, when on the American coast, the shores north of Cape Cod and perhaps north of New York were covered by ice (Paul and SchaeferNeth 2003), resulting in a nearly complete loss of habitat for the rocky shore biota (Knott and Hoskins 1968, Ingo´lfsson 1992, Wares and Cunningham 2001. By contrast, in Europe, the ice covered most of the British Isles and France, but rocky areas in Iberia remained as available habitat.…”

Section: Geomorphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Ecology of North Atlantic Shores: Do Differences in Players Matter for Process?

Jenkins

Moore

Burrows

et al. 2008

Ecology

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Abstract. The contrasting histories of the western and eastern shores of the North Atlantic Ocean provide an excellent opportunity to consider the implications of past events for present ecological processes and the functioning of marine ecosystems. Similarities and differences in assemblage composition have been driven by large-scale events, such as the trans-Arctic interchange, which has shaped the species pool, and cycles of glaciation, which have determined phases of local or regional extinction and colonization. More recently, anthropogenically induced invasions and local extinctions have significantly altered biogeographic distributions. Here we consider for both hard and soft substrata how the presence or absence of key taxa influences the outcomes of trophic and other biological interactions, and evaluate the consequences for community structure and ecosystem functioning. On intertidal hard substratum shores, biodiversity of epilithic microphagous grazers differs across latitudinal and longitudinal scales. Diversity is high in southern Europe but declines to the north and across the Atlantic. Lower diversity and the absence of patellid limpets in Iceland and the northwest Atlantic compared to Europe result in differences in consumer pressure, and an apparent contrast in the importance of herbivory vs. competitive interactions and predation pressure as community structuring processes. Interestingly, despite differences in ''process,'' community patterns are remarkably similar between the east and west. On soft sediment shores, there are conspicuous geographic differences in importance of bioturbators and large digging predators. Hemichordates can be abundant and important infaunal bioturbators in the western Atlantic, but they generally play a much reduced role in the eastern Atlantic. In addition, the number and diversity of digging predators on western Atlantic shores is high; the horseshoe crab, swimming portunid crabs, large whelks, excavating waterfowl, and an abundance of skates and rays exert intense predation pressure and associated biogenic disturbance to sediments. In Europe, except for excavating waterfowl these taxa are rare or absent. Thus, the importance of large, biological agents of disturbance is lower on European shores as a consequence of both recent anthropogenic pressure and natural processes over larger time scales. Consideration of key structuring taxa over the Atlantic shows that human-mediated transport has had considerable influence. Faunas on both sides of the Atlantic are becoming more similar to the point that some of the key differences in assemblage composition and hence community organization have blurred. Recent introductions as well as planned experimental manipulations provide the opportunity to understand the role of species identity in determining community structure and ecosystem functioning over large spatial scales; the North Atlantic may be an ideal test system to explore these areas.

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Section: Geomorphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Ecology of North Atlantic Shores: Do Differences in Players Matter for Process?

Jenkins

Moore

Burrows

et al. 2008

Ecology

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“…' b Knott and Hoskins (1968) have noted what may be hYo sets of moraines still farther out on the shelf, 40-60 km south of Martha's Vineyard; they are subparallel to the moraines on the island. The moraines (?)…”

Section: Limits Of Glaciation and Methods Of Gravel Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hoskins (1967) finds a thickening of the sediment prism on the continental rise "·here Hydrographer Canyon enters it. Across the southern part of Great South Channel, a profile taken by Knott and Hoskins (1968) shmYs the remnant of a broad older channel (filled by foreset beds) incised by a nnlTO''" equally deep channel now also filled. The later c hannelmay ha Ye been carved by the last outflow of melt ,Yater and sediment ''"hen sen leYel was out at the shelf edge.…”

Section: Limits Of Glaciation and Methods Of Gravel Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All these holes, except for the first Texas Tower site, are in shoals where concentration of coarse-grained sediment through reworking would be likely. Seismic profiles across the shelf ( J{nott and Hoskins, 1968 ;McMaster and others, 1968) show a fairly uniform covering, as much as a few meters thick, of the most recent sediment mantling buried channels, deltas, drift, glacial moraines, and older strata of probable Tertiary and Cretaceous age. The lack of drill-hole data doe3 not permit specific reflectors on the profiles to be identified and correlated.…”

Section: Sandmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Atlantic Continental Shelf and Slope of the United States - Gravels of the northeastern part

Schlee¹,

Pratt²

1970

Professional Paper

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“…The minimum extent of Pleistocene glaciers is marked by terminal or recessional moraines on Long Island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, but glaciers may have reached nearly to the shelf edge south of Martha's Vineyard and Block Island (Emery and Uchupi, 1972). On Georges Bank at least five erosional surfaces are recognized in the upper 100 meters of sediment (Knott and Hoskins, 1968). material Milliman and others, 1972).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary processes on the continental slope off New England

MacIlvaine¹

1973

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Evidence of pleistocene events in the structure of the continental shelf off the northeastern United States

Cited by 79 publications

References 13 publications

Comparative Ecology of North Atlantic Shores: Do Differences in Players Matter for Process?

Comparative Ecology of North Atlantic Shores: Do Differences in Players Matter for Process?

Atlantic Continental Shelf and Slope of the United States - Gravels of the northeastern part

Sedimentary processes on the continental slope off New England

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