Probing the Santa Barbara Basin Benthos

The Santa Barbara Basin, located between the California mainland and northern Channel Islands, exhibits a naturally occurring 120 m high barrier--a sill--on its western side that restricts water circulation between the basin and the open ocean, resulting in oxygen-depleted, or even anoxic, bottom wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oceanography (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2022-03, Vol.35 (1), p.26
Main Authors: Bernhard, Joan M, Edgcomb, Virginia P, Powers, Christopher C, Travis, Brooke, Lott, Sarah, Yousavich, David, Haiat, Karla, Raineault, Nicole, Girguis, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anoxia
Basins
Benthos
Oxygen
Protists
Sediment
Water circulation
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Summary:The Santa Barbara Basin, located between the California mainland and northern Channel Islands, exhibits a naturally occurring 120 m high barrier--a sill--on its western side that restricts water circulation between the basin and the open ocean, resulting in oxygen-depleted, or even anoxic, bottom waters. These typically low-oxygen concentrations greatly impact the local benthos so that only microbes (including protists) and a few species of small metazoans (animals) inhabit the basin's deepest parts. Where bioturbating metazoans are absent, the basin's sedimentary deposits remain layered, recording thousands of years of the basin's oceanographic and climatic history.
ISSN:1042-8275
2377-617X