Collecting information and identification of New England Seamount Geodia species

This dataset gives the collecting information of New England Seamount Geodia species from the Yale Peabody Museum. Museum numbers, fixation processing and Genbank accession numbers are also given.

Description and chemical composition of ferromanganese encrustations and deposits in the Atlantic Ocean from R/V Atlantis II cruises 20, 42, 60, 85; R/V Chain cruise 35; R/V Knorr cruise 61 and RRS Shackleton cruise 75/1 stations

Chemical and mineralogical compositions of ferromanganese oxide coatings on rocks dredged from the New England Seamounts, the Sierra Leone Rise and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Equator have been determined in an investigation of regional differences in Atlantic ferromanganese deposits. Most encrustations are clearly of hydrogenous origin, consisting mainly of todorokite and delta MnO2, but several recovered from the equatorial fracture zones may be hydrothermal accumulations. Differences in the chemistry of the water column and in growth rates of the ferromanganese coatings may be important in producing this regional contrast in composition. Fine-scale changes in element abundances within the encrustations indicate that the nature of the substrate has little influence on compositional variations.

Precious Corals (Coralliidae) from North-Western Atlantic Seamounts

Two new species belonging to the precious coral genus Corallium were collected during a series of exploratory cruises to the New England and Corner Rise Seamounts in 2003-2005. One red species, Corallium bathyrubrum sp. nov., and one white species, C. bayeri sp. nov., are described. Corallium bathyrubrum is the first red Corallium to be reported from the western Atlantic. An additional species, C. niobe Bayer, 1964 originally described from the Straits of Florida, was also collected and its description augmented.

Reproductive Biology of the Deep-Sea Polychaete Gorgoniapolynoe Caeciliae (Polynoidae), a Commensal Species Associated with Octocorals

Some aspects of the reproductive biology of the polychaete Gorgoniapolynoe caeciliae have been described for the first time. Gorgoniapolynoe caeciliae is a deep-sea commensal species associated with Candidella imbricala, all octocoral that populates the New England Seamount chain. Gorgoniapolynoe caeciliae is a dioccious species with an equal sex ratio and fertile segments throughout most of the adult body. The gonads of both sexes are associated with genital blood vessels emerging from the posterior surface of most intersegmental septa. In the female, oogenesis is intraovarian with oocytes being retained within the ovary until vitellogenesis is completed. The largest female examined contained over 3000 eggs with a maximum diameter of 80-90 mu m. In the male, the testes are repeated in numerous segments and consist of small clusters of spermatogonia, spermatocytes and early spermatids associated with the walls of the genital blood vessels. Early spermatids are shed into the coelom where they complete differentiation into mature ect-aquasperm with a spherical head (4 mu m), a small cap-like acrosome, and a short mid-piece with four mitochondria. Indirect evidence suggests that this species is an annual breeder that releases its gametes into seawater and produces a planktotrophic larva following fertilization. The reproductive biology of G. caeciliae is consistent with that of most other polynoids including many shallow water species suggesting that phylogenetic history strongly shapes its biology.

Observation of manganese coating and encrustation in different environments of the North-Western Atlantic ocean

The major topographic features, or provinces, beyond the continental slope off the Atlantic coast of the United States are (1) Sohm Plain, (2) Hatteras Plain, (3) Nares Plain, (4) Blake Basin, (5) Blake Plateau-Bahama Banks, and (6) Bermuda Rise. The whole of the described area is commonly referred to as the North American Basin. This basin is bounded on the north by Newfoundland Ridge and on the south by Puerto Rico Trench. Topographic features of note within the basin are the divide and the area of depressions between Sohm and Hatteras Plains, the sharply crested Blake Ridge, and the Puerto Rico Ridge. Recently accumulated data on deep-sea oores has given good evidence that the silt and sand covering the abyssal plains are displaced continental sediments in a virtually quartz-free oceanic environment. These sediments were deposited on a primary volcanic bottom. The primary or volcanic bottom is characterized by abyssal hills and seamounts, and the sediment bottom is characterized by abyssal plains, which extend seaward from the continental margins. On the Blake Plateau, bottom photographs and dredge hauls in the axis of the stream show that locally sediment has been removed and the bottom is paved with crusts and nodules of manganese. Photographs and dredged samples from the outer part of the New England Seamount, Chain and Caryn Peak also indicate extensive encrustations of manganese oxide which acts as a binding agent in areas of ooze or other organic debris and thus helps to stabilize the bottom.

Physiography of the Ampère Seamount in the Horseshoe Seamount chain off Gibraltar

The Ampère Seamount, 600 km west of Gibraltar, is one of nine inactive volcanoes along a bent chain, the so called Horseshoe Seamounts. All of them ascend from an abyssal plain of 4000 to 4800 m depth up to a few hundred meters below the sea surface, except two, which nearly reach the surface: the Ampère massif on the southern flank of the group and the summit of the Gorringe bank in the north. The horseshoe, serrated like a crown, opens towards Gibraltar and stands in the way of its outflow. These seamounts are part of the Azores-Gibraltar structure, which marks the boundary between two major tectonic plates: the Eurasian and the African plate. The submarine volcanism which formed the Horseshoe Seamounts belongs to the sea floor spread area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The maximum activity was between 17 and 10 Million years ago and terminated thereafter. The volcanoes consist of basalts and tuffs. Most of their flanks and the abyssal plain around are covered by sediments of micro-organic origin. These sediments, in particular their partial absence on the upper flanks are a circumstantial proof and a kind of diary of the initial rise and subsequent subsidence of about 6oo m of these seamounts. The horizons of erosion where the basalt substrate is laid bare indicate the rise above sea level in the past. Since the Ampère summit is 60 m deep today, this volcano must have been an island 500 m high. The stratification of the sediments covering the surrounding abyssal plain reveals discrete events of downslope suspension flows, called turbidites, separated by tens of thousands of years and perhaps induced by changes in climate conditions. The Ampère sea mount of 4800 m height and a base diameter of 50 km exceeds the size of the Mont Blanc massif. Its southern and eastern flanks are steep with basalts cropping out, in parts with nearly vertical walls of some hundred meters. The west and north sides consist of terraces and plateaus covered with sediments at 140 m, 400 m, 2000 m, and 3500 m. The Horseshoe Seamount area is also remarkable as a kind of disturbed crossing of three major oceanic flow systems at different depths and directions with forced upwelling and partial mixing of the water masses. Most prominent is the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) with its higher temperature and salinity between 900 to 1500 m depth. It enters the horseshoe unimpaired from the open eastern side but penetrates the seamount chain through its valleys on the west, thereafter diverging and crossing the entire Atlantic Ocean. Below the MOW is the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) between 2000 m to 3000 m depth flowing southward and finally there is the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) flowing northward below the two other systems.

Building communities through co-creative storytelling : sound walking in New England

The Story Project is a small, not-for-profit community media arts company based on the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It specialises in facilitating first-person storytelling. Since 2012 The Story Project has been collaborating with a small community arts organisation based in northern NSW, Uralla Arts, to record local heritage in first-person story form and to curate and present it ways that will appeal to new generations of listeners. The initial collaboration was funded by a Federal government Community Heritage program. The project successfully adapted a participatory method of life storytelling to this regional context and some 40 stories were contributed to a collection. A more ambitious suite of projects to develop soundwalks in a number of towns across the New England region has since grown from this initial collaboration. The soundwalks seek to combine local creative works in oral story, music and visual forms, and make them accessible through an application that can be downloaded to GPS-enabled mobile devices. While soundwalks are not new, the needs and challenges of creative community-building that New England soundwalks attempt to solve in this regional setting hold value for a broader range of interests than just those of the immediate project stakeholders. This paper reports on a research collaboration between The Story Project and QUT researchers that looked at The Story Project’s engagement with Uralla Arts and other New England community-based networks and organisations. It considers how this instance of story-centred, participatory media arts practice contributes to building population-wide capacity for creative expression.

Southern New England Social and Community Plan 2009 - Covering Local Government Authorities: Armidale Dumaresq, Guyra, Uralla and Walcha

The Southern New England (SNE) Social and Community Plan is a guide to collaborative, integrated planning involving the three spheres of government, the community and commercial sectors. The Plan is based on social justice principles such as: • Equity - fairness in resource distribution, particularly for those most in need • Access - fairer access for everyone to the economic resources and services essential to meeting their basic needs and improving their quality of life • Rights - recognition and promotion of civil rights • Participation - better opportunities for genuine participation and consultation about decisions affecting people's lives. The Plan is also aimed at improving the accountability of decision-makers, and should help the councils, in conjunction with their communities meet the state government's social justice commitments. Preparation of a social and community plan is required at least every five years, and as with most councils, Armidale Dumaresq Council (ADC) has produced two already, one in 1999 and one in 2004, following the amalgamation of the former Armidale City and Dumaresq Shire Councils in 2000. Those Councils formerly prepared their own Plans in 1999, based on shared consultancy work on a community profile. This is the first joint Southern New England Plan, featuring Armidale Dumaresq, Walcha, Uralla and Guyra Councils. This Social Plan has aimed to identify and address the needs of the local community by: • describing who makes up the community • summarising key priority issues • assessing the effectiveness of any previous plans • recommending strategic ways for council and other government and non-government agencies to met community needs.

New England Youth Speeding Project: A pilot study of young drivers and risky driving: Effective strategies for preventing speeding amongst young Australians aged 16-25 years in the New England Region

Young Australian drivers aged 17 – 25 years are overwhelmingly represented in road fatalities where speed is a factor. In the combined LGAs of Armidale Dumaresq, Guyra, Uralla and Walcha in the 5 years 1999-2003 inclusive, 43% of speeding related casualty crashes involved a young driver aged less than 25 years. This is despite the fact that the 17-25 age group account for only 25% of the driving population in this area. Young male drivers account for the majority of these crashes and also tend to have a higher number of driving offences and accrue more penalties for road traffic offences, especially speeding. By analysing data from questionnaires by male and female participants this research project has been able to evaluate road safety advertisements to determine which ones are most effective to young drivers, what features of these advertisements are effective, how males differ from females in their receptiveness and preferences for road safety advertisements and specifically how to target young people especially young men in conveying road safety messages. Finally this research project has identified factors that are important in the production of media road safety advertisements and has made recommendations for how best to convey effective road safety messages to young Australian drivers in rural areas.