cover image: A description of the habitats and special natural features within the Scotian Slope ecologically and biologically significant area in the Maritimes Region /

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A description of the habitats and special natural features within the Scotian Slope ecologically and biologically significant area in the Maritimes Region /

14 Mar 2016

The descriptions found within this report will thereby supplement the descriptions of the multiple slope EBSAs found within the offshore EBSA Science Advisory Report (DFO 2014a), and may aid in the identification of other discrete EBSAs along the slope, or in the refinement of the existing EBSAs. [...] For the purpose of this report, the “Scotian Slope” is defined as the portion of sea floor and water column (from surface to bottom) found between the edge of the Scotian Shelf (200m) and the Scotian Rise (approximately 3000m; Han 2007; DFO 2014a), including the Eastern Scotian Shelf Canyons, Northeast Channel, Laurentian Channel Slope, and Stone Fence and Laurentian Environs EBSAs (Figure 2). [...] In the east and along the slope off George’s Bank, presence of canyons induces tidal currents and vertical mixing (Bell 1975; Baines 1982, 1983), and the transportation of wave energy from the open ocean onto the shelf (Gordon and Marshall 1976). [...] Generally, the upper slope is complex and sand-filled in the east, and relatively flat and sand and gravel-filled in the west, while the lower slope consists mainly of bioturbated mud and sand transported down-slope by canyons and channels (Piper and Campbell 2002). [...] The Shelf-Edge Current (a branch of the Labrador Current) flows into the Laurentian Channel along the eastern edge and flows back out along the western wall of the channel and then southwest along the shelf edge (Figure 3; see also Brickman and Drozdowski 2012; Brickman et al.
oceans environment conservation biodiversity water natural resources atlantic ocean biology continental shelf endangered species geology physical oceanography erosion ecosystem nature reef benthic zone coral reef abyssal plain shelf bathymetry coral current deep-water coral glacial activity cold seeps continental rise cold seep
Pages
59
Published in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

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