Publication Date:
2024-02-03
Description:
With an extension of 〉 40 km**2 the recently discovered Campeche cold-water coral province located at the northeastern rim of the Campeche Bank in the southern Gulf of Mexico belongs to the largest coherent cold-water coral areas discovered so far. The Campeche province consists of numerous 20-40 m-high elongated coral mounds that are developed in intermediate water depths of 500 to 600 m. The mounds are colonized by a vivid cold-water coral ecosystem that covers the upper flanks and summits. The rich coral community is dominated by the framework-building Scleractinia Enallopsammia profunda and Lophelia pertusa, while the associated benthic megafauna shows a rather scarce occurrence. The recent environmental setting is characterized by a high surface water production caused by a local upwelling center and a dynamic bottom-water regime comprising vigorous bottom currents, obvious temporal variability, and strong density contrasts, which all together provide optimal conditions for the growth of cold-water corals. This setting - potentially supported by the diel vertical migration of zooplankton in the Campeche area - controls the delivering of food particles to the corals. The Campeche cold-water coral province is, thus, an excellent example highlighting the importance of the oceanographic setting in securing the food supply for the development of large and vivid cold-water coral ecosystems.
Keywords:
Campeche Bank; Center for Marine Environmental Sciences; CTD; CTD/Rosette; CTD-RO; CTD-yoyo; Date/Time of event; Density, sigma-theta (0); Depth, reference; DEPTH, water; Elevation of event; Event label; GeoB16303-1; GeoB16305-1; GeoB16316-1; GeoB16316-10; GeoB16316-11; GeoB16316-12; GeoB16316-13; GeoB16316-2; GeoB16316-3; GeoB16316-4; GeoB16316-5; GeoB16316-6; GeoB16316-7; GeoB16316-8; GeoB16316-9; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; Maria S. Merian; MARUM; MSM20/089-1; MSM20/091-1; MSM20/102-1; MSM20/102-10; MSM20/102-11; MSM20/102-12; MSM20/102-13; MSM20/102-2; MSM20/102-3; MSM20/102-4; MSM20/102-5; MSM20/102-6; MSM20/102-7; MSM20/102-8; MSM20/102-9; MSM20/4; Salinity; Temperature, water; WACOM; Yoyo-CTD; Yucatan Strait
Type:
Dataset
Format:
text/tab-separated-values, 34988 data points
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