1.
Dry Tortugas
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Still further west is the Tortugas Bank, which is submerged. The first Europeans to discover the islands were the Spanish in 1513 and they are an unincorporated area of Monroe County, Florida, and belong to the Lower Keys Census County Division. With their surrounding waters, they constitute the Dry Tortugas National Park, the keys are low and irregular. Some keys have thin growths of mangroves and various other vegetation, in general, they rise abruptly from relatively deep water. They are continually changing in size and shape, the Tortugas Atoll has had up to 11 islets during the past two centuries. Some of the islands have disappeared and reappeared multiple times as a result of hurricane impact. The total area of the islets, some of which are more than sand bars just above the water mark, is about 580,000 square meters. Their area changes over time as wind and waves reshape them, there are seven islets, which are from West to East,1 lb Loggerhead Key,250 by 1,200 m in size, with an area of 260,000 m2 is the largest. This island has the highest elevation in the Dry Tortugas, at 10 feet, the Dry Tortugas lighthouse,46 m 46 meters high, is on this island. Garden Key, with Fort Jefferson and the inactive Garden Key lighthouse and it is 4 km east of Loggerhead Key. Garden Key is the second largest island in the chain, at 400 by 500 m in size, the original size, before construction of Fort Jefferson, has been estimated at 30,350 to 35,610 m2. Bush Key, formerly named Hog Island because of the hogs that were raised there to provide meat for the prisoners at Fort Jefferson. At times, Bush Key is connected to Garden Key by a sand bar, the island is the third largest,150 by 900 m, area 120,000 m2, less than 1 m high. Bush Key is the site of a large tern rookery and it is closed to visitors from April to September to protect nesting sooty terns and brown noddys. Long Key,59 m south of the end of Bush Key,50 by 200 m in size. Hospital Key, so called because a hospital for the inmates of Fort Jefferson had been there in the 1870s. The island was formerly called Middle Key or Sand Key and it lies 2.5 km northeast of Garden Key and Bush Key,70 m, area 4,000 m2, and is 1 m high at its highest point. The Key was the site of numerous Union solders graves during the Civil War, iowa Rock, halfway between Garden Key and Hospital Key, is another site of a navigational light built in shallow water
2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
3.
Monroe County, Florida
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Monroe County is a county located in the state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 73,090 and its county seat is Key West. Monroe County includes the islands of the Florida Keys, only 24 people live on the mainland. Monroe County comprises the Key West, FL Micropolitan Statistical Area, although 87% of the countys land area is on the mainland, that region is part of the Everglades and is virtually uninhabited. Over 99% of the population lives on the Florida Keys. Monroe County was created in 1823 and it was named for James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, who served from 1817 to 1825. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 3,738 square miles. It is the largest county in Florida by total area, more than 99 percent of the Monroe County population lives in the island chain known as the Florida Keys. The area, officially named Cape Sable Census County Division, is virtually uninhabited, as of the Census of 2000, this area had 86.9 percent of the countys land area, but only 0.075 percent of its population. The Census Bureau defines this area as Census Tract 9701 of Monroe County, the only three populated places appearing on detailed maps and in the USGS geographic name database are Flamingo, Pinecrest, and Trail City. Flamingo, located on the south coast and at the end of State Road 9336, is the location of the Flamingo Lodge,11 km northeast on the highway is the West Lake Trail. Pinecrest, located in the interior of the county on Loop Road. Trail City is 6 km west of Pinecrest on Loop Road, Loop Road can be found on most maps as CR94, although the roadway no longer has a numbered designation and is now managed by the National Park Service. Between the south coast of Floridas mainland and the Florida Keys is Florida Bay, which is encompassed by the Everglades National Park and contains numerous islets or keys. Collier County – north Miami-Dade County – east and north As of the census of 2000, there were 79,589 people,35,086 households, the population density was 80 people per square mile. There were 51,617 housing units at a density of 52 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 90. 65% White,4. 77% Black or African American,0. 38% Native American,0. 83% Asian,0. 04% Pacific Islander,1. 55% from other races, and 1. 78% from two or more races. 15. 77% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race, in 2005 Monroe County had a population that was 75. 1% non-Hispanic white,17. 7% Latino,5. 4% African-American and 1. 1% Asian
4.
Key West, Florida
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Key West is an island city in Florida and the county seat of Monroe County. The city boundaries include the island of Key West and several islands, as well as the section of Stock Island north of U. S. Route 1. Sigsbee Park—originally known as Dredgers Key—and Fleming Key, both located to the north, and Sunset Key located to the west are all included in the city boundaries, both Fleming Key and Sigsbee Park are part of Naval Air Station Key West and are inaccessible to the general public. Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States and the terminus of U. S. Route 1, State Road A1A, the East Coast Greenway and, before 1935. Key West is 129 miles southwest of Miami by air, about 160 miles by car, Cuba, at its closest point, is 94 miles south. Key West is a destination for many passenger cruise ships. The Key West International Airport provides airline service, the central business district is located along Duval Street and includes much of the northwestern corner of the island. The official city motto is One Human Family, in Pre-Colonial times Key West was inhabited by the Calusa people. The first European to visit was Juan Ponce de León in 1521, as Florida became a Spanish territory, a fishing and salvage village with a small garrison was established here. Cayo Hueso is the original Spanish name for the island of Key West, spanish-speaking people today also use the term when referring to Key West. It is said that the island was littered with the remains of native inhabitants. This island was the westernmost Key with a supply of water. In 1763, when Great Britain took control of Florida, the community of Spaniards, Florida returned to Spanish control 20 years later, but there was no official resettlement of the island. Informally the island was used by fishermen from Cuba and from the British, while claimed by Spain, no nation exercised de facto control over the community there for some time. In 1815, the Spanish governor of Cuba in Havana deeded the island of Key West to Juan Pablo Salas, businessman John W. Simonton, during a meeting in a Havana café on January 19,1822, for the equivalent of $2,000 in pesos in 1821. Geddes tried in vain to secure his rights to the property before Simonton who, Simonton had wide-ranging business interests in Mobile, Alabama. He bought the island because a friend, John Whitehead, had drawn his attention to the opportunities presented by the strategic location. John Whitehead had been stranded in Key West after a shipwreck in 1819, on March 25,1822, Lt. Commander, Matthew C
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
7.
National park
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A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
8.
Gulf of Mexico
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The Gulf of Mexico is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The U. S. states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas border the Gulf on the north, Atlantic and Pacific coasts, or sometimes the south coast, in juxtaposition to the Great Lakes region being the north coast. One of the seven main areas is the Gulf of Mexico basin. The Gulf of Mexico formed approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics, the Gulfs basin is roughly oval and is approximately 810 nautical miles wide and floored by sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U. S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba, with the narrow connection to the Atlantic, the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges. The size of the Gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km2, almost half of the basin is shallow continental shelf waters. The basin contains a volume of roughly 2,500 quadrillion liters, the consensus among geologists who have studied the geology of the Gulf of Mexico, is that prior to the Late Triassic, the Gulf of Mexico did not exist. It was created by the collision of plates that formed Pangea. As interpreted by Roy Van Arsdale and Randel T. Cox, geologists and other Earth scientists agree in general that the present Gulf of Mexico basin originated in Late Triassic time as the result of rifting within Pangea. The rifting was associated with zones of weakness within Pangea, including sutures where the Laurentia, South American, first, there was a Late Triassic-Early Jurassic phase of rifting during which rift valleys formed and filled with continental red beds. Second, as rifting progressed through Early and Middle Jurassic time and it was at this time that tectonics first created a connection to the Pacific Ocean across central Mexico and later eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. This flooded the basin created by rifting and crustal thinning to create the Gulf of Mexico. While the Gulf of Mexico was a basin, the subsiding transitional crust was blanketed by the widespread deposition of Louann Salt. Initially, during the Late Jurassic, continued rifting widened the Gulf of Mexico and progressed to the point that sea-floor spreading, at this point, sufficient circulation with the Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased. During the Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous, the occupied by the Gulf of Mexico experienced a period of cooling. The subsidence was the result of a combination of stretching, cooling. Initially, the combination of stretching and cooling caused about 5–7 km of tectonic subsidence of the central thin transitional
9.
Fort Jefferson (Florida)
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Fort Jefferson is a massive but unfinished coastal fortress. It is the largest brick structure in the Americas, and is composed of over 16 million bricks. Among United States forts, only Fort Monroe in Virginia and Fort Adams in Rhode Island are larger, the fort is located on Garden Key in the lower Florida Keys within the Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70 miles west of the island of Key West. The Dry Tortugas are part of Monroe County, Florida, United States, in late December 1824 and early January 1825, about five years after Spain sold Florida to the United States for $5 million, U. S. Navy Commodore David Porter inspected the Dry Tortugas islands. He was on the lookout for a site for a station that would help suppress piracy in the Caribbean. Unimpressed with what he saw, he notified the Secretary of the Navy that the Dry Tortugas were unfit for any kind of naval establishment. A small island called Bush Key, later called Garden Key, was selected as the site for the lighthouse, construction began in 1825 and was completed in 1826. The 65-foot lighthouse was constructed of brick with a whitewashed exterior, a small white cottage for the lighthouse keeper was constructed beside the lighthouse. In 1829, under recommendations from Commodore John Rodgers, the USS Florida stopped at the Dry Tortugas to evaluate the anchorage, contrary to Commodore Porters experience, Josiah Tattnall was delighted with what he found. The Dry Tortugas, he reported, consisted of 11 small keys and surrounding reefs and banks, there was an outer and an inner harbor. The former afforded a safe anchorage at all seasons, and was enough to let a large number of ships ride at anchor. Of more importance, the inner harbor combined a sufficient depth of water for ships-of-the-line, Tattnall noted that if a hostile power should occupy the Dry Tortugas, United States shipping in the Gulf would be in deadly peril, and nothing but absolute naval superiority could prevail. However, if occupied and fortified by the U. S. the Dry Tortugas would constitute the advance post for a defense of the Gulf Coast. John G. Barnard then made a reconnaissance in Nov.1844 and on 17 Sept.1845. Construction of Fort Jefferson was finally begun on Garden Key in Dec.1846, under the supervision of 2nd Lt. Horatio Wright, after plans drawn up by Lt. Montgomery C. Meigs were approved in Nov. Meigs plans were based on a design by Joseph Totten Chief of Engineers Totten eventually visited the fort in 1855, accompanying Louis Agassiz. The new fort would be built so that the existing Garden Key lighthouse, the original brick lighthouse tower was taken down in 1877. The design called for a two-tiered casemates in a six-sided outline, corner bastions, which are large projections designed to allow defensive fire along the faces of the walls they joined, contained gunrooms, gunpowder magazines and a granite Spiral staircase
10.
Florida Keys
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The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost portion of the continental United States. The islands lie along the Florida Straits, dividing the Atlantic Ocean to the east from the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, at the nearest point, the southern part of Key West is just 90 miles from Cuba. The Florida Keys are between about 23.5 and 25.5 degrees North latitude, the climate of the Keys is defined as tropical savanna according to Köppen climate classification. More than 95 percent of the area lies in Monroe County. The total land area is 137.3 square miles, the US Census population estimate for 2014 is 77,136. The city of Key West is the county seat of Monroe County, the county consists of a section on the mainland which is almost entirely in Everglades National Park, and the Keys islands from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas. The Keys were originally inhabited by Calusa and Tequesta Native Americans, de León named the islands Los Martires, as they looked like suffering men from a distance. Key is derived from the Spanish word cayo, meaning small island, for many years, Key West was the largest town in Florida, and it grew prosperous on wrecking revenues. The isolated outpost was located for trade with Cuba and the Bahamas. Improved navigation led to shipwrecks, and Key West went into a decline in the late nineteenth century. The Keys were long accessible only by water and this changed with the completion of Henry Flaglers Overseas Railway in the early 1910s. Flagler, a developer of Floridas Atlantic coast, extended his Florida East Coast Railway down to Key West with an ambitious series of over-sea railroad trestles. Three hurricanes disrupted the project in 1906,1909, and 1910, one of the worst hurricanes to strike the U. S. made landfall near Islamorada in the Upper Keys on Labor Day, Monday, September 2. Winds were estimated to have gusted to 200 mph, raising a storm more than 17.5 feet above sea level that washed over the islands. More than 400 people were killed, though some place the number of deaths at more than 600. The Labor Day Hurricane is one of three hurricanes to make landfall at Category 5 strength on the U. S. coast since reliable weather records began. The other storms were Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Andrew, in 1935, new bridges were under construction to connect a highway through the entire Keys. Hundreds of World War I veterans working on the roadway as part of a government relief program were housed in non-reinforced buildings in three camps in the Upper Keys
11.
Marine biology
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Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the sea. Marine biology differs from marine ecology as marine ecology is focused on how organisms interact with each other, a large proportion of all life on Earth lives in the ocean. The exact size of this proportion is unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-dimensional world covering approximately 71% of the Earths surface, the organisms studied range from microscopic phytoplankton and zooplankton to huge cetaceans 30 meters in length. Marine life is a vast resource, providing food, medicine, at a fundamental level, marine life helps determine the very nature of our planet. Marine organisms contribute significantly to the cycle, and are involved in the regulation of the Earths climate. Shorelines are in part shaped and protected by marine life, many species are economically important to humans, including both finfish and shellfish. It is also becoming understood that the well-being of marine organisms, the human body of knowledge regarding the relationship between life in the sea and important cycles is rapidly growing, with new discoveries being made nearly every day. These cycles include those of matter and of air, large areas beneath the ocean surface still remain effectively unexplored. The study of marine biology dates back to Aristotle, who made observations of life in the sea around Lesbos. In 1768, Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin published the Historia Fucorum, the first work dedicated to marine algae and it included elaborate illustrations of seaweed and marine algae on folded leaves. The British naturalist Edward Forbes is generally regarded as the founder of the science of marine biology, the pace of oceanographic and marine biology studies quickly accelerated during the course of the 19th century. The observations made in the first studies of marine biology fueled the age of discovery, during this time, a vast amount of knowledge was gained about the life that exists in the oceans of the world. Many voyages contributed significantly to this pool of knowledge, among the most significant were the voyages of the HMS Beagle where Charles Darwin came up with his theories of evolution and on the formation of coral reefs. The creation of laboratories was important because it allowed marine biologists to conduct research. The oldest marine laboratory in the world, Station biologique de Roscoff, was established in France in 1872, in the United States, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography dates back to 1903, while the prominent Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute was founded in 1930. As inhabitants of the largest environment on Earth, microbial marine systems drive changes in every global system, microbes are responsible for virtually all the photosynthesis that occurs in the ocean, as well as the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients and trace elements. Microscopic life undersea is incredibly diverse and still poorly understood, for example, the role of viruses in marine ecosystems is barely being explored even in the beginning of the 21st century
12.
Coral reef
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Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups, the polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support, most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated waters. Often called rainforests of the sea, shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, paradoxically, coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at depths in tropical waters. Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection, the annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between US$29. 8-375 billion. However, coral reefs are fragile ecosystems, partly because they are sensitive to water temperature. Most of the coral reefs we can see today were formed after the last glacial period when melting ice caused the sea level to rise and this means that most modern coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As communities established themselves on the shelves, the reefs grew upwards, Reefs that rose too slowly could become drowned reefs. They are covered by so much water there was insufficient light. Coral reefs are found in the sea away from continental shelves, around oceanic islands. The vast majority of islands are volcanic in origin. The few exceptions have tectonic origins where plate movements have lifted the deep ocean floor on the surface. In 1842 in his first monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Charles Darwin set out his theory of the formation of atoll reefs and he theorized uplift and subsidence of the Earths crust under the oceans formed the atolls. Darwin’s theory sets out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation and it starts with a fringing reef forming around an extinct volcanic island as the island and ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the reef becomes a barrier reef. Darwin predicted that underneath each lagoon would be a bed rock base, where the level of the underlying earth allows, the corals grow around the coast to form what he called fringing reefs, and can eventually grow out from the shore to become a barrier reef
13.
Shipwreck
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A shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, which are found either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be deliberate or accidental, UNESCO estimates that worldwide over 3 million shipwrecks, some thousands of years old, lie on seabeds. Military wrecks, caused by a skirmish at sea, are studied to find details about the historic event, they reveal much about the battle that occurred. Discoveries of treasure ships, often from the period of European colonisation, some contemporary wrecks, such as the oil tankers Prestige or Erika, are of interest primarily because of their potential harm to the environment. Other contemporary wrecks are scuttled in order to spur growth, such as Adolphus Busch. Well known shipwrecks include the catastrophic Titanic, Britannic, Lusitania, Estonia, Empress of Ireland, Andrea Doria, there are also thousands of wrecks that were not lost at sea but have been abandoned or sunk. These abandoned, or derelict ships are smaller craft, such as fishing vessels. They may pose a hazard to navigation and may be removed by port authorities, poor design, improperly stowed cargo, navigation and other human errors leading to collisions, bad weather, fire, and other causes can lead to accidental sinkings. Intentional reasons for sinking a ship include forming a reef, due to warfare, piracy, mutiny or sabotage, as part of target practice. A ship can be used as breakwater structure. The stratification not only creates another challenge for marine archaeology but also a challenge to its primary state, stratification includes several different types of sand and/or silt, as well as tumulus and encrustations. These sediments are tightly linked to the type of currents, depth, and the type of water, besides this geological phenomenon, wrecks also face the damage of marine creatures that create a home out of them, primarily being octopuses and crustaceans. All the above offers great challenges to the marine archaeologist when attempting to bind the pieces of a certain shipwreck together, despite these challenges, if the information retrieved does not appear to be sufficient, or a poor preservation is achieved, authors like J. A. Parker claim that it is the value of the shipwreck that counts. Often the only parts of ships that remain after a century are those that were buried in silt or sand soon after the sinking. An example of this is the Mary Rose, steel and iron, depending on their thickness, may retain the ships structure for decades. As corrosion takes place, sometimes helped by tides and weather, thick ferrous objects such as cannons, steam boilers or the pressure vessel of a submarine often survive well underwater in spite of corrosion. Propellers, condensers, hinges and port holes were made from non-ferrous metals such as brass and phosphor bronze
14.
Fortification
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Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
15.
Masonry
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Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar, the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of construction are brick, building stone such as marble, granite, travertine, and limestone, cast stone, concrete block, glass block. Masonry is generally a durable form of construction. However, the used, the quality of the mortar and workmanship. A person who constructs masonry is called a mason or bricklayer, Masonry is commonly used for walls and buildings. Brick and concrete block are the most common types of masonry in use in industrialized nations, Concrete blocks, especially those with hollow cores, offer various possibilities in masonry construction. They generally provide great strength, and are best suited to structures with light transverse loading when the cores remain unfilled. Filling some or all of the cores with concrete or concrete with steel reinforcement offers much greater tensile, the use of material such as bricks and stones can increase the thermal mass of a building and can protect the building from fire. Masonry walls are resistant to projectiles, such as debris from hurricanes or tornadoes. Extreme weather, under circumstances, can cause degradation of masonry due to expansion. Masonry tends to be heavy and must be built upon a foundation, such as reinforced concrete. Other than concrete, masonry construction does not lend well to mechanization. Masonry consists of components and has a low tolerance to oscillation as compared to other materials such as reinforced concrete, plastics, wood. Masonry has high compressive strength under vertical loads but has low tensile strength unless reinforced, the tensile strength of masonry walls can be increased by thickening the wall, or by building masonry piers at intervals. Where practical, steel reinforcements such as windposts can be added, a masonry veneer wall consists of masonry units, usually clay-based bricks, installed on one or both sides of a structurally independent wall usually constructed of wood or masonry. In this context the brick masonry is primarily decorative, not structural, the brick veneer is generally connected to the structural wall by brick ties. There is typically an air gap between the veneer and the structural wall. Concrete blocks, real and cultured stones, and veneer adobe are sometimes used in a very similar veneer fashion
16.
Fort Monroe
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Fort Monroe is a decommissioned military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula. Surrounded by a moat, the star fort is the largest stone fort ever built in the United States. During the initial exploration by the mission headed by Captain Christopher Newport in the earliest days of the Colony of Virginia, beginning by 1609, defensive fortifications were built at Old Point Comfort during Virginias first two centuries. The first was a wooden stockade named Fort Algernourne, however, the much more substantial facility of stone to become known as Fort Monroe were completed in 1834. The principal facility was named in honor of U. S. President James Monroe, throughout the American Civil War, although most of Virginia became part of the Confederate States of America, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands. It became notable as a historic and symbolic site of early freedom for former slaves under the provisions of contraband policies, for two years thereafter, the former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, was imprisoned at the fort. His first months of confinement were spent in a cell of the fort walls that is now part of its Casemate Museum. In the 20th century, it housed the Coast Artillery School and later the United States Army Training, Fort Monroe was decommissioned on September 15,2011, and many of its functions were transferred to nearby Fort Eustis. Several re-use plans for Fort Monroe are under development in the Hampton community, on November 1,2011, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation to designate portions of Fort Monroe as a National Monument. This was the first time that President Obama exercised his authority under the Antiquities Act and it has a 332-slip marina and shallow water inlet access to Mill Creek, suitable for small watercraft. The land area where Fort Monroe is became part of Elizabeth Cittie in 1619, Elizabeth River Shire in 1634, on their initial exploration, they recognized the strategic importance of the site at Old Point Comfort for purposes of coastal defense. They initially built Fort Algernourne at the location of the present Fort Monroe and it is assumed to have been a triangular stockade, based on the fort at Jamestown. Other small forts known as Fort Henry and Fort Charles were built nearby in 1610, in the latter part of August 1619, a Dutch ship, the White Lion, appeared off the coast of Old Point Comfort. Its cargo included more than 30 Africans captured from the slave ship Sao Joao Bautista, traded for work and supplies from the English, they were the first Africans to come ashore on British-occupied land in what would become the United States. Although the Bantu Africans from Angola were considered indentured servants, their arrival is considered to mark the beginning of slavery in America, another fort, known only as the fort at Old Point Comfort was constructed in 1632. In 1728, Fort George was built on the site and its masonry walls were destroyed by a hurricane in 1749, but the wood buildings in the fort were used by a reduced force until at least 1775. In 1781, during the Siege of Yorktown, the French West Indian fleet established a battery on the ruins of Fort George, throughout the Colonial period, fortifications were manned at the location from time to time. Following the War of 1812, the United States realized the need to protect Hampton Roads, in March 1819, President James Monroe came up with a plan of building a network of coastal defenses
17.
Fort Adams
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Its first commander was Captain John Henry, who was later instrumental in starting the War of 1812. The current Fort Adams was built 1824–1857 under the Third System of coastal forts, today, the fort is part of Fort Adams State Park. The first Fort Adams was designed by Major Louis de Tousard of the Army Corps of Engineers as part of the first system of US fortifications. After some additions in 1809, this fort mounted 17 cannon and was garrisoned during the War of 1812 by Woods State Corps of Rhode Island militiamen. The Secretary of Wars report for December 1811 describes the fort as a star fort of masonry, with an irregular indented work of masonry adjoining it. The barracks are of wood and bricks, for one company, after the War of 1812, there was a thorough review of the nations fortification needs and it was decided to replace the older Fort Adams with a newer and much larger fort. This was part of what became known as the system of US fortifications. The new fort was designed by Brigadier General Simon Bernard, a Frenchman who had served as an engineer under Napoleon. Bernard designed the new Fort Adams in the style and it became the most complex fortification in the Western Hemisphere. It included a tenaille and crownwork, an outer work on the southern side, designed to break up. In the US, it is rivaled in size only by Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, construction of the new fort began in 1824 and continued at irregular intervals until 1857. From 1825 to 1838 construction was overseen by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Gilbert Totten, in 1838 Totten became Chief of Engineers and served until his death in 1864. The new Fort Adams was first garrisoned in August 1841, functioning as an active Army post until 1950, during this time the fort was active in five major wars but never fired a shot in anger. At the start of the Mexican–American War the post was commanded by Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, the forts redoubt, about 1/4 mile south of the main fort, was built during this war. From 1848 to 1853, Fort Adams was commanded by Colonel William Gates, a long serving veteran of both the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. The forts garrison was ordered to California and many of the soldiers lost their lives when the steamer SS San Francisco was wrecked, in a report of 1854 Fort Adams was armed with 100 32-pounder seacoast guns,57 24-pounder seacoast guns, and 43 24-pounder flank howitzers. The flank howitzers were short-barreled guns deployed in casemates in the tenaille to protect the fort against a landward assault, in September 1861, the academy moved to the Atlantic House Hotel in Newport and remained there for the rest of the war. Among the midshipmen assigned to the Naval Academy while it was at Fort Adams was Robley D, in 1862 Fort Adams became the headquarters and recruit depot for the 15th Infantry Regiment
18.
Seaplane
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A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can take off and land on airfields are in a subclass called amphibious aircraft. Their use gradually tailed off after World War II, partially because of the investments in airports during the war, the word seaplane is used to describe two types of air/water vehicles, the floatplane and the flying boat. A floatplane has slender pontoons, or floats, mounted under the fuselage, two floats are common, but other configurations are possible. Only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, some small land aircraft can be modified to become float planes, and in general, floatplanes are small aircraft. Floatplanes are limited by their inability to handle wave heights typically greater than 12 inches and these floats add to the empty weight of the airplane and to the drag coefficient, resulting in reduced payload capacity, slower rate of climb, and slower cruise speed. Most flying boats have small floats mounted on their wings to keep them stable, not all small seaplanes have been floatplanes, but most large seaplanes have been flying boats, with their great weight supported by their hulls. The term seaplane is used by some instead of floatplane and this is the standard British usage. This article treats both flying boats and floatplanes as types of seaplane, in the US fashion, an amphibious aircraft can take off and land both on conventional runways and water. A true seaplane can only take off and land on water, there are amphibious flying boats and amphibious floatplanes, as well as some hybrid designs, e. g. floatplanes with retractable floats. Modern production seaplanes are typically light aircraft, amphibious, and of a floatplane design, on 6 June 1905, Gabriel Voisin took off and landed on the River Seine with a towed kite glider on floats. The first of his flights was 150 yards. He later built a powered floatplane in partnership with Louis Blériot, other pioneers also attempted to attach floats to aircraft in Britain, Australia, France and the United States. On 28 March 1910, Frenchman Henri Fabre flew the first successful powered seaplane, the Gnome Omega-powered hydravion, fabres first successful take off and landing by a powered seaplane inspired other aviators, and he designed floats for several other flyers. The first hydro-aeroplane competition was held in Monaco in March 1912, featuring aircraft using floats from Fabre, Curtiss, Tellier and this led to the first scheduled seaplane passenger services, at Aix-les-Bains, using a five-seat Sanchez-Besa from 1 August 1912. The French Navy ordered its first floatplane in 1912, in 1911−12, François Denhaut constructed the first seaplane with a fuselage forming a hull, using various designs to give hydrodynamic lift at take-off. Its first successful flight was on 13 April 1912, throughout 1910 and 1911, American pioneering aviator Glenn Curtiss developed his floatplane into the successful Curtiss Model D land-plane, which used a larger central float and sponsons. Combining floats with wheels, he made the first amphibian flights in February 1911 and was awarded the first Collier Trophy for US flight achievement, from 1912, his experiments with a hulled seaplane resulted in the 1913 Model E and Model F, which he called flying-boats
19.
Snorkeling
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Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn, use of this equipment allows the snorkeler to observe underwater attractions for extended periods with relatively little effort and to breathe while face-down at the surface. Snorkeling is a recreational activity, particularly at tropical resort locations. The primary appeal is the opportunity to observe life in a natural setting without the complicated equipment. It appeals to all ages because of how little there is. It is the basis of the two disciplines of the underwater sport of finswimming. Snorkeling is mentioned by Aristotle in his Parts of Animals and he refers to divers using instruments for respiration resembling the elephants trunk. The snorkel may be an item or may be integrated with a full-face snorkelling mask. The integrated system is suitable for surface snorkelling, but the separate snorkel may also be used for free-diving. It is used for breathing air from above the surface when the wearers mouth and nose are submerged. The snorkel may have a piece of rubber or a clip that attaches the snorkel to the outside of the strap of the diving mask. An alternative technique is fitting the snorkel between the mask-strap and the head, but this practice may increase the chance that the mask leaks, the optimum design length of the snorkel tube is at most 40 centimeters. A longer tube would not allow breathing when snorkelling deeper, since it would place the lungs in deeper water where the water pressure is higher. The lungs would then be unable to inflate when the snorkeler inhales, the pressure difference across the tissues in the lungs, between the blood capillaries and air spaces would increase the risk of pulmonary edema. The greater the volume of the tube, and the smaller the tidal volume of breathing, a smaller diameter tube reduces the dead volume, but also increases resistance to airflow and so increases the work of breathing. Occasional exhalation through the nose while snorkeling will slightly reduce the buildup of carbon dioxide, the simplest type of snorkel is a plain tube that is allowed to flood when underwater. The displacement method expels water by filling the snorkel with air, it is a technique that takes practice but clears the snorkel with less effort, clearing splash water while at the surface requires blast clearing. Some snorkels have a sump at the lowest point to allow a volume of water to remain in the snorkel without being inhaled when the snorkeler breathes
20.
Birdwatching
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Birdwatching, or birding, is a form of wildlife observation in which the observation of birds is a recreational activity. It can be done with the eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, by listening for bird sounds. Birdwatching often involves a significant auditory component, as bird species are more easily detected and identified by ear than by eye. Most birdwatchers pursue this activity for recreational or social reasons, unlike ornithologists, the first recorded use of the term birdwatcher was in 1891, bird was introduced as a verb in 1918. The term birding was also used for the practice of fowling or hunting with firearms as in Shakespeares The Merry Wives of Windsor and her husband goes this morning a-birding. The terms birding and birdwatching are today used by some interchangeably, although some participants prefer birding, in North America, many birders differentiate themselves from birdwatchers, and the term birder is unfamiliar to most lay people. At the most basic level, the distinction is perceived as one of dedication or intensity, generally, self-described birders perceive themselves to be more versed in minutiae like identification, molt, distribution, migration timing, and habitat usage. Indeed, in 1969 a Birding Glossary appeared in Birding magazine which gave the following definitions, the acceptable term used to describe the person who seriously pursues the hobby of birding. A hobby in which individuals enjoy the challenge of bird study, listing, a rather ambiguous term used to describe the person who watches birds for any reason at all, and should not be used to refer to the serious birder. Twitching is a British term used to mean the pursuit of a previously located rare bird, in North America it is more often called chasing, though the British usage is starting to catch on there, especially among younger birders. The term twitcher, sometimes misapplied as a synonym for birder, is reserved for those who travel long distances to see a bird that would then be ticked. The term originated in the 1950s, when it was used for the behaviour of Howard Medhurst. Prior terms for those who chased rarities were pot-hunter, tally-hunter, the main goal of twitching is often to accumulate species on ones lists. Some birders engage in competition to accumulate the longest species list, the act of the pursuit itself is referred to as a twitch or a chase. A rare bird that stays put long enough for people to see it is twitchable or chaseable, twitching is highly developed in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Finland and Sweden. The size of these makes it possible to travel throughout them quickly. The most popular twitches in the UK have drawn large crowds, for example, approximately 2,500 people travelled to Kent, England, to view a golden-winged warbler, twitchers have developed their own vocabulary. For example, a twitcher who fails to see a bird has dipped out, if other twitchers do see the bird
21.
Scuba diving
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Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving in which the scuba diver uses a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus which is completely independent of surface supply, to breathe underwater. They may include additional cylinders for decompression gas or emergency breathing gas, closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open circuit, therefore, scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers. A scuba diver primarily moves underwater by using fins attached to the feet, scuba divers are trained in the procedures and skills appropriate to their level of certification by instructors affiliated to the diver certification organisations which issue these certifications. A minimum level of fitness and health is required by most training organisations, the closed-circuit rebreathers were first developed for escape and rescue purposes, and were modified for military use, due to their stealth advantages, as they produce very few bubbles. The first commercially successful closed-circuit scuba was designed and built by English diving engineer, Henry Fleuss in 1878, while working for Siebe Gorman in London. Sir Robert Davis, head of Siebe Gorman, improved the oxygen rebreather in 1910 with his invention of the Davis Submerged Escape Apparatus, rebreathers have been increasingly used by civilians for recreation, especially since the end of the Cold War. This reduced the risk of attack by Communist Bloc forces. After that, the armed forces had less reason to requisition civilian rebreather patents. The single hose two stage scuba regulators trace their origins to Australia, where Ted Eldred developed the first example of type of regulator. This was developed because patents protected the Aqualungs twin hose design, the single hose regulator separates the demand valve from the cylinder, giving the diver air at the ambient pressure at the mouth, rather than ambient pressure at the cylinder valve. The term SCUBA originally referred to United States combat frogmens oxygen rebreathers, SCUBA was originally an acronym, but is now generally used as a common noun or adjective, scuba. It has become acceptable to refer to equipment or scuba apparatus—examples of the linguistic RAS syndrome. Scuba diving may be performed for a number of reasons, both personal and professional, recreational diving is done purely for enjoyment and has a number of technical disciplines to increase interest underwater, such as cave diving, wreck diving, ice diving and deep diving. Divers may be employed professionally to perform tasks underwater, some of these tasks are suitable for scuba. There are divers who work, full or part-time, in the diving community as instructors, assistant instructors, divemasters. Other specialist areas of diving include military diving, with a long history of military frogmen in various roles. Their roles include direct combat, infiltration behind enemy lines, placing mines or using a manned torpedo, in some cases diver rescue teams may also be part of a fire department, paramedical service or lifeguard unit, and may be classed as public service diving
22.
UNESCO
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
23.
Man and the Biosphere Programme
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As of March 2016,669 biosphere reserves in 120 countries, including 16 transboundary sites, have been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems, each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. Biosphere reserves are nominated by governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Their status is internationally recognized. The buffer zone surrounds or adjoins the core areas, and is used for activities compatible with sound ecological practices that can reinforce scientific research, monitoring, training and education. The transition area is the part of the reserve where the greatest activity is allowed, fostering economic, participating countries establish MAB National Committees that ensure maximum national participation in the international programme, defining and implementing each country’s activities. MAB currently operates through 158 National Committees established among the 195 Members States, the agenda of the MAB Programme is defined by its main governing body, the International Coordinating Council. The MAB Council consists of 34 member states elected by UNESCO’s General Conference, the council elects a chair and five vice-chairpersons from each of UNESCO’s geopolitical regions, one of which functions as a rapporteur. Its staff members draw on expertise in many and varied disciplines, the programme can grant seed funding to assist countries in developing projects and/or to secure appropriate partnership contributions. The latest World Congress of Biosphere Reserves took place in Lima, Peru and this will be the 4th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves and it shall develop a new vision for the decade 2016–2025. The World Network of Biosphere Reserves is supported by different regional, sub-regional or thematic networks and these are as follows, The African Biosphere Reserves Network was created in 1996 and comprises 33 African countries. The ArabMAB Network was officially launched in 1997 and represents 18 Arab countries, the East Asian Biosphere Reserve Network was launched in 1994. Today, it consists of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, euroMAB is the network of biosphere reserves in Europe and North America. Created in 1987, it is the largest MAB Regional Network with 53 countries, the Ibero-American MAB Network was created in 1992. It comprises 22 countries from Latin American and the Caribbean, Spain, the Pacific Man and the Biosphere Network was created in 2006 and comprises the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga. The South and Central Asia MAB Network was created in 2002 and comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, the Southeast Asian Biosphere Reserve Network was created in 1998. Today, it comprises Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, the East Atlantic Biosphere Reserve Network was created in 1994. It comprises the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Madeira and Azores, Mauritania, Morocco, Sao Tomé and Principe, the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves was established in 2012 and comprises 22 countries. Agenda 21 Searchable list of UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves Frequently Asked Questions on Biosphere Reserve A-Z of Areas of Biodiverity Importance, Biosphere Reserves
24.
Loggerhead Key
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Still further west is the Tortugas Bank, which is submerged. The first Europeans to discover the islands were the Spanish in 1513 and they are an unincorporated area of Monroe County, Florida, and belong to the Lower Keys Census County Division. With their surrounding waters, they constitute the Dry Tortugas National Park, the keys are low and irregular. Some keys have thin growths of mangroves and various other vegetation, in general, they rise abruptly from relatively deep water. They are continually changing in size and shape, the Tortugas Atoll has had up to 11 islets during the past two centuries. Some of the islands have disappeared and reappeared multiple times as a result of hurricane impact. The total area of the islets, some of which are more than sand bars just above the water mark, is about 580,000 square meters. Their area changes over time as wind and waves reshape them, there are seven islets, which are from West to East,1 lb Loggerhead Key,250 by 1,200 m in size, with an area of 260,000 m2 is the largest. This island has the highest elevation in the Dry Tortugas, at 10 feet, the Dry Tortugas lighthouse,46 m 46 meters high, is on this island. Garden Key, with Fort Jefferson and the inactive Garden Key lighthouse and it is 4 km east of Loggerhead Key. Garden Key is the second largest island in the chain, at 400 by 500 m in size, the original size, before construction of Fort Jefferson, has been estimated at 30,350 to 35,610 m2. Bush Key, formerly named Hog Island because of the hogs that were raised there to provide meat for the prisoners at Fort Jefferson. At times, Bush Key is connected to Garden Key by a sand bar, the island is the third largest,150 by 900 m, area 120,000 m2, less than 1 m high. Bush Key is the site of a large tern rookery and it is closed to visitors from April to September to protect nesting sooty terns and brown noddys. Long Key,59 m south of the end of Bush Key,50 by 200 m in size. Hospital Key, so called because a hospital for the inmates of Fort Jefferson had been there in the 1870s. The island was formerly called Middle Key or Sand Key and it lies 2.5 km northeast of Garden Key and Bush Key,70 m, area 4,000 m2, and is 1 m high at its highest point. The Key was the site of numerous Union solders graves during the Civil War, iowa Rock, halfway between Garden Key and Hospital Key, is another site of a navigational light built in shallow water
25.
Long Key
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Long Key is an island in the middle Florida Keys. Long Key was called Cayo Víbora by early Spanish explorers, a reference to the shape of the island, the city of Layton is located on Long Key. The 965-acre state park was dedicated October 1,1969, U. S.1 crosses the key at approximately mile markers 65. 5--71, between Fiesta Key and Conch Key. It is the home of Long Key State Park, a favorite of campers and nature lovers and it is smaller and less developed than the neighboring incorporated village of Islamorada to the northeast and city of Marathon to the southwest. It was visited by C. W. Pierce in his boat and he stopped at the lower end of the key where there was a house with a cistern and replenished his water supply. The key was a site during the railroad years, and was also the site of the well known Long Key Fishing Camp. Keys History Long Key State Park site
26.
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
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The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a U. S. National Marine Sanctuary in the Florida Keys. It includes the Florida Reef, the barrier coral reef in North America. It also has extensive mangrove forest and seagrass fields, the marine sanctuary includes a 2,800 square nautical mile area surrounding the Keys and reaching into the Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The sanctuary was established in 1990, covering much of the ocean floor are beds of seagrass that are of vital importance to the coral reef ecosystem. It is the largest known seagrass bed in the world, population growth and urban development may impact the health of coral reefs. Development activities may cause erosion resulting in the runoff of sediments which eventually reach the coral reefs, sizable foreign objects such as sunken boats and planes provide rich micro-sanctuaries for a plethora of sea life that otherwise would not exist. The harvest of resources from the sea is ever growing, overfishing has changed the ecological dynamics of marine communities allowing some organisms to dominate reefs that were once controlled by large reef fish populations. Tourism dollars help to fund research and environmental remediation activities. Tourism may contribute to reef damage, divers and snorkelers may harm the corals by touching the polyps, and boats transporting tourists to the reef may damage it by dragging anchors. One of the Florida Keys’ most ecologically damaging invasive species is the lionfish, first discovered as an introduced species in 2009, the lionfish population affects the original flora and fauna of the Florida Keys in three major ways. The lionfish has an appetite for fish and crustaceans is able to spawn year-round. Originating in the Pacific Ocean, the lionfish has no known predator in the Atlantic Ocean, the lack of natural predators to control the lionfish population allows the lionfish population to grow to disruptive numbers. The regular spawning of the lionfish further impacts the environment of the Florida Keys, a female lionfish can produce 30,000 to 40,000 eggs every few days, lionfish become sexually mature by the time they are a year old. The regular spawning of the lionfish creates a constant pressure on the Florida Keys ecosystem, there are various introduced plants within the Florida Keys. Many of these plants outcompete the plants of the Keys, such as mangroves. The animals who rely on plants for food and habitat are also at risk by invasive plants. There are four main exotic plant species that have become so invasive in the Florida Keys that they threaten, Australian Pine, Brazilian pepper or Florida holly, Asiatic colubrina, and Melalueca all pose a risk to the flora and fauna of the Florida Keys. The Australian pine is a species that poses risks to the original flora
27.
Dry Tortugas Ferry to Fort Jefferson
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The Dry Tortugas Ferry to Fort Jefferson is a visitor attraction in Key West, Florida. Service is provided by the Yankee Freedom III, a high-speed Incat-designed catamaran that takes visitors on the almost 70-mile trip out to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park. The service is a licensed National Park Service concessioner, and the provider of scheduled ferry access to the Dry Tortugas for a ten-year term through 2020. Built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, the Yankee Freedom III catamaran is powered by twin Caterpillar, the Yankee Freedom III has a passenger capacity of 250 people, with interior and exterior seating for up to 125 people per area. The cabin is air conditioned, and the galley has two complete beverage bars. There are also 3 large bathrooms on board including one handicapped facility for passenger convenience, the Yankee Freedom III is part of the Yankee Fleet. The Yankee Fleet is owned and operated by Jerry Hill, with seven vessels located in Key West, Florida and Gloucester. The company focuses on whale watching excursions, deep sea fishing trips, the trip passes the uninhabited Marquesas Keys and under good conditions it may be possible to see an abandoned U. S. Air Force radio tower on the northern horizon. Typically the trip to Fort Jefferson takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours each way, breakfast and lunch are provided, and there is a small souvenir shop on board
28.
Pleistocene
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The Pleistocene is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the worlds most recent period of repeated glaciations. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period, the Pleistocene is the first epoch of the Quaternary Period or sixth epoch of the Cenozoic Era. In the ICS timescale, the Pleistocene is divided into four stages or ages, all of these stages were defined in southern Europe. In addition to this subdivision, various regional subdivisions are often used. Charles Lyell introduced the term pleistocene in 1839 to describe strata in Sicily that had at least 70% of their molluscan fauna still living today and this distinguished it from the older Pliocene Epoch, which Lyell had originally thought to be the youngest fossil rock layer. The Pleistocene has been dated from 2.588 million to 11,700 years before present and it covers most of the latest period of repeated glaciation, up to and including the Younger Dryas cold spell. The end of the Younger Dryas has been dated to about 9640 BC, the IUGS has yet to approve a type section, Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point, for the upper Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. The proposed section is the North Greenland Ice Core Project ice core 75°06 N 42°18 W, the lower boundary of the Pleistocene Series is formally defined magnetostratigraphically as the base of the Matuyama chronozone, isotopic stage 103. Above this point there are notable extinctions of the calcareous nanofossils, Discoaster pentaradiatus, the Pleistocene covers the recent period of repeated glaciations. The name Plio-Pleistocene has, in the past, been used to mean the last ice age. The revised definition of the Quaternary, by pushing back the date of the Pleistocene to 2.58 Ma. Pleistocene climate was marked by repeated glacial cycles in which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places and it is estimated that, at maximum glacial extent, 30% of the Earths surface was covered by ice. In addition, a zone of permafrost stretched southward from the edge of the sheet, a few hundred kilometres in North America. The mean annual temperature at the edge of the ice was −6 °C, during interglacial times, such as at present, drowned coastlines were common, mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions. The effects of glaciation were global, antarctica was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene as well as the preceding Pliocene. The Andes were covered in the south by the Patagonian ice cap, there were glaciers in New Zealand and Tasmania. The current decaying glaciers of Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, glaciers existed in the mountains of Ethiopia and to the west in the Atlas mountains. In the northern hemisphere, many glaciers fused into one, the Cordilleran ice sheet covered the North American northwest, the east was covered by the Laurentide
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Oolite
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Oolite or oölite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Ancient Greek word ᾠόν for egg, strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0. 25–2 mm, rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites. The term oolith can refer to oolite or individual ooids, ooids are most commonly composed of calcium carbonate, but can be composed of phosphate, clays, chert, dolomite or iron minerals, including hematite. Dolomitic and chert ooids are most likely the result of the replacement of the texture in limestone. Oolitic hematite occurs at Red Mountain near Birmingham, Alabama, along with oolitic limestone and they are usually formed in warm, supersaturated, shallow, highly agitated marine water intertidal environments, though some are formed in inland lakes. The mechanism of formation starts with a fragment of sediment acting as a seed. Strong intertidal currents wash the seeds around on the seabed, where they accumulate layers of chemically precipitated calcite from the supersaturated water, the oolites are commonly found in large current bedding structures that resemble sand dunes. The size of the oolite reflects the time they have had exposed to the water before they were covered with later sediment. Oolites are often used in the aquarium industry because their small grain size is ideal for shallow static beds. Also known as sand, the sugar-sized round grains of this sand pass easily through the gills of gobies. Importantly, this unusually smooth sand promotes the growth of bacteria, because of its extremely small grain size, oolitic sand has a lot of surface area, which promotes high bacterial growth. A particular type, Bath Stone, gives the buildings of the World Heritage City of Bath their distinctive appearance, the material consolidated and eroded during later exposure above the ocean surface. One of the worlds largest freshwater lakebed oolites is the Shoofly Oolit,10 million years ago, the Plain formed the bed of Lake Idaho. Wave action in the lake washed sediments back and forth in the shallows on the shore, forming ooids. When the lake drained, the oolite was left behind, along with siltstone, volcanic tuffs, the other sediments eroded away, while the more resistant oolite weathered into hummocks, small arches and other intriguing natural sculptures. The Shoofly Oolite lies on land west of Bruneau, Idaho managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The physical and chemical properties of the Shoofly Oolite are the setting for a suite of rare plants and this type of limestone is also found in Indiana in the United States. The town of Oolitic, Indiana, was founded for the trade of limestone, quarries in Oolitic, Bedford, and Bloomington contributed the materials for such iconic U. S. landmarks as the Empire State Building in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia
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Carbonate platform
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A carbonate platform is a sedimentary body which possesses topographic relief, and is composed of autochthonous calcareous deposits. Platform growth is mediated by sessile organisms whose skeletons build up the reef or by organisms which induce carbonate precipitation through their metabolism, therefore, carbonate platforms can not grow up everywhere, they are not present in places where limiting factors to the life of reef-building organisms exist. Such limiting factors are, among others, light, water temperature, transparency, for example, carbonate sedimentation along the Atlantic South American coasts takes place everywhere but at the mouth of the Amazon River, because of the intense turbidity of the water there. All these carbonate platforms and their associated reefs are confined to tropical latitudes, today’s reefs are built mainly by scleractinian corals, but in the distant past other organisms, like archaeocyatha or extinct cnidaria were important reef builders. The mineralogic composition of carbonate platforms may be either calcitic or aragonitic, seawater is oversaturated in carbonate, so under certain conditions CaCO3 precipitation is possible. Carbonate precipitation is thermodynamically favoured at high temperature and low pressure, three types of carbonate precipitation are possible, biotically controlled, biotically induced and abiotic. Carbonate precipitation is biotically controlled when organisms are present that exploit carbonate dissolved in seawater to build their calcitic or aragonitic skeletons, thus they may develop hard reef structures. Biotically induced precipitation takes place outside the cell of the organism, thus carbonate is not directly produced by organisms, abiotic precipitation involves little or no biological influence. The three types of precipitation described above determine different platform geometries, according to these characteristics a classification was created, consisting of three types of carbonate factories. A carbonate factory is the ensemble of the environment, the intervening organisms. In these platforms precipitation is biotically controlled, mostly by autotrophic organisms, organisms that build this kind of platform are mostly corals, green algae, foraminifers and molluscs. These platforms are only in warm and sunlit waters, high in oxygen. This means that they are found between 30° north and 30° south of the equator and this type of factory is the most widespread today, and is often found fossilised. As the name suggests, this type of platform extends its domain to cooler waters, precipitation is biotically controlled by heterotrophic organisms, sometimes in association with photo-autotrophic organisms such as red algae. The sea-waters of these platforms are characterised by an amount of nutrients than in tropical factories. These platforms are characterised by abiotic precipitation and biotically induced precipitation and they grow in waters high in nutrients and low in oxygen. Mud-mound factories are known only from the record, especially Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. Several factors influence the geometry of a platform, including inherited topography, synsedimentary tectonics, exposition to currents
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Stratigraphic unit
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Units must be mappable and distinct from one another, but the contact need not be particularly distinct. For instance, a unit may be defined by such as when the sandstone component exceeds 75%. Sequences of sedimentary and volcanic rocks are subdivided on the basis of their lithology, going from smaller to larger in scale, the main units recognised are Bed, Member, Formation, Group and Supergroup. A bed is a distinct layer within a member or formation and is the smallest recognisable stratigraphic unit. These are not normally named, but may be in the case of a marker horizon, a member is a named lithologically distinct part of a formation. Not all formations are subdivided in this way and even where they are recognized, formations are the primary units used in the subdivision of a sequence and may vary in scale from tens of centimetres to kilometres. They should be distinct lithologically from other formations, although the boundaries do not need to be sharp, to be formally recognised, a formation must have sufficient extent to be useful in mapping an area. A group is a set of two or more formations that share certain lithological characteristics, a group may be made up of different formations in different geographical areas and individual formations may appear in more than one group. A supergroup is a set of two or more associated groups and/or formations that share certain lithological characteristics, a supergroup may be made up of different groups in different geographical areas. A sequence of fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks can be subdivided on the basis of the occurrence of fossil taxa. A unit defined in this way is known as a biostratigraphic unit, the five commonly used types of biozone are assemblage, range, abundance, interval and lineage zones. An assemblage zone is a stratigraphic interval characterised by an assemblage of three or more coexisting fossil taxa that distinguish it from surrounding strata. A range zone is an interval that represents the occurrence range of a specific fossil taxon. An abundance zone is an interval in which the abundance of a particular taxon is significantly greater than seen in neighbouring parts of the succession. An interval zone is a stratigraphic interval whose top and base are defined by horizons that mark the first or last occurrence of two different taxa, a lineage zone is a stratigraphic interval that contains fossils that represent parts of the evolutionary lineage of a particular fossil group. This is a case of a range zone. Chronostratigraphy Glaciology Magnetostratigraphy Sedimentology Sequence stratigraphy Stratigraphy International Commission on Stratigraphy Stratigraphic Guide
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Limestone
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
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Hermatypic coral
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Hermatypic corals are those corals in the order Scleractinia which build reefs by depositing hard calcareous material for their skeletons, forming the stony framework of the reef. Corals that do not contribute to reef development are referred to as ahermatypic species. Many reef-forming corals contain symbiotic zooxanthellae which contribute to their nutritional needs, the term hermatypic is sometimes misused, being assumed to apply to all zooxanthellate corals. However, there are zooxanthellae in many non reef-forming corals, further, some hermatypic corals live at depths to which light cannot penetrate, they form deep-water reefs but do not harbour the symbionts
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Calcarenite
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Calcarenite is a type of limestone that is composed predominantly, more than 50 percent, of detrital sand-size, carbonate grains. The grains consist of grains of either corals, shells, ooids, intraclasts, pellets, fragments of older limestones and dolomites, other carbonate grains. Calcarenite is the equivalent of a sandstone. Calcarenites can accumulate in a variety of marine and nonmarine environments. They can consist of grains of carbonate that have accumulated either as coastal dunes, beaches, offshore bars and shoals, turbidites
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Bryozoa
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Bryozoa, are a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. Typically about 0.5 millimetres long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the using a retractable lophophore. Most marine species live in tropical waters, but a few occur in oceanic trenches, one class lives only in a variety of freshwater environments, and a few members of a mostly marine class prefer brackish water. Over 4,000 living species are known, one genus is solitary and the rest are colonial. The phylum was originally called Polyzoa, but this term was superseded by Bryozoa in 1831, another group of animals discovered subsequently, whose filtering mechanism looked similar, was also included in Bryozoa until 1869, when the two groups were noted to be very different internally. The more recently discovered group was given the name Entoprocta, while the original Bryozoa were called Ectoprocta, however, Bryozoa has remained the more widely used term for the latter group. Individuals in bryozoan colonies are called zooids, since they are not fully independent animals, all colonies contain autozooids, which are responsible for feeding and excretion. Colonies of some classes have various types of non-feeding specialist zooids, some of which are hatcheries for fertilized eggs, the class Cheilostomata have the largest number of species, possibly because they have the widest range of specialist zooids. A few species can creep very slowly by using spiny defensive zooids as legs, autozooids supply nutrients to non-feeding zooids by channels that vary between classes. Zooids have no special excretory organs, and the polypides of autozooids are scrapped when the polypides become overloaded by waste products, in autozooids the gut is U-shaped, with the mouth inside the crown of tentacles and the anus outside it. Colonies take a variety of forms, including fans, bushes, the Cheilostomata produce mineralized exoskeletons and form single-layered sheets which encrust over surfaces. Zooids of all the species are simultaneous hermaphrodites. Although those of marine species function first as males and then as females. All species emit sperm into the water, some also release ova into the water, while others capture sperm via their tentacles to fertilize their ova internally. In some species the larvae have large yolks, go to feed, others produce larvae that have little yolk but swim and feed for a few days before settling. After settling, all larvae undergo a metamorphosis that destroys. Freshwater species also produce statoblasts that lie dormant until conditions are favorable, predators of marine bryozoans include nudibranchs, fish, sea urchins, pycnogonids, crustaceans, mites and starfish. Freshwater bryozoans are preyed on by snails, insects, and fish, in Thailand, many populations of one freshwater species have been wiped out by an introduced species of snail
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Facies
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Ideally, a sedimentary facies is a distinctive rock unit that forms under certain conditions of sedimentation, reflecting a particular process or environment. Sedimentary facies are either descriptive or interpretative, sedimentary facies are bodies of sediment that are recognizably distinct from adjacent sediments that resulted from different depositional environments. Generally, geologists distinguish facies by the aspect of the rock or sediment being studied, Facies based on petrological characters are called lithofacies, whereas facies based on fossil content are called biofacies. A facies is usually further subdivided, for example, one might refer to a tan, the characteristics of the rock unit come from the depositional environment and from the original composition. Sedimentary facies reflect their depositional environment, each facies being a kind of sediment for that area or environment. Since its inception, the concept has been extended to related geological concepts. For example, characteristic associations of organic microfossils, and particulate organic material, discrete seismic units are similarly referred to as seismic facies. Walthers Law of Facies, or simply Walthers Law, named after the geologist Johannes Walther, conversely, it states that when a depositional environment migrates laterally, sediments of one depositional environment come to lie on top of another. In Russia the law is known as Golovkinsky-Walthers Law, honoring also Nikolai A. Golovkinsky, a classic example of this law is the vertical stratigraphic succession that typifies marine transgressions and regressions. The sequence of minerals that develop during progressive metamorphism define a facies series, seismic facies are mappable three-dimensional seismic units composed of reflection units whose parameters differ from adjacent facies units. Lithofacies Metamorphic rock Sequence stratigraphy Stratum
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Littoral zone
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The littoral zone is the part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the water mark. It always includes this intertidal zone and is used to mean the same as the intertidal zone. However, the meaning of littoral zone can extend well beyond the intertidal zone, what is regarded as the full extent of the littoral zone, and the way the littoral zone is divided into subregions, varies in different contexts. The use of the term varies from one part of the world to another. For example, military commanders speak of the littoral in ways that are different from marine biologists. The adjacency of water gives a number of characteristics to littoral regions. The erosive power of water results in particular types of landforms, such as sand dunes, the natural movement of the littoral along the coast is called the littoral drift. Biologically, the availability of water enables a greater variety of plant and animal life. In addition, the local humidity due to evaporation usually creates a microclimate supporting unique types of organisms. The word littoral is used both as a noun and an adjective and it derives from the Latin noun litus, litoris, meaning shore. In oceanography and marine biology, the idea of the zone is extended roughly to the edge of the continental shelf. Starting from the shoreline, the zone begins at the spray region just above the high tide mark. From here, it moves to the region between the high and low water marks, and then out as far as the edge of the continental shelf. These three subregions are called, in order, the zone, the eulittoral zone and the sublittoral zone. The supralittoral zone is the area above the high tide line that is regularly splashed. Seawater penetrates these elevated areas only during storms with high tides, organisms here must cope also with exposure to fresh water from rain, cold, heat and predation by land animals and seabirds. At the top of this area, patches of dark lichens can appear as crusts on rocks, some types of periwinkles, Neritidae and detritus feeding Isopoda commonly inhabit the lower supralittoral
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Shoal
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Often it refers to those submerged ridges, banks, or bars that rise near enough to the surface of a body of water as to constitute a danger to navigation. Shoals are also known as sandbanks, sandbars, or gravelbars, two or more shoals that are either separated by shared troughs or interconnected by past and or present sedimentary and hydrographic processes are referred to as a shoal complex. The term shoal is also used in a number of ways that can be similar or quite different from how it is used in the geologic, geomorphic. Shoals are characteristically long and narrow ridges and they can develop where a stream, river, or ocean current promotes deposition of sediment and granular material, resulting in localized shallowing of the water. Marine shoals also develop either by the in place drowning of barrier islands as the result of sea level rise or by the erosion. Shoals can appear as a coastal landform in the sea, where they are classified as a type of bank, or as fluvial landforms in rivers, streams. A shoal–sandbar may seasonally separate a smaller body of water from the sea, such as, Marine lagoons Brackish water estuaries Freshwater seasonal stream and river mouths and deltas. They are typically composed of sand, although they could be of any matter that the moving water has access to and is capable of shifting around. Wave shoaling is the process when surface waves move towards shallow water, such as a beach, they slow down, their wave height increases and this behavior is called shoaling, and the waves are said to shoal. The waves may or may not build to the point where they break, depending on how large they were to begin with, in particular, waves shoal as they pass over submerged sandbanks or reefs. This can be treacherous for boats and ships, shoaling can also diffract waves, so the waves change direction. For example, if waves pass over a bank which is shallower at one end than the other. Thus the wave fronts will refract, changing direction like light passing through a prism, refraction also occurs as waves move towards a beach if the waves come in at an angle to the beach, or if the beach slopes more gradually at one end than the other. Sandbars, also known as a trough bars, form where the waves are breaking, sometimes this occurs seaward of a trough. Sand carried by the moving bottom current is deposited where the current reaches the wave break. Other longshore bars may lie further offshore, representing the point of even larger waves. A harbor or river bar is a sedimentary deposit formed at an entrance or river mouth by. Where beaches are suitably mobile, or the river’s suspended and/or bed loads are large enough, deposition can build up a sandbar that completely blocks a river mouth and damming the river
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Holocene
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The Holocene is the geological epoch that began after the Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years before present. The term Recent has often used as an exact synonym of Holocene. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period and its name comes from the Ancient Greek words ὅλος and καινός, meaning entirely recent. It has been identified with the current warm period, known as MIS1, given these, a new term, Anthropocene, is specifically proposed and used informally only for the very latest part of modern history involving significant human impact. It is accepted by the International Commission on Stratigraphy that the Holocene started approximately 11,700 years ago, the epoch follows the Pleistocene and the last glacial period. The Holocene can be subdivided into five time intervals, or chronozones, based on climatic fluctuations, Preboreal, Boreal, Atlantic, Subboreal and they find a general correspondence across Eurasia and North America, though the method was once thought to be of no interest. The scheme was defined for Northern Europe, but the changes were claimed to occur more widely. The periods of the include a few of the final pre-Holocene oscillations of the last glacial period. Paleontologists have not defined any faunal stages for the Holocene, if subdivision is necessary, periods of human technological development, such as the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age, are usually used. However, the time periods referenced by these terms vary with the emergence of those technologies in different parts of the world, climatically, the Holocene may be divided evenly into the Hypsithermal and Neoglacial periods, the boundary coincides with the start of the Bronze Age in Europe. According to some scholars, a division, the Anthropocene, has now begun. Continental motions due to plate tectonics are less than a kilometre over a span of only 10,000 years, however, ice melt caused world sea levels to rise about 35 m in the early part of the Holocene. The sea level rise and temporary land depression allowed temporary marine incursions into areas that are now far from the sea, Holocene marine fossils are known, for example, from Vermont and Michigan. Other than higher-latitude temporary marine incursions associated with depression, Holocene fossils are found primarily in lakebed, floodplain. Holocene marine deposits along low-latitude coastlines are rare because the rise in sea levels during the period exceeds any likely tectonic uplift of non-glacial origin, post-glacial rebound in the Scandinavia region resulted in the formation of the Baltic Sea. The region continues to rise, still causing weak earthquakes across Northern Europe, the equivalent event in North America was the rebound of Hudson Bay, as it shrank from its larger, immediate post-glacial Tyrrell Sea phase, to near its present boundaries. Climate has been stable over the Holocene. It appears that this was influenced by the glacial ice remaining in the Northern Hemisphere until the later date
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Halimeda
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Halimeda is a genus of green macroalgae. The algal body is composed of calcified green segments, calcium carbonate is deposited in its tissues, making it inedible to most herbivores. As in other members of the order Bryopsidales, individual organisms are made up of single multi-nucleate cells, whole meadows may consist of a single individual alga connected by fine threads running through the substrate. Halimeda is responsible for distinctive circular deposits in various parts of the Great Barrier Reef on the north-east coast of Queensland, the genus is one of the best studied examples of cryptic species pairs due to morphological convergence within the marine macroalgae
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Quicksand
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Quicksand is a colloid hydrogel consisting of fine granular material, and water. Quicksand forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated, when water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that loses strength and cannot support weight. Quicksand can form in standing water or in upwards flowing water, in the case of upwards flowing water, seepage forces oppose the force of gravity and suspend the soil particles. The saturated sediment may appear quite solid until a change in pressure or shock initiates liquefaction. This causes the sand to form a suspension and lose strength, the cushioning of water gives quicksand, and other liquefied sediments, a spongy, fluidlike texture. Objects in liquefied sand sink to the level at which the weight of the object is equal to the weight of the displaced soil/water mix, liquefaction is a special case of quicksand. In this case, sudden earthquake forces immediately increase the pressure of shallow groundwater. The saturated liquefied soil loses strength, causing buildings or other objects on surface to sink or fall. Quicksand is a shear thinning non-Newtonian fluid, when undisturbed, it appears to be solid. Someone stepping on it will start to sink, to move within the quicksand, a person or object must apply sufficient pressure on the compacted sand to re-introduce enough water to liquefy it. The forces required to do this are large, to remove a foot from quicksand at a speed of 0.01 m/s would require the same amount of force as that needed to lift a medium-sized car. Contrary to popular belief, quicksand itself is harmless, a human or animal is unlikely to sink entirely into quicksand, Quicksand has a density of about 2 grams per milliliter, whereas the density of the human body is only about 1 gram per milliliter. At that level of density, sinking in quicksand is impossible, descending about up to the waist is possible, but not any further. Even objects with a higher density than quicksand will float on it—until they move, aluminum, for example, has a density of about 2.7 grams per milliliter, but a piece of aluminum will float on top of quicksand until motion causes the sand to liquefy. Continued or panicked movement, however, may cause a person in quicksand to sink deeper, leading to belief that quicksand is dangerous. Since it increasingly impairs movement, this, then, can lead to a situation where other such as weather exposure, dehydration, hypothermia. Quicksand may be escaped by slow movement of the legs in order to increase viscosity of the fluid, Quicksand may be found on riverbanks, near lakes, in marshes, or near the coast. People falling into quicksand or a substance is a trope of adventure fiction
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Tropical savanna climate
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Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories Aw and As. This latter fact is in direct contrast to a monsoon climate. In essence, a savanna climate tends to either see less rainfall than a tropical monsoon climate or have more pronounced dry seasons. There are generally four types of tropical climate,1. Distinct wet and dry seasons of relatively equal duration, most of the regions annual rainfall is experienced during the wet season and very little precipitation falls during the dry season. A lengthy dry season and a short wet season. This version features seven or more dry season months and five or less wet season months, there are variations within this version, On one extreme, the region receives just enough precipitation during the short wet season to preclude it from a semi-arid climate classification. This drier variation of the savanna climate is typically found adjacent to regions with semi-arid climates. On the other extreme, the features a lengthy dry season followed by a short. However, regions with this variation of the climate do not experience enough rainfall during the wet season to qualify as a monsoon climate. A lengthy wet season and a short dry season. This version features seven or more wet season months and five or less dry season months, a dry season with a noticeable amount of rainfall followed by a rainy wet season. Tropical savanna climates are most commonly found in Africa, Asia, the climate is also prevalent in sections of Central America, northern Australia and southern North America, specifically in sections of Mexico and the state of Florida in the United States. Most places that have this climate are found at the margins of the tropical zone. Similarly, the Caribbean coast, eastward from the Gulf of Urabá on the Colombia – Panamá border to the Orinoco river delta and this condition extends to the Lesser Antilles and Greater Antilles forming the Circumcaribbean dry belt. The length and severity of the dry season diminishes inland, at the latitude of the Amazon river—which flows eastward, East from the Andes, between the arid Caribbean and the ever-wet Amazon are the Orinoco river llanos or savannas, from where this climate takes its name. Sometimes As is used in place of Aw if the dry season occurs during the time of higher sun and this is the case in parts of Hawaii, East Africa, Sri Lanka and coastal regions of Northeastern Brazil, for instance. The difference between summer and winter in such locations is usually so slight that a distinction between an As and Aw climate is a quibble
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Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
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Straits of Florida
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It is 150 km wide at the narrowest point between Key West and the Cuban shore, and has been sounded to a depth of 6,000 feet. The strait carries the Florida Current, the beginning of the Gulf Stream, five wells were drilled in state waters south of the Florida Keys from 1947 to 1962. Gulf Oil drilled three wells in federal waters south of the Florida Keys in 1960 and 1961, all the wells were dry holes. The boundary between the Exclusive Economic Zones of the US and Cuba is halfway between Cuba and Florida, as determined by a 1977 treaty between the US and Cuba, Cuba has three producing offshore oil fields within 5 km of its north coast opposite Florida. The issue of allowing oil and gas exploration offshore Florida became a contested topic in the 2008 US elections. In fact, no drilling was taking place in that part of Cuban waters. In 2004 the Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF drilled in deep Cuban waters between Cuba and the Florida Keys, and found an oil deposit, the deposit was judged noncommercial, and the hole was plugged. In October 2008, Cuba signed an agreement with the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, in July 2009, Cuba signed an agreement with the Russian government giving the Russian oil company Zarubezhneft oil exploration rights off the north shore of Cuba. By May 2011 Petrobas had withdrawn from the 2008 agreement due to poor prospects, in 2009 the Falkland Islands-registered company BPC Limited and Norwegian company Statoil announced a joint venture to drill for oil in Bahamian waters north of Cuba and southeast of Florida. Florida Straits, a film starring Fred Ward
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American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
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Travel guide from Wikivoyage
Media related to Dry Tortugas National Park at Wikimedia Commons
