Creek Pool Research Articles

Overwintering under ice: A novel observation for an Australian freshwater turtle.

Frozen water bodies provide a physiological challenge to fauna by physically limiting access to atmospheric oxygen. To tolerate low temperatures, reptiles use brumation as a physiological strategy in winter. Cryptodira vary in their tolerance to freezing conditions but the extent of tolerance in pleurodirans is largely unknown. Australia's freshwater turtles inhabit warmer regions with less severe winters and have well-developed mechanisms to cope with high temperatures and drying waterbodies, rather than extreme cold tolerance. Chelodina longicollis is a widespread Australian freshwater turtle species that tolerates high temperatures and desiccation during hot, dry periods while also undergoing brumation during winter months. Despite extensive research, limited observations exist on their behaviour during severe winter periods at the extremes of their range. In an 11-month tracking study, we monitored adult C. longicollis, noting their movements, locations, and temperature weekly. We observed an adult female C. longicollis which, during a seven-month period within a single creek pool, survived brumation in extreme cold water including a 15-day period of total freezing of the surface water. After the ice melted following a rain event, the turtle was recaptured alive. This marks the first observation of brumation for an Australian chelid species under ice.

Video-documentation of true and borderline tool use by wild American black bears

Animal tool use has been documented for a variety of wildlife, but few studies have evaluated tool use by bears. We used long-term video data to observe and classify behaviors of wild American black bears (Ursus americanus) in western Montana, USA, during 2012–2022. We present video-documentation of true and borderline tool use by multiple individuals. Six bears (4F:2M) picked up sticks from the bottom of a creek pool and then manipulated the sticks with their forepaws to scratch and/or rub themselves. In addition, one bear manipulated a tree sapling near a cage trap in an apparent attempt to reach hanging food. We identified several parent–offspring relationships among our small sample size of tool users, indicating that tool use behavior may have partially developed via social learning and/or genetic inheritance. Our findings build on the limited research on ursid tool use and demonstrate the value of long-term video data to document wild bear behavior.

Intertidal Creek Pool Nekton Assemblages: Long-term Patterns in Diversity and Abundance in a Warm-Temperate Estuary

Intertidal Creek Pool Nekton Assemblages: Long-term Patterns in Diversity and Abundance in a Warm-Temperate Estuary

Aquatic invertebrate community structure and phenology of the intermittent treed swamps of the semi-arid Paroo lowlands in Australia.

The middle Paroo lowlands in semi-arid western New South Wales support numerous intermittent wetlands of various types. Differences between them are promoted by three ecological drivers: salinity, turbidity and hydroperiod. Community structure and phenology of the two most common types, saline lakes and claypans, are known but similar ecologies are lacking for the third most common wetland, the treed swamps. These are of six subtypes distinguished by dominant tree species, geomorphology and hydroperiod, all with similar community structure and phenology, but with differing invertebrate diversities. Summed diversity is not as high as in local creek pools, the shorter hydroperiods and simpler geomorphology of the treed swamps being restrictive so that there is almost no replacement of species during the early dominance of branchiopods and later of insects. Such treed swamps are uncommon in the semi-arid zone, but much more speciose treed swamps are known under similar and seasonally dry Mediterranean climates of the Western Australian Wheatbelt where hydroperiods are more stable.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11273-021-09846-0.

Nekton Use of Flooded Salt Marsh and an Assessment of Intertidal Creek Pools as Low-Tide Refuges

Patterns of nekton occurrence on the salt marsh surface at high tide and in an adjacent intertidal creek pool at low tide were used to investigate movements of nekton in an intertidal basin. Paired collections were made in North Inlet estuary, SC on 67 dates over 9 years. Comparisons of high- and low-tide total abundance indicated that what remained in the creek pool at low tide was representative of the nekton on the flooded marsh. Of the 64 taxa collected, the same 8 species ranked in the top 10 in both the high- and low-tide collections. Abundances of most resident species were positively correlated with the area of marsh flooded, but mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), the most abundant resident, was not. Abundances of young-of-the-year transient species were not related to the extent of tidal flooding. Some transient species used the flooded marsh but did not occupy the pool at low tide, and others found in the pool did not use the marsh. Differences in abundance, biomass, and length between the marsh and pool collections indicated differences in the tendency of species and life stages to retreat downstream of the pool to the subtidal channel. Proportionately more of the nekton that were present on the flooded marsh left the intertidal basin when large changes in temperature and salinity occurred between high and low tides. More transients left the basin following higher tides, but more residents did not. The results demonstrate a wide range of taxonomic and ontogenetic patterns among nekton using intertidal salt marsh basins and the underappreciated importance of intertidal creek pools as alternative low-tide refuges.

First record of the fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare genomovar II from bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus (Rafinesque), with observations on associated lesions

Flavobacterium columnare is the causative agent of ‘columnaris disease’ (Davis 1922), a disease that kills or debilitates a wide ecological and phylogenetic spectrum of temperate and tropical freshwater fish (Bernardet 1989; Bernardet & Grimont 1989; Bernardet et al. 1996; Olivares-Fuster et al. 2007; Bullard, McElwain & Arias 2011). It is regarded as a predominant pathogen of fish maintained in both food production aquaculture systems and the ornamental fish trade (Decostere et al. 1999a,b; Schneck & Caslake 2006), and it is of special interest in warm-water aquaculture ponds in the southeastern US, where it is regarded as one of the primary bacterial pathogens that constrains culture of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) (see Thune, Stanley & Cooper 1993; Plumb 1999). Much of the biological information about this bacterium derives from aquaculture epizootics (Olivares-Fuster et al. 2007, 2011), wherein columnaris disease is marked by epidermal sloughing and scale loss concomitant with a symmetrical body discolouration that has been called ‘saddleback’ lesion (Cone, Miller & Austin 1980; Bullard et al. 2011). The 3 genomovars (Ursing et al. 1995) of F. columnare (see Triyanto & Wakabayashi 1999) exhibit differential virulence (Arias et al. 2004; ThomasJinu & Goodwin 2004; Darwish & Ismaiel 2005; Shoemaker et al. 2008), but information on their prevalence, host distribution and pathobiology is largely indeterminate. Bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, is a widely introduced centrarchid that ranges throughout the Mississippi River and adjacent basins in North America. This fish was co-introduced as a forage fish for the recreationally prized largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepede), and its populations thrive along with those of largemouth bass in lakes, ponds and creek pools as well as densely vegetated shorelines of impoundments (Boschung & Mayden 2004). Bluegill is a generalist omnivore that tolerates a wide range of salinities and thermal regimes, which has contributed to its high level of invasiveness: now a documented invasive species in >20 countries (Kawamura et al. 2006; Fuller, Nico & Williams 1999). During 19–23 April 2012, a significant bluegill kill occurred throughout a series of hydrologically linked earthen ponds located in east-central Alabama (32°40′51.89′′N; 85°30′39.73′′W). Moribund bluegill were sampled for bacterial analysis with a sterile loop and cultured on Shieh agar supplemented with tobramycin at a concentration of 1 lg mL 1 (Decostere, Haesebrouck & Devriese 1997) at 28 °C for 48 h. Rhizoid, yellowpigmented colonies were considered putative F. columnare cultures and were re-isolated on Shieh agar lacking antibiotic. Pure cultures were incubated in Shieh broth at 28 °C with shaking Correspondence S A Bullard Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, 203 Swingle Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA (e-mail: ash.bullard@auburn. edu)

The relationship between thyroxine surge and onset of downstream migration in chum salmon Oncorhynchus keta fry

Downstream migration in chum salmon fry was initiated soon after the gate of a hatchery raceway was opened. The relationship between the onset of downstream movement and thyroxine (T4) surge was investigated. In experiment 1, the gates of the raceways were opened at 0930 in March and April, and l–3 million fry were discharged to a creek pool through a drain channel. The fish were sampled in the raceway (initial), the pool (staying: preparing for migration), and a lower creek (migrating). Peaks of the number of the fry migrating from the pool to the creek and T4 surge appeared 1 h and 4.5–7 h, respectively after the gates were opened. In experiment 2, treatments with fall stress from l-m high buckets, turbid water (200 mg/l), and exogenous T4 (1 mg/g diet) were conducted in the raceway to examine the effects on downstream locomotion and plasma T4 concentrations. Fall stress did not induce an increase in either plasma T4 concentration or the number of migrants, whereas turbid-water treatment induced 10 ng/ml T4 increase and a greater downstream locomotion than the other treatments. T4 treatment induced a continuous high level in plasma T4 but had less effect on locomotion. These results suggest that although thyroid hormones play a pivotal role in the preparation for downstream migration, they are not the sole factors responsible for the onset of their downstream migration.

Biogeography and ecology of Anostraca (Crustacea) in middle Paroo catchment of the Australian arid-zone

Fourteen species of Branchinella and one each of Parartemia, Streptocephalus (Parastreptocephalus) and an undescribed branchipodid genus occur in a limited area (2000 km 2 ) of the Paroo in northwestern New South Wales and southwestern Queensland. Syntopic coexistence was common (55% of collections) but to a large degree species interactions are minimized by habitat factors of turbidity, salinity and length of the wet phase in decreasing order of importance, and by a species factor of relative size. Discrete habitats such as claypans had a similar species composition each time they filled, but creek pools and other connected sites had variable species composition over time. The high biodiversity is explained by the presence of many distinct types of wetlands, each with their own characteristic anostracans.

Abstract: Differences between Limestone and Dolomite Reservoir Properties of Swan Hills Ante Creek Pools and Leduc Simonette Pool, West Central Alberta

Abstract: Differences between Limestone and Dolomite Reservoir Properties of Swan Hills Ante Creek Pools and Leduc Simonette Pool, West Central Alberta

Factors Influencing the Collection Efficiency of Estuarine Fishes

Abstract We evaluated the efficiency with which estuarine fishes were collected in a haul seine on 11 dates from 1984 to 1988. Comparisons between the catch in the first haul and the total population in a tidal creek pool demonstrated that species richness, species rank, and size distributions of dominant taxa were represented well in the first haul. However, abundance was not reliably estimated by a single collection. Collection efficiency for the six most common taxa ranged from 7 to 91%. A two-way analysis of variance, used to examine the efficiency of the first haul, indicated significant main effects for species and season. In general, efficiencies were significantly higher in summer and winter than in spring and autumn. Multiple-regression analyses, used to predict the efficiency of the first haul as a function of water temperature, salinity, total numbers, and modal length, only yielded significant relationships for some species. Collection efficiencies of striped mullet Mugil cephalus were related...

Depositional Environments, Sequence Stratigraphy, and Trapping Mechanisms of Fall River Formation in Donkey Creek and Coyote Creek Oil Fields, Powder River Basin, Wyoming: ABSTRACT

Donkey Creek and Coyote Creek fields contain combined reserves of approximately 35 million bbl of oil and are within a trend of fields on the eastern flank of the Powder River basin that totals over 100 million bbl of reserves. The principal producing formation is the Lower Cretaceous Fall River Sandstone. A study of 45 cores and 248 logs from the three pools in the Donkey Creek and Coyote fields has shown that the Fall River is composed of three progradational deltaic units deposited during a period of rising relative sea level. These are locally eroded and are filled by a fluvial point-bar complex deposited following a lowering of relative sea level. Four important depositional facies have been recognized: the delta-front and distributary-channel sandstone of the highstand deltaic sequence and the point-bar sandstone and channel-abandonment of the lowstand fluvial sequence. Stratigraphic traps in Coyote Creek and south Donkey Creek pools are the result of permeable (250 md) point-bar sandstone (250 bbl oil/day ip) bounded updip by impermeable (0.1 md) channel abandonment mudstone. Most of the oil in the central Donkey Creek pool is produced from permeable (76 md) distributary-channel sandstone (150 bbl oil/day ip), which is restricted to the westernmore » flank of a structural nose. Lesser production, on the crest and upper western flank of the structure, is obtained from the less permeable (2.8 md) delta-front sandstone (50 bbl oil/day ip). Production is possibly limited to the crest and western flank by hydrodynamic processes.« less

Influence of Early Miocene Tectonism on Miocene Deposystems, Tejon Area, Kern County, California: ABSTRACT

The Tejor area, located in the southeastern end of the San Joaquin Valley of California, provides an excellent opportunity to study earliest Miocene tectonics and their subsequent control on Miocene deposystems in the east slope setting. Abundant outcrop and subsurface control, correlative time markers (including volcanic units and micropaleontologic reports), and a relatively mild overprinting by recent structuring facilitated this 3-year study. Late Zemorrian through early Saucesian (22 Ma) volcanic flows and eruptives covered the area while coincident tensional faulting caused the Zemorrian-age Vedder shelf-slope system to collapse. A horst-and-graben basin system resulted, with a narrow serrated shelf along the eastern margin. Onset of Saucesian deposition was dominated by conglomeratic turbidites spilling into silled basin depocenters. The clastic load included typical Sierran-derived material and volcanic detritus from the prior flows. Rugged sea floor relief controlled channel courses and sediment thickness. Turbidite deposition continued through the earliest Mohnian. The early Saucesian sea flow topography exerted progressively less effect on channel courses, while influence from previous channel buildups increased. Clastic sorting improved with time as the shelf matured and the slope gradient decreased, and clean reservoir channel sands were deposited in meanderlike patterns. This sequence of events is critical to working themore » structural and stratigraphic hydrocarbon potential of the Tejon area. Zemorrian Vedder and Eocene-age production is associated with paleohorst blocks (e.g., Tejon North oil field and Tunis Creek pool of the Tejon Hills oil field).« less

Case History of Successfully Water Flooding a Fractured Sandstone

Abstract By 1955, the First Wall Creek reservoir had reached the stripper stage. At that time a 20-acre double five-spot pilot was started to evaluate waterflood feasibility. Injected water was lost from the pilot area through natural fractures, and the five-spots were not encouraging. However, wells outside the five-spots showed production increases, so the pilot area was expanded to include about 100 acres. The expansion proved highly successful, and a full-scale program is now underway. Sand-oil fracture treatments have contributed to the success of the project. Introduction The geology and history of the Salt Creek field, Salt Creek, Wyo., have been described previously. The First Wall Creek pool under consideration here was discovered in 1908 and is one of 11 productive zones found on the Salt Creek anticline. The pool is cut by numerous normal faults of small displacement. Fig. 1 is a field map. Many of the smaller faults have been omitted in this figure. There are surface indications which suggest that some of these faults may be sealed by secondary deposits of calcite. The First Wall Creek pay zone, found at an average depth of 900 ft, is a fine- to medium-grained sand with numerous thin shale partings. Porosity and permeability are locally erratic, and average 15 per cent and 80 md, respectively. Gross thickness of the section averages 120 ft, of which about two-thirds is net pay and the remainder is shale. Core analyses indicate local zones of high permeability, usually near the base of the section. Injectivity profiles from spinner surveys show that extensive natural fracturing is present in some areas, and as a result, matrix permeability does not necessarily determine points of fluid entry into the wellbore. The produced crude is paraffin base, 38 gravity, having an estimated original solution GOR of 550 cu ft/bbl. The northern two-thirds of the Salt Creek field, including all of the First Wall Creek pool, was unitized in 1939, with the Midwest Oil Corp. as unit operator. Pan American Petroleum Corp. conducts the field operations for the unit owners on a contract basis. Sixty-eight companies and individuals are working interest owners in the unit. Gas Injection A gas-drive project was started in the Second Wall Creek pool, Salt Creek's largest reservoir, in 1926. This project was successfulit is still in operationso a similar program was attempted in the First Wall Creek starting in 1927. Maximum available surface injection pressure was only 350 psi, and most of the First Wall Creek wells would not take gas at economically significant rates with this injection pressure, so no measurable production benefit was obtained. Injections were nonetheless continued until 1949 to avoid flaring gas. A total of about 2 billion cu ft was injected in 22 years. JPT P. 1233ˆ

Developments in Colorado, Nebraska, and Utah in 1952

New records were established in development drilling during 1952 in Colorado, Nebraska, and Utah. Completions, up 40 per cent over the previous year and totalling 363, had an over-all success ratio of 70 per cent. Utah, with seven development tests, had a success ratio of 86 per cent, while Colorado and Nebraska, with 356 development tests, were credited with a combined success ratio of 69 per cent. Equally outstanding, exploratory drilling, up 40 per cent over 1951, accounted for 501 tests, of which 16.6 per cent were successful. New-field, pool, and extension discoveries totalled 83. Of this number, Utah, with 23, was up 12 per cent over the previous year for a success ratio of 31 per cent and Colorado and Nebraska, with 30 each, registered only slight changes. In Colorado and Nebraska, Cretaceous sands continued to account for the majority of the new-field discoveries and to be the main objectives for development drilling. In Utah, Tertiary and Cretaceous possibilities were given most attention. New pays were established in this three-state area during the year. These included the Morrison and Frontier in the North Park Basin, the Fort Union (Tertiary) and Lance (U. Cret.) in the Sand Wash Basin, and the Morrow (Penn.), which yielded gas in non-commercial amounts in the southeastern Denver-Cheyenne Basin. In the Denver-Cheyenne Basin, the Pennsylvanian and other Paleozoics were objectives in a number of exploratory tests. Oil showings, as well as zones of porosity and permeability, seem to assure a continued and increased interest in pre-Cretaceous possibilities. Seismic activity decreased slightly in 1952, particularly in Nebraska. Gravity-meter work increased 14 per cent in the area as a whole. The majority of the exploratory tests in the Denver-Cheyenne Basin were drilled on seismic leads. In Utah and western Colorado surface geology provided the principal basis for the tests. In both instances, economics and lack of adequate subsurface control were undoubtedly contributing factors. Leasing activity continued strong, with selected areas carrying most of the weight. A few lease blocks were assembled in the Denver-Cheyenne Basin, particularly along the perimeter and in previously unleased areas. In the North Park Basin leasing of previously mapped structures followed discovery of Frontier oil in the Coalmont anticline. Areal and checkerboard plays were most pronounced in the North Park Basin and in the Wasatch Plateau area. By providing market outlets, the completion of the Platte Pipe Line, the construction of a gas line from the Clear Creek pool to Salt Lake City, and the announcement of a proposed gas line from the Four Corners area to the Pacific Northwest are further expected to stimulate leasing and drilling activity during 1953.

Geology and Occurrence of Oil in Medina Sand of Blue Rock-Salt Creek Pool, Ohio

The principal oil sand is a thin sandstone lying directly upon the Queenston red shale of Upper Ordovician age. This sandstone is known locally as the Medina sand. Although the greater part of the oil from this pool is obtained from the Medina sand, an important yield of natural gas comes from the Clinton sand within the areal limits of the underlying oil pool. Pennsylvania grade crude oil in relatively small and scattered quantity is obtained from the Clinton sand which lies above, and is separated from, the Medina sand by a shale interval of approximately 70 feet. A very small area in the south part of the pool produces some oil, inferior in quality to Pennsylvania grade oil, from the upper part of the ''Big lime and a few small gas wells have been completed in the Mississippian Berea sand along the east bank of the Muskingum River in the west part of the pool. The oil reservoir in the area which is of the greatest interest and which pre­ sents a new problem and a new possibility to the Appalachian producer is in the Medina sand. It may be described as one which produces under gas drive and is currently being developed by the completion of wells which are charac­ teristically small in original potentials, but which exhibit extraordinarily slow declines. The occurrence of this reservoir and the accumulation of oil found in it are believed to be the result of sedimentary processes rather than of migration and entrapment influenced by the structure of the region. This paper, therefore, presents a brief account of development, followed by the data of stratigraphy and structure from which this conclusion has been drawn and is concluded by the author's interpretation of the sedimentary con­ ditions relating to the formation of the reservoir and the means whereby the crude oil may have been transferred to it from the source material.

Stratigraphic accumulation in Jackson- Kanawha counties area of West Virginia

The Jackson-Kanawha Oriskany gas field is in Jackson and Kanawha counties, West Virginia. The main pool extends north from Charleston in a broad tapering belt 15 miles wide at Sissonville and 2 miles wide in northern Jackson County. The Blue Creek pool is 8-12 miles northeast of Charleston in a band 4 miles long and 3 miles wide. The Boone County-Campbells Creek pool is on the Warfield anticline 6 miles south of Charleston in a belt 12 miles long and 3 miles wide. On January 1, 1948, the total area developed was 193,000 acres, and the total gas produced was 721,482,555 MCF. At that time 1,239 wells had been completed to the sand, of which 1,076 were saved as gas wells and 163 were dry holes. The 1,076 gas wells have produced an average of 670,523 MCF per well. It is estim ted that the field is 75-80 per cent depleted and that the ultimate production will be 910,000,000 MCF, an average of 4,715 MCF per acre.

Kanawha-Jackson Oriskany Gas Field: ABSTRACT

The Kanawha-Jackson Oriskany Gas Field is in Kanawha and Jackson counties, West Virginia. The main pool extends north from Charleston in a broad tapering belt 15 miles wide at Sissonville and 2 miles wide in northern Jackson County. The Blue Creek pool is 8-12 miles above Charleston in a band 4 miles long and 3 miles wide. The Boone County-Campbells Creek pool is on the Warfield anticline 6 miles south of Charleston in a belt 12 miles long and 3 miles wide. On January 1, 1948, the total area was 193,000 acres and the total gas produced was 721,482,555 MCF. At that time 1,239 wells had been completed to the sand, of which 1,076 were saved as gas wells and 163 were dry holes. The 1,076 gas wells have produced an average of 737,269 MCF per well. It is estimated that the fiel is 75-80 per cent depleted, and that the ultimate production will be 910,000,000 MCF, an average of 4,715,000 MCF per acre. End_of_Article - Last_Page 2159------------

Geology and Occurrence of Oil in Medina Sand of Blue Rock-Salt Creek Pool, Ohio: ABSTRACT

Geology and Occurrence of Oil in Medina Sand of Blue Rock-Salt Creek Pool, Ohio: ABSTRACT

Geologic Relationship of Crude Oil in the Tow Creek, Wilson Creek, Iles, and Moffat Fields, Colorado: ABSTRACT

A comparison of the composition of crude oils from six zones ranging in age from Jurassic to Cretaceous in the Tow Creek, Wilson Creek, Iles, and Moffat fields, and oil from a seep at Tow Creek, Colorado, shows that, except at Wilson Creek, the oil in each pool is unlike the oil in all other pools of these fields, whether at the same or a different stratigraphic position. In the Wilson Creek field the oil from the Sundance formation is similar to the oil from the overlying Morrison formation. These facts may indicate that, except at Wilson Creek, the source of the oil of each pool was local to that pool; or the data may indicate that the oil of the several pools was at one time similar and was affected differently during the folding and faulting that formed the domes and nticlines. The oil in the Morrison formation at Wilson Creek may have migrated upward from the Sundance formation. The oil in the north Tow Creek pool and the oil in the seep at Tow Creek may have been altered by an intrusive body that occupies a large area in the north part of the Tow Creek anticline. On the other hand, the differences between the oils near the intrusive body are no greater than between oils in a region in Oklahoma containing no intrusive bodies, which has been investigated recently by the research committee of the Tulsa Geological Society. End_of_Article - Last_Page 916------------

Viola Production in Eastern Stafford and Northwestern Reno Counties, Kansas: ABSTRACT

The area covered in this paper has three pools producing from the Viola formation. Listed in the order of discovery, they are: Zenith, Stafford, and Peace Creek. In the Zenith pool, the Maquoketa or Misener overlies the Viola. In the Stafford pool, Kinderhook shale lies on the Viola. In the Peace Creek pool, a thin remnant of Misener sand is found here and there on the Viola, which is overlain by Kinderhook shale. In the End_Page 909------------------------------ Zenith pool, production is obtained from Misener sand, Maquoketa dolomite, and cherty dolomite of the Viola. In the Peace Creek pool, oil is produced from the cherty Viola dolomites. Production in the Stafford pool is from the Viola, and one well is producing from the Arbuckle. Where present, the top of the Fernvale in this area is considered the top of the Viola. Fernvale limestone is present over most of the producing areas under consideration. Two pronounced unconformities are present: one between the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian, and the other between the Mississippian and Ordovician. Post-Fernvale--pre-Kinderhook erosion is shown by the absence of Maquoketa and Fernvale over considerable areas adjacent to the pools. In the Peace Creek and Zenith pools, accumulation is thought to be controlled by stratigraphic trap conditions, while in the Stafford pool accumulation is controlled by structure on the Viola. End_of_Article - Last_Page 910------------