Usuario:Rivera0997/Agulhas Bank

Agulhas Bank
Map of the Agulhas Bank centred on the Outeniqua Basin
Extensión	116000 km2
Países	South Africa
Ecorregiones – WWF

El Banco de Agulhas (del português, Cabo das Aghulas o Cabo de Agujas")​ es una amplia y poca profunda plataforma continental al sur de África, la cual se extiende hasta 250 kilometros hasta el sur de Cabo Agulhas, antes de caer en una llanura abismal.

Es la región oceánica donde las calidas aguas del Océano Indico y las frías correintes del Océano Ártico se mezclan. Esta combinación, puede llevar a condiciones de navegación peligrosas, la cual a causado numerosos barcos naufragados en la zona a lo largo de los años. Sin embargo, la combinación de los dos océanos proporciona una rica corriente de nutrientes, por lo que es uno de los mejores puntos de pesca en Sudáfrica.

Extensión y características

The South African marine bioregions from the 2004 classification. The 2011 ecoregions are slightly different, but the 2004 Agulhas Bioregion (in dark green) is virtually the same as the 2011 Agulhas Ecoregion.

El banco de Agulhas se extiende aproximadamente 800 kilometros a lo largo de la costa Africana,​ desde la Peninsula del Cabo (18ºE) hasta Port Alfred (26°E),​ y hasta 250 kilómetros de ese punto. El banco tiene una profundidad de 50 metros cerca de la costa y alcanza los 200 metros antes de descender repentinamente 100o metros en el extremo sur.​ La shelf spans barca un area ed 11,600 kilometros cuadrados con una profundidad de un poco más de 100 metros.​

La Evaluación Nacional de Biodiversidad Espacial de 2004, reconoció 34 biozonas ubicadas en 9 bio regiones (de las cuales 4 se encontraban mar adentro). La Evaluación Nacional de Biodiversidad Espacial de 2011 remplazó los términos eco zonas y bio zonas, por eco regiones y eco zonas. En 2011, la Eco región de Agulhas fue dividida en cuatro eco zonas diferentes: Costa de Agulhas, plataforma interna de Agulhas, plataforma externa de Agulhas y el borde de la plataforma de Agulhas.​ Se identificaron 33 diferentes habitats bentónicos en el Banco Agulhas.​

Hay docenas de arrecifes de clima templado a lo lardo de la costa de la Eco región Agulhas, abarcando desde 5 a 30 metros bajo el nivel del mar.Muchos arrecifes rocosos submareales están compuestos de granito, cuarcita y limolita. Los arrecifes de esta región son muy heterogéneos e incluyen varios posibles subtipos diferentes. Algunos de los arrecifes se encuentran en áreas protegidas, pero en solo unas cuantas de esas áreas esta prohibida la pesca.​

Oceanografía

El Banco de Agulhas es una frontera natural entre las corrientes del Océano Atlantico, Océano Indico y el Océano Sur, dando como resultado una de las aguas más turbulentas de los océanos del mundo.​

Corriente de Agulhas

Eddies of the Agulhas Current meanders past the Agulhas Bank leaking warm and salty water into the South Atlantic before retroflecting back into the Indian Ocean

La corriente de Agulhas fluye hacia el sur a lo largo de la costa este de África y al borde sudeste del banco. Después regresa al Océano Índico, al sudeste del banco.Esto resulta en actividad intensa de remolino y filamentos.​ En la capa superior de agua, los anillos y remolinos del Agulhas transaldan agua caliente y salada al giro del océano Atlántico Sur, el cual lo exporta a los trópicos. En las capas inferiores el agua se transporta en la dirección opuesta.​

Upwellings

Cyclonic eddies is another source of edge upwelling west of Port Elisabeth. Plumes of warm surface water migrate onto the bank along its eastern edge, providing subtropical surface water from the Indian Ocean.​ In summer, easterly winds can intermittently drive coastal upwelling along the South African south coast.​ The Agulhas Bank is dominated by westerly winds and most of the upwelling on the bank is related to the interaction of the Agulhas Current on the eastern edge, but easterly winds do occur, especially in summer and fall, and can generate local upwelling cells.​

As the current is diverged away from the coast, dynamic processes draws an onshore Ekman layer of cold water from below the warm shelf-edge flow. In spring and summer, at a depth of 100 metros, a semi-permanent ridge of cold water is present on the eastern and central shelf.​

In summer, there is mixture of subtropical water separated by thermoclines from cool waters, but there is a considerable seasonal variation. On the shelf, bottom waters exhibit characteristics of the central Indian Ocean in the east and central Atlantic Ocean waters in the west.​

Agulhas meanders and Natal pulses

As the Agulhas Current flows south along the African east coast, it tends to bulge inshore frequently, a deviation from the current's normal path known as Agulhas Current meanders (ACM). These bulges are occasionally (1-7 times per year) followed by a much larger offshore bulge, known as Natal pulses (NP). Natal pulses move along the coast at 20 kilometros per day. An ACM can bulge up to 20 kilometros and a NP up to 120 kilometros from the current's mean position.​ The AC passes 34 kilometros offshore and an ACM can reach 123 kilometros offshore. When the AC meanders, its width broadens from 88 kilometros to 125 kilometros and its velocity weakens from 208 cm/s to 136 cm/s. An ACM induces a strong inshore counter-current.​

Large-scale cyclonic meanders known as Natal pulses are formed as the Agulhas Current reaches the continental shelf on the South African east-coast (i.e. the eastern Agulhas Bank off Natal). As these pulses moves along the coast on the Agulhas Bank, they tend to pinch off Agulhas rings from the Agulhas Current. Such a ring shedding can be triggered by a Natal pulse alone, but sometimes meanders on the Agulhas Return Current merge to contribute to the shedding of an Agulhas ring.​

Agulhas leakage and rings

Light blue plankton in a 150 kilometros wide anti-cyclonic (counter-clockwise) Agulhas ring 800 kilometros south the South Africa. Such eddies, among the largest in the world, are peeled off the Agulhas Current on the eastern edge of the Agulhas Bank.

Agulhas rings are large anticyclonic eddies or warm core rings of ocean water that are pinched off the Agulhas Current along the eastern edge of the Agulhas Bank from where they move into the South Atlantic. As the Agulhas Current reaches the east coast of South Africa, large solitary meanders known as Natal pulses form at irregular intervals. 165 days after the appearance of a Natal pulse, an Agulhas ring is formed off Durban. The Agulhas rings are among the largest eddies in the world and play an important role in the Agulhas Leakage, the transport of warm water from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, which affects the global climate.​

The average diameter of the Agulhas rings is 320 kilometros, but they can reach 500 km. They extend down to the ocean floor; circulate at 0.3-1.5 m/s; and move into the South Atlantic at 4-8 kilometros/día. Only half of the Agulhas eddies that leave the Cape Basin manage to cross the Walvis Ridge and those that do tend to lose half their energy before reaching the ridge within six months. The Agulhas rings transport an estimated 1-5 Sv (millions m²/s) of water from the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic.​

The Agulhas rings are thought to be of global climatic importance. Their delivery of warm water from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean can control the rate of thermohaline overturning of the entire Atlantic. Other factors contribute to various degrees to the inter-ocean exchanges in the region, including filaments from the Agulhas Current and intrusions of water from Antarctica. Cold, cyclonic eddies have been observed in the southwestern Atlantic.​ Based on model simulations, researchers have found that the interaction of the Agulhas Current and the eastern edge of the bank can result in the Agulhas rings.​

The provenance of ocean sediments can be determined by analysing terrigenous strontium isotope ratios in deep ocean cores. Sediments underlying the Agulhas Current and Return Current have significantly higher ratios than surrounding sediments. Analyses of cores in the South Atlantic deposited during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 20 000 years ago), show that the Agulhas leakage (shedding of Agulhas rings) was significantly reduced. It has been hypothesised that the reason for this was that the Agulhas Current was stronger which resulted in a more eastward retroflection and therefore less leakage. However, analyses of such cores south of Africa show that the trajectory of the current was the same during the LGM and that the reduced leakage must be explained by a weaker current. Consequently, it can be predicted that a stronger Agulhas Current will result in its retroflection occurring more eastward and an increased Agulhas leakage.​

Benguela Current

Compared to the Agulhas Current, the Benguela Current on the west and south-west coast of Africa is more intense and steadier. Its dynamic southern upwelling system is driven by the prevailing northward winds that produce an intense off-shore Ekman transport. Most of this upwelling is concentrated to a few upwelling cells in the southern region: Namaqua (30°S), Cape Columbine (32.5°S), and Cape Peninsula (34°S). The wind is most intense from October to February, and the contrast in sea surface temperature between the open sea and the shelf is most prominent during summer.​

Coastal upwelling s also common on the western bank, but the more stable atmospheric condition results in larger cold water plumes that sometimes merge to form a continuous upwelling regime along the South African south-west coast. This upwelling zone is the southernmost extension of the Benguela Current Large Maritime Ecosystem. The Agulhas Current regularly flows around the southern tip of the bank and brings warm water to the western bank along the bank's western edge.​ Regularly, the mesoscale eddies from the east interact with the Benguela upwelling system on the African west coast.​

Deep water eddies

Floating south along the South American continental slope, the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) carries North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) into the South Atlantic. At about 8°S and at a depth of 2200-3500 metros , the DWBC breaks into anticyclonic eddies during periods of strong meridional overturning circulation. One such NADW eddy was observed in 2003 and the researchers speculated that a deeply penetrating Agulhas ring pinched it off the NADW slope current. Spinning at 20 m/s, these deep-water eddies move around the southern tip of the Agulhas Bank and into the Indian Ocean. Most of the NADW flow (more than 7 Sv) meanders east around the Agulhas Plateau together with the surface Agulhas Return Current, but a smaller portion (3 Sv) continue north along the African east-coast as the Agulhas Undercurrent.​ Of 89.5 Sv released from the North Atlantic, 3.6 Sv leaves the South Atlantic south of the Agulhas Bank. However, 0.9 Sv recirculate in the basin north of the Walvis Ridge for centuries, of which 50-90% end up flowing south of the Agulhas Bank within 300 years, increasing the net inter-oceanic exchange with 4.1-4.5 Sv.​

Geología

The Agulhas Bank relative to the Agulhas Ridge, Basin, and Plateau

As Gondwana formed 500 mya, a rift appeared which eventually developed into the Agulhas Sea. This sea filled with sediments that were to become the Cape Supergroup, which subsequently were folded into the Cape Fold Belt.

The oldest rock found along the coastline of the Agulhas Bank are eugeosynclinal sediments of the up to 3 kilometros thick Kaaimans group deposited during continental rifting some 900 million years ago (Mya). The proto-South Atlantic closed during the Saldanian orogeny to form part of the supercontinent Gondwana (700-600 Mya). The Cape granites were emplaced and the Kaaimans Group rocks were folded and thermally metamorphosed during this period. The formation of the main basin in the Cape Province commenced 570 Mya and lasted for 200 My. The Table Mountain Group is 4 kilometros thick and an erosional unconformity marking its base is composed of both terrestrial and marine sediments. Synclines along the coast of the southern Cape contains sediments from the Bokkveld Group.​

The Cape Fold Belt (CFB) rocks and the Karoo Basin were deposited 450 Mya; the Cape Supergroup 450-300 Mya during a series of transgression-regression cycles. Pan-African thrusts were reactivated 270-215 Mya to form the CFB which was then part of a continuous fold belt that developed during the Gondwanide orogeny together with Sierra de la Ventana (Argentina), Pensacola Mountains (East Antarctica), and Ellsworth Mountains (West Antarctica). In the late Carboniferous and early Jurassic, the Karoo Supergroup was deposited in the Karoo Basin north of where the CFB is located today, and covering nearly two-thirds of present-day South Africa.​

Véase también: Marine geology of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay

Gondwana breakup

Basaltic lavas were extruded 183 Mya to form the Karoo large igneous province; a volcanism caused by the Bouvet hotspot which is linked to the Gondwana break-up.​ The Bouvet hotspot was located in or near present-day South Africa from the late Triassic 220 mya and until the Africa-Antarctica breakup 120 mya.​ The Bouvet hotspot track stretches south-east from the African continent, near the South Africa-Mozambique border, and east of the AFFZ down to Bouvet Island/Bouvet Triple Junction in the South Atlantic. 100 Mya, the region where the triple junction was located passed over the hotspot, resulting in a continuous eruption that lasted to about 94 Mya and the seafloor spreading that still separates Antarctica, Africa, and South America.​

The Agulhas-Falkland Fracture Zone (AFFZ) stretches 1200 kilometros across the South Atlantic. It is one of the largest and most spectacular fracture zones on Earth. It developed during the Early Cretaceous as West Gondwana (=South America) broke up from Africa. The AFFZ is characterized by a pronounced topographic anomaly, the Agulhas Ridge (41°S,16°E-43°S,9°E) which rises more than 2 km above the surrounding sea floor. The only equivalent in size are the neighbouring Diaz Ridge and the Falkland Escarpment. The Agulhas Ridge is unique because it was not formed during the continental breakup during the Cretaceous and because it separates oceanic crusts of different age, and not oceanic crust (~14 km thick) from continental crust (25 km thick).​​

North of the (AFFZ) is the Outeniqua Basin which is a complex system of sub-basins separated from each other by faults and basement arches; there are several smaller fault-bounded sub-basins in the north (Bredasdorp, Infanta, Pletmos, Gamtoos, and Algoa) and a distinctively deeper sub-basin in the south (the South Outeniqua Basin.) The sedimentary fill of these basins developed as the northern edge of the Falkland Plateau separated from the South African southern margin during the early Cretaceous.​

The Diaz Marginal Ridge (DMR) separates these basins from the AFFZ. The DMR is buried under 200-250 metros of sediments and sedimentary rocks and 150-200 metros of this sedimentary material is undisturbed Cretaceous sediments younger than the oldest Cretaceous sedimentary rocks in the Southern Outeniqua Basin. The DMR must therefore have formed after the initial West Gondwana breakup 130-90 Mya. The DMR probably formed when new, hot oceanic crust slid past old, cold continental crust and the contrast in temperatures induced a thermal uplift.​

As West Gondwana drifted away from Africa roughly 125 Myr, the South Atlantic seafloor formed between them and magnetic anomalies north of the AFFZ reflects phase of the seafloor spreading. South of the AFFZ traces can be found of how the Falkland Plateau and the Agulhas Bank moved relative to each other. On a modern map, the Falkland Plateau can still be rotated and fitted into the Natal Valley in the Indian Ocean east of South Africa.​ The Agulhas Plateau is located southeast of the shelf, separated from it by the Agulhas Passage (through which the Agulhas Current flows.)​

Pliocene

One of the largest known slumps occurred on the south-eastern edge of the Agulhas Bank in the Pliocene or more recently. Stretching from a depth of 190-700 metros, the so-called Agulhas slump is 750 kilometros long, 106 kilometros wide, and has a volume of 2000 km3. It is a composite slump with proximal and distal allochthonous sediment masses separated by a large glide plane scar. In the western part, the sediments are dammed by basement ridges, but, in the eastern part, they have spread into the Transkei Basin. A series of slump scarps along the western edge of the shelf are 18–2 Mya, but covered by younger sediments brought there by the Benguela upwelling.​

Véase también: Marine geology of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay

Evolución Humana

Anatomically modern humans evolved around 200 kya. The genetic diversity in the human lineage is relatively low, which indicate one or several population bottlenecks late in our lineage. It has been estimated that the population was limited to maybe 600 individuals during the MIS 6 glacial stage (195-125 kya), one of the longest cold periods in the Quaternary of Africa. A technological and behavioural revolution that occurred globally about 50 kya led to a cultural complexity which happened in South Africa around 120-70 kya.​

The Cape Floral Region is a thin coastal strip and a botanic hotspot which developed at the confluence of the Benguela Upwelling and Agulhas Current. According to what professor Curtis Marean call the "Cape Floral Region – South Coast Model" for the origins of modern humans, the early hunter-gatherers survived on shellfish, as well as geophytes, fur seal, fish, seabirds, and wash-ups found on the exposed Agulhas Bank. The bank slopes into the sea and a reconstruction of how the coastline has changed over 440 kya shows that the coast during the Pleistocene was located as far as 90 kilometros from the present coast.​

The present South African southern coastal plain (SCP) is still separated from the rest of Africa by the Cape Fold Belt. During glacial maxima the sea-level dropped 120 metros. This not only left large parts of the Agulhas Bank exposed, which greatly expanded the area of the SCP, but it also reconnected the SCP to the rest of Africa by the shallow water shelves, which broke the isolation of the SCP. Modern humans evolved on the SCP and the fluctuation in sea-levels would have resulted in a significant variation in selective pressure. No fossil records are known from the now submerged shelf, but a series of key fossil sites along the coastal margin of the present SCP provide earliest traces of anatomically modern humans and the use of marine resources.​

Véase también: Pinnacle Point

Importancia Comercial

South Africa began oil exploration on the Agulhas Bank in the 1980s. Of more than 200 offshore wells in South Africa, most are found on Bredasdorp Basin on the Agulhas Bank.​

Pesca

The Agulhas Bank is also significant for fisheries who use demersal trawling, demersal longline fishing, and midwater trawl fishing on the bank. Squid and small pelagic fishes are also caught. Before the introduction of the EEZ, foreign fisheries used roch-hopper gear trawling on the bank.​

Most of the catches are short-lived shelf-zone pelagic species and more long-lived deep-water species. The large populations of sardine and anchovy also present on the shelf follow an annual cycle. Anchovy spawn on the western Agulhas Bank in early summer while the sardines span over a broader season and area — eggs are transported by currents to the nursery area in the St Helena Bay on the South African west coast from where juvenile then migrate back to the Agulhas Bank to spawn.​

South Africa has a relatively large fishing industry mostly catching pelagic pilchard and anchovy and demersal Hake on the south and western coasts. Though the east coast has fewer commercial fisheries, the large human population along there has resulted in overexploitation of coastal fish and invertebrate stocks by recreational and subsistence fishers. A small aquaculture industry produces mussles and oysters offshore.​

Several pelagic species are heavily harvested by the commercial fleet: purse-seine fishery is used to catch sardines, anchovies, and round herring; mid-water trawl fishery to catch horse mackerel and chub mackerel; pelagic longline and pole fishery to catch tunas and swordfish; while hook and line are used inshore to catch squid and teleost species, including snoek and geelbek. All these species are relatively common and are considered having an important role in the ecosystem.​

Biodiversidad

Papery burnupena in False Bay

En Sudáfrica hay al menos 12,194 especies marinas, pero la documentación de especies pequeñas es mínima y la zona abismal está casi inexplorada. Aproximadamente la cuarta parte de la costa de Sudáfrica esta protegida , a excepción de las aguas más profundas.​ Un tercio de las especias son endémicas de Sudáfrica, (aunque los bajos niveles de investigación taxonómica en los paises cercanos afecten el endemismo). El grado de enemisto varía según el taxon: Bryozoa 64%, Mollusca 56%, Echinodermata 3.6%, Porifera 8.8%, Amphipoda 33%, Isopoda 85%, o Cumacea 71%.​ La pesca es una de las principales amenazas del Banco ed Agulhas.​

Crustáceos

Los copépoodos conforman el 90 % del carbono zooplancton en el Banco de Agulhas, y son un factor importante en la fuente de alimento para los peces pelágicos y jóvenes calamares. La población de Calanus agulhensis, una especie de gran población que domina la comunidad de copépodos en cuanto a biomasa, tiene un centro de distribución en el centro del Banco de Agulhas. Desde 1997 la biomasa de los copépodos en el centro del banco ha ido disminuyendo, mientras que la biomasa de peces pelágicos ha aumentado. Si bien la depredación ha jugado un papel importante en el declive de los copépodos, se cree que el calentamiento global (temperatura del mar y abundancia de clorofila A) ha influido de manera notable.​

Peces

El borde de la plataforma a lo largo de la punta sur del banco esta sujeta a surgencias esporádicas. Esta ladera, montes submarinos y su entorno, es el lugar el cual escogen las sardinas, anchoas y jaurela para depositar sus huevos. Los remolinos que se forman por la corriente ayudan a transportar agua a la costa, lo cual hace que se unan los habitats, el de desove y áreas de cría.

Un gran tiburón blanco cerca de la Isla Dyer

.​ Los huevos y larvas colocados por las anchoas son transportados mediante el Good Hope Jet a la costa suroeste de África donde crecen y se desarrollan. Cuando el momento llega, la anchoas jóvenes vuelven al Banco de Agulhas para procrear.​ Las anchoas y sardinas jóvenes se congregan a lo largo de la costa entre marzo y septiembre antes de para emigrar a sus respectivas areas de puesta en el Banco de Agulhas. Se pueden encontrar sardinas de edad intermedia en el occidente del Banco de Agulhas entre enero y abril, antes de migrar a KwaZulu-Natal para el invierno. La puesta en el Banco de Agulhas tiene lugar a 30-130 kilómetros de la costa de septiembre a febrero.​

Véase también: Sardine run

El banco es el área de puesta de peces de arrecife profundo, incluidas la rupestris ( red steenbras)especie endémica y amenazada. Otras especies han sido sobre explotadas, incluyendo la dorada (Chrysoblephus cristiceps), Cymatoceps nasutus (Cymatoceps nasutus), y el lob plateado (Argyrosomus inodorus).​

57 especies de tiburones han sido reportadas frente a la costa occidental de Sudáfrica, de los cuales 21 son tiburones escuálido.​

Véase también: List of marine fishes of South Africa

Aves

Brown skua near Dyer Island

African penguins at Table Mountain National Park

La principal fuente de alimento del Pingüino Africano (Spheniscus demersus) es la anchoa y sardina, las cuales habitan entre Cabo Columbine y el centro del Banco de Agulhas. Las aves tienen colonias en la Isla Dassen, en el oeste de la costa de Sudáfrica, y la Isla Pájaro (Bird Island) en el sur de la costa.​ El pinguino africano se reproduce de manera oportunista, siguiendo a las anchoas y sardinas: de febrero a septiembre el oeste del Cabo, pero de enero a julio en la Isla St Croix, en Cabo Oriental​

En 2005, cuando

In 2005, when Korean and Philippine vessels started longline fishing along the edges of the Agulhas Bank, seabird bycatch became a huge problem. Large numbers of albatrosses and petrels were killed — in average 0.6 birds per 1000 hooks, but up to 18 birds per 1000 hooks were reported.​ Since 2007, however, more restrictive permit conditions for foreign-flagged fleets and the use of birds scaring lines have decreased the number of killed birds by 85%.​

Lobos Marinos

Lobo Marino en Cape Town

Los lobos marinos del Cabo se encuentran a lo largo de la costa de Sudáfrica. Están protegidos en Sudáfrica desde 1893, aunque un pequeño número es sacrificado para proteger a las aves marinas. Muchos lobos marinos quedan atrapados en redes para pescar y en las helices de los barcos, aunque también se les acusa regularmente de robar pescado de comerciantes.​ Se sabe que son presa de los tiburones, pero en 2012 se observó a un lobo marino casando y comiendo a un pequeño tiburón azul.​

Catáceos

A dusky dolphin on the Cape Peninsula west coast

51 especies o más de 50% de las especies reconocidas , están presentes en la subregión de África sur (entre el ecuador y el borde de hielo ártico), de las cuales 36 han sido vistas en Sudáfrica y Namibia.​

Una vulnerable población

A vulnerable population of fish-eating killer whales are present offshore on the Agulhas Bank. Observations peak in January while few are sighted in April and May. The killer whales move in pods of 1-4 individuals and are mostly sited over the shelf edge off the south-east coast.​ An analysis of killer whale mtDNA has shown that there was a peak inter-oceanic migration events during the Eemian interglacial period, 131-114 kya. This peak coincides with a period of maximal Agulhas leakage which promoted a rapid and episodic interchange of killer whale lineages. During this period killer whales and other marine top predators, such as the great white shark, colonised the North Atlantic and Mediterranean by following their prey — bluefin tuna and swordfish.​

A vagrant Commerson's dolphin — a species with two isolated populations, one along the southern coast of Argentina and the other around the Kerguelen Islands — was sighted on the Agulhas Bank in 2004. It is not known from which population the sighted individual stems. The Kerguelen Islands are located 4300 kilometros and South America 6300 kilometros from the Agulhas Bank, but the west-ward direction of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current would force the dolphin to swim against the current from the Kerguelen Islands.​

Fossil beaked whales have been recovered by trawling from the seafloor off South Africa.​ Stranded pygmy sperm whales have been recorded on both the east and west coasts of South Africa.​

Referencias

Fuentes

• Bianucci, G.; Lambert, O.; Post, K. (2007). «A high diversity in fossil beaked whales (Mammalia, Odontoceti, Ziphiidae) recovered by trawling from the sea floor off South Africa». Biodiversitas 29 (4). Archivado desde el original el 8 February 2015. Consultado el 8 February 2015. 
• Bird, D. (2001). «Shear margins: Continent-ocean transform and fracture zone boundaries». The Leading Edge 20 (2): 150-159. doi:10.1190/1.1438894. Consultado el 4 January 2015. 
• Blanke, B.; Penven, P.; Roy, C.; Chang, N.; Kokoszka, F. (2009). «Ocean variability over the Agulhas Bank and its dynamical connection with the southern Benguela upwelling system». Journal of Geophysical Research 114 (C12028). Bibcode:2009JGRC..11412028B. doi:10.1029/2009JC005358. Consultado el 2 January 2015. 
• Bruyn, P. J. N., de; Hofmeyr, G. J. G.; Villiers, M. S., de (2006). «First record of a vagrant Commerson’s dolphin, Cephalorhynchus commersonii, at the southern African continental shelf». African Zoology 41 (1). Consultado el 15 February 2015. 
• Casal, T. G. D.; Beal, L. M.; Lumpkin, R. (2006). «A North Atlantic deep-water eddy in the Agulhas Current system». Deep-Sea Research Part I 53: 1718-1728. Bibcode:2006DSRI...53.1718C. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2006.08.007. 
• Compton, J. S. (2011). «Pleistocene sea-level fluctuations and human evolution on the southern coastal plain of South Africa». Quaternary Science Reviews 30: 506-527. Bibcode:2011QSRv...30..506C. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.12.012. Consultado el 10 January 2015. 
• Crawford, R. J. M.; Hemming, M.; Kemper, J.; Klage, N. T. W.; Randall, R. M.; Underhill, L. G.; Venter, A. D.; Wolfaardt, A. C. (2006). «S24-2 Molt of the African penguin, Spheniscus demersus, in relation to its breeding season and food availability». Acta Zoologica Sinica 52 (Supplement): 444-447. Archivado desde el original el 5 November 2016. Consultado el 1 March 2015. 
• Durrheim, R. J. (1987). «Seismic reflection and refraction studies of the deep structure of the Agulhas Bank». Geophysical Journal International 89 (1): 395-398. Bibcode:1987GeoJ...89..395D. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1987.tb04437.x. 
• Ebert, D. A.; Compagno, L. J. V.; Cowley, P. D. (1992). «A preliminary investigation of the feeding ecology of squaloid sharks off the west coast of southern Africa». South African Journal of Marine Science 12 (1): 601-609. doi:10.2989/02577619209504727. 
• Elwen, S. H.; Findlay, K. P.; Kiszka, J.; Weir, C. R. (2011). «Cetacean research in the southern African subregion: a review of previous studies and current knowledge». African Journal of Marine Science 33 (3): 469-493. doi:10.2989/1814232x.2011.637614. Consultado el 28 March 2015. 
• Elwen, S. H.; Gridley, T.; Roux, J.-P.; Best, P. B.; Smale, M.J. (2013). «Records of kogiid whales in Namibia, including the first record of the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima)». Marine Biodiversity Records 6 (e45). doi:10.1017/S1755267213000213. Consultado el 8 February 2015. 
• Foote, A. D.; Morin, P. A.; Durban, J. W.; Willerslev, E.; Orlando, L.; Gilbert, : T. P. (2011). «Out of the Pacific and Back Again: Insights into the Matrilineal History of Pacific Killer Whale Ecotypes». PLOS ONE 6 (9): e24980. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...624980F. PMC 3176785. PMID 21949818. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024980. Consultado el 26 March 2015. 
• Franzese, A. M.; Goldstein, S. L.; Skrivanek, A. L. (2012). Assessing the role of the Subtropical Front in regulating Agulhas leakage at the Last Glacial Termination. American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference. Consultado el 15 February 2015. 
• Gohl, K.; Uenzelmann-Neben, G. (2012). «The Southeast African Large Igneous Province: a model of its crustal growth and plate-kinematic dispersal». Large Igneous Provinces Commission. Consultado el 4 February 2015. 
• Golonka, J.; Bocharova, N. Y. (2000). «Hot spot activity and the break-up of Pangea». Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 161: 49-69. Bibcode:2000PPP...161...49G. doi:10.1016/s0031-0182(00)00117-6. Consultado el 15 February 2015. 
• Goodlad, S. W.; Martin, A. K.; Hartnay, C. J. H. (1982). «Mesozoic magnetic anomalies in the southern Natal Valley». Nature 295 (25): 686-688. Bibcode:1982Natur.295..686G. doi:10.1038/295686a0. Consultado el 6 April 2015. 
• Grantham, H. S.; Game, E. T.; Lombard, A. T.; Hobday, A. J.; Richardson, A. J.; Beckley, L. E.; Pressey, R. L.; Huggett, J. A.; Coetzee, J. C.; van der Lingen, C. D.; Petersen, S. L.; Merkle, D.; Possingham, H. P. (2011). «Accommodating Dynamic Oceanographic Processes and Pelagic Biodiversity in Marine Conservation Planning». PLOS ONE 6 (2): e16552. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...616552G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016552. Consultado el 29 March 2015. 
• Griffith, C. L.; Robinson, T. B.; Lange, L.; Mead, A. (2010). «Marine Biodiversity in South Africa: An Evaluation of Current States of Knowledge». PLOS ONE 5 (8): e12008. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...512008G. PMC 2914023. PMID 20689849. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012008. 
• Gyory, J.; Beal, L. M.; Bischof, B.; Mariano, A. J.; Ryan, E. H. (2004). «The Agulhas Current». RSMAS. Consultado el 4 April 2015. 
• Harding, C. T. (2013). Tracking African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) outside of the breeding season: Regional effects and fishing pressure during the pre-moult period (MSc). Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town. Consultado el 1 March 2015. 
• Huggett, J.; Lamont, T.; Coetzee, J.; Lingen, Carl, van der (2012). Are Changes in the Copepod Community on the Agulhas Bank over the Last Two Decades Mediated by Environmental factors or Predation?. American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference. Consultado el 15 February 2015. 
• Jackson, J. M.; Rainville, L.; Roberts, M. J.; McQuald, C. D.; Porri, F.; Durgadoo, J.; Blastoch, A. (2012). Mesoscale bio-physical interactions between the Agulhas Current and Agulhas Bank, South Africa. American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference. Consultado el 15 February 2015. 
• Jury, Mark R. (2011). «Environmental Influences on South African Fish Catch: South Coast Transition». International Journal of Oceanography 2011 (920414): 1-10. doi:10.1155/2011/920414. Consultado el 25 January 2015. 
• Leber, G.; Beal, L. (2012). «Velocity Structure and Transport of the Meandering vs. Non-Meandering Agulhas Current». RSMAS. Consultado el 4 April 2015. 
• Leeuwen, P. J., van; Ruijter, W. P. M., de; Lutjeharms, J. R. E. (2000). «Natal pulses and the formation of Agulhas rings». Journal of Geophysical Research 105 (C3): 6425-6436. Bibcode:2000JGR...105.6425V. doi:10.1029/1999jc900196. Consultado el 15 February 2015. 
• Marean, C. W. (2011). «Coastal South Africa and the Coevolution of the Modern Human Lineage and the Coastal Adaptation». En Bicho, N. F.; Haws, J. A.; Davis, L. G., eds. Trekking the Shore: Changing Coastlines and the Antiquity of Coastal Settlement. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer. pp. 421-440. ISBN 978-1-4419-8219-3. Consultado el 6 January 2015. 
• Parsiegla, N.; Stankiewicz, J.; Gohl, K.; Ryberg, T.; Uenzelmann-Neben, G. (2009). «Southern African continental margin: Dynamic processes of a transform margin». Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10 (3). Bibcode:2009GGG....10.3007P. doi:10.1029/2008GC002196. 
• Penven, P.; Lutjeharms, J. R. E.; Marchesiello, P.; Roy, C.; Weeks, S. J. (2001). «Generation of cyclonic eddies by the Agulhas Current in the lee of the Agulhas Bank». Geophysical Research Letters 28 (6): 1055-1058. Bibcode:2001GeoRL..28.1055P. doi:10.1029/2000gl011760. Consultado el 2 January 2015. 
• Ruijter, W. P. M., de; Cunningham, S. A.; Gordon, A. L.; Lutjeharms, J. R. E.; Matano, R. P.; Piola, A. R. (2003). «On the South Atlantic Climate Observing System (SACOS)». Report of the CLIVAR/OOPC/IAI workshop (NOAA). Consultado el 4 January 2015. 
• Ryan, P. (2006). «The long haul: a decade of conserving albatrosses and petrels». Africa - birds and birding 11 (2): 52-59. Archivado desde el original el 2 April 2015. Consultado el 29 March 2015. 
• Sebille, Erik, van; Johns, W. E.; Beal, L. M. (2012). «Does the vorticity flux from Agulhas rings control the zonal pathway of NADW across the South Atlantic?». Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (C5). Bibcode:2012JGRC..117.5037V. doi:10.1029/2011JC007684. Consultado el 4 April 2015. 
• Sink, K.; Holness, S.; Harris, L.; Majiedt, P.; Atkinson, L.; Robinson, T.; Kirkman, S.; Hutchings, L.; Leslie, R.; Lamberth, S.; Kerwath, S.; von der Heyden, S.; Lombard, A.; Attwood, C.; Branch, G.; Fairweather, T.; Taljaard, S.; Weerts, S.; Cowley, P.; Awad, A.; Halpern, B.; Grantham, H.; Wolf, T. (2012). National Biodiversity Assessment 2011: Technical Report.. 4: Marine and Coastal Component. Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute. Consultado el 29 March 2015. 
• Sink, K.; Leslie, R.; Samaal, T.; Attwood, C. (2012a). «Agulhas Bank, South Africa». Southern Indian Ocean Regional Workshop to Facilitate the Description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) (Convention on Biological Biodiversity). Consultado el 29 March 2015. 
• Sink, K.; Leslie, R.; Samaal, T.; Attwood, C. (2012b). «Agulhas slope and seamounts». Southern Indian Ocean Regional Workshop to Facilitate the Description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) (Convention on Biological Biodiversity). Consultado el 29 March 2015. 
• Uenzelmann-Neben, G.; Gohl, K. (2003). «Agulhas Ridge, South Atlantic: the peculiar structure of a transform fault». Workshop on East-West Antarctic Tectonics and Gondwana Breakup 60W to 60E as part of the 9th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences (ISAES) (Potsdam, Germany). 
• Uenzelmann-Neben, G.; Huhn, K. (2009). «Sedimentary deposits on the southern South African continental margin: Slumping versus non-deposition or erosion by oceanic currents?». Marine Geology 266: 65-79. Bibcode:2009MGeol.266...65U. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2009.07.011. 
• Whittle, C. P. (2012). «Characterization of Agulhas Bank upwelling variability from satellite-derived sea surface temperature and ocean colour products». American Geophysical Union Chapman Conference. Consultado el 2 January 2015. 
• Williams, A. J.; Petersen, S. L.; Goren, M.; Watkins, B. P. (2009). «Sightings of killer whales Orcinus orca from longline vessels in South African waters, and consideration of the regional conservation status». African Journal of Marine Science 31 (1): 81-86. doi:10.2989/AJMS.2009.31.1.7.778.