Deep-Sea Research, Vol. 27A, pp. 435 to 447
Copyright Pergamon Press Ltd 1980. Printed in Great Britain

The relation of concentration and size distribution of suspended
particulate matter to hydrography in Onslow Bay, North Carolina

G.-A. Paffenhofer, Don Deibel, L. P. Atkinson, and W. M. Dunstan
(Received 30 October 1978; in revised form 26 October 1979; accepted 21 January 1980;
final revision received 6 February 1980)

Abstract-The volume and size distribution of particulate matter was related to hydrographic conditions in bottom water masses (intrusions) that move on to the continental shelf off North Carolina from greater depths of the Gulf Stream. In all instances, the volume of particulate matter in intruded waters was greater than that in surface waters. Particle volumes, compared in three particle size ranges between 2 and 101 µm, had maxima in the range of 25 to 101 µm. Juvenile stages of zooplankton were abundant in the intrusions. These presumably feed only on particles smaller than 25 µm dia. and thus have little impact on large diatoms.