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Effect of the Severe Frost of the Winter of 1939–40 on the Fauna of the Essex Oyster Beds

Abstract

THE severe frost in the winter of 1939–40, some details of which were recorded in NATURE (145, 376; 1940), caused great destruction of oysters on the Thames Estuary oyster beds. Temperature readings in the Blackwater showed that the water reached 0° C. on January 1, and remained at about this level until February 19. Ice began to form on January 17, eventually forming floes which persisted for a month. Thick ice blocks were formed earlier in the shallow water of Whitstable (see accompanying illustration).

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References

  1. Orton, J. H., and Lewis, H. M., J. Mar. Biol. Assoc, 17, 2 (1931).

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  2. Orton, J. H., J. Mar. Biol. Assoc., 24, i, 331–335 (1940).

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ORTON, J. Effect of the Severe Frost of the Winter of 1939–40 on the Fauna of the Essex Oyster Beds. Nature 145, 708–709 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145708a0

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