Bayesian estimates of marine radiocarbon reservoir effect in northern Iberia during the Early and Middle Holocene

Reconstructing the past variability of marine radiocarbon reservoir effects (MRE) is crucial for generating reliable chronologies for marine species and their consumers. We investigated the temporal MRE variability at the Early-to Mid-Holocene site of El Mazo (Asturias, northern Spain) by using a combination of new and previously published radiocarbon measurements on marine and terrestrial samples. The El Mazo site is characterized by overall well-defined archaeological layers of unknown occupation length with the predominant presence of two mollusc species (Patella vulgata Linnaeus, 1758 and topshell Phorcus lineatus [da Costa, 1778]) which were analysed for radiocarbon measurements. We employed the recently released IntCal20 calibration curve for the northern hemisphere and Bayesian modelling to reconstruct the site's chronology and temporal variability in MREs according to mollusc species. Obtained radiocarbon modelling results, although the estimate precision is not high, reveal a temporal variability in MREs that can be interpreted in view of known past climatic and environmental events such as the 8.2 ka event. The results also revealed differences in MREs according to mollusc species, which need to be taken into account in future chronological modelling. Overall, our results provide reference MRE values for the study of chronologies in northern Iberia during the Early-to Mid-Holocene. In this respect, a non-conservative ΔR reference for local marine samples dating earlier than c. 8.1 ka cal BP is −238 ± 28 ¹⁴C years.     

Environmental characteristics of Mid-Holocene recorded by lacustrine sediments from Lake Daihai, north environment sensitive zone, China

One of the goals for paleaoenvironmental research is to predict the tendency of future climate and environmental changes based on the understanding of the past. The key approach is to find similar pictures which happened in the past. By understanding the background and mechanism of the paleaoenvironmen- tal changes, reliable parameters and verifications can be provided for the numerical model to predict the tendency of future climate and environmental changes. The Mid-Holocene as the nearest …     

Sediment accumulation rates in subarctic lakes: Insights into age-depth modeling from 22 dated lake records from the Northwest Territories,Canada

Age-depth modeling using Bayesian statistics requires well-informed prior information about the behavior of sediment accumulation. Here we present average sediment accumulation rates (represented as deposition times, DT, in yr/cm) for lakes in an Arctic setting, and we examine the variability across space (intra- and inter-lake) and time (late Holocene). The dataset includes over 100 radiocarbon dates, primarily on bulk sediment, from 22 sediment cores obtained from 18 lakes spanning the boreal to tundra ecotone gradients in subarctic Canada. There are four to twenty-five radiocarbon dates per core, depending on the length and character of the sediment records. Deposition times were calculated at 100-year intervals from age-depth models constructed using the ‘classical’ age-depth modeling software Clam. Lakes in boreal settings have the most rapid accumulation (mean DT 20 ± 10 yr/cm), whereas lakes in tundra settings accumulate at moderate (mean DT 70 ± 10 yr/cm) to very slow rates, (>100 yr/cm). Many of the age-depth models demonstrate fluctuations in accumulation that coincide with lake evolution and post-glacial climate change. Ten of our sediment cores yielded sediments as old as c. 9000 cal BP (BP = years before AD 1950). From between c. 9000 cal BP and c. 6000 cal BP, sediment accumulation was relatively rapid (DT of 20–60 yr/cm). Accumulation slowed between c. 5500 and c. 4000 cal BP as vegetation expanded northward in response to warming. A short period of rapid accumulation occurred near 1200 cal BP at three lakes. Our research will help inform priors in Bayesian age modeling.     

Identifying a reliable target fraction for radiocarbon dating sedimentary records from lakes

Lake basins that experience rapid rates of deposition act as high-resolution environmental archives because they produce sedimentary records that have centennial or even decadal resolution. However, identifying target fractions for radiocarbon dating of lake sediments remains problematic because reworked organic material from fluvial catchments can produce anomalously old radiocarbon ages. This study determines the extent to which reworked material from catchment soils impacts radiocarbon dates on pollen and other organic concentrates by comparing radiocarbon dates produced by these techniques against a chronostratigraphic marker in cores from Lake Mapourika, New Zealand. Pollen preferentially preserved and reworked from catchment soils was identified using soil palynology. A technique was then developed to remove reworked pollen types from pollen concentrates extracted from lake sediment. Identification and removal of reworked pollen from pollen concentrates produced ages that were consistently closer to the age of the chronostratigraphic horizon than other organic concentrates. However, these dates were still between 736 and 366 calendar years older than expected. The only organic fractions that reliably reproduced the age of the chronostratigraphic horizon were terrestrial leaf macrofossils, although terrestrial leaf macrofossils isolated from megaturbidite deposits, which are formed by high-energy depositional events, also provided anomalously old ages. The results indicate that leaf material extracted from hemipelagite, which accumulates gradually, is likely to be the only organic fraction to produce reliable chronology in lakes where a component of sedimentation is driven by the fluvial system. The results also demonstrate the importance of conducting a detailed investigation of physical sedimentology before selecting material for radiocarbon dating lake sediments.     

High-resolution ∼55 ka paleomagnetic record of Biển Hồ maar lake sediment from Vietnam in relation to detailed 14C and 137Cs geochronologies

Vietnam's Central Highlands in Pleiku feature numerous volcanic craters (i.e. maars) formed over 0.2 Ma ago that contain continuous high-resolution lacustrine sediment records extending from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene. Their evolution and sedimentary proxies are potentially powerful archives for interpretation of East-Asian monsoon variability across Vietnam, as well as for local to regional changes in landcover. The focus of this study is to develop a reliable chronology for the Biển Hồ 25-m-long lake sediment sequence in Vietnam's Central Highlands. We present a combined sediment chronology extending back to 55 ka cal BP that is based on ¹³⁷Cs surface sediment chronology, paleomagnetic dating, and 47 ¹⁴C dates distributed evenly throughout the sequence. Based on sedimentary facies analysis and a smooth age-depth model based on ¹³⁷Cs and ¹⁴C data, we infer a long-term stable rate of sedimentation in Biển Hồ lake without unconformities or erosional hiatuses, except for the uppermost section (ca. 100 years) where human activities increase the rate of sedimentation significantly. The Biển Hồ sequence thus provides a complete and uninterrupted record of the lake's depositional history. The present contribution is a geochronologic opening salvo for future contributions from Biển Hồ lake featuring multi-disciplinary evidence for longer-term paleoclimate and environmental changes.     

福州盆地全新世沉积物的磁学性质及其对环境变化的响应

福州盆地位于海陆过渡地带,在海陆变迁过程中,沉积物记录了高分辨率的环境信息,是揭示沉积特征对环境变化响应过程及模式的理想区域.本文选择位于福州盆地的FZ5钻孔进行岩石磁学、环境磁学和古地磁学方面的研究,以期阐明该区域沉积物磁学性质对陆源碎屑输入、海平面变化和成岩作用的响应.岩石磁学结果表明钻孔沉积物以低矫顽力的亚铁磁性矿物为主体,但是在不同的环境变化阶段,磁性矿物的类型有较大变化.在9~3 cal. ka BP的海侵过程中,沉积物中以磁铁矿为主体,存在菱铁矿和铁硫化物等还原性矿物.硫化作用使细粒磁铁矿溶解形成胶黄铁矿和黄铁矿,其峰面随碎屑磁性矿物的浓度变化而迁移.但硫化作用没有完全消除磁铁矿携带的特征剩磁和陆源碎屑输入量以及海平面升降对该阶段沉积物磁性的控制.在~3 cal. ka BP以来随着海平面下降、沉积环境向陆相氧化环境转化,虽然早期还原作用仍然存在,但后期氧化作用使磁性矿物向高矫顽力的赤铁矿等矿物转变,氧化作用基本扰乱了磁铁矿携带的剩磁.沉积及其后期成岩作用过程中,发生在约~8.2、~7.7、~7.5、~2.7、~1.5、~0.5 cal. ka BP六次强烈的古氧化界面反映了福州盆地当时异常干旱或湿热的气候事件.     

Climate changes in East China since the Late-glacial inferred from high-resolution mountain peat humification records

High-resolution peat humification records were obtained from Dajiuhu of the Shennongjia Mountains and Qianmutian of the Tianmu Mountains to study climate changes in East China. The analyses of pollen, organic matters, TOC, and Rb/Sr indicate a high degree of peat humification and thus strong decomposition of organic matter when climate was dry. Conversely, when climate was humid, the degree of humification is low because peat was preserved in a waterlogged condition. Peat humification from Dajiuhu occurred not only during the Younger Dryas (about 11.4–12.6 cal ka BP), the Bølling-Allerød Warm Period (12.6–15.2 cal ka BP), and the Oldest Dryas (about 15.2–16.0 cal ka BP), but also during the early Holocene (about 11.4–9.4 cal ka BP), the 8.2 cal ka BP cold event, and the Holocene Optimum (about 7.0–4.2 cal ka BP). Both peat humification records since nearly 5 ka BP are consistent, showing that mountain peatland has synchronous responses to the East Asia monsoon-induced precipitation. The LOI data confirm the above observation. The monsoon precipitation since nearly 5 ka BP recorded in these two peat profiles can be divided into three phases. During 4.9–3.5 ka BP, precipitation amount was high but fluctuated greatly. During 3.5–0.9 ka BP, precipitation amount was low. During 0.9–0 ka BP, degree of humification reduced gradually, indicating the increase of monsoon precipitation. Contrast to other high-resolution records from East China monsoon region shows that the monsoon precipitation records of the two peat profiles since nearly 16 ka BP are controlled by a common forcing mechanism of summer solar radicalization in the Northern Hemisphere.     

Establishing Holocene sediment core chronologies for northern Ungava lakes, Canada, using humic acids (AMS C) and Pb

The absence of datable macrofossils in six sediment cores recovered from northern Ungava (Canada) lakes constituted a major challenge for the establishment of reliable lacustrine chronologies for the Holocene. Consequently, AMS radiocarbon dating of humic acids was used to assess age–depth in the cores. The reliability of the radiocarbon results near some of the core tops was evaluated through ²¹⁰Pb dating. The offset of sediment radiocarbon ages with their most probable time of formation and deposition in the lakes was found to be in the order of about 1000 years for recently deposited sediments. However, the basal dates in one core covering the entire postglacial period yielded a remarkable fit with previously established dates performed on marine shells at the maximum marine limit. Hence, the aim of this study was to describe how the two dating methods can be combined to address some of the problems paleolimnologists face when trying to assign ages to high-latitude lake sediment records. Suggestions are made for improving the quality of age–depth models developed in future studies for northernmost Québec and other comparable regions where paleolimnologists must deal with the combined challenges of very slow sediment accumulation rates in lakes, an extreme paucity of datable material and the sequestration of old carbon in the watersheds.     

Holocene vegetational and climatic variation in westerly-dominated areas of Central Asia inferred from the Sayram Lake in northern Xinjiang,China

Changes in the vegetation and climate of the westerly-dominated areas in Central Asia during the Holocene were interpreted using pollen-assemblages and charcoal data from a 300-cm-long sediment core of the Sayram Lake,northern Xinjiang.Accele-rator Mass Spectrometry(AMS) radiocarbon dating methods were applied to bulk organic matter of the samples.Artemisia spp./Chenopodiaceae ratios and results from principal component analysis were used to infer that the lake basin was dominated by desert vegetation before ca.9.6 cal.ka BP,which suggests a warm and dry climate in the early Holocene.Desert steppe/steppe expanded during 9.6-5.5 cal.ka BP,indicating a remarkable increase both in the precipitation and temperature during the mid-Holocene.Desert vegetation dominated between 6.5 and 5.5 cal.ka BP,marking an extreme warmer and drier interval.The steppe/meadow steppe recovered,and temperatures decreased from 5.5 cal.ka BP in the late Holocene,as indicated by the increased abundance of Artemisia and the development of meadows.Holocene temperatures and moisture variations in the Sayram Lake areas were similar to those of adjacent areas.This consistency implies that solar radiation was the main driving factor for regional temperature changes,and that the effect of temperature variations was significant on regional changes in humidity.The evolution of climate and environment in the Sayram Lake areas,which were characterized as dry in the early Holocene and relatively humid in the middle-late Holocene,are clearly different from those in monsoonal areas.Dry conditions in the early Holocene in the Sayram Lake areas were closely related to decreased water vapor advection.These conditions were a result of reduced westerly wind speeds and less evaporation upstream,which in turn were caused by seasonal changes in solar radiation superimposed by strong evaporation following warming and drying local climate.     

Age comparison by luminescence using quartz and feldspar on core HPQK01 from the Pearl River delta in China

Reliable chronology is critical for reconstructing estuarine delta process. In this study, detailed chronological framework has been performed on a core HPQK01 (52 m in depth) from the central Pearl River delta (PRD) of China. Both quartz OSL and feldspar post-IR IRSL (pIRIR) methods for late Pleistocene sediments, as well as radiocarbon dating for Holocene sediments, were applied to date the core. Results show that quartz OSL ages range from 125 ± 18 ka to 58 ± 6 ka, and that all of them were minimum ages due to the OSL signal saturation. Feldspar pIR₂₀₀IR₂₉₀ protocol shows some overestimation in dose recovery test, with the recovered to the given ratio of 1.2, while a ratio of around 1 was obtained for feldspar pIR₅₀IR₂₅₀ signals. Robust ages have been obtained from feldspar fading corrected pIR₅₀IR₂₅₀ dating with ages ranging from 150 ± 17 ka to 98 ± 12 ka. AMS ¹⁴C results suggest that subtidal-intertidal zone was deposited during the middle Holocene from 8.21 ± 0.19 cal ka BP to 4.99 ± 0.25 cal ka BP. The sedimentology of core HPQK01 record two marine transgressive-regressive cycles. Based on the dating results, the lower fluvial sediment unit (T2) could be correlated to marine isotope stage (MIS) 6, and the lower marine unit (M2) was deposited during MIS 5. A sedimentary hiatus occurred with age range of from MIS 4 to MIS 2. Since middle Holocene, another marine stratum (M1) has been accumulated. Overall, our findings suggest that feldspar pIRIR dating method has the potential to establish the Quaternary chronostratigraphic framework of the PRD for samples with ages within 150 ka.     

A high-resolution climatic change since the Late Glacial Age inferred from multi-proxy of sediments in Qinghai Lake

The study of climatic changes since the Late Glacial Age has become one of the hotspots of the PAGES in recent years.Deep-sea cores from the high-latitude area show that the climate was very unstable during the transitional period from the Late Glacial Age to the Holocene[1,2],which has also been testified by the geological records from ocean sediments,ice cores and terrestrial sections in different latitudes of the earth[3—8].What’s more,climatic instability also ex-isted in the Holoce…     

AMS radiocarbon dating of pollen concentrates in a karstic lake system

In lake sediments where terrestrial macrofossils are rare or absent, AMS radiocarbon dating of pollen concentrates may represent an important alternative solution for developing a robust and high resolution chronology suitable for Bayesian modelling of age-depth relationships. Here we report an application of the heavy liquid density separation approach (Vandergoes and Prior, Radiocarbon 45:479–492, 2003) to Holocene lake sediments from karstic Lake Sidi Ali, Morocco. In common with many karstic lakes, a significant lake ¹⁴C reservoir effect of 450–900 yr is apparent, evidenced by paired dates on terrestrial macrofossils and either aquatic (ostracod) or bulk sediment samples. AMS dating of 23 pollen concentrates alongside laboratory standards (bituminous coal, anthracite, IAEA C5 wood) was undertaken. Concentrates were prepared using a series of sodium polytungstate (SPT) solutions of progressively decreasing density (1.9–1.15 g/cm³) accompanied by microscopic analysis of the resulting residues to allow quantification of the terrestrial pollen content. The best fractions (typically precipitating at 1.4–1.2 g/cm³) yielded dateable samples of 0.5–5 mg (from sediment samples of ∼15 g), with C content typically ∼50% by weight. Terrestrial pollen purity ranges from 29% to 88% (μ = 67%), reflecting the challenge of isolating pollen grains from common aquatic algae, e.g. Pediastrum and Botryococcus. A Poisson-process Bayesian depositional model incorporating radiocarbon (pollen and macrofossil) and ²¹⁰Pb/¹³⁷Cs data is employed. As all pollen samples incorporate some non-terrestrial organic matter, we assume an exponential outlier distribution treating each pollen concentrate datum as an old outlier and terminus post quem. This approach yields strong data-model agreement, and differences between the prior and posterior age distributions are furthermore consistent with theoretical offsets anticipated for the known reservoir ages and sample-specific terrestrial content. This application of the pollen concentrate dating approach reinforces the importance of microscopic inspection of the residues during the separation and sieving stages. Sample specific differences mean that the pollen concentrate preparation cannot be reduced to a simplistic “black box” protocol, and dating and subsequent age-model development must be supported by detailed analysis of the microfossil content of the sediments.     

湖泊沉积物磁学特征指示的埃及Faiyum盆地全新世以来的环境演变

利用埃及北部Faiyum盆地获得的高取芯率沉积物岩芯,进行沉积物多种磁性参数的测量,结合有机碳、介形虫、粒度等分析,在AMS14C加速器测年的基础上,建立全新世以来湖泊沉积物磁性特征变化的时间序列.结果表明,粒度效应以及沉积后的各种次生作用对沉积物的磁性特征没有明显的影响,磁性变化主要反映了沉积物不同来源组成的相对变化.全新世前沉积物磁性较弱,主要含不完全反铁磁性矿物,与周边沙漠的物质相似,结合其粒度特征,沉积物来源应以近源物质为主.全新世早中期(约10 5.4 ka BP)沉积物磁性变化相对稳定,有机质含量也较高,指示了来自尼罗河较为稳定的物质供应;而大约5.4 ka BP尤其最近约4.2 ka BP以来,磁性的明显变化反映了流域降水减少情况下,来自青尼河物质贡献的相对增加;最近约2.0 ka BP以来沉积物的磁性变化,则更多地与盆地人类活动的强化有关.总体而言,Faiyum盆地全新世以来的环境演变主要受控于全新世以来尼罗河与盆地的水力学联系.即:全新世前盆地未与尼罗河连通时,沉积物主要来源于周边沙漠的风成物质;而受全新世早-中期来流域季风降水增加的影响,泛滥的尼罗河为盆地提供了相对稳定的物质供应,湖泊也处于高湖面;全新世晚期以来,随着流域干旱化的加剧,尼罗河与盆地的连通性开始减弱,来自高磁性的青尼罗河物质贡献开始相对增加.最近约2.0 ka BP以来,虽然仍有人工运河连接尼罗河与盆地,但沉积物磁性的显著变化更多地反映了盆地人类活动的不断强化.     

Age modelling for Pleistocene lake sediments: A comparison of methods from the Andean Fúquene Basin (Colombia) case study

Challenges and pitfalls for developing age models for long lacustrine sedimentary records are discussed and a comparison is made between radiocarbon dating, visual curve matching, and frequency analysis in the depth domain in combination with cyclostratigraphy. A core section of the high resolution 284-ka long temperature record developed from Lake Fúquene in the Northern Andes is used to explore four different age models (a–d). (a) A model based on 46 AMS ¹⁴C dates of bulk sediment is hampered by low concentrations of organic carbon. (b) A model based on the comparison of the radiocarbon dated pollen record to the well-established record from Cariaco Basin using curve matching and visual tie points. For the upper 26 m of the core this approach yields an age interval of 28–59.5 ka. (c) Another age model is based on curve matching and the Intcal09 radiocarbon calibration curve, yielding an age range of 22.5–80.4 ka for the same core interval. (d) Finally, a model is developed based on spectral analysis in the depth domain of the temperature-related altitudinal migrations of the upper forest line. This method identifies periodicities without a pre-conceived idea of age. The main frequency of 9.07 m appears to reflect the 41-kyr orbital signal of obliquity, which is tuned to the filtered 41-kyr temperature signal from the well-constrained LR04 marine benthic ∂¹⁸O stack record (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005). Using this last age-modelling approach, the upper 26 m of core Fq-9C yields a temporal interval of 27–133 ka. Problems arising from radiocarbon dating carbon poor sediments from a large lake are addressed and the visual curve matching approach is compared to the analysis of cyclic changes in sediment records in developing an age model. We conclude that the frequency analysis and cyclostratigraphy model is the most reliable one of the four approaches. These results show that cyclostratigraphy may provide a useful method for developing an age model for long terrestrial records including multiple orbital cycles.     

吉兰泰盐湖沉积物孢粉记录的季风边缘区全新世气候演化

全新世气候具有不稳定性,且存在着区域差异,在季风边缘区尤为显著.因此,本研究选取季风边缘区吉兰泰盐湖沉积物的孢粉记录并结合AMS14C测年结果,对该地区全新世的古植被演化及古气候变化历史进行了重建.结果表明,在全新世阶段,该地区植被类型未发生变化,以干旱的荒漠植被为主.早全新世(10.5 8.5 cal ka BP),以蒿属孢粉为主,伴随出现少量藜科、禾本科及麻黄属孢粉,蒿藜比(A/C比值)相对稳定(4.11左右),指示全新世早期气候逐步转湿的过程,在8.5 cal ka BP,蒿属孢粉数量下降且被藜科孢粉取代,指示一次明显气候干旱事件;中全新世(8.5 3.5 cal ka BP),蒿属孢粉含量增加及藜科孢粉含量降低,A/C比值在7.1 cal ka BP左右达到峰值,指示该地区中全新世气候最为湿润;晚全新世(3.5 cal ka BP至今),藜科孢粉含量增加且超过早全新世,A/C比值低至3.66,区域呈现明显的干旱化趋势.此外,结合吉兰泰盐湖沉积物矿物组成结果,发现中全新世湖泊沉积物中,钙芒硝大量出现,一定程度上指示降水量增多所带来的淡水注入,与孢粉指标指示该阶段湿润的结果一致.通过区域对比,发现吉兰泰地区在全新世时期的气候演化模式与东亚季风区具有较好的一致性,表明该地区受到东亚夏季风的影响较大,尤其是在中全新世,东亚夏季风增强,带来较多的降水,气候湿润.     

Improving age-depth models of fluvio-lacustrine deposits using sedimentary proxies for accumulation rates

Lacustrine fills, including those of oxbow lakes in river floodplains, often hold valuable sedimentary and biological proxy records of palaeo-environmental change. Precise dating of accumulated sediments at levels throughout these records is crucial for interpretation and correlation of (proxy) data existing within the fills. Typically, dates are gathered from multiple sampled levels and their results are combined in age-depth models to estimate the ages of events identified between the datings. In this paper, a method of age-depth modelling is presented that varies the vertical accumulation rate of the lake fill based on continuous sedimentary data. In between Bayesian calibrated radiocarbon dates, this produces a modified non-linear age-depth relation based on sedimentology rather than linear or spline interpolation.The method is showcased on a core of an infilled palaeomeander at the floodplain edge of the river Rhine near Rheinberg (Germany). The sequence spans from ∼4.7 to 2.9 ka cal BP and consists of 5.5 m of laminated lacustrine, organo-clastic mud, covered by ∼1 m of peaty clay. Four radiocarbon dates provide direct dating control, mapping and dating in the wider surroundings provide additional control. The laminated, organo-clastic facies of the oxbow fill contains a record of nearby fluvial-geomorphological activity, including meander reconfiguration events and passage of rare large floods, recognized as fluctuations in coarseness and amount of allochthonous clastic sediment input. Continuous along-core sampling and measurement of loss-on-ignition (LOI) provided a fast way of expressing the variation in clastic sedimentation influx from the nearby river versus autochthonous organic deposition derived from biogenic production in the lake itself. This low-cost sedimentary proxy data feeds into the age-depth modelling. The sedimentology-modelled age-depth relation (re)produces the distinct lithological boundaries in the fill as marked changes in sedimentation rate. Especially the organo-clastic muddy facies subdivides in centennial intervals of relative faster and slower accumulation. For such intervals, sedimentation rates are produced that deviate 10–20% from that in simpler stepped linear age-models. For irregularly laminated muddy intervals of the oxbow fill – from which meaningful sampling for radiocarbon dating is more difficult than from peaty or slowly accumulating organic lake sediments – supplementing spotty radiocarbon sampling with continuous sedimentary proxy data creates more realistic age-depth modelling results.     

湖北江汉平原JZ-2010剖面沉积物粒度特征与环境演变

通过对江汉平原JZ-2010湖相沉积剖面AMS14C年代的精确测定与校正,以及代用指标粒度、磁化率的分析和研究,重建了研究区12.76 cal ka BP以来的环境演变过程:1)12.76-6.70 cal ka BP,区域环境处于偏干的晚冰期向湿润的早全新世发展阶段.2)6.70-4.47 cal ka BP,区域环境湿润,为湿度配置最佳的全新世适宜期,这是大溪文化向屈家岭文化转变时期自然背景.3)4.47-3.67 cal ka BP,区域气候环境偏干,其中经历了明显的4.2 cal ka BP干旱事件.4)3.67-1.22 cal ka BP时期,环境向湿润发展;在2.5 cal ka BP左右水动力条件明显变强,此时正对应于古云梦泽扩张时期.5)1.22 cal ka BP后,研究区处于湖泊面积减小的干旱时期;人类活动带来的影响达到高峰,围湖造田等农业活动也是江汉平原湖群趋于衰退的重要原因之一.     

The last 40 ka tephrostratigraphic record of Lake Ohrid,Albania and Macedonia: a very distal archive for ash dispersal from Italian volcanoes

A 1075 cm long core (Lz1120) was recovered in the south-eastern part of the Lake Ohrid (Republics of Macedonia and Albania) and sampled for identification of tephra layers. Magnetic susceptibility investigations show rather high magnetic values throughout the core, with peaks unrelated to the occurrence of tephra layers but instead to the relative abundance of detrital magnetic minerals in the sediment. Naked-eye inspection of the core allowed us to identify of two tephra layers, at 896–897 cm and 1070–1075 cm. Laboratory inspection of the grain-size fraction > 125 μm allowed for the identification of a third cryptotephra at 310–315 cm. Major element analyses on glass shards of the tephra layers at 896–897 cm and 1070–1075 cm show a trachytic composition, and indicate a correlation with the regionally dispersed Y-3 and Y-5 tephra layers, dated at ca 30 and 39 cal ka BP. The cryptotephra at 310–315 cm has a mugearitic–benmoreitic composition, and was correlated with the FL eruption of Mt. Etna, dated at 3370 ± 70 cal yr BP. These ages are in agreement with five ¹⁴C AMS measurements carried out on plant remains and macrofossils from the lake sediments at different depths along the core.     

Age determination for a Neolithic site in northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau using a combined luminescence and radiocarbon dating

The archaeological Shaliuheqiaodong site, located at the junction between the estuary of Shaliu River and the northeast bedrock terrace of Qinghai Lake, is one of the earliest Neolithic Age sites in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), which is critical for understanding patterns of prehistoric human inhabitation in the high plateau extreme environments. There are only two published radiocarbon ages by far for chronological control. Recently, a new section (Gangcha section) was found, with abundant charcoals and fish bones well-preserved in the matrix of aeolian sediments, providing a good opportunity for a combined study of luminescence and radiocarbon dating. In the current study, we obtained three luminescence ages on aeolian sediment, six radiocarbon ages (three on charcoals and three on fish bones). Our results showed that the luminescence ages (average of 3.2 ± 0.2 ka) are in agreement with charcoal radiocarbon ages (3165–3273 cal a BP) where applicable, and that the lake reservoir effect age of radiocarbon dating was approximately 0.3–0.7 cal ka BP and an average of 0.4 cal ka BP at ∼3.2 cal ka BP (age difference between that of charcoals and fish bones). The prehistoric residence in Qinghai Lake area seemed to be sequenced from 15 ka BP to 3.1 ka BP, based on our data and previously published data altogether. The obvious baked vestiges on the bones of fish and animals, as well as a number of artifacts, indicate that naked carps had become a food resource for prehistoric people at least since 3.2 cal ka BP.     

Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments from Lake Karakul,Tajikistan

Lake Karakul in the eastern Pamirs is a large and closed-basin lake in a partly glaciated catchment. Two parallel sediment cores were collected from 12 m water depth. The cores were correlated using XRF analysis and dated using radiocarbon and OSL techniques. The age results of the two dating methods are generally in agreement. The correlated composite core of 12.26 m length represents continuous accumulation of sediments in the lake basin since 31 ka. The lake reservoir effect (LRE) remained relatively constant over this period. High sediment accumulation rates (SedARs) were recorded before 23 ka and after 6.5 ka. The relatively close position of the coring location near the eastern shore of the lake implies that high SedARs resulted from low lake levels. Thus, high SedARs and lower lake levels before 23 ka probably reflect cold and dry climate conditions that inhibited the arrival of moist air at high elevation in the eastern Pamirs. Low lake levels after 6.5 ka were probably caused by declining temperatures after the warmer early Holocene, which had caused a reduction in water resources stored as snow, ice and frozen ground in the catchment. Low SedARs during 23–6.5 ka suggest increased lake levels in Lake Karakul. A short-lived increase of SedARs at 15 ka probably corresponds to the rapid melting of glaciers in the Karakul catchment during the Greenland Interstadial 1e, shortly after glaciers in the catchment had reached their maximum extents. The sediment cores from Lake Karakul represent an important climate archive with robust chronology for the last glacial–interglacial cycle from Central Asia.