Climatic changes during the last 35,000 years as indicated by land, sea, and air data

Detailed climatic records from land (glaciation curves, fossil records, etc.), sea (eustatic changes, deep-ses date), and air (Greenland 0¹⁸ curve) are almost identical for the last 35,000 years. This cannot be a mere coincidence: it indicates that even minor fluctuations are caused by global climatic changes. The various records seem to be easily correlated with each other. The Last Ice Age is characterized by drastic changes between colder and warmer periods. The Present (Flandrian) Interglacial (Holocene Epoch) is also characterized by climatic fluctuations, although of minor amplitude. Analysis of peaks and bottoms in six Atlantic deep-sea cores gives a climatic sequence identical to the eustatic transgression/regression sequence, indicating the recording of global short-term warm/cold fluctuations. From these fluctuations, the climatic cyclicity was calculated. Two drastically frequency-changing cycles were found, one varying from 230 to 1,000 years and one from 1,000 to 3,600 years. A third cycle of 21,000 years was also estabished. The transition from the Last Ice Age to the Present Interglacial is marked by three major steps towards interglacial conditions; viz. at 12,7000, 10,000 and 9,300 radiocarbon years B. P. The 10,000 boundary has earler been suggested as the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary.     

Facies Associations and Discontinuous Surfaces in the Syringothyris Limestone Formation of Tethyan Margin of Gondwana,Kashmir

The early Carboniferous sedimentation of the Tethyan Margin of Gondwana in the Kashmir Himalaya represents alternating siliciclastic - carbonate succession consisting of distinct stratigraphic sequences which are bounded by discontinuities. The discontinuities in the sedimentation are related to environmental changes in the form of subaerial exposure, subaqueous erosion, subaqueous omission or changes in texture and facies. These distinct surface zones or time significant boundaries can be correlated across the depositional platform. Low stand, high stand and transgressive sedimentation units in the lower and middle parts of early Carboniferous Syringothyris Limestone Formation in Banihal area have been recognised. This is explained by superposition of high frequency and low amplitude sea level fluctuations on a large-scale trend under greenhouse conditions during the early Carboniferous period. The facies associations present in the early Carboniferous succession of the Himalaya broadly represent intertidal (peritidal), shallow subtidal, deeper subtidal, off-shore-slope and deeper environments. Discontinuities that are interpreted as progradational, retrogradational and aggradational phases of sedimentation bound these facies associations. This formation represents continental margin depositional setting which is authenticated by deposition of siliciclastic sediments. This marginal depositional setting is greatly affected by numerous dynamic processes including tectonic and other active sea as well as continental processes. The records of all those processes in this formation reflect the eustatic changes in sea level. These periodic eustatic changes have generated the various discontinuities, stratigraphic sequences or systems tracts. Overall it appears that interplay of many processes such as sediment supply, thermal and tectonic activity, eustatic and climatic changes in the Kashmir Tethyan depositional basin generated these distinct depositional sequences during the early Carboniferous period.     

Formation and fate of sedimentary depocentres on Southeast Asia's Sunda Shelf over the past sea-level cycle and biogeographic implications

Sea-level variations are the major factor controlling sedimentation as well as the biogeographic patterns at continental margins over late Quaternary times. Fluctuations on millennial time-scales produce locally complex deposits in coasts and on shelves, associated with short-term influence on species development. This article reviews the sedimentary and biogeographic history of the tropical siliciclastic Sunda Shelf as an end-member of continental shelves regarding extreme width, an enormous sediment supply, and highest biodiversity in response to rapid sea-level fluctuations. We describe particular depositional segments as part of a genetic succession of zones from land to the deep sea based on literature data, field observations, and calculation of hydro-isostatic adjustment effects on changing relative sea level. These segments are characterized by individual sedimentary processes and deposits, and by a specific potential for material storage and re-mobilization.Long-term regressive intervals led to overall sigmoidal-promoting, extremely thick, and wide succeeding units. In contrast, rapid lateral shifts of defined depocentres over long distances took place in response to short-term sea level fluctuations. Fully isolated small-scale sediment bodies formed when sea level changed at exceptionally high rates. As a result of the high availability of organic-rich sediments, mangrove and freshwater peats formed frequently over late Quaternary times. The appearance of thick, massive and widespread peats is mainly linked to time intervals of a sea-level rise at slow rates, whilst organic matter appears much more dispersely in the sediments during episodes of rapidly changing sea level.The preservation potential of the regressive units is generally high due to highest initial sediment supply, stabilizing soil formation during exposure and rapid subsidence. Preservation of depositional elements from other periods is more exceptional and either restricted to local morphological depressions or to episodes of rapid sea level change. Besides complex channel incision, an overall lowering of the sediment surface related to erosion, as deep as 20 m or more, over wide areas took place mainly during sea level lowering. The final export of shelf material is documented by enormous mass-wasting packages on the associated continental slope.From a palaeogeographic perspective, the rapid formation or disappearance of special habitat zones, such as mangrove fringes and extended mud flats, led to species establishment or truncation in distribution. In addition, the opening or closure of ocean passages, as narrow bridges allowing limited species crossing or as fully colonized corridors, had severe impact on eco-fragmentation and the expansion or contraction of species. Independent of such particular conditions, sea-level changes have been too rapid over the past climatic cycle to allow full regeneration and mature development of coast-related ecosystems.     

东营凹陷牛38井沙三中上段红灰韵律层中的环境信息

通过环境磁学、沉积学、遗迹化石学与地球化学对牛３８井厘米级红灰韵律层的综合研究发现红层中具明显的胶体凝聚现象，其磁化率值、总铁与游离铁含量较高，层内生物扰动作用相对较强，表明气候变化引起的化学沉积是控制韵律旋回的主因，底栖生物的潜穴活动促进了沉积界面处微化学环境的变化。经频谱分析等时序分析法的估算可知该红灰韵律层是受十年级与百年级主周期的控制，可能与太阳黑子或太阳磁场活动等天文周期有关。虽然此类天文周期对地球气候变化的影响能力也许不强，但由于化学沉积对气候变化反应灵敏，而且可能当时湖水化学环境正处于胶体沉积的临界值附近，因而水体化学性质稍有偏离即可导致韵律层的形成。     

Age of the MGS5 segment of the Milanggouwan stratigraphical section and evolution of the desert environment on a kiloyear scale during the Last Interglacial in China's Salawusu River Valley: Evidence from Rb and Sr contents and ratios

The MGS5 segment of the Milanggouwan stratigraphical section in China's Salawusu River Valley records 8.5 sedimentary cycles consisting of dune sands alternating with fluviolacustrine facies or/and paleosols. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the distribution of Rb and Sr within the segment and paleoecological evidence (fossils), it appears that the observed sedimentation cycles mainly resulted from fluctuations between dry-cold and warm-humid climates, which indicates that the MGS5 segment experienced at least eight cold-dry and nine warm-humid climatic fluctuations. Of these, 12 cold–warm climate fluctuations correspond to DO20–DO25 and stadia 21–26 recorded by the NGRIP ice cores. Another five cold–warm climatic fluctuations that occurred during MGS5e correspond to five substages (5e1–5e5) recorded by the GRIP ice cores from Greenland. This kind of high-frequency climatic fluctuation on a kiloyear scale was mainly subject to variations in the strength of the East Asian winter and summer monsoons.     

Lake Bogoria, Kenya: soda, hot springs and about a million flamingoes

Lake Bogoria is a saline, alkaline, meromictic lake in a geothermally active part of the Kenya Rift Valley. Coring of the lake floor has shown two types of sedimentation – a shallow fan–deltaic clastic zone and a deeper zone with alternating organic muds and evaporites. The organic muds formed during periods of relatively high lake level and high microbial productivity, the evaporites during more arid phases. Analyses of the cores show many environmental fluctuations during the past 30000 years, related to regional climatic changes and to local tectonic and hydrological controls.     

Integrated correlation of the Vendian to Cambrian Arroyo del Soldado and Corumbá Groups (Uruguay and Brazil): palaeogeographic, palaeoclimatic and palaeobiologic implications

The Corumbá Group of SW Brazil and the Arroyo del Soldado Group (ASG) of Uruguay are correlated on the basis of litho-, bio- and chemostratigraphy. Both units represent marine sedimentation with alternating siliciclastics and carbonates developed on a stable continental shelf. In the Corumbá basin, sedimentation began in the Varangerian, represented by the glaciomarine Puga Formation. A series of sea-level fluctuations coupled with climatic changes are recorded up section. While uppermost deposits of the ASG are of lowermost Cambrian age, sedimentation ceased in the latest Vendian in the Corumbá basin. An assemblage of six species of organic-walled microfossils dominated by Bavlinella faveolata and Soldadophycus bossii, three species of vendotaenids and two species of skeletal fossils (Cloudina and Titanotheca) is described from the Corumbá Group. The vendotaenid Eoholynia corumbensis sp. nov is described from siltstones of the Guaicurus Formation. An important diversity of skeletal fossils in the Corumbá, Arroyo del Soldado and Nama groups points to favourable Vendian palaeoclimatic conditions in SW-Gondwana. Preliminary carbon isotopic data show a series of alternating positive and negative excursions, corroborating the upper Vendian age indicated by fossils for both units. Previously reported strontium isotopic data are also consistent with this age. It is postulated that the Corumbá and ASGs were deposited onto the same shelf, which opened to the east. The Rio de la Plata Superterrane (Craton) extends farther to the north than previously expected, or it was already amalgamated with the Amazonian Craton by Vendian times. Collision of the platform with the Paraná Block caused closure of the basin during the Cambrian-Early Ordovician. Finally, models of Neoproterozoic glaciations based on enhanced bioproductivity driven by high nutrient availability are discussed.     

The lithostratigraphy of the Les Echets basin, France: tentative correlation between cores

Two new long sediment cores (EC1 and EC3), recovered from different locations within the infilled basin at Les Echets, France, provide a new high-resolution record of terrestrial and lacustrine responses to climatic changes during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 3 and 2. The lithologies of the cores are described in detail and correlated with each other by stratigraphic marker horizons, fluctuations in organic matter and AMS radiocarbon ages. The tentative correlation of the new cores to those described and analysed by de Beaulieu et al. (1980) and de Beaulieu & Reille (1984a) provides a preliminary chronostratigraphic framework. Sedimentation during MIS3 started with accumulation of sands and silts and was followed by alternating gyttja and clayey gyttja silts. Exceptionally high sedimentation rates during MIS2 led to the infilling of the basin. Alternating organic-rich and minerogenic-rich sediments appear to coincide with changes in pollen assemblages (de Beaulieu & Reille 1984a) and suggest that millennial-scale climatic changes controlled lake productivity and catchment stability during most of MIS3.     

The Pleistocene climate-controlled fluvial sedimentary record in the Bełchatów mine (central Poland)

Sedimentological analyses of fluvial formations in the Bełchatów mine have yielded results that have more than regional significance. They concern the reaction of rivers to climatic changes in the Pleistocene. Changes in river geometry and their depositional records are examined from two fluvial formations. These formations represent different times, but show similar palaeoenvironmental changes. Cool temperate climate conditions resulted in meandering (or anastomosing) river sedimentation, which was controlled by equalized precipitation and by a well-developed vegetation cover. Cold periglacial climate conditions resulted in braided river sedimentation immediately before the Glacial Maximum, with high discharges and a high sediment load. The palaeoclimatic and palaeohydrologic analyses of the Weichselian fluvial deposits in Bełchatów provide additional information to that from similar studies in Germany and the Netherlands, thus jointly resulting in a consistent palaeogeographic model of western-middle Europe.     

Late-glacial and early Holocene environments at Pine Hill Pond, Newfoundland, Canada: evidence from pollen and diatoms

The basal 150 cm of lacustrine sediment in a 380 cm core from Pine Hill Pond, eastern Newfoundland, includes the late-glacial and early Holocene and contains strong sedirnentological and paleoecological evidence for a climatic oscillation correlative with the Younger Dryas event. Basal late-glacial minerogenic sediments are overlain by a silty gyttja marking the onset of organic sedimentation. An overlying unit comprising 7 cm of silty clay marks a return to mineral sedimentation prior to subsequent uninterrupted deposition of organic sediments. During this phase, the reversion from shrub tundra to a sparser herb-shrub tundra pollen assemblage ( Oxyria digyna, Arremisia ) is a strong indicator of climatic deterioration at the site. The paleolimnological expression of the Younger Dryas event at this site is manifested by a sharp decrease of diatom concentrations followed by decreases in the relative frequencies of Fragilaria spp., which are largely replaced by a stratigraph-ically restricted group of unusual benthic forms, a rise in the relative frequency of chrysophyte cysts, and a crash in Pediastrum concentrations. The nature and timing of palynological and diatom changes are interpreted in terms of both the direct and indirect consequences of climatic deterioration, as well as within the stratigraphic context of sediment lithological changes.     

云南洱海沉积物粒度组成及其环境意义辨识

高原封闭,半封闭湖泊是气候和环境演化的敏感指示器,其沉积物记录具有连续性,敏感性和高分辩率的特点,在恢复和重塑各种短时间凡度的气候和环境演化序列上,具有其它自然历史记录无法替代的优势。     

Quaternary of Chile: The state of research

The aim of this paper is to present a summary of current knowledge about Quaternary climatic changes, sea level fluctuations, tectonic deformation, and volcanic activity in Chile. In the Andean highlands of the hyperarid desert, glaciers and lakes fluctuated repeatedly. Evidence of pluvial periods is not well documented in the marginal desert. On the contrary, pronounced climatic changes are recorded in semiarid Chile. In central Chile two or three major glacial advances have been identified, but they remained confined within the high Cordillera. In the longitudinal valley of the Lake Region geomorphic remnants of four glaciations have been described; ¹⁴C dates are available for the last glaciation. The glacial history of the Fjord Region is still obscure. Whether Pleistocene climatic changes in the northern and southern part of Chile were synchronous or not is a problem which requires further investigation. Sea level fluctuations along the Chilean coast are in part ascribed to glacio-eustatic effects. They left striking sets of step-like marine terraces in northern and central Chile. From a paleontologic point of view the Pleistocene corresponds to a pronounced move toward isolation and endemic development of the marine fauna. The Quaternary tectonic tendency seems to be toward extension and not compression expected as sea-floor spreading compensation. Normal faults limiting uplifted, downwarped, and tilted blocks are common. Folds are rarely found. Northern Chile is characterized by an imposing chain of about 600 stratovolcanoes. They rest on Tertiary ignimbrites which cover the altiplano. Quartz-bearing latite-andesites are predominant. Present volcanic activity is sporadic and weak. South of a conspicuous gap between 27 and 33°S, Quaternary volcanism reappears in the high Cordillera, and many volcanoes have erupted violently within historic times. Rocks are fundamentally andesite or basaltic andesite. Poorly sorted ashes including pumice clasts in the Central Valley south of Santiago are interpreted as volcanic mudflows of late Pleistocene age.     

The nature of climate and climatic variations

The climate system consists of the atmosphere, the oceans, the cryosphere (land ice, snow, sea ice), the lithosphere, and the biomass. The behavior of the individual components of the system is governed by processes occurring over a broad range of time and space scales. The components are coupled by physical, biological, and chemical processes, and the coupled system seems capable of undergoing fluctuations on all time scales. In addition to these “internal” climatic processes, external processes (such as variability in the solar irradiance or human activities) must also be considered. Space and time scales of climatic variability are reviewed, with emphasis on the Holocene. Regional patterns of climatic variability may be associated with changes in the amplitude and longitudinal position of the long waves in the westerlies of midlatitudes, and with changes in the intensity and latitude of meridional circulation features such as the Hadley cell. Possible examples of this are mentioned. The variance spectrum of climatic time series is described and certain implications for climate modeling are suggested.     

Long-term periodic structure and seasonal-trend decomposition of water level in Lake Baiyangdian,Northern China

Water level, as an intuitive factor of hydrologic conditions, is of great importance for lake management. In this study, periodic structures of water level and its fluctuations in Lake Baiyangdian are analyzed based on wavelet analysis and seasonal-trend decomposition using local error sum of squares (STL). Data of monthly time series are divided into three types with emphasis on anthropogenic influence from water allocation. It is found that intra-annual characteristics of water level fluctuations are the common periodic structures. Water allocation alters the periodic structures by decreasing and weakening the oscillations of water level, compared with the slight effects of natural hydrologic water supplies and short-term climate changes. An irregular water level decline and short-term oscillation with irregular periodicity are deduced from seasonal-trend decomposition analysis using STL. With seasonality depicted monthly, the influence of water allocation implies irregular oscillations with high-frequency components, especially for monthly changes. The water level fluctuations are influenced by seasonal changes, as demonstrated by three types of time series. The impacts of water allocation on seasonality show the differences with continuous single-peak oscillations representing no influences and continuous double-peak oscillations representing frequent influences. Furthermore, the accumulation of water allocation shows a slight rising trend in average monthly level fluctuations over the last several years. The study helps understand periodic structures and long-term trend changes of water level fluctuations, which will facilitate lake management of Lake Baiyangdian.     

Sediment particle size distribution and its environmental significance in Lake Erhai, Yunnan Province

A closed or semi-closed plateau lake, whose sediment records can provide us with plenty of fine and high resolution information, is a sensitive indicator of climatic and environmental changes. During the reconstruction of various short-time-scale climatic and environmental changes, the geochemical records in plateau-lake sediments are superior to other natural files. Based on fine dissection of the vertical profile of sediment particle sizes, this paper reveals the quasi-periodical changes of sediment particle sizes, which indicates the quasi-periodical fluctuations of the regional climate. A synthetic analysis of multiple indexes shows that sediment particle size is a more sensitive and more effective index of climatic and environmental changes than other geochemical indexes. High content of >20μm sediment particles and low content of 2–10μm sediment particles indicate a warm-dry climate and conversely a cold-humid climate, and their ratio can be used as an effective index of climatic changes. The basic climate succession in the region of Lake Erhai is characterized as being alternatively warm-dry and cold-humid and it has been developing into a warm-dry climate as a whole. There exist at least 2 time-scale quasi-periodical fluctuations of the regional climate in Lake Erhai. At present, the region of Lake Erhai is at the end of the warm-dry period and at the beginning of a cold-humid period, so the temperature will go down and the water level will rise. This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 49894170, 49773207).     

Understanding geomorphic responses to environmental change: a 19 000‐year case study from semi‐arid central Texas,USA

Understanding the impact of past climatic changes on landscape stability is crucial in order to predict and mitigate the effects of future changes. However, in arid and semi‐arid environments, reconstructions are often hampered by a poor understanding of the relationship between sediment deposition and climate. We present here data from central Texas, a region that is sensitive to environmental change but has received relatively little attention. The study integrates a chronology of 29 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages from six sedimentary sites in a range of depositional contexts with a 19 000 a climate record derived from pollen extracted from the adjacent Boriack Bog. By comparing the two records, we aimed to assess the relationship between climate change and geomorphic activity. Data show that extensive aeolian and colluvial deposition occurred during the mid to late Holocene, with sedimentation generally increasing during more arid phases. However, a number of depositional events on slopes were associated with moister episodes, and sediment was also deposited in a summit setting immediately after phases of increased precipitation. Linkages between climate change and geomorphic response were therefore complex, being controlled by both sediment supply and transport energy. The climatic fluctuations identified in the Boriack Bog record highlight the sensitivity of central Texas to environmental change, while disparities in conditions recorded between it and other palaeoenvironmental sites in the southern USA emphasise the need for further work in order to enhance understanding of landscape sedimentary response to climate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeokarst-influenced depositional and diagenetic patterns in Upper Permian carbonates and evaporites, Karstryggen area, central East Greenland

The Karstryggen area of eastern Greenland represents the western edge of sedimentation in the Jameson Land Basin, an arm of the northern Zechstein seaway. Upper Permian strata of this area were deposited as two major sequences. The first marine incursion transgressed largely peneplaned Lower Permian strata and deposited thin, paralic conglomerates, sandstones and shales (the Huledal Formation) followed by a thick package of carbonates and evaporites (the Karstryggen Formation). Although the Karstryggen Formation represents the transgressive maximum of this sequence, it contains only marginal or restricted marine strata, including micritic, stromatolitic and peloidal carbonates and thick, but localized, bedded gypsum deposits. These lithofacies indicate that relatively arid climates prevailed in this basin, as in most of the Zechstein region. A major regression, associated with a change to a more humid climate, terminated Karstryggen sedimentation. Pre-existing evaporites and carbonates underwent diagenetic alteration, including widespread calcitization and dissolution of gypsum. More importantly, topographic relief in excess of 120 m was generated by fluvial drainage systems and karstic sinkholes. A second marine incursion, accompanied by a return to a semi-arid climate, drowned this high relief topography, producing a complex sequence of strata (the Wegener Halvø Formation) in which sedimentation was greatly influenced by the rugged underlying terrain. Marine cemented algal-molluscan grainstones draped pre-existing palaeotopography during the initial stages of flooding. Continued drowning led to differential sedimentation on ‘highs’ and in ‘lows’. Oolitic and bryozoan-brachiopod grainstones formed as shoals on the crests of most prominences, whereas shales, conglomeratic debris flows, evaporites, or oolitic turbidites were deposited in the lows. More restricted sedimentation took place in the westernmost areas which lay closest to the mainland shoreline and were situated to the west of a palaeotopographic ridge. There, oolitic, stromatolitic and evaporitic strata were deposited under hypersaline conditions indicative of a return to more arid climatic conditions. Three subcycles mark smaller scale relative changes of sea level that occurred during deposition of the Wegener Halvø Formation; they are delimited by regional surfaces with moderate relief (5–20 m) developed during subaerial exposure. Widespread diagenetic changes, including leaching of aragonitic grains, dissolution/collapse brecciation of evaporites and meteoric calcite cementation, occurred in association with these smaller scale sequence boundaries, again reflecting climatic oscillations. Relative sea level fluctuations, coupled with regional climate changes, played a dominant role in determining both depositional and diagenetic relations in these strata. These features undoubtedly extend into subsurface parts of this basin as well as into yet unexplored areas of the northern Zechstein Basin and Barents Shelf, and may have economic significance for the localization of hydrocarbons.     

Periodic 18.6-year and cyclic 11-year induced drought and flood in northeastern China and some global implications

The general patterns of climatic evolution in China during the Holocene are reviewed, and following the postglacial eustatic rise of sea-level and the institution of the East Asian Monsoon, the systems and principal fluctuations are found to be concordant with those operating elsewhere in the globe. China's unique wealth of written history provides an abundance of proxy data on the climatic record and that record now furnishes a basis for analysing both long-term and short-term fluctuations, as well as sunspot behavior, that together provide an insight into extraterrestrial forcing. Recent Chinese work suggests a solar forcing, but our own studies suggest rather that a lunar tidal component, reinforced at times by the solar element may prove more important.Analysis of a drought-flood index for Peking (Beijing) in northeastern China since A.D. 1470 supports evidence (Hameed et al., 1983) for both periodic lunar nodal 18.6-year and solar cyclic 11-year induced drought-flood in the region. The nodal term exhibits bistable phasing with respect to epochs of tidal maxima (for our century epochs occurred at 1917.5, 1936.1, 1954.7 and 1973.3), a phenomenon previously found in drought-flood proxy data for South America (Currie, 1983), India (Currie, 1984a), North America (Currie, 1984d), and Africa (Hameed and Currie, 1985; Currie and Hameed, 1985). Solar cycle epochs of drought-flood are tabulated for the past two centuries, and compared with those from North America and Africa.     

Frequency and intensity of high-altitude floods over the last 3.5 ka in northwestern French Alps (Lake Anterne)

In central Western Europe, several studies have shown that colder Holocene periods, such as the Little Ice Age, also correspond to wet periods. However, in mountain areas which are highly sensitive to erosion processes and where precipitation events can be localized, past evolution of hydrological activity might be more complicated. To assess these past hydrological changes, a paleolimnological approach was applied on a 13.4-m-long sediment core taken in alpine Lake Anterne (2063 m asl) and representing the last 3.5 ka. Lake sedimentation is mainly composed of flood deposits triggered by precipitation events. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses show that floods were more frequent during cold periods while high-intensity flood events occurred preferentially during warmer periods. In mild temperature conditions, both flood patterns are present. This underlines the complex relationship between flood hazards and climatic change in mountain areas. During the warmer and/or dryer times of the end of Iron Age and the Roman Period, both the frequency and intensity of floods increased. This is interpreted as an effect of human-induced clearing for grazing activities and reveals that anthropogenic interferences must be taken into account when reconstructing climatic signals from natural archives.     

苏北淮安盐盆杨槐区块浦二段盐韵律特征及其古气候意义

盐湖沉积因具有成盐多期性和连续完整性的特点,是恢复成盐期古环境的重要研究对象,形成的不同级次盐韵律记录了不同尺度周期下古气候的干湿变化。上白垩统浦口组是淮安盐盆的主要含盐层系,对含盐层段盐韵律的研究有助于恢复该地区成盐期的古气候特征。在对资料井A1井取心段岩心精细观察和岩样矿物成分分析的基础上,分析资料井岩性的垂向变化,对浦口组盐韵律特征进行识别并划分。根据盐韵律对古气候的指示作用研究成盐期区块短尺度气候周期下的古气候变化。将淮安盐盆杨槐区块浦口组划分出Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ、Ⅴ级韵律,识别出完整的盐韵律组合,即泥岩—钙芒硝质盐岩—盐岩—钙芒硝质盐岩。含盐段中广泛发育暖温相矿物钙芒硝,指示气候特征为炎热的暖旱型。在Ⅳ级韵律尺度下建立了气候干湿性变化曲线,表明区块气候干湿性波动频繁,但仍以干旱为主,韵律厚度大致反映了气候波动频率大小。