河西走廊末次冰期砂楔的发现及其古气候意义

河西走廊砂楔主要形成在晚更新世冲洪积砾石层中，楔体内充填的风成砂^14C年龄证明其是末次冰期的产物，在末次冰期，洒西走廊年平均气温为－5－7度左右，较现在低13－15度，这一 估算数据与根据本区芒硝沉积层所推测的气温下降值是一致的，亦与最近有关北半球高，中纬度冰期降温幅度的研究相符合，当时，河西走廊西段年降水量可能达到100－200mm，比现在平均年降水量增加约100mm左右。     

Periglacial wedges and the late Pleistocene environment of Wyoming's intermontane basins

Nonsorted polygons in the uppermost 2 to 3 m beneath Pleistocene surfaces indicate permafrost at 1340 m and higher elevations in the intermontane and piedmont plains of Wyoming during the Wisconsin, and perhaps earlier, glacial maxima. The polygons, as much as 10 m in diameter, are delineated by wedges that vary in depths, range from narrow to moderately flared forms, and deform host materials. The wedges have silty fine-to-medium sand matrices (largely eolian) with pebbles or clasts from hosts of gravel or bedrock. Some wedges may reflect seasonal cracking in a periglacial active zone, but most are either permafrost sand-wedge relics or, less commonly, ice-wedge casts. Alternative explanations are rejected largely because similar features are apparently lacking in the lower and warmer plains from eastern Colorado southward. The wedges suggest an arid, windy, periglacial environment whose mean-annual temperatures are conservatively estimated as some 10° to 13°C colder than those at present. Although late Wisconsin-early Holocene floral and faunal evidence indicates lowered montane biotic zones, the eolian and periglacial features indicate a lack of extensive forest cover on the basin floors. In conjunction with vertebrate-fossil associations of grazing and tundra animals, the wedges may provide a parallel line of evidence for a former periglacial steppe, or “steppe-tundra”, in the Wyoming basins.     

Optical dating of sand wedges and ice‐wedge casts from Qinghai Lake area on the northeastern Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau and its palaeoenvironmental implications

Sand wedges and ice‐wedge casts in the Qinghai Lake area on the northeastern Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) occur within alluvial gravel or river terrace deposits. In this study, we report the results of quartz Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the infill of five relict sand wedges and one ice‐wedge cast. Combining our dating results with previously published luminescence ages of permafrost wedges in the Qinghai Lake area, we show that sand/ice wedges formed at c. 62 ka, c. 45 ka and between 30 and 15 ka, and that the mean annual air temperature (MAAT) was depressed by at least ～3°C relative to present during the sand/ice‐wedge formation periods. This new work is partially corroborated by post‐LGM proxy records from lakes and aeolian deposits reported from the northeastern QTP. It also significantly extends the palaeoenvironmental record in the region in the period before the LGM, when other proxy records are rare, allowing a better understanding of the palaeoenvironmental conditions on the northeastern QTP.     

The Oxygen Isotope Composition of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Ice Wedges of Kotelny Island

The aim of the work was to perform paleotemperature reconstructions for the Late Pleistocene and Holocene of Kotelny Island according to oxygen isotope analysis of syngenetic ice wedges. Variations of δ¹⁸O in the Late Pleistocene ice wedges formed on Kotelny Island are significant, exceeding 8‰ (from –30‰ to –22.9‰), while they are insignificant at –1.5‰ (from –23.1‰ to –21.6‰) for those in the Holocene. Reconstructions showed that the mean January temperature in the Late Pleistocene changed over 8 to 13°C. The mean annual temperature of frozen soils was about –19 or –20°C in the Late Pleistocene, and about –13 to –15°C in the Holocene, while the current temperature is about –14°C.

     

Buried Late Weichselian thermokarst landscape discovered in the Czech Republic,central Europe

Pronounced climatic warming associated with the Late Weichselian Pleniglacial‐to‐Lateglacial transition caused considerable environmental changes throughout the former periglacial zones (in Europe ~53°–46°N). During permafrost degradation and subsequent ground subsidence (i.e. thermokarst processes), the landscape changed rapidly. In this study we investigated a flat mid‐altitude area in south Bohemia, Czech Republic, lying close to the southern limit of the Weichselian permafrost. We discovered palaeo‐lake basins with sedimentary infillings up to 11 m in depth. According to radiocarbon and palynostratigraphical dating, these basins were formed at the onset of the Late Pleniglacial‐to‐Lateglacial transition, whereas the smaller depressions were formed later. We suggest that the basins resulted from thermal and fluvio‐thermal erosion of the former permafrost and represent remnants of discontinuous gullies and possibly collapsed frost mounds (pingo/lithalsa scars). The formation of this a fossil thermokarst landscape was climatically driven and multiple phased, with the major phase during the climatic warming and wetting at the onset of GI‐1e (Bølling) and the minor phase during GI‐1c (Allerød). This study enhances knowledge of the palaeogeography of the former European periglacial zone by showing that Late Pleistocene thermokarst activity could have had a significant impact on the evolution of the landscape of at least some regions of central Europe along the southern limit of the continuous permafrost zone. The research also points to a similar history for the physical transformation of the landscape of the former European periglacial zone and current thermokarst landscapes and could be a valuable source of information with respect to the future transformation of the Arctic under conditions of ongoing global warming.     

Distribution and chronology of Pleistocene permafrost features in France: Database and first results

Numerous periglacial features (polygons, nets, soil stripes, ice‐wedge pseudomorphs and sand‐wedge casts, involutions) have been recorded in France by examining bibliographical sources and aerial photographs. These data show that a large part of France was affected by permafrost during the Pleistocene and only the southern Aquitaine Basin and Languedoc seem to have been beyond its maximum extent. The first OSL ages obtained from the aeolian infill of wedge structures indicate that at least two phases of thermal contraction cracking occurred in southwestern France between ～25 and 36 ka. Chronostratigraphical data from loess in northern France indicate that these episodes correspond to the formation of ice‐wedge networks associated with tundra gleys. In the latter region, two additional permafrost episodes probably occurred during the Last Glacial, the older one corresponding to the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 around 60 ka and the more recent one to MIS 2 around 19–16 ka. Although stratigraphical data indicate that these episodes were relatively short (about one millennium), relict permafrost may have existed for longer periods in northern France.     

成都平原第四纪化石冰楔的发现及古气候意义

最近,在成都平原西缘,大邑城西氮肥厂附近,斜江河西岸,上新统-下更新统大邑砾岩剖面的北端新开挖的露头上,发现了4条化石冰楔。这里的地理坐标是30°35'N103°31'E,海拔530m.这些冰楔发育于大邑砾岩露头的顶部。其中最大的一条,顶部宽3m,向下延伸2.5m.这些冰楔垂直向下延伸,与大邑砾岩层面斜交。所以,它们是在大邑砾岩沉积之后并经过构造变动后形成的,是大邑砾岩的后生冰楔。化石冰楔的充填物的特征与大邑砾岩有明显差别:前者为棕黄色,后者为灰白-黄色;前者砾径分选较好,砾径较细,一般长5cm~15cm,而后者砾径分选较差,粗大者20cm~30cm;前者的砾石含量高,约95%,后者的砾石含量低,约85%;前者砾石ab面产状无优势方向,而后者的ab面产状显示优势方向,倾向170°~210°,倾角30°~40°.由于两者有上述差别,所以,化石冰楔在露头上可以被识别出来。采用ESR法测定冰楔充填物的时代为0.171Ma.由此看来,这些冰楔的形成时代可能相当于V28-238深海岩心氧同位素曲线第6气候期(0.195Ma~0.128Ma),也可与中国黄土L_2~5(0.195Ma~0.180Ma)和L_2~4(0.180Ma~0.167Ma)所记录的气候波动和青藏高原倒数第二次冰期对比。
一般认为,冰楔是多年冻土的指示器,所以这些化石冰楔反映了成都平原在第四纪曾一度发育多年冻土。据研究,冰楔只能形成于年均温<-6℃的地方,高海拔多年冻土下界大致与-2℃~-4℃年均等温线相符。现今,大邑附近年均温约16℃.那么,化石冰楔形成时期,成都平原年均温至少比现今下降了18℃.      

青藏高原中、东部全新世以来多年冻土 演化及寒区环境变化*

古冻土存在的依据和判别标志主要是古冻土遗迹(深埋藏多年冻土层、古冻土上限、融化夹层、厚层地下冰)和古冰缘现象(古冻胀丘、古融冻褶皱、砂楔、土楔、冰楔假型、风成沙丘、黄土层、厚层泥炭和腐殖质层等)。文章结合大量的测年数据,利用古代和现代冻土以及冰缘现象的时空分布差异综合分析对比,将全新世以来青藏高原多年冻土演化过程和环境变化划分为6个较明显的时段:早全新世的气候剧变期(10800aB.P.至8500~7000aB.P.)、中全新世大暖期(8500~7000aB.P.至4000~3000aB.P.)、晚全新世寒冷期(4000~3000aB.P.至1000aB.P.)、晚全新世温暖期(1000aB.P.至500aB.P.)、全新世末小冰期(500aB.P.至100aB.P.)及近代升温期(100aB.P.至今);同时,概述了各时段高原冻土的发育条件、分布范围及总面积,和当时高原上的古气候、古地理环境。     

青藏铁路含融化夹层路基热力响应监测分析

基于青藏铁路沿线P32和P33监测断面连续10年的含融化夹层路基的地温和变形场地实测数据,分析了该两处监测断面左路肩下多年冻土人为上限、季节冻结最大深度、融化夹层厚度及多年冻土人为上限附近地温的年变化过程;同时分析了P32和P33监测断面左右路肩的总沉降年变化过程、P32监测断面左路肩地温场对变形的影响及P33监测断面左右路肩地温场差异对左右路肩差异沉降的影响。结果表明:P32和P33监测断面左路肩下多年冻土人为上限逐年下降、季节冻结最大深度基本不变、融化夹层厚度逐年增厚及多年冻土人为上限附近地温逐年升高;观测期内,P32和P33监测断面左右路肩变形均以沉降为主,且P32监测断面左右路肩的总沉降变形量均小于P33监测断面;其中P32监测断面左路肩暖季沉降变形明显,冷季发生轻微的冻胀变形,且发生沉降和冻胀的时间略滞后于路基下部温度场的变化;P33监测断面左右路肩地温场的差异导致左右路肩存在差异沉降,且其差异沉降值随时间逐年变大。     

青海湖北岸原生砂楔的发现及其古气候意义

青海湖北岸刚察县城东与泉吉乡西发现原生砂楔群, 楔内充填物均为中细粒砂, 楔体底部中细粒砂ESR测年数据表明, 刚察县城东3个原生砂楔发育时代分别为(774±70) ka、(773±70) ka和(229±20) ka, 泉吉乡西1个原生砂楔形成时代为(197±18) ka, 反映该区至少发育两期原生砂楔, 其形成时代分别对应昆仑冰期和倒数第二次冰期. 基于原生砂楔的特殊形成环境, 估算青海湖盆地在昆仑冰期早期的年均温不高于-7.5~-10 ℃, 比现今至少低9.2~11.7 ℃, 中更新世早期青海湖盆地发育多年冻土, 青藏高原东北部可能已经进入冰冻圈; 倒数第二次冰期的年均温不高于-9.5~-10 ℃, 比现今低11 ℃以上.     

Periglacial features indicative of permafrost: Ice and soil wedges

Ice wedges are wedge-shaped masses of ice, oriented vertically with their apices downward, a few millimeters to many meters wide at the top, and generally less than 10 m vertically. Ice wedges grow in and are confined to humid permafrost regions. Snow, hoar frost, or freezing water partly fill winter contraction cracks outlining polygons, commonly 5–20 m in diameter, on the surface of the ground. Moisture comes from the atmosphere. Increments of ice, generally 0.1–2.0 mm, are added annually to wedges which squeeze enclosing permafrost aside and to the surface to produce striking surface patterns. Soil wedges are not confined to permafrost. One type, sand wedges, now grows in arid permafrost regions. Sand wedges are similar in dimensions, patterns, and growth rates to ice wedges. Drifting sand enters winter contraction cracks instead of ice. Fossil ice and sand wedges are the most diagnostic and widespread indicators of former permafrost, but identification is difficult. Any single wedge is untrustworthy. Evidence of fossil ice wedges includes: wedge forms with collapse structures from replacement of ice; polygonal patterns with dimensions comparable to active forms having similar coefficients of thermal expansion; fabrics in the host showing pressure effects; secondary deposits and fabric indicative of a permafrost table; and other evidence of former permafrost. Sand wedges lack open-wedge, collapse structures, but have complex, nearly vertical, crisscrossing narrow dikelets and fabric. Similar soil wedges are produced by wetting and drying, freezing and thawing, solution, faulting, and other mechanisms. Many forms are multigenetic. Many socalled ice-wedge casts are misidentified, and hence, permafrost along the late-Wisconsinan border in the United States was less extensive than has been proposed.     

黄河源区冻土特征及退化趋势

黄河源区位于青藏高原多年冻土区东北部边缘地带,是季节冻土、岛状多年冻土和在大片连续多年冻土并存地带.多年冻土层在垂向分布上有衔接状和不衔接状两大类.不衔接状又可分为浅埋藏(8m)、深埋藏(8m)和双层多年冻土等形式.从20世纪80年代以来,源区气温以0.02℃.a-1增温率持续上升,人类经济活动日益增强,导致冻土呈区域性退化.多年冻土下界普遍升高50～80m,最大季节冻深平均减少了0.12m,浅层地下水温度上升0.5～0.7℃.冻土退化总体趋势是由大片状分布逐渐变为岛状、斑状分布,多年冻土层变薄,冻土面积缩小,融区范围扩大.部分多年冻土岛完全消失变为季节冻土.     

中国的多年冻土──过去与现在

中国多年冻土区的总面积约占中国陆地面积的２２．４％，达２１５００００ｋｍ²。多年冻土的分布特征受气候条件在三度空间的变化所制约。自晚更新世以来，其分布情况已有相当的变化。在东次冰期最盛期，东北地区多年冻土南界曾推进到北纬４１—４２°，在全新世暖期，南界向北退缩，但晚更新世形成的冰楔和多年冻土至今仍存在于大兴安岭北部，全新世中期严寒期冻土有所扩展并形成冰楔。随着气候变化，中国西部高山和高原区高海拔冻土的分布下界已上移８００—１０００ｍ，但高山和高原的主要部分仍处于冰缘环境，有的地方在全新世还发育了共生型多年冻土。     

The extent of permafrost in China during the local Last Glacial Maximum (LLGM)

Recent investigations into relict periglacial phenomena in northern and western China and on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau provide information for delineating the extent of permafrost in China during the Late Pleistocene. Polygonal and wedge‐shaped structures indicate that, during the local Last Glacial Maximum (LLGM, between ～35 and 10.5 ka BP), the southern limit of latitudinal permafrost in northern China advanced southward at least to ～38–40°N in the east and to ～37–39°N in the west. This represents an advance of about 5–10° of latitude beyond present‐day permafrost limits. The lower limits of elevationally controlled permafrost on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and its peripheries were about 1000 m lower: this permafrost was largely continuous during the LLGM. This suggests a cooling of between 4 and 10°C, or more. This paper discusses the extent of permafrost during the LLGM and presents maps that have been constructed on the basis of extensive and integrative analysis of all reliable and pertinent data. The results indicate that the extent of LLGM permafrost in China was between ～3.8 and 4.3×10⁶ km². This is 80 to 100% more than that of ～2.15×10⁶ km² in the 1970s, and 120 to ～150% more than that of ～1.75×10⁶ km² today.     

Ice wedges: Growth,thaw transformation,and palaeoenvironmental significance

Frost-cracking and ice-wedge growth are fundamental processes within the permafrost environment. Extensive areas of contemporary permafrost terrain are characterised by frost-fissure polygons, formed by repeated thermal contraction-cracking of the ground. The incremental growth of ice veins and wedges along the axes of contraction-cracks contributes significantly to the volume of ground ice in near-surface permafrost. In areas beyond the present limit of permafrost, the recognition of ice-wedge pseudomorphs provides one of the few unambiguous indications of the former existence of permafrost conditions. An understanding of the processes of ice-wedge growth and thaw transformation is essential if contemporary ice wedges are to be used as analogues for Pleistocene frost-fissure structures, in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.     

内蒙古鄂尔多斯高原古冰缘遗迹科学考察研究进展

冰缘遗迹（特别是冷生楔形构造及融冻褶皱）是重建古气候及第四纪晚期多年冻土环境的重要证据。内蒙古鄂尔多斯高原是我国北方地区冰缘现象最为发育的地区之一。为准确了解鄂尔多斯高原冰缘遗迹类型及其分布特征、区域冻土演化历史等,中国科学院西北生态环境资源研究院和荷兰自由大学共同组成科研小组,于2018年5—6月组织了“鄂尔多斯高原冰缘遗迹科学考察”。考察区域涉及靖边—城川—乌审旗—鄂尔多斯东胜区一带约12 000 km²的范围。考察内容主要包括鄂尔多斯高原冰缘遗迹类型及特征、分布区域、各类型冰缘遗迹所指示的气候条件的初步推断等。结果表明：冻融褶皱和冷生楔体构造是鄂尔多斯高原主要存在的两大类冰缘遗迹。基于本次考察中关于冰缘遗迹的分布与特征等新发现,并综合前人研究成果,初步推断：在气温极低、多年冻土非常发育的时段,有利于形成各类冷生楔状构造,如冰楔假形和大型原生砂楔等;在气候转暖、多年冻土退化,但还没有全部融化完阶段,可能形成融冻褶皱;区域性大面积分布和成群出现的融冻褶皱一般反映较暖气候环境下,多年冻土层上部已退化到一定程度。基于光释光（OSL）年代测试结果,结合冰缘遗迹的特征及其所指示的古气候环境,初步重建了鄂尔多斯5万年以来的冻土环境变化序列。区内多年冻土在多年冻土最大期（LPM,25~19 ka BP）时最发育,以大面积连续多年冻土为主;之后,随气温转暖,总趋势呈退化状态,多年冻土分布逐渐变为片状→岛状→零星斑状,直至现今全部融完变为深季节冻土区。     

Spatial distribution of mean winter air temperatures in Siberian permafrost at 20−18 ka BP using oxygen isotope data

Palaeotemperature reconstruction for the period of 20?18 ka BP in Siberia is here based on δ¹⁸O analysis and ¹⁴C dating of large syngenetic ice wedges. Dozens of yedoma exposures, from Yamal Peninsula to Chukotka, have been studied. Snow meltwater is considered to be the main source of ice‐wedge ice. The modern relationship between δ¹⁸O composition of ice‐wedge ice and winter temperature is used as a base for reconstruction. In modern ice wedges (elementary veins that have accumulated during the last 60–100 years) δ¹⁸O fluctuates between ?14 and ?20‰ in western Siberia and between ?23 and ?28‰ in northern Yakutia. The trend in δ¹⁸O distribution in ice wedges dated at 20?18 ka BP is similar to the modern one. For example, the δ¹⁸O values in Late Pleistocene wedges are more negative going from west to east by 8–10‰, i.e. from ?19 to ?25‰ in western Siberian ice wedges to ?30 to ?35‰ in northern Yakutia. However, values are as high as ?28 to ?33‰ in north Chukotka and the central areas of the Magadan Region and even as high as ?23 to ?29‰ in the east of Chukotka. The same difference between the oxygen isotope composition of ice wedges in the eastern and western regions of Siberian permafrost (about 8–10‰) is also preserved from 20?18 ka BP to the present: δ¹⁸O values obtained from large ice wedges from the Late Pleistocene vary from ?19 to ?25‰ in western Siberia to ?30 to ?35‰ in northern Yakutia. We conclude that, at 20?18 ka BP, mean January temperatures were about 8–12°C lower (in Chukotka up to 17–18°C) than at present.     

Periglacial structures within fluvio‐aeolian successions of the end of the Last Glaciation – examples from SE Poland and NW Ukraine

The nature of permafrost and related environmental conditions in the Weichselian Late Pleniglacial and Lateglacial are reconstructed based on the assessment of frost structures that are best documented in the Loess Belt and in plateau areas composed of glacial till. Investigations were conducted in the central‐eastern part of the European Sand Belt (SE Poland and NW Ukraine) on a fluvio‐aeolian sedimentary succession and took into account its chronological context given by luminescence dating. Various generations of periglacial structures found in these deposits indicate not only the development of permafrost (ice‐wedge pseudomorphs) and decreased humidity (composite wedge casts) but also the degradation of permafrost (large‐scale involutions) and, finally, the establishment of deep seasonal frost (frost cracks). The diversity of structures in the study region appears to result from local conditions rather than increasing continentality of climate towards the east.     

粉砂土反复冻胀融沉特性试验研究

针对深季节冻土区的特殊环境,通过室内试验研究了粉砂土在不同初始含水率、干密度、荷载、冻融次数条件下的反复冻胀、融沉特性。研究结果表明：粉砂土的冻结温度为-1.03 °C;其冻胀融沉变形随冻融次数的增加呈现波浪式起伏变化,并最终趋于稳定状态;经历多次冻融后,干密度较大试样整体表现为膨胀,干密度较小试样整体表现为压密;上部荷载在抑制冻胀的同时加大了试样的整体融沉变形,却降低了每次冻融的冻胀率和融沉系数;存在一个最优初始含水率,该含水率条件下,试样经历多次冻融后的高度不发生变化;由于外界水源的补给,冻融后试样内部含水率均大于初始含水率;干密度和顶端荷载的增大均有效地抑制了外界水源的补给;4次冻融循环后,粉砂土的冻胀率、融沉系数均逐渐趋于稳定。