南极乔治王岛末次冰期以来的环境事件

末次冰期以来环境演变事件为末次冰期冰盖扩张事件。南设德兰群岛当时为一相连的大岛,乔冶王岛上的冰川有可能来自南极半岛。全新世冰退模式和冰进事件表现为由统一冰盖分解成三个小冰帽,然后再逐渐消失。现冰川以每年约1.3m的速度后退。冰退之后地壳存在明显的均衡补偿抬升,表现为沿海地区发育了5—6级上升海岸阶地,现地壳以每年6—10mm的速率在抬升。     

南极冰盖与中国风尘堆积

通过南极冰盖消长和风尘堆积物的气候事件对比,说明在4.3—2.5 Ma B.P,间南极冰盖增长和北极冰盖发展,中国第三纪风尘红壤土沉积可能是中国东部季风气候雏形形成的反映。2.6Ma以来,随着北极冰盖的迅速扩展,中国内陆进一步干旱化并促成黄土堆积。南极极锋带北移与黄土区极寒等事件的发生具有同步性,据此建立极寒事件的序列,可能反映大气环流强度变化情况。南极东方站冰岩芯气候曲线说明,黄土高原晚更新世以来的干冷期可能形成于0.115Ma B.P.。我国东部地区转暖大致发生在13000aB.P.,此后不久可能出现欧洲新仙女木寒冷事件。此外,大约在40000aB.P.可能有一寒冷事件。     

末次间冰期以来地球气候系统的突变

地球气候系统的突然变化是近年来地学研究的热点。取自极地冰芯、海洋沉积物和陆地的古气候记录表明,末次间冰期以来全球经历了一系列数百年—千年时间尺度的气候突变事件,证明了在末次冰期—间冰期旋回大尺度气候变化背景下,全球气候存在较大不稳定性这一基本事实。尽管末次间冰期以来这些数百年—千年时间尺度气候突变事件的成因和影响范围还存在明显的不确定性,但已从诸如末次间冰期(MIS 5e)中期的干冷事件、末次冰期的Dansgaard-Oeschger旋回、Heinrich事件和Younger Dryas事件以及发生在全新世冰后期的一些降温事件的研究中,获得对过去130 ka来气候变化过程总体上的认识和理解。综述了近年来的主要研究成果,介绍了有关末次间冰期以来全球气候突变事件发生的时间、过程和机制等最新的研究进展。     

美国1996财政年度全球变化研究计划介绍

据《我们变化的星球——美国1996财政年度全球变化研究计划》,介绍了美国1996财政年度全球变化研究计划的科学目标和研究内容,主要包括季节至年际的气候波动及相关事件,未来几十年的气候变化,平流层臭氧耗减与UV辐射的增强,土地覆盖、陆地与海洋生态系统的变化,全球变化研究的横断性问题及国际合作等方面。     

冰雷达探测研究南极冰盖的进展与展望

南极冰盖是地球上最大的陆缘冰体,其物质收支和稳定性对全球气候变化和海平面升高有重要的影响。冰雷达,或称无线电回波探测,是冰川学家调查南极冰盖冰下特征的主要方法。在过去的50年里,冰雷达被广泛用于测量冰盖厚度、内部构造和冰下地貌,这些参数是计算冰盖体积和物质平衡、重建过去冰雪积累和消融率以及冰盖动力和沉积过程的基础。现在,冰雷达测量覆盖了南极绝大部分区域,极大地提升了人们对南极冰盖和全球系统间相互作用的理解。首先,简要介绍了冰雷达及其技术发展,然后着重评述了冰雷达在探测研究南极冰盖厚度和冰下地形、内部反射层、冰下湖和冰下水系、冰床粗糙度以及冰晶组构上的进展。最后,对未来冰雷达探测研究南极冰盖的前景进行了展望,并给出我国的现状。
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东南极冰盖上新世大规模退缩事件

笔者近年对东南极内陆格罗夫山(Grove Mountains)开展了上新世以来冰盖表面波动的综合研究,运用冰川地质、地貌、土壤、沉积岩、孢粉组合及宇宙核素等各种方法手段,提出东南极大冰盖形成以后并非稳定演化至今,而在上新世早期时发生过大规模退缩,其前缘至少曾经退缩到格罗夫山地区,距现今冰盖边缘约400 km。之后,冰盖又迅速膨胀,到距今2.3 Ma时,冰面至少超过现今高度约400 m。以后冰面缓慢平稳下降,至1.6 Ma时,东南极冰盖进入第四纪振荡期,但重新上升的冰面再也没有超过现今高度的100 m以上。东南极冰盖大规模消融事件在全球尺度上也有所响应,例如北半球大冰盖形成,青藏高原整体剧烈隆升,塔里木盆地黄土出现等。这类行星尺度的气候变化可能与直布罗陀海峡关闭与地中海盐化事件,巴拿马地峡关闭等大地构造事件有关。     

冰期指数法模拟北半球冰盖演化的不确定性研究

IPCC第六次评估报告（AR6）显示,自20世纪起极地冰盖持续消融,全球海平面不断上升。目前对于地球冰盖未来的预测以及过去的演变历史尚不明确,而数值模拟能够提供一种有效的解决方案。在冰盖模拟研究中,冰期指数法可依据古气候代用指标将离散的气候强迫转化为连续的气候强迫,用于冰盖演变的瞬态模拟。基于该方法,利用2组（共6条）分别代表全球海平面和温度变化的代用指标,开展末次冰期旋回北半球冰盖的时空演变模拟研究,结果表明：(1)模拟的冰量演变特征受指数的变化趋势控制;(2)在指数变化特征（轨迹和变幅）相似时,千年尺度气候突变事件的存在会导致模拟的总冰量偏少;(3)在同一气候强迫下,不同指数模拟的最大冰盖范围受夏季0℃等温线的约束,同时指数的演变轨迹与变幅也会影响末次冰期盛冰期冰盖模拟的空间分布。因此,在利用冰期指数法开展冰盖瞬态模拟研究时,需根据关注的研究区域选取有代表性的指数并考虑古气候代用指标（即冰期指数）的不确定性对模拟结果的影响。     

西昌大箐梁子组形成时代及沉积环境*

对大箐梁子剖面进行了系统的磁性地层学研究和孢粉分析。磁性地层结果显示,剖面中B/M界线出现于32.6m处,剖面下部出现了C1r.2r-1n极性事件; 本次测试结合已有研究成果表明,大箐梁子组形成于1.256~0.195MaB.P.。孢粉记录反映在此期间该区经历了凉湿(1.256~1.180MaB.P.)—暖干,后期偏潮湿(1.18~0.94MaB.P.)—暖湿(0.94~0.66MaB.P.)—温湿(0.66~0.59MaB.P.)—凉干(0.59~0.40MaB.P.)—干旱(0.400~0.195MaB.P.)的6个气候演变阶段,揭示出5次明显气候转型事件。通过与青藏高原和黄土高原地区不同或相同季风环流系统中其他剖面气候特征的比较,探讨了气候转型的控制因素。分析结果表明大箐梁子剖面环境演变过程主要受青藏高原"昆黄运动"阶段性隆升与全球气候变化控制,同时也受该区季风环流的复杂性、特殊的地貌部位等区域环境的影响。     

中中新世气候转型期太平洋深层环流变化与碳循环

中中新世气候转型(14.2～13.9 Ma)是全球联动的一个快速气候变化事件,冰盖、洋流和碳循环均发生显著变化,厘清其驱动机制对理解新生代全球变冷有重要意义。对此已有研究提出2种假说：一种重视洋流重组,另一种则突出碳循环的重要性,但二者都无法完美解释中中新世气候转型的种种现象。实际上,冰盖—洋流—碳循环三者形成耦合的系统,共同造成地球气候变化。综合已有的地质记录,两类机制均导致深部大洋碳储库增大,大气p CO₂降低,并进一步促进气候变冷和冰盖增长,表明不同子系统之间的耦合作用引起气候突变。相较于碳循环过程和冰盖变化,学术界对中中新世气候转型期间洋流变化的了解较少,特别是南大洋和太平洋深部水团。未来的研究应聚焦于深部太平洋的洋流变化,以便更全面地完善对中中新世气候转型的理解。     

南极冰盖研究最新进展

南极冰盖是地球系统的重要组成部分,在全球气候系统中扮演着重要角色.通过对南极冰盖的研究将有助于了解其在全球气候系统中的作用,并为探讨全球气候过去、现在以及未来的演化提供支撑.总结分析了近年来南极冰盖研究的一些重要进展,并在此基础上对南极冰盖研究领域的一些主要结果、观测事实以及未来变化展开讨论,重点介绍南极物质平衡、冰芯研究、冰下水系统、冰盖数值模拟方面最近的进展,评述未来可能的研究方向和应该关注的问题.     

Pollen-inferred Late-Glacial and Holocene climate in southern Balkans (Lake Maliq)

High-temporal resolution analysis of pollen records from Lake Maliq (Albania) provides quantitative estimates of monthly temperature and precipitation changes since the last deglaciation. The climate parameters were estimated using the best modern analogue technique with an updated modern pollen-climate database composed of 2748 surface samples. The record shows two main cooling phases in the Maliq area (the Oldest and Younger Dryas) and a cooling event around 8200 years, which suggests that the forcing factors driving climate variations in the North Atlantic area since the Last Glacial period also extended their influence into the Mediterranean area. The Oldest and Younger Dryas are also characterized by an arid climate and a change in the seasonality of precipitation: the summer precipitation tends to be greater during the cooling phases than during the temperate periods. The Holocene climate is relatively stable and the values of each parameter reach their modern levels, except for an arid event between 8300 and 8100 cal BP.     

Palynological analyses in the laminated sediment of Lake Holzmaar (Eifel, Germany): duration of Lateglacial and Preboreal biozones

The laminated sediment of Lake Holzmaar (Germany) has provided a continuous varve chronology for the last 3500 varve years (vy) and beyond that a floating varve chronology back to more than 22500 vy BP. This chronology in calendar years, in combination with palynology, enables us to determine the timing and the magnitude of Lateglacial and Early Holocene environmental changes on land (from 13838 to 10930 vy BP). The palynological diagram has a mean time resolution of 27 vy between samples. This paper establishes for the first time the biozonation for Lake Holzmaar below the Laacher See Tephra. Fifteen pollen subzones grouped in four biozones are defined by cluster analysis. After a period disturbed by microturbidites, only a part of the Bølling is present. Three cold periods have been evidenced by pollen analyses: the Older Dryas (96-vy-long), the Younger Dryas (654-vy-long) and the Rammelbeek phase (237-vy-long). The Allerød (883-vy-long) is bipartite with a first Betula -dominated period followed by a Pinus -dominated one. The Younger Dryas is also bipartite, with first a decrease of winter temperatures along with a change to a more continental climate. It is followed by a drier phase with a second decrease in temperatures, probably this time also affecting summer temperatures. The Preboreal is 702-yr-long. The duration of most phases corresponds to published records, except for that of the Younger Dryas. Cluster and rate-of-change analyses indicate a sharp change in the terrestrial vegetation assemblages that may be caused by a sedimentary hiatus of erosive origin during this cold and dry period. As a result, the chronology of Holzmaar has to be revised most likely below the middle of the Younger Dryas. Comparison with the varve record of Meerfelder Maar, a neighbour maar lake, suggests adding 320 vy below 12025 vy.     

The discovery of the Younger Dryas,and comments on the current meaning and usage of the term

The Younger Dryas (YD) cold event was discovered in Denmark by Hartz and Mithers in 1904 and the term coined by Hartz in 1912. It was identified as a lacustrine clay bed containing plant macrofossils of an Arctic flora, including Dryas octopetala, and lying between Allerød and Holocene gyttjas containing a warmer flora with birch trees. The YD is unique in the sense that it is the largest and most abrupt climate change on Earth since the Last Glacial Maximum and thus within the reach of radiocarbon dating. Yet, I consider it is part of a regular Dansgaard-Oeschger event. The term has been used for a climate event and for lithostratigraphical, biostratigraphical and several other stratigraphical units. I prefer using it as a geochronological and chronostratigraphical unit, i.e. that the YD represents a specific period of geological time and the rocks and sediments formed during this period. In the type area of southern Scandinavia, the YD chron represents the age and duration of the cold event.     

Extent, timing, and climatic implications of glacier advances Mount Rainier, Washington, U.S.A., at the pleistocene/holocene transition

The North Atlantic Younger Dryas climatic reversal did not cause a glacier advance on Mount Rainier. The glaciers on Mount Rainier seem to have advanced in response to regional or local shifts in climate. However, the Younger Dryas climatic reversal may have affected the Mount Rainier area, causing a cold, but dry, climate unfavorable to glacier advances. Glaciers in the vicinity of Mount Rainier advanced twice during late glacial/early Holocene time. Radiocarbon dates obtained from lake sediments adjacent to the corresponding moraines are concordant, indicating that the ages for the advances are closely limiting. The first advance occurred before 11,300 ¹⁴C yr BP (13,200 cal yr BP). During the North Atlantic Younger Dryas event, between 11,000 and 10,000 ¹⁴C yr BP (12,900 and 11,600 cal yr BP), glaciers retreated on Mount Rainier, probably due to a lack of available moisture, but conditions may have remained cold. The onset of warmer conditions on Mount Rainier occurred around 10,000 ¹⁴C yr BP (11,600 cal yr BP). Organic sedimentation lasted for at least 700 years before glaciers readvanced between 9800 and 8950 ¹⁴C yr BP (10,900 and 9950 cal yr BP).     

Climate,environment, and humans in North America’s Great Basin during the Younger Dryas, 12,900–11,600 calendar years ago

Global climate change associated with the onset of the Younger Dryas chronozone affected different regions of the northern hemisphere in different ways. In the Great Basin of western North America, the effect was positive for human populations. Relatively cool temperatures causing effectively wetter conditions filled some pluvial basins with shallow but permanent lakes and other basins with well-watered marshes or meadows. Vegetation communities dominated by sagebrush and grasses promoted healthy and diverse animal populations. Ten archaeological sites from the region have been dated to the Younger Dryas chronozone. Evidence from these sites indicates that Paleoindians with skull shapes and mitochondrial DNA similar to modern western North American Indians occupied the region. These early humans produced a material culture characterized predominantly by large stemmed bifacial points, although one site contained a small fluted point. Curated tool forms and technological activities represented in analyzed lithic assemblages suggest a highly mobile settlement strategy, and redundant short-term occupations of sites indicate frequent and long-distance residential moves across territories spanning distances of up to 400 km. Paleoindian subsistence pursuits focused on artiodactyls (primarily mule deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope), leporids (chiefly jackrabbits), birds (sage grouse and waterfowl), insects (grasshoppers), and possibly fish. Easy-to-process plants like cactus pads were also eaten, but small seeds do not seem to have been an important part of Great Basin human diets until long after the Younger Dryas, closer to 9500 cal BP. The Great Basin record contains no evidence for natural catastrophe at the onset of the chronozone. Instead, the Younger Dryas appears to have been among the best of times for human foragers in this region of North America.     

Late Glacial fluvial response of the Niers‐Rhine (western Germany) to climate and vegetation change

The Niers valley was part of the Rhine system that came into existence during the maximum Saalian glaciation and was abandoned at the end of the Weichselian. The aim of the study was to explain the Late Pleniglacial and Late Glacial fluvial dynamics and to explore the external forcing factors: climate change, tectonics and sea level. The sedimentary units have been investigated by large‐scale coring transects and detailed cross‐sections over abandoned channels. The temporal fluvial development has been reconstructed by means of geomorphological relationships, pollen analysis and ¹⁴C dating. The Niers‐Rhine experienced a channel pattern change from braided, via a transformational phase, to meandering in the early Late Glacial. This change in fluvial style is explained by climate amelioration at the Late Pleniglacial to Late Glacial transition (at ca. 12.5 k ¹⁴C yr BP) and climate‐related hydrological, lithological and vegetation changes. A delayed fluvial response of ca. 400 ¹⁴C yr (transitional phase) was established. The channel transformations are not related to tectonic effects and sea‐level changes. Successive river systems have similar gradients of ca. 35–40 cm km^?1. A meandering river system dominated the Allerød and Younger Dryas periods. The threshold towards braiding was not crossed during the Younger Dryas, but increased aeolian activity has been observed on the Younger Dryas point bars. The final abandonment of the Niers‐Rhine was dated shortly after the Younger Dryas to Holocene transition. Traces of Laacher See pumice have been found in the Niers valley, indicating that the Niers‐Rhine was still in use during the Younger Dryas. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pollen/event stratigraphy of the varved sediment of Lake Suigetsu,central Japan from 15,701 to 10,217 SG vyr BP (Suigetsu varve years before present): Description,interpretation, and correlation with other regions

High-resolution pollen data (average interval between samples<15 years) are reported on part of a varved sediment core from Lake Suigetsu, Japan, spanning the interval 15,701 to 10,217 SG vyr BP (Suigetsu varve years Before Present). This new record is compared with a previously proposed event stratigraphy based on pollen-based reconstructed changes of mean annual temperature. The deglacial climate history reconstructed at Lake Suigetsu resembles that observed in the North Atlantic, although the major boundaries of pollen zones are asynchronous with those in the North Atlantic event stratigraphy by several centuries. The onset of the Late Glacial interstadial occurred earlier in Japan than in the North Atlantic. This demonstrates that the climate in Japan was closely linked to the low-latitude Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures that first reacted to orbital forcing. Conversely, the onset of the subsequent cold reversal phase in Japan lagged that of the North Atlantic (Younger Dryas) by several centuries. The duration of this cold phase was about the same as the Younger Dryas event, but the amplitude was much reduced (4±2 °C in Δmean annual temperature). These findings support the hypothesis that this pan-hemispheric cooling event was triggered by North Atlantic forcing, most probably by a meltwater pulse and an associated change in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. However, the mechanism which transmitted the change in the North Atlantic to the Far East is unknown.     

A speleothem record of Younger Dryas cooling, Klamath Mountains, Oregon, USA

A well-dated δ¹⁸O record in a stalagmite from a cave in the Klamath Mountains, Oregon, with a sampling interval of 50 yr, indicates that the climate of this region cooled essentially synchronously with Younger Dryas climate change elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. The δ¹⁸O record also indicates significant century-scale temperature variability during the early Holocene. The δ¹³C record suggests increasing biomass over the cave through the last deglaciation, with century-scale variability but with little detectable response of vegetation to Younger Dryas cooling.     

The last glacial-interglacial transition and dinoflagellate cysts in the western Mediterranean Sea

Using the analysis of dinoflagellate cysts in three deep-sea sediments cores situated in the Sicilian-Tunisian Strait, in the Gulf of Lions and in the Alboran Sea, we reconstruct the paleoenvironmental changes that took place during the last glacial-interglacial transition in the western Mediterranean Sea. The development of the warm microflora Impagidinium aculeatum and especially Spiniferites mirabilis appears to be an important proxy for recognizing warm periods as the Bölling/Alleröd and the Early Holocene. Bitectatodinium tepikiense, Spiniferites elongatus and Nematosphaeropsis labyrinthus mark the end of the Heinrich event 1 and the Younger Dryas. This cold microfloral association confirms the drastic climate changes in the western Mediterranean Sea synchronous to the dry and cold climate which occurred in the South European margin. The dinocyst N. labyrinthus shows high percentages in all studied regions during the Younger Dryas. Its distribution reveals a significant increase from the South to the North of this basin during this cold brief event. Thus, we note that this species can be considered as a new eco-stratigraphical tracer of the Younger Dryas in the western Mediterranean Sea.     

The GISP2 δO Climate Record of the Past 16,500 Years and the Role of the Sun, Ocean, and Volcanoes

Measured ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core extending back to 16,500 cal yr B.P. provide a continuous record of climate change since the last glaciation. High-resolution annual ¹⁸O/¹⁶O results were obtained for most of the current millennium (A.D. 818-1985) and record the Medieval Warm Period, the Little Ice Age, and a distinct 11-yr ¹⁸O/¹⁶O cycle. Volcanic aerosols depress central Greenland annual temperature (1.5°C maximally) and annual ¹⁸O/¹⁶O for about 4 yr after each major eruptive event. On a bidecadal to millennial time scale, the contribution of solar variability to Holocene Greenlandic temperature change is 0.4°C. The role of thermohaline circulation change on climate, problematic during the Holocene, is more distinct for the 16,500-10,000 cal yr B.P. interval. (Analogous to ¹⁴C age calibration terminology, we express time in calibrated (cal) yr B.P. (A.D. 1950 = 0 cal yr B.P.)). The Oldest Dryas/Bølling/Older Dryas/Allerød/Younger Dryas sequence appears in great detail. Bidecadal variance in ¹⁸O/¹⁶O, but not necessarily in temperature, is enhanced during the last phase of lateglacial time and the Younger Dryas interval, suggesting switches of air mass transport between jet stream branches. The branched system is nearly instantaneously replaced at the beginning of the Bølling and Holocene (at 14,670 and 11,650 cal yr B.P., respectively) by an atmospheric circulation system in which ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and annual accumulation initially track each other closely. Thermodynamic considerations of the accumulation rate-temperature relationship can be used to evaluate the ¹⁸ O/¹⁶O-temperature relationship. The GISP2 ice-layer-count years of major GISP2 climate transitions also support the use of coral ¹⁴C ages for age calibration.