Enregistrement de la variabilité hydroclimatique au cours des 6500 dernières années sur le littoral de Cabo Frio (Rio de Janeiro,Brésil)

This study concerns a core collected in Brejo do Espinho's lagoon from Cabo Frio littoral (Brazil) submitted to dry influence of local upwelling controlled by north-east trade winds from the South Atlantic and particularly strengthened during El Niño events. Diatoms study supported by sedimentological and isotopic analyses shows dry phases infrequent before 4000 yr, a highly variable climatic phase between 3600 and 2900 yr and from 2400 yr onward a dryness enhancement. To cite this article: B. Laslandes et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

Spatial and temporal variability of Holocene temperature in the North Atlantic region

The early Holocene climate of the North Atlantic region was influenced by two boundary conditions that were fundamentally different from the present: the presence of the decaying Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and higher than present summer solar insolation. In order to assess spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene climate evolution across this region, we collated quantitative paleotemperature records at sub-millennial resolution and synthesized their temporal variability using principal components analysis (PCA). The analysis reveals considerable spatial variability, most notably in the time-transgressive expression of the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM). Most of the region, but especially areas peripheral to the Labrador Sea and hence closest to the locus of LIS disintegration, experienced maximum Holocene temperatures that lagged peak summer insolation by 1000-3000 years. Many sites from the northeastern North Atlantic sector, including the Nordic Seas and Scandinavia, either warmed in phase with maximum summer insolation (11,000-9000 years ago) or were less strongly lagged than the Baffin Bay-Labrador Sea region. These spatially complex patterns of Holocene climate development, which are defined by the PCA, resulted from the interplay between final decay of the LIS and solar insolation forcing.     

Paleoenvironmental records of water level and climatic changes from the middle to late Holocene at a Lake Erie coastal wetland, Ontario, Canada

Pollen and diatom assemblages, and peat stratigraphies, from a coastal wetland on the northern shore of Lake Erie were used to analyze water level and climatic changes since the middle Holocene and their effects on wetland plant communities. Peat deposition began 4700 cal yr B.P. during the Nipissing II transgression, which was driven by isostatic rebound. At that time, a diatom-rich wild rice marsh existed at the site. Water level dropped at the end of the Nipissing rise at least 2 m within 200 yr, leading to the development of shallower-water plant communities and an environment too dry for most diatoms to persist. The sharp decline in water level was probably driven primarily by outlet incision, but climate likely played some role. The paleoecological records provide evidence for post-Nipissing century-scale transgressions occurring around 2300, 1160, 700 and 450 cal yr B.P. The chronology for these transgressions correlates with other studies from the region and implies climatic forcing. Peat inception in shallow sloughs across part of the study area around 700 cal yr B.P. coincides with the Little Ice Age. These records, considered alongside others from the region, suggest that the Little Ice Age may have resulted in a wetter climate across the eastern Great Lakes region.     

A high resolution relative paleointensity record from the Gerlache-Boyd paleo-ice stream region, northern Antarctic Peninsula

Herein we document and interpret an absolute chronological dating attempt using geomagnetic paleointensity data from a post-glacial sediment drape on the western Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf. Our results demonstrate that absolute dating can be established in Holocene Antarctic shelf sediments that lack suitable material for radiocarbon dating. Two jumbo piston cores of 10-m length were collected in the Western Bransfield Basin. The cores preserve a strong, stable remanent magnetization and meet the magnetic mineral assemblage criteria recommended for reliable paleointensity analyses. The relative paleomagnetic intensity records were tuned to published absolute and relative paleomagnetic stacks, which yielded a record of the last ∼8500 years for the post-glacial drape. Four tephra layers associated with documented eruptions of nearby Deception Island have been dated at 3.31, 3.73, 4.44, and 6.86 ± 0.07 ka using the geomagnetic paleointensity method. This study establishes the dual role of geomagnetic paleointensity and tephrochronology in marine sediments across both sides of the northern Antarctic Peninsula.     

Benthic foraminifers in upper Quaternary sediments of the southern Bering Sea: Distribution and paleoceanographic interpretations

Composition and distribution of benthic foraminifers, being coupled with isotopic-geochemical data on Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments from the southern Bering Sea (Core GC-11; 53°31′ N, 178°51′E, water depth 3060 m), demonstrate variations in bottom water properties during the last 54 kyr. Their abundance increased to some extent during short periods corresponding to warm Dansgaard-Oeshger interstadials 14, 12, 8, and 2 of marine isotopic stages (MIS) 3 and 2. The first and second deglaciation phases separated by the Younger Dryas cooling episode are marked by significant abundance peaks of benthic foraminifers (an order magnitude higher than in the glacial period), although their share in community of benthic and planktonic foraminifers taken together decreases. Species typical of stable high-productivity areas gain the dominant position. A significant proportion of agglutinated species in the Holocene sediments is indicative of Ca ions deficiency that accelerates dissolution of carbonate tests up to their disappearance approximately 2.5–3 ka ago.     

Impacts of Holocene climatic variations on alluvial fan activity below snowpatches in subarctic Québec

In the Lake Guillaume-Delisle area of subarctic Québec, storm-generated alluvial fans have been active sporadically throughout the Holocene. In this study, we propose that the persistence of late-lying snowpatches in fan catchments during Holocene cold episodes promoted alluvial fan activity by lowering the precipitation threshold required to trigger a torrential event. This hypothesis was tested by characterizing the depositional processes responsible for alluvial fan formation below snowpatches, and by reconstructing the Holocene alluvial fan activity. Stratigraphic and sedimentary analyses conducted on seven alluvial fans revealed that they were deposited by torrential activity leading to waterlaid, transient, or hyperconcentrated deposition. The chronology of the storm-generated alluvial fans — based on 22 radiocarbon dates — indicates that torrential activity was enhanced during the cooler Late Holocene (i.e., after ca. 3500 cal. yr BP). Snowier winters and cooler summers were beneficial to nival activity, allowing the persistence of larger snowpatches throughout the summer and fall seasons. Rainfall-induced thaw of such snowpatches during rainstorm events is inferred to have contributed to alluvial fan activity by increasing water availability. Three peaks of alluvial activity occurred during the Late Holocene (2950–2750, 1900–1400, and 800–300 cal. yr BP) and are indicative of increased storminess resulting in higher fan activity. Increased fan activity during cooler episodes was concurrent with increased runoff activity in the immediate pronival area. This stresses the importance of nivation below snowpatches and pinpoints the role of nivation in enhancing geomorphological activity during period of cooler and more humid climate in subarctic environments.     

Sources of Sediment in Lake Pepin on the Upper Mississippi River in Response to Holocene Climatic Changes

Sediments from Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River, southeastern Minnesota, are used as provenance tracers to assess variations in hydrology and sediment-transport during the middle Holocene. Three rivers contribute sediment to Lake Pepin, and each catchment is characterized by a distinctly different geologic terrain. The geochemical fingerprint for each drainage basin was determined from the elemental composition of heavy minerals in the silt-sized fraction of modern sediment samples. Down-core elemental abundances were compared with these fingerprints by use of a chemical-mass-balance model that apportions sediment to the source areas. We observed a decreased contribution from the Minnesota River during the interval ~6700–5500 ¹⁴C yr BP, which we attribute to decreased discharge of the Minnesota River, likely controlled by a combination of precipitation, snow melt, and groundwater input to the river. This hydrologic condition coincides with the mid-Holocene prairie period recorded by fossil pollen data. The occurrence of this feature in a proxy record for hydrologic variations supports the hypothesis that the mid-Holocene prairie period reflects drier conditions than before or after in midwestern North America.     

A comparison of chironomid biostratigraphy from Lake Vuolep Njakajaure with vegetation, lake-level, and climate changes in Abisko National Park, Sweden

Chironomid remains from the sediment of Lake Vuolep Njakajaure reflect limnological conditions resulting from changing climate and vegetation throughout the Holocene, but do not strictly follow accepted climate trends or the vegetation history based on regional pollen and macrofossil analyses. Chironomid community changes appear to be influenced by organic nutrient input from the surrounding catchment vegetation and lake hydrology, both of which are indirectly responding to some combination of climate change, hypolimnetic oxygen concentration, and changes in basin morphology. The chironomid-based quantitative mean July air-temperature reconstruction differs from other regional quantitative records; this discrepancy is likely related to limnological conditions particular to Lake Vuolep Njakajaure. Comparison of a northern Swedish temperature transfer function and one from western Canada reveals differences in the mean July air-temperature optima of several common taxa, suggesting that the existing conservative estimates of Holocene climate change in northern Sweden may be underestimated due to the limited temperature gradient captured by the Swedish training set.     

Late Holocene linkages between decade–century scale climate variability and productivity at Lake Tanganyika, Africa

Microlaminated sediment cores from the Kalya slope region of Lake Tanganyika provide a near-annually resolved paleoclimate record between ∼∼2,840 and 1,420 cal. yr B.P. demonstrating strong linkages between climate variability and lacustrine productivity. Laminae couplets comprise dark, terrigenous-dominated half couplets, interpreted as low density underflows deposited from riverine sources during the rainy season, alternating with light, planktonic diatomaceous ooze, with little terrigenous component, interpreted as windy/dry season deposits. Laminated portions of the studied cores consist of conspicuous dark and light colored bundles of laminae couplets. Light and dark bundles alternate at decadal time scales. Within dark bundles, both light and dark half couplets are significantly thinner than within light bundles, implying slower sediment accumulation rates during both seasons over those intervals.Time series analyses of laminae thickness patterns demonstrate significant periodicities at interannual–centennial time scales. Longer time scale periodicities (multidecadal to centennial scale) of light and dark half couplet thicknesses are coherent and in some cases are similar to solar cycle periods on these time scales. Although laminae thickness cycles do not strongly covary with the actual Δ¹⁴C record for this same time period, two large Δ¹⁴C anomalies are associated with substantial decreases in both light and dark laminae thickness. In contrast to the multidecadal– centennial time scale, significant annual to decadal periodicities, which are broadly consistent with ENSO/PDO forcing and their impact on East African climate, are not coherent between light and dark half couplets. The coherency of light–dark couplets at decadal–centennial time scales, but not at shorter time scales, is consistent with a model of a long-term relationship between precipitation (recorded in wet season dark laminae thickness) and productivity (light laminae thickness), which is not manifest at shorter time scales. We hypothesize that this coupling results from long-term recharging of internal nutrient loading during wet periods (higher erosion of soil P) and reduced loading during drought intervals. The relationship is not expressed on short time scales during which the dominant control on productivity is wind-driven, dry season upwelling, which is uncorrelated with wet-season precipitation. Our record greatly extends the temporal record of this quasi-periodic behavior throughout the late Holocene and provides the first evidence linking decade- to century-scale episodes of enhanced productivity to enhanced precipitation levels and nutrient recharge in a productive tropical lake.     

Evidence of reworking and resuspension of carbonates during last glacial maximum and early deglacial period along the southwest coast of India

A gravity core collected from the upper slope of southwest of Quilon at a water depth of 776 m (Lat: 8°12′263″N, Long: 76°28′281″E) was analysed for texture (carbonate free), calcium carbonate and organic carbon. Variation in silicic fraction seems to be controlled by silt, i.e., enrichment from 15 ka BP to 10 ka BP and then constant in Holocene. Below 15 ka BP, the silicic fraction gets depleted compared to the Holocene section with a minimum around 21 ka BP. Clay content remains nearly constant except in the Holocene where it shows an enrichment. Carbonate content of less than 63 micron when computed by subtracting coarse fraction content from the total carbonate suggests that the total carbonates are mainly concentrated in the finer fraction. All these carbonate phases show an inverse relationship with silicic fraction except in Holocene. Below 15 ka BP, CaCO₃ dominates in sediments comprising more than 65%, such an increase is also seen in the coarse fraction. Coarse fraction from these sections contains abundant nodular type aggregates encrusting small forams. This period is marked by a high sedimentation rate comparable to Holocene. These parameters suggest that the productivity and precipitation have increased in the Holocene due to the intensification of the southwest monsoon. During the last glacial maximum and early deglacial period the high sedimentation rate indicates redeposition of the carbonates from the existing carbonate lithofacies situated between Quilon and Cape Comorin probably due to the slope instability.