The position and context of Middle Palaeolithic industries from the Ebbsfleet Valley,Kent, UK

The late Middle Pleistocene sites in the Ebbsfleet Valley, Kent, UK, have yielded archaeological assemblages critical to understanding the early Middle Palaeolithic of northwestern Europe. Despite a long history of research, the nature and context of these assemblages are still poorly understood. This paper clarifies the stratigraphic, environmental and archaeological records at Ebbsfleet. These reflect a cold–warm–cold sequence of climatic events, preserved within part of the Taplow/Mucking Formation of the Thames (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8/7/6). Levallois artefacts are shown to be restricted to the lower part of the Ebbsfleet Channel sequence (Phases I and II) and are assigned to late MIS 8/early MIS 7. This material is associated with fauna indicative of open environments during both cool and temperate conditions. Handaxe assemblages are recorded from higher up the sequence (Phases III–V), but have been redeposited from higher terrace units nearby. No primary context archaeology is apparent during these later phases of aggradation. This may indicate that humans abandoned the site once available raw material became inaccessible, and may also reflect a decline in human presence in Britain during the latter part of MIS 7. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radiometric dating of the Middle Palaeolithic tool industry and associated fauna of Pin Hole Cave,Creswell Crags,England

Uranium-series dating of derived speleothem suggests that the sediments enclosing a Middle Palaeolithic stone artefact assemblage in Pin Hole Cave probably accumulated after about 64 ka, and ¹⁴C dates indicate a likely age of > 40 ka for the large mammal fauna associated with it. Electron spin resonance data from the fauna conform with these age constraints and are consistent with accumulation between 38 and 50 ka. This evidence supports the view that Britain was recolonised by hominids during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3. Stratigraphically higher stone tool industries demonstrate the local presence of both early Upper and late Upper Palaeolithic cultures. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

长江中下游及其邻区中生代构造体制转换

长江中下游及其邻区中生代以来经历了特提斯、古亚洲、太平洋三大构造体制复杂的转换过程,地壳活动频繁,不同期次、不同方向、不同性质的构造叠加强烈,并控制了区内的岩浆活动和热液成矿。(1)印支晚期特提斯构造体制作用,具有俯冲带性质的襄樊-广济断裂带和先后具有左旋平移转换断层性质的郯庐断裂带产生。(2)燕山早期特提斯构造体制向古亚洲构造体制和太平洋构造体制转换,其一,晚侏罗世古亚洲构造体制近南北向挤压,桐柏-大别造山带形成共轭剪切带。其二,晚侏罗世与早白垩世之交古太平洋板块活动,NE向展布的华南板内构造形成。(3)燕山晚期脉动式伸展构造产生大规模火山喷发和岩浆活动;晚白垩世-始新世长江中下游地区盆-岭构造形成。(4)喜马拉雅早期太平洋构造体制下近E-W向挤压作用,近S-N向展布的红色盆地发生反转,呈NE-SW向线状展布。     

云南乌蒙山区中下三叠统层序地层与沉积相研究——以彝良地区为例

通过对云南乌蒙山区彝良地区中下三叠统6条野外地质剖面测量及500余片岩石薄片镜下观察,结合区域构造特征,将该地区中下三叠统划分为6个三级层序。岩石类型主要为泥铁质粉砂岩、细粒长石岩屑砂岩、含钙质泥质粉砂岩、细粒岩屑砂岩、钙质胶结细粒岩屑砂岩、含生物屑泥晶灰岩、泥灰岩、泥灰岩-含海绿石铁质生物屑亮晶砂屑灰岩、微晶灰岩-泥晶灰岩-含海绿石泥晶砂屑灰岩、亮晶鲕粒灰岩、含粉砂质泥质微晶灰岩、微晶灰岩等。结合沉积物的结构特征、组分及其组合特征,认为彝良地区中下三叠统的沉积相主要为海岸和碳酸盐岩开阔台地相。     

A new chronological framework for Middle and Upper Pleistocene landscape evolution in the Sussex/Hampshire Coastal Corridor, UK

The unique Middle and Late Pleistocene sedimentary record preserved along the Sussex/Hampshire Coastal Corridor between Romsey and Brighton contains a wealth of deposits including highstand marine sediments associated with a variety of different aged beaches, fluvial sediments associated with rivers crossing the coastal plain and cold stage deposits accumulating above the marine and fluvial sediments. Although quarrying activity has been extensive across much of the area it has been undertaken in flooded workings due to the high level of the watertable. Consequently little is known in detail about the sequences except where they outcrop on the foreshore around the coast. This paper examines recent work from the lower coastal plain using a multi-disciplinary approach these deposits to elucidate the age of the sequences and their associated environments of deposition.OSL dates from two of the beaches, the Aldingbourne and Brighton/Norton Beaches, place both within MIS 7. Although these OSL dates cannot differentiate between sub-stages within MIS 7, coupling these results with inferences from local geography, lithology and contained microfossils it is clear that the beaches belong to two different phases within MIS 7. These two beaches are clearly divided by a major phase of erosion and downcutting associated with a fall in sea-level. Fluvial sediments from Solent Terrace 2 and Arun Terrace 4 also date within MIS 7 and are tentatively ascribed to the downcutting event between the beaches. Together this information allows us to propose, for the first time, a robust independently dated framework for the lower parts of the coastal plain integrating for the first time the marine and terrestrial record.     

Evidence from the Trent terrace archive, Lincolnshire, UK, for lowland glaciation of Britain during the Middle and Late Pleistocene

The late Middle Pleistocene fluvial terrace sequence of the lower Trent system, Lincolnshire (eastern England), provides an excellent record of environmental change, including evidence for the last two interglacial episodes. It also provides important stratigraphical evidence for the timing and extent of three separate glaciations. Two of these, the Anglian and Devensian, are well-established correlatives of Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 12 and 2 respectively; the third is a hitherto un-named post-Anglian-pre-Devensian glaciation in eastern England that has been the subject of much previous speculation, but can now be attributed with some confidence to MIS 8. Crucially, the recognition of MIS 7 interglacial deposits within the Balderton-Southrey terrace of the proto-Trent indicates that the underlying Wragby Till, which is ascribed to this additional glaciation, was emplaced no later than MIS 8. The oldest terrace preserved within the lower Trent staircase, the Eagle Moor-Martin Terrace, is considered to be a complex glacial outwash terrace related to the Wragby Till glaciation. It is suggested that deposits representing MIS 11-9, which are conspicuously absent throughout the Trent system, were removed by this glaciation. This is a departure from previous interpretations, which have suggested MIS 10 or MIS 6 as the most likely stages in which an extensive post-Anglian-pre-Devensian lowland glaciation might have occurred in Britain. However, the widespread preservation of undisrupted post-MIS 8 fluvial sequences throughout the Trent valley and in neighbouring systems, within which MIS 7 interglacial deposits have now been recognized at a number of localities, indicates that ice sheets are unlikely to have advanced further into this catchment during MIS 6 than during the Devensian (MIS 2). Recognition of a British glaciation during MIS 8 corresponds with widespread evidence in Europe, which suggests that glacial deposits classified as ‘Saalian’ represent both MIS 8 and MIS 6; in many areas, distinguishing these remains controversial, as confident correlation with either stage is often only possible where glacial sediments interdigitate with well-constrained fluvial records.     

营山地区上三叠统与中、下侏罗统油气源特征对比研究

从烃源岩特征、天然气组分、油气碳同位素、凝析油全烃和轻烃、储层沥青等方面对营山地区上三叠统和中、下侏罗统油气源特征进行了对比研究,阐明了营山地区上三叠统须家河组和中、下侏罗统油气的地球化学特征、成因和可能来源.研究表明营山地区上三叠统须家河组油气主要来自须家河组自身的煤系烃源岩,天然气以成熟腐殖型母质成因为主,而中、下侏罗统气藏产出的油气主要来自其自身的烃源岩.营山地区构造活动强烈,断层发育,使得部分井区中、下侏罗统产出的天然气特征与下伏产层极为相似 ,反映了断层对该井区附近的各层段有一定的沟通作用.中、下侏罗统地层在部分井区可能有上三叠统须家河组油气的侵入,须家河组烃源岩对中、下侏罗统油气成藏有一定贡献作用.     

Occurrence of the Indian genus Hemibos (Bovini, Bovidae, Mammalia) at the Early–Middle Pleistocene transition in Italy

The morphology of the horn-core structure and section shape of the Bos galerianus type specimen, as well as the general anatomy of the frontal and occipital areas of the skull, suggest that the skull is better attributed to the Indian genus Hemibos. This finding contributes to our understanding of faunal dispersal patterns into Europe at the Early–Middle Pleistocene transition.     

Geoarchaeology of Pleistocene open-air sites in the Vila Nova da Barquinha-Santa Cita area (Lower Tejo River basin, central Portugal)

This paper aims to provide insight into human occupation and landscape change during the Pleistocene in a central area of the Lower Tejo basin (Portugal). Detailed geomorphological mapping, coupled with lithostratigraphy, sedimentology and luminescence dating, supports the identification of a complete terrace staircase sequence. It consists of six gravely terraces located below the culminant (Pliocene) basin unit. A chronological framework for the sedimentary sequences and associated human industries is proposed and correlated with marine oxygen isotope stages (MIS): T1 terrace, not dated; T2, not dated; T3, >300 ka; T4, ∼300-160 ka (MIS8, MIS7 and MIS6); T5, ∼136-75 ka (MIS5); T6, ∼62-30 ka (MIS3); colluvium and aeolian sands, ∼30-14 ka (MIS2); valley fill deposits, ∼14 ka to present (MIS1). The oldest artefacts were found at the base of the T4 terrace, with the local stratigraphic level dated to ≥175 ± 6 ka (Middle Pleistocene). The lithic assemblages collected from distinct stratigraphic levels (T4, T5 top, T6 terraces and colluvium) are characterized by the predominance of opportunistic technological choices, a feature that can be attributed partly to the preferential exploitation of the available raw material, dominated by local-sourced quartzites and quartz pebbles. The adaptation to local raw material (texture and volume), together with subsistence patterns and behaviours, could explain the rarity of Acheulian types (handaxes and cleavers) and picks in the T4 terraces of the Tejo tributaries; this is in contrast to the same terrace of the Tejo valley, in which these types are found. Interpretation of the environmental conditions (controlled by climate and glacio-eustatic sea-level changes) affecting the hunter-gatherer human groups is also presented.     

庐枞矿集区与钨矿床有关的花岗岩的年代学及地球化学特征:岩石成因及其对长江中下游晚白垩世成矿的启示

长江中下游是中国东部一个重要的与中生代岩浆作用有关的Cu-Au-Mo-Fe矿成矿带。近期勘查工作在庐枞矿集区东顾山地区深部首次发现了与隐伏花岗岩密切相关的钨钼多金属矿化。岩石学和岩石地球化学研究结果表明,隐伏花岗岩具有高硅富碱高钾、贫铁贫镁及铝弱饱和的特征,属于高钾钙碱性系列岩石;具有富集Rb、Th、U等强不相容元素和轻稀土元素,亏损Nb、P、Ti、Y等高场强元素,低ε_(Nd)(t)(-18.2~-17.1)和相对高的((~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr)_i)(0.70596~0.70631)的特征,推测其岩浆来源于扬子下地壳的部分熔融,岩浆在就位之前经历了一定程度的分异结晶作用。利用LA-ICP MS锆石U-Pb定年获得96.7±1.3Ma的锆石年龄,表明其属于晚白垩世早期岩浆活动的产物。结合区域成岩成矿时空格架,认为东顾山地区隐伏花岗岩及与之有关的钨钼多金属矿化可能代表了长江中下游成矿带的新一期成岩成矿事件。     

长江中下游地区庐(江)-枞(阳)和宁(南京)-芜(湖)盆地内与成矿有关潜火山岩体的SHRIMP锆石U-Pb年龄

庐-枞和宁-芜火山岩盆地是长江中下游地区在中生代发育的一系列断陷型火山岩盆地中规模最大的两个,以发育一套别具特色的橄榄玄粗岩系列火山岩/潜火山岩,并产有丰富的铁矿、硫铁矿及非金属等矿产资源为特征,其中又以玢岩型铁矿最著名。两个盆地内主要的成矿作用(玢岩型铁矿)都与第二旋回(分别为庐-枞盆地的砖桥旋回和宁-芜盆地的大王山旋回)的潜火山岩关系密切,其岩性在庐-枞盆地为正长斑岩,而在宁-芜盆地为辉石闪长玢岩。本文应用SHRIMP锆石U-Pb测年方法分别对庐-枞盆地内的巴家滩正长斑岩和焦冲正长斑岩以及宁-芜盆地内的阴山辉石闪长玢岩进行了精确的定年。结果表明,巴家滩正长斑岩和焦冲正长斑岩中锆石的206Pb/238U加权平均年龄分别为131.0±1.1Ma和131.5±1.6Ma,阴山辉石闪长玢岩中锆石的206Pb/238U加权平均年龄为127.8±1.8Ma。庐-枞和宁-芜盆地(乃至整个长江中下游地区)的火山岩-潜火山岩是在很短的时间内形成的,意味着"突发性的"岩石圈减薄可能是区内岩浆作用和大规模成矿的主要机制。     

Cyclostratigraphic dating in the Lower Badenian (Middle Miocene) of the Vienna Basin (Austria): the Baden-Sooss core

The scientific borehole Baden-Sooss penetrates a succession of Badenian (Langhian, Middle Miocene) sediments at the type locality of the Badenian, the old brickyard Baden-Sooss in the Vienna Basin. The sedimentary succession of the 102-m-cored interval consists of more than 95% bioturbated, medium-to-dark gray marly shales with carbonate contents between 11 and 25% and organic carbon contents between 0.35 and 0.65%. Biostratigraphic investigations on foraminifera (mainly lower part of Upper Lagenid Zone) and calcareous nannoplankton (standard zone NN5) indicate an early Badenian (Langhian) age. Cycles in carbonate content, organic carbon content, and magnetic susceptibility have been identified by power spectra analysis. Correlations between the three variables are extremely significant. Using cross-correlation, periods around 40 m correlate significantly with the 100 kyr⁻¹ eccentricity cycle, the ∼20 m periods with the obliquity cycle, and the 15 to 11-m periods with both precession cycles. Wavelet transformation and decomposition of composite periodic functions were used to obtain the position of the cycle peaks in the profile. Cross-correlation with orbital cycles (La2004) dates the Baden-Sooss core between −14.379 ± 1 and −14.142 my ± 9 kyr.     

The Alleret maar (Massif Central, France): A new lacustrine sequence of the early Middle Pleistocene in western Europe

The Alleret maar (Massif Central, France) provides a long lacustrine sequence (40.6 m) attributed to the early Middle Pleistocene. Sediment, pollen and diatoms analysis of its upper part (AL2 core, 14.6 m) indicates two temperate phases marked by high lake levels, forest development and vegetation expansion. They are separated by a cold period during which lake level drops, coarse sediment input increases and steppic and xerophilous plants develop. Pollen data suggests that this sequence belongs to the upper part of the Cromerian complex. These results are in agreement with the 557 ± 3 ka (±12 ka, including all errors) ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age obtained from an interbedded tephra layer emitted by the Mont-Dore/Sancy strato-volcano and establish that this sequence probably covers the MIS 15 substages.     

Zircon dating of North Bohemian granulites, Czech Republic: further evidence for the Lower Carboniferous high-pressure event in the Bohemian Massif

U-Pb zircon and rutile multigrain ages and ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb zircon evaporation ages are reported from high-pressure felsic and metapelitic granulites from northern Bohemia, Czech Republic. The granulites, in contrast to those from other occurrences in the Bohemian Massif, do not show evidence of successive HT/MPLP overprints. Multigrain size fractions of nearly spherical, multifaceted, metamorphic zircons from three samples are slightly discordant and yield a U-Pb Concordia intercept age of 348 ± 10 Ma, whereas single zircon evaporation of two samples resulted in ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ages of 339 ± 1.5 and 339 ± 1.4 Ma, respectively. A rutile fraction from one sample has a U-Pb Concordia intercept age of 346 ± 14 Ma. All ages are identical, within error, and a mean age of 342 ± 5 Ma was adopted to reflect the peak of HP metamorphism. Because rutile has a lower closing temperature for the U-Pb isotopic system than zircon, the results and the P-T data imply rapid uplift and cooling after peak metamorphism. The above age is identical to ages for high-grade metamorphism reported from the southern Bohemian Massif and the Granulite Massif in Saxony. It can be speculated that all these granulites were part of the same lower crustal unit in early Carboniferous, being separated later due to crustal stacking and subsequent late Variscan orogenic collapse.     

The Oyambre coastal terrace: a detailed sedimentary record of the Last Interglacial Stage in northern Iberia (Cantabrian coast,Spain)

A detailed study is presented of a 15.3-m-thick Pleistocene coastal terrace located on the Cantabrian coast (northern Spain). Stratigraphic, sedimentological, topographic and micropalaeontological information is combined with a chronology based on luminescence dating to characterize the deposits. The sedimentary succession records: (i) a basal transgressive system, consisting of a wave-cut surface covered by a lower layer of beach gravels and upper beach pebbly sands; and (ii) a thicker upper highstand system (aggrading), comprising medium to very fine aeolian sands interbedded with thin palustrine muds. Luminescence dating involved a detailed sampling strategy (36 samples and two modern analogues) and the use of both quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence single aliquot regeneration protocols; feldspar results were used to confirm the completeness of bleaching of the quartz OSL signal. The quartz OSL luminescence age–depth relationship shows significant dispersion, but nevertheless two rapid phases of deposition can be clearly identified: one at ~130 ka [Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5] and one at ~100 ka (MIS 5c). The top of the succession is dated to ~70 ka. The MIS 5e marine maximum flooding surface is identified at an elevation of 6.85 m above mean seal level. This elevation provides evidence of a regional sea-level highstand for this sector of the Cantabrian coast.     

The Lower Albian (Lower Cretaceous) Monk's Bay Sandstone Formation (formerly the Carstone) of the Isle of Wight: Its distribution, litho- and biostratigraphy

The Monk's Bay Sandstone Formation (MBSF) is the new name for the Lower Albian ferruginous sandstone that was formerly known as the Carstone of the Isle of Wight. The new term was proposed to remove any confusion with the Carstone, of similar age and lithology, described from the separate Lower Cretaceous sedimentary basin of Eastern England. This paper formalises the nomenclatural change outlined in the Lower Cretaceous Framework Report, ratified by the Geological Society Stratigraphy Commission.The MBSF, representing a major mid-Albian transgressive event, is described from a series of boreholes drilled by the British Geological Survey across the Isle of Wight, and from additional coastal exposures, together with reinterpretations of sections described in earlier works.The age range of the MBSF is determined in relation to recent biostratigraphical schemes supported with new data from the previously unknown presence of foraminifera. Deposits, belonging to the Leymeriella regularis Subzone, were previously considered to be absent from the succession and represent the stratigraphical gap separating the formation from the underlying Sandrock Formation. However a first occurrence of tubular foraminifera resembling Hyperammina/‘Rhizammina cf dichotomata’ suggest that the oldest part of the formation in the northeast of the island may be of regularis Subzone age. This unconformity is correlated with the sequence boundary LG4 of Hesselbo and the presence of the Sonneratia kitchini Subzone at the base of the MBSF on the Isle of Wight suggests that this boundary should be placed at the lower of two candidate horizons within the successions of the Weald.The formation is restricted to the Isle of Wight but is coeval with similar coarse-grained sediments, e.g. the Carstone and ‘JunctionBeds’ to the north. The palaeogeography of the formation and the relationship with these similar deposits and the implications for the timing of mid-Albian structural events is briefly discussed. The identification of older Lower Greensand Group sediments beneath the MBSF in boreholes north of the Isle of Wight structure, together with new survey data indicating north-south orientated faulting affecting the early Cretaceous implies a tectonic element to the distribution the Lower Greensand Group sediments. Taken together these imply a complex interaction of tectonics and transgressive events throughout the Aptian and Albian over this structural high.     

层序地层格架中碳酸盐岩准同生成岩作用分析——以轮南古隆起下中奥陶统碳酸盐岩为例

根据海平面升降而对海洋碳酸盐岩沉积划分的不同沉积体系域,和其准同生成岩作用之间存在着相关性,这种相关性可以通过不同体系域所发育的成岩作用类型体现出来。文章以塔里木盆地轮南古隆起下中奥陶统碳酸盐岩为例,把准同生成岩作用放在层序地层学格架范畴内来研究,总结了不同体系域内发育的成岩作用类型和特征,认为海侵体系域主要发育方解石胶结作用和白云石化作用,高位体系域主要发育有方解石胶结作用和大气淡水溶蚀作用等。在层序地层格架下进行成岩作用对比的结果表明,高位期以及海侵期下伏的前期高位期沉积,是有利的成岩作用改造层位,并在物性统计数据中得到了证明,为有利储集体的评价、预测提供了新的途径。