Records of natural fire and climate history during the last three glacial-interglacial cycles around the South China Sea Charcoal record from the ODP 1144

The history of natural fire and its relationship to climate during the last three gla cial-interglacial cycles in the Southern coast areas of China and the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea (SCS) are discussed based on the statistic study of charcoal particles and associated pollen data from ODP 1144 Site (20° 3′N, 117° 25′E, 2037 m in water depth). Accord ing to the results of the charcoal and pollen study, the sediments from the upper 225 m are divided into 8 zones (C1-8), which might be correlated with the Marine Isotope Stage 1-8 (MIS1-8)respectively. Our study indicates that during the last glacial period (MIS2, 4), the influx of charcoal particle was much higher than that from the interglacial period, suggesting strong occurrence of natural fire and dry climate. During MIS 6 and MIS 8 (C6, C8), although the influx of fine charcoal particles was quite high, the influx of the coarse and medium charcoal particle were much low,which might be due to the smaller source area of fire probably resulting from the limited exposure of the continental shelf before MIS5. During the interglacial period (MIS1, 5, 7), the influxes of charcoal particles were much lower, implying dropping of intensity of the natural fire and then a humid climate. Another reason is that the continental shelf was submerged into the sea during the interglacial periods, and the source areas of fire were reduced then. Although the influx of the fine charcoal particles was much lower during MIS3, the influx of the coarse and medium charcoal par ticles were almost equal to those of MIS4 (C4), which suggests that the intensity of the natural fire remained quite high and the climate was considerably dry during that period.     

Evidence for natural fire and climate history since 37 ka BP in the northern part of the South China Sea

The history of natural fire since 37 kaBP and its relationship to climate for the northern part of the South China Sea are revealed from the statistic study of charcoal particles and associated pollen data from deep sea core 17940 (20° 07’N, 117° 23’E, 1 727 m in water depth). Our study indicates that, during the last glaciation, the concentration of charcoal and the ratio of con centration between charcoal and terrestrial pollen are much higher than that of the Holocene. This can be explained as the relatively high strength and frequency of natural fire during glaciation which is probably due to the drier climate; during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the substantial rising of the concentration of large and medium charcoal particles probably suggests the local source area of the natural fires, i.e. the exposed continental shelf; moreover, the correlation between charcoal concentration with different size and pollen percentage may elucidate different transport dynamics. During the glacial time, almost all the peak concentrations of small particles correspond with the peak pollen percentage ofArtemisia, an indicator of comparatively dry climate, while for large particles, their concentrations always lag behind small particles and thus change with pollen percentage of montane conifers implying relatively cold and humid climate. So, it is possible to assume that small particles reflect regional emissions under drier climate and were brought over by strengthened winter monsoon. When the climate became relatively humid, the increasing precipitation carried the large particles accumulated on continental shelf before under arid condition to the studied area.     

Pollen record of the last 280 ka from deep sea sediments of the northern South China Sea

Environmental history of the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea during the last 280 ka BP, e.g. Marine Isotope Stages 1–8 (MIS 1–8) was reconstructed based on pollen record from the top 225m of ODP 1144 Site. During the interglacial periods, pollen assemblages are predominated by pine similar to those of the present day indicating that the environment of the interglacial periods was more or less close to that of today. Nevertheless, those from glacial periods are characterized by a large amount of herbaceous pollen, e.g.Artemisia, Gramineae, Cyperaceae, etc. inferring that grassland covered the merged continental shelf when the sea level lowered and the continental shelf was exposed. The exposed areas of the shelf were insignificant before MIS 5, but enlarged since MIS 4 and reached its maximum during MIS 2 according to ratios of pollen percentages between pine and herbs. The history of different exposure of the shelf can be compared with transgression records of the coastal areas of China and might result from neotectonic movement of Chinese continent. Some changes also took place in the components of grassland growing on the shelf during glaciations. Gramineae is the main element at MIS 8. ThenArtemisia increased upwards the profile and at last became the main component at the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2). Such changes in vegetation might be in response to cooler and drier climate.     

A~200 ka pollen record from Okinawa Trough:Paleoenvironment reconstruction of glacial-interglacial cycles

Pollen analysis was carried out on the Core MD982194 of 29.78 m retrieved from the Middle Okinawa Trough which was dated as old as~200 ka BP.The results revealed that pollen assemblages mainly presented an alternation of coniferous and herb pollen.The coniferous saccate pollen,principally Pinus and Tsuga,predominated in most parts of the core,especially highlighted in the interstadial stages including MIS 1,3,5 and MIS7,whereas the herb pollen significantly increased in the glacial periods.Thus the pollen flora and their percentages showed the sensitive changes under the influence of ice volume during the glacial and interglacial periods.Our record from this core has first documented that the percentage of Cyperaceae was extremely high in the glacial stages with a notable increase in Artemisia,Gramineae,Asteraceae,Chenopodiaceae,and freshwater algae,which can be used as a proxy for sea-level change at the study site because of their close negative correlation of the orbital-scale changes in sea level.The distance between the continental coastline and the Okinawa Trough has deeply shortened due to the sea-level drop in the LGM.As a result,the sediment materials from Yangtze River were extensively deposited on the flat,exposed continental shelf owing to the rapid decline of river flow speed,leading to that pollen grains from Okinawa Trough are derived mainly from the flat coastal vegetation of exposed continental shelf at glacial stages.Changes of pollen assemblage were consistent with the variation of temperature and humidity,which showed that the percentage of arboreal pollen was highly augmented at MIS 7,5 and MIS 1,corresponding to the strengthening of the East Asian summer monsoon and increasing of rainfall.Moreover,the peak of Pinus percentage in MIS 5.3,5.1 and MIS 3.3 may be closely linked by orbital and sub-orbital cycles of solar radiation and monsoonal variability.The present study of core MD981294 implied lower temperature and precipitation during the lowest sea-level stage(LGM),and more visibly testified that the vegetation of the flat plain on the exposed continental shelf was dominated by intrazonal communities such as halophyte grasslands and freshwater wetlands instead of zonal steppe or semi-arid desert.All above evidence demonstrated that the fundamental changes of pollen assemblage and their origins in Okinawa Trough since~200 ka BP were affected by combine factors including the coastline position and climate fluctuation.Moreover,the substantial shortening of distance between shoreline and the Okinawa Trough driven by orbital insolation cycles was clearly indicated by the pollen spectra,whereas the source-area climate signal of the pollen record was largely weakened.     

Organic carbon isotope and molecular fossil records of vegetation evolution in central Loess Plateau since 450 kyr

Significant uncertainties remain regarding the temporal evolution of natural vegetation during the Quaternary, and drivers of past vegetation change, on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). This study presents analyses of total organic carbon isotopic composition (TOC) and n-alkane ratios (C31/C27) from the Lingtai loess-palaeosol sequence on the central CLP over the last 450 kyr. The results demonstrate that the vegetation in this region comprised a mix of C₃ and C₄ plants of herb and woody growth-form. C₃ plants dominated for most of the last 450 kyr, but this did not lead to extensive forest. C₃ woody plants were more abundant in MIS9 (S3 period) and MIS5 (S1 period) during warm and humid climate conditions. Herbs increased in the region since 130 kyr, possibly as a result of increased aridity. On the orbital timescales, there was a reduction of C₃ herbal plants in MIS11 (S4) than in MIS12 (L5), and in Holocene than in the last glacial period. Our isotope and n-alkane proxy records are in agreement with Artemisia pollen changes in the region, which is/was the dominant species in this area and varying due to different heat and water conditions between glacial and interglacial periods. Though the climate in MIS1 (S0) was similar to that in MIS11 (S4), a significant increase in woody plants during the Holocene suggests the impact of human activities and ecological effects of changes in fire activity.     

Palynological record during the Pleistocene (between 1.05 Ma and 0.36 Ma) from ODP1144, northern South China Sea

This paper presents the pollen record from the lower section of ODP1144 (depth 501.3-225.7 m, ca. 1.05-0.36 Ma). Two pollen zones (PA and PB) and eleven pollen subzones are recognized. Within zone PB, the 11 pollen subzones (PB21-11) are defined according to the pine, fern and herb variations, and are equivalent to the marine isotope stages 21-11 (MISs 21-11). The interglacial periods are typified by an increase in pine pollen and fern spores, and a decrease in herbaceous pollen, while the patterning during the glacial periods is just the opposite. During the interglacial periods, pollen assemblages were dominated by pine similar to those of the present day, suggesting that the paleoenvironment of the interglacial periods was similar to that of the present day, whereas the glacial periods are marked by an increase in herbaceous pollen, mainly Gramineae and Cyperaceae, indicating that grassland covered the exposed continental shelf when sea level declined. Increased Artemisia percentages and the highest     

An abrupt cooling event early in the last interglacial in the northern South China Sea

The high-resolution quantitative analysis of the planktonic foraminifera and the δ¹⁸O records of the section between 96.49– 137.6 mcd at ODP Site 1144 on the continental slope of northern South China Sea reveals an abrupt cooling event of sea surface temperature (SST) during the last interglacial (MIS 5.5, i.e. 5e). The dropping range of the winter SST may come to 7.5°C corresponding to 1.2‰ of the δ¹⁸O value of sea surface water. This event is comparable with those discovered in the west Europe and the northern Atlantic Ocean, but expressed in a more intensive way. It is inferred that this event may have been induced by middle- to low-latitude processes rather than by polar ice sheet change. Since the Kuroshio-index speciesPulleniatina obliquiloculata displayed the most distinct change at the event, it may also be related to the paleoceanographic change of the low-latitude area in the western Pacific Ocean. This event can be considered as one of “Younger Dryas-style coolings” and is indicative of climate variability of the last interglacial stage.     

A high-resolution history of vegetation and climate history on Sunda Shelf since the last glaciation

This paper presents 16500-year-long high-resolution pollen and spore records from sediments of core 18287 on the continental slope of the southern South China Sea. In the period of 16.5―13.9 ka B.P., the low-mountain rainforest dominated the continental slope of the South China Sea. And in the period of 13.9―10.2 ka B.P., the lowland rainforest and ferns expanded greatly, while the low-mountain rainforest shrank, which indicated a warming at the last deglaciation. Also during this period, the pollen sedi-mentation rates reduced sufficiently. This might imply a rise of the sea level and therefore the sub-mergence of the shelf, resulting in the broadening of the distance between the source area and the slope. After 10.2 ka B.P, decreasing of the fern indicates the early Holocene (10.2―7 ka B.P.) is a cold period, while the increasing of fern marks the rising temperature (7―3.6 ka B.P.).     

A high-resolution late Pleistocene record of pollen vegetation and climate change from Jingning, NW China

During the late Pleistocene, a number of climatic fluctuations such as the Heinrich events were recorded in the climatic proxies in the Loess Plateau and in North China[1―7]. Most of these records were based on geophysical and geochemical evidence[1―4]. Therefore, more biologic evidence is necessary for explaining the regional ecosystems in response to climatic change in the Loess Plateau during this period since pollen re-cords in other areas presented strong evidence to cli-matic fluctu…     

A case study of the role of climate,humans, and ecological setting in Holocene fire history of northwestern Europe

We present the major results from studies of fire history over the last 11000 years(Holocene) in southern Sweden, on the basis of palaeoecological analyses of peat sequences from three small peat bogs. The main objective is to emphasize the value of multiple, continuous sedimentary records of macroscopic charcoal(macro-C) for the reconstruction of local to regional past changes in fire regimes, the importance of multi-proxy studies, and the advantage of model-based estimates of plant cover from pollen data to assess the role of tree composition and human impact in fire history. The chronologies at the three study sites are based on a large number of 14 C dates from terrestrial plant remains and age-depth models are achieved using Bayesian statistics. Fire history is inferred from continuous records of macro-C and microscopic charcoal counts on pollen slides. The Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm(LRA) for pollen-based quantitative reconstruction of local vegetation cover is applied on the three pollen records for plant cover reconstruction over the entire Holocene. The results are as follows:(1) the long-term trends in fire regimes are similar between sites, i.e., frequent fires during the early Holocene until ca. 9 ka BP, low fire frequency during the mid-Holocene, and higher fire frequency from ca. 2.5 ka BP;(2) this broad trend agrees with the overall fire history of northwestern and western Europe north of the Mediterranean area, and is due to climate forcing in the early and mid-Holocene, and to anthropogenic land-use in the late Holocene;(3) the LRA estimates of plant cover at the three sites demonstrate that the relative abundance of pine played a primordial role in the early and mid-Holocene fire history; and(4) the between-site differences in the charcoal records and inferred fire history are due to local factors(i.e., relative abundance of pine, geomorphological setting, and anthropogenic land-use) and taphonomy of charcoal deposition in the small peat bogs. It is shown that continuous macro-C records are most useful to disentangle local from regional-subcontinental fire history, and climate-induced from human-induced fire regimes, and that pollen-based LRA estimates of local plant cover are more adequate than pollen percentages for the assessment of the role of plant composition on fire history.     

Instability characteristics of the East Asian Monsoon recorded by high-resolution loess sections from the last interglacial (MIS5)

The selection of high-resolution loess sections is needed in order to determine the climatic variability of the East Asian Monsoon during the last interglacial. Two sequences of S1 on the eastern and west-ern sides of the Liupan Mountain were both composed of five paleosol layers and four loess layers,indicating that there were five strong summer monsoon events and four strong winter monsoon events in MIS5. This corresponds with other records of the East Asian Monsoon,along with NGRIP and the North Atlantic records,implying that the climate of the Northern Hemisphere was very instable during the last interglacial. Two layers of paleosols and one layer of loess had developed during MIS5a and MIS5c. Compared with MIS5e,the climate in MIS5a and MIS5c fluctuated more intensively on a millen-nial scale,whereas the climate was relatively stable in MIS5e.     

Humid Little Ice Age in arid central Asia documented by Bosten Lake, Xinjiang, China

Short sediment cores retrieved from Bosten Lake, the largest inland freshwater lake in China, were used to explore humidity and precipitation variations in arid central Asia during the past millennium. The chronology of the cores was established using 137Cs, 210Pb and AMS 14C dating re- sults. Multi-proxy high-resolution analysis, including pollen ratios of Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae (A/C), carbonate content and grain size, indicates that the climate during the past millennium can be divided into three stages: a dry climate between 1000―1500 AD, a humid climate during the Little Ice Age (LIA) (c. 1500―1900 AD), and a warm dry period after 1900 AD. On centennial timescales, the climate change in northwestern China during the past 1000 years is characterized by oscillations between warm-dry and cold-humid climate conditions. All the proxies changed significantly and indi- cate increased precipitation during the LIA, including increased pollen A/C ratios and pollen concen- trations, decreased carbonate content and increased grain size. The humid period during the LIA re- corded by the Bosten Lake sediments is representative of arid central Asia and is supported by nu- merous records from other sites. During the LIA, the water runoff into the Keriya River and Tarim River in the Tarim Basin increased, while the ice accumulation in the Guliya ice core increased. Additionally, the lake levels of the Aral and Caspian Sea also rose, while tree-ring analysis indicates that precipita- tion increased. We hypothesize that both the lower temperature within China and the negative anomalies of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) during this period may have contributed to the humid climate within this area during LIA.     

Biological and environmental changes in Lake Baikal during the late Quaternary inferred from carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotopes

An 8-m continuous sediment core, approximately 250-ky-old at the bottom, from Academician Ridge in Lake Baikal, has been analyzed for the stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, in order to study the paleoclimatic and paleobiological changes that occurred in the Eurasian continental interior. These isotopic changes are closely related to changes in vertical lake-water circulation between glacial and interglacial periods. Sedimentary organic carbon in cool periods is more enriched in ¹³C (−23.8‰ on average) than that in warm periods (−27.0‰ on average). The ¹³C-enrichment of organic carbon suggests a decrease of land-derived organic matter influx to the lake, less precipitation, and loss of terrestrial vegetation around Lake Baikal in cool periods. Pyrite in high total sulfur/total organic carbon (TS/TOC) layers shows strong depletion in ³⁴S (−20.8‰ to −32.4‰) during climate transitions from glacial to interglacial periods at the beginning of oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 1, 5 and 7. The ³⁴S-depleted pyrite indicates augmentation of dissimilatory sulfate reduction by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) at the sediment-water interface. Enhancement of aqueous sulfate concentrations and limitation of oxygen circulation to the surface sediments might also occur in the climate transition periods. The δ¹⁵N values of total nitrogen increase abruptly by ∼2‰ just after the δ³⁴S negative peaks, which may result from low nutrient concentrations in the euphotic zone associated with water circulation changes in Lake Baikal.     

Pollen-inferred vegetation and environmental changes in the central Tibetan Plateau since 8200 yr BP

The ecotone between alpine steppe and meadow in the central Tibetan Plateau is sensitive to climate changes. Here we used the pollen records from three lakes in this region to reconstruct the evolution of local vegetation and climate since 8200 cal. yr BP. The history of temperature and precipitation was reconstructed quantitatively with multi-bioclimatic indexes and a transfer function from pollen records. Results show that the steppe/meadow dominated during the period of 8200–6500 cal. yr BP, especially 8200–7200 cal. yr BP, indicating the central Tibetan Plateau was controlled by strong monsoon. The steppe dominated during the periods of 6000–4900, 4400–3900, and 2800–2400 cal. yr BP. The steppe decreased gradually and the meadow expanded during the period of 4900–4400 cal. yr BP. Three century-scale drought events occurred during 5800–4900, 4400–3900 and 2800 cal. yr BP, respectively. The first time when the regional climate shifted to the present level was at 6500 cal. yr BP in the central Plateau. Since 3000 cal. yr BP, the temperature and precipitation have decreased gradually to the present level. However, the cold climate between 700–300 cal. yr BP likely corresponds to the Little Ice Age. Supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences 100 Talents Project (Grant No. 29082762), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40671196, 40372085, 49371068, 49871078), and U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant Nos. ATM-9410491, ATM-008194)     

MIS11–19 pollen stratigraphy from the 250-m Choshi core, northeast Boso Peninsula, central Japan: Implications for the early/mid-Brunhes (400–780 ka) climate signals

Abstract   The 250-m Choshi core (CHOSHI-1), drilled from hemipelagic muds of the Inubo Group, has been physically, geochemically and tephrochronologically analyzed back to 1 Ma. We provide pollen results for the 19–169 m section of the core (400–780 ka) bracketed by the marker tephra Ty1 (equivalent to J4) and the Brunhes–Matuyama paleomagnetic boundary. The results show good agreement with the corresponding oxygen isotope (δ¹⁸O) profile, with high δ¹⁸O intervals dominated by boreal conifers Picea , Abies , Pinus (subgen. Haploxylon ) and Tsuga ( diversifolia ), whereas low δ¹⁸O intervals are dominated by temperate conifers Cryptomeria , Taxaceae-Cephalotaxaceae-Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys . In order to confirm pollen-climate relations for the relevant taxa, a modern surface pollen dataset for the Japanese archipelago was consulted. In this analysis, the ratios of Cryptomeria / Picea and temperate/boreal conifers serve as proxies for the 100-kyr glacial/interglacial cycle during the Middle Pleistocene. Distinct signals for marine isotope stages (MIS) 11, 12, 13–15, 16, 17 and 18–19 are recognized in accordance with the tephrochronology and δ¹⁸O of the same core. Application of the criteria to an independent pollen record from Lake Biwa provides an integrated pollen stratigraphy for mid-latitude Japan during the past 800 ky. Some degree of uncertainty remains in the chronology of the MIS13–15 interval, relating to the uncertainty in the eruption age of widespread tephra Ks11.     

Modelling the impact of ocean warming on melting and water masses of ice shelves in the Eastern Weddell Sea

The Eastern Weddell Ice Shelves (EWIS) are believed to modify the water masses of the coastal current and thus preconditions the water mass formation in the southern and western Weddell Sea. We apply various ocean warming scenarios to investigate the impact on the temperature–salinity distribution and the sub-ice shelf melting in the Eastern Weddell Sea. In our numerical experiments, the warming is imposed homogeneously along the open inflow boundaries of the model domain, leading to a warming of the warm deep water (WDW) further downstream. Our modelling results indicate a weak quadratic dependence of the melt rate at the ice shelf base on the imposed amount of warming, which is consistent with earlier studies. The total melt rate has a strong dependence on the applied ocean warming depth. If the warming is restricted to the upper ocean (above 1,000  m), the water column (aside from the mixed surface layer) in the vicinity of the ice shelves stabilises. Hence, reduced vertical mixing will reduce the potential of Antarctic Bottom Water formation further downstream with consequences on the global thermohaline circulation. If the warming extends to the abyss, the WDW core moves significantly closer to the continental shelf break. This sharpens the Antarctic Slope Front and leads to a reduced density stratification. In contrast to the narrow shelf bathymetry in the EWIS region, a wider continental shelf (like in the southern Weddell Sea) partly protects ice shelves from remote ocean warming. Hence, the freshwater production rate of, e.g., the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf increases much less compared with the EWIS for identical warming scenarios. Our study therefore indicates that the ice-ocean interaction has a significant impact on the temperature-salinity distribution and the water column stability in the vicinity of ice shelves located along a narrow continental shelf. The effects of ocean warming and the impact of increased freshwater fluxes on the circulation are of the same order of magnitude and superimposed. Therefore, a consideration of this interaction in large-scale climate studies is essential.     

The influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles on wave-driven sea-floor sediment mobility along the central California continental margin

Ocean surface waves are the dominant temporally and spatially variable process influencing sea floor sediment resuspension along most continental shelves. Wave-induced sediment mobility on the continental shelf and upper continental slope off central California for different phases of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events was modeled using monthly statistics derived from more than 14 years of concurrent hourly oceanographic and meteorologic data as boundary input for the Delft SWAN wave model, gridded sea floor grain-size data from the usSEABED database, and regional bathymetry. Differences as small as 0.5 m in wave height, 1 s in wave period, and 10° in wave direction, in conjunction with the spatially heterogeneous unconsolidated sea-floor sedimentary cover, result in significant changes in the predicted mobility of continental shelf surficial sediment in the study area. El Niño events result in more frequent mobilization on the inner shelf in the summer and winter than during La Niña events and on the outer shelf and upper slope in the winter months, while La Niña events result in more frequent mobilization on the mid-shelf during spring and summer months than during El Niño events. The timing and patterns of seabed mobility are addressed in context of geologic and biologic processes. By understanding the spatial and temporal variability in the disturbance of the sea floor, scientists can better interpret sedimentary patterns and ecosystem structure, while providing managers and planners an understanding of natural impacts when considering the permitting of offshore activities that disturb the sea floor such as trawling, dredging, and the emplacement of sea-floor engineering structures.     

Seasonality intensification and long-term winter cooling as a part of the Late Pliocene climate development

A mutual climatic range method is applied to the Mediterranean marine pollen record of Semaforo (Vrica section, Calabria, Italy) covering the period from ∼2.46 Ma to ∼2.11 Ma. The method yields detailed information on summer, annual and winter temperatures and on precipitation during the nine obliquity and precession-controlled ‘glacial’ periods (marine isotope stages 96 to 80) and eight ‘interglacial’ periods (marine isotope stages 95 to 81) characterising this time interval. The reconstruction reveals higher temperatures of at least 2.8 °C in mean annual and 2.2 °C in winter temperatures, and 500 mm in precipitation during the ‘interglacials’ as compared to the present-day climate in the study area. During the ‘glacials’, temperatures are generally lower as compared to the present-day climate in the region, but precipitation is equivalent. Along the consecutive ‘interglacials’, a trend toward a reduction in annual and winter temperatures by more than 2.3 °C, and toward a higher seasonality is observed. Along the consecutive ‘glacials’, a trend toward a strong reduction in all temperature parameters of at least 1.6 °C is reconstructed. Climatic amplitudes of ‘interglacial–glacial’ transitions increase from the older to the younger cycles for summer and annual temperatures. The cross-spectral analyses suggest obliquity related warm/humid–cold/dry ‘interglacial–glacial’ cycles which are superimposed by precession related warm/dry– cold/humid cycles. A time displacement in the development of temperatures and precipitation is indicated for the obliquity band by temperatures generally leading precipitation change at ∼4 kyr, and on the precession band of ∼9.6 kyr in maximum.     

Formation of “old red sands” and paleogeographic environment on South China coasts

The formation and development environment of the “old red sands” on South China coasts is discussed according to the investigation in the field and laboratory works. The authors believed that the “old red sands” are the aeolian sediments deposits in the last glacial period of late Pleistocene when the sea level was lower than the present, and the laterization took place under the hot and wet climate during the later interglacial and postglacial periods when the sea level was relatively high. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49671012)     

Aminostratigraphy and thermoluminescence dating of coastal aeolianites and the later Quaternary history of a failed delta: The River Murray mouth region,South Australia

A geochronological framework for the sequential development of coastal barrier aeolianite complexes in the mouth region of the River Murray, Australia's largest river system is presented based on amino acid racemization and thermoluminescence dating. The sedimentary successions represent a foreshortened and condensed sequence of coastal barriers compared with those of the Coorong Coastal Plain in southern South Australia where the barrier complexes are more widely separated in response to tectonic uplift. The barriers have formed during interglacial sea-level highstands and are correlatives of genetically equivalent landforms of the Coorong Coastal Plain. Thermoluminescence dating and the extent of amino acid racemization in aeolianite ‘whole-rock’ sediment samples, reveal a general increase in age of the barriers landwards from the modern coastline. In detail, however, the individual barriers represent composite structures having formed in more than one interglaciation, due to the reoccupation of Pleistocene shoreline positions during sea-level highstands of similar amplitude, in a zone of gradual basin subsidence. The most seaward Pleistocene aeolianite at Surfer Beach is of interstadial age (Marine Isotope Stage 5c, 105 ± 5 ka; MIS 5c), and correlates with the Robe Range of the Coorong Coastal Plain. The last interglacial shoreline (130 ± 15 ka; MIS 5e) is particularly well-defined in the River Murray mouth region. It is represented by a complex association of coastal parabolic dunes superimposed on a transverse dune system, which runs parallel with the former coastline, and also includes associated estuarine, lagoonal and open ocean beach facies. Landward of the last interglacial succession are distinct barriers relating to the penultimate interglaciation (215 ± 35 ka; MIS 7), as well as earlier interglaciations (350 ± 65 ka; MIS 9 or 11 and 470 ± 70 ka; MIS 11 or 13). The coastal barriers have been successively breached by the ancestral River Murray at times of lower sea level during glacial cycles. Former mouths of the River Murray during interglacial sea-level highstands are likely to have existed near Tauwitchere Island during MIS 7, and between Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island and near the southern-most part of Lake Albert during the last interglacial (MIS 5e). The River Murray mouth region represents a failed delta as the limited sediment brought to this area since late middle Pleistocene time has been either rapidly incorporated within aeolian deposits during sea-level highstands, or transported to the edge of the Lacepede Shelf during glacial maxima. The Holocene and modern River Murray has not established a marine delta, but deposits its load in the settling basins of the terminal lakes. Only a small digitate delta has formed where the river enters Lake Alexandrina.