Timing of glaciation and last glacial maximum paleoclimate estimates from the Fish Lake Plateau, Utah

The High Plateaus of Utah include seven separate mountain ranges that supported glaciers during the Pleistocene. The Fish Lake Plateau, located on the eastern edge of the High Plateaus, preserves evidence of at least two glacial advances. Four cosmogenic ³He exposure ages of boulders in an older moraine range from 79 to 159 ka with a mean age of 129 ± 39 ka and oldest ages of 152 ± 3 and 159 ± 5 ka. These ages suggest deposition during the type Bull Lake glaciation and Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Twenty boulder exposure ages from four different younger moraines indicate a local last glacial maximum (LGM) of ~ 21.1 ka, coincident with the type Pinedale glaciation and MIS 2. Reconstructed Pinedale-age glaciers from the Fish Lake Plateau have equilibrium-line altitudes ranging from 2950 to 3190 m. LGM summer temperature depressions for the Fish Lake Plateau range from −10.7 to −8.2°C, assuming no change in precipitation. Comparison of the Fish Lake summer temperature depressions to a regional dataset suggests that the Fish Lake Plateau may have had a slight increase (~ 1.5× modern) in precipitation during the LGM. A series of submerged ridges in Fish Lake were identified during a bathymetric survey and are likely Bull Lake age moraines.     

Origin of CO2-rich fluid inclusions in leucosomes from the Skagit migmatites, North Cascades, Washington, USA

CO₂–CH₄ fluid inclusions are present in anatectic layer-parallel leucosomes from graphite-bearing metasedimentary rocks in the Skagit migmatite complex, North Cascades, Washington. Petrological evidence and additional fluid inclusion observations indicate, however, that the Skagit Gneiss was infiltrated by a water-rich fluid during high-temperature metamorphism and migmatization. CO₂-rich fluid inclusions have not been observed in Skagit metasedimentary mesosomes or melanosomes, meta-igneous migmatites, or unmigmatized rocks, and are absent from subsolidus leucosomes in metasedimentary migmatites. The observation that CO₂-rich inclusions are present only in leucosomes interpreted to be anatectic based on independent mineralogical and chemical criteria suggests that their formation is related to migmatization by partial melting. Although some post-entrapment modification of fluid inclusion composition may have occurred during decompression and deformation, the generation of the CO₂-rich fluid is attributed to water-saturated partial melting of graphitic metasedimentary rocks by a reaction such as biotite + plagioclase + quartz + graphite ± Al₂SiO₅+ water-rich fluid = garnet + melt + CO₂–CH₄. The presence of CO₂-rich fluid inclusions in leucosomes may therefore be an indication that these leucosomes formed by anatexis. Based on the inferences that (1) an influx of fluid triggered partial melting, and (2) some episodes of fluid inclusion trapping are related to migmatization by anatexis, it is concluded that a free fluid was present at some time during high-temperature metamorphism. The infiltrating fluid was a water-rich fluid that may have been derived from nearby crystallizing plutons. Because partial melting took place at pressures of at least 5 kbar, abundant free fluid may have been present in the crust during orogenesis at depths of at least 15 km.     

Paleoecology of two marine oxygen isotope stage 7 sites correlated by the Sheep Creek tephra, northwestern North America

Pollen analysis at two sites, correlated by the presence of the 190,000 yr-old Sheep Creek tephra, documents fluctuations in vegetation and climate consistent with this date and indicates that the records span marine oxygen isotope stage 7 and the stage 6/7 transition. Dawson Cut, near Fairbanks, Alaska, provides a 5.2-m-long pollen record of interglacial boreal forest succeeded by shrub tundra and then forest/tundra. Ash Bend, Stewart River, central Yukon, provides a 9.5-m-long record of interglacial boreal forest succeeded by forest/tundra, shrub tundra, and herbaceous tundra. The replacement of forest at both sites by more open or tundra vegetation indicates warm interglacial conditions giving way to cold and arid climate. It is not clear whether stage 7 was warmer than the present. The warm-cool-warm climate oscillation evident at both sites may correlate to Lake Baikal substages 7a, 7b, and 7c. Sheep Creek tephra fell on forest/tundra vegetation.     

Timing and extent of Holocene glaciations in the monsoon dominated Dunagiri valley (Bangni glacier), Central Himalaya,India

Field stratigraphy and optical and radiocarbon dating of lateral moraines in the monsoon dominated Dunagiri valley of the Central Himalaya provide evidence for three major glaciations during the last 12 ka. The oldest and most extensive glaciation, the Bangni Glacial Stage-I (BGS-I), is dated between 12 and 9 ka, followed by the BGS-II glaciation (7.5 and 4.5 ka) and the BGS-III glaciation (∼1 ka). In addition, discrete moraine mounds proximal to the present day glacier snout are attributed to the Little Ice Age (LIA). BGS-I started around the Younger Dryas (YD) cooling event and persisted till the early Holocene when the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) strengthened. The less extensive BGS-II glaciation, which occurred during the early to mid-Holocene, is ascribed to lower temperature and decreased precipitation. Further reduction in ice volume during BGS-III is attributed to a late Holocene warm and moist climate. Although the glaciers respond to a combination of temperature and precipitation changes, in the Dunagiri valley decreased temperature seems to be the major driver of glaciations during the Holocene.     

晚第四纪MIS6以来柴达木盆地成盐作用对冰期气候的响应

气候是控制柴达木盆地盐类沉积的主要因素之一,但是其作用机制尚待明确。作者以柴达木盆地察汗斯拉图盐湖的3个含盐剖面为研究对象,采用多接收电感耦合等离子质谱(MC-ICP-MS)铀系测年测定其沉积时代,并通过X射线粉晶衍射(XRD)分析测定其盐类矿物种类。铀系测年显示D18剖面石盐和芒硝层的沉积时代为13.1±2.0 ka BP～15.9±2.5 ka BP,其中芒硝沉积年代属于末次冰期MIS2晚期;MXK2剖面芒硝层的沉积时代分别为131.7±39.5 ka BP和158.3±10.8 ka BP,D12剖面芒硝层的沉积时代分别为166.6±20.2 ka BP和198.0±20.6 ka BP,可以对应于倒数第二次冰期MIS6。XRD分析确定了3个剖面的盐类矿物主要为芒硝、石盐和石膏。综合多个盐湖晚第四纪成盐数据,本文认为倒数第二次冰期MIS6和末次冰期MIS2是柴达木盆地晚第四纪重要的成盐期,冰期的冷干气候有利于石盐和芒硝等盐类沉积。柴达木盆地"冰期成盐"的根本原因,是由于冰期环境下盆地周边山体冰川规模的扩张以及干冷的冰期气候,共同造成了盐湖补给水量的减少。此外,晚第四纪MIS6和MIS2的冰期降温也是导致盆地中冷相盐类沉积的直接原因。