Optical dating of sand wedges and ice‐wedge casts from Qinghai Lake area on the northeastern Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau and its palaeoenvironmental implications

Sand wedges and ice‐wedge casts in the Qinghai Lake area on the northeastern Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) occur within alluvial gravel or river terrace deposits. In this study, we report the results of quartz Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the infill of five relict sand wedges and one ice‐wedge cast. Combining our dating results with previously published luminescence ages of permafrost wedges in the Qinghai Lake area, we show that sand/ice wedges formed at c. 62 ka, c. 45 ka and between 30 and 15 ka, and that the mean annual air temperature (MAAT) was depressed by at least ～3°C relative to present during the sand/ice‐wedge formation periods. This new work is partially corroborated by post‐LGM proxy records from lakes and aeolian deposits reported from the northeastern QTP. It also significantly extends the palaeoenvironmental record in the region in the period before the LGM, when other proxy records are rare, allowing a better understanding of the palaeoenvironmental conditions on the northeastern QTP.     

Polygonal patterned ground in central New Jersey

Polygonal patterned ground and associated sediment-filled wedges occur in thin-bedded shale in central New Jersey. During a dry growing season, numerous areas of polygonal ground were visible owing to differential growth of vegetation over the sediment-filled fractures. Construction sites where material was removed from the surface prior to excavation also revealed areas of polygonal ground. Measurements of the patterns show networks of polygons with diameters ranging from about 3 m to over 30 m, with an average of approximately 20 m. The wedges examined in vertical exposures range in depth from 25 to 260 cm (average, 125 cm) and in width from 10 to 240 cm (average, 50 cm). The infilling material of the wedges is mostly a sandy loam, although this material is not homogeneous throughout the wedges. The presence of ventifacts and frosted sand grains within the wedges indicates eolian activity during the formation of these features. The polygonal ground and wedge structures exhibit several characteristics similar to those of ice-wedge casts, and available evidence suggests they may have originated as ice-wedge polygons during the last glacial maximum.     

河西走廊末次冰期芒硝和砂楔与古气候重建

芒硝和砂楔是冷干气候环境的典型标志。河西走廊砂楔主要形成在晚更新世冲洪积砾石层中 ,楔体内充填的风成砂14 C年龄证明其是末次冰期的产物 ,古砂楔所对应的年均气温为- 5 6℃左右。芒硝主要分布在内陆河终端的盐湖中 ,花海芒硝矿粘土夹层中的陆生树枝残条普通14 C和AMS14 C年龄分别为 (116 0 0± 2 80 )aB .P .和 (11181± 54)aB .P .,证明芒硝层为末次盛冰期 (LGM )和新仙女木期 (YD)异常冷干气候的产物。计算表明 ,该区LGM年均气温较现在低 11～ 15℃ ,YD年均气温比现代低约 6～ 8℃。这一降温幅度与中国北方根据孢粉、砂楔、冰芯等所推测的气温下降值大体一致 ,亦与最近有关北半球高、中纬度冰期降温幅度的研究相符合     

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of sand‐filled wedge structures and their fine‐grained host sediment from Jonzac,SW France

Two sand wedge structures and their host sediments, from Jonzac in SW France, were successfully dated using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) measurements on both small aliquots and single grains of quartz from the 180–212 μm size fraction. One of the sand wedges clearly contains primary infilling. However, grain‐size analysis and field observations do not clearly indicate whether the other feature represents a primary sand wedge or a composite sand wedge with primary and secondary infilling. OSL results and the geological setting justify using the Central Age Model (CAM) for the calculation of age estimates. Grain‐size analysis and detailed investigations of OSL results revealed the contamination of one sand wedge sample with host sediment. However, age calculation using the Finite Mixture Model (FMM) provided what is considered to be a reliable age estimate for the contaminated sample. The age estimates for all samples correspond to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. While fine‐grained sediments were deposited in the middle of MIS 3 (c. 43–55 ka), the sand wedges unexpectedly correspond to the end of this period (c. 33 ka) or the onset of MIS 2 (c. 27 ka). The sand wedges were probably formed during intense but short cold periods, possibly correlated with a Heinrich event (H2 and/or H3). The results help us to assess how effective luminescence dating is on sand wedges and the limitations involved in correlating sand wedge ages with Heinrich events, and contribute to the debate on the timing of cryogenic formation processes and the permafrost distribution in SW France.     

Optical dating of relict sand wedges and composite-wedge pseudomorphs in Flanders, Belgium

We report on quartz Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the infill of 14 relict sand wedges and composite-wedge pseudomorphs at 5 different sites in Flanders, Belgium. A laboratory dose recovery test indicates that the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) procedure is suitable for our samples (measured to a given dose ratio 0.980 ± 0.005; n =139). Completeness of resetting of the wedge infill of two samples was confirmed by single-grain analyses. The suite of optical ages indicates that repeated thermal contraction cracking, degradation and infilling with wind-blown sediment appear to have been commonplace in Flanders during the Late Pleniglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 2; OIS2); more specifically, around the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼21 kyr ago) and the transition period between the LGM and the start of the Lateglacial (∼15 kyr ago). Optical dating at one site has revealed two significantly older wedge levels, the younger inset into the older; the younger wedge has an age of 36 ± 4 kyr (Middle Pleniglacial; OIS3), the older wedge 129 ± 11 kyr, which points to formation during the Late Saalian (OIS6). Our OSL ages of the wedges and host sediments bracket formation of the BGB (Beuningen Gravel Bed: a widespread deflation horizon in northwestern Europe) at between ∼15 and 18 kyr; this is in good agreement with previous OSL dating studies. We conclude that optical dating using quartz SAR OSL establishes an absolute chronology for these periglacial phenomena and allows secure palaeoenvironmental reconstructions to be made.     

Periglacial wedges and the late Pleistocene environment of Wyoming's intermontane basins

Nonsorted polygons in the uppermost 2 to 3 m beneath Pleistocene surfaces indicate permafrost at 1340 m and higher elevations in the intermontane and piedmont plains of Wyoming during the Wisconsin, and perhaps earlier, glacial maxima. The polygons, as much as 10 m in diameter, are delineated by wedges that vary in depths, range from narrow to moderately flared forms, and deform host materials. The wedges have silty fine-to-medium sand matrices (largely eolian) with pebbles or clasts from hosts of gravel or bedrock. Some wedges may reflect seasonal cracking in a periglacial active zone, but most are either permafrost sand-wedge relics or, less commonly, ice-wedge casts. Alternative explanations are rejected largely because similar features are apparently lacking in the lower and warmer plains from eastern Colorado southward. The wedges suggest an arid, windy, periglacial environment whose mean-annual temperatures are conservatively estimated as some 10° to 13°C colder than those at present. Although late Wisconsin-early Holocene floral and faunal evidence indicates lowered montane biotic zones, the eolian and periglacial features indicate a lack of extensive forest cover on the basin floors. In conjunction with vertebrate-fossil associations of grazing and tundra animals, the wedges may provide a parallel line of evidence for a former periglacial steppe, or “steppe-tundra”, in the Wyoming basins.     

Periglacial features indicative of permafrost: Ice and soil wedges

Ice wedges are wedge-shaped masses of ice, oriented vertically with their apices downward, a few millimeters to many meters wide at the top, and generally less than 10 m vertically. Ice wedges grow in and are confined to humid permafrost regions. Snow, hoar frost, or freezing water partly fill winter contraction cracks outlining polygons, commonly 5–20 m in diameter, on the surface of the ground. Moisture comes from the atmosphere. Increments of ice, generally 0.1–2.0 mm, are added annually to wedges which squeeze enclosing permafrost aside and to the surface to produce striking surface patterns. Soil wedges are not confined to permafrost. One type, sand wedges, now grows in arid permafrost regions. Sand wedges are similar in dimensions, patterns, and growth rates to ice wedges. Drifting sand enters winter contraction cracks instead of ice. Fossil ice and sand wedges are the most diagnostic and widespread indicators of former permafrost, but identification is difficult. Any single wedge is untrustworthy. Evidence of fossil ice wedges includes: wedge forms with collapse structures from replacement of ice; polygonal patterns with dimensions comparable to active forms having similar coefficients of thermal expansion; fabrics in the host showing pressure effects; secondary deposits and fabric indicative of a permafrost table; and other evidence of former permafrost. Sand wedges lack open-wedge, collapse structures, but have complex, nearly vertical, crisscrossing narrow dikelets and fabric. Similar soil wedges are produced by wetting and drying, freezing and thawing, solution, faulting, and other mechanisms. Many forms are multigenetic. Many socalled ice-wedge casts are misidentified, and hence, permafrost along the late-Wisconsinan border in the United States was less extensive than has been proposed.     

黄土高原北缘中部末次冰期冰楔假型的发现及意义

冰楔假型是反映古气候环境的重要标志,其蕴涵的气候地层信息对地貌演化过程具有重要的指示意义。通过对黄土高原北缘中部环江T1阶地上新发现的冰楔假型群特征的研究和光释光(OSL)测年,结果显示这些发育在冲积砂砾石中的冰楔假型的充填砂体的年代为 (30.01±3.31) ka B.P.,形成环境推测当时的年平均地温比现今要低17.7 ℃。该冰楔假型的发现也为末次冰期阶段性冻土南界的位置和变迁提供了证据。另外,据冰楔与阶地冲积物的关系推测,在冰楔形成的冰冻期河流阶地的堆积缓慢甚至停滞,在(28.64±3.13) ka B.P.之后的气候温暖期河流快速下切、T1阶地形成。这为河流阶地成因机制的探讨提供了依据,反映了气候波动对阶地发育的控制。     

Ice wedge casts and past permafrost distribution in North AmericaFossile eiskeile und dauerfrost in der vergangenheit in NordamerikaPseudomorphoses des coins de glace et distribution du permafrost au passé en Amérique du Nord

Ice wedge casts are the most accurate and widespread indicators of past permafrost. Many ice wedge casts exist in Alaska, some in areas of existing ice wedges. In addition to indicating paleotemperature conditions and a wider distribution of permafrost in Wisconsinan time than now, casts in Alaska also indicate permafrost in Iliinoian and pre-lllinoian time. Hundreds of ice wedge casts are now known in temperate North America and are described from about 22 widespread localities coast to coast in Canada and United States. Permafrost existed in late Wisconsinan time, 20,000 to 10,000 years ago, along the glacial border in temperate United States. Later permafrost formed north of the glacial border as the continental ice sheet withdrew exposing drift to the rigorous periglacial climate. Ice wedge casts indicate that the ? 7 °C mean annual air isotherm was about 2000 km farther south in late Wisconsinan time than now.     

Pseudo-ice-wedge casts of Connecticut,northeastern United States

Since 1965, ice-wedge casts have been reported in deposits of sand and gravel in Connecticut. These are wedge forms up to 1.1 m wide and many meters high. Most are single forms, not in polygonal array. They are found in adjoining states as well. Their distribution, dimensions, structure, and fabric and an assessment of the former physical environment preclude their origin as permafrost features. They appear to be tension fractures produced by the loading of coarse clastics on fine clastics near and below the water table where sediments creep toward a stream or depression. Locally movement started with kettle formation during deglaciation. However, some wedges cut horizontal layers of iron-coated sand and gravel and must be younger than those distinctly postglacial phenomena. Moreover, modern B horizons of the overlying soil have moved down into some wedges more than 2 m, indicating that fracturing is still active today. Complex fracture fillings in bedrock also have been attributed to a permafrost origin, but this too seems unlikely.     

黄河源区冰楔假型群的发育及其古气候意义*

在黄河源区两岸的第二级阶地砂砾层和基座中发现了两种不同形态的冰楔假型群。一种是发育在阶地砂砾石层的冰楔假型,其特点宽而浅,底部边界呈圆滑锅状,深约0.5~0.9m,宽0.8~1.4m;另一种是发育在第二级阶地基座的基岩中,以窄深倒三角状为特点,其底部尖锐,深约0.7~2.0m,宽为0.3~1.0m。前者形成于全新世中期(5.69±0.43kaB.P.,5.43±0.41kaB.P.),后者形成于末次冰期的冰消期(13.49±1.43kaB.P.)。另外,还在洪积的砂砾石层中发现了规模较大的冻融褶皱(宽3~4m),其时代晚于39.83±3.84kaB.P.,也是末次冰期的产物。根据冰楔假型的对比研究,在全新世的中期(约5.5kaB.P.前后)和冰消期,黄河源区的降温幅度达6~7℃。尤其值得注意的是全新世中期的冰楔假型形成,表明了大暖期气温的不稳定性。     

The impact of analogue material properties on the geometry,kinematics, and dynamics of convergent sand wedges

Simulation of geodynamic processes in sandbox experiments requires analogue materials with a deformation behaviour that reproduces the deformation mechanisms of typical crustal rocks. We present data on the frictional strength of different sand types employing static and dynamic shear tests. The sand types analysed are characterised by an elastic/frictional plastic mechanical behaviour with a transient strain-hardening and strain-softening phase prior to transition to stable sliding. This is in conflict with the standard assumption of an ideal cohesionless Coulomb-material with constant frictional properties. The influence of the identified transient material properties on the kinematics, growth mechanisms, and internal deformation patterns of convergent sand wedges results in characteristic wedge segments which vary—depending on material compaction—between wedges with well defined segments (i.e. frontal-deformation zone, frontal-imbrication zone and internal-accumulation zone) with straight slopes and wedges with a continuous convex topographic profile. For most materials, only the frontal part of the wedge is critical during experimental runs. Taper and strength of the wedge segments can be shown to be controlled by the frictional properties of active faults. Wedge segmentation is controlled by a bulk-strength increase toward the rear of the wedge due to fault rotation in mechanically less-favourable orientations and plastic material hardening. The limit between the frontal critical parts of a wedge and internal stable parts is largely controlled by a critical state of stress upon which either renewed failure or fault inactivation occurs. On this basis, we suggest that critical-taper analysis of wedges must be restricted to specific kinematic segments. Comparison of the experimental results with the Nankai accretionary wedge suggests that our interpretation also applies to natural convergent wedges. Moreover, we provide constraints for the selection of adequate granular analogue materials to simulate typical crustal rocks in natural convergent wedges.     

Relict sand wedges in southern Patagonia and their stratigraphic and paleo-environmental significance

Relict sand wedges are ubiquitous in southern Patagonia. At six sites we conducted detailed investigations of stratigraphy, soils, and wedge frequency and characteristics. Some sections contain four or more buried horizons with casts. The cryogenic features are dominantly relict sand wedges with an average depth, maximum apparent width, minimum apparent width, and H/W of 78, 39, 3.8, and 2.9 cm, respectively. The host materials are fine-textured (silt loam, silty clay loam, clay loam) till and the infillings are aeolian sand. The soils are primarily Calciargidic Argixerolls that bear a legacy of climate change. Whereas the sand wedges formed during very cold (?4 to ?8 °C or colder) and dry (ca. ≤100 mm precipitation/yr) glacial periods, petrocalcic horizons from calcium carbonate contributed by dustfall formed during warmer (7 °C or warmer) and moister (≥250 mm/yr) interglacial periods. The paleo-argillic (Bt) horizons reflect unusually moist interglacial events where the mean annual precipitation may have been 400 mm/yr. Permafrost was nearly continuous in southern Patagonia during the Illinoian glacial stage (ca. 200 ka), the early to mid-Pleistocene (ca. 800–500 ka), and on two occasions during the early Pleistocene (ca. 1.0–1.1 Ma).     

山西大同与晋中盆地全新世活动断裂定量研究中热释光与14C测年方法应用

文章通过对山西断陷系内4条边界活动断裂带开展全新世活动定量研究中实测的67个热释光测年样品及20个14C测年样品的实例分析,讨论了在断错地貌研究和探槽全新世古地震研究中,地层测年样品帮助确定断层活动事件年代、判断探槽内古地震事件的时间跨度、古地震事件的完整性及垂直断距的不确定性等方面发挥的作用;并讨论了少量热释光样品出现年代倒置现象的原因。     

Modelling the geometry of Coulomb thrust wedges

Internal geometry and detachment of Coulomb thrust wedges is examined in a combined gravity and pressure force field under various boundary conditions and Coulomb parameters. Frontally buttressed sand wedges accreted with narrow tapers above soles with negligible friction. In these models, serial imbricates stepped-up in conjugate sets which operated synchronously or serially. With increases in sole friction, model Coulomb wedges accreted in piggyback style with enhanced taper but narrower spacing of imbricates. In this mode, flat-topped box-fold anticlines nucleated at the frontal tip of a sole thrust prior to the fore-limb failing as a ramp. The initial ramp-thrusts subsequently rotated and steepened to acquire concave-upwards listric geometry. When cohesion was a significant component of strength, and the sand grains interlocked thoroughly, ramp climb during piggyback thrusting occurred through the generation of a stack of backthrusts. The taper of cohesionless sand wedges, which lack any length scale, was consistent with the critical cohesionless Coulomb wedge taper. In contrast, the taper of experimental cohesive sand wedges, which are scale-dependent, was consistent with the theoretical cohesive Coulomb narrow taper, only when the cohesive length scale was l_r ∼ S_r/ϱ_ra_r ≤ 10⁻⁶. This was constrained by comparing geometry of cohesive sand wedges shortened at different body force per unit mass.     

河西走廊末次冰期砂楔的发现及其古气候意义

河西走廊砂楔主要形成在晚更新世冲洪积砾石层中，楔体内充填的风成砂^14C年龄证明其是末次冰期的产物，在末次冰期，洒西走廊年平均气温为－5－7度左右，较现在低13－15度，这一 估算数据与根据本区芒硝沉积层所推测的气温下降值是一致的，亦与最近有关北半球高，中纬度冰期降温幅度的研究相符合，当时，河西走廊西段年降水量可能达到100－200mm，比现在平均年降水量增加约100mm左右。     

New optically stimulated luminescence ages provide evidence of MIS3 and MIS2 eolian activity on Black Mesa, northeastern Arizona, USA

Eolian deposition on the semiarid southern Colorado Plateau has been attributed to episodic aridity during the Quaternary Period. However, OSL ages from three topographically controlled (e.g. falling) dunes on Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona indicate that eolian sediments there were deposited in deep tributary valleys as early as 35–30 ka, with most sand deposited before 20 ka. In contrast, the oldest OSL ages for sand sheets fall within the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition (~ 12–8 ka). Thus most eolian sediment accumulated on Black Mesa under climatic conditions that were in general cooler, moister, and more variable than today, not more arid, pointing to a considerable increase in sediment supply.     

美国中西部第四纪冰川与黄土研究的进展和问题

本文对美国中西部和中国黄土高原０．５Ｍａ以来的气候序列进行了对比。０．５—０．１ＭａＢ．Ｐ．，美国中西部间冰期以干暖为特征，１０００００—３５０００ａＢ．Ｐ．，气候从干暖向温湿转化。本次冰进阶段，冰盖达到最大后，风尘堆积占优势，气候湿凉为主。全新世先从温凉转为温湿，继而干暖，后又转向湿凉。总之，０．５Ｍａ以来除末次冰期外，美国中西部与中国黄土高原温度变化的总趋势是一致的，但两地的湿度变化是相反的。     

钾长石矿物在全新世样品光释光测年中的应用与校正问题

使用钾长石进行释光测年时,由于长石的释光信号存在异常衰减,会导致沉积事件年龄的低估。对中国北方4个全新世样品分别使用石英和钾长石矿物组分释光测年,通过测量钾长石的衰退系数(g值)对钾长石使用再生剂量法获得的表征年龄进行了校正。发现对于本文所研究的年轻样品钾长石表征年龄与石英年龄相比系统偏小约2％～9％,钾长石校正年龄与石英年龄相比则严重偏大约16％～40％,表明使用g值无法校正年轻样品的钾长石年龄。对于年轻样品,钾长石IRSL信号异常衰减现象对测年结果的影响是可以忽略的。     

Quaternary eolian dunes in the Savannah River valley,Jasper County,South Carolina,USA

Sand hills in the Savannah River valley in Jasper County (South Carolina, USA) are interpreted as the remnants of parabolic eolian dunes composed of sand derived from the Savannah River and stabilized by vegetation under prevailing climate conditions. Optically stimulated luminescence ages reveal that most of the dunes were active ca. 40 to 19 ka ago, coincident with the last glacial maximum (LGM) through early deglaciation. Modern surface winds are not sufficient for sustained eolian sand transport. When the dunes were active, winds blew at velocities of at least 4 m/s from west to east, and some vegetation was present. The ratio of annual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration (P:PE) was less than the modern ratio of 1.23 and may have been < 0.30, caused by stronger winds (which would have resulted in greater evaporation) and/or reduced precipitation. The Savannah River dunes are part of a larger assemblage of eolian dunes that were active in the eastern United States during and immediately after the LGM, suggesting that eolian sediment behavior in this region has been controlled by regional forcing mechanisms during the Quaternary.