Paleoclimatic and archeological implications of Pleistocene and Holocene environments in Azraq, Jordan

Wetlands are a key archive for paleoclimatic and archeological work, particularly in arid regions, as they provide a focus for human occupation and preserve environmental information. The sedimentary record from 'Ayn Qasiyya, a spring site on the edge of the Azraq Qa, provides a well-dated sequence through the last glacial–interglacial transition (LGIT) allowing environmental changes in the present-day Jordanian desert to be investigated robustly through this time period for the first time. Results show that the wettest period at the site preceded the last glacial maximum, which itself was characterised by marsh formation and a significant Early Epipaleolithic occupation. A sedimentary hiatus between 16 and 10.5 ka suggests a period of drought in the region although seasonal rains and surface waters still allowed seasonal occupation of the Azraq region. Archeological evidence suggests that conditions had improved by the Late Epipaleolithic, about the time of the North Atlantic Younger Dryas. The changes between wet and dry conditions at the site show similarities to patterns in the eastern Mediterranean and in Arabia suggesting the Jordan interior was influenced by changes in both these regions through the LGIT climatic transition.     

Late Holocene vegetation in the Azraq Wetland Reserve, Jordan

Shifts in aquatic and terrestrial vegetation associations and hydrology during the past > 3100 yr are indicated by the pollen and sediment sequences in a core retrieved from the Azraq wetland, Jordan. The pollen sequence provides evidence for a relatively stable wetland during the period of study until ca. AD 1400 when the wetland apparently declined as desert shrubland expanded. Springs continually supplied fresh water that maintained the shallow pools and marsh. In periods of increased winter precipitation, runoff from the surrounding wadis may have inundated the wetland and deposited silts and clays. During dryer episodes the influx of winter storm water would have been much less but the springs would have still provided water to the wetland and deposited peat. This is shown by the sequences of clay, silty and sandy clay loam, and peat in the core.     

Landscape and prehistoric chronology of West-Central Jordan

Remnant lake and stream terraces of the Wadi el Hasa (west-central Jordan) are associated with in situ prehistoric sites spanning > 100,000 years. Eighteen radiocarbon dates from cultural and geological deposits on the terraces facilitate the first comprehensive prehistoric landscape chronology for the southern Levant east of the Jordan Rift. In the eastern Hasa basin, the uppermost of three cut and fill surfaces (>20 m) is linked to massive fossil spring deposits and an early Middle Paleolithic occupation (100,000–70,000 B. P.), suggestive of considerably wetter climates. A later Middle Paleolithic occupation may be synchronous with the emergence of Pleistocene Lake Hasa (ca. 70,000 B. P.). Peak lake levels were attained 40,000 years ago. Dates proliferate after 25,000 B. P. and register recession of Lake Hasa (ca. 20,000 B. P.), an intervening erosional phase, and the initiation of complex humid-desiccation cycles for the terminal Pleistocene—Holocene (17,000–9,000 B. P.). The contemporary Wadi el Hasa channel began aggrading its floodplain after 8000 B. P. and was incised to its present depths 1000–500 years ago. The prehistoric landscape history of the Hasa drainage is broadly synchronous with sequences in the Rift Valley and Negev desert and offers baseline chronologies for the Late Quaternary of eastern Jordan and the Arabian peninsula. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The Northern end of the Dead Sea Basin: Geometry from reflection seismic evidence

Recently released reflection seismic lines from the Eastern side of the Jordan River north of the Dead Sea were interpreted by using borehole data and incorporated with the previously published seismic lines of the eastern side of the Jordan River. For the first time, the lines from the eastern side of the Jordan River were combined with the published reflection seismic lines from the western side of the Jordan River. In the complete cross sections, the inner deep basin is strongly asymmetric toward the Jericho Fault supporting the interpretation of this segment of the fault as the long-lived and presently active part of the Dead Sea Transform. There is no indication for a shift of the depocenter toward a hypothetical eastern major fault with time, as recently suggested. Rather, the north-eastern margin of the deep basin takes the form of a large flexure, modestly faulted. In the N–S-section along its depocenter, the floor of the basin at its northern end appears to deepen continuously by roughly 0.5 km over 10 km distance, without evidence of a transverse fault. The asymmetric and gently-dipping shape of the basin can be explained by models in which the basin is located outside the area of overlap between en-echelon strike-slip faults.     

Holocene climate variability and cultural evolution in the Near East from the Dead Sea sedimentary record

A comprehensive record of lake level changes in the Dead Sea has been reconstructed using multiple, well dated sediment cores recovered from the Dead Sea shore. Interpreting the lake level changes as monitors of precipitation in the Dead Sea drainage area and the regional eastern Mediterranean palaeoclimate, we document the presence of two major wet phases ( 10–8.6 and  5.6–3.5 cal kyr BP) and multiple abrupt arid events during the Holocene. The arid events in the Holocene Dead Sea appear to coincide with major breaks in the Near East cultural evolution (at  8.6, 8.2, 4.2, 3.5 cal kyr BP). Wetter periods are marked by the enlargement of smaller settlements and growth of farming communities in desert regions, suggesting a parallelism between climate and Near East cultural development.     

班戈错晚第四纪湖泊发育、湖面变化与藏北高原东南部末次大湖期湖泊演化

班戈错是因湖面阶段性下降而于晚更新世末期从母湖色林错东部分离出来的小离湖.2003年5-7月,我们对班戈湖沿岸进行了详细的地貌与第四纪地质调查,湖面高程及6条剖面湖岸阶地的水准测量,并采集了沿岸及邻区的湖相沉积物样品进行U系年龄测定.研究结果表明,班戈错湖岸阶地共6级,其中T1为与色林错分离后所形成,T2至T6的拔湖高...     

A pilot-scale field experiment for the microbial neutralization of a holomictic acidic pit lake

A strategy to neutralize acidic pit lakes was tested in an upscaling process using field mesocosms of 26 to ca. 4500 m³ volume in the acidic pit Mining Lake 111 in Germany. After addition of the substrates Carbokalk and straw a neutral sediment layer formed, in which microbial sulfate and iron reduction as well as sulfide precipitation occurred. The net rate of neutralization was limited by the precipitation of iron sulfides rather than by microbial reactions. Oxidation of H₂S by ferric iron in the anoxic sediment lowered the net sulfate reduction rate. Seasonal fluctuations of iron sulfides in the sediment showed that the reaction products were not necessarily stable. The long-term success of the approach depends on the net partition of the precipitated iron-(mono-/di-) sulfide that is permanently buried in the anoxic sediment. It could be shown by field experiments that the long-term success of the neutralization depends on the spatial scale and duration of the experiments. Volumes from 26 to 4500 m³, exposition times from 4 months to 5 years, and increasingly thick coverings of the sediments with straw, from zero to 40 cm, were used. Net neutralization rates decreased from 41 meq m^− 2 d^− 1 in laboratory microcosms to a mean rate of 2.3 meq m^− 2 d^− 1 in the 4500 m³ field experiment. The results show that the success of the microbial treatment of acid pit lakes lastly depends on the limnological conditions in the lake that cannot be simulated by upscaling of simple laboratory experiments.     

Revisiting the abandoned shorelines of Lake George,Australia: a refined optical dating framework

Abandoned shorelines are an important archive used to constrain past fluctuations in the hydrological balance of lakes around the globe. Within Australia, the shorelines preserved at Lake George, NSW, form one of the few shoreline archives in the south-east of the continent that record palaeoenvironmental conditions throughout the late Quaternary. Here, we examined and tested the lake-level record for Lake George constructed in the 1970s by dating a well-preserved shoreline sequence at Luckdale, on the lake's eastern shore, using single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Ten stratigraphic units were identified, and these suggest a late Quaternary highstand for Lake George in MIS 3, with fluctuations superimposed upon an overall drying trend throughout MIS 2 and into the present. At Luckdale, the highest four shoreline-associated units were deposited ~13 to 19 m above lake base and date to between 39 ± 2 and 29 ± 1 ka ago. Our study pushes back the timing of maximum lake depth at Lake George to at least MIS 3, rather than MIS 2. The overall drying trend is supported by similar reductions in both Riverine Plain fluvial activity and other associated lake-level records from within the Murray basin.     

A record of Holocene climate change from lake geochemical analyses in southeastern Arabia

Lacustrine sediments from southeastern Arabia reveal variations in lake level corresponding to changes in the strength and duration of Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) summer rainfall and winter cyclonic rainfall. The late glacial/Holocene transition of the region was characterised by the development of mega-linear dunes. These dunes became stabilised and vegetated during the early Holocene and interdunal lakes formed in response to the incursion of the IOM at approximately 8500 cal yr BP with the development of C3 dominated savanna grasslands. The IOM weakened ca. 6000 cal yr BP with the onset of regional aridity, aeolian sedimentation and dune reactivation and accretion. Despite this reduction in precipitation, the lake was maintained by winter dominated rainfall. There was a shift to drier adapted C4 grasslands across the dune field. Lake sediment geochemical analyses record precipitation minima at 8200, 5000 and 4200 cal yr BP that coincide with Bond events in the North Atlantic. A number of these events correspond with changes in cultural periods, suggesting that climate was a key mechanism affecting human occupation and exploitation of this region.     

The Finnmarkian Orogeny revisited: An isotopic investigation in eastern Finnmark, Arctic Norway

The Scandinavian Caledonides have been viewed as resulting from either a single Silurian (i.e. Scandian) event or from polycyclic orogenies involving several collisions on the margin of Baltica. Early studies of the Kalak Nappe Complex (KNC) in Finnmark, Arctic Norway, led to the hypothesis of an Early Cambrian-Early Ordovician (520-480 Ma) Finnmarkian Orogeny, though the nature of this tectonic event remains enigmatic. In this contribution we have employed in situ UV laser ablation Ar-Ar dating of fine-grained phyllite and schist from the eastern Caledonides of Arctic Norway to investigate the presence of pre-Scandian tectonometamorphic events. U-Th-Pb detrital zircon and whole rock Sm-Nd analyses have been used to test the regional stratigraphic correlations of these metasedimentary rocks. These results indicate that the Berlevåg Formation within the Tanafjord Nappe, previously assumed to be part of the KNC, was deposited after 1872 Ma and prior to a low temperature hydrothermal event at 555 ± 15 Ma. It has a likely provenance on the Baltica continent, lacks any Grenville-Sveconorwegian detrital zircons, and thus cannot be part of the KNC which contains abundant detritus in this age range. Instead the Berlevåg Formation is interpreted as part of the Laksefjord Nappe Complex, which structurally underlies the KNC. Laser-ablation argon-argon dating also shows that late Caledonian (i.e. Scandian) tectonometamorphism affected both the KNC and its immediate footwall at c. 425 ± 15 Ma. This is corroborated by a step-heating argon-argon muscovite age of 424 ± 3 Ma which is interpreted as dating cooling. However, within two samples from the KNC, an earlier (Middle-Late Cambrian) metamorphic event is also recorded. A biotite-grade schist yielded an Ar-Ar inverse isochron age of 506 ± 17 Ma from whole rock surfaces, in which the mineral domains are too fine-grained to date individually. An early generation of muscovite from a coarser-grained amphibolite-facies sample yielded an inverse isochron of 498 ± 13 Ma. Both isochron ages have atmospheric argon intercept values. Previous studies have documented similar Cambrian ages in the Caledonian nappes below the KNC. These results suggest correlative tectonometamorphic events in the eastern KNC and its footwall at c. 500 Ma. This Cambrian event may reflect the arrival of the Kalak Nappe Complex as a previously constructed exotic mobile belt onto the margin of Baltica. Combined with recent studies from the western Kalak Nappe Complex, the results do not support the traditional constraint on the Finnmarkian Orogeny sensu stricto. However they vindicate classic tectonic models involving a Cambrian accretion event.     

黄河源地区晚更新世湖泛事件及其意义

通过青海玛多湖相地层剖面沉积特征,结合ESR样品年代测试结果,分析认为黄河源地区在13万年左右的晚更新世时期发生过湖泛事件。湖泛时期,玛多"四姐妹湖"相互连通,形成一个面积巨大的湖泊,约是现今"四姐妹湖"总面积的4.1倍。玛多地区此次湖泛事件与深海氧同位素MIS 6（Marine isotope stages 6）向MIS 5（Marine isotope stages 5）转变时期相对应,显示出青藏高原气候变化与全球气候变化密切相关,然而黄河源地区湖相地层对全球气候变化反应更敏感,记录的气候转换时间早于其他地区。玛多剖面湖相地层剖面沉积物的粒度、碳酸盐、磁化率分析表明,在132±10~128±12 ka年间,黄河源地区湖相沉积可分为9个阶段,表明青藏高原在MIS 6向MIS 5转变时期的气候变化是一个波动上升过程。13万年左右,黄河源地区大面积的湖相地层结束沉积,认为由于青藏高原共和运动,下游的多石峡被切开,湖水突然外泄所形成。      

Sedimentology and allostratigraphy of post-240 ka to pre-26.5 ka lacustrine terraces at intracaldera Lake Rotorua, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

Lake Rotorua partially occupies a nearly circular 20 km diameter volcano-tectonic depression formed at c. 240 ka by eruption of the voluminous Mamaku Ignimbrite. Three distinct lacustrine littoral terraces, defined on the basis of contrasting geomorphology and field relations, and separated by tephrostratigraphically dateable unconformities and basin-floor disconformities, fringe much of the lake basin. They are here correlated with former high-stands of the lake which resulted from the blockage and re-establishment of a number of alternative outlets due to tectonic activity and volcanism at both the host and adjacent volcanic centres. The unconformities allow division of the deposits into three allostratigraphic units, each of which is then characterised by elevation and sediment provenance. The < 240 ka, post-Mamaku alloformation comprises the highest terrace (up to 415 mASL), and represents the high-stand of an intracaldera lake accumulated in the newly created basin after the eruption of the Mamaku Ignimbrite. Considerable uncertainty surrounds the initial direction of overflow from this level, but the lake may have drained southwards for a period through the Hemo Gorge, through the Ngakuru Graben/Kapenga Caldera area and into the Waikato River catchment. The second alloformation, consisting of volcaniclastic sediments forming shoreline and littoral terraces at c. 380 m elevation developed after the eruption of the 60 ka Rotoiti/Earthquake Flat pyroclastic flows from the neighbouring Okataina Volcanic Centre blocked northern and southern routes out of the lake basin. A northeasterly outlet subsequently became established at a lower level through tectonic subsidence of the Tikitere Graben, creating a drainage path into the Haroharo caldera from where it flowed into the Bay of Plenty via the Kawerau Canyon. The post-36 ka Hauparu alloformation forms the third shoreline terrace at elevations up to 349 mASL. It is the product of a temporary high-stand from blockage of the Tikitere Graben drainage path by pyroclastic debris from the voluminous 36 ka Hauparu eruption. Subsequently, episodic growth of the Haroharo resurgent dome complex between 25 and 9 ka in the adjacent Okataina Volcanic Centre forced Lake Rotorua to rise above its post-Hauparu lowstand level to an elevation where it could overtop a drainage divide on the northern rim of Lake Rotoiti and gain access to the catchment of the Kaituna River, hence establishing the current outlet channel.     

OSL ages on glaciofluvial sediment in northern Lower Michigan constrain expansion of the Laurentide ice sheet

We report new ages on glaciofluvial (outwash) sediment from a large upland in northern Lower Michigan—the Grayling Fingers. The Fingers are cored with > 150 m of outwash, which is often overlain by the (informal) Blue Lake till of marine isotope stage (MIS) 2. They are part of an even larger, interlobate upland comprised of sandy drift, known locally as the High Plains. The ages, determined using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) methods, indicate that subaerial deposition of this outwash occurred between 25.7 and 29.0 ka, probably associated with a stable MIS 2 ice margin, with mean ages of ca. 27 ka. These dates establish a maximum-limiting age of ca. 27 ka for the MIS 2 (late Wisconsin) advance into central northern Lower Michigan. We suggest that widespread ice sheet stabilization at the margins of the northern Lower Peninsula, during this advance and later during its episodic retreat, partly explains the thick assemblages of coarse-textured drift there. Our work also supports the general assumption of a highly lobate ice margin during the MIS 2 advance in the Great Lakes region, with the Fingers, an interlobate upland, remaining ice-free until ca. 27 ka.     

Formation of Ulan Buh desert and its environmental changes during the Holocene

Extensive investigations and studies on topography, sedimentary and chronology show new evidence for the formation and evolution of the Ulan Buh desert during early Holocene. Evidence on clay-sand strata and plant roots under interdune lowlands, lake shorelines covered by plenty of Corbicula largillierti and large amounts of dry salt lakes in the central region of the desert prove that many megalakes existed in the hinterland of Ulan Buh desert. Several OSL samples collected from Aeolian sands overlying lacustrine sediments in profiles around Jilantai Salt Lake and interdune lowlands in the southern Ulan Buh desert suggest that the desert began around 7 ka B.P.. The formation of Ulan Buh desert may have resulted from the shrinking of Jilantai megalakes and sands blown from exposed loose sediments. __________ Translated from Journal of Desert Research, 2007, 27(6): 927–931 [译自: 中国沙漠]     

U-series and oxygen isotope chronology of the mid-Pleistocene Lake Amora (Dead Sea basin)

This study establishes for the first time the chronology and limnological history of Lake Amora (Dead Sea basin, Israel), whose deposits (the Amora Formation) comprise one of the longest exposed lacustrine records of the Pleistocene time. The Amora Formation consists of sequences of laminated primary aragonite and silty-detritus, Ca-sulfate minerals, halite and clastic units. This sedimentary sequence was uplifted and tilted by the rising Sedom salt diapir, exposing ∼320 m of sediments on the eastern flanks of Mt. Sedom (the Arubotaim Cave (AC) section).The chronology of the AC section is based on U-disequilibrium dating (²³⁰Th-²³⁴U and ²³⁴U-²³⁸U ages) combined with floating δ¹⁸O stratigraphy and paleomagnetic constraints. The determination of the ²³⁰Th-²³⁴U ages required significant corrections to account for detrital Th and U. These corrections were performed on individual samples and on suites of samples from several stratigraphic horizons. The most reliable corrected ages were used to construct an age-elevation model that was further tuned to the oxygen isotope record of east Mediterranean foraminifers (based on the long-term similarity between the sea and lake oxygen isotope archives).The combined U-series-δ¹⁸O age-elevation model indicates that the (exposed) Amora sequence was deposited between ∼740 and 70 ka, covering seven glacial-interglacial cycles (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 18 to 5).Taking the last glacial Lake Lisan and the Holocene Dead Sea lacustrine systems as analogs of the depositional-limnological environment of Lake Amora, the latter oscillated between wet (glacial) and more arid (interglacial) conditions, represented by sequences of primary evaporites (aragonite and gypsum that require enhanced supply of freshwater to the lakes) and clastic sediments, respectively. The lake evolved from a stage of rapid shifts between high and low-stand conditions during ∼740 to 550 ka to a sabkha-like environment that existed (at the AC site) between 550 and 420 ka. This stage was terminated by a dry spell represented by massive halite deposition at 420 ka (MIS12-11). During MIS10-6 the lake fluctuated between lower and higher stands reaching its highest stand conditions at the late glacial MIS6, after which a significant lake level decline corresponds to the transition to the last interglacial (MIS5) low-stand lake, represented by the uppermost part of the Formation.δ¹⁸O values in the primary aragonite range between 6.0 and −1.3‰, shifting cyclically between glacial and interglacial intervals. The lowest δ¹⁸O values are observed during interglacial stages and may reflect short and intense humid episodes that intermittently interrupted the overall arid conditions. These humid episodes, expressed also by enhanced deposition of travertines and speleothems, seem to characterize the Negev Desert, and in contrast to the overall dominance of the Atlantic-Mediterranean system of rain patterns in the Dead Sea basin, some humid episodes during interglacials may be traced to southern sources.     

Late Quaternary vegetation, fire and climate history reconstructed from two cores at Cerro Toledo, Podocarpus National Park, southeastern Ecuadorian Andes

The last ca. 20,000 yr of palaeoenvironmental conditions in Podocarpus National Park in the southeastern Ecuadorian Andes have been reconstructed from two pollen records from Cerro Toledo (04°22'28.6"S, 79°06'41.5"W) at 3150 m and 3110 m elevation. Páramo vegetation with high proportions of Plantago rigida characterised the last glacial maximum (LGM), reflecting cold and wet conditions. The upper forest line was at markedly lower elevations than present. After ca. 16,200 cal yr BP, páramo vegetation decreased slightly while mountain rainforest developed, suggesting rising temperatures. The trend of increasing temperatures and mountain rainforest expansion continued until ca. 8500 cal yr BP, while highest temperatures probably occurred from 9300 to 8500 cal yr BP. From ca. 8500 cal yr BP, páramo vegetation re-expanded with dominance of Poaceae, suggesting a change to cooler conditions. During the late Holocene after ca. 1800 cal yr BP, a decrease in páramo indicates a change to warmer conditions. Anthropogenic impact near the study site is indicated for times after 2300 cal yr BP. The regional environmental history indicates that through time the eastern Andean Cordillera in South Ecuador was influenced by eastern Amazonian climates rather than western Pacific climates.     

Phase relationship and surface water mass change in the Northeast Atlantic during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS 11)

Planktic foraminiferal census data, faunal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and oxygen isotopic and lithic records from a site in the northeast Atlantic were analyzed to study the interglacial dynamics of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11, a period thought to closely resemble the Holocene on the basis of orbital forcing. Interglacial conditions during MIS 11 persisted for approximately 26 ka. After the main deglacial meltwater processes ceased, a 10- to 12-ka-long transitional period marked by significant water mass circulation changes occurred before surface waters finally reached their thermal maximum. This SST peak occurred between 400 and 397 ka, inferred from the abundance of the most thermophilic foraminiferal species and was coincident with lowest sea level according to benthic isotope values. The ensuing stepwise SST decrease characterizes the overall climate deterioration preceding the increase in global ice volume by  3 ka. This cooling trend was followed by a more pronounced cold event that began at 388 ka, and that terminated in the recurrence of icebergs at the site around 382 ka. Because the water mass configuration of early MIS 11 evolved quite differently from that of the early Holocene, there is little evidence that MIS 11 can serve as an appropriate analogue for a future Holocene climate, despite the similarity in some orbital parameters.     

Orbital- and sub-orbital-scale climate impacts on vegetation of the western Mediterranean basin over the last 48,000 yr

High-resolution pollen analysis of Alborán Sea core MD95-2043 provides a 48-ka continuous vegetation record that can be directly correlated with sea surface and deep-water changes. The reliability of this record is supported by comparison with that of Padul (Sierra Nevada, Spain). Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 was characterised by fluctuations in Quercus forest cover in response to Dansgaard-Oeschger climate variability. MIS 2 was characterised by the dominance of semi-desert vegetation. Despite overall dry and cold conditions during MIS 2, Heinrich events (HEs) 2 and 1 were distinguished from the last glacial maximum by more intensely arid conditions. Taxon-specific vegetation responses to a tripartite climatic structure within the HEs are observed. In MIS 1, the Bölling-Allerød was marked by rapid afforestation, while a re-expansion of semi-desert environments occurred during the Younger Dryas. The maximum development of mixed Quercus forest occurred between 11.7 and 5.4 cal ka BP, with forest decline since 5.4 cal ka BP. On orbital timescales, a long-term expansion of semi-desert vegetation from MIS 3 into MIS 2 reflects global ice-volume trends, while Holocene arboreal decline reflects summer insolation decrease. The influence of precession on the amplitude of forest development and vegetation composition is also detected.     

Relocation of aftershocks, focal mechanisms and stress inversion: Implications toward the seismo-tectonics of the causative fault zone of Mw7.6 2001 Bhuj earthquake (India)

The HYPODD relocation of 1172 aftershocks, recorded on 8–17 three-component digital seismographs, delineate a distinct south dipping E–W trending aftershock zone extending up to 35 km depth, which involves a crustal volume of 40 km × 60 km × 35 km. The relocated focal depths delineate the presence of three fault segments and variation in the brittle–ductile transition depths amongst the individual faults as the earthquake foci in the both western and eastern ends are confined up to 28 km depth whilst in the central aftershock zone they are limited up to 35 km depth. The FPFIT focal mechanism solutions of 444 aftershocks (using 8–12 first motions) suggest that the focal mechanisms ranged between pure reverse and pure strike slip except some pure dip slip solutions. Stress inversion performed using the P and T axes of the selected focal mechanisms reveals an N181°E oriented maximum principal stress with a very shallow dip (= 14°). The stress inversions of different depth bins of the P and T axes of selected aftershocks suggest a heterogeneous stress regime at 0–30 km depth range with a dominant consistent N–S orientation of the P-axes over the aftershock zone, which could be attributed to the existence of varied nature and orientation of fractures and faults as revealed by the relocated aftershocks.     

Effective precipitation in southern Spain ( 266 to 46 ka) based on a speleothem stable carbon isotope record

We present the longest-duration directly dated terrestrial palaeoclimate record from the western Mediterranean region: a flowstone speleothem from Gitana Cave, southeast Spain. The main phase of growth was 274 to 58 ka, dated by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) U-series methods. Effective precipitation, which we consider primarily responsible for flowstone calcite δ¹³C variations, measured at 300 μm resolution, was higher during interglacials associated with marine oxygen isotope stages (MIS) 7 and 5, and lower during glacial MIS 6. There is a close correspondence between speleothem δ¹³C and sea surface temperature (SST) estimates from adjacent Atlantic Ocean cores during MIS 6, which implies that oceanic conditions are critical in controlling the western Mediterranean terrestrial moisture balance during glacial periods. Other features of our record, such as the sequence of termination II warming/moistening between approximately 133 and 127 ka, including a “pause” around 130–128 ka, and the lagged termination of MIS 5 warm intervals (5e, 5c and 5a) are similar to other terrestrial records within the Mediterranean basin, indicating climate synchroneity along the northern Mediterranean coast. The Gitana cave region also may have been a refugium for temperate species during short-lived cold/arid periods during MIS 5.