Reply to ‘Comment on: “Establishing the Late Pleistocene-Holocene sedimentation boundary in the southern North Sea using OSL dating of shallow continental shelf sediments” by L. Alappat,A. Vink,S. Tsukamoto,M. Frechen,Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 121 (2010), 43–54’ by B. Mauz

The major concerns in the correspondence of Mauz (2012) was the correction applied for the calculation of cosmic dose in response of changing sea level in the past and statistical parameters used as well as the selection of MAM. A better approach is discussed in this note for the calculation of cosmic dose over a variable time span of rising sea level with the help of established sea level curves in the area. The selection of MAM-3 for the estimation of final De's are discussed in the article. The comments by Mauz (2012) have been helpful in rectifying some confusions that might have arisen in the original article of Alappat et al. (2010). However, some comments were merely speculative in nature and made by ignoring the statements that have been clearly mentioned in the article. After addressing various concerns of Mauz (2012), the results show that the variation in the final age due to this is small and within the uncertainty for all the samples.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Holocene–Pleistocene sediments of the Laptev Sea

The distribution and genesis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were studied in a 40-m core from a lagoon of the Laptev Sea that appeared during the Holocene resulting from the flooding of seawater into a freshwater lake in the area of the Buor-Khaya Gulf. The bulk of the core is constituted of permafrost rocks, thawed partially in their upper layers and covered with recent sediments (mainly by the products of intense thermoabrasion). The ratio of petrogenic and pyrogenic PAHs was evaluated.     

Lithology,Biostratigraphy, and Geochronology of the Late Pleistocene–Holocene Sediments on the Coast of Onega Bay of the White Sea

Doklady Earth Sciences - This paper reports on the lithological, micropaleontological, and chronometric data (radiocarbon dating) for one of the areas of the White Sea coast. The sedimentary...     

Humidity changes in southern Tunisia during the Late Pleistocene inferred from U–Th dating of mollusc shells

Calcareous deposits, mainly consisting of mollusc shell accumulations, which have been dated by the U/Th disequilibrium method, mark the shorelines of paleolake highstands in the Great Chotts Area of Southern Tunisia. The 5 sites studied consist of discontinuous accumulations of fossils of marine-like organisms e.g.: Cerastoderma glaucum, Melania tuberculata, Melanopsis praemorsa, Cerithium rupestre. U/Th isochron plots and age frequency histograms for 39 shell samples are reported here. Limited variations for U content and ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratios (AR) of shells support the hypothesis of closure of the geochemical system with respect to this element. It is remarkable that ²³⁴U/²³⁸U AR of shells collected in Chott Fejej or Chott Jerid are clustered around different values, reflecting probably different groundwater recharge from the Continental Intercalaire (CI) or Complexe Terminal (CT) aquifers. Furthermore waters collected near Wadi el Akarit show ²³⁴U/²³⁸U AR values comparable to those observed for shells. ¹⁴C determinations made on aliquots of some of these samples suggested an age distribution between 18 and 34 ka BP. The U/Th data of these 39 shell samples imply that 4 distinct flood episodes of these lakes occurred at about 30, 95–100, 130–150 and 180–200 ka. For the episode centred around 30 ka, the frequency histogram of ages shows a multimodal age group that could represent the existence of several humid pulses rather than a unique event. Moreover, the comparison of δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O with those of older humid Pleistocene phases, when very large palaeolakes have been recorded, suggests that these young carbonate shells are not related to a true highstand lake. It is suggested that they represent a period of less humid climatic conditions with carbonate accumulation in minor water ponds in which intensive biological activity could have taken place. It should be noted that this period was less arid than the present.     

Palaeogeographical changes in response to glacial–interglacial cycles,as recorded in Middle and Late Pleistocene seismic stratigraphy,southern North Sea

Offshore stratigraphic records from the North Sea contain information to reconstruct palaeo-ice-sheet extent and understand sedimentary processes and landscape response to Pleistocene glacial–interglacial cycles. We document three major Middle to Late Pleistocene stratigraphic packages over a 401-km² area (Norfolk Vanguard/Boreas Offshore Wind Farm), offshore East Anglia, UK, through the integration of 2D seismic, borehole and cone penetration test data. The lowermost unit is predominantly fluviatile [Yarmouth Roads Formation, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 19–13], including three northward-draining valleys. The middle unit (Swarte Bank Formation) records the southernmost extent of tunnel valley-fills in this area of the North Sea, providing evidence for subglacial conditions most likely during the Anglian stage (MIS 12) glaciation. The Yarmouth Roads and Swarte Bank deposits are truncated and overlain by low-energy estuarine silts and clays (Brown Bank Formation; MIS 5d–4). Smaller scale features, including dune-scale bedforms, and abrupt changes in cone penetration test parameters, provide evidence for episodic changes in relative sea level within MIS 5. The landscape evolution recorded in deposits of ~MIS 19–5 are strongly related to glacial–interglacial cycles, although a distinctive aspect of this low-relief ice-marginal setting are opposing sediment transport directions under contrasting sedimentary process regimes.     

Influence of Climate Changes in the Late Pleistocene–Holocene on Composition of Bottom Sediments of the Selenga–Buguldeika Saddle,Lake Baikal

The study of bottom sediments of Lake Baikal recovered by submarine drilling at the Selenga–Buguldeika saddle (core VER93-2 st. 24GC) allowed us to reconstruct the climatic events in the Baikal region in the last 20–25 k.y. On the basis of the data on distribution of chemical elements in the core section, the mineral composition of sediments was calculated by the physicochemical modeling method. A study of how ratios of clay minerals changed in the section allowed us to identify the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary, Bølling–Allerød postglacial warming, and Late Dryas cooling. The calculated data on mineral composition of bottom sediments from the core VER93-2 demonstrate a good fit to the X-ray diffraction analysis results. The proposed approach can be used in calculation of mineral compositions of other sedimentary sequences with known chemical composition.     

Late Paleozoic subduction–accretion along the southern margin of the North Qinling terrane,central China: Evidence from zircon U-Pb dating and geochemistry of the Wuguan Complex

The Qinling Orogen separating the North China plate from the Yangtze plate is a key area for understanding the timing and process of aggregation between the two plates. Two competing and highly contrasting tectonic models currently exist to explain the timing and nature of collision; one advocates a Devonian continental collision while the other favors a Triassic collision. The Wuguan Complex, between the early Paleozoic North Qinling and the Mesozoic South Qinling terranes, can provide important constraints on the late Paleozoic evolutionary processes of the Qinling Orogen. Metamorphosed sedimentary rock of the Wuguan Complex have a detrital zircon age spectrum with two major peaks at 453 Ma and 800 Ma, several minor age populations of 350–430 Ma and 1000–2868 Ma, and a youngest weighted mean age of 358 ± 3 Ma, indicating a mixed source from the North Qinling terrane. The recrystallized zircons yield a weighted mean age of 333 ± 2 Ma, representing the metamorphic age. Geochemical analyses imply that the sedimentary rocks were originally deposited in an active continental margin dominated by an acidic-arc source with a subordinate mafic-ultramafic source. The youngest population of detrital zircons (358 Ma) suggests that the Wuguan Complex developed as forearc basin along the southern accreted margin of the North Qinling terrane during the early Carboniferous, whereas the ca. 520–460 Ma mafic rocks with E-MORB, N-MORB, OIB or island arc basalt signatures probably derived from the Danfeng Group. In combination with regional data, we suggest that the depositional age of the Wuguan Complex is ca. 389–330 Ma, but it was subsequently incorporated into tectonic mélange by the northward subduction of the Paleo-Qinling Ocean. A long-lived southward-facing subduction-accretionary system in front of the North Qinling terrane probably lasted until at least the early Carboniferous.     

Variability of fluvial sediment supply to the Laptev Sea continental margin during Late Weichselian to Holocene times: implications from clay–mineral records

Three sediment cores from the Laptev Sea continental margin were investigated for their clay mineralogy by X-ray diffraction to study the fluvial sediment supply since the late Weichselian. In the study area, the clay-mineral composition of surface sediments is characterized by distinct regional variations. The source area for smectite in the eastern Eurasian Basin is the Putoran Plateau drained by the Khatanga and Yenisei rivers. Currents caused by river discharge and the inflow of Atlantic water masses along the Eurasian continental margin are responsible for sediment distribution. In the sediment cores, smectite and illite contents show an opposite trend which mainly results from variable smectite supply. During MIS 2 the amount of smectite on the Laptev Sea continental margin never exceeds 10 rel.%. Probably, reduced river discharge and the lowered sea level during MIS 2 caused a decreased sediment supply to the Laptev Sea. Additionally, the Putoran Plateau was covered by an ice sheet during the Late Weichselian preventing the erosion of smectite-rich soils. In contrast, maximum smectite contents (up to 30 rel.%) in Holocene sediments result from increased sediment input by the Khatanga River and from the Kara Sea through the Vilkitsky Strait and via St. Anna Trough into the western Laptev Sea.     

Holocene climate change inferred from stratigraphy and OSL chronology of aeolian sediments in the Qaidam Basin,northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Paleoclimatic reconstruction based on aeolian sediments in the eastern Qaidam Basin (QB) has been hindered by the limited chronological data. Here we present 61 Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) ages. On the basis of these OSL ages and the lithologic stratigraphy, we propose the ‘effective moisture index (EMI)’ for aeolian sediments to reconstruct the effective moisture change. Based on the EMI from twelve sections, the effective moisture change, moisture sources and relevant mechanisms for paleoclimatic change in the eastern QB are discussed. The results indicate that (1) aeolian deposition started at least before 12.4 ± 0.7 ka during the deglaciation, the paleosols developed at the early and mid-Holocene, and aeolian sand and loess accumulated at mid- and late Holocene; (2) effective moisture history was: hyper-arid at 12.8–11.6 ka, humid and variable at 11.6–8.3 ka, moderately humid and stable at 8.3–3.5 ka, and increasingly arid at 3.5–0 ka; (3) the effective moisture change was mainly controlled by the Asian summer monsoon (ASM), which mainly followed the change of Northern Hemispheric summer insolation, and the westerlies strengthened and increased the aridity in the QB when the ASM shrank.     

Middle–Late Triassic sedimentation in the Helanshan tectonic belt: Constrain on the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Ordos Basin,North China

The Helanshan tectonic belt is located to the west of the Ordos Basin, and separates the Alxa (or Yinshan) Massif to the west from the Ordos block to the east. Triassic sedimentation in the Helanshan tectonic belt records important information about tectono-sedimentary process between the Alxa Massif and the Ordos block. Detailed geological mapping and investigation on the lithological package, sedimentary facies and paleocurrent orientation have been conducted on the Middle to Upper Triassic clastic rocks in the Helanshan tectonic belt. The succession is characterized by upward-fining sequence and comprises coarse grained alluvial-fluvial facies in the lower part as well as deltaic-lacustrine facies in the upper part. Based on detailed study and comparisons on the sedimentary sequence along various sections, the Middle to Upper Triassic strata have been revealed that show clear southeastward-deepening sedimentary differentiation and transgression from southwest to northeast, which are consistent with the southeastward flowing paleocurrent. These features indicate a southeastward-dipping paleogeography in the Helanshan tectonic belt, which was original western part of southeastward orientated fluvial-lacustrine system in the northwestern proto-Ordos Basin. Further to the east, the Triassic succession in the Ordos Basin displays gradually thickening and alluvial-fluvial system flowed from southeast to northwest, showing a huge thick sedimentary wedge in the western basin margin. Together with the Late Permian–Early Triassic closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean to the north, the Late Triassic extensional structures and diabase dykes in the Helanshan tectonic belt, all the above sedimentary features could be mostly interpreted as records of an extensional basin correlated to post-collisional collapse of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt.     

New 40Ar–39Ar dating of Lower Cretaceous basalts at the southern front of the Central High Atlas,Morocco: insights on late Mesozoic tectonics,sedimentation and magmatism

International Journal of Earth Sciences - This study is based upon a stratigraphic and structural revision of a Middle Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous mostly continental succession exposed between...     

Integrated magnetobiochronology of the Pliocene–Pleistocene Miyazaki succession,southern Kyushu,southwest Japan: Implications for an Early Pleistocene hiatus and defining the base of the Gelasian (P/P boundary type section) in Japan

An integrated magnetobiochronology of the Miyazaki Pliocene–Pleistocene succession in the Miyazaki area, southwest Japan, was established using planktic foraminiferal and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy together with paleomagnetic data. The upper Miyazaki succession in the northern Miyazaki region can be divided into the Takanabe, Hisamine (redefined), and Higoyashiki (new) Formations, in ascending order. A depositional hiatus between the Hisamine Formation and the Takanabe and/or older formations was also identified based on integrated magnetobiostratigraphy from five sections including the Nagatani River (NGT) section through the uppermost Miyazaki succession. The hiatus, herein called the Hisamine unconformity, is equivalent to the Kurotaki unconformity between the Miura and Kazusa groups of the Boso Peninsula in central Japan. The depositional hiatus recognised in the lower Pleistocene of Pacific coastal areas in southwestern and central Japan may have resulted from tectonic activity associated with a change in the subduction direction of the Philippine Sea plate, which commenced prior to ca. 2.2 Ma. The youngest unit just below the hiatus is the upper part of the Takanabe Formation in the NGT section. The NGT section represents the continuous Late Pliocene to earliest Pleistocene sequence including the Gauss/Matuyama boundary and is here proposed as the type section for the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary in Japan, which the IUGS ratified as the base of the Gelasian in 2009.     

Comment on “Structural geology of the Upper Cretaceous Chalk Central Mass,Isle of Wight,UK” by Rory Mortimore. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association,vol. 122 (2), 2012, pp. 298–331

The Chalk Group of the Central Downs of the Isle of Wight forms a relay ramp between two major inverted extensional faults. Mortimore (2011) presented a structural model of this key area based on a geological map constructed from detailed logging of a limited set of exposed sections. The area has been recently mapped at 1:10,000 scale by the British Geological Survey. Our interpretation of the geological structure differs significantly from that proposed by Mortimore, and suggests that Chalk has relatively uniform dips that progressively steepen towards the hanging wall of the E-W oriented basement faults. However, a suite of mapped extensional faults indicates an element of differential movement or transpression along the main basement structures.     

The Vendian passive continental margin in the southern Siberian Craton: geochemical and isotopic (Sr,Sm–Nd) evidence and U–Pb dating of detrital zircons by the LA-ICP-MS method

Geochemical and isotopic (Sm–Nd and Sr) studies of deposits of the Baikal and Oselok Groups in the southern Siberian Craton and LA-ICP-MS U–Pb dating of detrital zircons show that they accumulated in passive continental-margin settings in the Vendian. The time limits of sedimentation were assessed on the basis of Sr chemostratigraphy of carbonate deposits of the Baikal Group and LA-ICP-MS U–Pb dating of detrital zircons in first-cycle terrigenous deposits of the Oselok Group. The main provenances for rocks of these groups were constant. These were rocks of the cover and basement of the Siberian Craton. Tuffite horizons in upper portions of the groups are the only sign of Late Vendian activation of this block, which is reflected in changes of geochemical indices of terrigenous rocks and their younger Sm–Nd model ages.     

Magnetostratigraphy of Upper Cretaceous strata in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument,southern Utah: The Santonian–Campanian Stage boundary,reassessment of the C33N/C33R magnetochron boundary,and implications for regional sedimentation patterns within the Sevier Foreland Basin

Samples were collected for magnetostratigraphic analysis from the Upper Cretaceous Straight Cliffs and Wahweap formations within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah, in an attempt to locate the C34n–C33r and C33r–C33n boundaries; the former approximates the Santonian–Campanian Stage boundary. Locating both of these horizons within the Monument provides for refined temporal resolution of the many new fossil localities discovered in these units, while also adding to our understanding of the overall Straight Cliffs–Wahweap sequence stratigraphic architecture. Results indicate that the John Henry and Drip Tank members of the Straight Cliffs Formation are of normal polarity, and represent the later part of C34n, the Cretaceous Normal Polarity Super-Chron. The C34n–C33r boundary apparently resides in a significant hiatus determined to occur between the Drip Tank Member of the Straight Cliffs Formation and the lower part of the overlying Wahweap Formation. In stratigraphically ascending order, the informally named lower, middle, and most of the upper members of the Wahweap Formation are of reversed polarity. The C33r–C33n polarity change occurs in the upper part of the upper member, and C33n continues stratigraphically upward through the capping sand member of the Wahweap Formation and into the overlying Kaiparowits Formation. The presence of over 200 m of reversely magnetized strata above a level in the lower part of the middle member dated to 79.9 ± 0.3 Ma, which coincides with the GTS2012 date for the C33r–C33n boundary of 79.9 Ma, suggests that the published age of that boundary may be in error. A new date of approximately 78.91 Ma is proposed, in turn allowing for the thick sequence of reversely magnetized strata above the 79.9 Ma level. Age revision of the Kaiparowits Basin's Late Cretaceous record demonstrates that during late Santonian through early middle Campanian time, except in central Utah, a close correlation in time and facies successions with other successions throughout the Western Interior Basin suggests a eustatic influence on the depositional patterns. Starting in the late middle Campanian, the Kaiparowits record, along with those both to the north and south, appear to diverge in style and facies successions. We consider this to have resulted from a fundamental change in depositional controls triggered by the Laramide Orogeny. The anomalous central Utah record appears to have been profoundly influenced by a massive salient (Nebo-Charleston thrust system) in the Sevier Fold and Thrust belt that was active for much of the Late Cretaceous.     

Discussion: Oil seepage or fossil podzol? An Early Oligocene oil seepage at the southern rim of the North Sea Basin,near Leuven (Belgium) by E.D. van Riessen & N. Vandenberghe,Geologie en Mijnbouw 74: 301-312 (1996)

Geologie en Mijnbouw -     

U–Pb zircon ages,field geology and geochemistry of the Kermanshah ophiolite (Iran): From continental rifting at 79 Ma to oceanic core complex at ca. 36 Ma in the southern Neo-Tethys

The geodynamic evolution of the Zagros Mountains of Iran remains obscure. In particular, the time of formation of the Zagros ophiolites and the closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean are highly controversial. Here we present new precise zircon U–Pb ages that show that the younger part (Sahneh–Kamyaran) of the Kermanshah ophiolite formed at 35.7 ± 0.5 Ma and the older part (Harsin) at 79.3 ± 0.9 Ma. Field relations and geochemical evidence show that the younger Sahneh–Kamyaran part is probably a fossil oceanic core complex, and the older Sahneh part is probably a continental-oceanic transition complex. Both the Sahneh–Kamyaran and Sahneh parts were later emplaced into an accretionary complex. We conclude and infer that the final closure time of the southern Neo-Tethys Ocean was after the Late Eocene. Our data and tectonic model have crucial implications for the geodynamic evolution of the Zagros region.