Late Pliocene and Pleistocene small mammal chronology in the Italian peninsula

The abundant documentation of small mammals in the Italian peninsula, collected over recent years, furnishes a detailed biochronological sequence mainly from the Late Pliocene onwards. An updated stratigraphic framework is here presented, based on the European small mammal biozonation. The Early Villanyian is characterized by Mimomys hassiacus, M. stehlini, and, later, poorly documented M. polonicus. The Late Villanyian localities are well characterized with M. pliocaenicus, M. pitymyoides and M. tigliensis. The older part of the Early Biharian is documented by assemblages containing Microtus (Allophaiomys) ex gr. pliocaenicus, M. pusillus, M. cf. ostramosensis and M. tornensis, while the later part of the Early Biharian, is characterized by advanced Microtus (Allophaiomys) species occurring together with M. pusillus or M. blanci. In the Late Biharian M. savini, Microtus hintoni-gregaloides, Microtus (Iberomys) ex gr. huescarensis-brecciensis and Terricola arvalidens occur. The Early Toringian with A. mosbachensis, Allocricetus bursae, Pliomys episcopalis and small-sized Microtus brecciensis, and the Late Toringian with A. terrestris in diversified associations are quoted. The most important faunal events are calibrated by independent chronological controls, thanks to the record of small mammals from lacustrine deposits. Several figures illustrate the most significant rodent species occurring in the succession of selected Italian localities.     

Late cretaceous to recent palaeoenvironments of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea

Integrated micropalaeontological, palynological and lithological analysis of the Upper Cretaceous to Recent sedimentary succession, as observed in deep and shallow well drill cores and field samples, has revealed a highly varied history of environments of deposition. Supratidal, freshwater conditions prevailed during the Late Cretaceous, Oligocene, Early and Late Miocene to Recent Marginal marine conditions are represented in the Palaeocene to Lower Eocene successions, but without any indication of hypersaline sabkha environments. Marginal marine conditions involving periodic hypersaline sabkha and hypersaline lake development existed during the Early and Late Miocene. In most of the studied areas, very deep, normal salinity marine conditions, within the upper bathyal regime, existed during the Early Miocene; episodes of marine suboxia are indicated by the microfaunal and organic facies character. Later, during the late Early Miocene and early Middle Miocene, similar deep marine conditions prevailed, but with episodes of hypersalinity that culminated in the late Middle Miocene. Such conditions are believed to have resulted from the isolated of the basin and the precipitation of deep marine precipitates. These changes in palaeoenvironment are considered to reflect episodes of eustatic sea level fluctuation, which are possibly linked to the structural evolution of the Red Sea.     

Late Pliocene to late Pleistocene environments preserved at the Palisades Site, central Yukon River, Alaska

The Palisades Site is an extensive silt-loam bluff complex on the central Yukon River preserving a nearly continuous record of the last 2 myr. Volcanic ash deposits present include the Old Crow (OCt; 140,000 yr), Sheep Creek (SCt; 190,000 yr), PA (2.02 myr), EC (ca. 2 myr), and Mining Camp (ca. 2 myr) tephras. Two new tephras, PAL and PAU, are geochemically similar to the PA and EC tephras and appear to be comagmatic. The PA tephra occurs in ice-wedge casts and solifluction deposits, marking the oldest occurrence of permafrost in central Alaska. Three buried forest horizons are present in association with dated tephras. The uppermost forest bed occurs immediately above the OCt; the middle forest horizon occurs below the SCt. The lowest forest bed occurs between the EC and the PA tephras, and correlates with the Dawson Cut Forest Bed. Plant taxa in all three peats are common elements of moist taiga forest found in lowlands of central Alaska today. Large mammal fossils are all from common late Pleistocene taxa. Those recovered in situ came from a single horizon radiocarbon dated to ca. 27,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The incongruous small mammal assemblage in that horizon reflects a diverse landscape with both wet and mesic environments.     

Pleistocene decalcification of Late Pliocene Red Crag shelly sands from Walton-on-the-Naze, England

Uppermost sands of the Red Crag at Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex) and elsewhere in East Anglia have been decalcified to iron-stained quartz sands. In contrast, lower sands are only minimally altered and contain aragonitic and calcitic shells. Aragonitic shells are slightly dissolved (chalkified), but calcitic shells are unaffected. Cementation is limited to an addition of iron oxides, now mainly haematite, which also coat carbonate grains. Abundant iron-oxide fines in the upper decalcified sands were liberated from the coatings of shells; shells that have since dissolved. The diagenetic nature of the contact between decalcified upper and unaffected lower sands is evident where it transects cross-bedding. The contact is knife-sharp, even smoothly truncating large shells, and is usually planar and subhorizontal. Shelly sands immediately beneath the boundary contain similar amounts of aragonitic material, as do sands further below. Locally the decalcification boundary has been contorted by cryoturbation, implying that carbonate dissolution was a Pleistocene event. Decalcification probably occurred when the area was affected by permafrost. Lower sands were cemented by ice and protected from dissolution. Upper sands were above the ice table and subject to chemically aggressive waters during summer thaws. Decalcification is believed to have taken place during an episode of climate amelioration when downward retreat of the ice table accompanied replacement of tundra by boreal forest. Highly acidic and podzolic soils developed, beneath which shell-carbonate dissolved. Sharp based decalcified zones in Lowestoft Till and Devensian deposits in other parts of England can also be attributed to dissolution associated with permafrost.     

晚上新世以来南海北部深部水团演化

对南海北部大洋钻探184航次1146站晚上新世以来底栖有孔虫属种组合的Q型因子分析, 发现底栖有孔虫组合以2.1Ma, 1.5Ma和0.7Ma为界, 分为Stilostomella-Globocassidulina subglobosa-Nodogenerina, Bulimina alazanensis, Uvigerina perigrina和Melonis barleeanus-Globobulimina affinis-Bulimina aculeata4个组合.结合底层水溶解氧含量和浮游、底栖有孔虫碳同位素分析, 认为底栖有孔虫组合的变化是南海底层水影响所致, 以及南海北部表层和底层海水营养盐含量变化的共同结果.      

Large- and small-mammal distribution patterns and chronostratigraphic boundaries from the Late Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene of the Italian peninsula

Over the last 50 years the studies on terrestrial mammals of the Italian peninsula have provided a large volume of data and a more detailed knowledge of faunal events during the Late Pliocene and Quaternary. Moreover geological, sedimentological, palynological and magnetostratigraphical investigations on the Pliocene–Pleistocene continental sedimentary basins have yielded the possibility of a detailed calibration of the faunal successions. Thus, palaeontologists have been able to reconstruct faunal sequences and to propose biochronological scales based on large and small mammals, respectively. In the present contribution an integration of the two biochronological scales is proposed, and the successions of bioevents are carefully compared. This integrated approach allows the constraint of the sequence of large- and small-mammal events in a more reliable way, and therefore it results in a more detailed and consistent chronological use of mammalian assemblages. Particular attention is paid to the faunal changes that correspond to the Middle–Late Pliocene (2.6 ma), Pliocene–Pleistocene (1.8 ma) and Early–Middle Pleistocene (Gauss–Matuyama transition) chronostratigraphical boundaries.     

渤海东部晚更新世以来的沉积物地球化学特征

为探讨渤海东部晚更新世以来的元素地球化学特征及控制因素,对渤海东部DLC70-1孔157个沉积物样品进行了化学成分、粒度及测年分析。结果表明,晚更新世以来研究区沉积物的物质来源与沉积环境较为稳定;根据DLC70-1孔沉积物地球化学特征,钻孔岩芯可划分为6层,反映了末次间冰期（暖期）晚期以来渤海东部沉积物物源的变化以及海面波动。Al₂O₃、MgO、TFe₂O₃、MnO、TiO₂、Cu、Zn、Pb、Cr和Rb等元素与细粒沉积物呈正相关,SiO₂、Na₂O与粗粒沉积物呈正相关,K₂O、Sr和Ba分布与沉积物粒度无明显正或负的相关性;R-型因子分析得出三种主要组合类型,以Mg、Sr和Ba为代表,分别对应陆源细粒物质输入与黄河物质、海河物质和滦河物质的影响。运用Ba/Al₂O₃与Sr/Al₂O₃、MgO/Al₂O₃与K₂O/Al₂O₃离散图分析了DLC70-1孔的物质来源,结果表明沉积物主要来源于黄河,该孔中上部32.30~49.00 m和9.30~23.20 m沉积物受到了滦河和海河物质的影响。     

Late Pleistocene paleo-oceanography of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea: Benthic foraminiferal evidence

Fluctuations in benthic foraminiferal faunas over the last 130,000 yr in four piston cores from the Norwegian Sea are correlated with the standard worldwide oxygen-isotope stratigraphy. One species, Cibicides wuellerstorfi, dominates in the Holocene section of each core, but alternates downcore with Oridorsalis tener, a species dominant today only in the deepest part of the basin. O. tener is the most abundant species throughout the entire basin during periods of particularly cold climate when the Norwegian Sea presumably was ice covered year round and surface productivity lowered. Portions of isotope Stages 6, 3, and 2 are barren of benthic foraminifera; this is probably due to lowered benthic productivity, perhaps combined with dilution by ice-rafted sediment; there is no evidence that the Norwegian Sea became azoic. The Holocene and Substage 5e (the last interglacial) are similar faunally. This similarity, combined with other evidence, supports the presumption that the Norwegian Sea was a source of dense overflows into the North Atlantic during Substage 5e as it is today. Oxygen-isotope analyses of benthic foraminifera indicate that Norwegian Sea bottom waters warmer than they are today from Substage 5d to Stage 2, with the possible exception of Substage 5a. These data show that the glacial Norwegian Sea was not a sink for dense surface water, as it is now, and thus it was not a source of deep-water overflows. The benthic foraminiferal populations of the deep Norwegian Sea seem at least as responsive to near-surface conditions, such as sea-ice cover, as they are to fluctuations in the hydrography of the deep water. Benthic foraminiferal evidence from the Norwegian Sea is insufficient in itself to establish whether or not the basin was a source of overflows into the North Atlantic at any time between the Substage 5e/5d boundary at 115,000 yr B.P. and the Holocene.     

Late Miocene to Early Pliocene blueschist from Taiwan and its exhumation via forearc extraction

Blueschist facies rocks in the Yuli Belt of Taiwan's Central Range record ongoing subduction of the Eurasian plate. We present a prograde Lu–Hf garnet–whole‐rock age of 5.1 ± 1.7 Ma from a retrogressed blueschist in the Yuli Belt. This age is considerably younger than the previously assumed age of 14–8 Ma for high‐pressure metamorphism in the Yuli Belt and represents the youngest Lu–Hf garnet age ever recorded for blueschist facies metamorphism. The age sheds new light on the palaeogeographic origin and exhumation scenario of the Yuli Belt. We propose that the Yuli Belt originated from the ocean–continent boundary of the Chinese passive margin. It was subducted eastward during collision with the Luzon island arc and rapidly exhumed when the forearc lithosphere was removed from above the continental slab by discrete subduction (extraction). This process reduces the pressure above the continental slab and may prompt the ascent of subducted crust into the opening gap. Thus, it can control the exhumation of high‐pressure rocks.     

南黄海西北部晚更新世以来的沉积环境演化

利用在南黄海西北部陆架获得的3500 km高分辨率浅地层剖面资料,结合3口地质钻孔的岩芯资料,建立了研究区晚更新世以来的沉积地层格架,厘定了地层地质年代。研究表明,过孔的浅地层剖面与钻孔岩芯的沉积地层有很好的对应关系。浅地层剖面可划分出5个主要不整合面(T5～T1)和6个主要地震单元(SU6-SU1),相应的钻孔岩芯可划分出6个主要的沉积单元(DU6-DU1),反映了大约128 ka以来的地层结构和沉积环境演化。钻孔沉积物岩性相特征、测年数据和地层反射特征表明研究区氧同位素5期(MIS5)发育了滨浅海相和三角洲相沉积,MIS 4发育了河流湖泊相沉积,MIS 3发育了三角洲相沉积,MIS 2发育了河流和河口相沉积,MIS 1发育了近岸水下楔形沉积。晚更新世以来,南黄海构造相对稳定,影响沉积环境演化的主要因素是海平面变化和沉积物物源。本文的研究对于深入了解南黄海西北部陆海相互作用过程、地质环境演化以及揭示全球变化的区域响应具有重要的科学意义。     

A Late Pleistocene lacustrine transgression in the Fehmarn Belt,southwestern Baltic Sea

In order to reconstruct the late Pleistocene seismic stratigraphy, 550 km of high-density 3.5 kHz sub-bottom seismic-reflection profiles were recorded within a 70 km² area in the narrow offshore border zone between Germany and Denmark. A depositional unit 3 was analysed for its seismic facies association, and in the central study area mound, oblique, channel, reflection-free, shingled, hummocky, broken and parallel associations occurred. The rims of the association shows mound, oblique, hummocky and minor parallel seismic facies. Stratigraphic control was available from 32 coring sites. In the central study area, unit 3 represents rhythmic layers of silt with fine sand and clay in an overall fining-upward 3 to 5-m-thick sequence. At the rim of the basin, the unit comprises fine sand, silt and rhythmic layers of silt with clay and fine sand. Unit 3 is proposed as having formed during the transgression of a lake, partly in contact with the Baltic Ice Lake, some time between 10.8–10.0 ¹⁴C ka BP. After 10.0 ¹⁴C ka BP the water body stagnated when contact with the Baltic Basin was cut off. Analysis of base level of the subunits implies tectonic activity resulting in subsidence of the central study area which could possibly have influenced the transgressive development.     

The Pliocene initiation and Early Pleistocene volcanic disruption of the palaeo-Gediz fluvial system,Western Turkey

In this paper, we report our latest observations concerning a Pliocene and Early Pleistocene record from Western Turkey. The sedimentary sequence described comprises the fluvial deposits of an Early Pleistocene palaeo-Gediz river system and its tributaries prior to the onset of volcanism around Kula and the subsequent lacustrine, volcaniclastic and fluvial deposits associated with the first phase of volcanism (∼1.2 Ma) in this area.Early development of an east–west drainage system in this area resulted from tectonic adjustments to north–south extension and the formation of east–west-oriented grabens. Headward erosion of drainage entering the main Alaşehir graben led to the progressive capture of pre-existing drainage systems as eastward (headward) erosion upstream tapped drainage networks previously formed in internally draining NNE–SSW-oriented basins. Within one of these, the Selendi Basin, part of this evolutionary sequence is preserved as a buried river terrace sequence. Eleven terraces are preserved beneath alluvial fan sediments that are, in turn, capped by basaltic lava flows. Using the available geochronology these terraces are considered to represent sedimentation–incision cycles which span the period ∼1.67–1.2 Ma. Although progressive valley incision is a fluvial system response to regional uplift, the frequency of terrace formation within this time period suggests that the terrace formation resulted from sediment/water supply changes, a consequence of obliquity-driven climate changes. The production of sub-parallel terraces suggests that during this period the river was able to attain a quasi-equilibrium longitudinal profile adjusted to the regional uplift rate. Thus, the incision rate of 0.16 mm a⁻¹ during this period is believed to closely mirror the regional uplift rate.After the onset of volcanism at ∼1.2 Ma, there is a destruction of the dynamic link between fluvial system behaviour and climate change. The repeated damming of the trunk river and its tributaries led to the construction of complex stratigraphic relationships. During the first phase of volcanism the palaeo-Gediz river was dammed on numerous occasions leading to the formation of a series of lakes upstream of the dams in the palaeo-Gediz valley. Variations in lake level forced localised base-level changes that resulted in complex fluvial system response and considerable periods of disequilibrium in profile adjustment. Furthermore, response to these base-level changes most likely disrupted the timing of the incisional adjustment to the on-going regional uplift, thus making the use of this part of the archive for inferring regional uplift rates untenable.     

晚更新世以来渤海南部海域断裂活动性

渤海在新生代经历2次强烈的沉降阶段,海域内各断裂活动对渤海盆地的演化发育产生重要影响.以渤海40°N以南海域单道地震资料为基础,对研究区内断裂活动性进行研究,结果表明:晚更新世(128 ka BP)以来,研究区内断裂活动性很强,以郯庐断裂渤海段最强,其平均垂向活动率大于0.05 mm/a;此期间渤海经历2个构造活跃期,...     

西藏札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层多重地层划分与对比

根据札达盆地河湖相地层实测剖面中的接触关系、沉积旋回、沉积体系、岩相、岩性、古生物特征和ESR、古地磁测年结果,笔者对札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层进行了重新划分和时代确定。结合该套河湖相沉积的岩石地层、生物地层、年代地层、磁性地层、层序地层和地质构造事件,对札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层进行了多重地层的划分与对比。将札达盆地河湖相地层划分为3个组、4个沉积相、7个沉积亚相、11个岩性段。由新到老划分为：早更新统香孜组（Qp^1-1X）、上新统古格组（N22g）和上新统托林组（N2^1t）。     

南海西南部晚更新世500 ka以来的古海洋学特征

对湄公河口外MD01—2392孔浮游有孔虫的定量分析，并采用FP-12E转换函数、MAT现代类比法及温跃层转换函数的计算，结合氧同位素分析结果，揭示了南海南部晚更新世近500ka以来的古海洋学演化特征．发现冰期MIS12、MISS、MIS2-4冬季表层水温明显高出相邻的间冰期，特别是间冰期M189、MIS5、MIS1表层水温都较低．温跃层在MIS5与MIS1最浅，MIS9其次．主要表现在浮游有孔虫深层高营养种的含量增高，表明上升流增强．间冰期的低水温很可能主要是由于上升流影响所致，当然表层盐度由于多雨而降低也可能影响到间冰期的水温估算．冰期时较高的表层水温，喜暖高盐型次表层种Pulleniatina obliquiloculata的大量繁殖，说明冰期时南部海区受来自北部强冬季风的制约使上升流活动减弱，海平面降低后与邻区通道的关闭也造成水体置换明显减弱，可能有淡水盖层发育，最终导致上层海水分层增强和冬季表层水温保持相对较高．晚更新世时期的南海南部由于冰期低海平面造成半封闭的海盆环境和季风变化，是影响其浮游有孔虫对冰期旋回响应与北部和开放大洋不同的根本原因．     

Coastal permafrost landscape development since the Late Pleistocene in the western Laptev Sea,Siberia

Winterfeld, M., Schirrmeister, L., Grigoriev, M. N., Kunitsky, V. V., Andreev, A., Murray, A. & Overduin, P. P. 2011: Coastal permafrost landscape development since the Late Pleistocene in the western Laptev Sea, Siberia. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2011.00203.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The palaeoenvironmental development of the western Laptev Sea is understood primarily from investigations of exposed cliffs and surface sediment cores from the shelf. In 2005, a core transect was drilled between the Taymyr Peninsula and the Lena Delta, an area that was part of the westernmost region of the non‐glaciated Beringian landmass during the late Quaternary. The transect of five cores, one terrestrial and four marine, taken near Cape Mamontov Klyk reached 12 km offshore and 77 m below sea level. A multiproxy approach combined cryolithological, sedimentological, geochronological (¹⁴C‐AMS, OSL on quartz, IR‐OSL on feldspars) and palaeoecological (pollen, diatoms) methods. Our interpretation of the proxies focuses on landscape history and the transition of terrestrial into subsea permafrost. Marine interglacial deposits overlain by relict terrestrial permafrost within the same offshore core were encountered in the western Laptev Sea. Moreover, the marine interglacial deposits lay unexpectedly deep at 64 m below modern sea level 12 km from the current coastline, while no marine deposits were encountered onshore. This implies that the position of the Eemian coastline presumably was similar to today's. The landscape reconstruction suggests Eemian coastal lagoons and thermokarst lakes, followed by Early to Middle Weichselian fluvially dominated terrestrial deposition. During the Late Weichselian, this fluvial landscape was transformed into a poorly drained accumulation plain, characterized by widespread and broad ice‐wedge polygons. Finally, the shelf plain was flooded by the sea during the Holocene, resulting in the inundation and degradation of terrestrial permafrost and its transformation into subsea permafrost.     

Denitrification processes in the Arabian Sea

Recent information on some consequences of the acute mid-water oxygen deficiency in the Arabian Sea, especially on carbon-nitrogen cycling, is reviewed. An evaluation of published estimates of water column denitrification rate suggests an overall rate in the vicinity of 30Tg Ny^-1, but the extent of benthic contribution remains unknown. A decoupling of denitrification from primary production, unique to the Arabian Sea, is revealed by nitrite, electron transport system (ETS) activity and bacterial production data. Results of both enzymatic and microbiological investigations strongly point to a major role of organic carbon other than that sinking from surface layers in supporting denitrification. Although denitrification is associated with an intermediate nepheloid layer, it seems unlikely that the excess carbon comes with particles re-suspended along the continental margins and transported quasi-horizontally into the ocean interior; instead, the particle maximum may directly reflect a higher bacterial abundance. It is proposed that denitrification may be predominantly fuelled by the dissolved organic matter.     

Late Pleistocene foraminiferal stratigraphy on the Vøring Plateau, Norwegian Sea

Quantitative studies of foraminiferal faunas and isotope ratios have been done in two gravity cores from the Vøring Plateau. Core 23199 from about 2000 m water depth included sediments younger than oxygen Stage 7. Core 23205 from about 1400 m ended in sediments from Stage 5. According to the transfer temperatures, the onset of abundances of Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and the δ¹³C values of Neogloboquadrinapachyderma , the Vøring Plateau was covered by pack-ice during Stages 6,4,2 and, to some extent, also during Stage 3. Ice-free sea-surface conditions prevailed from late Substage 5e throughout Stage 5 and during stage 1. The transition from Stage 6 to Stage 5 (Termination II) took place in two steps: Ila is defined by the δ¹⁸O signal of N. pachyderma (reduced global ice volume) and lib by the increased occurrence of C. wuellerstorfi (melting of local pack-ice). A contemporaneous development of an interglacial deep-water circulation system is indicated.     

早上新世非洲季风与地中海表层生产力变化的岁差节律

地质历史上留下了许多反映非洲季风的记录, 意大利南方晚新生代的海相地层便是其中著名的一例.Cape Sper-tivento剖面位于意大利卡拉布里亚半岛, 属于早上新世(5.3~4.8Ma) 地中海泥灰岩-灰岩沉积物.在借鉴前人工作的基础上, 重新为该剖面建立一个精度更高的天文年代标尺.反映古生产力的指标显示, 早上新世在北半球夏季辐射量增大期间, 地中海有机碳含量及其堆积速率增大, C/N出现高值, 碳酸盐含量及其堆积速率减小, G. obliquus稳定氧碳同位素出现负偏移, 这是非洲夏季风带来的降雨增强的结果.尼罗河泛滥让更多陆源营养物和淡水输入地中海.各个古环境指标的频谱分析结果存在强烈的岁差周期和丰富的半岁差周期, 说明早上新世非洲季风主要受低纬过程控制.