Formal ratification of the Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch with a base at 2.58 Ma

In June 2009, the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) formally ratified a proposal by the International Commission on Stratigraphy to lower the base of the Quaternary System/Period to the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Gelasian Stage/Age at Monte San Nicola, Sicily, Italy. The Gelasian until then had been the uppermost stage of the Pliocene Series/Epoch. The base of the Gelasian corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage 103, and has an astronomically tuned age of 2.58 Ma. A proposal that the base of the Pleistocene Series/Epoch be lowered to coincide with that of the Quaternary (the Gelasian GSSP) was also accepted by the IUGS Executive Committee. The GSSP at Vrica, Calabria, Italy, which had hitherto defined the basal boundary of both the Quaternary and the Pleistocene, remains available as the base of the Calabrian Stage/Age (now the second stage of the revised Pleistocene). In ratifying these proposals, the IUGS has acknowledged the distinctive qualities of the Quaternary by reaffirming it as a full system/period, correctly complied with the hierarchical requirements of the geological timescale by lowering the base of the Pleistocene to that of the Quaternary, and fully respected the historical and widespread current usage of both the terms ‘Quaternary’ and ‘Pleistocene’. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

第四系的正式地位和定义初步确定

国际地层委员会最新表决通过第四系为系级年代地层单位,它位于新近系之上,底界由意大利西西里岛的Monte San Nicola"金钉子"定义,也就是由定义格拉斯阶底界的"金钉子"来定义,年龄值约为2.59Ma;更新统的底界也下移到这个位置,格拉斯阶划归更新统,长期争论的第四系的地位和定义问题有望得到解决。     

西昆仑山前晚新生代构造活动与青藏高原西北缘的隆升

西昆仑山前晚新生代地貌与沉积特征记录了西昆仑山及青藏高原西北缘的隆升过程。利用沉积学、地貌学、古地磁研究结果,对西昆仑晚新生代构造活动进行了探讨。约25Ma,西昆仑山前沉积面貌发生显著变化,反映西昆仑山整体开始隆升;约5Ma时,西昆仑山前磨拉石发育,表明西昆仑山开始快速隆升。古地磁结果表明:始新世—中新世西昆仑有显著的旋转运动,而第四纪以来水平挤压造成的垂直运动为主,没有明显的旋转运动。河流阶地发育显示,西昆仑地区约在1.2Ma时河流下切开始形成阶地,第四纪中晚期以来西昆仑地区构造抬升幅度与频率加快,全新世中期(约5kaB.P.)有一次快速隆升过程。     

New data on stratigraphy (palynomorphs,ostracods, paleomagnetism) of Cenozoic continental deposits of the Ishim plain,Western Siberia

New micropaleontological and paleomagnetic data were obtained by studying core samples of Cenozoic continental deposits from two boreholes drilled in the south of Tyumen oblast (Western Siberia). Palynological assemblages in deposits of the Tavda (upper part), Novomikhailovka, Turtas, Abrosimovka, Tobolsk, Smirnovka, and Suzgun formations were described. Deposits of these formations are enriched in spore-pollen assemblages, which can be correlated with assemblages of regional palynozones of the West Siberian Plain. Ostracods were described in Quaternary deposits. On the basis of biostratigraphic and paleomagnetic data, the Late Eocene (Priabonian)–Holocene age of deposits was substantiated. For the first time, beds with dinocysts of genus Pseudokomewuia were identified in deposits of the Turtas Formation (Upper Oligocene) of the Ishim lithofacial area. In total, nine regional magnetozones were distinguished in the paleomagnetic section. On the basis of palynological and paleomagnetic data, sections of two boreholes were correlated, and hiatuses in sedimentation were revealed. A large hiatus is at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (Western Siberia): the Lower Oligocene Atlym Horizon and Miocene–Pliocene and Eopleistocene sediments are missing. The Oligocene interval of the section is represented in a reduced volume.     

The Quaternary System/Period and its major subdivisions

The Quaternary System/Period represents the past 2.58 million years and is officially subdivided into the Pleistocene and Holocene series/epochs, with the base of the Holocene assigned an age of 11,700 calendar years before AD 2000. The two lowest stages of the Pleistocene, the Gelasian (base 2.58 Ma) and the Calabrian (base 1.80 Ma), have been officially defined and these effectively constitute the Lower Pleistocene Subseries/Subepoch. The Middle and Upper Pleistocene have yet to be formally defined, representing an important future challenge, along with the subdivision of the Holocene, consideration of the ‘Anthropocene’, and fine-scale subdivision elsewhere within the Quaternary.     

Correlation of the Quaternary terrace sequence in the Lower Rhine valley and northern Alpine foothills of central Europe

Thirteen glacial terraces are known from the western part of the northern Alpine foothills between the Lech and Iller Rivers. In the Lower Rhine region of West Germany, a similar number of terraces are capped by interglacial floodloams and soils. Whereas the environment during individual interglaciations did not differ substantially, the glaciations were progressively more severe. The Main Terrace system of the Rhine may be an exception. The duration of the Quaternary, starting at the base of Praetiglian, is estimated at approximately 2 million yr by paleomagnetic dating. The major cold-warm climatic cycles of the earliest Pleistocene lasted approximately 100,000 yr, the same as those of the Brunhes Chron. The intervening Main Terrace system has not yet been climatically subdivided. Correlation with the Netherlands is possible because of an abundance of paleobotanic and paleomagnetic evidence. In the Alpine foothills, stratigraphically useful indicators of warm climates are missing, but analogies in terrace development permit comparison with the Lower Rhine and Danube. The terrace sequence in the Alpine foothills is incomplete, as are those along most of the other rivers in Europe. Some of the older terraces may have been eroded.     

Active strike–slip faulting and macroscopically nonrigid deformation of volcanic rocks in central Japan inferred from a paleomagnetic study

Detailed paleomagnetic investigation of a pyroclastic flow deposit has clarified the deformation mode around an active fault. In central Japan, the early Quaternary Nyukawa Pyroclastic Flow Deposit is cut by the active dextral Enako fault. Activity level of the fault is evaluated on the basis of geological and geomorphological surveys. Then, paleomagnetic samples are collected from 22 sites at exposures located on a lineament that is adjoining and parallel to the Enako fault. Stable thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) of the pyroclastic deposit is isolated through progressive thermal and/or alternating field demagnetization tests. Untilted site-mean directions of the TRMs simultaneously acquired during initial cooling indicate significant clockwise vertical-axis rotation. The lineament was then activated with right-lateral motions through the early Quaternary. Together with the late Quaternary activities along the adjoining Enako fault evaluated by our study, the present result exemplifies a migration of active segments within a fault system during the Quaternary. Paleomagnetic directions on the strike–slip fault are not concordant with uniform deformation predicted by the model of rotation of rigid blocks aligned on a master fault, but suggestive of a periodic deformation as a result of intense fracturing and differential rotation of blocks bounded by nested parallel faults.     

北京平原区上新统一更新统的划分

本文涉及的范围包括北京凹陷、大兴凸起、大厂凹陷及武清凹陷的一部分(图1)。第四系在凸起部位沉积较薄,在凹陷部位沉积较厚(图2)。新生代以来的地壳活动,特别是平原区主要断裂的继承性活动,对第四系的分布、岩性、岩相特征、海浸、海退都起着控制作用。     

湖南第四纪地层划分及其下限

根据第四纪沉积物特征、孢粉组合、古脊椎动物、古地磁等有关资料，将湖南省区内第四系地层自老至新划分为：泪罗组、新开铺组、陈家咀组、白沙井组、马王堆组、白水江组、丁蜀组及水陆洲组等。原划为早更新世湖仙山组或伍家峪组均为上新世乃至中新世地层，并确定其第四纪下限为２５ＭａＢ．Ｐ．     

Summary of paleomagnetic data from the Central West Carpathians of Poland and Slovakia: Evidence for the late cretaceous-early tertiary transpression

The paper reviews paleomagnetic data from the Central West Carpathians (CWC) of Poland and Slovakia. The CWC constitute an orogen deformed by pre-Tertiary and Tertiary events, situated on the internal side of the Pieniny Klippen Belt and the Tertiary Outer West Carpathian accretionary wedge. The CWC are regarded as the eastern prolongation of the Austroalpine series. There are paleomagnetic evidences for a counterclockwise rotation of the CWC after Oligocene. Having subtracted the effect of this rotation, Middle Cretaceous paleomagnetic poles from the CWC are brought into agreement with preGosau paleopoles from the Upper Austroalpine units of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA). It is inferred that a common clockwise rotation of the CWC and NCA had taken place between 90-60 Ma (Middle — Late Cretaceous) during the oblique convergence of the Austroalpine/Central Carpathian realm with the Penninic continental basement.     

北京平原地区第四纪地质研究新进展

北京平原地处山前冲洪积扇分布区,区内湖泊密布,河流纵横,沉积环境多样。由于第四系三维结构的复杂性,对第四系进行地层划分有一定的难度。前人根据不同的资料对北京平原第四系进行过地层划分,建立了泥河湾组、周口店组、马兰组等多个岩石地层单位。这些地层单位主要是依据沉积凹陷钻孔岩心中的孢粉、有孔虫、介形虫等化石和少量的古地磁数据划分的,实际上仍是年代地层单位。由于这些地层单位划分依据不统一,识别标志不清晰,因此难以得到广泛的共识。近十余年来,随着资料的积累和对第四系三维结构的认识提高,特别是古地磁测年技术的普及,为北京平原第四纪地层的划分奠定了基础。本文依据40余个钻孔的古地磁测试数据,初步厘定了下更新统底界、中更新统底界、上更新统底界3个等时面。依据工程地质勘察、水文地质钻孔、考古发掘和泥炭调查等资料编绘了平原区全新统等厚度图。     

Paleomagnetic,petromagnetic, and terrigenous—Mineralogical studies of Upper Bathonian—Lower Callovian sediments in the Prosek section,Nizhni Novgorod region

The Bathonian—Callovian boundary section located near the Prosek Settlement (Nizhni Novgorod region) is described with the characteristic of its grain-size composition and terrigenous—mineralogical, petromagnetic, and paleomagnetic properties. Based on lithological—mineralogical and petromagnetic data, the section is subdivided into four members corresponding to the most significant sedimentation rhythms. No sharp changes in the composition of sediments are noted through the section, which indicates its relative continuity. Despite the significant re magnetization of these sediments during the Quaternary, the characteristic component (ChRM) is definable by the method of the intersection of large circles. The similarity between coordinates of the calculated virtual geomagnetic pole (VGMP) and the positions of standard virtual geomagnetic poles in the stable European continent during corresponding periods serves as an important argument in favor of the primary nature of the ChRM. The compiled magnetostratigraphic section is well consistent with the paleomagnetic zonation, established in the coeval sediments of “West Europe. As compared with the Bathonian—Callovian boundary section in the Albstadt—Pfeffingen of Germany, which claims to the GSSP role, the Prosek section represents a more favorable object for paleomagnetic studies. Combined with the lack of large-scale gaps in the sedimentary record and, with other conditions being equal, this makes this section a more preferable candidate for the Callovian GSSP standard.     

Reconstruction of the geodynamic evolution of the Northern Calcareous Alps by means of paleomagnetism

We review the paleomagnetic studies published on the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) and also include data from two theses that were not published yet. Moreover, we present new data from upper Santonian to Maastrichtian Gosau deposits from the Neue Welt Area in the easternmost part of the NCA (D = 325.8. I = 37.1, α₉₅ = 8.3, positive fold test, thus indicating counterclockwise rotation and inclination flattening). Although several of the recently published studies provide valuable data, presently the paleomagnetic data base of the NCA does not provide a sufficient frame work for a quantitatively backed paleogeographic model. By thus documenting the state of research, we want to outline major problems regarding the paleomagnetic characterization of the NCA and also specify the kind of paleomagnetic future work that is particularly needed within this mountain range.     

Timing and mechanisms of Central Himalayan exhumation: discriminating between tectonic and erosion processes

The ability to deduce exhumation mechanisms from thermochronological data is hampered by the fact that assumptions on the thermal state of the lithosphere have to be made. Additional argumentation is generally required to discriminate between erosion-controlled and tectonically induced exhumation. This problem can be overcome by studying the spatial distribution of zircon and apatite (U-Th)/He and fission track data. In this work the variation of four different low temperature isotopic systems generating age trends along a sampling line is used to infer mechanisms of Quaternary exhumation in the Central High Himalayan Metamorphic Belt. Observed zircon age trends with southwards increasing cooling ages (from 0.5 to 1.7 Ma) are attributed to tectonically induced exhumation. The uniform apatite cooling ages clustered c. 0.5 Ma are attributed to erosion.     

Study on the variations of geomagnetic-field intensity during the quaternary in special reference to thermomagnetic measurements on volcanic rocks

Thermomagnetic measurements have been made on thirteen samples of Quaternary volcanic rocks of different episodes from three localities by Thellier’s method. Paleomagnetic field intensities for the three Quaternary sub-periods have been obtained: 0.62 for Early Pleistocene, 1.01 for Middle Pleistocene and 1.57 for Late Pleistocene with respect to the present magnetic field intensity. The results indicate that the geomagnetic field intensity has been increasing since Pleistocene time, and there exists a close relationship between paleomagnetic field intensity and climatic changes, i.e., the climate trends to become colder with increasing paleomagnetic field intensity, and vice versa.     

Growing Gondwana and Rethinking Rodinia: A Paleomagnetic Perspective

The formation of Gondwana during the late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian times (550-530 Ma) was traditionally viewed as the welding of two, more or less contiguous, Proterozoic continental masses called East and West Gondwana. The notion of a united West Gondwana is no longer tenable as a wealth of geochronologic and structural data indicate major orogenesis amongst its constituent cratons during the final stages of greater Gondwana assembly. The idea that East Gondwana may also have formed through the amalgamation of a collage of cratonic nuclei during the Cambrian is controversial. Recent paleomagnetic, geochronologic and structural data from elements of East Gondwana indicate that its formation may have extended well into Cambrian time. Thus, the terms ‘East’ and ‘West’ Gondwana may be relegated to convenient geographical terms rather than any connotation of tectonic coherence during the Proterozoic. In addition, the paleomagnetic data also challenge the conventional views of the Neoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia and the SWEAT fit. Alternative variants including Protopangea and AUSWUS are not supported by paleomagnetic data during the interval 800–700 Ma.     

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.     

西南极中—新生代古地磁与板块重建研究进展

根据西南极已发表的中—新生代古地磁数据,对西南极不同地块进行了古大陆重建。识别出古太平洋板块对西南极构造演化影响广泛的两次构造事件:一是120~100 Ma古太平洋板块内翁通爪哇-马尼希基-希库朗基大火成岩省的喷发与全球板块洋壳扩张速率高峰期引起的西南极瑟斯顿岛-埃茨海岸与东玛丽·伯德地快速南向移动;二是古太平洋-凤凰板块洋中脊在~100 Ma俯冲至西南极之下导致的以罗斯海区域为主的岩石圈伸展、瑟斯顿岛-埃茨海岸与玛丽·伯德地远离东南极以及南极半岛发生南向运动与顺时针旋转。证明太平洋板块俯冲与西南极板块运动的耦合关系。未来需要在西南极获得更多具有准确年代学限制的可靠的古地磁数据,这将对西南极的构造演化模式提供更多的制约,并有助于深入理解南极大陆的构造演化过程、板块生长与裂解的地球动力学机制。      

Towards a Plio-Pleistocene chronostratigraphy in Eastern Betic Basins (SE Spain)

Abstract

The evolution of Neogene and Quaternary littoral basins in the Eastern Betic Cordillera is largely related to tectonic activity along the Eastern Betic sinistral shear zone.

Detailed mapping of sedimentary units in these basins, together with sedimentological and paleomagnetic analysis lead to the proposal of a new chronostratigraphie framework for Pliocene and Quaternary deposits.

This chronostratigraphie setting rejects the synchronous character of the “Pliocene Unite” previously referred to as: “P.I” (grey-blue marls), “P.H” (yellow calcarenites), and “Р.Ш” (variegated silts and clays). Instead, tectonics would have controlled the paleogeographic evolution of the Eastern Betic realms, causing the lithofacies to occur repeated in space and time. The Plio-Pleistocene boundary in these basins is not accompanied by changes in geodynamic behaviour or climatic conditions. According to the paleomagnetic data, these changes occurred at different times during the Pleistocene in the different studied basins.     

Paleomagnetism of the Late Cretaceous intrusions from the Minusa trough (southern Siberia)

The paper summarizes paleomagnetic and rock-magnetic data on the Late Cretaceous diatremes and associated dikes from the Minusa trough located within the southwestern Siberian Platform. It is shown that the stable characteristic component of magnetization is superimposed magnetization (in physical sense). It is linked to Fe-rich titanomagnetite produced by the decay and oxidation of Ti-rich titanomagnetite derived from a primary magma. This process, however, coincides in time with the intrusion cooling, which is supported by paleomagnetic tests. Correlation of magnetic polarity with ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar ages suggests that the acquired stable characteristic component of magnetization corresponds to magnetic Chrons C33-C32 and characterizes the Middle Campanian magnetic field (74–82 Ma). The mean paleomagnetic pole for this span is located at 82.8° N, 188.5° E, with α₉₅ = 6.1 and, within confidence intervals, coincides with the reference data from the European part of the Eurasian plate. The excellent agreement between virtual paleomagnetic poles testifies that the intraplate motions in the Mesozoic resulting in the crust deformation of Central Asia ceased in the late Cretaceous or were so small that elude detection by the paleomagnetic method.