Benthic foraminifers in upper Quaternary sediments of the southern Bering Sea: Distribution and paleoceanographic interpretations

Composition and distribution of benthic foraminifers, being coupled with isotopic-geochemical data on Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments from the southern Bering Sea (Core GC-11; 53°31′ N, 178°51′E, water depth 3060 m), demonstrate variations in bottom water properties during the last 54 kyr. Their abundance increased to some extent during short periods corresponding to warm Dansgaard-Oeshger interstadials 14, 12, 8, and 2 of marine isotopic stages (MIS) 3 and 2. The first and second deglaciation phases separated by the Younger Dryas cooling episode are marked by significant abundance peaks of benthic foraminifers (an order magnitude higher than in the glacial period), although their share in community of benthic and planktonic foraminifers taken together decreases. Species typical of stable high-productivity areas gain the dominant position. A significant proportion of agglutinated species in the Holocene sediments is indicative of Ca ions deficiency that accelerates dissolution of carbonate tests up to their disappearance approximately 2.5–3 ka ago.     

Infrazonal biostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous in the East European province based on benthic foraminifers, Part 1: Cenomanian-Coniacian

A chart of infrazonal biostratigraphic subdivision of Cenomanian-Coniacian deposits in the East European paleobiogeographic province is based on distribution of benthic foraminifers. The suggested chart characterizes successive trend of changes in ecologic assemblages of benthic foraminifers and morphologic evolution of certain agglutinated (Gaudryina, Bolivinopsis, Heterostomella, Arenobulimina, Ataxophragmium, Ataxoorbignyna, Marssonella) and secretory (Globorotalites, Valvulinera, Gyroidinoides, Stensioeina, Osangularia, Berthelina, Pseudovalvulineria, Gavelinella, Cibicides, Praebulimina, Reussella) foraminiferal genera. The chart includes 7 zones and 13 subzones, most of which are recognizable over the vast territory from the Mangyshalk to southern Baltic areas. It is correlated with the acknowledged ammonoid and inoceramid zonations. Five stadia of taxonomic changes in foraminiferal assemblages, which are substantiated in this work, show that principal biotic events took place in the mid-late Cenomanian, during the Cenomanian-Turonian and early-middle Turonian transitions, in the late Turonian, and at the early-middle Coniacian boundary time.     

Infrazonal biostratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous in the East European province based on benthic foraminifers,Part 2: Santonian-Maastrichtian

A chart of infrazonal biostratigraphic subdivisions in the Cenomanian-Coniacian succession of the East European paleobiogeographic province is substantiated based on distribution of benthic foraminifers. The suggested chart characterizes successive trend of changes in ecologic assemblages of benthic foraminifers and morphologic evolution of certain agglutinated (Gaudryina, Ataxophragmium, Ataxoorbignyina, Arenobulimina, Novatrix, Voloshinovella, Orbignyina, Bolivinopsis) and secretory (Neoflabellina, Globorotalites, Stensioeina, Osangularia, Eponides, Gavelinella, Pseudovalvulineria, Pseudogavelinella, Brotzenella, Cibicides, Cibicidoides, Angulogavelinella, Falsoplanulina, Anomalinoides, Coryphostoma, Bolivinoides, Praebulimina) foraminiferal genera. The chart includes 23 biostratigraphic units (zones and subzones), most of which are recognizable over the vast territory from the Mangyshlak to southern Baltic areas. It is correlated with the acknowledged belemnite, inoceramid, ammonoid and echinoid zonations. Eight stadia of taxonomic changes in foraminiferal assemblages, which are distinguished in this work, show that principal biotic events took place across the middle-late Santonian and Santonian-Campanian boundaries, in the earliest Campanian, at the early-late Campanian boundary time, during the late and terminal Campanian, and in the mid-early Maastrichtian.     

Dimensions and architecture of late Pleistocene submarine lobes off the northern margin of East Corsica

Sandy lobe deposits on submarine fans are sensitive recorders of the types of sediment gravity flows supplied to a basin and are economically important as hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study investigates the causes of variability in 20 lobes in small late Pleistocene submarine fans off East Corsica. These lobes were imaged using ultra‐high resolution boomer seismic profiles (<1 m vertical resolution) and sediment type was ground truthed using piston cores published in previous studies. Repeated crossings of the same depositional bodies were used to measure spatial changes in their dimensions and architecture. Most lobes increase abruptly down‐slope to a peak thickness of 8 to 42 m, beyond which they show a progressive, typically more gradual, decrease in thickness until they thin to below seismic resolution or pass into draping facies of the basin plain. Lobe areas range from 3 to 70 km² and total lengths from 2 to 14 km, with the locus of maximum sediment accumulation from 3 to 28 km from the shelf‐break. Based on their location, dimensions, internal architecture and nature of the feeder channel, the lobes are divided into two end‐member types. The first are small depositional bodies located in proximal settings, clustered near the toe‐of‐slope and fed by slope gullies or erosive channels lacking or with poorly developed levées (referred to as ‘proximal isolated lobes’). The second are larger architecturally more complex depositional bodies deposited in more distal settings, outboard more stable and longer‐lived levéed fan valleys (referred to as ‘composite mid‐fan lobes’). Hybrid lobe types are also observed. At least three hierarchical levels of compensation stacking are recognized. Individual beds and bed‐sets stack to form lobe‐elements; lobe‐elements stack to form composite lobes; and composite lobes stack to form lobe complexes. Differences in the size, shape and architectural complexity of lobe deposits reflect several inter‐related factors including: (i) flow properties (volume, duration, grain‐size, concentration and velocity); (ii) the number and frequency of flows, and their degree of variation through time; (iii) gradient change and sea floor morphology at the mouth of the feeder conduit; (iv) lobe lifespan prior to avulsion or abandonment; and (v) feeder channel geometry and stability. In general, lobes outboard stable fan valleys that are connected to shelf‐incised canyons are wider, longer and thicker, accumulate in more basinal locations and are architecturally more complex.     

Carbon and oxygen isotopic composition and foraminifers of condensed basal Zechstein (Upper Permian) strata in western Poland: environmental and stratigraphic implications

The basinal facies of the Lopingian Zechstein Limestone in SW Poland consists of thin (often less than 1 m thick) limestones and/or dolomites, often containing the Kupferschiefer (few tens of centimetres thick) at their base, and local thick (up to 90 m) reefal carbonates. The δ¹³C curve of these basal Zechstein deposits strongly suggests that even when the Kupferschiefer is lacking, the thin (condensed) sequences record the entire interval of the Zechstein prior to the onset of evaporite deposition, in contrast to the thick reef sequences which lack the characteristic δ¹³C curve for the lowermost part of the Zechstein. The calcite samples show considerable ranges of δ¹⁸O values. If the maximum δ¹⁸O values are considered to be the closest to the pristine original ones and if δ¹⁸O_water value = 0 is assumed, then the calculated range of palaeotemperatures for the Kupferschiefer and Zechstein Limestone calcite ranges from 19 to 34 °C. The faunal restriction, common dwarf foraminifers and the predominance of lagenids in the foraminiferal assemblage indicate continual dysaerobic conditions and possibly elevated salinity of seawater during deposition of thin basinal Zechstein Limestone deposits. The mixing of shallow and deeper waters in the stratified Zechstein Basin caused by upwelling could result in prolific carbonate precipitation in reefs located at the slope of the marginal carbonate platform of the Zechstein Limestone and in isolated reefs related to palaeohighs within the basin; however, there is no isotopic record of eventual upwelling. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于多源数据的近50 a玛纳斯河流域冰川变化分析

我国新疆玛纳斯河流域的冰川变化极大影响流域内及其周边地区的经济社会发展.使用国产高分一号(GF-1)遥感影像和Landsat8数据,分别通过基于多源数据的冰川识别方法和波段比值法获取了2013年玛纳斯河流域冰川信息,结合玛纳斯河流域第一次(1964年)、第二次(2009年)冰川编目数据与1998年、2003年TM影像冰川目视解译结果等四期的冰川边界矢量数据,对玛纳斯河流域1964-2013年50 a来的冰川变化特征进行了综合分析.研究结果显示:玛纳斯河流域冰川自2009年以来有略微增加的趋势,2013年冰川面积比2009年增加了10.25 km²,这在一定程度上抑制了长期以来冰川的快速消融;1964-2013年,玛纳斯河流域的冰川总体呈减少趋势;冰川面积从1964年的673.61 km²减少到2013年的512.07 km²,面积减少161.54 km²,减少23.98%;近50 a来,流域内冰川面积在海拔4500 m及以上呈净增加趋势,而在海拔4500 m以下呈净减少趋势,冰川在海拔(4000±100) m左右退缩的速率最大,高达0.5 km²·a^-1;冰川面积的减少主要体现为大量的冰舌后退和小面积冰川的快速消融,超过85%的冰川冰舌后退距离在200 m以上;该流域的冰川变化主要集中在南、北两个坡向,在南坡向上出现明显的先减少和后增加的变化趋势;1964-2013年,玛纳斯河流域的气温和降水量呈较明显的增加趋势,线性增加率分别为0.26℃·(10a)^-1和16.07 mm·(10a)^-1.研究结果表明气温的持续升高和降水量的增加分别是导致玛纳斯河流域冰川减少期和增加期形成的主要原因.     

Jurassic break-up of the Peri-Gondwanan margin in northern Colombia: Basin formation and implications for terrane transfer

Jurassic extensional basins developed along the northwestern margin of South America during the break-up of Pangea. Presently, these basins are dispersed in several tectonic blocks of the northern Andes and Mexico, hindering reconstruction of western equatorial Pangea before break-up. This is the case of the Cosinas Basin (Guajira block) and the Machiques Basin (Perijá Range), in northern Colombia, which are filled by Jurassic sedimentary and volcano-sedimentary successions. Autochthonous and para-autochthonous hypotheses on the origin of this basins have been proposed. The purpose of this research is to document the sedimentological evolution, depositional age (Sr-isotope + U-Pb geochronology), sediment provenance and paleogeography of the Cosinas and Machiques basins in order to constrain whether these basins formed within a single extensional margin or they formed as extensional basins in different tectonic blocks. Volcanic detrital zircon U-Pb ages documented in La Quinta Formation in the Machiques Basin and at the base of Rancho Grande Formation in the Cosinas Basin suggest that extensional basins were active in Early Jurassic time. However, a significant difference exists in their subsequent history. Whereas in the Machiques Basin dominates the accumulation of Lower and Middle Jurassic volcanoclastic deposits with abrupt lateral thickness changes, accumulation in the Cosinas Basin is dominantly of siliciclastic strata, with the record of two major marine incursions in Late Jurassic time. Integration of provenance results indicates that the Santander Massif supplied sediments to the Machiques Basin. In contrast, Middle to Upper Jurassic sandstones of the Cosinas Basin document unroofing of basement blocks that include metamorphic, sedimentary and plutonic rocks from the Guajira and Maya blocks. The similarity in age and composition of pre-Jurassic rocks in northwestern South America and the so-called peri-Gondwana blocks in the Mexican subcontinent (i.e., Maya and Oaxaquia blocks) challenge the use of detrital zircon population as an indicator of the autochthonous or para-autochthonous origin of the Guajira block. Large uncertainty of paleomagnetic results, and the lack of constraints for the time magnetization acquisition preclude estimating paleolatitudes for the Guajira block in Jurassic time but support previous interpretation of ca. 70°-90° clockwise rotation of the Guajira block relative to stable South America craton.Our preferred paleogeography considers that the Cosinas and Machiques basins were close to each other along the western continental margin of Pangea during the onset of extension in Early Jurassic time. The change from continental to marine depositional environments in Middle to Late Jurassic time along the Cosinas Basin, which have not been identified in the Machiques Basin or other autochthonous Jurassic basins in northwestern South America, allow us to propose that these blocks were separated during the Callovian - Tithonian interval, with the Cosinas Basin remaining closer to a conjugate Mexican margin, that we interpret as the Maya block. Collision of the Guajira block with the South American margin occurred near the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary, as documented by deformation of Jurassic units previous to deposition of Berriasian strata in the Guajira block.     

Mauritius since the last glacial: environmental and climatic reconstruction of the last 38 000 years from Kanaka Crater

A 10 m long peat core from the Kanaka Crater (20° 25′ S, 57° 31′ E), located at 560 m elevation in Mauritius, was analyzed for microfossils. Eight radiocarbon ages show the pollen record reflects environmental and climatic change of the last ca. 38 cal ka BP. The record shows that the island was continuously covered by forest with Erica heath (Philippia) in the uplands. Cyperaceous reedswamp with Pandanus trees was abundant in the coastal lowlands as well as locally in the waterlogged crater. The record shows changes in climatic humidity (wet from 38.0 to 22.7 cal ka BP, drier from 22.7 to 10.6 cal ka BP, and wetter again from 10.6 cal ka BP to recent) as the main response to climate change. A high turnover in montane forest species is evidenced at 22.7 cal ka BP and at the start of the Holocene. The limited altitudinal ranges in the mountains of Mauritius (maximum altitude 828 m), and changing humidity being more important than changing temperature, suggests that in response to climate change a reassortment in taxonomic composition of montane forests might be equally important as displacement of forest types to new altitudinal intervals. We found weak impact of the latitudinal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and data suggest that the Indian Ocean Dipole is a more important driver for climatic change in the southwest Indian Ocean. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing the performance of a foraminifera-based transfer function to estimate sea-level changes in northern Portugal

We assessed the performance of a transfer function model for sea-level studies using salt-marsh foraminifera from two estuaries of northern Portugal. An independent data set of 12 samples and 13 sub-fossil samples from a core were used to evaluate if reconstructions and errors derived from current models are adequate. Initial transfer function models provided very strong results as indicated by cross-validation (component 2; r² = 0.80-0.82; RMSEP ranged from 10.7 to 12.3 cm) and improved its performance by ca. 10% when sample size reached ca. 50. Results derived using an independent test data set indicate that cross-validation is a very effective approach and produces conservative errors when compared to observed errors. We additionally explored the possible effect of transforming the concentration data into percent in the error estimations by comparing the results obtained based on the use of both concentration and compositional data. Results indicate that this type of transformation does not affect the performance of the transfer function. Results derived from a reconstruction of sub-fossil samples from a core indicate that high-resolution sea-level reconstructions are possible, but show that depositional environments have to be selected carefully in order to minimize the impact of possible taphonomical loss.     

第四纪洞庭盆地构造性质及动力机制探讨

通过地表观察和第四系钻孔对第四纪洞庭盆地及周缘隆起区的地貌、沉积和断裂构造等进行调查研究,进而厘定洞庭盆地构造活动特征暨构造性质,并探讨其动力机制。研究表明,早更新世-中更新世中期洞庭盆地具断陷性质,具体表现在:①在边界正断裂控制下盆地及其次级凹陷强烈沉降并充填厚度较大的河、湖相沉积;②临澧次级凹陷发育典型封闭性断陷湖盆沉积;③NNE向、NW向、EW向、SN向等多组方向控盆断裂的发育指示区域伸展构造体制。中更新世晚期以来洞庭盆地具坳陷性质,主要表现在:①中更新世晚期洞庭盆地与周缘隆起区发生较大幅度的构造抬升并遭受剥蚀,同时产生构造掀斜与褶皱变形;②晚更新世-全新世洞庭盆地坳陷沉降并接受沉积。分析提出洞庭盆地第四纪构造活动机制:早更新世-中更新世中期盆地的断陷沉降与地幔上隆背景下的深部物质迁出有关;中更新世晚期盆地构造抬升、掀斜和褶皱变形与深部迁出物质的回返以及板块尺度的物质运动和挤压作用有关;晚更新世和全新世盆地坳陷沉降与区域挤压应力下的坳陷或拱坳变形有关,可能同时伴有NE向的深部物质流动与拉张;不同级次和不同规模范围的深部物质迁移运动,造成了第四纪洞庭盆地与其内部次级构造单元之间的叠加关系。     

A diatom‐based reconstruction of summer sea‐surface salinity in the Southern Okinawa Trough,East China Sea,over the last millennium

A high‐resolution diatom record from site MD05‐2908 in the Southern Okinawa Trough, East China Sea, reveals pronounced multidecadal‐ to centennial‐scale palaeoceanographic changes throughout the last millennium. Summer sea‐surface salinity (SSS) was reconstructed using a weighted averaging partial least squares diatom‐based training set. The reconstructed SSS shows slightly decreasing values during the period AD 905–1930 with considerable fluctuations superimposed on this general trend. Relatively high‐salinity conditions during the interval AD 905–1450 probably suggest a low flood frequency in north‐eastern Taiwan. Furthermore, the high SSS values are associated with a strong and stable influence of the Kuroshio Current on the Southern Okinawa Trough during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. The period AD 1450–1930 is characterized by three low‐salinity intervals (AD 1450–1500, AD 1625–1725 and AD 1770–1880) separated by periods of relatively high salinity. The low SSS intervals indicate increased freshwater discharge into the Southern Okinawa Trough during the Little Ice Age, probably as a result of higher flood frequencies in north‐eastern Taiwan. Spectral and wavelet analyses suggest that this pattern was linked to multidecadal variations in summer SSS, presumably associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

额尔齐斯河流域上游地区近50 a来气温和降水变化的DFA分析

为查明新疆境内额尔齐斯河流域年及季节性气温和降水变化规律,并对未来的可能变化趋势做出预测,基于去趋势波动分析法（DFA）对流域近50 a来的气温、降水序列的平均值和极端值进行分析. 研究表明,年降水及春、夏的降水序列有较好的长程相关性,在较长时间尺度内均有继续保持原有趋势的可能,即年降水继续增加,春、夏降水维持稳定;秋、冬季降水则呈现弱持续性和强随机性,在短时间尺度上保持现状,长时间尺度上则存在改变的可能. 年均温及夏、秋、冬温也将继续保持升温的趋势,春季长时间尺度上存在改变的可能. 流域内温度和降水都将保持增长的趋势,而且温度的持续上升相对降水具有更高的可能性. 由DFA方法确定的极端阈值及相应极值序列显示：20世纪80年代以来,极端高温和极端降水事件开始增多,且量值增大,准周期变短,但极端高值并没有显著提高;极端低温事件的发生次数减少显著,平均值增大,同时低温极值增高明显,冬季气温对全球变化的响应更为敏感.     

造山带汇聚板块边缘沉积盆地的鉴别与恢复

大洋俯冲和大陆碰撞是板块汇聚过程中的有机连续过程,也是造山带形成的两种基本造山作用方式。不同的造山作用过程形成不同类型的沉积盆地和填充序列,沉积盆地性质的改变和沉积物源区变化是造山作用方式和时限的最直接体现。沉积盆地是造山带重要大地构造相单元之一,完整记录了板块边缘动力学过程和构造演化以及造山作用方式和时限。沉积盆地构造原型鉴别与恢复是造山带结构-属性解剖的重要内容之一。视沉积盆地与相邻大地构造相的演化为统一整体,以填充物和沉积物源区作为链接沉积盆地和造山带的纽带,系统地精细解剖填充物组成和沉积相以及沉积物源区时空变化系列,准确鉴别并恢复造山带沉积盆地构造原型,是获取大陆碰撞方式和时限的沉积-地层判别标志的有效方法之一。     

Quantitative biome reconstruction using modern and late Quaternary pollen data from the southern part of the Russian Far East

In this study we present a recent compilation of 286 modern surface pollen spectra from the southern part of the Russian Far East (42–54°N, 131–141°E) and use it to test the biome reconstruction method. Seventy terrestrial pollen taxa were assigned to plant functional types and then classified to eight regional biomes. When applied to 286 surface pollen spectra, the method assigns about 70% (201 sites) of the samples to the cool mixed forest biome, 17% – to the taiga, 2% – to the cool conifer forest, 3% – to the temperate deciduous forest, and 7% – to the steppe. The steppe reconstruction is characteristic of the pollen spectra from the agricultural areas around Lake Khanka. A visual comparison shows good agreement between pollen-derived biomes and actual vegetation distribution in the region. However, pollen and botanical data, compared with the potential vegetation distribution simulated from the modern climate dataset using the BIOME1 model, demonstrate that spatial distribution of cool mixed forest is underrepresented in the model simulation. The model sets the mean temperature of the coldest month of −15 °C as the factor limiting distribution of the temperate deciduous broadleaf taxa, while vegetation and pollen data from the region demonstrate that this limit should be lowered to −26 °C. Application of the method to the Gur 3–99 pollen record (50°00^′N, 137°03^′E) demonstrates that tundra vegetation predominated around the site prior to 14 ka BP (1 ka = 1000 cal. years). However, the local presence of boreal trees and mixed forest-tundra vegetation is suggested by relatively high taiga scores. Soon after 14 ka BP the scores of taiga become slightly higher than tundra scores. During 11.4–10.5 ka BP a cool conifer forest is reconstructed. Establishment of the full interglacial conditions is marked by the onset of cool mixed forest by 10.5 ka BP. Between 10.3 and 2.5 ka BP the scores of temperate deciduous forest are close to those of cool mixed forest and become distinctly lower during the late Holocene.     

The evolution of the southern margin of the East European Craton based on seismic and potential field data

This paper presents an integrated geophysical study of the southern margin of the East European Craton (EEC) in the Karpinksy Swell-North Caucasus area. It presents new interpretations of deep refraction and wide-angle reflection “deep seismic sounding” (DSS) data as well as conventional seismic and CDP profiling and new analyses of potential field data, including three-dimensional gravity and magnetic modelling. An integrated model of the physical properties and structure of the Earth's crust and, partially, upper mantle displays distinct features that are related to tectonic history of the study area. The Voronezh Massif (VM), the Ukrainian Shield and Rostov Dome (RD) of the EEC as well as the Donbas Foldbelt (DF), Karpinsky Swell (KS), Scythian Plate (SP) and Precaspian Basin (PCB) constitute the geodynamic ensemble that developed on the southern margin of the continent Baltica. There proposed evolutionary model comprises a stage of rifting during the middle to late Devonian, post-rift extension and subsidence during Carboniferous–early Permian times (synchronous with and related to the southward displacement of the Rostov Dome and extension in a palaeo-Scythian back-arc basin), and subsequent Mesozoic and younger evolution. A pre-Ordovician, possibly Riphean (?), mafic magmatic complex is inferred on a near vertical reflection seismic cross-section through the western portion of the Astrakhan Dome in the southwest part of the Precaspian Basin. This complex combined with evidence of a subducting slab in the upper mantle imply the presence of pre-Ordovician (Riphean?) island arc, with synchronous extension in a Precaspian back-arc basin is suggested. A middle Palaeozoic back-arc basin ensemble in what is now the western Karpinsky Swell was more than 100 km to the south from its present location. The Stavropol High migrated northwards, dislocating and moving fragments of this back-arc basin sometime thereafter. Linear positive magnetic anomalies reflect the position of associated faults, which define the location of the eastern segment of the Karpinsky Swell. These faults, which dip northward, are recognised on crustal DSS profiles crossing the Donbas Foldbelt and Scythian Plate. They are interpreted in terms of compressional tectonics younger than the Hercynian stage of evolution (i.e., post-Palaeozoic).     

鄂尔多斯盆地东缘煤层气储盖特征及其控气作用

煤层气储盖组合在一定程度上控制煤层气的保存条件。依据煤层顶(底)板的封盖能力,将鄂尔多斯盆地东缘煤层气储盖组合划分为4种类型。优势储盖组合主要发育于保德-临县地区太原组泻湖、潮坪相带以及大宁-吉县地区山西组滨浅湖相带,对煤层气的封盖能力强。次优势储盖组合主要发育于保德-河曲地区太原组、石楼-三交地区山西组以及韩城-合阳地区三角洲前缘相带,对煤层气的封盖能力较强。一般储盖组合主要发育于三交-吉县地区太原组浅海陆棚相带、保德-临县地区山西组三角洲平原、河流泛滥盆地相带,对煤层气的封盖能力较弱。不利储盖组合主要发育于河曲以北山西组辫状河上游、冲积扇相带,对煤层气的封盖能力差;煤层气储盖组合类型在一定程度上控制煤储层含气量分布,是煤储层含气性预测的重要参考依据。     

Variations in sea surface temperatures based on alkenones in Korea Plateau sediments of the East Sea (Sea of Japan) over the last 300,000 years

Variations in long chain alkenone-based sea surface temperature (SST) from a piston core (M04-PC1A) collected from the Korea Plateau in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) were investigated to understand paleoceanographic variations over the last 300,000 years. By combining sedimentological and geochemical proxies (the lithological marker of crudely laminated mud, alkenone SST, foraminiferal oxygen isotope values, and ¹⁴C age determination) and by comparison with previous works, we examined paleoceanographic variations back to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8, approximately 300,000 years B.P. In particular, analysis of alkenones suggests that SSTs were about 8 °C and 11 °C lower during MIS 8 and MIS 6 than that in the present-day SST, respectively. Furthermore, SST was estimated to be 5 °C lower during the Last Glacial Maximum. These significant SST differences among MIS 8, 6, and 2 may be attributable to not only the formation of distinctive water masses, but also to differential alkenone synthesis under different environmental conditions. These results suggest that SSTs in the East Sea during the last three glacial periods (MIS 8, 6, and 2) were different, but rather were closely linked with regional oceanographic conditions overlapped with sensitive responses to the intensity of the East Asian monsoon. Surface-water freshening was a local paleoceanographic consequence that was imprinted in the core during MIS 2 and MIS 6, and potentially during MIS 4. Furthermore, alkenone-based SST data suggested that surface water circulation and biological productivity were strongly associated with the inflow of the Tsushima Warm Current during interglacial periods.     

Stratigraphy, depositional environments and level reconstruction of the last interglacial Lake Samra in the Dead Sea basin

In this paper we describe the stratigraphy and sediments deposited in Lake Samra that occupied the Dead Sea basin between ∼ 135 and 75 ka. This information is combined with U/Th dating of primary aragonites in order to estimate a relative lake-level curve that serves as a regional paleohydrological monitor. The lake stood at an elevation of ∼ 340 m below mean sea level (MSL) during most of the last interglacial. This level is relatively higher than the average Holocene Dead Sea (∼ 400 ± 30 m below MSL). At ∼ 120 and ∼ 85 ka, Lake Samra rose to ∼ 320 m below MSL while it dropped to levels lower than ∼ 380 m below MSL at ∼ 135 and ∼ 75 ka, reflecting arid conditions in the drainage area. Lowstands are correlated with warm intervals in the Northern Hemisphere, while minor lake rises are probably related to cold episodes during MIS 5b and MIS 5d. Similar climate relationships are documented for the last glacial highstand Lake Lisan and the lowstand Holocene Dead Sea. Yet, the dominance of detrital calcites and precipitation of travertines in the Dead Sea basin during the last interglacial interval suggest intense pluvial conditions and possible contribution of southern sources of wetness to the region.     

North-south transfer zones and paleo-morphological reconstruction of the Xylokastro area (Corinth Gulf, Greece)

A large number of studies have documented the structural and sedimentary architecture of the Corinth Gulf, especially the major E–W trending normal faults important in accommodating the main extensional strain and associated growth of the Gilbert fan deltas. However, the role of several N–S oriented structures that crop out at the surface and are detectable at depth by seismic reflection and gravity surveys are not clearly understood. Based on new geological data, collected near Xylokastro, we describe the N–S oriented tectonic activity of this area. The mapped inland faults correspond to off-shore structures identified in re-interpreted seismic lines and appear to have acted as a major transfer zone during the opening of the Corinth Gulf. Reconstruction of the paleo-topography based on sedimentary facies and the environment of clay mineral formation suggest these transfer zones played an important role in controlling both local structural relief and depositional conditions of the Gilbert fan deltas.     

近300a来塔里木河流域旱涝灾害特征分析

干旱与洪涝是极端水文事件中最具有代表性的水文事件,在气候变化的影响下旱涝灾害事件越来越引起人们的关注. 采用传统的气象干旱指标-标准化降水指数SPI和小波分析法、反距离加权法以及线性回归分析,研究了近300 a来塔里木河流域旱涝灾害分布特征及关键影响因素. 结果表明：近300 a来塔里木河流域旱涝灾害呈增加的趋势,且洪涝事件较干旱事件明显. 其中,喀什、阿克苏等地的发生频率最高,并表现为群发性;近60 a塔里木河流域自西向东旱涝灾害事件呈交替现象. 小波分析结果表明,塔里木河流域旱涝灾害呈现15 a的周期性,由此推断未来5~10 a研究区湿润化面积仍有扩大的可能. 大气环流指数与多尺度下的SPI指相关性检验表明,PNA对秋季和冬季的SPI值的影响较为显著;旱涝灾害对农牧业的影响较为严重,其中,洪涝灾害的影响大于干旱.