The tephrochronology of Iceland and the North Atlantic region during the Middle and Late Quaternary: a review

The tephrochronology of Iceland and the North Atlantic region is reviewed in order to construct a unified framework for the last 400 kyr BP. Nearly all of the tephra layers described are also characterised geochemically. A number of new tephra layers are analysed for the first time for their geochemical signature and a number of pre‐Holocene tephra layers have been given an informal denotation. The tephrostratigraphy of Ash Zone II is highlighted. Where possible the rhyolitic tephra layers found outside Iceland have been correlated to known Icelandic tephra layers or to the volcanic source area. The application of tephra fallout in various depositional environments is described and discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Major and trace element characterization of tephra layers offshore Pantelleria Island: insights into the last 200 ka of volcanic activity and contribution to the Mediterranean tephrochronology

A detailed tephrochronological study was carried out on the deep‐sea core collected from Site 963A in the Sicily Channel during ODP Leg 160. The chronology of the succession is provided by an age–depth model based on isotope stratigraphy and quantitative eco‐biostratigraphy. Major, trace and rare earth element content was obtained on single glass grains through electron probe micro‐analysis and laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques from six well‐preserved tephra layers, characterized by a discrete thickness found along the succession. These deposits were correlated with the volcanic activity of Pantelleria and dated at 42.5, 127.5, 128.1, 129.1, 188.7 and 197.7 ka. This detailed chemical characterization of the studied deposits aims to provide a valuable reference database for scientists working on both proximal and distal products erupted at Pantelleria island during the Late Pleistocene. This study, moreover, offers the opportunity to better identify Pantelleria‐related marker tephras within the tephrochronological framework of the central and eastern Mediterranean area. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct and indirect luminescence dating of tephra: A review

In Quaternary studies, tephras are widely used as marker horizons to correlate geological deposits. Therefore, accurate and precise dating is crucial. Among radiometric dating techniques, luminescence dating has the potential to date tephra directly using glass shards, volcanic minerals that formed during the eruption or mineral fragments that originate from the shattered country rock. Moreover, sediments that frame the tephra can be dated to attain an indirect age bracket. A review of numerous luminescence dating studies highlights the method's potential and challenges. While reliable direct dating of volcanic quartz and feldspar as a component in tephra is still methodically difficult mainly due to thermal and athermal signal instability, red thermoluminescence of volcanic quartz and the far-red emission of volcanic feldspar have been used successfully. Furthermore, the dating of xenolithic quartz within tephra shows great potential. Numerous studies date tephra successfully indirectly. Dating surrounding sediments is generally straightforward as long as samples are not taken too close to the tephra horizons. Here, issues arise from the occurrence of glass shards within the sediments or unreliable determination of dose rates. This includes relocation of radioelements, mixing of tephra into the sediment and disregarding different dose rates of adjacent material.     

Accessing Australian geodynamic information: The AGCRC website

The Australian Geodynamics Cooperative Research Centre (AGCRC) website <http://www.agcrc. csiro.au/> provides the main integrated presentation of the results of AGCRC research. It hosts a systematic presentation of project summaries, publication abstracts, regionally organised geodynamic syntheses and a GIS database containing a large number of broad‐scale earth science datasets from the Australian region, which are presented through an interactive map viewer. Effective interfaces are required to make the variety of content accessible to users. In particular, maintaining effective hyperlinking for a large and growing set of pages was a significant challenge. We found that by developing effective indexing tools we were able to apply a uniform technology to attack these problems. The index included both the full text of the pages from the website and also specific index terms of metadata. The metadata schema was designed to support both generalised discovery through a search interface and also to allow hyperlinks to be included automatically in pages by the server, so that the user could browse in a richly cross‐linked framework. It was necessary to manage textual and numeric data within the same framework because even the textual documents were generally tied to geospatial locations identified by their geographical coordinates. This required extensions to standard index and search tools, including the development of complete new indexing software. To assist the user in accessing the index, we provided a variety of user interfaces specialised for different themes in the website. For example, publication lists are generated in a conventional layout, and geospatial datasets are presented through an interactive map viewer and query system. The latter also demonstrated how visualisation tools for geospatial data can be provided in the web‐browser interface.     

On the spatio-temporal distribution of M 7.0+ worldwide seismicity with a non-parametric statistics

The aim of this paper is to provide some constrains on the time behavior of earthquake generation mechanism, through the usage of a non-parametric statistics that leads up to the empirical estimation of the hazard function. The results indicate that the most characterizing temporal feature for large (M 7.0+) worldwide shallow earthquake occurrence is a clustering lasting few years, indicating that the probability of earthquake occurrence is higher immediately after the occurrence of an event. After that, the process becomes almost time independent, as in a Poisson process. Remarkably, this time clustering is very similar to what previously found for different spatio-magnitude windows, and it does not seem to depend on the tectonic style of the region. This may support the hypothesis of an universal law for earthquake occurrence.     

综合地质数据库系统的研究与开发

针对地质数据数量庞大、数据分布散乱、数据种类繁多、数据格式复杂等特点,根据线分类方法,对综合地质数据进行分类,提出了地质数据树的概念,运用了综合地质数据模型,采用关系数据库技术,建立了综合地质数据库.同时利用系统导入导出功能,从地质工作的角度实现数据的备份与恢复.将基于角色的资源访问控制(RBAC)思想引入到系统的权限...     

Identification of last interglacial deposits in eastern Beringia: a cautionary note from the Palisades,interior Alaska

Last interglacial sediments in unglaciated Alaska and Yukon (eastern Beringia) are commonly identified by palaeoecological indicators and stratigraphic position ～2–5 m above the regionally prominent Old Crow tephra (124 ± 10 ka). We demonstrate that this approach can yield erroneous age assignments using data from a new exposure at the Palisades, a site in interior Alaska with numerous exposures of last interglacial sediments. Tephrochronology, stratigraphy, plant macrofossils, pollen and fossil insects from a prominent wood‐rich organic silt unit are all consistent with a last interglacial age assignment. However, six ¹⁴C dates on plant and insect macrofossils from the organic silt range from non‐finite to 4.0 ¹⁴C ka BP, indicating that the organic silt instead represents a Holocene deposit with a mixed‐age assemblage of organic material. In contrast, wood samples from presumed last interglacial organic‐rich sediments elsewhere at the Palisades, in a similar stratigraphic position with respect to Old Crow tephra, yield non‐finite ¹⁴C ages. Given that local permafrost thaw since the last interglaciation may facilitate reworking of older sediments into new stratigraphic positions, minimum constraining ages based on ¹⁴C dating or other methods should supplement age assignments for last interglacial sediments in eastern Beringia that are based on palaeoecology and stratigraphic association with Old Crow tephra. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a geotechnical and geophysical database for seismic zonation of the Ankara Basin,Turkey

Engineering geological and geotechnical site characteristics were assessed and seismic hazard studies performed for the Upper Pliocene to Pleistocene fluvial and Quaternary alluvial and terrace deposits for a site west of Ankara, Turkey. Sediment conditions were determined and a soil profile was characterized by surface geophysical methods. These studies were integrated with existing in-situ characterization studies to create a seismic and geotechnical database for the site. A seismic zonation map of the site was then prepared. Site classification systems were assigned to account for site effects in relation to seismic hazard assessments. The consequences of the seismic hazards were investigated and recommendations were presented.     

The Hekla 1947 tephra in the north of Ireland: regional distribution,concentration and geochemistry

A cryptotephra layer from the eruption of Hekla in 1947 has recently been discovered in Irish peatlands. This tephra layer represents the most recent deposition of volcanic ash in the UK prior to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. Here we examine the concentration and geochemistry of the Hekla 1947 tephra in 14 peat profiles from across Northern Ireland. Electron probe microanalysis of individual tephra shards (n = 91) reveals that the tephra is of dacitic–andesitic geochemistry and is highly similar to the Hekla 1510 tephra, although spheroidal carbonaceous particle profiles can be used for successful discrimination of the two layers. The highest concentrations of Hekla 1947 are found in western sites, probably reflecting the pathway of the ash fall event due to the prevailing wind direction. Comparable tephra concentrations from two cores (1 km apart) from a single bog and from nearby sites may suggest that tephra shard concentrations in peat profiles reflect ash fallout densities across a specific region, rather than site‐specific factors associated with peatlands. This paper firmly establishes Hekla 1947 as a useful chronostratigraphic marker for the twentieth century, although within a restricted zone. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Quaternary cycles of mangrove development and decline on the north Australian continental shelf

Mangrove communities in the Australian tropics presently occur as narrow belts of vegetation in estuaries and on sheltered, muddy coasts. Palynological data from continental-shelf and deep-sea cores indicate a long-term cyclical component of mangrove development and decline at a regional scale, which can be linked to specific phases of late Quaternary sea-level change. Extensive mangrove development, relative to today, occurs during periods of marine transgression, whereas very diminished mangrove occurs during marine regressions and during rarer periods of relative sea-level stability. Episodes of flourishing mangrove cannot be linked to phases of humid climate, as has been suggested in studies elsewhere. Rather, the cycle of expansion and decline of mangrove communities on a grand scale is explained in terms of contrasting physiographic settings characteristic of continental-shelf coasts during transgressive and regressive phases, in particular by the existence, or lack, of well-developed tidal estuaries. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

青藏高原第四纪重点湖泊地层序列和湖相沉积若干特点

本项研究对青藏高原代表性第四纪湖泊沉积区作了大范围调查,北自柴达木昆特依湖和昆仑山口、南抵江布-林芝,西起甜水海、东至迪庆.据青藏高原地质构造、沉积建造和地貌特点,将高原第四纪地层区划分为6个地层分区:藏南湖盆分区(Ⅰ)、羌塘高原湖盆分区(Ⅱ)(羌南湖盆亚区(Ⅱ-1)和羌北湖盆亚区(Ⅱ-2))、三江高山河谷分区(Ⅲ)、昆仑高山分区(Ⅳ)、柴达木、青海湖盆分区(Ⅴ)和阿尔金-祁连山高山区(Ⅵ).并对上述Ⅰ-Ⅴ分区第四纪湖相地层层序作了较详细划分和对比.从而指出青藏高原第四纪湖相沉积具有如下特点:①除了柴达木-青海湖盆分区外,其余各分区的湖滨剖面湖相碎屑沉积相对较粗,而同青藏高原属于全球第四纪最新隆起区相一致;②在湖盆区的湖相沉积常叠加或伴生冲洪积、风积相和冰碛或冰水沉积以及部分泥石流沉积、化学沉积与热水沉积.它们既反映青藏高原在第四纪隆升进入冰冻圈后湖盆沉积环境时有冷期发生,又反映高原隆升背景下,洪水期诱发山崩和泥石流堵塞成湖,或由于洪水泛滥,导致高原边缘内流湖决溃、湖泊消失(如Ⅲ、Ⅳ分区),还反映高原湖泊成盐过程与深部作用、强烈的新构造运动密切相关;③除了柴达木-青海湖分区(Ⅴ)和羌塘高原湖盆分区部分大型湖盆自第四纪以来有连续湖相沉积外,其他分区第四纪湖相沉积多不连续;④由于全新世青藏高原口趋干旱,除了一些现代积水湖盆外,有相当多湖泊干化,而缺失顶部湖相沉积.综上所述,为了获取青藏高原第四纪沉积连续环境记录,需选择高原内部或周边为数较少的新生代连续沉积盆地.本文论证了柴达木盆地是一个较理想的研究高原晚新生代湖相沉积区,建议在柴达木盆地实施晚新生代资源环境科学钻探工程.     

Amino acid diagenesis in the marine bivalve Arctica islandica Linné from northwest European sites: Only time and temperature?

Collections of the molluscan species Arctica islandica from seven sites in Norway, Scotland and the North Sea, ranging in age from recent to Early Pleistocene, have been sampled for amino acid analyses. The shells were sampled in profiles through the valves at different distances from the umbo. In the fossil material a general trend of increasing degree of isoleucine (lle) epimerisation and decreasing amino acid concentrations were found going from the inner part of the valve to the outer. Although less pronounced, there is a similar trend from the central part of the valve to the margin. As the concentration of alloisoleucine (alle) remains nearly constant, the observed changes in alle/lle ratios are a result of variations in the amount of isoleucine. The amino acid composition is fairly uniform in recent shells and the observed gradients are established in mid-Holocene samples. Therefore, it is suggested that the gradients are established during rapid early degradation of the protein, possibly due to microbiological activity. Differences in alle/lle ratios observed in molluscs from sites of the same age and same thermal history could be explained by differences in the exposure to amino-acid-consuming microorganisms during the very early stage of diagenesis.     

水工监测软件开发中数据库和数据结构设计问题

针对水电工程监测软件系统开发,讨论了系统总体设计、数据库和数据结构设计以及系统界面架构方面的一些共性问题,提出用7种属性对象来描述水工建筑物和观测仪器之间,以及各水工建筑物之间复杂的从属关系,介绍了实现这些关系的数据库表和相关数据结构;讨论了采取单文档和多窗口视界面的优点、可变大小的整编数据结构、软件容错、设置多个初值日期和更换传感器所带来的数据结构设计等问题。这些讨论对于开发监测系统软件是很有益的。     

Early development of strike-slip faulting: palaeoseismic study along the Petersen Mountain fault,northern Walker Lane,Nevada

Characterising youthful strike-slip fault systems within transtensional regimes is often complicated by the presence of tectonic geomorphic features produced by normal faulting associated with oblique extension. The Petersen Mountain fault in the northern Walker Lane tectonic province exhibits evidence of both normal and strike-slip faulting. We present the results of geologic and geomorphic mapping, and palaeoseismic trenching that characterise the fault's style and sense of deformation. The fault consists of two major traces. The western trace displaces colluvial, landslide, and middle to late Pleistocene alluvial fans and is associated with aligned range front saddles, linear drainages, and oversteepened range front slopes. The eastern trace is associated with a low linear bedrock ridge, a narrow graben, right deflected stream channels, and scarps in late Pleistocene alluvial fan deposits. A trench on the eastern trace of the fault exposed a clear juxtaposition of disintegrated granodiorite bedrock against sand and boulder alluvial fan deposits across a steeply east-dipping fault. The stratigraphic evidence supports the occurrence of at least one late Pleistocene earthquake with a component of lateral displacement. As such, the Petersen Mountain fault accommodates part of the ~7 mm/yr of dextral shear distributed across the northern Walker Lane.     

Amino‐acid geochronology and the British Pleistocene: secure stratigraphical framework or a case of circular reasoning?

Aminostratigraphy is central to the recently revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles, providing a link between terrestrial deposits and marine Oxygen Isotope Stages. The central tenet of British aminostratigraphy, however, that shells from the same interglacial yield very similar ratios, so that the characteristic ratios from different interglacials are distinct, remains uncertain. The data available suggest that amino‐acid ratios from different interglacials do not fall into discrete groups, but overlap considerably. It is therefore not valid to assign individual shells to Oxygen Isotope Stages simply on the basis of their amino‐acid ratios, which means that filtering data to remove high or low values, on the assumption that they represent reworked shells, is unacceptable. The range of ‘characteristic ratios’ assigned to British warm stages may have been underestimated and the degree of separation between them overestimated. Amino‐acid ratios should be treated as sample data that are naturally variable. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

吉林省1:20万水文地质图空间数据库建库工作方法及体会

从工作准备、图形矢量化与校正、建立分层文件、属性编辑、坐标转换、图面整饰和成果输出几方面,叙述在1：20万水文地质图空间数据库建设工作中形成的一套工作方法,结合本省实际提出了建立吉林省空间数据库时对本省区域水文地质特征的处理方法和几点工作体会。     

地球难以承载人类重负——《生命行星报告2004》解读

人类对地球自然资源的利用状况反映人类社会的可持续发展状况，要定量反映人类的可持续发展状况，就需要定量评价人类对地球自然资源的利用状况。世界自然基金会（WWF）等机构每2年发布一次的《生命行星报告》是世界上有影响的对人类对地球自然资源利用状况的定量评价分析研究报告。《生命行星报告2004》运用全球足迹网络（Global Footprint Network）提供的新的科学分析方法比较了世界上150个国家的生态足迹；以更加复杂的数据和分析、更加详细的时间趋势，测算了全球生物多样性的状况。报告肯定，地球的生态超载已经成为一个现实，人类目前消费的自然资源超过地球生产能力的20%，即人类目前使用着1.2个地球，导致了生物多样性的快速减少。     

Characterization and correlation of the Hegawa-Kasamori 5 tephra,a widespread tephra aged c. 450 ka associated with large-scale pyroclastic flows from southern Kyushu,SW Japan

A Middle Pleistocene widespread tephra, defined here as Hegawa-Kasamori 5 tephra (Hgw-Ks5), has been newly recognized over a broad area of Japan. Large-scale pyroclastic flow deposits associated with co-ignimbrite ash fall deposits (CAFDs) of Hgw-Ks5 have been identified in the proximal southern Kyushu area, south-west Japan. Hgw-Ks5 possibly originated from the Aira caldera in southern Kyushu, and it is widely spread and intercalated with deposits of the Kasamori Formation, Honshu Island, more than 1000 km away from the source. In the north-west area of the Aira Caldera, the tephra is sparsely distributed in the form of non-welded ignimbrites, and is exposed stratigraphically above the well-known Kobayashi-Kasamori tephra. Hgw-Ks5 is characterized through petrographic features, major element geochemistry of glass shards, and refractive indices of orthopyroxene. The results of previous stratigraphic isotope studies indicate that the eruptive age of Hgw-Ks5 is 434–458 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 12). Assuming that the CAFDs originating from the Aira Caldera are distributed concentrically, the apparent volume of Hgw-Ks5, estimated from the area of distribution and CAFD thickness, is ~100 km³. Therefore, a volcanic explosivity index of 7 is assigned to the Hgw-Ks5 eruption.