Theoretical post-glacial sedimentation rates for a semi-enclosed sea; example of the Kieler Bucht, Western Baltic

The theoretical rates of deposition for fine sediments over the last 10 ka have been deduced and plotted for the Kieler Bucht. Assumptions are that the bay has remained as a closed sedimentary system, and that the fine sediments deposit in water deeper than 10 m. A sharp peak of sedimentation activity is indicated between 7.5 and 8.5 ka B.P. with low rates prior to 9.5 ka and since 6 ka. Comparison of rates obtained from dated cores extracted from different parts of the Kieler Bucht with the theoretical curve shows general conformity, and confirms that peak sedimentation rates exceeding 3 mm/a, as averaged over 100–200 years, occurred between 8 and 9 ka, with the suggestion of a minor activity peak between 3 and 4 ka. The overall consistency supports the view that the bay has acted essentially as a closed sedimentary basin during the Holocene marine transgression and subsequently.     

Seismic facies and architecture of ice-contact submarine fans in high-relief fjords, Troms, Northern Norway

During the Late Weichselian, large marginal moraines were deposited in the Norwegian fjords. In Troms County these features are termed the Skarpnes and Tromsø-Lyngen moraines, respectively, and have been mapped from land into the marine environment where they were formed as ice-contact submarine fans. High-resolution seismic data from several fjords have been studied and reveal a typical sediment thickness of 150–320 m for these ice-contact systems. All of the ice-contact submarine fans were formed under similar climatic conditions, but display wide variation in geometry, architecture and seismic pattern. This variation is related to differences in sediment supply, the nature of the subsurface of the fan (e.g. position of thresholds), basin geometry and basin depth. Based on interpretation of the different seismic facies and the architecture of the fans, former ice-front positions have been suggested and a model has been presented for the formation of different types of ice-contact submarine fans dependent upon variation in local basin condition.     

Late Devensian raised shorelines in Angus and Kincardineshire, Scotland

Marine, fluvial and fluvioglacial terraces, and other landforms and deposits associated with them, have been mapped over an area that extends from Dundee to Stonehaven along the coast, and inland in places as far as the Highland edge. All well-defined terraces have been levelled at approximately 50 mintervals along their length. Analysis of the altitude data permits the recognition of eight glacio-isostatically tilted raised shorelines of Late Devensian age, sloping down towards E5S, the lowest at 0.2 m/km and the others at gradients of 0.50-0.85 m/km. Successively lower and less steeply inclined shorelines were formed in close association with a westward-receding ice margin, and there are indications that crustal response to unloading may have been immediate and rapid. Five of the shorelines are correlated with five of the six Late Devensian shorelines recognized by the authors (1966) in eastern Fife, allowing contemporaneous positions of the wasting ice-sheet margin in the two areas to be postulated.     

据地貌声图判读研究海底地貌和底质类型

侧向扫描声呐这项新技术方法及其在海洋地质调查中的应用问题,最近作者已作过介绍。1975年,我们应用侧向扫描声呐(侧扫声呐)、精密回声探测、海底采样等方法,对中国南海某浅海区进行了海底地质调查,了解海底地貌和底质类型及其包括砂矿等的分布。     

First approximation sea-level dependent mathematical model for volume eroded and submarine profile development in a semienclosed sea: Kiel Bay,Western Baltic

Given a marine basin of near homogeneous lithology, a known sea level curve, and known submarine abrasion rates, a model is developed to estimate the volume of material eroded by marine action. Assumptions of the model are that erosion is effected solely by submarine abrasion, which is assumed known and uniform through time, and that the volume eroded is small relative to the total volume of the basin. The basis of the model is that the volume eroded V, between time limits t₁ andt ₂,is essentially a function of the perimeter length l of the basin, which in turn is time-dependent on the sea level curve, so that $$V = k\int_{t1}^{t2} {l(t)dt} $$ where k is an abrasion rate constant. The model was tested on Kiel Bay, Western Baltic, a shallow semienclosed, essentially nontidal sea, for which considerable data is available. Critical for numerical integration of the model is the k value, representing the volume eroded from the shore normal profile per unit length of shoreline per year. A number of possible k values were utilized, the most likely realizing a total volume eroded over the past 9000 y, since the sea first entered Kiel Bay, of 2.60×10⁹ m ³. From this model, long-term average vertical submarine abrasion rates for Kiel Bay can be deduced as being between 0.001 and 0.0004 m/y. An extension to the model analyzes the effect of sea level transgression rate on whether cliffs develop and predicts the theoretical form of the submarine profile based on varying abrasion rates summarized as $$y_B (x) = \left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {h({x \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {x {V_c }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {V_c }}) - a_T (x) for x > 0;} \\ {x\tan \theta - a_T (x) for x > 0.} \\ \end{array} } \right.$$ Here the origin x=0, y_B=0 is chosen horizontally at the position where cliff formation first occurs, and vertically at the sea level at that time. The coordinate x measures distance inshore from the origin, y_B(x) is the vertical position of the sea floor, a_T(x) is the total depth abraded, tanθ is the original land surface slope, V_c the rate of cliff retreat, and h(t) the sea-level at time t. The synthetic profiles are compared to actual erosional profiles from representative sectors of Kiel Bay. The model predicts cliff development began at about 5800 yB.P., resulting in submarine abrasion profile lengths of about 1740 m and cliff heights of about 17.4 m for original land surface slopes of 0.01. This agrees to within about 10% of mean values obtained from bathymetric and topographic maps.     

Neotectonics and recent uplift at Kamchatka and Aleutian arc junction, Kamchatka Cape area, NE Russia

The tectonic position of the Kamchatka Cape Peninsula at the junction of the active Kuril–Kamchatka and Aleutian arcs exposes the coastline of the peninsula to strong neotectonic activities. Fracture zones have variable influence on uplift of the Kamchatka Cape Peninsula. Relevant morphologic indicators of neotectonic activity are multilevel, highly uplifted marine terraces and terraces displaced along active faults. Recent uplift rates of coastal sediments are determined by remote sensing via ASTER and SRTM DEM combined with optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL). On the Kamchatka Cape Peninsula, terraces from the same generation are mapped at different elevations by remote sensing methods. After defining different areas of uplifted terraces, four neotectonic blocks are identified. According to apatite fission track data, the mean differential exhumation rates range from 0.2 to 1.2 mm year^?1 across the blocks since Late Miocene. The OSL data presented point to significant higher uplift rates of up to 3 ± 0.5 and 4.3 ± 1 mm year^?1, which indicates an acceleration of the vertical movement along the coast of Kamchatka Cape Peninsula in Upper Pleistocene and Holocene times.     

Younger Dryas end moraines between Hardangerfjorden and Sognefjorden, Western Norway

End moraines (called the Herdla Moraines) from the Younger Dryas Stadial arc morphologically mapped along the western coast of Norway, from Hardangerfjorden to north of Sognefjorden. The submarine position of the moraines are found by means of a conventional echo sounder. Stratigraphieal studies with many C¹⁴ datings are used for age determination, giving Late Younger Dryas (10,000–10,500 C¹⁴ years B.P.) for the Herdla Moraines. The moraines are correlated with the Ra-Salpausselkä Moraines. Isobases for the Younger Dryas are obtained from marine terraces formed contemporaneously with the moraines.     

Holocene shore displacement and deglaciation chronology in Norrbotten, Sweden

The coastal zone of Norrbotten, northern Sweden, was gradually inundated by the Ancylus Lake following the retreating ice margin and forming a highest coastline approximately 210 m above the present sea level. The succeeding shore displacement is reconstructed based on lithological investigations and radiocarbon datings of identified isolation sequences from 12 cored lake basins. The highest lake basins, along with two basins above the highest shoreline, suggest ice-free conditions already at 10 500 cal. yr BP. This is at least 500 years earlier than previously thought and implies rapid ice-sheet break-up in the Gulf of Bothnia. The shore displacement (RSL) curve represents a forced regression of successively decreasing rate through the Holocene, from 9 m/100 yr to 0.8 m/100 yr. During the first 1000-1200 years, the isostatic uplift is exponentially declining, followed by a constant uplift rate from c. 9500 cal. yr BP to 5500-5000 cal. yr BP. The last 5000 years seem to be characterized by a low but constant rebound rate. The development of the Ancylus Lake stage of the Baltic may also be discerned in the Norrbotten RSL curve, suggesting that the chronology of the Ancylus Lake stages may have to be revised. The Littorina transgression is also reflected by the RSL curve shape. In addition, a series of early to mid-Holocene beach terraces were OSL-dated to allow for comparison with the ¹⁴C-dated shore displacement curve. Interpretations of these ages and their relation to former sea levels were clearly more problematic than the dating of the lake basin isolations.     

内蒙古狼山山前台地成因及其新构造运动意义

内蒙古狼山地处阴山造山带西段、河套断陷带的西北缘,晚新生代以来狼山山前断裂广泛发育、构造抬升强烈。研究晚更新世以来狼山的构造隆升对深入了解河套断陷带的形成演化机制及其隆升过程对河套盆地古地理格局的影响具有重要的意义。狼山山前翁格勒其格和乌兰敖包台地的沉积学、地貌学和年代学研究表明,T1台地形成于47.4 kaB.P.,其沉积物为晚更新世河套古大湖沉积;T2台地形成于69 kaB.P.,其沉积物可能为黄河流经狼山山前的冲积物。台地特征的分析显示,狼山山前台地主要由构造抬升形成,两级台地记录了狼山晚更新世晚期(Qp^3-2)以来的构造隆升过程。69 kaB.P.到47.4 kaB.P.翁格勒其格和乌兰敖包地区的隆升速率分别为1.34 m/ka和1.25 m/ka,47.4 kaB.P.以来分别为0.81 m/ka和1.18 m/ka,狼山南段(翁格勒其格地区)构造抬升有减小的趋势。晚更新世晚期(Qp^3-2)以来由于狼山的快速隆升,导致黄河河道不断东迁,河套平原的古河道是其迁移的证据。狼山山前湖岸阶地的研究进一步证实晚更新世晚期河套地区发育统一古大湖。     

西非Rio Muni盆地深水水道特征与成因

深水水道沉积构型及其演化一直是沉积学界研究的热点。基于Rio Muni盆地深水区470 km²高分辨率三维地震数据,在精细地震解释的基础上,对研究区发育的深水水道的沉积构型、演化进行探讨。主要取得4点认识：(1)深水水道的弯曲度主要受控于物源供给和海底坡度,研究区发育弯曲水道、顺直水道2类深水水道;(2)起源于陆架边缘的深水水道,物源供给相对充分,弯曲度高,其剖面往往不对称,水道壁发育滑塌或阶地,垂向演化具有侧向迁移特征,发育废弃水道;(3)而起源于中上陆坡的深水水道,其弯曲度低,剖面具有U形特征,水道壁光滑无滑塌或阶地, 主要以垂向加积为主。由于物源供给不足,顺直水道逐渐被深海泥质披覆沉积充填;(4)同一条深水水道,由上陆坡向下陆坡,随着海底坡度的降低,其弯曲度呈增大趋势。     

Anomalously high uplift rates along the Ventura—Santa Barbara Coast, California—tectonic implications

The NW—SE trending segments of the California coastline from Point Arena to Point Conception (500 km) and from Los Angeles to San Diego (200 km) generally parallel major right-lateral strike-slip fault systems. Minor vertical crustal movements associated with the dominant horizontal displacements along these fault systems are recorded in local sedimentary basins and slightly deformed marine terraces. Typical maximum uplift rates during Late Quaternary time are about 0.3 m/ka, based on U-series ages of corals and amino-acid age estimates of fossil mollusks from the lowest emergent terraces.In contrast, the E–W-trending segments of the California coastline between Point Conception and Los Angeles (200 km) parallel predominantly northward-dipping thrust and high-angle reverse faults of the western Transverse Ranges. Along this coast, marine terraces display significantly greater vertical deformation. Amino-acid age estimates of mollusks from elevated marine terraces along the Ventura—Santa Barbara coast imply anomalously high uplift rates of between 1 and 6 m/ka over the past 40 to 100 ka. The deduced rate of terrace uplift decreases from Ventura to Los Angeles, conforming with a similar trend observed by others in contemporary geodetic data.The more rapid rates of terrace uplift in the western Transverse Ranges reflect N—S crustal shortening that is probably a local accommodation of the dominant right-lateral shear strain along coastal California.     

Late Devensian raised shorelines and ice limits in the inner Moray Firth area, northern Scotland

Marine, fluvial and fluvioglacial landforms and the deposits associated with them, have been mapped in the inner Moray Firth area. The landforms identified indicate a close association between the decay of the Late Devensian Scottish ice sheet and the formation of raised marine features. Analysis of the altitudes of the marine terraces has identified ten glacio-isostatically tilted raised shorelines of Late Devensian age, sloping down towards N25°E, at progressively lower gradients between 0.57 and 0.15 m/km. The shorelines were formed in close association with a westward- and southward-receding ice margin and the shoreline sequence suggests that rates of ice margin retreat were most rapid where the ice terminated in the sea.     

Bluff evolution and long-term recession rates,southwestern Lake Michigan

Where eroding cohesive sediments are present, Lake Michigan bluffs range up to 40 m in height, exposing multiple glacial stratigraphic units. Following the model presented here, bluffs form as a wave-cut terrace erodes inland from a point near the original shoreline. The erosion plane is nearly horizontal, in contrast with the eastward dip of the glacial units inherited from underlying bedrock. Therefore, terraces eroding inland produce progressively higher bluffs and expose successively older units at the toe and beneath the lake. This process was repeated several times as lake levels sequentially dropped to their modern stage. The initial modern shoreline, and hence the width of the wave-cut terrace, was determined from four offshore seismic and bottom-sampling profiles. It was picked as an inflection point in the lake bed, occurring offshore of dipping reflectors intersecting the lake bottom. The calculated average recession rate over a 2500-year duration of the modern stage is 1.5 m/yr in contrast to average rates of approximately 0.6 m/yr measured over the last century. Thus rates decrease through time as the terrace widens and wave energy is dampened. By correlating bluff height to recession distance, a third rate of approximately 2.7 m/yr for the first 940 years of recession is calculated from relict Nipissing bluffs. The three rates define a steeply decaying exponential curve in early stages of bluff retreat, flattening into a nearly linear function after 1000 years.     

黄河黑山峡口最高阶地宇宙核素的初步年龄 及所反映的新构造运动*

黄河深切于青藏高原东北缘的构造山地中,留下了山地和黄河形成演化的记录,但其高阶地年龄因超出常规测年技术的范围而存在困难。文章尝试用原地成因宇宙核素¹⁰ Be和²⁶ Al以及垂直剖面取样技术,通过剖面X²最小统计同时求出了年龄、侵蚀速率、继承浓度以及阶地沉积物密度等参数,所获得的黑山峡口247m最高基座阶地的参考年龄和剥蚀速率分别约为2.4Ma和15.5 ＋8 -4 m/Ma,这是该河段高阶地测年的一次新探索。根据这一结果及相关的构造地貌特征,认为香山-天景山断裂带西段2.4Ma前以逆冲为主,以后逐渐过渡到左旋走滑,该段黄河诞生于逆冲作用减弱时期。     

Submarine and onshore end moraines in southern Newfoundland: implications for the history of late Wisconsinan ice retreat

Recessional positions of the Newfoundland ice sheet 14-9 ka BP are represented by fjord-mouth submarine moraines, fjord-head emerged ice-contact marine deltas, and inland moraine belts. The arcuate submarine moraines have steep frontal ramparts and comprise up to 80 m of acoustically incoherent ice-contact sediment (or till) interfingered distally with glaciomarine sediment that began to be deposited c. 14.2 ka BP. The moraines formed by stabilization of ice that calved rapidly back along troughs on the continental shelf. The ice front retreated to fjord-heads and stabilized to form ice-contact delta terraces declining in elevation westward from +26 m to just below present sea level. Stratified glaciomarine sediments accumulated in fjords, while currents outside fjords eroded the upper part of the glaciomarine deposits, forming an unconformity bracketed by dates of 12.8 and 8.5 ka BP. The delta terraces are broadly correlated with the 12.7 ka BP Robinson's Head readvance west of the area. The ice front retreated inland, pausing three or four times to form lines of small bouldery stillstand moraines, heads of outwash, sidehill meltwater channels, and beaded eskers. Lake-sediment cores across this belt yield dated pollen evidence of three climatic reversals to which the moraines are equated: the Killarney Oscillation c. 11.2 ka BP, the Younger Dryas chronozone 11.0-10.4 ka BP, and an unnamed cold event c. 9.7 ka BP. Relative sea level fell in the early Holocene because of crustal rebound, so that outwash and other alluvium accumulated in deltas now submerged due to relative sea-level rise.     

Geological Indicators of Large Tsunami in Australia

Tsunami waves can produce four general categories of depositional and erosional signatures that differentiate them from storm waves. Combinations of items from these categories uniquely define the impact of palaeo-tsunami on the coastal landscape. The largest palaeo-tsunami waves in Australia swept sediment across the continental shelf and obtained flow depths of 15–20 m at the coastline with velocities in excess of 10 m ^-1. In New South Wales, along the cliffs of Jervis Bay, waves reachedelevations of more than 80 m above sea-level with evidence of flow depths in excess of 10 m. These waves swept 10 km inland over the Shoalhaven delta. In northern Queensland, boulders more than 6 m in diameter and weighing 286 tonnes were tossed alongshore above cyclone storm wave limits inside the Great Barrier Reef. In Western Australia waves overrode and breached 60 m high hills up to 5 km inland. Shell debris and cobbles can be found within deposits mapped as dunes, 30 km inland. The array of signatures provide directional information about the origin of the tsunami and, when combined with radiocarbon dating, indicate thatat least one and maybe two catastrophic events have occurred during the last 1000 years along these three coasts. Only the West Australian coast hashistorically been affected by notable tsunami with maximum run-up elevations of 4–6 m. Palaeo-tsunami have been an order of magnitude greater than this. These palaeo-tsunami are produced most likely by large submarine slides on the continental slope or the impactof meteorites with the adjacent ocean.     

The Pleistocene terrace staircase of the River Thame, central-southern England, and its significance for regional stratigraphic correlation, drainage development, and vertical crustal motions

The Thame is one of the principal left-bank affluents of the Thames, the largest river in southern England; it joins the Upper Thames at Dorchester, ∼20 km downstream of Oxford. Its terraces include a younger group of four, which date from the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene, are disposed subparallel to the modern river, and represent drainage within the modern catchment. At higher levels there are three older terraces, the Three Pigeons, Tiddington and Chilworth terraces, which are assigned to MIS 16, 14 and 12. With much gentler downstream gradients, these are fragmentary remnants of much more substantial fluvial deposits, indicating a much larger river that was disrupted by the Anglian (MIS 12) glaciation. This interpretation supersedes an earlier view that the glacigenic deposits in the Thame headwaters correlate with the Blackditch terrace, the highest of the younger group, which has hitherto provided an argument that the glaciation in this region occurred in MIS 10. It is suggested that the headwaters of the pre-Anglian ‘Greater Thame’ river were located near Northampton and that the Milton Sands of that area represent an upstream counterpart of the Chilworth terrace deposits. It is envisaged that this early Middle Pleistocene drainage geometry, located between the Jurassic limestone and Chalk escarpments, developed as a result of the increase in uplift rates that followed the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (MPR). It is suggested that before this time, including during the Early Pleistocene, the modern Thame catchment and adjacent regions drained southeastward through the Chalk escarpment, but these small rivers lacked the erosional power to cut through the Chalk in pace with the faster uplift occurring in the early Middle Pleistocene, and so became diverted to the southwest, subparallel to the Chalk escarpment, to form the pre-Anglian ‘Greater Thame’ tributary of the Upper Thames. The post-MPR uplift is estimated to decrease northwestward from 90 m in the Middle Thames to 75 m near the Thame-Thames confluence and to 65 m upstream of Oxford. The post-Anglian (post-450 ka) component of uplift decreases northward from 33 m near the Thame-Thames confluence to an estimated ∼20 m in the Northampton area; the relative stability of the latter area makes feasible the proposed correlation between the Milton Sands and the pre-Anglian River Thame. Limited post-Anglian uplift in the Northampton area is also inferred from the upstream convergence of the terraces of the modern rivers Nene and Great Ouse. These observed lateral variations in vertical crustal motions reflect lateral variations in crustal properties (including heat flow, crustal thickness, and thickness of underplating at the base of the crust) that are known independently. This study thus provides, for the first time, an integrated explanation of the Pleistocene drainage development across a large region of central-southern England.     

Evidence for the recurrence of large-magnitude earthquakes along the Makran coast of Iran and Pakistan

The presence of raised beaches and marine terraces along the Makran coast indicates episodic uplift of the continental margin resulting from large-magnitude earthquakes. The uplift occurs as incremental steps similar in height to the 1–3 m of measured uplift resulting from the November 28, 1945 (M 8.3) earthquake at Pasni and Ormara, Pakistan. The data support an E—W-trending, active subduction zone off the Makran coast.The raised beaches and wave-cut terraces along the Makran coast are extensive with some terraces 1–2 km wide, 10–15 m long and up to 500 m in elevation. The terraces are generally capped with shelly sandstones 0.5–5 m thick. Wave-cut cliffs, notches, and associated boulder breccia and swash troughs are locally preserved. Raised Holocene accretion beaches, lagoonal deposits, and tombolos are found up to 10 m in elevation. The number and elevation of raised wave-cut terraces along the Makran coast increase eastward from one at Jask, the entrance to the Persian Gulf, at a few meters elevation, to nine at Konarak, 250 km to the east. Multiple terraces are found on the prominent headlands as far east as Karachi. The wave-cut terraces are locally tilted and cut by faults with a few meters of displacement.Long-term, average rates of uplift were calculated from present elevation, estimated elevation at time of deposition, and ¹⁴C and U–Th dates obtained on shells. Uplift rates in centimeters per year at various locations from west to east are as follows: Jask, 0 (post-Sangamon); Konarak, 0.031–0.2 (Holocene), 0.01 (post-Sangamon); Ormara 0.2 (Holocene).     

Depositional environment and sedimentary of the basinal sediments in the Eibiswalder Bucht (Radl Formation and Lower Eibiswald Beds), Miocene Western Styrian Basin,Austria

The Eibiswald Bucht is a small subbasin of the Western Styrian Basin exposing sediments of Lower Miocene age. In the past the entire sequence exposed in the Eibiswalder Bucht has been interpreted as being of fluvial/lacustrine origin; here, results are presented of detailed sedimentological investigations that lead to a revision of this concept. The lowermost siliciclastic sedimentary unit of the Eibiswalder Bucht sequence is the Radl Formation. It is overlain by the Eibiswald Beds, which are subdivided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Eibiswald Beds. The Radl Formation and the Lower Eibiswald Beds are interpreted as a fan delta complex deposited along NNW-SSE striking faults. Based on the sedimentary facies this fan delta can be subdivided into a subaerial alluvial fan facies group, a proximal delta facies group and a distal delta/prodelta facies group. The Radl Formation comprises the alluvial fan and proximal delta facies groups, the Lower Eibiswald Beds the distal delta/prodelta facies group. The alluvial fan and the proximal delta consist of diverse deposits of gravelly flows. The distal delta/prodelta consists of wave-reworked, bioturbated, low density turbidites intercalated with minor gravelly mass flows. The prodelta can be regarded as as the basin facies of the small and shallow Eibiswalder Bucht, where marine conditions prevailed. The basin was probably in part connected with the Eastern Styrian Basin, the contemporary depositional environment of the Styrian Schlier (mainly turbiditic marine offshore sediments in the Eastern Styrian Basin). Analysis of the clast composition, in conjunction with the paleotransport direction of the coarse delta mass flows of the Radl Formation, shows that the source rocks were exclusively crystalline rocks ranging from greenschists to eclogites.     

Terrace staircases of the River Euphrates in southeast Turkey,northern Syria and western Iraq: evidence for regional surface uplift

We present the first overall synthesis of the terrace deposits of the River Euphrates in SE Turkey, northern Syria, and western Iraq, combining new observations with summaries of data sets from different reaches that had previously been independently studied on a piecemeal basis. The largest number of terraces observed in any reach of the Euphrates is 11, in western Iraq, where this river leaves the uplands of the Arabian Platform. In many other localities not more than 5 or 6 terraces have previously been identified, although we infer that some of these are resolvable into multiple terraces. These terraces are typically formed of gravel, principally consisting of Neotethyan ophiolite and metamorphic lithologies transported from Anatolia. Although older gravels are also evident, most of the Euphrates terrace deposits appear, given the chronologies that have been established for different parts of the study region, to date from the late Early Pleistocene onwards, the cold stages most often represented being interpreted as marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 22, 16, 12, 8, 6 and/or 4, and 2. The formation of this terrace staircase reflects regional uplift of the Arabian Platform. Estimated amounts of uplift since the Middle Pliocene decrease southeastward from almost 300 m in SE Turkey to ∼150 m in western Iraq. Uplift rates increased in the late Early Pleistocene, the uplift estimated since then decreasing from ∼110 m in SE Turkey to a minimum of ∼50 m in the Syria–Iraq border region, then increasing further downstream across western Iraq to ∼70 m. Numerical modelling of this uplift indicates a relatively thin mobile lower-crustal layer, consistent with the low surface heat flow in the Arabian Platform.