Mid‐late Holocene sea‐level variability in eastern Australia

A re‐analysis of sea‐level data from eastern Australia based on 115 calibrated C‐14 ages is used to constrain the origin, timing and magnitude of sea‐level change over the last 7000 years. We demonstrate that the Holocene sea‐level highstand of +1.0–1.5 m was reached ～7000 cal yr bp and fell to its present position after 2000 yr bp . These findings are in contrast to most previous studies that relied on smaller datasets and did not include the now common conversion of conventional C‐14 ages to calendar years. During this ～5000 year period of high sea level, growth hiatuses in oyster beds and tubeworms and lower elevations of coral microatolls are interpreted to represent short‐lived oscillations in sea‐level of up to 1 m during two intervals, beginning c. 4800 and 3000 cal yr bp . The rates of sea‐level rise and fall (1–2 mm yr^?1) during these centennial‐scale oscillations are comparable with current rates of sea‐level rise. The origin of the oscillations is enigmatic but most likely the result of oceanographic and climatic changes, including wind strengths, ice ablation, and melt‐water contributions of both Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.     

Miocene Crustal Anatexis of Paleozoic Orthogneiss in the Zhada Area, Western Himalaya

Granitic gneiss (orthogneiss) and Himalayan leucogranite are widely distributed in the Himalayan orogen, but whether or not the granitic gneiss made a contribution to the Himalayan leucogranite remains unclear. In this study, we present the petrological, geochronological and geochemical results for orthogneisses and leucogranites from the Zhada area, Western Himalayas. Zhada orthogneiss is composed mainly of quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, biotite and muscovite, with accessory zircon and apatite. Orthogneiss zircon cathodoluminescence (CL) images show that most grains contain a core with oscillatory zoning, which indicates an igneous origin. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb dating of the zircon cores in the orthogneiss shows a weighted 206Pb/238U age of 515 ± 4 Ma (early Paleozoic), with sponge-like zircon rims of 17.9 ± 0.5 Ma (Miocene). Zhada leucogranite shows 206Pb/238U ages ranging from 19.0 ± 0.4 Ma to 12.4 ± 0.2 Ma, the weighted average age being 16.2 ± 0.4 Ma. The leucogranites have a low Ca content (<1 wt%), FeOt content (<1 wt%), Rb content (67.0–402 ppm), Sr content (<56.6 ppm), Ba content (3.35–238 ppm) and Rb/Sr ratio (0.5–14.7), which are similar to the geochemical characteristics of the Himalayan leucogranite derived from muscovite dehydration partial melting of metasediments and representative of most Himalayan leucogranites. The highly variable Na2O + K2O (4.33 wt%–9.13 wt%), Al2O3 (8.44 wt%–13.51 wt%), ∑REE (40.2–191.0 ppm), Rb (67.0–402 ppm) and Nb (8.23–26.4 ppm) contents, 87Sr/86Sr(t) ratios (0.7445–0.8605) and εNd(t) values (?3.6 to ?8.2) indicate that the leucogranite is derived from a heterogenetic source. The nonradiogenic Nd isotope values of the studied Zhada leucogranite and orthogneiss range from ?8.2 to ?3.6 and from ?8.7 to ?4.1, respectively. Therefore, the general mixing equation was used to perform the Sr and Nd isotope mixing calculations. The results indicate that the heterogenetic source was the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence (THS)/Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) metasediments and Zhada orthogneiss. The Zhada area experienced crustal anatexis during the Miocene and the heterogenetic source of the orthogneiss and metasediment may have experienced crustal anatexis controlled by muscovite dehydration. The Zhada leucogranite inherited not only the geochemical characteristics of the Himalayan metasediment (muscovite dehydration melting), but also the trace elements and Sr-Nd isotopic characteristics of the Zhada orthogneiss. These results indicate that the Paleozoic Zhada orthogneiss was involved in crustal anatexis at 17.9 ± 0.5 Ma (Miocene) and that the muscovite dehydration of the metasediments in the heterogenetic source produced fluid, which may have caused the orthogneiss solidus lines to decline, triggering a partial melting of the Zhada orthogneiss. It is therefore proposed that Himalayan leucogranite is a crust-derived granite rather than a S-type granite, as previously hypothesized.     

The Mid‐Brunhes Event and West Antarctic ice sheet stability

The complex cyclical nature of Pleistocene climate, driven by the evolving orbital configuration of the Earth, is well known but not well understood. A major climatic transition took place at the Mid‐Brunhes Event (MBE), ca. 430 ka ago after which the amplitude of the ca.100 ka climate oscillations increased, with substantially warmer interglacials, including periods warmer than present. Recent modelling has indicated that while the timing of these warmer‐than‐present transient (WPT) events is consistent with southern warming due to a deglaciation‐forced slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the magnitude of warming requires a local amplification, for which a candidate is the feedback of significant West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) retreat. We here extend this argument, based on the absence of WPTs in the early ice core record (450–800 ka ago), to hypothesize that the MBE could be a manifestation of decreased WAIS stability, triggered by ongoing subglacial erosion. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mid‐Weichselian interstadial in Kolari,western Finnish Lapland

Finnish Lapland is known as an area where numerous sites with sediments from Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods occur. Recent sedimentological observations and dating call for reinterpretation of the record, which shows a complicated Mid‐Weichselian ice‐sheet evolution within the ice‐divide zone. Here, a large, previously unstudied section from a former Hannukainen iron mine was investigated sedimentologically and dated with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). Ten sedimentary units were identified displaying a variety of depositional environments (glacial, glaciolacustrine, fluvial and aeolian). They are all – except for the lowermost, deeply weathered till – interpreted to be of Mid‐ or Late Weichselian/Holocene age. Five OSL samples from fluvial sediments give ages ranging from 55 to 35 ka, indicating two MIS 3 ice‐free intervals of unknown duration. The Mid‐Weichselian interstadial was interrupted by a re‐advance event, which occurred later than 35 ka and caused glaciotectonic deformation, folding and stacking of older sediments. This new evidence emphasizes the importance of the Kolari area when unravelling the complex Late Pleistocene glacial history of northern Finland and adjacent regions.     

A Nwe Hadrosauroid Dinosaur from the Mid—Cretaceous of Liaoning,China

A new hadrosauroid dinosaur,Shuangmiaosaurus gilmorei gen.et sp.nov,is descuibed based on a complete left maxilla with articulated premaxilla and lacrimal fragments,and a complete left dentary from the mid-Cretaceous Sunjiawan Formation of Beipiao.Liaoning,northeastern China.Chadistic analysis shows that Shuangmiaosaurus is a basal hadrosauroid,and comprises the sister taxon to Hadrosauridae.In both Shuangmiaosqurus and Hadrosaurids.However,Shuangmiaosaurus does not possess such hadrosaurid synapomorphies as the diamond-shaped maxillary crowns with reduced primary ridges and reduced marginal denticles.     

A giant catastrophic mud‐and‐debris flow in the Miocene Makran

We challenge the former interpretation of the ‘sedimentary mélange’ of the Makran accretionary complex as a tectonic mélange diapirically emplaced from below and provide evidence for its sedimentary gravitational emplacement from the north during Tortonian–Messinian times (between 11.8 and 5.8 Ma). It is an olistostrome that includes blocks of ophiolites and oceanic sediments derived from the ‘coloured mélange’ to the north, and reworked chunks of the turbidites on which it rests with an erosional truncation. The chaotic scattering of blocks of any size and lithology and the weak, soft‐sediment deformation of the matrix argue against a tectonic emplacement of the chaotic formation. Its size and internal structure, together with the size of the individual blocks, make the olistostrome a fossil equivalent of the large, gravitationally emplaced debris flows observed along present‐day continental margins and unstable volcanic edifices.     

Palaeogeographic Changes at Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula,Ukraine, during the Mid‐ and Late‐Holocene

This project has reconstructed the palaeogeographic and environmental evolution of Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula, Ukraine, during the mid‐ and late‐Holocene. This record has been evaluated in association with a regional archaeological data set to explore human–environment interactions over this period. The results show major changes in the palaeogeographic setting of Lake Chokrak since the 3rd millennium B.C., when the postglacial marine transgression had started to fill the study area. Microfaunal analyses reveal the long persistence of an open marine embayment that only became separated from the Sea of Azov when a sand barrier developed during the late 2nd millennium B.C. When colonizing the Black Sea region after the 8th century B.C., the Greek settlers erected a fortification with a small settlement on a promontory that was by then a peninsula‐like headland extending into the lake. The colonists abandoned their settlement at the end of the 1st millennium B.C. when the depth of the surrounding lake decreased from 1.5 m to less than 1 m. Today, Lake Chokrak dries up completely during summer. A detailed relative sea level (RSL) curve for the northern coast of Kerch has been established. Sea level reached its highest position at the present day. Since the 3rd millennium B.C., sea level continuously rose, without any of the previously postulated regression/transgression cycles. The RSL curve indicates differential subsidence rates within short distances in relatively stable areas, exceeding 40 cm per 1000 years. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Tectonic control on exhumation and seismicity in the Garhwal‐Kumaun Himalaya,NW‐India

Despite similar geological and tectonic setting along the Himalayan orogen, distinct thermochronological/exhumational and seismicity variability exists between the Kumaun and the Garhwal regions of the NW‐ Himalaya. The processes responsible for such variability are still debated. To understand this, published thermochronological ages from several traverses across the Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) and Lesser Himalayan Crystalline (LHC) have been correlated with the seismicity pattern in both Garhwal and Kumaun segments. The seismicity pattern coincides with the zone of rapid uplift and exhumation. The profiles of seismicity across the Kumaun and the Garhwal regions agree with the existence of the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) underlying the regions and reflect its geometry and architecture. Slip along the MHT is responsible for occurrence of seismicity on decade time‐scale and exhumation pattern on Myr time‐scale of the Himalaya.     

Mid‐Holocene frozen ground in China from PMIP3 simulations

Extensive degradation of frozen ground in the mid‐Holocene is widely assumed on the basis of sparse proxy data. Here, the simulated soil temperature from the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project Phase 3 is used to address this issue over China. By comparing with the results of a preindustrial (0 ka, baseline) simulation, we show that frozen ground in the mid‐Holocene (6 ka) simulation is degraded mainly in northeast China and on the northern Tibetan Plateau. The change follows closely orbitally induced variations in insolation. Quantitatively, permafrost area reduces by 0.02×10⁶ km² in northeast China in response to an orbitally induced increase in boreal summer insolation but increases by 0.08×10⁶ km² on the southern Tibetan Plateau due to local summer cooling. Changing values of active layer thickness vary greatly amongst different locations. On average, they are 3 and 4 cm thicker than the preindustrial values in northeast China and on the Tibetan Plateau, respectively. No degradation in seasonally frozen ground is detected over China as a whole. Regionally, its coverage increases by 0.21×10⁶ km² near the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley. In addition, the maximum depth of seasonal frost penetration is on average 8.5 cm deeper than preindustrial values due to widespread winter cooling. The changes in frozen ground are consistent amongst models. However, the models disagree with proxy data in terms of not only the changes in frozen ground but also climate. Further modelling improvements and adequate proxy data are both needed to fill in the gaps between models and the data in our knowledge of the mid‐Holocene frozen ground.     

Middle Miocene pedological record of monsoonal climate from NW Himalaya (Jammu & Kashmir State), India

The Lower Siwalik Subgroup represented by the Dodenal (Kamlial Formation) and Ramnagar Members (Chinji Formation) is well exposed at Ramnagar, District Udhampur, Jammu & Kashmir State. The Ramnagar Member consists of an alternating sequence of silt and mudstone formed under crevasse-splay and flood-plain environments of deposition. Argillisol and gleysol soils are developed on the Ramnagar Member deposits. Argillisols formed under well-drained conditions at high levels, whereas gleysols formed under poorly drained conditions at low levels of the palaeo-landscape. Geochemical and micromorphological studies of the Ramnagar Member palaeosols suggest formation under wet and humid climatic conditions. Early uplift of the Tibetan Plateau/Himalaya resulted in a contemporaneous change in precipitation and monsoonal climate conditions within the Indian region beginning in Middle Miocene.     

Mid‐ to late Holocene relative sea‐level change in Poole Harbour,southern England

A foraminiferal transfer function for mean tide level (MTL) is used in combination with AMS radiocarbon dated material to construct a record of relative sea‐level (RSL) change from Poole Harbour, southern Britain. These new data, based on multiple cores from duplicate sites, indicate four phases of change during the last 5000 cal. (calendar) yr: (i) rising RSL between ca. 4700 cal. yr BP and ca. 2400 cal. yr BP; (ii) stable to falling RSL from ca. 2400 cal. yr BP until ca. 1200 cal. yr BP; (iii) a brief rise in RSL from ca. 1200 cal. yr BP to ca. 900 cal. yr BP, followed by a period of stability; (iv) a recent increase in the rate of RSL rise from ca. 400–200 cal. yr BP until the present day. In addition, they suggest that the region has experienced long‐term crustal subsidence at a rate of 0.5 mm C¹⁴ yr^?1. Although this can account for the overall rise in MTL observed during the past 2500 yr, it fails to explain the changes in the rate of rise during this period. This implies that the phases of RSL change recorded in the marshes of Poole Harbour reflect tidal range variations or ‘eustatic’ fluctuations in sea‐level. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics of Milankovitch Cycles in the Mid‐Permian Liangshan and Qixia Formations of the Sichuan Basin—Examples from Well‐Long17 and Well‐Wujia1

The Liangshan and Qixia formations in the Sichuan Basin of central China were formed in the earlier middle Permian. Based on outcrop observation of the Changjianggou section at Shangsi, Guangyuan region and 3rd-order sequence division in typical drillings, one-dimensional spectrum analysis has been used to choose the better curve between the natural gamma ray spectrometry log(ln(Th/K)) in Well-Long17 and the gamma ray log(GR) in Well-Wujia1, respectively, for identifying Milankovitch cycles in Sequence PSQ1 which comprises the Liangshan and Qixia formations, and then to identify the variation in the Milankovitch cycle sequences. On this basis, the system tract and 4th-order sequence interfaces in Sequence PSQ1 were found via two-dimensional spectral analysis and digital filtering. Finally, a high-frequency sequence division program was established. Among these cycles, long eccentricity (413.0 ka) and short eccentricity (123.0 ka) are the most unambiguous, and they are separately the major control factors in forming 4th-order (parasequence sets) and 5th-order (parasequences) sequences, with the average thicknesses corresponding to the main cycles being 11.47 m and 3.32 m in Well-Long17, and 14.21 m and 3.79 m in Well-Wujia1, respectively. In other words, the deposition rate in the beach subfacies is faster than that of the inner ramp facies. The ln(Th/K) curve is more sensitive than the GR as the index of relatively ancient water depth in carbonate deposition. One-dimensional spectrum analysis of ln(Th/K) curve could distinguish the Milankovitch cycle sequences that arose from the Precession cycle (20.90 ka), with a much higher credibility. Sequence PSQ1 in Well-Long17 contains 10 4th-order sequences, and the growth span of Sequence PSQ1 consisting of the Liangshan and Qixia formations is about 4.13 Ma. The single deposition thickness of the long eccentricity cycle sequence has the characteristics of thinning and then thickening in the two-dimensional spectrum, which could be used to identify the system tract interface of the 3rd-order sequence. The precession sequence thickness remains stationary. As a result, the early deposition rate in the mid-Permian of the Sichuan basin was very slow, remaining nearly stationary, and this reflects a sustained depositional environment. Whole-rock carbon and oxygen isotope curves could also prove this point. Milankovitch cycle sequence studies provide a basis for paleoenvironmental analysis and, as such, can be used to analyze ancient climate change, calculate deposition rate and deposition time, and carry out fine isochronous stratigraphic correlation.     

Multi‐scale Decomposition of Co‐seismic Deformation from High Resolution DEMs: a Case Study of the 2004 Mid‐Niigata Earthquake

Decomposing co-seismic deformation is an immediate need for researchers who are interested in earthquake inversion analysis and geo-hazard mapping. However, conventional InSAR or digital elevation models (DEMs) imagery analyses only provide the displacement in the Line-of-Sight (LOS) direction or elevation changes. The 2004 Mid-Niigata earthquake in Japan provides lessons on how to decompose co-seismic deformation from two sets of DEMs. If three adjacent points undergo a rigid-body-translation movement, their co-seismic deformation can be decomposed by solving simultaneous equations. Although this method has been successfully used to discuss tectonic deformations, the algorithm needed improvement and a more rigorous algorithm, including a new definition of nominal plane, DEMs comparability improvement and matrix condition check is provided. Even with these procedures, the obtained decomposed displacement often showed remarkable scatter prompting the use of the moving average method, which was used to determine both tectonic and localized displacement characteristics. A cut-off window and a pair of band-pass windows were selected according to the regional geology and construction activities to ease the tectonic and localized displacement calculations, respectively. The displacement field of the tectonic scale shows two major clusters of large lateral components, and coincidently major visible landslides were found mostly within them. The localized displacement helps to reveal hidden landslides in the target area. As far as the Kizawa hamlet is concerned, the obtained vectors show down-slope movements, which are consistent with the observed traces of dislocations that were found in the Kizawa tunnel and irrigation wells. The method proposed has great potential to be applied to understanding post-earthquake rehabilitation in other areas.     

Evidence of Abrupt Climate Change during the Mid‐ to Late‐Holocene Recorded in a Tropical Lake,Southern China

Research on abrupt paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental change provides a scientific basis for evaluating future climate. Because of spatial variability in monsoonal rainfall, our knowledge about climate change during the mid-to lateHolocene in southern China is still limited. We present a multi-proxy record of paleoclimatic change in a crater lake, Lake Shuangchi. Based on the age-depth model from 210 Pb, 137 Cs and AMS14 C data, high-resolution mid-to late-Holocene climatic and environmental r...     

Mid‐ and late‐Holocene climatic changes: a test of periodicity and solar forcing in proxy‐climate data from blanket peat bogs

A wide range of palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Holocene has suggested periodicities in the Earth's climate of 10s to 1000s of years. Identifying these millennial‐, century‐ and decadal periodicities, and their impacts, is critical in developing a fuller understanding of natural climate variability. Any solar‐induced climatic change needs to be distinguished from other causes of natural climate variability and from short‐term catastrophic events induced either by external or internal processes. Such events might themselves generate a periodicity, or in combination with other forcing factors they may contribute towards a periodicity (and so spuriously imply a universal and continuing periodicity in the climate record), or they may resonate with a solar‐induced periodicity. Here, evidence from peat records for periodicity in climate change over the mid to late Holocene is reviewed and this is followed by a test of the replicability of claimed periodicities using blanket peat data covering the past 2000 yr from four sites in the British Isles. Results suggest that the mires studied do go through phases of being responsive to periodic forcing factors, with ca. 200, ca. 80 and 60–50 yr wavelengths reflected in some data sets. However, the patterns shown are not consistent. This could be the result of local conditions at individual mires (human impact, sensitivity and vegetation succession) or of changes in the strength or nature of global forcing factors. Assessing a solar–mire link remains difficult because the century‐scale variations of the Sun show different intervals between solar minima, the durations of which are themselves unequal, and because the proxy‐climate data‐sets from peat profiles may themselves not be dated with sufficient precision and/or accuracy. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of rift‐inherited hyper‐extension in Alpine‐type orogens

Alpine‐type orogens are interpreted to result from the collision of former rifted margins. As many present‐day rifted margins consist of hyper‐extended domains floored by thinned continental crust (<10 km) and/or exhumed mantle, this study explores the influence of rift inheritance on the architecture and final evolution of Alpine‐type orogens. We propose that rift‐related necking zones, separating weakly thinned 25‐ to 30‐km‐thick crust from hyper‐extended domains, may act as buttresses during the transition from subduction to collision. As a result, former necking zones may now be found at the boundary between a highly deformed and overthickened nappe stack, made of relics of hyper‐extended domains, and an external, weakly deformed fold‐and‐thrust belt, which largely escaped significant rift‐related crustal thinning and orogeny‐related thickening. Therefore, the role of rift inheritance is of critical importance and is largely underestimated in controlling the architecture and evolution of Alpine‐type orogens.     

Genetic implications of Zn‐ and Mn‐rich Cr‐spinels in serpentinites of the Tidding Suture Zone,eastern Himalaya,NE India

Metamorphosed serpentinites of the Tidding Suture Zone (TSZ), eastern Himalaya, contain variably altered Cr‐spinels that are concentrically zoned from high‐Cr, low‐Fe³⁺ spinel at the core to Cr‐magnetite at the rim. Two types of Cr‐spinel have been recognized, based on back‐scattered electron imaging in conjunction with microprobe analytical profiles. Cr‐spinel type‐I is present in the least metamorphosed serpentinite (Cr# = 0.78–0.85, Mg# = 0.38–0.45) and Cr‐spinel type‐II is present in the most highly metamorphosed serpentinite (Cr# = 0.86–0.94, Mg# = 0.10–0.34). Primary igneous compositions are preserved in the type‐I chromites whereas these compositions have been partly or completely obscured by metamorphism and alteration in type‐II grains. The enrichment of Mn and Zn increases from the type‐I (MnO = 1.86–2.42 wt.%, ZnO = 0.77–1.67 wt.%) to type‐II (MnO = 2.72–4.04 wt.%, ZnO = 1.33–3.22 wt.%) and the strong similarity in their distribution patterns implies that these elements were introduced during low‐grade metamorphism and serpentinization. The abundance of Mg‐rich chlorite and serpentine minerals suggest that olivine was the predominant silicate phase before serpentinization. Zn and Mn enrichment in the core zone of the Cr‐spinel is due to the substitution of Mg²⁺ and in part of Fe²⁺, by Zn and Mn. These elements were probably supplied from olivine upon serpentinization during and after obduction of the ophiolitic mélange along the Tidding Suture Zone in the eastern Himalaya, NE India. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.