Occurrence of varved lake sediment sequences in Varmland, west central Sweden: lake characteristics, varve chronology and AMS radiocarbon dating

Varved lake sediments can be used to set multiple environmental proxies within a calendar year time scale. We undertook a systematic survey of lakes in the Province of Värmland, west central Sweden, with the aim of finding continuous varved lake sediment sequences covering the majority of the Holocene. In Fennoscandia, such sediments have previously only been recorded in northern Sweden and in southern and central Finland. By following a selective process and fieldwork we discovered three new varved sites (i.e. Furskogstjärnet, Mötterudstjärnet and Kälksjön). We found that lakes with varved sediments have several common lake morphometry properties and lake catchment characteristics such as maximum water depth, maximum water depth/lake surface area ratio, catchment soil types, altitude and number of inflows. Varve chronologies, supported by AMS-¹⁴C dating and tephrochronology were established for two of the sediment profiles. These varve chronologies are the longest geological records with an annual resolution known to exist in Sweden. In Furskogstjärnet, the AMS- ¹⁴C dates based on terrestrial plant macrofossils at several levels deviate significantly from the varve based time-depth curve. In Motterudstjarnet, a fully reasonable time-depth model based on the ¹⁴C dates gives older ages in the lower part of the sequence compared to the varve chronology. These results highlight that seemingly acceptable AMS radiocarbon dates may be erroneous. They also point to the fact that varved lake sediments are reliable geological archives with respect to chronological control and accuracy. Thus, these archives should be of prime interest for studies of climate and environmental change undertaken with the aim of providing sub-decadal resolution proxy data sets.     

Corry bog, pennsylvania: A case study of the radiocarbon dating of marl

New radiocarbon dates, carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of mollusks and marl, and palynologic analysis have clarified age relationships at the Corry kettle bog in northwestern Pennsylvania. A 4000-yr difference in radiocarbon dates between basal peat and marl top, previously interpreted as caused by the presence of an unconformity, is reinterpreted as due to “hard-water effects” from carbonate bedrock and glacial deposits. A radiocarbon date of 14,000 yr from basal marl, previously used as a minimum age for glacial deposition, is also likely too old; instead a similar age is estimated for the base of the underlying lake clay. Radiocarbon dates on marl should be used with caution and supported by isotopic and pollen analyses.     

The last deglaciation of the Norwegian Channel – geomorphology,stratigraphy and radiocarbon dating

Based on high‐resolution TOPAS acoustic data, bathymetric data sets and sediment cores from the Norwegian Channel, the last retreat of the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream has been investigated. Mapping of ice‐marginal features such as grounding‐zone wedges and terminal moraines off western Norway suggest that the retreat of the grounding line in this part of the channel was interrupted by frequent stillstands, whereas the channel south of the threshold at Jæren does not have crossing ice‐marginal landforms. Three main seismic units have been identified, and, based on their seismic characteristics, in addition to study of sediment cores, these units are interpreted as till (U1), glacial marine sediment (U2) and Holocene hemipelagic sediment (U3). Based on new and published radiocarbon dates of the lower part of U2, combined with dates from the adjacent areas, it is concluded that the grounding line started to retreat from the shelf edge at about 19 ka and that the inner part of Skagerrak was ice free at 17.6 ka. This gives an average retreat rate of 450 m a⁻¹, which is generally higher than mean retreat rates estimated for other palaeo‐ice streams (15–310 m a⁻¹).     

The influence of pretreatment chemistry on the radiocarbon dating of Campanian Ignimbrite-aged charcoal from Kostenki 14 (Russia)

The presence of an independently dated marker in an archaeological site offers rare opportunities for assessing the reliability of radiocarbon dates, especially when these are close to the age limit of the technique. Two different pretreatment protocols (routine ABA and more rigorous ABOx-SC) were employed in the chemical preparation of the same charcoal sample from a layer closely associated to the Campanian Ignimbrite tephra at the Russian Palaeolithic site of Kostenki 14 (Markina Gora). The ABA-treated fraction gave an age of ∼33 ¹⁴C ka BP, comparable to a previous determination from the same layer, whereas the ABOx-SC produced an older age of ∼35 ¹⁴C ka BP. This is the first radiocarbon determination of an archaeological sample to provide an age consistent with the “calendar” age for the CI tephra marker.     

Relative and radiocarbon chronology of two former glaciers in the Chilean Lake District

This paper investigates the relative importance of climatic and topographic factors on the fluctuations of two adjacent palaeoglaciers in the Chilean Lake District. Geomorphological mapping of the landforms around two lakes occupied by the palaeoglaciers has identified a series of intersecting moraine limits and ice-marginal meltwater channels, which allow the relative timing of glacier fluctuations to be established. The broad pattern of advance and retreat is the same in the two basins, with at least one synchronous major advance sometime after 19 500 yr BP, but there is also evidence of discordant behaviour, with one glacier advancing less often and lagging the other glacier during retreat. Seventeen radiocarbon dates suggest a similar chronology to other palaeoglaciers in the Chilean Lake District, but the advance after 19 500 yr BP may have been 1500 ¹⁴C yr later than major advances of palaeoglaciers situated immediately south. The empirical evidence of differential behaviour can be simulated by a glaciological model, which suggests that the differences in glacier response are due to contrasts in basin topography. Contrasts of this magnitude between the timing of some glacier advances has important implications for regional and interhemispheric correlation of Chilean Lake District glacier chronologies to other climate proxy records. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison between radiocarbon and varve dating in Lake Lampellonjärvi, south Finland

The annual nature of organic laminations in the sediment from a small lake, Lampellonjärvi (61°04'N; 25°04'E), was determined. The core was obtained using an in situ freezing method and the laminations were checked by a detailed microscopical analysis of adhesive tape preparations. A series of six radiocarbon dates were obtained for levels in the core which had previously been dated by means of varve counts to ages between A.D. 182 and AD. 1513. The radiocarbon dates were between 547 and 1525 years older. Two additional ¹⁴C dates from the lower part of the same profile (ca. 1880 B.C. and ca. 3100 B.C.), however, gave expected results. Erosion of old organic terrestrial material due to agricultural activity in the surroundings of the lake was assumed to have been the cause of abnormally old radiocarbon ages. Dates from the pre-agricultural period had a deviation from varve years similar to the difference between tree rings, historical documents and radiocarbon dating recorded in other studies.     

Chronologies of sedimentary changes in the south Bohai Sea,China: constraints from luminescence and radiocarbon dating

The alternation of terrestrial and marine deposits is an indicator of past environmental and sea‐level changes. The age of deposition is usually dated by means of radiocarbon. However, radiocarbon dates of molluscan shells from coastal areas may be complicated by various sources of carbon, and problematic for deposits of 40–50 ka or older. Herein, we apply the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating method to date samples from terrestrial and marine/coastal sediments extracted from three cores in the south Bohai Sea, China. Multiple‐ and single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose procedures using OSL signals from fine‐silt (4–11 μm), coarse‐silt (38–63 μm) and fine‐sand (63–90 or 90–125 μm) quartz were employed to determine the equivalent dose (D _e). The results showed that: (i) OSL ages from quartz of different grain sizes and different protocols are consistent with each other; (ii) for Holocene samples, most of the radiocarbon dates agree well with OSL ages; (iii) for pre‐Holocene samples, radiocarbon dates cluster at 40–50 ¹⁴ C ka BP, whereas OSL ages are in stratigraphic order from 11 ka to 176 ka. Because of the self‐consistency of the quartz OSL ages, the stratigraphic agreement in the three cores, and the clustering of the radiocarbon dates, we suggest that the quartz OSL ages are more reliable with respect to dating the samples from the south Bohai Sea. Finally, the four marine strata identified in the south Bohai Sea are likely to have formed during the Holocene, Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 3–5, MIS 6 and probably MIS 7, respectively.     

Correlation of environmental and cultural chronology in New Caledonia

A case study in New Caledonia explores the changes in the natural and cultural setting at the end of the Lapita period in the first millennium B.C. After the mid‐Holocene highstand, sea level fell about 1.5 m, thereby enlarging coastal plains, altering previous mangrove and marshy settings, and transforming nearshore marine environments. Many of these changes occurred gradually over several centuries, but the termination of finely decorated Lapita pottery coincided with the first signs of loss of coastal habitat optimal for marine‐based horticulturalists in the first millennium B.C. Organized village compounds and extensively cultivated landscapes emerged much later, in the first millennium A.D. The results suggest that, although the Lapita phenomenon represents the founding ancestry of Oceanic societies, it also represents the end of an era and way of life that eventually could not be maintained in a changing world. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spawning sockeye salmon fossils in Pleistocene lake beds of Skokomish Valley, Washington

An assemblage of fossil sockeye salmon was discovered in Pleistocene lake sediments along the South Fork Skokomish River, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. The fossils were abundant near the head of a former glacial lake at 115 m elevation. Large adult salmon are concentrated in a sequence of death assemblages that include individuals with enlarged breeding teeth and worn caudal fins indicating migration, nest digging, and spawning prior to death. The specimens were 4 yr old and 45-70 cm in total length, similar in size to modern sockeye salmon, not landlocked kokanee. The fossils possess most of the characteristics of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, but with several minor traits suggestive of pink salmon, O. gorbuscha. This suggests the degree of divergence of these species at about 1 million yr ago, when geological evidence indicates the salmon were deposited at the head of a proglacial lake impounded by the Salmon Springs advance of the Puget lobe ice sheet. Surficial geology and topography record a complicated history of glacial damming and river diversion that implies incision of the modern gorge of the South Fork Skokomish River after deposition of the fossil-bearing sediments.     

The use of varved clay chronology for dating paleoseismic events: the Erstavik record in the Stockholm area, south Sweden

Geological structures suggest that the Fennoscandian Shield was subjected to a higher seismicity at the end of the last glaciation than today. This article demonstrates the use of varved clay chronology for dating paleoseismic events. It is argued that the deposited annually layered glacial varves were sensitive to past ground movements. In the Stockholm area, the Erstavik varved clay chronology suggests four paleoseismic events: a first (I) dating from varve year 10,473 to 10,468 BP; a second (II) 10,451 to 10,445 BP; a third (III) 10,429 to 10,425 BP; and a fourth (IV) 10,409 to 10,404 BP. In De Geer's ‘old' (1940) chronology the first (I) dating corresponds with −1117 to −1112, the second (II) with −1095 to −1089, the third (III) with −1073 to −1069, and the fourth (IV) with −1053 to −1048. The most pronounced event was the one at around varve year 10,429 BP (varve −1073 in De Geer's ‘old' chronology). The recurrence time of about 20 years suggests a totally different seismic regime at the time of deglaciation than what exists today. It coincided with the period of maximum isostatic uplift. The complexity of the varved clay response to seismic events is also discussed.     

Re-Os geochronology of gold mineralization in the Fawakhir area,Eastern Desert,Egypt

We report the first Re-Os data on gold-associated arsenopyrite from mesothermal gold-quartz veins in the ancient Egyptian Fawakhir–El Sid gold mining district in the central Eastern Desert. This mining district has an ~5000-year-old history and is displayed in the Turin Papyrus Map (about 1150 BC), which is widely acclaimed as the world’s oldest geographic map, as well as the oldest geologic and mine map. The Fawakhir–El Sid district is part of a regional NNW-trending shear corridor (15 km wide) that hosts several other historic gold mines associated with left-lateral wrench structures and related granite intrusions. Vein-style gold mineralization is hosted within and at the margin of an I-type and magnetite-series monzogranite, the Fawakhir granite intrusion, and a Pan-African (~740 Ma) ophiolite sequence. The ore mineralogy of the mineralized quartz veins includes pyrite-arsenopyrite-pyrrhotite-sphalerite-galena-chalcopyrite-electrum plus a number of tellurides of Ag, Au, and Bi. The ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os versus ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os regression on 5 points of arsenopyrite gives an age of 601 ± 17 Ma with an initial ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os of 0.24 ± 0.07 (2 σ; MSWD = 17). This age coincides within error with the U-Pb age on zircon from the Fawakhir monzogranite (598 ± 3 Ma). The age coincidence and the hydrothermal Te and Bi metal signature suggest a foremost role of granite-related fluids in the quartz-vein system.     

东准噶尔卡拉麦里地区巴塔玛依内山组火山岩特征和年代确定

巴塔玛依内山组火山岩在新疆准噶尔盆地东部及其周缘山区广泛分布,是陆东、五彩湾等地区卡拉麦里大气田的主要储层。根据两个实测剖面和一口钻井岩性剖面的对比,巴塔玛依内山组陆相喷发火山岩具有多期次,间歇性喷发的特征,沉积岩夹层是主要的喷发间断面标志。火山岩地层厚度变化快,岩相岩性变化大。岩石化学分析表明巴塔玛依内山组火山岩主要是亚碱性-碱性、高钾的中基性岩。巴塔玛依内山组火山岩锆石SHRIMP U-Pb定年结果为350.0±6.3Ma,结合其上覆地层的生物化石证据,认为巴塔玛依内山组属于下石炭统。     

Finds of Ediacaran-type fossils in Vendian deposits of the Yudoma Group,Eastern Siberia

It has been established that terrigenous units of mainly carbonate deposits of the Yudoma Group in the Uchur–Maya Region of the Siberian Platform contain an assemblage of Late Vendian Ediacaran-type macrofossils. The assemblage contains species such as Aspidella terranovica, Beltanelliformis brunsae, Nenoxites curvus, and Palaeopascichnus sp., which had widespread geographic distribution. Finds of Ediacaran fossils in fossil-rich deposits of the Yudoma Group have expanded the possibilities of using the classic biostratigraphic approach applied for subdivision and global correlation of carbonate deposits in Late Precambrian paleobasins.     

The Littorina transgression in the southwestern Baltic Sea: new insights based on proxy methods and radiocarbon dating of sediment cores

Rößler, D., Moros, M. & Lemke, W. 2010: The Littorina transgression in the southwestern Baltic Sea: new insights based on proxy methods and radiocarbon dating of sediment cores. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00180.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. The Littorina transgression is one of the most pronounced environmental events in the Holocene history of the Baltic Sea. It changed the hydrographic system from the freshwater Ancylus Lake into the brackish‐marine Littorina Sea. Here, 18 cores from two western Baltic basins, Mecklenburg Bay and the Arkona Basin, were analysed. We show that, besides biological indicators, sedimentary organic carbon, C/N ratio, bulk δ¹³C isotope values and carbonate content display clearly the transition from Ancylus Lake to the Littorina Sea. The first appearances of benthic foraminifers, marine molluscs and ostracods represent the onset of brackish‐marine conditions in the bottom waters. Central Arkona Basin sediments display more abrupt shifts in geochemical parameters and microfossil records at the transition from Ancylus Lake to the Littorina Sea than those from Mecklenburg Bay. Mixing of reworked Ancylus material with Littorina Sea stage material was stronger in Mecklenburg Bay, resulting in less pronounced proxy parameter changes and older bulk material dates. Radiocarbon dating of both calcareous material (benthic foraminifers, mollusc shells) and bulk fractions at the transgression horizon shows large age discrepancies. Based on calcareous fossil dates it appears that marine waters began to enter Mecklenburg Bay c. 8000 cal. a BP. In the Arkona Basin the first marine signals are recorded approximately 800 years later, c. 7200 cal. a BP. This indicates a transgression pathway via the Great Belt into Mecklenburg Bay and then into the Arkona Basin.     

Associated terrestrial and marine fossils in the late-glacial Presumpscot Formation, southern Maine, USA, and the marine reservoir effect on radiocarbon ages

Excavations in the late-glacial Presumpscot Formation at Portland, Maine, uncovered tree remains and other terrestrial organics associated with marine invertebrate shells in a landslide deposit. Buds of Populus balsamifera (balsam poplar) occurred with twigs of Picea glauca (white spruce) in the Presumpscot clay. Tree rings in Picea logs indicate that the trees all died during winter dormancy in the same year. Ring widths show patterns of variation indicating responses to environmental changes. Fossil mosses and insects represent a variety of species and wet to dry microsites. The late-glacial environment at the site was similar to that of today's Maine coast. Radiocarbon ages of 14 tree samples are 11,907 ± 31 to 11,650 ± 50 ¹⁴C yr BP. Wiggle matching of dated tree-ring segments to radiocarbon calibration data sets dates the landslide occurrence at ca. 13,520 + 95/−20 cal yr BP. Ages of shells juxtaposed with the logs are 12,850 ± 65 ¹⁴C yr BP (Mytilus edulis) and 12,800 ± 55 ¹⁴C yr BP (Balanus sp.), indicating a marine reservoir age of about 1000 yr. Using this value to correct previously published radiocarbon ages reduces the discrepancy between the Maine deglaciation chronology and the varve-based chronology elsewhere in New England.     

Age of the Jombolok lava field (East Sayan): evidence from dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating

Dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating, with reference to remote sensing, digital elevation modeling, geological, and geomorphological data, provide new age constraints for the Jombolok lava field in the East Sayan Mountains (Siberia). The Jombolok lava field originated in the latest Late Pleistocene and underwent at least four phases of volcanic activity recorded in lava flows. Two earliest phases followed shortly one after another more than 13 kyr ago. The third phase corresponding to eruptions of Kropotkin volcano can be timed only relatively. The fourth phase has been dated by dendrochronology and AMS ¹⁴C of well-preserved wood buried under the youngest lava which occurs among older lavas near the Jombolok River mouth. The age of this activity is bracketed between the death of trees caused by eruptions 1268-928 years ago and the beginning of new tree growth on the surface of the most recent lavas 900 years ago.     

ESR dating and the human evolution: contribution to the chronology of the earliest humans in Europe

In the last 20 years, the electron spin resonance (ESR) dating method has allowed the establishment of a chronological time frame over most of the history of human evolution. Despite many difficulties found for ESR dating of bones and carbonates, tooth enamel dated by ESR has been proven as a reliable method in its application to fossil teeth and quartz. Both of the latter materials have allowed dating of Early and Middle Pleistocene sites which are not datable using other methods such as the Argon–Argon method. In particular, recent discoveries of human remains in western Europe have been proposed to be sites of the earliest arrival of humans there, and have been dated to the Early Pleistocene by ESR using quartz and tooth enamel.Combined ESR and U-series dating of fossil herbivore teeth are the only means of dating layers from which such ancient remains have been recovered in western Europe. Good examples are the sites of Atapuerca Gran Dolina, Spain and Visogliano, Italy which have been dated using tooth enamel.When no bones and teeth can be found in prehistoric sites, ESR dating on quartz extracted from sediments has been used to date sites whose ages range over the entire Quaternary period. We present here two examples that occur in fluvial terraces of the river Creuse, France and at Monte Poggiolo site, Italy, where several artefacts of an archaic pebble industry have been recovered.     

A new radiocarbon chronology of Baumkirchen,stratotype for the onset of the Upper Würmian in the Alps

The start of the Upper Würmian in the Alps was marked by massive fluvioglacial aggradation prior to the arrival of the Central Alpine glaciers. In 1984, the Subcommission on European Quaternary Stratigraphy defined the clay pit of Baumkirchen (in the foreland of the Inn Valley, Austria) as the stratotype for the Middle to Upper Würmian boundary in the Alps. Key for the selection of this site was its radiocarbon chronology, which still ranks among the most important datasets of this time interval in the Alps. In this study we re‐sampled all available original plant specimens and established an accelerator mass spectrometry chronology which supersedes the published 40‐year‐old chronology. The new data show a much smaller scatter and yielded slightly older conventional radiocarbon dates clustering at ca. 31 ¹⁴C ka BP. When calibrated using INTCAL13 the new data suggest that the sampled interval of 653–681 m in the clay pit was deposited 34–36 cal ka BP. Using two new radiocarbon dates of bone fragments found in the fluvioglacial gravel above the banded clays allows us to constrain the timing of the marked change from lacustrine to fluvioglacial sedimentation to ca. 32–33 cal ka BP, which suggests a possible link to the Heinrich 3 event in the North Atlantic. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Eastern Laurentia in Rodinia: constraints from whole-rock Pb and U/Pb geochronology

Whole-rock Pb isotopic signatures and U/Pb geochronology refute a Rodinian correlation of northeastern Laurentia and proto-Andean Amazonia. According to this previously proposed model, the Labrador–Scotland–Greenland Promontory (LSGP) of northeastern Laurentia collided with the proto-Andean margin of Amazonia, at the Arica Embayment, during the Grenville/Sunsás Orogeny (ca. 1.0 Ga). Links between the two margins were based upon the correlation of the LSGP with Arequipa-Antofalla Basement (AAB), a Proterozoic block along the proto-Andean margin of Amazonia adjacent to the Arica Embayment. Specifically, similarities in 1.8–1.0 Ga basement rocks in both regions suggested that the AAB was originally a piece of the LSGP. Furthermore, similarities in unique, post-collisional, but pre-rift, glacial sedimentary sequences also supported a link between the AAB and LSGP.Tests of these apparent similarities fail to support correlation of the AAB and the LSGP and, thus, eliminate a direct link between northeastern Laurentia and southwestern Amazonia in Rodinia. However, Pb isotopic compositions and U/Pb geochronology provide the basis for two new correlations, namely, (1) the ca. 1.3–1.0 Ga basement in the central and southern Appalachians may be an allochthonous block that was transferred to Laurentia from Amazonia at ca. 1.0 Ga, and (2) an allochthonous AAB may be a piece of the Kalahari Craton that was transferred to Amazonia at ca. 1.0 Ga. Based on these new correlations and a previously proposed Grenvillian connection between southern Laurentia (Llano) and Kalahari, we propose that Amazonia may have collided with a contiguous southeastern Laurentia/Kalahari margin at ca. 1.0 Ga.