Radiocarbon dates from the East China sea and their geological implications

Radiocarbon analysis plays an important role in studying the Quaternary geologic history of the East China Sea. More than 200 ¹⁴C dates have been published in various Chinese publications. The continental shelf of the East China Sea is one of the few large continental shelves in the world. Many low-lying flats and deltaic plains lie along the coast making it a favorable site for sea-level studies. Radiocarbon data from Neolithic sites, chenier ramparts, peaty deposits, and submarine sediments converge to suggest that oscillations of sea level have occurred: they also suggest that the lowest glacial sea levels probably occurred between 22,000 and 19,000 yr B.P. Calculation of the volume of the Yangtze River Delta, together with ¹⁴C dates, indicates that more than 89% of the solid particles carried by the river were deposited in the delta. Due to the sedimentary load, the crust beneath the delta has subsided isostatically and tilted seaward. Marine shells provide many acceptable ¹⁴C dates, but because they are easily transported, most samples from the continental shelf cannot be directly related to the history of sea-level changes.     

Initiation of the last glaciation in northern europe

The bio- and chronostratigraphy of the Eemian interglacial (marine isotope substage 5e) and an Early Weichselian glaciation (5d-a) established from representative and detailed sequences can be correlated with the deep-sea oxygen isotope stratigraphy, ice-core data, sea-level fluctuations and coupled ice sheet-climate models. Biostratigraphic sequences from Fennoscandian key sections are correlated with reference sequences from Estonia and from sections located near or beyond the margins of the last glaciation. Organic sediments previously attributed to Early and Middle Weichselian interstadial periods in Finland are argued to be redeposited and mixed older (last interglacial) material. Pollen and diatom spectra of the undisturbed materials suggest that the Eemian climatic optimum was followed by a continuously cooling climate and a regressive marine level. If only undisturbed sequences are considered, the major climatic fluctuations of the Early Weichselian, apparent in Central and Western Europe, are not apparent in the sequences from the central part of the glaciated terrain. Instead, some sequences are truncated by sediments indicating approaching ice sheets soon after the interglacial. This may imply that the ice sheet grew over Finland during the first Early Weichselian stadial. The preservation of the interglacial beds and the lack of younger non-glacial sediments support the interpretation that the area remained ice-covered until the final deglaciation. During the Early Weichselian, the Norwegian coast was probably occasionally ice free, similar to the coastal zone of Greenland today. The authors' interpretation of the Fennoscandian organic deposits of the last glaciation may also explain similar observations from the central parts of the Laurentide ice sheet.     

Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blum.) and its environment in northern Europe during the last glaciation

Woolly mammoths were large, herbivorous, cold-adapted mammals of the Late Pleistocene. The diet and habitat requirements of the species set certain constraints on the palaeoenvironments it could occupy. The relationship between the mammoth’s shifting range and changing environments can be explored using independent data on ice sheet configuration, temperature, and vegetation, provided the locality and age of the fossil remains can be validated. Here we present a comprehensive record of occurrence of the woolly mammoth in the circum-Baltic region of northern Europe during the last glaciation, based on a compilation of radiocarbon-dated remains. The record shows that the mammoth was widespread in northern and north-eastern Europe during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), at 50,000–30,000 calibrated years ago (50–30 ka). The presence of the species up to 65°N latitude supports the restriction of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) during MIS 3. The widest distribution range round 30 ka was followed by a decline that led to the disappearance of mammoths from the area during the maximum extent of the SIS, from 22 to 18 ka. The woolly mammoth re-colonized the Baltic region and southern Scandinavia after the onset of the late-glacial deglaciation at 17 ka. The late-glacial record suggests a markedly fluctuating population changing its range in tune with the rapid environmental changes. The last appearance of mammoth in our study region was in Estonia during the Younger Dryas (Greenland Stadial 1; GS1) at about 12 ka. The two major periods of occurrence during MIS 3 and the late-glacial stadial suggest that mammoth had a wide tolerance of open to semi-open tundra and steppe-tundra habitats with intermediately cold climate, whereas the 22–18 ka disappearance suggests a major southward and/or eastward retreat in response to extremely cold, glacial conditions near the SIS margin. The final regional extinction correlates with the re-forestation during the rapid warming at the Younger Dryas–Holocene boundary.     

Global,regional and local scale factors determining glaciation extent in Eastern Siberia over the last 140,000 years

The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of variations of greenhouse gas concentrations, orbital parameters, sea-surface conditions, vegetation and dust deposition on the extent of East Siberian mountain glaciations during the late Quaternary. An atmosphere-only general circulation model is used in a series of 16 sensitivity tests at high spatial resolution over the region of interest to systematically evaluate the relative importance of these different forcing parameters. No attempt was made to reproduce in detail the history of late Quaternary mountain glaciations in East Siberia, because, given (a) the temporal and spatial scarcity of available evidence of mountain glaciations in this region and (b) the large uncertainties concerning the boundary conditions to be prescribed in this model, such an exercise must necessarily remain incomplete and partially inconclusive. The results of this study suggest that moisture delivery from the Atlantic is an important factor determining mountain glacier mass balance in Eastern Siberia and is very sensitive to the geometry of the West Eurasian ice sheet. This means that variable moisture blocking by the West Eurasian ice sheet during the Weichselian is the most important single factor explaining the opposite history of glacier and ice sheet extent in West and East Eurasia during the Weichselian. This work confirms earlier results showing that the large 140 kyr BP West Eurasian ice sheet caused regional-scale cooling extending towards Eastern Eurasia. Nevertheless, the simulated response of the regional summer temperature (and thus glacier extent because of the strong dependency of glacier mass balance of summer melt rates) is to a very large extent directly determined by insolation. For the Early Weichselian, this leads to a clear maximum of local glacier extent at 70 kyr BP, which is in line with the variations of top-of-the-atmosphere insolation on orbital time scales, but to some degree at odds with geological evidence which suggests larger glacier extent at 115 and 90 kyr BP than at 70 kyr BP. Through snow feedbacks, the effects of changes in the prescribed vegetation distribution and dust deposition rate are also substantial. In summary, it appears that the broad features of late Quaternary glaciation history in Eastern Eurasia can be understood in terms of known forcings.     

Rapid ice-sheet growth and initiation of the last glaciation

Calculations based on temperature-corrected oxygen-isotope ratios from deep-sea cores yield a glacioeustatic sea-level fall in excess of 50 m during the first 10,000 yr of the last glaciation, and generally support the local regression of about 70 m inferred from tectonically rising New Guinea beaches. We propose that this rapid glacial buildup depended on high-latitude cooling, and large increases of high-latitude regional winter precipitation in the Laurentide and the Fennoscandian-Barents Sea areas, and that these factors were caused by a critical alteration of North Atlantic Drift currents and their associated subpolar atmospheric circulation. In support of this, faunal data from northeast North Atlantic deep-sea cores show that the glacial buildup was accompanied by a sudden loss of most of the North Atlantic Drift from the Greenland-Norwegian Sea, a factor favoring reduced heat input into the higher latitudes. Subpolar mollusk and foraminifera fauna from elevated marine deposits on the Baffin Island coast, and northwest North Atlantic core data suggest a continuation or an associated restoration of subpolar water west of Greenland as far north as Baffin Bay, a factor favoring precipitation in the northeast Canadian region. Heat transport and atmospheric circulation considerations suggest that the loss of the northeast North Atlantic Drift was itself a major instrument of high-latitude climate change, and probably marked the initiation of major new ice-sheet growth.     

Vegetation and climates in southern Tasmania since the last glaciation

Enclosed basins (glacial and nonglacia) of Tasmania contain the most comprehensive record in Australia of trends in a regional vegetation and climate since the late Pleistocene. Seven pollen sequences, each continuous and extending back at least 10,000 years, are used to reconstruct the history of postglacial vegetation and climate in Southern Tasmania (42°S–43°30′S). Interpretations are supported by a study of the modern pollen rain. Postglacial climates in Tasmania were characterized by a strong west-to-east decrease in precipitation. During the late Pleistocene, climates were markedly colder and drier than at present, and the vegetation was largely devoid of trees. A major rise in temperature between ca. 11,500 and 9500 yr B.P., accompanied by rising effective precipitation, resulted in the expansion of Eucalyptus, then other trees, across Tasmania. This warming trend may have been temporarily reversed during the early postglacial. Dry climates delayed the development of forest in inland eastern Tasmania until after ca. 9500 yr B.P. There is no evidence for a major change in climate since this temperature rise. Two broad phases of development have occurred within the postglacial forests. The first was an early Holocene phase during which Nothofagus cunninghamii cool temperate rain forest developed in western Tasmania and on the slopes of mountains in central and southeastern Tasmania. Eucalyptus sclerophyll forests developed in eastern Tasmania and have remained dominant there since. By ca. 7800 yr B.P. rain-forest communities were established beyond present-day limits. The second phase was a mid to late Holocene phase during which forests and alpine vegetation became more open in structure, leading to the re-expansion of Eucalyptus and shade-intolerant species. During the early to mid Holocene, climates in Southern Tasmania were wetter and (? then) warmer than at present. Maximum and minimum dates for this “optimum” are 8000 and 5000 yr B.P. Since then, climates have become increasingly rigorous, possibly through an increased incidence of inequable “weather types” leading to an increase in the frequency of drought and frost. Structural changes in the postglacial vegetation of Southern Tasmania closely parallel those at equivalent latitudes in New Zealand and Chilean South America, hence are likely to reflect the same primary cause.     

Direct terrestrial-marine correlation demonstrates surprisingly late onset of the last interglacial in central Europe

An interdisciplinary study of a small sedimentary basin at Neumark Nord 2 (NN2), Germany, has yielded a high-resolution record of the palaeomagnetic Blake Event, which we are able to place at the early part of the last interglacial pollen sequence documented from the same section. We use this data to calculate the duration of this stratigraphically important event at 3400 ± 350 yr. More importantly, the Neumark Nord 2 data enables precise terrestrial-marine correlation for the Eemian stage in central Europe. This shows a remarkably large time lag of ca. 5000 yr between the MIS 5e ‘peak’ in the marine record and the start of the last interglacial in this region.     

Local disappearance of bivalves in the Azores during the last glaciation

The Pleistocene (Eemian) outcrops of Lagoinhas and Prainha, located at Santa Maria Island (Azores), were investigated and their fossil mollusc content reported. These studies revealed that the last glaciation affected two groups of molluscs: the ‘warm‐guest’ gastropods with West African or Caribbean affinities (e.g. Conus spp., Cantharus variegatus, Bulla amygdala, Trachypollia nodulosa) and shallow bivalve species mainly associated with sandy habitats (Ensis minor, Lucinella divaricata, and probably Laevicardium crassum). In this paper we focus on this group of bivalves, which has since locally disappeared from the Azores. We relate the local disappearance of these bivalves in the Azores with the lack of sand in the shelf. The specific characteristics of the Santa Maria shelf combined with the sea‐level drop during the Weichselian prevented deposition of the lowstand deposits and permitted erosion of the previous ones, leaving the shelf without a sediment cover. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exposure age chronology of the last glaciation in the eastern Pyrenees

We present a chronology of ice recession in the eastern Pyrenees based on in situ-produced ¹⁰Be data obtained from the Têt paleoglacier complex. The sampling strategy is based on the relative chronology provided by a detailed geomorphological map of glacial landforms. Results indicate that the last maximum ice advance occurred late (i.e., during Marine Isotope Stage 2) compared to the chronology currently established for the rest of the Pyrenees. Despite debatable evidence for a glacial readvance during the Oldest Dryas stade, ice-cap melt-out was rapid, residual cirque glaciers having disappeared by the Allerød interstade. This is consistent both with North Atlantic excursions established by the Greenland ice cores and paleoenvironmental data for the region. The rapid response of the east-Pyrenean ice cap to temperature variations is primarily linked to its small size compared to larger Pyrenean ice fields, to the dry Mediterranean climate, and to topography-related nonlinearities in which a small vertical rise in equilibrium line altitude generates a large change in ice mass. Possible sources of age uncertainty are discussed in the context of sampling design for single-nuclide (¹⁰Be) dating of landform sequences in formerly glaciated landscapes.     

Late quaternary glaciation of the Eastern Queen Elizabeth Islands,N.W.T., Canada: Alternative models

It has been suggested that during the last glaciation the Innuitian Ice Sheet existed over the eastern Queen Elizabeth Islands. This is based on the pattern of postglacial emergence over this area and the timing of driftwood penetration into the interisland channels. Alternative interpretations of both sets of data raise questions about the presence of the Innuitian Ice Sheet at this time. Field observations on northeastern Ellesmere Island, plus additional data pertaining to the presence of multiple tills and “old” radiometric dates on lacustrine deposits, shelly tills, and raised marine features suggest that the maximum glaciation over this region, equivalent to the Innuitian Ice Sheet, predates the last glaciation, Palaeoclimatic conditions are also discussed in relation to these data. It is suggested that during the last glaciation of the Queen Elizabeth Islands there was a convergent but not coalescent advance of the existing upland ice-fields. This noncontiguous ice cover over the Queen Elizabeth Islands is termed the Franklin Ice Complex. It is suggested that the term Innuitian Ice Sheet be reserved for contiguous older glaciations over this same area.     

Rapid isostatic rebound in southwestern Iceland at the end of the last glaciation

In connection with a new deglaciation concept for Iceland, implying an extensive glaciation during the Younger Dryas and the decay of the Icelandic inland ice sheet during the Preboreal, the history of relative sea-level changes on Iceland has been re-evaluated. New field data from the Reykjavik area, in Faxaflói Bay southwestern Iceland, were obtained in order to construct the first stratigraphically controlled curve of relative sea-level displacements for Iceland. The curve is constructed on the basis of radiocarbon-dated shells in raised marine deposits and on tephrostratigraphically controlled and radiocarbon-dated, submerged peat deposits. The curve suggests that a post-glacial relative sea-level change of about 45 m, from + 43 m a.s.1. to — 2 m a.s.l, occurred over a period of 900 ¹⁴C-years in the Reykjavik area between 10 300 BP and 9400 BP. The sea-level curve shows a shoreline displacement of c . 5 cm ¹⁴Cyr^-1 for that period. The mean absolute uplift rate is calculated to be 6.9 cm ¹⁴C yr^-1, which is about double the fastest rate reported from any other coastal North Atlantic site. Although this rapid uplift can probably be partly explained by a ¹⁴C plateau around the termination of the Pleistocene, it is more than likely controlled by rapid Preboreal deglaciation, together with low asthenosphere viscosities below Iceland and the release of hydroisostatic stresses in connection with the deglaciation.     

Fluctuations of the South Patagonian Ice-field during the last glaciation and the Holocene

Mapping along a transect from the southeastern margin of the South Patagonian Ice-field in Torres del Paine National Park (Chile) to the limits of fresh moraines of the last glacial cycle indentified eight glacier advances. The four younger ones have been dated by dendrochronology, tephrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Although the bases of 10 m deep bogs were sampled, close limiting radiocarbon dates were not obtained because bog formation in this rain-shadow area appears not to have commenced until ca.12000 yr ago. The outermost Little Ice Age moraine formed during the seventeenth century and three inner ones were deposited around ad 1805, 1845 and after 1890. Densely vegetated older moraines contiguous with Little Ice Age deposits are possibly of late Holocene age. Tephra from the eruption of Reclus volcano at ca. 11 880 yr BP was incorporated by a readvance that deposited large multiple moraines 10–16 km from the modern ice-front; the oldest basal peat found inside the moraine has been dated to ca. 9200 yr BP. These bracketing dates indicate that some eastern outlet glaciers of the ice-field advanced at a time when some western tidewater outlet glaciers terminated inside their modern limits. This questions the view of J. H. Mercer and other that Patagonian glaciers did not readvance during the late-glacial interval. A stadial event also occurred when the glaciers were some 18–20 km from their modern positions and is closely dated to ca. 11880 yr BP because Reclus pumice flushed down-glacier forms thick upper beds in outwash deltas deposited in proglacial lakes. The four older moraines pre-date the late-glacial eruption of Reclus but are not dated closely. Comparison of their spatial extent with well-dated moraines in the Chilean Lakes Region suggests that they may mark advances culminating at ca. 14000 yr BP, ca. 20000 yr BP and earlier.     

Different types of ending to the last two interglacials in western Europe

Tidal deposits dating from the penultimate interglacial (Oxygen Isotope Stage 7) are preserved on a bank of the River Seine at Tancarville. The foraminiferal assemblages indicate a gradual cooling towards Arctic conditions, which corresponds to the onset of the penultimate cold period. This cooling started before or during the drop in sea level in Europe, in contrast to the situation at the end of the last interglacial (Eemian) when Europe remained warm even during the period of falling sea level.     

Recognition and palaeoclimatic implications of late Quaternary niche glaciation in eastern Lesotho

Geomorphic evidence of former glaciation in the high Drakensberg of southern Africa has proven controversial, with conflicting glacial and non‐glacial interpretations suggested for many landforms. This paper presents new geomorphological, sedimentological and micromorphological data, and glacier mass‐balance modelling for a site in the Leqooa Valley, eastern Lesotho, preserving what are considered to be moraines of a former niche glacier that existed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The geomorphology and macro‐sedimentology of the deposits display characteristics of both active and passive transport by glacial processes. However, micromorphological analyses indicate a more complex history of glacial deposition and subsequent reworking by mass movement processes. The application of a glacier reconstruction technique to determine whether this site could have supported a glacier indicates a reconstructed glacier equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of 3136 m a.s.l. and palaeoglacier mass balance characteristics comparable with modern analogues, reflecting viable, if marginal glaciation. Radiocarbon dates obtained from organic sediment within the moraines indicate that these are of LGM age. The reconstructed palaeoclimatic conditions during the LGM suggest that snow accumulation in the Drakensberg was significantly higher than considered by other studies, and has substantial relevance for tuning regional climate models for southern Africa during the last glacial cycle. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radiocarbon dates and the genesis of phytogenic near-shore sediments on St. Catherines Island,Georgia, USA

St. Catherines Island consists of a complex association of Pleistocene and Holocene sediments. The geographic location of the island at the center of Georgia Bight, a prominent re-entrant in the coastline of the southeastern USA, has resulted in the development of a very complex depositional and erosional history. For over 40,000 years the island has experienced a variety of physical, biological, and anthropological changes brought about by climatic, biotic, depositional, and anthropogenic events. Sedimentary deposits have been studied using diverse research tracks including palynology, dendrology, sedimentology, geophysics, and radiocarbon chronology, as well as archaeological techniques. This research focused on the interpretation of environments of deposition of strata that are exposed within the present surf zone, yet which bear the distinct signatures of upland/inland environments of deposition. Data derived from Late Pleistocene and Holocene accumulations of peat and mollusc- and wood-bearing muddy strata of certain on-shore and near-shore origins reveal diverse events relating to shoreline dynamics, plant community changes, and net shoreward migration of this island during the Late Holocene.     

New information on the probable isotopic age of the late proterozoic glaciation in west africa

New RbSr age determinations on smectitic clay fractions from a formation of the late Proterozoic glaciation in West Africa constrain the occurrence of that major event to between 630 and 595 Ma.     

Mass balance and sliding velocity of the Puget lobe of the cordilleran ice sheet during the last glaciation

An estimate of the sliding velocity and basal meltwater discharge of the Puget lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet can be calculated from its reconstructed extent, altitude, and mass balance. Lobe dimensions and surface altitudes are inferred from ice limits and flow-direction indicators. Net annual mass balance and total ablation are calculated from relations empirically derived from modern maritime glaciers. An equilibrium-line altitude between 1200 and 1250 m is calculated for the maximum glacial advance (ca. 15,000 yr B.P.) during the Vashon Stade of the Fraser Glaciation. This estimate is in accord with geologic data and is insensitive to plausible variability in the parameters used in the reconstruction. Resultant sliding velocities are as much as 650 m/a at the equilibrium line, decreasing both up- and downglacier. Such velocities for an ice sheet of this size are consistent with nonsurging behavior. Average meltwater discharge increases monotonically downglacier to 3000 m³/sec at the terminus and is of a comparable magnitude to ice discharge over much of the glacier's ablation area. Palcoclimatic inferences derived from this reconstruction are consistent with previous, independently derived studies of late Pleistocene temperature and precipitation in the Pacific Northwest.