Regional tree growth and inferred summer climate in the Winnipeg River basin, Canada, since AD 1783

A network of 54 ring-width chronologies is used to estimate changes in summer climate within the Winnipeg River basin, Canada, since AD 1783. The basin drains parts of northwestern Ontario, northern Minnesota and southeastern Manitoba, and is a key area for hydroelectric power production. Most chronologies were developed from Pinus resinosa and P. strobus, with a limited number of Thuja occidentalis, Picea glauca and Pinus banksiana. The dominant pattern of regional tree growth can be recovered using only the nine longest chronologies, and is not affected by the method used to remove variability related to age or stand dynamics from individual trees. Tree growth is significantly, but weakly, correlated with both temperature (negatively) and precipitation (positively) during summer. Simulated ring-width chronologies produced by a process model of tree-ring growth exhibit similar relationships with summer climate. High and low growth across the region is associated with cool/wet and warm/dry summers, respectively; this relationship is supported by comparisons with archival records from early 19th century fur-trading posts. The tree-ring record indicates that summer droughts were more persistent in the 19th and late 18th century, but there is no evidence that drought was more extreme prior to the onset of direct monitoring.     

Reconstructed summer temperature in the northern Rocky Mountains wilderness, USA

Ring widths from whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Englem.) and subalpine larch (Larix lyallii Parl.) collected at three high-elevation sites were used to develop tree-growth chronologies to reconstruct summer temperature anomalies. A step-wise multiple regression procedure was used to screen potential predictor variables to generate a transfer function capable of skillfully reconstructing summer temperature. The resulting regression model explained approximately 38% of the adjusted variance in the instrumental temperature record. The fidelity of the reconstruction was verified using product mean and sign tests, both of which suggested significant predictive power in the reconstructions (p < 0.05). Reduction of error (RE) and coefficient of efficiency (CE) measures were both positive, indicating the reconstruction contained useful climate information. Cool periods often coincided with reduced solar activity and/or periods of increased volcanic activity. Differences between this reconstruction and others encompassing a broader geographic scale highlight the importance of developing local reconstructions of climate variability, particularly when used in conjunction with ecological data sets that describe the occurrence of fires or insect epidemics. Mixed and divergent climate-response relationships were evident in the whitebark pine chronologies and suggest subalpine larch may be a more useful species than whitebark pine to target for the development of temperature reconstructions in this region.     

Archean regional transpression and paleomagnetism in northwestern Ontario, Canada

The Archean metamorphic rocks of the Superior province of the Canadian Shield occur in lithologically defined belts or subprovinces. The tectonically more stable interiors of belts possess consistent primary components of magnetic remanence. In the case of the Quetico belt, these stable directions are tightly grouped about 005°/55° with some minor dispersion and most were acquired during the cooling that followed syntectonic recrystallisation.

This study examines the directions of primary remanence components for rocks along the margins of the Quetico belt, within 4 km of the strongly deformed vertical, ENE-trending boundaries. The boundaries are known to have experienced dextral transpression involving penetrative single-phase deformation which out-lasted metamorphism. Within a few kilometres of the belt boundaries, the primary remanence components are re-distributed along a vertical ENE-trending, great-circle girdle which is nearly parallel to the plane of transpressive shear and regional schistosity. It is suggested that the effects of transpression have mechanically deflected the components of primary remanence toward this plane.     

Late quaternary vegetational change in the Kotzebue sound area, northwestern Alaska

Two sediment cores from Kaiyak and Squirrel lakes in northwestern Alaska yielded pollen records that date to ca. 39,000 and 27,000 yr B.P., respectively. Between 39,000 and 14,000 yr B.P., the vegetation around these lakes was dominated by Gramineae and Cyperaceae with some Salix and possibly Betula nana/glandulosa forming a local, shrub component of the vegetation. Betula pollen percentages increased about 14,000 yr B.P., indicating the presence of a birchdominated shrub tundra. Alnus pollen appeared at both sites between 9000 and 8000yr B.P., and Picea pollen (mostly P. mariana) arrived at Squirrel Lake about 5000 yr B.P. The current foresttundra mosaic around Squirrel Lake was established at this time, whereas shrub tundra existed near Kaiyak Lake throughout the Holocene. When compared to other pollen records from north-western North America, these cores (1) represent a meadow component of lowland. Beringian tundra between 39,000 and 14,000 yr B.P., (2) demonstrate an early Holocene arrival of Alnus in northwestern Alaska that predates most other Alnus horizons in northern Alaska or northwestern Canada, and (3) show an east-to-west migration of Picea across northern Alaska from 9000 to 5000 yr B.P.     

Structural elements in southeastern Quebec,northwestern Appalachians,Canada

An attempt is made to correlate and separate in terms of style and time two contrasting sets of structural elements in the northwestern part of the Appalachian Uplands in the Province of Quebec, Canada. There is sufficient evidence to indicate that a fold system with north-south trending axes is superimposed on a fold system with east-west axes. It is suggested that the two sets of structures represent pulses of one long-continued deformation accompanied by corresponding early and late phases of metamorphism.

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Zusammenfassung Es wurde versucht, in den Appalachen des südöstlichen Teiles der Provinz Quebec, Kanada, zwei ungleichzeitige tektonische Systeme verschiedenen Baustils zu trennen. Die komplexen Kleinstrukturen zeigen, da\ Ost-West streichende Faltenachsen von einer jüngeren Nord-Süd-Faltung überprägt worden sind. Der Autor ist der Meinung, da\ die zwei tektonischen Systeme, die von einer frühen und späten Phase der Metamorphose begleitet werden, den zeitlich getrennten Verformungsstadien einer Orogenese entsprechen.

     

Late quaternary pollen records from the Kobuk and Noatak river drainages, northwestern Alaska

Pollen diagrams from Joe and Niliq Lakes date to ca. 28,000 and 14,000 yr B.P., respectively. Mesic shurb tundra grew near Joe Lake ca. 28,000 to 26,000 yr B.P. with local Populus populations prior to ca. 27,000 yr B.P. Shrub communities decreased as climate changed with the onset of Itkillik II glaciation (25,000 to 11,500 yr B.P.), and graminoid-dominated tundra characterized vegetation ca. 18,500 to 13,500 yr B.P. Herb tundra was replaced by shrub Betula tundra near both sites ca. 13,500 yr B.P. with local expansion of Populus ca. 11,000 to 10,000 yr B.P. and Alnus ca. 9000 yr B.P. Mixed Picea glauca/P. mariana woodland was established near Joe Lake ca. 6000 yr B.P. These pollen records when combined with others from northern Alaska and northwestern Canada indicate (1) mesic tundra was more common in northwestern Alaska than in northeastern Alaska or northwestern Canada during the Duvanny Yar glacial interval (25,000 to 14,000 yr B.P.); (2) with deglaciation, shrub Betula expanded rapidly in northwestern Alaska but slowly in areas farther east; (3) an early postglacial thermal maximum occurred in northwestern Alaska but had only limited effect on vegetation; and (4) pollen patterns in northern Alaska and northwestern Canada suggest regional differences in late Quaternary climates.     

南黄海西北部晚更新世以来的沉积环境演化

利用在南黄海西北部陆架获得的3500 km高分辨率浅地层剖面资料,结合3口地质钻孔的岩芯资料,建立了研究区晚更新世以来的沉积地层格架,厘定了地层地质年代。研究表明,过孔的浅地层剖面与钻孔岩芯的沉积地层有很好的对应关系。浅地层剖面可划分出5个主要不整合面(T5～T1)和6个主要地震单元(SU6-SU1),相应的钻孔岩芯可划分出6个主要的沉积单元(DU6-DU1),反映了大约128 ka以来的地层结构和沉积环境演化。钻孔沉积物岩性相特征、测年数据和地层反射特征表明研究区氧同位素5期(MIS5)发育了滨浅海相和三角洲相沉积,MIS 4发育了河流湖泊相沉积,MIS 3发育了三角洲相沉积,MIS 2发育了河流和河口相沉积,MIS 1发育了近岸水下楔形沉积。晚更新世以来,南黄海构造相对稳定,影响沉积环境演化的主要因素是海平面变化和沉积物物源。本文的研究对于深入了解南黄海西北部陆海相互作用过程、地质环境演化以及揭示全球变化的区域响应具有重要的科学意义。     

A chironomid-based reconstruction of summer temperatures in NW Iceland since AD 1650

Few studies currently exist that aim to validate a proxy chironomid-temperature reconstruction with instrumental temperature measurements. We used a reconstruction from a chironomid percentage abundance data set to produce quantitative summer temperature estimates since AD 1650 for NW Iceland through a transfer function approach, and validated the record against instrumental temperature measurements from Stykkishólmur in western Iceland. The core was dated through Pb-210, Cs-137 and tephra analyses (Hekla 1693) which produced a well-constrained dating model across the whole study period. Little catchment disturbance, as shown through geochemical (Itrax) and loss-on-ignition data, throughout the period further reinforce the premise that the chironomids were responding to temperature and not other catchment or within-lake variables. Particularly cold phases were identified between AD 1683–1710, AD 1765–1780 and AD 1890–1917, with relative drops in summer temperatures in the order of 1.5–2°C. The timing of these cold phases agree well with other evidence of cooler temperatures, notably increased extent of Little Ice Age (LIA) glaciers. Our evidence suggests that the magnitude of summer temperature cooling (1.5–2°C) was enough to force LIA Icelandic glaciers into their maximum Holocene extent, which is in accordance with previous modelling experiments for an Icelandic ice cap (Langjökull).     

Geologic structure of central and northwestern regions of the Russian Platform

Paleotectonic reconstructions of the structural evolution of pre-Devonian sediments in the test area as geophysically-geologically indicated, including subsidence, uplift, warping, and other deformations, show in places, definite relationships between the pre-Devonian topography and the topography of the underlying crystalline base. Local variation in density, composition, and inner structures of the base may have its expression in the sedimentary topography and structure. — IGR Staff.     

Dating of the near-surface layer of a peatland in northwestern Ontario, Canada

The near-surface layer of the dominant microhabitat types on a peatland in the Rainy River area, northwestern Ontario, Canada was dated using a number of previously published methods. No single method was found to be appropriate in all microhabitat types, and discrepancies of up to 15 yr over a time-scale of 80 yr were encountered. The results suggested that the post-depositional mobility of ²¹⁰Pb, and possibly its atmospheric supply, are affected by microhabitat type. ²¹⁰Pb dates consistently underestimated independently derived dates in the uppermost sections of the cores. Ages derived by measuring the length of annual increments on moss stems were in general agreement with the ²¹⁰Pb dates, but were subject to bias where the moss remains were poorly preserved. ¹⁴C analyses on material from the base to the near-surface horizon confirmed the modern (post-AD 1950) origin suggested by the ²¹⁰Pb and moss increment dates. Increased ash content at the base of the near-surface layer was correlated with the dustbowl of the 1930s, but assignment of dates to other stratigraphic markers (charcoal, Ambrosia pollen, and Larix needles) was less certain. The ash peak (55 yr before AD 1990) was used as datum for relative dating methods based on assumptions of a constant rate of peat accumulation (constant bulk density method) and constant rate of pollen accumulation (pollen density method). The constant bulk density method provided quick, inexpensive estimates of maximum age, but could not be extrapolated beyond datum, nor applied to cores showing marked stratigraphic changes. The pollen density method was a valuable but time-consuming alternative for dating peatland depressions, which lack annual moss increments and are subject to ²¹⁰Pb leaching.     

腾格里沙漠西北缘青土湖晚第四纪孢粉组合特征与环境变迁

根据腾格里沙漠西北缘青土湖ZK1孔晚第四纪以来沉积物孢粉组合、磁化率特征和光释光年代的研究,恢复了该区的植被面貌,论述了青土湖地区自中更新世晚期以来的气候变迁特征。研究结果表明,该地区中更新世晚期可划分为凉干和暖湿2个阶段;晚更新世可划分为暖湿和凉干2个阶段,并且与深海氧同位素曲线反映的末次间冰期、末次冰期的次一级气候旋回特征相吻合;全新世该地区主要经历了从暖湿到凉干的气候波动。     

植被和气候对阿拉斯加和加拿大北部北极苔原地区多年冻土活动层厚度的影响

The active layer is the top layer of permafrost soils that thaws during the summer season due to increased ambient temperatures and solar radiation inputs. This layer is important because almost all biological activity takes place there luring the summer. The depth of active layer thaw is influenced by climatic conditions. Vegetation has also been found to have a strong impact on active layer thaw, because it can intercept incoming radiation, thereby insulating the soil from ambient conditions. In order to look at the role of vegetation and climate on active layer thaw, we measured thaw depth and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI; a proxy for aboveground plant biomass) along a latitudinal temperature gradient in arctic Alaska and Canada. At each site several measurements of thaw and NDVI were taken in areas with high amounts of vegetation and areas with little to no vegetation. Results show that the warmest regions, which had the greatest levels of NDVI, had relatively shallow thaw depths, and the coldest regions, which had the lowest levels of NDVI, also had relatively shallow thaw depths. The intermediate regions, which had moderate levels of NDVI and air temperature, had the greatest depth of thaw. These results indicate that temperature and vegetation interact to control the depth of the active layer across a range of arctic ecosystems. By developing a relationship to explain thaw depth through NDVI and temperature or latitude, the possibility exists to extrapolate thaw depth over large scales via remote sensing applications.     

The paleoenvironmental-magnetic record of the Gold Hill Steps loess section in central Alaska

In contrast to the loess-paleosol sequences of China and Central Europe, paleosols of the Halfway House and Gold Hill Steps loess sections in central Alaska show no enhancement in magnetic susceptibility. Evidence for maghemitization and ultrafine superparamagnetic minerals is found in the topsoil and in the lowest weathered loess of the sequence. These minerals are not detected in the three paleosols within the profiles. Rock-magnetic characteristics also indicate a smaller magnetic grain size in the loess with the lowest magnetic susceptibility values. This finding supports the interpretations of Begét et al. (1990) that magnetic concentration and corresponding susceptibility variations may be related to changes in wind intensity.     

黄土高原地区晚中新世以来陆地植被C3/C4植物相对丰度演化研究进展

晚中新世以来陆地生态系统中C3/C4植物相对丰度的演化历史是国际地学界关心的热点问题。我国黄土高原地区也有数个剖面开展了相关的研究,然而基于土壤碳酸盐碳同位素的研究结果在C4植物扩张开始的时间、过程、区域和全球一致性、C4植物相对丰度的空间梯度等主要的地质历史事实以及该区域C4植物扩张的主要驱动因素等方面的认识均存在较大的差异,这可能表明了代用指标本身存在的问题。而来自动物化石的碳同位素研究结果与碳酸盐碳同位素研究结果同样差异比较大,认为直到第四纪时期,C4植物才成为区域植被当中一个重要组分。从代用指标可靠性以及时间分辨率2个方面考虑,建议在后续的研究工作中,大力加强有机质碳同位素方面的研究,进一步查明黄土高原地区晚中新世以来C4植物扩张的历史和可能的驱动机制。     

Deglaciation ages and meltwater routing in the Fort McMurray region,northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan,Canada

A field-based reconstruction of the deglacial paleogeography in the Fort McMurray area permits: 1) constraining the timing of meltwater routing to the Arctic from the present Hudson Bay drainage basin; and 2) minimum-age estimates for ice-margin positions that can be used to constrain ice-sheet modeling results. A downslope recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet resulted in a series of proglacial lakes forming between the ice margin and higher land to the southwest. The paleogeography of these lakes is poorly constrained in part from the masking effect of boreal forest vegetation and map-scale issues. However, recent space-shuttle based DEMs increase the number and spatial extent of moraines identified within the study area resulting in a coherent pattern of ice margin retreat focused on the Athabasca River valley. An intensive lake-coring program resulted in a minimum ten-fold increase in the radiocarbon database used to limit moraine ages. Results indicate that deglaciation in this region was younger than previously reported, and it is likely that the meltwater could not drain northward to the Arctic Ocean from any source southeast of the Fort McMurray area until approximately 9850–9660 ¹⁴C BP.     

Regional tectonic and megadepositional cycles of the Paleozoic of northwestern and central Saudi Arabia

The Paleozoic succession of the Greater Arabian basin is severely affected by series of major tectonic and climatic events which have caused major stratigraphic breaks and pronounce facies change. The major tectonic movements have resulted in dividing the succession into pronounced megatectonic and depositional cycles. In more tectonically active areas, the succession is less preserved and boundaries between the cycles are more complicated due to longer periods of erosion by later movements and/or nondeposition. Minor stratigraphic breaks within the megacycles subdivide the cycles into smaller subcycles. Following the stabilization of the Arabian–Nubian shield, the Gondwana shelf went through a gentle uplift and tilt probably related to the Assyniyc tectonic movements and thick siliciclastics of the Saq and Qasim Formations were deposited. During Late Caradocian and following the deposition of the Qasim Formation, the area went through a gentle uplift and tilt probably related to the Taconic tectonic movements. Thick succession of the Qasim and Saq Formations were eroded and deep paleovalleys incised in the two formations and underlying basement. The movements were followed by drop of sea level due to glaciation events. Glacial and periglacial deposits of the Zarqa and/or Sarah Formations filled paleovalleys and rest on older units from Ordovician to Precambrian. The third main event occurred during Late Silurian where the preexisting successions, mainly on paleohighs, were affected by tectonic movements synchronous with the Acadian tectonic phase of the Caledonian tectonic movements. The Early Devonian Tawil Formation unconformably rests on eroded Silurian and Late Ordovician deposits of the Sharawra, Qusayba (Qusaiba), and Sarah Formations in the Qusayba Depression in central Arabia. The forth main event is a regional movement contemporaneous with the Hercynian tectonic movement which has reached its maximum phase in the Late Carboniferous. Earlier successions from Carboniferous to Precambrian were affected and the Permo-Carboniferous Shajra Formation unconformably rests on all underlying Paleozoic rock units toward the central Arabia arch and other paleohighs. The Shajra rests on the Devonian Jawbah (Jubah), Jawf (Jauf) and Tawil formations, the Silurian Sharawra, Qusayba, and Uqlah formations, the Ordovician Zarqa/Sarah, and Qasim formations, the Cambro-Ordovician Saq Formation, and finally rests on Precambrian Basement complex in Central Arabia. The tectonic movements played important role in shaping the structural framework of Arabia. The Paleozoic succession included source, reservoir, and seal rocks. Oil and gas have been discovered in sandstone and limestone reservoirs in these rocks in several oilfields in the basin.     

Implications of north pacific plate tectonics in central Alaska: Focal mechanisms of earthquakes

The focal mechanisms for 86 selected earthquakes (3.0 m_b 5.5) located in central Alaska have been investigated from P-wave first motions; the data were gathered by local seismic networks. The results show a depth-dependent characteristic to the fault-plane solutions. For earthquakes having focal depths shallower than 60–70 km, the focal mechanisms indicate either strike-slip or normal faults, while for earthquakes with foci at intermediate depths the focal mechanisms correspond to thrust faults. The nature of the seismicity indicates the hinge line of the Pacific lithospheric plate under the study area to be striking N17°E from Cook Inlet towards interior Alaska. The comparison of the focal mechanisms with the seismicity shows that the strike-slip and normal faults are the predominant processes of stress release along the shallow section of the plate. The earthquakes with intermediate foci systematically occur along the inclined section of the plate. If the gently dipping nodal planes for these earthquakes are chosen as the fault planes, the focal mechanisms correspond to underthrust motions at the foci. In these, the slip vectors are oriented either to the west or north with the resultant being in the N30°W direction. The tension axes for the underthrust solutions are also found to be parallel to the local dip of the plate, indicating that the subducted plate in interior Alaska is undergoing gravitational sinking.     

Grain-scale variations in trace element composition of fluid-altered zircon,Acasta Gneiss Complex,northwestern Canada

SEM back-scattered electron images of zircon separates from a 2.9 Ga granitic dyke from the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Slave Province, reveal primary igneous oscillatory zoning which is transgressively overprinted by irregular alteration domains. Electron microprobe analyses show that altered zircon domains are depleted in Zr and Si relative to unaltered zircon while retaining a constant Zr/Si ratio. SIMS trace element analyses indicate that LREE are preferentially enriched in the altered domains. Altered zircon contains elevated concentrations of Ba (up to 580 ppm), Ca (up to 2% weight of the element) and common Pb (>50 ppb). The presence of LREE, Ca, Ba and common Pb in the zircons is interpreted to be the result of secondary alteration by an aqueous fluid, and not by primary incorporation during crystallization. We propose that the alteration-related elements are located in amorphous zircon domains.     

Geochemical and biogeochemical exploration research near early precambrian porphyry-type molybdenum-copper mineralization,northwestern Ontario,Canada

An extensive zone of molybdenite concentration occurs in the north part of a small (5.7 km²) epizonal pluton of equigranular to porphyritic granodiorite-quartz monzonite that intrudes Early Precambrian mafic metavolcanics and metasediments at Setting Net Lake in northwestern Ontario. Within an east-trending mineralized zone up to 460 m wide and 2500 m long, widespread molybdenite occurs along the margins of narrow, variably spaced quartz veins filling joints in the stock, and as minor disseminated mineralization throughout the granodiorite-quartz monzonite. The zone also contains minor chalcopyrite. The study area is typical of extensive poorly-drained, low relief regions of northwestern Quebec, northern Ontario and central Manitoba that are covered by transported Quaternary deposits of glacial till and calcareous lake clay.Average metal abundances in plutonic rocks of the Setting Net Lake stock are (in p.p.m.): Cu - 8, Mo - 1.7, Zn - 30, Mn - 277 in the barren south half of the stock, and Cu - 61, Mo - 26, Zn - 30, Mn - 240 in the mineralized north half of the stock.Molybdenum concentrations range from 1 p.p.m. to 80 p.p.m. in soils and from 2 p.p.m. to 71 p.p.m. in the ash of second year black spruce needles. Anomaly patterns can be explained in terms of pH-solubility relationships in a wide range of Eh-pH environments and it is apparent that Mo uptake by coniferous vegetation is controlled mainly by Mo concentration and mobility in supporting soils.Copper concentrations range from 3 p.p.m. to 311 p.p.m. in soils and from 32 p.p.m. to 322 p.p.m. in the ash of second year black spruce needles. Anomalous copper levels in soil extend into areas of high pH soils developed on calcareous parent material. Copper anomaly contrast is limited to 3/1 in vegetation growing in soil containing as much as 30 times background levels of copper and for this reason, it is suggested that Cu uptake by coniferous vegetation is controlled mainly by the specific biochemical requirement of the plant for this metal.