Re-evaluating the origins of late Pleistocene fire areas on Santa Rosa Island,California, USA

At the close of the Pleistocene, fire regimes in North America changed significantly in response to climate change, megafaunal extinctions, anthropogenic burning and, possibly, even an extraterrestrial impact. On California's Channel Islands, researchers have long debated the nature of late Pleistocene “fire areas,” discrete red zones in sedimentary deposits, interpreted by some as prehistoric mammoth-roasting pits created by humans. Further research found no evidence that these red zones were cultural in origin, and two hypotheses were advanced to explain their origin: natural fires and groundwater processes. Radiocarbon dating, X-ray diffraction analysis, and identification of charcoal from six red zones on Santa Rosa Island suggest that the studied features date between ~ 27,500 and 11,400 cal yr BP and resulted from burning or heating, not from groundwater processes. Our results show that fire was a component of late Pleistocene Channel Island ecology prior to and after human colonization of the islands, with no clear evidence for increased fire frequency coincident with Paleoindian settlement, extinction of pygmy mammoths, or a proposed Younger Dryas impact event.     

Sea-level and tectonic control of middle to late Pleistocene turbidite systems in Santa Monica Basin, offshore California

Small turbidite systems offshore from southern California provide an opportunity to track sediment from river source through the turbidity‐current initiation process to ultimate deposition, and to evaluate the impact of changing sea level and tectonics. The Santa Monica Basin is almost a closed system for terrigenous sediment input, and is supplied principally from the Santa Clara River. The Hueneme fan is supplied directly by the river, whereas the smaller Mugu and Dume fans are nourished by southward longshore drift. This study of the Late Quaternary turbidite fill of the Santa Monica Basin uses a dense grid of high‐resolution seismic‐reflection profiles tied to new radiocarbon ages for Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1015 back to 32 ka. Over the last glacial cycle, sedimentation rates in the distal part of Santa Monica Basin averaged 2–3 mm yr^?1, with increases at times of extreme relative sea‐level lowstand. Coarser‐grained mid‐fan lobes prograded into the basin from the Hueneme, Mugu and Dume fans at times of rapid sea‐level fall. These pulses of coarse‐grained sediment resulted from river channel incision and delta cannibalization. During the extreme lowstand of the last glacial maximum, sediment delivery was concentrated on the Hueneme Fan, with mean depositional rates of up to 13 mm yr^?1 on the mid‐ and upper fan. During the marine isotope stage (MIS) 2 transgression, enhanced rates of sedimentation of > 4 mm yr^?1 occurred on the Mugu and Dume fans, as a result of distributary switching and southward littoral drift providing nourishment to these fan systems. Longer‐term sediment delivery to Santa Monica Basin was controlled by tectonics. Prior to MIS 10, the Anacapa ridge blocked the southward discharge of the Santa Clara River into the Santa Monica Basin. The pattern and distribution of turbidite sedimentation was strongly controlled by sea level through the rate of supply of coarse sediment and the style of initiation of turbidity currents. These two factors appear to have been more important than the absolute position of sea level.     

Late Pleistocene Glaciations in the Northwestern Sierra Nevada, California

Pleistocene fluvial landforms and riparian ecosystems in central California responded to climate changes in the Sierra Nevada, yet the glacial history of the western Sierra remains largely unknown. Three glacial stages in the northwestern Sierra Nevada are documented by field mapping and cosmogenic radionuclide surface-exposure (CRSE) ages. Two CRSE ages of erratic boulders on an isolated till above Bear Valley provide a limiting minimum age of 76,400±3800 ¹⁰Be yr. Another boulder age provides a limiting minimum age of 48,800±3200 ¹⁰Be yr for a broad-crested moraine ridge within Bear Valley. Three CRSE ages producing an average age of 18,600±1180 yr were drawn from two boulders near a sharp-crested bouldery lateral moraine that represents an extensive Tioga glaciation in Bear Valley. Nine CRSE ages from striated bedrock along a steep valley transect average 14,100±1500 yr and suggest rapid late-glacial ice retreat from lower Fordyce Canyon with no subsequent extensive glaciations. These ages are generally consistent with glacial and pluvial records in east-central California and Nevada.     

Paleoenvironments and cultural diversity in late Pleistocene South America

After a summary assessment of certain selected early man sites in various parts of America, the environment of the Venezuelan coastal plain is discussed in order to evaluate the stratigraphy and radiometric dating of the Taima-Taima site, near Coro, Venezuela, where mammals, many now extinct, were killed by people making El Jobo points about 13,000 years ago.Potentially important areas in Peru, Chile and Brazil are mentioned. Certain problems in the models and interpretation of South American paleoclimates are pointed out.The presence of at least four different bifacially flaked stone projectile point traditions in widely separated and environmentally diverse parts of America between 11,000 and 13,000 yr ago suggests that the immediate cultural antecedents of these traditions were essentially independent of one another. From this it is argued that several early American flaked-stone point traditions developed indigenously in America from technological bases which were present in the Old World Middle Paleolithic.     

High Resolution Element Records in the Late Pleistocene Xifeng Loess Profile

Eighty-one samples were selected from the Late Pleistocene Xifeng loess profile and analyzed for their element abundances using instrumental neutron activation analysis,and for ^10Be using the AMS method.The results show that the variations of element abundance and ^10Be with dept are similar to those of δ^18O in DSDP ,and may be considered as an indicator of climatic and environmental changes.     

Hydrological and climatic changes in deserts of China since the late Pleistocene

Large areas in western China were wetlands or less arid between 40 and 30 ka, corresponding to the “Greatest Lake Period” on the adjacent Tibetan Plateau. During the last glacial maximum, some of these western Chinese deserts again experienced wetter conditions; however, at the same time the sandy lands in the eastern Chinese desert belt experienced an activation of aeolian dunes. While interpretations of the mid-Holocene environment in the deserts of China are controversial, it is quite likely that it was more humid not only in the eastern areas influenced by monsoon climate systems but also in the western deserts where moisture is currently associated with westerlies. Evaluation of lacustrine records in the lakes recharged by dryland rivers and the complex interactions of these systems, as well as other paleoenvironmental proxies such as the Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae ratio, should be interpreted with greater caution. Facing the highlighted uncertainties in our understanding of climate changes in Chinese deserts, it is hoped that this special issue will improve our knowledge considerably.     

Paleoenvironmental implications of a late glacial insect assemblage from northwestern New York

The Winter Gulf site near North Collins, New York is a 0.8-m sequence of organic detritus dated at approximately 12,700 yr B.P. A 260-kg sample produced over 500 identified individuals representing five orders of insects. Three insect zones were recognized, the lowest representing an open mire with sparse numbers of carices and other sedges; aquatic beetles were rare, and no trees were in the vicinity of the sample site. The middle zone indicated an extensive marsh or moist meadow environment with spruce nearby. The upper zone represented a mixed riparian and spruce forest insect assemblage.The results of the Winter Gulf insect analyses support published hypotheses that the site was probably a protected embayment of early lake Warren. Although the flora at the site has been previously interpreted as representing parkland tundra, temperature analyses of the fauna indicate that the thermal conditions were much warmer than parkland tundra regions of North America today. These results have important significance for the region immediately south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during this period of the Late Wisconsinan.     

A lacustrine record of late Pleistocene climatic change in the subtropical Andes

Significant changes in moisture have occurred in the subtropical Andes over the last 20,000 years as evidenced by shorelines of high lake stands and extensive glacial moraines. Lakes with sediment records that reflect these moisture changes are present in some valleys where headwalls are below the snowline elevation reached during the latest Pleistocene glacial culmination (14,000–12,000 BP). One such lake, Laguna Kollpa Kkota, which is located on the western slope of the eastern cordillera in Bolivia, has basal radiocarbon dates of about 20,000 BP. The snowline reconstruction for this site confirms earlier work in the region that suggests late Pleistocene snowline depression was less than 500 m, or half the amount generally considered for low-latitude regions during the last glacial maximum. The sediment stratigraphy from Laguna Kollpa Kkota indicates that sediment accumulation and organic carbon deposition increased significantly from 14,000 to 12,600 BP. This increase in sedimentation may have resulted from greater inwash to the lake and higher productivity In the lake itself as a result of higher lake levels. These changes could reflect the postulated late Pleistocene increase in precipitation that led to the formation of Lago Tauca on the Altiplano and to glacial advances in the surrounding cordillera.     

Identification and significance of a late Pleistocene tephra in Canterbury district,South Island,New Zealand

A rhyolitic ash 4 to 8 cm thick is well preserved within a thick loess unit in a coastal section 2 km long near Teviotdale, Canterbury district, South Island, New Zealand. The ash (informally named Tiromoana ash) contains fresh glass shards which give a fission-track age of 20,300 ± 7100 yr B.P. The only possible source for such a tephra with this age range is from Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), North Island, some 550 km north of Teviotdale. Within the time span ca. 15,000 to 42,000 yr B.P. five widespread and voluminous rhyolitic tephras (viz. Rerewhakaaitu Ash, Rotoehu Ash, Kawakawa Tephra, Omataroa Tephra, and Mangaone Tephra) were erupted from TVZ. On the basis of the fission-track age, ferromagnesian mineralogy, and electron-microprobe analyses of glass shards and titanomagnetites from Tiromoana ash and the five possible correlatives listed above, Tiromoana ash is correlated with Kawakawa Tephra (dated by ¹⁴C at ca. 20,000 yr B.P.). This is the only known occurrence to date of Kawakawa Tephra in the South Island. Its preservation is attributed to special site conditions (low precipitation and minimal sheet erosion) leeward of a prominent terrace. The identification of the ash at Teviotdale as Kawakawa Tephra supports recently revised age assignments for the upper loess sheet in Canterbury. Moreover, it implies that loess enclosing Kawakawa Tephra in nonglaciated districts of southern North Island and Taupo Volcanic Zone is a correlative.     

An analysis of the chronology of late Pleistocene mammalian extinctions in North America

Some 35 genera of mammals became extinct in North America as the Pleistocene came to an end. Current attempts to explain those extinctions generally assume that all of the losses took place between 12,000 and 10,000 yr B.P., even though 13 of the 35 genera lack radiocarbon dates of reasonable validity that would place them in this 2000-yr period. Analyses of the structure of the radiocarbon chronology available for the extinct taxa suggest that some may lack terminal Wisconsin dates simply because they are so poorly represented in the paleontological record. These analyses also suggest, however, that the population numbers of many genera that became extinct toward the end of the Pleistocene may have significantly dwindled by 12,000 yr B.P., and that many of the genera that have yet to be dated to terminal Wisconsin times may not have survived beyond 12,000 yr B.P. If this is the case, current explanations of the extinctions are in need of extensive modification.     

The characteristics, classification and origin of late Pleistocene fan deposits in the Cass Basin, Canterbury, New Zealand

The deposits comprising 'valley-side fans' in a small intermontane basin of the Southern Alps are classified as debris flow, water-laid, intermediate and mixed deposits on the basis of particle size and clast orientation characteristics. Five varieties of debris flow deposit are identified including unimodal and bimodal 'mudflow gravels'. The fans comprise mainly unimodal mudflow gravels which although apparently similar to the mudflow gravels described from montane and periglacial environments are coarser, have less silt and clay and are better sorted than the mudflow deposits described from semiarid alluvial fans. Additions of airborne silt and fine sand to the fan catchments during later stages of fan building gave rise to bimodal debris flow deposits which appear similar to gravels described from cold-climate fans in Tasmania and classed as water-laid deposits. Braided stream deposits were added to the depositional sequence towards the closing stages of fan building indicating that the fan had become 'wetter'. In many places, however, the youngest Pleistocene fan deposits are silt-rich mixtons reflecting a peak in loess deposition.     

Effects of late Pleistocene permafrost on the landscape of Wisconsin, USA

Pleistocene permafrost had a major but generally unappreciated effect on the landscape of Wisconsin, second only to glaciation. Evidence for continuous permafrost during the last part of the Wisconsin Glaciation includes ice-wedge casts seen both in outcrop (generally in gravel pits) and as polygonal networks (on aerial photographs). Other important evidence includes fossil tundra organisms. Other features that are probably the result of permafrost in Wisconsin include talus cones, block streams, solifluction rubble at the base of most hillslopes, fluvial cobble gravel, gullies that are today inactive, lake-ice collapse trenches, and ice-walled-lake plains. Permafrost caused accelerated regional erosion of the landscape; most topographic features formed before the last permafrost melted have been highly modified or even destroyed, whereas those formed after are much better preserved. In addition, the presence of permafrost influenced many glacial processes and landforms. Permafrost was present until about 14000 yr BP in the southern part of the state to about 10000 yr BP in the northern part.     

New stratigraphic markers in the late Pleistocene Palouse loess: novel fossil gastropods, absolute age constraints and non-aeolian facies

Four stratigraphic sections in the southern part of the Columbia Basin preserve a sequence of aeolian and non-aeolian sediments ranging in age from 9·43 to >47·0 ¹⁴C ka based on accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of fossil molluscs, geochemistry of Cascade Mountain-sourced tephra and association with formally recognized pedostratigraphic units (the Washtucna and Old Maid Coulee soils). Study sections are interpreted as representing concurrent deposition of loess and distal Missoula Flood rhythmites in valleys tributary to main drainages backflooded during the Missoula Floods, and formation of carbonate and iron-rich soils. Sediments belong to the formally recognized L-1 and L-2 loess units established for the Palouse loess, which were deposited in the Columbia Basin subsequent to events of glacial outburst flooding. Sediments associated with the Mount Saint Helens set S and set C tephras in the study sections preserve a fauna of five species of gastropod mollusc which have not been reported previously from sediments of late Pleistocene age in the Palouse region. The fossils comprise two distinct faunules stratigraphically separated by the Mount Saint Helens So tephra. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of the fossils collected above the tephra in two of the sections yielded ages of 12·48 ± 0·06 and 9·43 ± 0·05 ¹⁴C kyr. These ages suggest that independent determinations of the 13·35 ¹⁴C kyr age of the So tephra in other areas where Missoula Flood sediments are preserved are probably accurate, and help to refine the age of the latest events in the most recent sequence of catastrophic glacial outburst flooding.     

Late Pleistocene vegetation of Kings Canyon,Sierra Nevada,California

Seven packrat midden samples make possible a comparison between the modern and late Pleistocene vegetation in Kings Canyon on the western side of the southern Sierra Nevada. One modern sample contains macrofossils and pollen derived from the present-day oak-chaparral vegetation. Macrofossils from the six late Pleistocene samples record a mixed coniferous forest dominated by the xerophytic conifers Juniperus occidentalis, Pinus cf. ponderosa, and P. monophylla. The pollen spectra of these Pleistocene middens are dominated by Pinus sp., Taxodiaceae-Cupressaceae-Taxaceae (TCT), and Artemisia sp. Mesophytic conifers are represented by low macrofossil concentrations. Sequoiadendron giganteum is represented by a few pollen grains in the full glacial. Edaphic control and snow dispersal are the most likely causes of these mixed assemblages.The dominant macrofossils record a more xeric plant community than those that now occur on similar substrates at higher elevations or latitudes in the Sierra Nevada. These assemblages suggest that late Wisconsin climates were cold with mean annual precipitation not necessarily greater than modern values. This conclusion supports a model of low summer ablation allowing for the persistence of the glaciers at higher elevations during the late Wisconsin. The records in these middens also suggest that S. giganteum grew at lower elevations along the western side of the range and that P. monophylla was more widely distributed in cismontane California during the Pleistocene.     

中国北方晚更新世哺乳类动物群的划分及其地理分布

<正> 新第三纪以来,由于青藏高原、喜马拉雅山脉与西部山脉的隆起,我国形成了西高东低的地形特点,导致了气候和环境的变迁,明显地影响了中国哺乳动物的分布。在晚更新世,中国南北动物群分化逐渐扩大,动物群更替尤为频繁。中国晚更新世地层及动物群的研究已有一段相当长的历史,发现了众多重要的遗址和化石地点,积累了丰富的资料。笔者综合有关资料,对我国北方晚更新世动物群,特别是猛犸象-披毛犀动物群的划分、地     

The late Miocene to Pleistocene ice-rafting history of southeast Greenland

Analysis of a Miocene-Pleistocene ice-rafted debris (IRD) record from the western Irminger Basin provides evidence for the initiation and long-term behavior of the SE portion of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In the late Miocene (~7.3 Ma), IRD supply to Ocean Drilling Program site 918 increased significantly indicating that glaciers large enough to reach sea level were present in SE Greenland long before the onset of widespread Northern Hemisphere glaciation. IRD accumulated at this site throughout the Pliocene and Pleistocene, supporting the hypothesis that SE Greenland was a key nucleation area for the formation of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Since glacial onset, the western Irminger Basin IRD record is characterized by a succession of episodes with high IRD mass accumulation rates (MARs). The site 918 IRD record indicates that greatest iceberg production in SE Greenland occurred during major climatic transitions (e.g. widespread Northern Hemisphere glacial expansion at 2.7 Ma and the mid-Pleistocene climate shift at 0.9 Ma), and that SE Greenland sometimes also led the northern North Atlantic region in glacial response to climatic forcing (e.g. glacial intensification at ~4.8 and, along with NE Greenland, at ~3.5 Ma).     

Multiarchive paleoseismic record of late Pleistocene and Holocene strong earthquakes in Switzerland

A multiarchive approach has been applied to the investigation of the late Pleistocene and Holocene record of strong earthquakes in Switzerland. The geological archives used for this study include active faults, lake deposits, slope instabilities, and caves. In the Basle area, eight trenches were opened across the Basle–Reinach fault, nearby rockfall deposits were systematically investigated, sediment cores were taken from two lakes, and nine caves were studied. In Central Switzerland, five lakes were investigated by means of high-resolution seismic lines and sediment cores. Furthermore, three caves were studied in Central Switzerland. Altogether, the investigations are based on more than 350 km of high-resolution reflection seismic lines, 450 m of core samples, 260 m of trenches, and 245 radiocarbon age determinations. The measured co-seismic displacements along the Basle–Reinach fault supply independent information for the magnitude of the AD 1356 Basle earthquake exclusively based on geological evidence. Deformation features related to three well-documented strong historic earthquake shocks were identified. Deformation features of the AD 1774 Altdorf and AD 1601 Unterwalden earthquakes can be used to calibrate paleoseismic evidence in Central Switzerland. Altogether, traces of 13 earthquakes could be found in the two study areas, all of them with magnitudes M_w  6 or greater. For the first time, the earthquake catalogue for Switzerland can be extended back beyond historic records, into the late Pleistocene, spanning 15,000 years.     

临夏盆地巴谢河流域晚更新世以来滑坡发育历史重建

晚更新世以来,特别是全新世以来,黄土高原西北部发育了多期次的滑坡事件。临夏盆地巴谢河流域较好地保留了多期次滑坡的遗存,有研究历史滑坡发育规律的良好素材。文章通过详细的野外调查,初步厘清了滑坡空间分布及新老滑坡相互叠置关系,总结得到本地区滑坡的四种发展类型:压裂型深层黄土-泥岩滑坡、滑移型深层黄土-泥岩滑坡、蠕变型中浅层黄土-泥岩滑坡和塌滑型黄土滑坡。不同时期发育的滑坡在野外呈现明显不同的特征:发育于晚更新世的古滑坡有圈椅状的地形和高陡的后缘陡壁,滑坡堆积体已固结,堆积体表面冲沟发育;发育于全新世早期的老滑坡除了具有圈椅状地形和高陡后壁外,堆积体较为松散,堆积平台形态较为完整;发育于全新世晚期的新滑坡则保留了更多的滑坡特征,可见滑坡后缘和侧缘裂缝。巴谢河流域滑坡大多有多次滑动的迹象,不同期次的滑坡相互重叠,在同一范围发生多次滑动,形成多级滑坡堆积平台。滑坡埋压动植物、滑坡洼地短期水体沉积物等有着明显的滑坡指示意义。通过采集此类样品,利用14C和光释光等测年手段,获取了本地区一系列滑坡事件的年龄。对测年数据进行统计分析,得到巴谢河流域晚更新世以来的五个滑坡高发时段,分别为100~63 kaBP、45.2~41.5 kaBP、33.3~28.2 kaBP、22.5~15.2 kaBP和10.4~0.2 kaBP。以上滑坡高发时段的推断将为认识去环境变迁提供证据。     

黄河源地区晚更新世湖泛事件及其意义

通过青海玛多湖相地层剖面沉积特征,结合ESR样品年代测试结果,分析认为黄河源地区在13万年左右的晚更新世时期发生过湖泛事件。湖泛时期,玛多"四姐妹湖"相互连通,形成一个面积巨大的湖泊,约是现今"四姐妹湖"总面积的4.1倍。玛多地区此次湖泛事件与深海氧同位素MIS 6（Marine isotope stages 6）向MIS 5（Marine isotope stages 5）转变时期相对应,显示出青藏高原气候变化与全球气候变化密切相关,然而黄河源地区湖相地层对全球气候变化反应更敏感,记录的气候转换时间早于其他地区。玛多剖面湖相地层剖面沉积物的粒度、碳酸盐、磁化率分析表明,在132±10~128±12 ka年间,黄河源地区湖相沉积可分为9个阶段,表明青藏高原在MIS 6向MIS 5转变时期的气候变化是一个波动上升过程。13万年左右,黄河源地区大面积的湖相地层结束沉积,认为由于青藏高原共和运动,下游的多石峡被切开,湖水突然外泄所形成。