Glacier Relics of the Last Glacial and Holocene Periods Discovered in the Middle‐low Mountains of Eastern China: Sedimentary Sequences and Environmental Evolution of Mengshan Mountain in Shandong Province since 80 ka

The goal of this research study is to describe academic issues which have been debated in the field of Chinese geosciences for a century. In 1922, Jonquei S. Lee(Li Siguang) discovered Quaternary glacial relics at Taihang Mountainin eastern China. In 1947, he published his research findings in the magazine Mount Lushan in Glacial Age. The research results had established three Ice Ages: Poyang(Gonzi), Dagu(Minde), and Lushan(Lisi). However, at that time, no Wurm glacial relics of the last Ice Age had been found in Lushan Mountain. Since then, the research team represented by Shi Yafeng, who is considered to be "the father of glaciers in China", questioned Jonquei S. Lee's research results and concluded that "Professor Jonquei S. Lee's Quaternary glacier research in Lushan Mountain having misread the debris flow". In 2005, the "middle-low mountains" in eastern China were finally defined as follows: "We clearly and unambiguously believe that there were no glacial activities in the middle-low mountainous areas of eastern China(east of 102° to 104°E; below 3,000 and 2,500 m) during the Quaternary Period". Currently, the long-standing academic debate appears to have come to a conclusion. As of 2015, the author and others began to investigate and study the Quaternary glacial relics in Mengshan Mountain(1,156 m above sea level), Shandong Province, one of the "middle-low mountains" of eastern China. The relics have been observed to posses the systematic features of glacial erosion, trough and valley striations, and moraine deposits. The applied dating method shave confirmed that there were not only glacial relics of the last Ice Age(Wurm), but also Holocene glacial relics in the Mengshan Mountain area. Therefore, in order to further establish the corresponding relationship between the glacier, loess, stream sediment series, and MIS in the Mengshan Mountain area, a large number of chronological studies have been carried out regarding the various types of sediments in the area, and 24 dating datahave been obtained using OSL, CRN, and 14 Cmethods.On this basis, the corresponding relationship between the sedimentary sequences and the MIS was established for the first time in eastern China, which in dicates the environmental changes which had occurred in eastern China since 80 ka. These discoveries s and chronological study results confirm the existence of the Last Ice Age, as well as Holocene glacial relics at Mengshan Mountain, there by confirming that Quaternary glaciation had occurred in the middle-low mountain areas of eastern China.     

湖泊沉积中的10Be含量变化——有助于识别第四纪古冰川的有无

20世纪50-70年代核试验产生的¹³⁷Cs尘埃,在现代冰川和非冰川湖泊沉积剖面中的深度分布存在明显差异.同理,大气宇宙射线成因的长半衰期¹⁰Be尘埃,在第四纪冰川和非冰川湖泊沉积剖面中的深度分布也应存在差异.第四纪冰川湖泊,冰期时流域内冰雪和¹⁰Be的累积量大于消融量,间冰期时冰雪和¹⁰Be的消融量大于累积量.因此,冰川湖泊冰期的¹⁰Be入湖通量小于间冰期.湖泊沉积剖面¹⁰Be浓度的波动,很可能表征流域内冰雪消融与累积的变化.非冰川湖泊,不存在冰川的累积与消融对¹⁰Be入湖通量的影响.开展第四纪冰川与非冰川湖泊沉积¹⁰Be含量变化的对比研究,有可能为破译中国东部中低山区古冰川和青藏高原大冰盖的世纪之争提供新的证据.     

中国第四纪冰期、地文期和黄土记录

中国第四纪冰川的发育受岩石圈运动造成的三大地貌阶梯的严格控制,主要出现在最高阶梯的青藏高原和西北山地,第二阶梯以下分布零星。把冰期、地文期和黄土记录结合起来研究会迅速提高中国第四纪冰川的研究水平。兰州附近有三次古冰川遗迹,分别可以和T₁、T₂、T₃和T₄相应。相当于氧同位素2、4、6和16阶段,即70,000—10,000aB.P.、0.15MaB.P.和0.6MaB.P.。     

Response of chironomids to Late Quaternary environmental change in the Taitao Peninsula,southern Chile

An Erratum has been published for this article in Journal of Quaternary Science 17(7) 2002, 721. There is conflicting evidence concerning the extent and timing of late Quaternary climate variability in southern South America and how this may be linked to climate change in the Northern Hemisphere. Critical unresolved questions include whether or not a cool period occurred in southern South America during the Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC) (11 000–10 000 ¹⁴C yr BP; 13 000–11 200 yr BP), and the timing of wet and dry phases during the Holocene. To date most evidence is from glacial, pollen and beetle records but, in an attempt to resolve these questions, we have used chironomid midges as an independent proxy in one of the first studies of its kind in Patagonia. We investigated the dynamics of midge assemblages during the Late‐glacial and Holocene at Lago Stibnite on the Taitao Peninsula, southern Chile (46°S). Changes in the midge assemblage suggest that the climate may have become cooler and drier during the YDC. During the Holocene there were cyclical changes in the midge assemblage that may have been in response to trophic change and/or to changes in precipitation when conditions appear to have been drier than today at 9400–6300 ¹⁴C yr BP and 2400–1600 ¹⁴C yr BP. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

华北区第四纪植被演替与气候变化

文中华北区是指燕山、辽南一线以南、吕梁山以东、渭河谷地与准阳丘陵以北地区。该区属暖温带,即蒙古和东北寒温带、温带区域与华中和华东亚热带区域之间的过渡地带,故第四纪冰期、间冰期气候的变化,对本区的影响表现得很强烈,它引起第四纪植被的明显演替,是我国第四纪植被变化较大的两个区域之一(另一为青藏区)。     

Sr-Isotope record of Quaternary marine terraces on the California coast and off Hawaii

Strontium-isotopic ratios of dated corals have been obtained from submerged reefs formed during Quaternary glacial periods off the Hawaiian islands. These data, combined with data from deep-sea sediments, tightly constrain the secular variation of marine ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr for the past 800,000 yr. Although long-term trends are apparent, no significant (>0.02‰), rapid (<100,000 yr) excursions in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr were resolved nor did we observe any samples with ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr greater than that of modern seawater. Strontium in mollusks from elevated marine terraces formed during interglacial periods on the southern California coast show resolvable and consistent variations in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr which, when compared to the trend of Quaternary marine ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, can be used to infer uplift rates and define approximate ages for the higher terraces. The Sr-isotope age estimates indicate that uplift rates vary among crustal blocks and were not necessarily constant with time. No contrast in Sr-isotopic ratios between similar-age Hawaiian and California fossils was observed, confirming that any change in marine ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr from glacial to interglacial periods must be small. A realistic appraisal of the potential of Sr-isotope stratigraphy for chronometric applications in the Quaternary suggests that the technique will be limited to relatively coarse distinctions in age.     

中国全新世海平面变化周期与世界未来海平面变化规律

从发现海滩岩断代序列模式后,通过多学科综合研究又发现气候变化周期、闽粤海岸升降周期和海平面变化周期等皆为500a 左右。在13000aB.P.前中国气候变暖,海平面为以上升为主的升降期;近6000多年海平面以周期性上下波动为特征;而近3100年寒冷气候以每1000年7个纬度的速度南移,海平面向上波动幅度变小。按气候变化周期,现阶段为变寒期,将抵消一部分“温室效应”,世界未来50—100年的海面可能与今持平或有所下降。按照冰期和间冰期的时间规律,未来6000—7000年的海平面将下降几十米。     

Late Cainozoic stratigraphy,palaeomagnetic chronology and vegetational history from Lake George,N.S.W.

The sedimentary record from Lake George provides the longest relatively continuous Quaternary continental sequence yet available from Australia, and may record one of the longest Upper Cainozoic lacustrine records in the world.

Palaeomagnetic analysis of a 36 m core from the lake floor identifies a sequence of deposition extending through the Brunhes and Matuyama, to the Gauss magnetic Chron. A longer core from the same site, but with incomplete recovery, extends to 72 m in lacustrine sediment; the age of the base of this core estimated by extrapolation is between 4.2 and 7 Ma. As there are still older and deeper sediments in the basin, extending to an estimated depth of 134 m, the age of the tectonic formation of the Lake George basin must be reckoned as Middle Miocene or older.

The pattern of facies organisation through time demonstrates a phase of deep water deposition extending from the base of the cored sequence (72 m) up to 51.5 m, at which time a major change took place. A disconformity developed at this level, associated with a period of deep weathering and a prolonged phase of slope mantle deposition (from 51.5 to 30.8 m). A gradual return to lacustrine environments, with diminishing proportion of slope wash detritus, resulted in increased rates of deposition coincident with the Jaramillo Subchron at 21.5 m. Thereafter, throughout the Brunhes magnetic Chron, lacustrine conditions dominated, varying from deep to lake dry conditions in a rhythmic fashion, and reflecting the major climatic oscillations of the past 700 000 years, becoming more regular in the past 400 000 years.

The pollen analytical record of the upper 8.6 m, covering the last 350 000 years, provides the main framework for the reconstruction of climatic history. The pollen and algal records indicate a sequence of vegetation and lake level changes, in which four major glacial/interglacial cycles are correlated with stages 1 to 10 of the ¹⁸0 marine record. This provides by far the longest continuous biostratigraphic framework for the Quaternary period in Australia.

Comparison between the palaeoclimatic record and the lake level evidence shows that there is no simple correlation between the lake level fluctuations and the glacial/ interglacial oscillations. In fact, major falls in the lake level occured both at the peak of cold glacials and during the warm interglacials. Though the falls in the lake levels during a warm period (interglacial) can be explained by high rates of evaporation, drying during maximum cold can be explained best in terms of a fall in precipitation. Permanent to deep‐lake conditions generally occurred during intermediate cool periods following warm intervals, when perhaps the seas were still warm and low rates of evaporation on land prevailed. On the other hand, short periods of shallow to deep lake levels also occurred during warm (interglacial) periods, showing that these were associated with reasonably high rates of precipitation.     

Paleoclimatic Significance of Late Quaternary Lacustrine and Alluvial Stratigraphy, Animas Valley, New Mexico

Lacustrine and alluvial stratigraphic sequences in the southern Animas Valley of New Mexico allow reconstruction of late Quaternary climates. Four separate stands of late Quaternary Lake Cloverdale in the southern Animas Valley are recorded by lacustrine shoreline deposits. Soils and stratigraphic evidence show that three young lake highstands occurred during the Holocene and that a higher lake stand occurred 18,000 to 20,000¹⁴C yr B.P. Fluvial systems aggraded the southern Animas Valley during the middle to late Holocene. The late Quaternary stratigraphy shows that several periods during the late Holocene were characterized by higher effective precipitation than at any time since the last glacial maximum.     

Strandflat development and Quaternary shorelines on Tiree and Coll,Scottish Hebrides

The islands of Tiree and Coll in the Scottish Inner Hebrides are dominated by staircases of glaciated rock-platform surfaces in Lewisian gneiss that are interpreted here as areas of strandflat. The rock platform surfaces exhibit differential glacio-isostatic uplift from east to west and are considered to indicate at least four separate periods of strandflat formation during prolonged intervals of Quaternary cold climate. It is suggested that many of the well-known areas of high rock platform located farther east in the Scottish Inner Hebrides represent eroded remnants of the strandflat surfaces described here. The existence of the Tiree and Coll strandflat surfaces in conjunction with their formation during periods of Quaternary glaciation implies that they were produced during periods when mainland Scotland was ice-covered yet when the western margin of the ice sheet was normally located east of these islands. A prominent Late-glacial raised shoreline also occurs on both islands and declines in altitude to the west, from 22 m in northeastern Coll to 9 m in western Tiree. It is believed that this shoreline, whose regional gradient is 0.39 m km^?1, may represent part of the Main Wester Ross Shoreline that was formed in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland during a period of glacial advance that interrupted the decay of the last (Late Devensian) ice sheet. The general similarity in altitude between the Late-glacial shoreline features and rock platform surfaces implies that during each period of Quaternary strandflat formation, relative sea-level returned to the same approximate position. This would appear to indicate that the glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic components affecting the positions of relative sea level in Scotland have remained in approximate equilibrium throughout the duration of the Quaternary.     

First cosmogenic 10Be constraints on LGM glaciation on New Zealand's North Island: Park Valley,Tararua Range

We report the first direct ages for late Quaternary glaciation on the North Island of New Zealand. Mt Ruapehu, the volcanic massif in the North Island's centre, is currently glaciated and probably sustained glaciers throughout the late Quaternary, yet no numeric ages have been reported for glacial advances anywhere on the North Island. Here, we describe cosmogenic ¹⁰Be ages of the surface layers of a glacially transported boulder and glacially polished bedrock from the Tararua Range, part of the axial ranges of the North Island. Results indicate that a limited valley glaciation occurred, culminating in recession at the end of the last glacial coldest period (LGCP, ca. 18 ka). This provides an initial age for deglaciation on the North Island during the last glacial–interglacial transition (LGIT). It appears that glaciation occurred in response to an equilibrium‐line altitude (ELA) lowering of ～1400 m below the present‐day mean summer freezing level. Ages for glaciation in the Tararua Range correspond closely to exposure ages for the last glacial maximum (LGM) from the lateral moraines of Cascade Valley in the South Island, and in Cobb Valley, in northern South Island. The corollary is that glaciation in the Tararua Range coincided with the phase of maximum cooling during MIS 2, prior to the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR), during the LGCP. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

李四光教授与中国现代地理学的发展

本文简述李四光教授支持发展中国现代地理学特别是关于自然区划和冰川冻土研究的若干事例,借以表彰李先生宽广开拓的胸怀与对地理科学的热诚,纪念李先生百年诞辰。     

怀念李四光老师,学习他的治学精神

际此李四光老师诞辰100周年之际,回忆当年受业情景,思绪万千。二院荷花池畔的憧憬、庐山野外实习及课堂受业的教诲犹历历在目。他一贯认真严谨的治学态度和科学的开创精神永远激励着我们。他是中国地质事业的奠基人之一,他对中国地质科学的贡献、他的治学精神和高风亮节都堪称后世师表。     

极海洋型冰川是什么冰川——与景才瑞先生商榷

施雅风和谢自楚曾将中国现代冰川分为极大陆型冰川、亚大陆型冰川和海洋型冰川。这个分类方案因符合中国现代冰川的基本特征而得到广泛承认与应用。近年,景才瑞提出“极海洋型冰川”的概念,示意第四纪冰期时中国东部中低山地既然不存在基本的冰川类型,则可能存在一种比海洋型冰川更加高温湿润的特殊冰川。本文认为,这样类型的冰川是不存在的。海洋型冰川已经涵盖了处于融点冰温的临界冰川,即使再多的降水,也不能在正温条件下演变成冰川。故“极海洋型冰川”的概念是不能成立的。第四纪环境研究表明,冰期时大陆架广泛出露,西伯利亚-蒙古高压强迫下的冬季风加强,中国东部气候是朝着更加干旱的方向变化的,其海洋型特征也要大大降低。     

10Be Exposure Ages Obtained From Quaternary Glacial Landforms on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Surrounding Area

In situ terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure dating using ¹⁰Be is one of the most successful techniques used to determine the ages of Quaternary deposits and yields data that enable the reconstruction of the Quaternary glacial history of the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding mountain ranges. Statistical analysis of TCN ¹⁰Be exposure ages, helps to reconstruct the history of glacial fluctuations and past climate changes on the Tibetan Plateau, differences in the timing of glacier advances among different regions. However, different versions of the Cosmic‐Ray‐prOduced NUclide Systematics on Earth (CRONUS‐Earth) online calculator, which calculates and corrects the TCN ages of Quaternary glacial landforms, yield different results. For convenience in establishing contrasts among regions, in this paper, we recalculate 1848 ¹⁰Be exposure ages from the Tibetan Plateau that were published from 1999 to 2017 using version 2.3 of the CRONUS‐Earth calculator. We also compare the results obtained for 1594 ¹⁰Be exposure ages using different versions (2.2, 2.3 and 3.0) of the CRONUS‐Earth calculator. The results are as follows. (1) Approximately 97% of the exposure ages are less than 200 ka. A probability density curve of the exposure ages suggests that greater numbers of oscillations emerge during the Holocene, and the peaks correspond to the Little Ice Age, the 8.2 ka and 9.3 ka cold events; the main peak covers the period between 12 and 18 ka. (2) In most areas, the newer versions of the calculator produce older ¹⁰Be exposure ages. When different versions of the CRONUS‐Earth calculator are used, approximately 29% of the ¹⁰Be exposure ages display maximum differences greater than 10 ka, and the maximum age difference for a single sample is 181.1 ka.     

南海北部4MaB.P.以来古海洋变迁的长链烯酮记录

通过对ODP184航次1147/1148站位约4MaB.P.以来沉积物中来源于定鞭金藻的生物标志化合物的研究,对南海北部晚上新世以来的古海洋生产力、表层海水温度及CO₂分压的变化情况进行了探讨.定鞭金藻生产力与硅藻生产力一样在0.9MaB.P.以前比较稳定地保持在较低水平,而0.9MaB.P.后定鞭金藻生产力较高,且呈现冰期低间冰期高的波动,硅藻生产力则呈现持续升高的趋势.由C37烯酮不饱和度指标获得的南海北部4MaB.P.以来表层海水的UK′37温度与浮游有孔虫壳体δ18O具有较好的相关性,且能显示出0.9MaB.P.来的19个氧同位素期,表明将U37K′37温标应用到晚第四纪以前基本上是可行的.由δ13C37:2计算的表层海水pCO₂显示,晚上新世的pCO₂要高于300μL/L,而第四纪的pCO₂尽管存在波动,却基本上在300μL/L以下.计算出的晚第四纪的pCO2十分稳定,与同期的大气pCO₂历史变化不一致.这可能与计算中简单地假定某些参数(如生长速率)为常数有关,这些参数在第四纪冰期间冰期旋回中可能有较大变化.     

华北山地多成因壶穴初步研究——对华北山地“冰臼”等“冰川地貌”的讨论

华北山地"距今二、三百万年"的"冰臼"绝大部分位于第四纪河谷内,"距今1～2万年"的"冰川壶穴"位于全新世河谷内,与华北山地地貌演化相矛盾;所谓的"冰川地貌"组合不是真正的地貌组合,而是不同时代、不同成因地貌的混合,因此,华北山地不存在冰臼。所谓的"冰臼"是不同时代、多种成因的壶穴——距今2.50Ma前后的河蚀壶穴,距今10～20ka的雪蚀壶穴,距今10ka以来的溶蚀穴、溶蚀—河蚀壶穴、风化—风蚀壶穴、现代壶穴和水潭。     

Moraine dam related to late Quaternary glaciation in the Yulong Mountains,southwest China,and impacts on the Jinsha River

The Yulong Mountain massif is tectonically active during Quaternary and contains the southernmost glacierized mountains in China, and all of Eurasia. Past glacial remnants remain preserved on the east and west sides of the Yulong Mountains. A ridge of moraine protruded into the Jinsha River at the Daju Basin, damming the river, and forming a lake at the head of the Jinsha River. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al provide exposure age dates for the moraine-based fluvial terraces left behind after the dam breached, and for moraine boulders on both the eastern and western sides of the Yulong Mountains. Our results yield exposure ages for the terraces that range from 29 ka to 8 ka, and a downcutting rate of 7.6 m/ka. The preservation of the remaining dam for over 10,000 years suggests stability of the moraine dam and gradual erosion of the dam during drainage of the dammed lake. From the relationship between exposure ages and elevations of the fluvial terraces located in different walls of the Daju fault, we obtain a late Quaternary dip-slip rate of about 5.6 m/ka for the Daju fault. The exposure ages of 10.2 ka and 47 ka for moraine boulders located in the east and west sides of the Yulong Mountains, respectively, coincide with warm periods in the late Quaternary. This implies that precipitation provides the major control for glaciations on the Yulong Mountains, a domain of the southwest Asian monsoon.     

第四纪气候变化的旋回和周期

在西安附近黄土剖面中发现40层古土壤,分别出现在中、早更新世,可将西安黄土沉积以来的气候变化划为25个旋回。在陕西洛川和河北平原也有相似的气候变化。根据古地磁年代,得出第四纪气候变化的基本周期为10万年左右。全球气候变化基本是统一的,研究结果的不同只是由于研究地区、剖面和气候标志对气候变化的反应不同造成的。     

Spatial change detection of glacial lakes in the Koshi River Basin,the Central Himalayas

Region warming and the resulting ongoing deglaciation have led to the formation of new glacial lakes and expansion of existing glacial lakes. For giving an overview of the distribution and expansion of glacial lakes in the Koshi River Basin (KRB) between the Central China and Nepal Himalayas in the recent 10 years, this paper aimed to analyze and assess recent spatial variability of glacial lake changes in the KRB, Central Himalayas using two inventory data of glacial lake in 2001 and 2010 in Nepal and Landsat TM/ETM+ data for the 1990s, 2000 and 2009 on the Chinese section of the KRB. The datasets show that there are 1,203 glacial lakes with a total area of 118.54 km² in the KRB in 2009, in which 599 lakes are mapped in the Nepalese section of the KRB with a total of 25.92 km², and 604 lakes in the Chinese section of the KRB with a total area of 92.62 km². From 2000 to 2009, the total number of glacial lakes decreased from 1,668 to 1,203 with a reduction of 45.86 % in the KRB, whereas the total lake areas expanded by 10.60 % (i.e. 0.72 km²/a), from 111.35 to 118.54 km² between 2000, 2001 and 2009, 2010. Especially, 17 lakes are identified as potentially dangerous glacial lakes (PDGLs) by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on the Nepalese section of the KRB in 2009. In the same period, 23 PDGLs are also identified on the Chinese section of the KRB and the total area increased by 77.46 % (i.e. 0.37 km²/a) from 1990 to 2010 and the expansion rate is significantly higher than 39 % (0.19 km²/a) of non-PDGLs. Therefore, there is a need for promoting the awareness of the hazard potential of glacier lakes to support proper planning of mitigation and adaptation strategies in this context.