Evidence for short-lived oscillations in the biological records from the sediments of Lago Albano (Central Italy) spanning the period ca. 28 to 17 k yr BP

We report the results of analyses of pigments (derived from algae and photosynthetic bacteria), diatoms and invertebrate fossil remains (ostracods, cladocerans, chironomids) in two late Pleistocene sediment cores from Lago Albano, a crater lake in Central Italy. The record contains evidence for oscillations in lake biota throughout the period ca. 28 to 17 k yr BP. The earliest of these are contained in the basal 3.5 m of light olive-gray and yellowish-gray spotted muds sampled in core PALB 94-1E from 70 m water depth. The later oscillations are best represented in the more extended sediment sequence recovered from a second core site, PALB 94-6B, in 30 m water depth. The sediments at site 1E, containing the earlier oscillations (ca. 28-24 k yr BP), predate any sedimentation at the shallower site, from which we infer an initially low lake level rising to permit sediment accumulation at site 6B from ca. 24 k yr onwards. At site 6B, massive silts rich in moss remains are interbedded with laminated silts and carbonates. These sediments span the period ca. 24 to 17 k yr and are interpreted as representing, respectively, times of shallow water alternating with higher lake stands, when the lake was stratified and bottom water was stagnant. A range of mutually independent chronological constraints on the frequency and duration of the oscillations recorded in the lake biota indicate that they were aperiodic and occurred on millennial to century timescales. We interpret them as responses to climate forcing through its impact on lake levels and changing aquatic productivity. The time span they occupy, their frequency and their duration suggest that at least some of these changes may parallel both the Dansgaard-Oeschger events recorded in Greenland Ice Cores and the contemporary oscillations in North Atlantic circulation documented in marine sediment cores.     

Implications of diverse sedimentation patterns in Hala Lake, Qinghai Province, China for reconstructing Late Quaternary climate

Hala Lake is located in the Qilian Mountains, Qinghai Province, China, at 4,078?m a.s.l. Its sediments contain an archive of climate and hydrologic changes during the Late Quaternary, as it is located close to the area influenced by the East-Asian summer monsoon and westerly-driven air masses. Sedimentation patterns and depositional conditions within the lake were investigated using eight sediment cores from different water depths, and this information was used to evaluate the feasibility of using a single core to reconstruct past climate and hydrological conditions. Long core H7, from the center of the lake (65?m water depth) and core H8 from a western, near-shore location (20?m water depth), were compared in detail using sediment composition and geochemical data (X-ray fluorescence, loss-on-ignition and CNS analysis). Age models were constructed using 17 AMS radiocarbon dates and indicate negligible reservoir error for sediments from the lake center and?~1,000?year errors for the near-shore sediment core. Cores H1?CH5 and HHLS21-1 revealed a sediment succession from sand and silty clay to laminated clay on the southern side of the lake. Undisturbed, finely laminated sediments were found at water depths???15?m. Core H5 (2.5?m long), from 31?m water depth, yielded abundant green algal mats mixed with clayey lake deposits and was difficult to interpret. Algae occurred between 25 and 32?m water depth and influenced the dissolved oxygen content of the stratified lake. Comparison of cores H7 and H8 yielded prominent mismatches for different time periods, which may, in part, be attributed to internal lacustrine processes, independent of climate influence. We thus conclude that data from a single sediment core may lead to different climate inferences. Common shifts among proxy data, however, showed that major climate shifts, of regional to global significance, can be tracked and allow reconstruction of lake level changes over the last 24,000?years. Results indicate advance of glaciers into the lake basin during the LGM, at which time the lake experienced lowest levels, 25?C50?m below present stage. Stepwise refilling began at ca. 16 kyr BP and reached the ?25?m level during the B?lling/Aller?d warm phase, ca. 13.5 kyr BP. A desiccation episode falls within the Younger Dryas, followed by a substantial lake level rise during the first millennium of the Holocene, a result of climate warming, which promoted glacier melt. By ca. 7.6 kyr BP, the lake reached a stable high stand similar to the present level, which persisted until ca. 6 kyr BP. Disturbed sediments in core H7 indicate a single mass flow that was most likely triggered by a major seismic event?~8.5 kyr BP. Subsequent lake development remains unclear as a consequence of data mismatches, but may indicate a general trend to deteriorating conditions and lake level lowstands at ca. 5.0?C4.2, 2.0 and 0.5 kyr BP.     

Holocene environmental changes and development of Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

The lithology, radiocarbon chronology, granulometry, geochemistry and distribution of diatoms were investigated in three sediment cores from fresh-water Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica. Our paleolimnological data provide a record of Holocene environmental changes for this region. In the early Holocene (prior to 9.0 ± 0.5 kyr BP), warm climate conditions caused intensive melting of either the floating glacier ice mass or glaciers in the immediate lake surroundings, leading to the accumulation of terrigenous clastic sediments and limiting biogenic production in the lake. From ca. 9.0 ± 0.5 to 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, highly biogenic sediments dominated by benthic mosses formed, indicating more distal glaciers or snowfields. A relatively cold and dry climate during this period caused weaker lake-water circulation and, likely, occurrence of lake ice conditions were more severe than present. The distribution of marine diatoms in the cores shows that, sometime between 8 and 5 kyr BP, limited amounts of marine water episodically penetrated to the lake, requiring a relative sea-level rise exceeding 10–11 m. During the last ca. 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, sedimentation of mainly biogenic matter with a dominance of laminated microbial mats occurred in the lake under warm climatic conditions, interrupted by relative coolings: the first one around 2 kyr BP and then shortly before recent time. Between ca. 5.5 and 4 kyr BP, the drainage of numerous ice-dammed lakes took place in the southern Bunger Hills and, as a result, drier landscapes have existed here from about 4 kyr BP.     

Chemostratigraphy of Lago Albano sediments (Central Italy):geochemical evidence of palaeoenvironmental changes in lateQuaternary

The results of the geochemical investigation on bulk sediment fromthree cores collected in Albano crater lake (Central Italy) are reported, andthe main markers of the palaeoenvironmental changes in the last 26ka are discussed. The sediment of Lago Albano consists of greysilt and mud, and is made of volcanogenic, calcareous, siliceous and organicmaterial. Some tephra layers provide a chronological framework for thesequence. The chemical features of the sediments are strongly impacted by theAlban Hills volcanism (Roman volcanic area), but there are also strong changesof organic/inorganic matter ratios, owing to variations in biologicalproductivity and terrigeous supply from the catchment. Six chemostratigraphiczones record the main steps of the transition from the cold and dry climate ofGlacial Maximum to the warmer and more humid Holocene climate. The most usefulgeochemical indices are: biogenic silica, CO₂, Br and organiccontent (OM) for biological productivity; Al, Y, CIA (Chemical Index ofAlteration), Al/Rb, Ti/Zr and Y/Al ratios for terrigenous clasticmaterial; OM/Al ratio for organic/terrigenous ratio; S/Fe andMo/Fe ratios and Authigenic U for redox diagenetic conditions of the lakesediment. The geochemical records agree rather well with those of thelithological and paleomagnetic studies, and despite the information obtainedare less detailed than those acquired by the study of biological remains, thepalaeoenvironmental significance inferred is consistent. A comparison of thechemostratigraphic results of Lago Albano with those obtained on coevalsediments from Central and Southern Italy lakes supports the role of thegeochemical investigation as important complement to more sophisticatedtechniques in the palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.     

A late quaternary ostracod record from the Tso Kar basin (North India) with a note on the distribution of recent species

The fossil ostracod associations from a radiocarbon dated sediment core (15.3–0 cal kyr) of the high altitude (4,527 m a.s.l.) hyperhaline Tso Kar lake in North India reveal changes in ostracod species abundances and composition. These document the process of lake formation and ongoing desiccation during the latest quaternary and broadly confirm the results of previous geochemical, geomorphological and pollen analysis. The most striking feature of the core record is a period of freshwater conditions between 9.0 and 6.5 cal kyr BP, as calculated by means of an ostracod-based conductivity transfer function. This early- to mid-Holocene interval of the core correlates with similar ostracod assemblages (Cytherissa lacustris—Candona candida—Eucypris afghanistanensis) of an outcrop section at the basin margin, about 98 m above the modern lake level and marks the highest lake level under the influence of an intensified Indian Summer Monsoon. After 6.5 cal kyr BP, Limnocythere inopinata is the sole representative of the ostracod fauna in the sediment core, which suggests rising salinity conditions most probably due to lake shallowing. From 3.2 cal kyr BP to present, the near absence of ostracods in the core Tk106 is most likely a consequence of salinisation of the lake towards the hyperhaline conditions that are realised at present. Although the modern morphology and physico-chemical properties of Tso Kar lake are in contrast to the past lake conditions, most of the ostracod species, except for Limnocythere mirabilis found in the sediment core, are also identified from surface sediment and outcrop samples. In contrast, Heterocypris salina and Eucypris dulcifons are widespread in the shallow surface waters with a total dissolved solids content ranging from 0.6 to 15.0 g L^?1, but are excluded from the core record and outcrop strata. At a basinal scale, the lake shrinkage and segregation into the Tso Kar and hydrologically open freshwater lake Startsapuk Tso have forced diversification of ostracod taxa, probably as an effect of the emergence of new ecological niches under enhanced “environmental pressure”.     

RAISED MARINE TERRACES ALONG THE GULF OF ADEN COAST OF SOMALIA

Mapping in the Galweda-Elayu area of northern Somalia has revealed depositional and erosional marine terraces at elevations of approximately 16 m, 8 m, and 2 m. These terraces vary from 0–2300 m, 200–2200 m, and 0–800 m in width, respectively. Sediments exposed in stream-valley walls demonstrate that the two higher terraces were formed by marine transgressions followed later by regressions to below present sea level. Beach ridges on the terraced alluvial fan at the mouth of togga Galweda imply that sea level and/or land elevation varied by at least 6 m during the formation of the 16-m terrace and by at least 3 m during the formation of the 8-m terrace. ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U ages of corals suggest that the 8-m terrace was formed during deep-sea isotope substage 5c (105 kyr B.P.) and the 2-m terrace during substage 5a (80 kyr B.P.). A 7-kyr-old coral from above the present storm beach on the outer flanks of the 2-m terrace suggests that sea level in the Gulf of Aden was close to its present level by the middle Holocene. No material suitable for dating was recovered from the 16-m terrace, but on morphological grounds and based on marine-terrace elevations elsewhere in the Red Sea-Gulf of Aden rift zone, we believe that the 16-m terrace was formed during isotope substage 5e (132–120 kyr B.P.), when global sea level was about 6 m above present.     

Climato-hydrological environment inferred from Lake Baikal sediments based on an automatic orbitally tuned age model

We propose a new automatic orbital tuning algorithm to adjust climatic signals to insolation. This can tune two signals with periodicity only without shape similarity. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used as an optimizing method. The new age model for the Brunhes epoch in Lake Baikal core BDP98 defined climatic shifts at about 250 kyr B.P., 350 kyr B.P. and 700 kyr B.P. The sedimentation rate for the interval from 350 kyr B.P. to 700 kyr B.P. was comparatively low and stable. This new model also indicates that there was a stadial during the super interglacial period (MIS 11), and that the terrestrial response to climate change was complex in this period.     

Invertebrates in salt lakes of the Bolivian Altiplano

Based upon a short reconnaissance (March 1991), the chemicalnature and principal invertebrate fauna of seven saline lakes on the Altiplano of southern Bolivia are discussed (Lago de Uru-uru, Pastos Grandes, Lago Ramiditas, Lago Hedionda, Lago Cañapa, Laguna Colorado, pool at L. Colorado). Salinities ranged between 4.4 and 156 g L^–1. The fauna was depauperate. Except at the lowest salinities (<5 gL^–1), rotifers were absent. At high salinities (>50 g L^–1), onlyArtemia, Boeckella poopoensis, ephydrids and a dolichopodid were present.     

Quantifying faulting and base level controls on syn‐rift sedimentation using stratigraphic architectures of coeval,adjacent Early‐Middle Pleistocene fan deltas in Lake Corinth,Greece

Quantification of allogenic controls in rift basin‐fills requires analysis of multiple depositional systems because of marked along‐strike changes in depositional architecture. Here, we compare two coeval Early‐Middle Pleistocene syn‐rift fan deltas that sit 6 km apart in the hangingwall of the Pirgaki‐Mamoussia Fault, along the southern margin of the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. The Selinous fan delta is located near the fault tip and the Kerinitis fan delta towards the fault centre. Selinous and Kerinitis have comparable overall aggradational stacking patterns. Selinous comprises 15 cyclic stratal units (ca. 25 m thick), whereas at Kerinitis 11 (ca. 60 m thick) are present. Eight facies associations are identified. Fluvial and shallow water facies dominate the major stratal units in the topset region, with shelfal fine‐grained facies constituting ca. 2 m thick intervals between major topset units and thick conglomeratic foresets building down‐dip. It is possible to quantify delta build times (Selinous: 615 kyr; Kerinitis: >450 kyr) and average subsidence and equivalent sedimentation rates (Selinous: 0.65 m/kyr; Kerinitis: >1.77 m/kyr). The presence of sequence boundaries at Selinous, but their absence at Kerinitis, enables sensitivity analysis of the most uncertain variables using a numerical model, ‘Syn‐Strat’, supported by an independent unit thickness extrapolation method. Our study has three broad outcomes: (a) the first estimate of lake level change amplitude in Lake Corinth for the Early‐Middle Pleistocene (10–15 m), which can aid regional palaeoclimate studies and inform broader climate‐system models; (b) demonstration of two complementary methods to quantify faulting and base level signals in the stratigraphic record—forward modelling with Syn‐Strat and a unit thickness extrapolation—which can be applied to other rift basin‐fills; and (c) a quantitative approach to the analysis of stacking patterns and key surfaces that could be applied to stratigraphic pinch‐out assessment and cross‐hole correlations in reservoir analysis.     

早全新世沙沟河古洪水沉积及其对气候变化的响应

对沙沟河一级阶地河漫滩ZJDZ剖面中360个样品的粒度,矿物的成分含量及pH值等沉积特征进行分析,并对关键层位进行了一共6个¹⁴C年代测定。结果表明:10.9~4.0 ka B.P.期间沙沟河发生多次大规模洪水,10.9~7.0 ka B.P.期间沙沟河发生20次左右大型洪水,洪水重现期为0.40 ka,其中,10.9~9.0 ka B.P.期间洪水的规模逐次增加,9.0~7.0 ka B.P.期间洪水的规模有所减小;7.0~4.2 ka B.P.期间至少有过4~5次大型洪水,洪水的重现期为0.71 ka。洪水事件主要发生在比较湿润的气候背景下,高频率洪水事件的发生与气候频繁的干湿波动有关。     

Upslope-climbing shelf-edge clinoforms and the stepwise evolution of the northern European glaciation (lower Pleistocene Eridanos Delta system,U.K. North Sea): When sediment supply overwhelms accommodation

Clinoforms are basinward-dipping and accreting palaeo-bathymetric profiles that record palaeo-environmental conditions and processes; thus, clinothems represent natural palaeo-archives. Here, we document shelf-edge scale clinoform sets which prograded through the entire width of an epicontinental marine basin (ca. 400 km), eventually encroaching onto the opposite basin flank, where they started to prograde upslope and landward, in defiance of gravity (“upslope-climbing clinoforms”). The giant westward-prograding Eridanos muddy shelf-edge clinothem originated from the Baltic hinterland in the Oligocene and achieved maximum regression in the Early Pleistocene, on the UK Central Graben (CG) and Mid North Sea High (MNSH), after crossing the whole North Sea mesopelagic depocentre and causing near complete basin infill. Here we integrate well and seismic data through the MNSH and CG and examine the Eridanos final heyday and demise, identifying five clinothem complexes (A1, A2, A3, B and C) and six depositional sequence boundaries (SB1 to SB6) in the Miocene-Recent section. Tectonic and climatic events drove the recent evolution of this system. Early Pleistocene climate cooling, in particular, resulted in a stepwise increase in sediment supply. This climaxed in the earliest Calabrian, following a likely Eburonian eustatic fall (=SB3) when the Eridanos clastic wedge was restructured from a 100–300 m thick compound shelf-edge and delta system to a “hybrid” shelf-edge delta at sequence boundary SB3 (ca. 1.75 Ma). In the ca. 40 kyr that followed SB3, a progradation rate peak (>1,000 m/kyr) is associated with clinoforms starting to accrete upslope, onto the east-dipping slope between CG and MNSH. This “upslope-climbing clinoform” phase was quickly followed by the maximum regression and final retreat of the Eridanos system in the Early Calabrian (=SB4), likely as the result of climate-driven changes in the Baltic hinterland and/or delta auto-retreat. To our knowledge, this contributions represents the first documentation of “upslope-climbing clinoforms” recorded in the stratigraphic record.     

Climate changes in East Siberia (Russia) in the Holocene based on diatom,chironomid and pollen records from the sediments of Lake Kotokel

We analysed a 620-cm-long sediment record from Lake Kotokel located in East Siberia (Russia) for subfossil diatoms, chironomids and pollen to provide a reconstruction of the climate history of the area for the last 12.2 kyr. The subfossil records show differing time lags in their responses to climate change; diatoms and chironomids were more sensitive to climate change than the pollen record. Changes in the biogenic proxies seem related with changes in insolation, the temperature of the North Atlantic and solar activity. The chironomids Chironomus plumosus-type and Einfeldia carbonaria-type and the diatom Aulacoseira granulata were interpreted as markers of warm climate condition. The proxy records were divided into four periods (A, B, C and D) suggesting differing climate in East Siberia during the Holocene. Period D (12.2–9.5 kyr BP) at the beginning of the Holocene, according to chironomid and diatom records, was characterized by warm climate with summer temperatures close to modern. However, forest vegetation had not become fully established yet. During Period C (9.5–5.8 kyr BP), the climate seemed to gradually become colder and wetter from the beginning of Period C to 7 kyr BP. From 7 to 5.8 kyr BP, the climate seemed to remain cold, but aridity increased. Period B (5.8–1.7 kyr BP) was characterised by frequent and sharp alternations between warm and cold conditions. Unstable conditions during this time are also registered in records from Lakes Baikal, Khubsugul and various other shallow lakes of the region. Optimal warm and wet conditions seemed to occur ca. 4 kyr BP. During Period A (the last 1.5 kyr) the diatom and chironomid records show evidence of cold conditions at 1.5–1 kyr BP, but the forest vegetation did not change significantly.     

Environmental magnetic measurements of marine sediments from Antarctica: implications to paleoclimate changes during the past 15 ka

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Controls on loss-on-ignition variation in cores from two shallow lakes in the northeastern United States

Loss-on-ignition analysis of Quaternary lake sediments provides an inexpensive and easy way to investigate past environmental changes. The mass loss on ignition at 550 °C (LOI) from lake sediment cores may vary because of temporal changes in: (1) sediment composition controlled by factors such as productivity, inorganic inputs, and decomposition; and (2) the patterns of sediment accumulation controlled by factors such as basin morphology and water level. Climatic changes can alter both. Here, modern surface samples and transects of sediment cores, collected across small (<10 ha), shallow (<4 m) lakes in the northeastern United States, show that LOI varies little (2–5%) across the deep portions of these small lakes at a given time. Large changes in LOI occur only at the transition into the littoral (shallow) zone. LOI variations in sediment cores that exceed 2–5%, therefore, appear to represent meaningful environmental changes. However, because of the many possible controls, changes in the LOI of a single core are often hard to interpret. Multiple cores increase the interpretability. At lakes studied here, similar LOI trends among several cores confirm that some LOI changes resulted from basin-wide shifts in sediment composition. Differences among cores, however, developed during the early- and mid-Holocene and indicate that the edge of the littoral zone moved towards the centers of the lakes during two periods of low lake levels, at ca. 11 000–8000 and ca. 5400–3000 cal yr B.P. The basin-wide balance of sediment sources controlled the LOI from deep-water sediments, but sedimentation patterns, which changed as lake levels changed, were also important. LOI differences among cores may therefore help identify past lake-level changes in other lakes.     

Freshwater Ostracodes in Quaternary Permafrost Deposits in the Siberian Arctic

Ostracode analysis was carried out on samples from ice-rich permafrost deposits obtained on the Bykovsky Peninsula (Laptev Sea). A composite profile was investigated that covers most of a 38-m thick permafrost sequence and corresponds to the last ca. 60 kyr of the Late Quaternary. The ostracode assemblages are similar to those known from European Quaternary lake deposits during cold stages. The ostracode habitats were small, shallow, cold, oligotrophic pools located in low centred ice wedge polygons or in small thermokarst depressions. In total, 15 taxa, representing 7 genera, were identified from 65 samples. The studied section is subdivided into six ostracode zones that correspond to Late Quaternary climatic and environmental stadial-interstadial variations established by other paleoenvironmental proxies: (1) cold and dry Zyrianian stadial (58–53 kyr BP); (2) warm and dry Karginian interstadial (48–34 kyr BP); (3) transition from the Karginian interstadial to the cold and dry Sartanian stadial (34–21 kyr BP); (4) transition from the Sartanian stadial to the warm and dry Late Pleistocene period, the Allerød (21–14 kyr BP); (5) transition from the Allerød to the warm and wet Middle Holocene (14–7 kyr BP); and (6) cool and wet Late Holocene (ca. 3 kyr BP). The abundance and diversity of the ostracodes will be used as an additional bioindicator for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the Siberian Arctic.     

Seismic stratigraphy of Lago Puyehue (Chilean Lake District): new views on its deglacial and Holocene evolution

Prior to the collection of a series of sediment cores, a high- and very-high-resolution reflection seismic survey was carried out on Lago Puyehue, Lake District, South-Central Chile. The data reveal a complex bathymetry and basin structure, with three sub-basins separated by bathymetric ridges, bedrock islands and interconnected channels. The sedimentary infill reaches a thickness of >200 m. It can be sub-divided into five seismic-stratigraphic units, which are interpreted as: moraine, ice-contact or outwash deposits (Unit I), glacio-lacustrine sediments rapidly deposited in a proglacial or subglacial lake at the onset of deglaciation (Unit II), lacustrine fan deposits fed by sediment-laden meltwater streams in a proglacial lake (Unit III), distal deposits of fluvially derived sediment in an open, post-glacial lake (Unit IV) and authigenic lacustrine sediments, predominantly of biogenic origin, that accumulated in an open, post-glacial lake (Unit V). This facies succession is very similar to that observed in other glacial lakes, and minor differences are attributed to an overall higher depositional energy and higher terrigenous input caused by the strong seismic and volcanic activity in the region combined with heavy precipitation. A long sediment core (PU-II core) penetrates part of Unit V and its base is dated as 17,915 cal. yr. BP. Extrapolation of average sedimentation rates yields an age of ca. 24,750 cal. yr. BP for the base of Unit V, and of ca. 28,000 cal. yr. BP for the base of Unit IV or for the onset of open-water conditions. This is in contrast with previous glacial-history reconstructions based on terrestrial records, which date the complete deglaciation of the basin as ca. 14,600 cal. yr. BP. This discrepancy cannot be easily explained and highlights the need for more lacustrine records from this region. This is the second in a series of eight papers published in this special issue dedicated to the 17,900 year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue, Chilean Lake District. The papers in this special issue were collected by M. De Batist, N. Fagel, M.-F. Loutre and E. Chapron.     

Late Pleistocene: Holocene record of environmental changes in Lake Zirahuen,Central Mexico

Geochemical data obtained from X-ray fluorescence, physical properties, total organic and inorganic carbon content (TOC/TIC), and diatom analysis from a 6.61-m-long sedimentary sequence near the modern northern shore of Lake Zirahuen (101° 44′ W, 19° 26′ N, 2000 m asl) provide a reconstruction of lacustrine sedimentation during the last approximately 17 cal kyr BP. A time scale is based on ten AMS ¹⁴C dates and by tephra layers from Jorullo (AD 1759-1764) and Paricutin (AD 1943-1952) volcanoes. The multiproxy analyses presented in this study reveal abrupt changes in environmental and climatic conditions. The results are compared to the paleo-record from nearby Lake Patzcuaro. Dry conditions and low lake level are inferred in the late Pleistocene until ca. 15 cal kyr BP, followed by a slight but sustained increase in lake level, as well as a higher productivity, peaking at ca. 12.1 cal kyr BP. This interpretation is consistent with several regional climatic reconstructions in central Mexico, but it is in opposition to record from Lake Patzcuaro. A sediment hiatus bracketed between 12.1 and 7.2 cal kyr BP suggests a drop in lake level in response to a dry early Holocene. A deeper, more eutrophic and turbid lake is recorded after 7.2 cal kyr BP. Lake level at the coring site during the mid Holocene is considered the highest for the past 17 cal kyr BP. The emplacement of the La Magueyera lava flows (LMLF), dated by thermoluminiscence at 6560 ± 950 year, may have reduced basin volume and contributed to the relative deepening of the lake after 7.2 cal kyr BP. The late Holocene (after 3.9 cal kyr BP) climate is characterized by high instability. Extensive erosion, lower lake levels, dry conditions and pulses of high sediment influx due to high rainfall are inferred for this time. Further decrease in lake level and increased erosion are recorded after ca. AD 1050, at the peak of Purepechas occupation (AD 1300–1521), and until the eighteenth century. Few lacustrine records extend back to the late Pleistocene—early Holocene in central Mexico; this paper contributes to the understanding of late Pleistocene-Holocene paleoclimates in this region.     

长江三角洲长江以北地区全新世以来人地关系的环境考古研究

通过长江三角洲长江以北地区高邮龙虬庄和海安青墩两个新石器时代考古遗址剖面粒度、磁化率、孢粉以及年代学测定，较为全面地分析了该区全新世以来生态环境变化与人类文明兴衰的相互关系，研究结果表明：在有人类活动以前，该区距离海洋较远，但受海面变化影响强烈。此后，气候向暖湿方向发展，7000—6000间的大西洋温暖湿润气候以及3700aB．P．左右期间，该区气候适宜，人类文明在这样的适宜气侯条件下得到长足发展。值得注意的是，海安青墩遗址剖面中出现厚达1m多的自然沉积地层，粒度分析以及孢粉分析表明，这一自然沉积地层是4000aB．P．以来的海侵事件所致，正是这次海侵事件，使研究区人类文明得以衰落。     

A 640 kyr geomagnetic and palaeoclimatic record from Lake Baikal sediments

Magnetic remanence vectors for 1737 samples from two ∼100 m cores of Lake Baikal sediments are reported along with complete magnetic susceptibility profiles obtained from a pass-through system. Chronological control is established by means of two independent correlations; first, by matching susceptibility variations to the oceanic oxygen isotope record and second, by matching the relative palaeointensity variations to the SINT-800 global reference curve. These both imply an average deposition rate of 15 cm kyr^–1 and a basal age of ∼640 ka. Spectral analysis reveals the presence of Milankovitch signals at ∼100 kyr (eccentricity), ∼41 kyr (obliquity) and ∼23 and ∼19 kyr (precession). Stable remanence vectors are almost all of normal polarity. The few exceptions comprise brief intervals of low and/or negative inclinations which probably represent geomagnetic excursions. However, these are far less numerous than the high sedimentation rate would lead one to expect. Furthermore, only four of them can be readily matched to the—still poorly understood—global pattern. These are the Laschamp, the Albuquerque, the Iceland Basin and perhaps the West Eifel excursions which occurred at ∼38 000, ∼146 000, at 180 000–190 000 and at 480 000–495 000 yr ago, respectively.     

Records of aquatic pollen and sediment properties as indicators of late-Quaternary Alaskan lake levels

We investigated whether techniques developed to evaluate qualitative lake-level changes in the temperate zone can be used in sub-arctic and arctic Alaska. We focused on aquatic pollen records and sediment properties (loss-on-ignition and magnetic susceptibility) from centrally-located sediment-surface samples and cores, as these are the most commonly reported data in the literature. Modern aquatic pollen values are generally low (< 5%) and may be zero, even in lakes with abundant aquatic macrophytes. Greater diversity and higher values of aquatic pollen are likely at depths < 5 m, but pollen is found in depths up to 15 m. It is absent at depths > 20 m. Spores of Isoetes and Equisetum and Pediastrum cell-nets, when present, tend to be widely distributed, even in deep water. At Birch Lake, interior Alaska, trends in aquatic taxa and sediment characteristics for the last ca. 12,000 ¹⁴C yrs recorded in a single, deep-water core reflect the same water-level changes as do transect-based lake-level reconstructions - if modern distributional characteristics of pollen and spores are taken into account. The lake rose from extremely low levels at ca. 12,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. After a period of fluctuation, it rose to a relatively high level by ca. 8000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and then stabilized. A preliminary survey of aquatic pollen trends from other lake-sediment records suggests that the period ca. 11,000-8000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. may have seen relatively low lake levels in north-western and interior Alaska and high levels thereafter. Changes in aquatic pollen and sediments are evident in north-eastern interior lakes at the same time, but they are more difficult to interpret. Aquatic pollen productivity in Alaskan lakes may partly depend on factors other than water depth (e.g. temperature, pH, nutrient status, or length of the ice-free season). An Alaska-wide reconstruction of late-Quaternary lake levels based on extant single-core data would be best done after further study of contributing factors that may control sediment properties and aquatic pollen distribution.