中国黄土研究新进展 (二)古气候与全球变化

本文扼要介绍最近几年来在中国黄土高分辨率气候地层、第四纪古气候演化型式以及冷期和暖期中黄土高原古气候空间格局研究方面的一些新进展。根据土壤地层学与地球化学、地球物理学手段的结合,2.5 Ma来的中国黄土系列可划分出37个大的气候旋回,其中含74个气候阶段,这74个气候阶段又可细分为110个次级阶段。第四纪气候振荡的幅度受气候周期长短所控制。从冷期到暖期的气候转换具有突变性,从暖期到冷期的气候转换具有渐变性。冷期堆积的黄土与暖期形成的土壤在性状上都有地带性分布的特征。     

中国黄土研究新进展(一)黄土地层

本文扼要介绍最近几年中国黄土研究中的土壤地层学、磁性地层学、气候地层学、第四纪下界及海陆古气候对比等方面的新进展。根据新发现的黄土剖面,中国黄土中共可区分出37个土壤地层单位。中国黄土底界的古地磁年龄为2.5MaB.P.。2.5Ma以来,中国北方共经历了37次大的冷暖交替。2.5MaB.P.前后,全球气候出现了一次大的转型事件,它可作为第四纪的开始。中国黄土-古土壤系列同深海氧同位素记录在1.7Ma至今的时段上可以很好的对比;2.5Ma至1.7MaB.P.的气候变化,以黄土记录较为明确。     

北京西山末次冰期旋回次生黄土初步研究

北京西山是中国末次冰期旋回风成黄土与古气候研究的经典地区除风成黄土外,该区各种次生黄土也十分发育,由于后者的堆积速率较大,其环境变化的分辨率更高。次生黄土中Ｓ１古土壤由３层古土壤夹两层黄土构成,Ｌ１中的古土壤由两层古土壤夹１层黄土组成。经年代测定和古气候分析,Ｓ１中的３层古土壤分别可与深海氧同位素５阶段中的３个暖期对比,Ｓ１中的两层黄土可与５阶段中的两个次阶段对比。     

北京西山末次冰期旋回次生黄土初步研究

北京西山是中国末次冰期旋回风成黄土与古气候研究的经典地区。除风成黄土外 ,该区各种次生黄土也十分发育 ,由于后者的堆积速率较大 ,其环境变化的分辨率更高。次生黄土中S1古土壤由 3层古土壤夹两层黄土构成 ,L1中的古土壤由两层古土壤夹 1层黄土组成。经年代测定和古气候分析 ,S1中的 3层古土壤分别可与深海氧同位素 5阶段中的 3个暖期对比 ,S1中的两层黄土可与5阶段中的两个次阶段对比。     

西沙珊瑚礁区的第四纪事件

本文简要介绍了西沙珊瑚礁区第四纪期间(2.5Ma 以来)的事件沉积作用类型、特征及其时空分布。珊瑚礁区与典型冰川作用区、冰川外围区相似,依然是冷期与暖期相互交替的气候旋回。冷期向暖期变换为渐变关系,而暖期向冷期转换则为突变关系。2.5Ma 以来有30个以上的冷暖气候旋回。ESR 测年最大值达到1.26MaB.P.,末次冰期风成沉积物的下限,ESR 测定为70000aB.P.。     

杭州湾北岸更新世以来沉积环境记录及古气候变迁

文章通过对杭州湾北岸孔深为237.80 m的BZK04钻孔进行沉积物岩性、微体古生物、孢粉组合、粒度含量、古地磁和OSL测年的综合分析,讨论研究区更新世以来沉积环境演变及古气候变迁特征,建立第四纪多重地层划分对比框架。结果显示, BZK04孔岩心自下而上可分为基岩长河组碳质泥岩（Ech）和早更新世以来的嘉兴组（N-Qp1 j）、前港组（Qp2q）、东浦组（Qp3d）、宁波组（Qp3n）、镇海组（Qhzh）地层;有孔虫鉴定为11属17种,其中包括16种底栖有孔虫,1种浮游有孔虫;介形类鉴定为8属8种;孢粉分析显示含37种类型,其中木本植物花粉18种,草本植物花粉11种,蕨类孢子8种,孢粉组合中木本植物含量最高,约为85.1%,蕨类孢子次之,约为8.7%,草本植物花粉含量仅为6.3%。根据岩性分层特征、沉积相、孢粉、有孔虫及介形虫以及粒度分布频率曲线对钻孔的沉积环境进行综合分析,可将沉积环境记录划分18个孢粉组合带和七个古气候旋回变迁,其中早更新世为河流相和河湖相沉积,揭示第三暖期—第4冷期的两个古气候旋回;中更新世以河流相、湖泊相和河湖相为主,揭示第五暖期—第6冷期的两个古气候旋回;晚更新世以潮坪相、河口湾相、浅海相沉积为主,对应第七暖期—第8冷期的两个古气候旋回;全新世时期为潮坪相和河湖相沉积,对应大西洋期和亚北方期。研究结果为进一步掌握长江三角洲南翼更新世以来的第四纪沉积环境变化、地层划分和古气候演变等提供基础资料。     

五十万年来毛乌素沙漠的变迁

对沙漠-黄土边界带的古风成砂-黄土-古土壤序列的研究表明，毛乌素沙漠至少在0.5MaB.P.就已出现，但也并非从其出现之初就持续至今。沙漠-黄土边界带的风成沉积所记录的沙丘活化和固定的多次转变是第四纪时期毛乌素沙漠对气候振荡响应的结果。五十万年来，沙漠-黄土边界带的石峁剖面记录了13层古风成砂，代表了13次沙漠大规模的南侵。沙漠的南侵不仅可以发生在冰期鼎盛之时，同样也可以发生在间冰期中的寒冷气候幕出现之时。此外，鉴于沙漠-黄土边界带具有气候敏感性的特点，石峁剖面的地层记录还表明了第四纪时期不仅有冷期与暖期的多次旋回，而且冷期和暖期发生时还有次一级的气候波动。     

西安何家营全新世黄土磁化率的古气候环境

探讨西安地区全新世以来古气候环境的变化规律,通过西安何家营村全新世黄土剖面的地层岩性描述,运用磁化率年龄模型确定地层年代序列,根据所采样品的磁化率值绘制磁化率曲线来分析全新世气候变化。同时选取其他学者所建立的气候曲线进行对比,将西安地区全新世气候分为5分阶段：10～8．5kaBP,冷暖转换阶段;8．5～7kaBP,大暖期冷暖波动阶段;7～5kaBP,大暖期鼎盛阶段;5～3．4kaBP,大暖期温度波动暖和阶段;3．4kaBP至今,气温先下降后稳定阶段。     

气候变化的突变性

气候突变是指气候从一种稳定状态跳跃式地转变到另一种稳定状态 ,已经观测的大量事实表明气候突变是一种多时间尺度现象 ,气候状态的跳跃可以发生在从季节、年际到更长的时域内 (符淙斌 ,1994)。 2 0世纪末期 ,随着第四纪古气候研究向高分辨率方向发展 ,发现了一系列气候突变事件。(1)末次冰期的气候突变　目前国际学术界公认的一次气候突变是距今约 110 0 0年前的新仙女木 (ＹＤ)事件 ,这是末次冰消期在转暖过程中出现的一次突然变冷事件。冷期持续了大约 130 0年 ,冰芯的δ1 8Ｏ分析表明 ,在 5 0年的时间里当地的气温变化达 7℃ ,显示了气…     

网纹红土中的植硅石组合及其环境意义的初步研究

长江中下游地区网纹红土中的古气候记录，在第四纪全球变化研究中具有十分重要的意义，阐述了江西修水网纹红土的岩性特征和形成时代，重点讨论了网纹红土中的植硅石及其古气候信息，根据植硅石形态的环境意义，结合因子分析，将修水剖面网纹红土所含的植硅石划分为１２个组合带。并将其与黄土－古土壤气候旋回和深海氧同位素气候旋回进行了对比，提出网纹红土也是第四纪全球变化的良好信息载体。     

Vegetation context and climatic limits of the Early Pleistocene hominin dispersal in Europe

The vegetation and the climatic context in which the first hominins entered and dispersed in Europe during the Early Pleistocene are reconstructed, using literature review and a new climatic simulation. Both in situ fauna and in situ pollen at the twelve early hominin sites under consideration indicate the occurrence of open landscapes: grasslands or forested steppes. The presence of ancient hominins (Homo of the erectus group) in Europe is only possible at the transition from glacial to interglacial periods, the full glacial being too cold for them and the transition interglacial to glacial too forested. Glacial–interglacial cycles forced by obliquity showed paralleled vegetation successions, which repeated c. 42 times during the course of the Early Pleistocene (2.58–0.78 Ma), providing 42 narrow windows of opportunity for hominins to disperse into Europe.The climatic conditions of this Early Pleistocene vegetation at glacial-interglacial transitions are compared with a climatic simulation for 9 ka ago without ice sheet, as this time period is so far the best analogue available. The climate at the beginning of the present interglacial displayed a stronger seasonality than now. Forest cover would not have been hampered though, clearly indicating that other factors linked to refugial location and soils leave this period relatively free of forests. Similar situations with an offset between climate and vegetation at the beginning of interglacials repeated themselves throughout the Quaternary and benefitted the early hominins when colonising Europe.The duration of this open phase of vegetation at the glacial–interglacial transition was long enough to allow colonisation from the Levant to the Atlantic.The twelve sites fall within rather narrow ranges of summer precipitation and temperature of the coldest month, suggesting the hominins had only a very low tolerance to climate variability.     

Late Quaternary aeolian dust input variability on the Chinese Loess Plateau: inferences from unmixing of loess grain-size records

The grain-size distributions (GSDs) of loess–paleosol sequences may provide valuable information on provenance, transport and paleoclimate variability, and consequently, a wide range of methods to extract genetic information from loess GSDs has been proposed. Here it is shown that a genetically meaningful decomposition of a series of Late Quaternary loess grain-size records extending across the Chinese Loess Plateau can be accomplished with the end-member modelling algorithm (EMMA). The unmixing results in conjunction with loess accumulation rate estimates reveal that two contrasting dust supply patterns were active over the Loess Plateau during the last glacial–interglacial cycle: (i) a background sedimentation pattern that was dominant during interglacial periods, especially over the central and southern parts of the Loess Plateau, is reflected by the constant flux of the fine-grained loess component, (ii) an episodic, highly variable dust input pattern, that was dominant during glacial periods throughout the Loess Plateau and noticeable during interglacial periods mainly over the northern Loess Plateau and almost disappearing over the southern Loess Plateau, is reflected in the admixture of two coarse-grained loess components. A genetic interpretation and the paleoclimatic significance of the mixing model are provided by comparison of the modelled end members with modern dust samples in terms of their GSD and flux rates.     

近13万年来黄土高原干湿气候的时空变迁

第四纪时期，黄土高原粉尘物质的搬运、沉积及其后的成土过程受控于干湿气候的变化。对黄土高原这一特定地区而言，风成沉积序列在地域上的差异主要与东亚地区的季风环流在时间和空间上的变化有关。本文的研究揭示出，近１３万年里，最为显著的成壤期有６期，与这６个成壤期对应的时段也应当是夏季风环流加强、气候温湿的时期；在空间上，全新世适宜期及末次间冰期中与深海氧同位素阶段５ａ，５ｃ，５ｅ对应的时期，夏季风足可以深入到毛乌素沙漠腹地，并具有占优势的环境效应。在阶段３的早、晚期及５ｂ时期夏季风虽然也能深入沙漠－黄土边界带，但其环境效应在黄土高原北部及毛乌素沙漠南缘已不再显著。在阶段２、阶段４及阶段３的中期夏季风已不能深入沙漠－黄土边界带。     

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.。     

最后两个冰期旋回季风-沙漠系统不稳定性的高分辨率黄土记录

黄土高原西北部黄土沉积的粒度变化同时受控于沙漠进退和冬季风强度波动,因此,此区粒度可视为季风-沙漠系统变迁的替代性指标。本研究以2cm为间隔,对李家塬和新庄源S₂以上部分做了粒度分析。结果表明,倒数第二次冰期中的冰阶时段与末次冰期类似,存在着频繁的千年尺度的气候波动;而末次间冰期这类变化并不明显。     

末次间冰期以来黄土高原南部植被演替的植物硅酸体记录

对于本次间冰期以来黄土高原是否存在大面积森林植被的问题一直存在争议,本文通过对渭南、宝鸡和兰州剖面的植物硅酸体记录研究表明,末次间冰期以来,在黄土高原南部,主要发育草原和森林草原的植被类型,只有在气候最适宜期年降水量超过800mm以上,才可能有短期的森林植被发育。在黄土高原源区发育森林植被所需要的降水量要比基岩山地高250mm以上。     

Cenozoic Evolution of Sediments and Climate Change and Response to Tectonic Uplift of the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Through a comprehensive study of magnetostratigraphy and sedimentology of several basins in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, we reveal that the study area mainly experienced six tectonic uplift stages at approximately 52 Ma, 34–30 Ma, 24–20 Ma, 16–12 Ma, 8–6 Ma, and 3.6–2.6 Ma. Comprehensive analyses of pollen assemblages from the Qaidam, Linxia, Xining, and West Jiuquan Basins show that the northeastern Tibetan Plateau has undergone six major changes in vegetation types and climate: 50–40 Ma for the warm-humid forest vegetation, 40–23 Ma for the warm-arid and temperate-arid forest steppe vegetation, 23–18.6 Ma for the warm-humid and temperatehumid forest vegetation, 18.6–8.5 Ma for the warm-humid and cool-humid forest steppe vegetation, 8.6–5 Ma for the temperate sub-humid savanna steppe vegetation, and 5–1.8 Ma for the cold-arid steppe vegetation. Comprehensive comparisons of tectonic uplift events inferred from sedimentary records, climatic changes inferred from pollen, and global climate changes show that in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau the climate in the Paleogene at low altitude was mainly controlled by the global climate change, while that in the Neogene interval with high altitude landscapes of mountains and basins is more controlled by altitude and morphology.     

3Ma以来华北地区植被演化特征及其驱动因素

第四纪冰期与间冰期旋回的形成过程,及其陆生植被系统的响应及演化过程是研究地质时期全球变化的重点问题,本文通过对华北地区北部LN1钻孔的121个高质量孢粉数据重建了过去3 Ma以来的区域植被演化过程。研究结果显示,区域植被经历了4个主要发展过程,约3~2 Ma气候相对温暖湿润,主要为以松、桦、栎、胡桃、榆等组成的落叶阔叶林;约2 Ma,区域植被急剧变化,主要表现为针叶林扩张,阔叶林比例的减少,在2~1. 2 Ma转变为以松、云杉、桦为主的针阔叶混交林。在中更新世全球气候转型期,区域植被再次发生迅速改变,在约1. 2~0. 7 Ma转变为稀树的灌丛草原,0. 7 Ma以后区域气候进一步干旱化,在最近0. 7 Ma内区域环境转变为典型草原为主的植被景观。区域的植被变化反映了华北平原区近3 Ma以来整体上呈现出干旱化与寒冷化的趋势,其中2. 0 Ma,1. 2 Ma, 0. 7 Ma气候事件最为突出。上述结果反映了华北地区植被的演变过程及季风降水的逐渐减少与北极冰盖在近3 Ma以来的迅速扩张期同步对应。     

Modelling of late Quaternary climate over Asia: a synthesis

Through the late Quaternary, the global climate system ranged from full glacial to temperate interglacial conditions. On a smaller spatial scale, regional climates of the late Quaternary exhibited fluctuations that were at times asynchronous to these global changes. For example, glacier expansion in the Himalayas during the mid-Holocene appears to be at odds with the notion of increased global temperature. A clear understanding of the dynamical processes governing regional climate is therefore essential to the correct interpretation of proxy climate data. We summarize results from numerical simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the mid-Holocene, and focus on the multiple processes that control regional climate of the Himalaya and surrounding areas, with emphasis on monsoon dynamics and variability. It is shown that changes in the south Asian monsoon (caused by fluctuations in Earth's orbital parameters, by tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures, or by exposure of the Sunda shelf) alter the hydrological balance in regions bordering the Tibetan Plateau, a balance for which there are extensive continental proxy records. Numerical results correlate with the expansion/contraction cycles of deserts near the Chinese Loess Plateau. In addition, the LGM monsoon exhibits significant snow accumulation in the eastern Himalaya, whereas the mid-Holocene monsoon exhibits increased accumulation in the northwestern Himalaya. Simulated changes are therefore in accord with field data and demonstrate that numerical simulations can be a useful tool in the interpretation of regional proxy data, particularly when those data are asynchronous to global records.