Late Pleistocene to Holocene record of changing uplift rates in southern Calabria and northeastern Sicily (southern Italy, Central Mediterranean Sea)

A combination of published and new radiometric dates on uplifted Holocene fossil beaches from northeastern Sicily and southern Calabria (southern Italy) is compared with the altitude of the inner margin of the Last Interglacial (LIg) (Late Pleistocene, 124 ka) and older marine terraces in order to gain a regional-scale outline of uplift rates and their temporal changes in a region which is one of the fastest uplifting sectors of the Central Mediterranean Sea. Late Holocene radiocarbon dates from Ioppolo (southern Calabria) and Ganzirri (northeast Sicily), two newly discovered sites are here presented for the first time. The Holocene uplift rates are highest at St. Alessio and Taormina in eastern Sicily (2.4 mm/y) and at Scilla in southwestern Calabria (2.1 mm/y), two sites located across the Messina Straits and which separate the island of Sicily from mainland Italy. Uplift rates decrease towards the south and north from this centre of uplift. Late Holocene uplift rates show an apparent increase of between 64 and 124% when compared with the longer-term uplift rates calculated from the LIg highstand terraces. Furthermore, we discovered that the locations of fastest Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene uplift rates spatially coincide. To what extent the Holocene increase in uplift rates results from incomplete elastic strain release along the major extensional faults which frame the seismotectonic of the area, or indicate a true change in regional tectonic processes, is not resolved. Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of uplift, with a well-defined centre that crosses the Messina Straits, and its persistence at different time-scales indicates a tight connection between wider regional processes and fault-related displacement in controlling crustal instability in this area.     

Late Pleistocene and Holocene Paleoenvironments of Chalco Lake, Central Mexico

In order to establish paleoenvironmental conditions during the late Quaternary, four cores from the Basin of Mexico (central Mexico) were drilled in Chalco Lake, located in the southeastern part of the basin. The upper 8 m of two parallel cores were studied, using paleomagnetic, loss-on-ignition, pollen, and diatom analyses. Based on 11 ¹⁴C ages, the analyzed record spans the last 19,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Volcanic activity has affected microfossil abundances, both directly and indirectly, resulting in absence or reduction of pollen and diatom assemblages. Important volcanic activity took place between 19,000 and 15,000 yr B.P. when the lake was a shallow alkaline marsh and an increase of grassland pollen suggests a dry, cold climate. During this interval, abrupt environmental changes with increasing moisture occurred. From 15,000 until 12,500 yr B.P. the lake level increased and the pollen indicates wetter conditions. The highest lake level is registered from 12,500 to ca. 9000 yr B.P. The end of the Pleistocene is characterized by an increase in humidity. From 9000 until ca. 3000 yr B.P. Chalco Lake was a saline marsh and the pollen record indicates warmer conditions. After 3000 yr B.P. the lake level increased and human disturbance dominates the lacustrine record.     

The Late Pleistocene clastic deposits in the Romito Cave,southern Italy: a proxy record of environmental changes and human presence

Clastic sediments deposited in caves and rock shelters bear peculiar sedimentological characteristics and have seldom been considered as a high‐resolution proxy record of climatic or environmental changes. The Romito Cave has its entrance at 275 m above sea level, about 25 km from the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, southern Italy. New archaeological excavation performed since 2000 has revealed a sedimentary succession spanning the record of Gravettian to Late Epigravettian cultures (Late Pleistocene). The present study focuses on the lower part (2.5 m thick) of the succession, where three main unconformity‐bounded stratigraphic units have been recognised (labelled RM1–3). Each unit consists of water‐lain deposits indicating high‐ to low‐competence flow, capped with anthropogenic deposits. The gradual deactivation and reactivation of the water drainage between 23 475 ± 190 and 16 250 ± 500 cal. a BP is correlated with regional precipitation changes due to the onset of dry climatic conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the deactivation of cave drainage after the deposition of unit RM3, around 15 400 ± 500 cal. a BP, deviates from the regional hydrological trend of progressively increasing water discharges and is attributed to the drainage cut‐off by probable cave wall collapses. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mega-Lake in the Kalahari: A Late Pleistocene record of the Palaeolake Makgadikgadi system

A distinct series of beach ridges marking the former shorelines of large inter-connected lacustrine basins in the Kalahari can be clearly identified from Landsat imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data. These basins, which form the terminal sump of the Okavango system in northern Botswana, are now almost completely dry. During the Quaternary they were intermittently occupied by large stable lake bodies and are thought to have periodically filled to a point of coalescence inundating an area that, at its largest extent, encompassed 66,000 km². Poor chronological control has previously limited the utility of this important palaeo-archive. As part of a region-wide lake palaeo-shoreline research programme, a systematic optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating programme has utilised a lightweight hydraulic auger to take samples at depth from relict shoreline features. Twenty drill-sites have generated 140 samples for dating, establishing a firm chronology for multiple lake full phases in all three component basins (Ngami, Mababe and Makgadikgadi) of this mega-lake. This paper presents the final set of ages in the programme, derived from four cores from the western and north-eastern shorelines of Makgadikgadi, and uses these ages to establish a chronology of mega-lake high-stands during the last ～300 ka providing a rare directly dated, long terrestrial record of positive hydrological excursions within the southern hemisphere.     

The First Data on Late Pleistocene Ostracods from the Kurai Depression (Gornyi Altai)

Doklady Earth Sciences - In the sections of Late Pleistocene deposits of the Kurai Depression of Gornyi Altai studied, an ostracod assemblage, including Leucocythere sp. 1, L. sp. 2, Leucocythere...     

藏南吉隆盆地中新世—早更新世沉积演化

位于喜马拉雅北麓的吉隆盆地中新统旦增竹康组,为冲积扇-辫状河沉积。沃马组沉积演化自下而上依次为扇三角洲-滨浅湖-扇三角洲,总体上表现为进积-退积-进积的沉积旋回。沃马剖面在10～7.4Ma期间,古流向主体为SEE向;7.4～1.67Ma,古水流方向主体为SWW向,说明7.4Ma以后,吉隆盆地古地理格局发生显著变化,古地势由原来的西高东低转变为后期的东高西低。根据沉积学、磁性地层学、年代学等方面的研究资料,将10Ma以来吉隆盆地的湖盆演化大致划分为3个阶段:10～7.4Ma,湖盆裂陷形成期;7.4～3.6Ma,湖盆扩展与稳定发展期;3.6～1.67Ma,湖盆萎缩消亡期,代表了盆地周围喜山的3次隆升期,即10～7.4Ma、7.4～3.6Ma和3.6～1.67Ma,其中3.6～1.67Ma为强烈隆升期。     

A geochemical record of Late Cenozoic sedimentation history in the southern Netherlands

A sediment-geochemical study was performed on unconsolidated Upper Cenozoic siliclastic sediments from an area in the south of the Netherlands. Glauconite-rich sediments (Breda Fm) show high K contents and low Ba/K ratios. Major shifts in sediment composition as a result of changes in the Rhine system and of shifts between Rhine and Scheldt provenance, as known from heavy-mineral studies, are also recorded in changes in the grain-size-dependent variations between Al, Na and K. Pleistocene Rhine sediments (Tegelen Fm) show higher Na contents than Pliocene Rhine sediments (Oosterhout and Kiezeloöliet Fms) and Scheldt-derived material (Kedichem Fm), probably as a result of larger contents of sodic plagioclase. Scheldt-derived sediments show low K/Al ratios as a result of a smectite-dominated clay-mineralogical composition and low contents of micas, whereas Rhine-derived sediments have high K/Al ratios which reflect an illite-kaolinite-dominated clay mineralogy and higher contents of muscovite. The presence of siderite causes high Fe contents in the Tegelen Fm in the east of the area, suggesting a fresh-water depositional environment. Increased Mg contents in the siderite-bearing sections of the Tegelen Fm and in parts of the Oosterhout and Kiezeloöliet Fms are probably caused by the presence of minor amounts of dolomite. Localized high concentrations of (pyrite-) S are not only found in the marine Oosterhout Fm and the estuarine Tegelen Fm, but also in the fluviatile Kiezeloöliet and Kedichem Fms, which indicates at least minor marine transgressions during their deposition.     

Pleistocene mammals from the southern Brazilian continental shelf

Fossils of terrestrial mammals preserved in submarine environment have been recorded in several places around the world. In Brazil such fossils are rather abundant in the southernmost portion of the coast, associated to fossiliferous concentrations at depths up to 10 m. Here is presented a review of such occurrences and the first record of fossils in deeper areas of the continental shelf. The fossils encompass several groups of both extinct and extant mammals, and exhibit several distinct taphonomic features, related to the marine environment. Those from the inner continental shelf are removed and transported from the submarine deposits to the coast during storm events, thus forming large konzentrat-lagerstätte on the beach, called “Concheiros”. The only fossils from deeper zones of the shelf known so far are a portion of a skull, a left humerus and of a femur of Toxodon sp. and a lower right molar of a Stegomastodon waringi, all collected by fishermen at depths around 20 m. The presence of fossils at great depths and distances from the present coastline, without signs of abrasion and far from areas of fluvial discharges does indicate that these remains have not been transported from the continent to the shelf, but have been preserved directly on the area that today correspond to the continental shelf. These remains indicate the existence of large fossiliferous deposits that have developed during periods of sea-level lowstand (glacial maxima) and have been submerged and reworked by the sea-level rise at the end of the last glaciation.     

宁夏银川水洞沟遗址2号点晚更新世晚期孢粉记录的古环境

宁夏银川水洞沟遗址2号点剖面孢粉分析结果表明:该地区在晚更新世晚期孢粉组合以草本植物花粉占绝对优势,有Chenopodiaceae、Artemisia、Zygophyllum、Ranunculaceae和少量的Euonymus、Ephedra和Nitraria等,木本植物花粉次之,有Pinus、Picea、Abies、...     

The Late Holocene to Pleistocene tephrostratigraphic record of Lake Ohrid (Albania)

We present in this work a tephrostratigraphic record from a sediment piston core (JO 2004) from Lake Ohrid. Five tephra layers were recognised, all from explosive eruptions of southern Italy volcanoes. A multidisciplinary study was carried out, including stratigraphy, AMS ¹⁴C chronology and geochemistry. The five tephra layers were correlated with terrestrial proximal counterparts and with both marine and lacustrine tephra layers already known in the central Mediterranean area. The oldest is from Pantelleria Island (P11, 131 ka BP). Other three tephra layers are from Campanian volcanoes: X6, Campanian Ignimbrite-Y5 and SMP1-Y3 (107, 39 and 31 ka BP respectively). The youngest tephra layer corresponds to the FL eruption from Etna Volcano (3.4 ka BP). In three cases these recognitions confirm previous findings in the Balkans, while two of them were for the first time recognised in the area, with a significant enlargement of the previous assessed dispersal areas.     

Late Pleistocene large mammal faunas from the Urals

The 121 local faunas of large mammals from Late Pleistocene sites of the South (56–51°N), Middle (59–56°N) and North (64–59°N) Urals have been studied. All local faunas were combined into eight chronological groups on the basis of radiocarbon dates and the evolutionary level of rodents present in them. On the basis of species composition analysis of the faunas, three chronological complexes have been distinguished: Mikulino, Early–Middle Valdai and Late Valdai. The first is characterized by the presence of Hystrix vinogradovi and Ursus thibetanus; the second, by the presence of a large form of horse (Equus (E.) cf. latipes), Crocuta crocuta, Ursus spelaeus and U. savini; the third, by the presence of a small horse (E. uralensis) and absence of U. spelaeus, U. savini and C. crocuta. The latter two complexes were represented by three geographical variants: southern (South Urals), northern (North Urals) and transitional (Middle Urals). Differences between theriocomplexes are related to changes in morphology and areas and extinctions of a series of species. The existence of chronological theriocomplexes and their geographical variants was determined by chronological and geographical change in structure of paleophytocoenoses. It should be noted that the role of human in changes of chronological complexes and species extinctions in the Late Pleistocene has not been demonstrated in the Urals. In the Urals U. savini probably became extinct at the end of the Middle Valdai, C. crocuta at the beginning of the last glacial maximum (LGM), U. spelaeus at the end of the LGM, Coelodonta antiquitatis at the beginning of the Preboreal and Megaloceros giganteus at the middle of the Atlantic.     

New records of temperate mollusks in two Late Pleistocene terrestrial localities from northeastern Oaxaca,Southern Mexico

The Mixteca Alta Oaxaqueña is in the state of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. This region is characterized by numerous Pleistocene fossiliferous localities. The objective of this study is to describe a diverse assemblage of Late Pleistocene freshwater and terrestrial mollusks in two localities from northeastern Oaxaca, Coixtlahuaca District. We identified 10 taxa of gastropods and one of bivalves. By the sedimentological characteristics and the mollusks assemblage, it is possible to relate the first locality with meandriform river deposits, without vegetation. The second locality was associated with a floodplain with short-lived associated vegetation. Five identified species constitute the most austral records of these taxa in Neartic Realm. In all the taxa, the Late Pleistocene occurrences constitute the last records of the identified mollusks in the study zone.     

南极罗斯海扇区晚更新世以来冰筏碎屑记录反映的冰川动力学史

中更新世气候转型以来,南极冰盖对全球气候的影响作用逐渐放大。西南极冰盖以海洋冰盖为主体,稳定性差,冰架前缘沉积模式复杂,对于冰期-间冰期气候旋回变化十分敏感。因此,文章通过对中国第31次南极考察在罗斯海扇区北维多利亚地岸外钻取长度达412 cm的ANT31-R22岩芯（173.152°E,67.215°S;水深2906 m）的浮游有孔虫Nps-δ¹⁸O、冰筏碎屑含量及其岩矿组成分析等研究,重建了罗斯海扇区22.8~534.0 ka B.P.期间的冰筏碎屑沉积物源和周边冰架的演化历史。R22岩芯的岩矿组合显示：MIS 13期晚期至MIS 7期,横贯山脉-维多利亚地的Ferrar组基性火成岩是罗斯海扇区的主要物源;MIS 7期之后横贯山脉-维多利亚地物源输入明显下降,花岗岩和变质岩的输入有所增加,推测马利伯德地花岗岩-变质岩物源区输入增加,西南极冰盖对于罗斯海扇区的影响逐渐增强。同时,综合对比多个太平洋扇区岩芯/站位的冰筏碎屑指标显示：自晚更新世以来,罗斯海扇区至阿蒙森海扇区的深海冰筏碎屑沉积集中出现在冰盛期-冰消期阶段,是气候回升过程中西南极高纬地区冰架消融的重要标志,而中高纬地区的冰筏碎屑沉积更可能是冰盛期的标志。

     

浑善达克沙地南缘晚更新世黄土-古土壤序列的高分辨率磁性气候记录

浑善达克沙地处于季风边缘区,目前对该区域末次间冰期以来的古气候演化历史及其动力学机制尚不清楚。文章以浑善达克沙地南缘山间低洼地带北沟剖面总厚度4.72 m（未见底）的黄土-古土壤序列为研究对象,开展了光释光测年和精细的岩石磁学、环境磁学、地球化学和漫反射光谱分析。结果表明：1）该剖面记录了末次间冰期以来完整的风成堆积历史,并通过东亚夏季风指标（Rb/Sr及χ_ARM/χ）与深海氧同位素曲线的对比建立了13万年来该黄土-古土壤序列精细的年龄模式;2）在黄土高原上常规的用来指示成壤强度和夏季风强度的磁参数并不完全适用于干旱-半干旱地区（400 mm等降水线附近）的风成黄土,而地球化学指标在指示季风边缘区的地球化学风化过程上表现出一定的合理性,北沟剖面复杂的磁信号可能是对末次冰期季风边缘区显著减弱的夏季风的阈值响应;3）在末次间冰期东亚夏季风可以延伸到内蒙古中东部,北沟剖面记录了浑善达克沙地南缘末次间冰期以来区域古季风的演化历史。

     

Diversity of recent planktonic foraminifera in the southern Indian Ocean and Late Pleistocene paleotemperatures

Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages have been examined in 25 trigger core top samples and 51 piston core top samples collected between latitudes 28° S and 55° S and longitudes 79° E and 120° E from the southern Indian Ocean during cruises of the U.S.N.S. Eltanin. Samples taken from water depths exceeding 4000 m and/or showing evidence of calcium carbonate dissolution were eliminated from further analysis. The final piston core data set consists of 34 samples; the trigger core data set containing 21 samples. A close relationship exists between changes in the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in the surface sediments and surface water temperatures. Species diversity values were computed for each of the core top assemblages using the Shannon-Wiener Index and the Brillouin Index, each of which takes into consideration the number of species and the proportionment of individuals among the species. The Shannon and Brillouin diversity values for all samples are positively correlated (correlation coefficient (r) = +.999). Regression analysis of latitude versus Shannon diversity values in the trigger core samples clearly shows a decrease in diversity with increasing latitude (r = ?.979). Furthermore, a strong correlation (r = +.977) exists between decreasing species diversity (Shannon) and decreasing average summer-winter temperature of the overlying surface waters. A paleotemperature equation derived from the relationship of diversity in trigger core samples and surface water temperature was used to generate paleotemperature curves for five trigger cores and a 6 m piston core of Late Pleistocene age, located beneath the present position of the Subtropical Convergence. A 7–8° C temperature range is suggested between the interglacial and glacial episodes in this Late Pleistocene sequence, and probably reflects latitudinal shifts of the Subtropical Convergence and Australasian Front during the Late Pleistocene.     

辽南晚更新世风成沉积序列与古气候意义

作为中国东部重要的第四纪风成堆积地层,辽南风成沉积反映的气候振荡记录对于揭示区域古气候变化、东亚季风变迁等有着不言而喻的重要性。本研究利用辽南老虎村5.44 m厚的风成沉积剖面作为研究对象,采用光释光（OSL）测年技术建立了研究区沉积地层的年代框架,通过岩石学和代用指标重建了晚更新世期间的风成沉积历史。结果表明：风成活动发生在71.7~61.7 ka,49.4~42.4 ka和约23.0 ka,分别对应深海氧同位素阶段（MIS）5a~4、3b和2,寒冷干燥的气候条件与增强的东亚冬季风促使风成活动加剧;而MIS 3a和MIS 3c的沉积中断可能受到了暖湿气候的影响。研究区的粒度数据表明在MIS5/4转变时期有一个短暂的冬季风波动,同时,中值粒径增大可能与海因里希事件（H6、H5、H2）有关,未来仍需更多的区域气候纪录来支持这一观点。

     

A lacustrine record from Lop Nur,Xinjiang, China: Implications for paleoclimate change during Late Pleistocene

Climate variability during the Late Pleistocene is studied from the proxies in core CK-2 drilled from the Luobei Depression (91°03′E, 40°47′N), Lop Nur in the eastern Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China. Geophysical and geochemical properties, including magnetic susceptibility, granularity, chroma, carbonate content, loss on ignition and trace elements, have been determined to reconstruct the environmental evolution of the area during 32–9 ka BP. The chronology is established by uranium–thorium disequilibrium dating techniques.Our data suggest four paleoclimate stages, indicating glacial variations between cold–humid and warm–arid environments. A period of extreme humidity occurred during 31,900–19,200 yr BP is attributed the last glacial maximum (LGM). The period was followed by a warm–arid episode during 19,200–13,500 yr BP. Then a cold–humid interval during 13,500–12,700 yr BP may correspond to another cooling phases at high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The last stage from 12,700 to 9000 yr BP has a trend that the climate turned warm and arid. The Lop Nur region is characterized by particularly humid stadials and arid interstadials. The climate variability in Lop Nur was constrained by global climate change because it is correlated with Dansgaard–Oeschger and Heinrich events, which were observed at the northern high latitudes. The synchroneity of the palaeoclimatic events suggested that cold air activity at the northern high latitudes was the most important factor that influenced the climate evolution in the Lop Nur region. A probable mechanism that involves the migration of westerly winds is proposed to interpret this synchroneity.