Can glacial erosion limit the extent of glaciation?

In southern South America, the maximum areal extent of ice during the Quaternary Period, the Greatest Patagonian Glaciation (GPG, [Mercer, J.H., 1983. Cenozoic glaciation in the southern hemisphere. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science 11, 99–132.]), occurred at 1.1 Ma and subsequent glaciations were overall less extensive. The GPG preceded global minimum temperatures and maximal volume of ice, which occurred in the last ~ 800 kyr, as recorded in the marine δ¹⁸O record. Significant modification of the drainage morphology of the southern Andes from a non-glaciated to glaciated landscape occurred throughout the Quaternary Period. We infer a non-climatic relationship between glacial modification of the mountains and the decreasing extent of ice and we discuss processes of landscape development that could have caused the trend. Specifically, these include modification of valleys, such as development from a V- to a U-shape, and lowering of mass-accumulation areas. Such changes would strongly affect glacial dynamics, the mass balance profile and mass-flux during succeeding glaciations, especially for low-gradient outlet glaciers occupying low areas. Other areas around Earth (at least where ice has been warm-based) also may exhibit a non-random trend of decreasing extent of ice with time, ultimately because of glacial erosion in the Quaternary Period.     

伶仃洋ZK19孔晚第四纪沉积地球化学特征 及其古环境意义

依据对珠江口伶仃洋海域ZK19孔岩芯材料的沉积学、年代学和沉积地球化学研究,探讨了该海域古环境演变特征。该孔以末次盛冰期风化层为界,存在2个沉积旋回和2次海侵事件。微量元素质量分数、主量元素（Al2O3/Na2O值、MgO/Al2O3值、Sr/Ba值及V/Cr值等）,化学蚀变指数（CIA）和化学风化指数（CIW）的变化特征,反映了MIS4晚期至MIS3初期,该地由陆相向滨海相过渡,气候从偏冷逐渐升温,海平面逐渐上升,但速度较慢;MIS3该地为河口湾相,气候进一步转暖,海平面以较大幅度上升;MIS2阶段（末次盛冰期）海平面大幅下降,气候变冷;MIS1的8―12 cal. ka B.P.气候逐渐转暖,海平面快速上升,为河流相―滨海潮滩相―河口湾浅滩相―河口湾相;中全新世大暖期,受水下滩槽地貌侧向迁移影响,该孔地层遭剥蚀;晚全新世3 cal. ka B.P.以来,气候整体相对稳定,较早全新世温暖,沉积环境依次为河口湾相―三角洲前缘斜坡相―三角洲前缘浅滩相。     

COSMOGENIC 10BE-AGES FROM THE STORE KOLDEWEY ISLAND, NE GREENLAND

Earlier work in northeast Greenland has suggested a limited advance of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, this concept has recently been challenged by marine geological studies, indicating grounded ice on the continental shelf at this time. New ¹⁰Be‐ages from the Store Koldewey island, northeast Greenland, suggest that unscoured mountain plateaus at the outer coast were covered at least partly by cold‐based ice during the LGM. It is, however, still inconclusive whether this ice was dynamically connected to the Greenland Ice Sheet or not. Regardless of the LGM ice sheet extent, the ¹⁰Be results from Store Koldewey add to a growing body of evidence suggesting considerable antiquity of crystalline unscoured terrain near present and Pleistocene ice sheet margins.     

Relations between denudation,glaciation, and sediment deposition: implications from the Plio‐Pleistocene Central Alps

Despite abundant data on the early evolution of the Central Alps, the latest stage exhumation history, potentially related to relief formation, is still poorly constrained. We aim for a better understanding of the relation between glaciation, erosion and sediment deposition. Addressing both topics, we analysed late Pliocene to recent deposits from the Upper Rhine Graben and two modern river sands by apatite fission‐track and (U‐Th‐Sm)/He thermochronology. From the observed age patterns we extracted the sediment provenance and paleo‐erosion history of the Alpine‐derived detritus. Due to their pollen and fossil record, the Rhine Graben deposits also provide information on climatic evolution, so that the erosion history can be related to glacial evolution during the Plio‐Pleistocene. Our data show that Rhine Graben deposits were derived from Variscan basement, Hegau volcanics, Swiss Molasse Basin, and the Central Alps. The relations between glaciation, Alpine erosion, and thermochronological age signals in sedimentary rocks are more complex than assumed. The first Alpine glaciation during the early Pleistocene did not disturb the long‐term exhumational equilibrium of the Alps. Recent findings indicate that main Alpine glaciation occurred at ca. 1 Ma. If true, then main Alpine glaciation was coeval with an apparent decrease of hinterland erosion rates, contrary to the expected trend. We suggest that glaciers effectively sealed the landscape, thus reducing the surface exposed to erosion and shifting the area of main erosion north toward the Molasse basin, causing sediment recycling. At around 0.4 Ma, erosion rates increased again, which seems to be a delayed response to main glaciation. The present‐day erosion regime seems to be dominated by mass‐wasting processes. Generally, glacial erosion rates did not exceed the pre‐glacial long‐term erosion rates of the Central Alps.     

Source‐to‐sink relationships along the South‐Central Chilean margin: evidence from detrital apatite fission‐track analysis

Detrital fission‐track studies on sedimentary basins surrounding eroding mountain belts provide a powerful tool to reconstruct exhumation histories of the source area. However, examples from active arc‐trench systems are sparse. In this study, we report detrital apatite fission‐track (AFT) data from Holocene and Pleistocene turbiditic trench and modern river sediments at the Chilean margin (36°S‐47°S). Sediment petrography and detrital AFT data point to different major sediment sources, underlining the need for multidisciplinary studies: whereas sediment petrography indicates the erosion of large volumes of volcanic detritus, no such volcanic signal is seen in the detrital age pattern. Areally subordinate plutonic units are identified as the main, often unique sources. This result has important implications for studies of fossil systems, where the feeder areas are eroded, and where the youngest age population is often interpreted to indicate active volcanism. For the southernmost part of the study area in the Patagonian Andes, where the source area is mainly composed of granitoids, the sediment is derived from only small portions along the main divide, pointing to focused glacial erosion there. Our detrital AFT data show no exhumational signal that could be related to the subduction of the actively spreading Chile Ridge at c. 47°S and to the opening of a slab window beneath the South American Plate.     

Changing of the guards: Detrital zircon provenance tracking sedimentological reorganization of a post-Gondwanan rift margin

Understanding the development of sedimentary systems during continental rifting is important for tracking environmental change and lithospheric processes. Conceptual models have been developed for the sourcing, routing and facies architecture of sediments in rift-settings, driven in part by quantitative sediment tracking. Here, we present laser ablation split-stream detrital zircon U/Pb geochronology and Hf-isotopes for post-rift (Cretaceous-Paleogene) clastic sediments from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) wells and Plio-Pleistocene palaeoshoreline material, from the southern margin of Australia. Provenance results are contextualized through comparison with well-characterized source regions and regional pre- and syn-rift sediment reservoirs to track changes associated with Australia-Antarctica separation during East Gondwana break-up. The provenance character of the post-rift sediments studied are distinct from pre-existing sediment reservoirs and demonstrate termination of previously stable sediment routing systems and a dominance of local basement of the Proterozoic Madura and Coompana provinces (~1.2 Ga and CHUR-like Hf-signatures; Moodini Supersuite) in offshore ODP wells. A composite post-rift Cretaceous?-Eocene sample in the easternmost well expresses characteristic Phanerozoic zircon age signatures associated with source regions in eastern Australia that are interpreted to reflect inversion in the Ceduna Sub-basin to the east. Detrital zircon signatures in Plio-Pleistocene palaeoshoreline sediment are also relatively distinct, indicating derivation from coastal erosion in the Leeuwin Complex (~0.5 and 0.7 Ga subchondritic grains) and Albany–Fraser Orogen (~1.2 Ga subchondritic grains) several hundred, to over a thousand kilometers to the west. Collectively, results highlight the fundamental geological processes associated with rifting that dramatically change the character of sediment provenance via (a) isolation of pre-existing primary and secondary sources of detritus, (b) development of new source regions in basin compartmentalized highs and localized fault scarps, and (c) establishment of marine and coastal currents that redefine clastic sediment transport.     

LATE PLEISTOCENE ICE FLUCTUATIONS AND GLACIAL GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE ARCHIPIÉLAGO DE CHILOÉ, SOUTHERN CHILE

Most of the last glacial maximum (LGM) glacier record west of the southern Andes (40–55° S) is today submerged under the Pacific Ocean and therefore the Archipiélago de Chiloé (42–43° S) provides an unusual opportunity to study local sediment and landform associations to help understand paleoglacial features of the former Patagonian ice sheet (PIS). In this context, this work presents the first comprehensive glacial geomorphologic mapping of the central region of the Archipiélago de Chiloé, which is located in a transitional geomorphic region between the Chilean Lake District (CLD, 39–41° S, 73° W) and northwest Patagonia (～43–48° S, 74° W). The Chilotan glacial geomorphology and sediment associations resulted from a warm‐based glacier that characterizes a typical active glacial temperate landsystem, which in central Chiloé combines deposits and landform units originated in subglacial and subaerial environments. Paleoglacial features that occur in central Chiloé are characteristic of an ice‐sheet style of glaciation, which differentiates it from a typical Alpine glacial style defined previously for the CLD. Therefore, the Archipiélago de Chiloé represents a geographical break point where the PIS became the large ice mass that occupied the Patagonian Andes during the last glacial period (Llanquihue Glaciation). A double ice‐contact slope on the east face of the Cordillera de La Costa provides evidence for the most extensive Early Llanquihue glacial advance on Isla Grande de Chiloé. The most prominent LGM advance in the area occurred at 26 000 cal yr BP, coincident with regional stadial conditions, and is defined by a big moraine along the east coast of the island.     

Unroofing the core of the central Andean fold‐thrust belt during focused late Miocene exhumation: evidence from the Tipuani‐Mapiri wedge‐top basin,Bolivia

As the highest part of the central Andean fold‐thrust belt, the Eastern Cordillera defines an orographic barrier dividing the Altiplano hinterland from the South American foreland. Although the Eastern Cordillera influences the climatic and geomorphic evolution of the central Andes, the interplay among tectonics, climate and erosion remains unclear. We investigate these relationships through analyses of the depositional systems, sediment provenance and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of the upper Miocene Cangalli Formation exposed in the Tipuani‐Mapiri basin (15–16°S) along the boundary of the Eastern Cordillera and Interandean Zone in Bolivia. Results indicate that coarse‐grained nonmarine sediments accumulated in a wedge‐top basin upon a palaeotopographic surface deeply incised into deformed Palaeozoic rocks. Seven lithofacies and three lithofacies associations reflect deposition by high‐energy braided river systems, with stratigraphic relationships revealing significant (～500 m) palaeorelief. Palaeocurrents and compositional provenance data link sediment accumulation to pronounced late Miocene erosion of the deepest levels of the Eastern Cordillera. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of interbedded tuffs suggest that sedimentation along the Eastern Cordillera–Interandean Zone boundary was ongoing by 9.2 Ma and continued until at least ～7.4 Ma. Limited deformation of subhorizontal basin fill, in comparison with folded and faulted rocks of the unconformably underlying Palaeozoic section, implies that the thrust front had advanced into the Subandean Zone by the 11–9 Ma onset of basin filling. Documented rapid exhumation of the Eastern Cordillera from ～11 Ma onward was decoupled from upper‐crustal shortening and coeval with sedimentation in the Tipuani‐Mapiri basin, suggesting climate change (enhanced precipitation) or lower crustal and mantle processes (stacking of basement thrust sheets or removal of mantle lithosphere) as possible controls on late Cenozoic erosion and wedge‐top accumulation. Regardless of the precise trigger, we propose that an abruptly increased supply of wedge‐top sediment produced an additional sedimentary load that helped promote late Miocene advance of the central Andean thrust front in the Subandean Zone.     

Pleistocene climatic variation and cave development

The climatic variation of the Pleistocene acted on karst terrains to change the conditions of cave development. These changes were the result of three major effects: Ice Contact Effects, Ice Proximity Effects and Global Effects.

Ice Contact Effects involve ice directly, producing glacial quarrying, sediment redistribution, water budget alteration, isostatic rebound, temperature controlled weathering, geochemistry changes, and hydraulic conditions.

Ice Proximity Effects work at a distance from glacial ice, and include periglacial conditions, aggradation by outwash, loess deposition and disruption of master streams.

Global Effects work over all planet areas and involve custatic sea level change and variation in precipitation.     

The last British Ice Sheet: growth, maximum extent and deglaciation

The growth, maximum lateral extent and deglaciation of the last British Ice Sheet (BIS) has been reconstructed using sediment, faunal and stable isotope methods from a sedimentary record recovered from the Barra Fan, north-west Scotland. During a phase of ice sheet expansion postdating the early "warmth" of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), ice rafting events, operating with a cyclicity of approximately 1500 years, are interspersed between warm, carbonate-rich interstadials operating with a strong Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cyclicity. The data suggest that the BIS expanded westwards to the outer continental shelf break shortly after 30 Ky BP (before present) and remained there until about 15 Ky BP. Within MIS 2, as the ice sheet grew to its maximum extent, the pronounced periodicities which characterize MIS 3 are lost from the record. The exact timing of the Last Glacial Maximum is difficult to define in this record; but maxima in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) ع⁸O are observed between 21-17 Ky BP. A massive discharge of ice-rafted detritus, coincident with Heinrich event 1, is observed at about 16 Ky BP. Deglaciation of the margin is complete by about 15 Ky BP and surface waters warm rapidly after this date.     

四川螺髻山清水沟冰川槽谷演化及其影响因素

螺髻山地处青藏高原东南缘,是确切存在第四纪古冰川遗迹的典型山地之一,该区冰川地貌演化对于研究环境变化具有重要的科学意义。螺髻山东坡清水沟保存两套古冰川槽谷,分别为上槽谷和下槽谷,其中下槽谷保存完整,而上槽谷在3450~3600 m的阴坡部分出现缺失。采用野外地貌调查与模型分析相结合的方法,对冰川槽谷地貌进行分析,结果表明:清水沟槽谷的抛物线模型中,|A|值在1.3101~15.2064 之间变动,B 值变化于0.9695~3.2965 之间,且随着海拔由高到低,都存在着先变小后变大的规律,A、B值同时反映出在海拔3450~3600 m处冰川槽谷的演化不符合常态。分析认为岩性差异和河流溯源侵蚀是影响上槽谷形态的主要原因。对保存在清水沟上下槽谷内的高、低侧碛进行ESR年代测定,结果显示:高侧碛形成于58-84 ka BP左右的末次冰期早期,对应深海氧同位素4 阶段(MIS4);低侧碛形成于13-17 ka BP,属于于全球末次冰盛期晚期的产物。两次冰川作用分别塑造出两套冰川槽谷,即在末次冰期早期冰川作用形成上槽谷,末次冰期晚期形成下槽谷。     

Cretaceous evolution of the Andean margin between 36°S and 40°S latitude through a multi‐proxy provenance analysis of Neuquén Basin strata (Argentina)

During the Cretaceous, the Neuquén Basin transitioned from an extensional back‐arc to a retroarc foreland basin. We present a multi‐proxy provenance study of Aptian to Santonian (125–84 Ma) continental sedimentary rocks preserved in the Neuquén Basin used to resolve changes of sediment drainage pattern in response to the change in tectonic regime. Sandstone petrology and U–Pb detrital zircon geochronology constrain the source units delivering detritus to the basin; apatite U–Pb and fission track dating further resolve provenance and determine the age and patterns of exhumation of the source rocks. Sandstone provenance records a sharp change from a mixed orogenic source during Aptian time (ca. 125 Ma), to a magmatic arc provenance in the Cenomanian (ca. 100 Ma). We interpret this provenance change as the result of the drainage pattern reorganisation from divergent to convergent caused by tectonic basin inversion. During this inversion and early stages of contraction, a transient phase of uplift and basin erosion, possibly due to continental buckling, caused the pre‐Cenomanian unconformity dividing the Lower from Upper Cretaceous strata in the Neuquén Basin. This phase was followed by the development of a retroarc foreland basin characterised by a volcanic arc sediment provenance progressively shifting to a mixed continental basement provenance during Turonian‐Santonian (90–84). According to multi‐proxy provenance data and lag times derived from apatite fission track analysis, this trend is the result of a rapidly exhuming source within the Cordillera to the west, in response to active compressional tectonics along the western margin of South America, coupled with the increasing contribution of material from the stable craton to the east; this contribution is thought to be the result of the weak uplift and exhumation of the foreland due to eastward migration of the forebulge.     

Insights into alpine moraine development from cosmogenic 36Cl buildup dating

We have used cosmogenic ³⁶Cl surface exposure dating to determine apparent construction ages of late Pleistocene moraines in the Sierra Nevada, the White Mountains, and the Wind River Range, all in the western United States. The inferred glacial chronologies from the various localities all exhibit certain characteristics: (1) Local records are fragmentary and deposits of some glacial advances are always missing; no location has deposits of all glaciations and no glacial advance is recorded at all locations. This is due either to unfavorable conditions for glacier development at some times or to obliteration of earlier deposits by later, more extensive glaciers. (2) Most moraines have young apparent exposure ages, with only a few older than the last glacial cycle. This may be due to young true ages of these deposits, erosion of moraine surfaces, or obliterative overlap and covering of older deposits by younger ones. (3) Many deposits that were previously correlated (e.g., based on their stratigraphic positions) are not correlative; they may represent different stades and, sometimes, even different glaciations. Similarly, some previously uncorrelated deposits have the same exposure ages and may be correlative. (4) Clusters of several distinct moraines of nearly the same age are present at most locations. These clusters suggest that alpine moraines are formed during short deposition episodes that last between several hundred and several thousand years.     

Controls on erosion patterns and sediment transport in a monsoonal,tectonically quiescent drainage,Song Gianh,central Vietnam

The Song Gianh is a small‐sized (~3500 km²), monsoon‐dominated river in northern central Vietnam that can be used to understand how topography and climate control continental erosion. We present major element concentrations, together with Sr and Nd isotopic compositions, of siliciclastic bulk sediments to define sediment provenance and chemical weathering intensity. These data indicate preferential sediment generation in the steep, wetter upper reaches of the Song Gianh. In contrast, detrital zircon U‐Pb ages argue for significant flux from the drier, northern Rao Tro tributary. We propose that this mismatch represents disequilibrium in basin erosion patterns driven by changing monsoon strength and the onset of agriculture across the region. Detrital apatite fission track and ¹⁰Be data from modern sediment support slowing of regional bedrock exhumation rates through the Cenozoic. If the Song Gianh is representative of coastal Vietnam then the coastal mountains may have produced around 132 000–158 000 km³ of the sediment now preserved in the Song Hong‐Yinggehai Basin (17–21% of the total), the primary depocenter of the Red River. This flux does not negate the need for drainage capture in the Red River to explain the large Cenozoic sediment volumes in that basin but does partly account for the discrepancy between preserved and eroded sediment volumes. OSL ages from terraces cluster in the Early Holocene (7.4–8.5 ka), Pre‐Industrial (550–320 year BP) and in the recent past (ca. 150 year BP). The older terraces reflect high sediment production driven by a strong monsoon, whereas the younger are the product of anthropogenic impact on the landscape caused by farming. Modern river sediment is consistently more weathered than terrace sediment consistent with reworking of old weathered soils by agricultural disruption.     

Proglacial Sediment—Landform Associations of a Polythermal Glacier: Storglaciären, Northern Sweden

Mapping and laboratory analysis of the sediment—landform associations in the proglacial area of polythermal Storglaciären, Tarfala, northern Sweden, reveal six distinct lithofacies. Sandy gravel, silty gravel, massive sand and silty sand are interpreted as glaciofluvial in origin. A variable, pervasively deformed to massive clast‐rich sandy diamicton is interpreted as the product of an actively deforming subglacial till layer. Massive block gravels, comprising two distinctive moraine ridges, reflect supraglacial sedimentation and ice‐marginal and subglacial reworking of heterogeneous proglacial sediments during the Little Ice Age and an earlier more extensive advance. Visual estimation of the relative abundance of these lithofacies suggests that the sandy gravel lithofacies is of the most volumetric importance, followed by the diamicton and block gravels. Sedimentological analysis suggests that the role of a deforming basal till layer has been the dominant factor controlling glacier flow throughout the Little Ice Age, punctuated by shorter (warmer and wetter climatic) periods where high water pressures may have played a more important role. These results contribute to the database that facilitates discrimination of past glacier thermal regimes and dynamics in areas that are no longer glacierized, as well as older glaciations in the geological record.     

Linking subaerial erosion with submarine geomorphology in the western Ionian Sea (south of the Messina Strait), Italy

Sediment supplied by continental sources is commonly suspected to have exerted a strong influence on the development of canyons and other morphological features on the continental slopes, but rarely is the sediment supply known sufficiently quantitatively to test this link. Here, we outline an area where offshore morphology, in the western Ionian Sea, may be linked to estimated sediment fluxes produced by subaerial erosion in NE Sicily and SW Calabria. Shelves in this area are narrow (<1 km), and the bathymetry shows that rivers and adjacent submarine channels are almost directly connected with each other. Integrated topographic analyses were performed on a merged digital elevation model (DEM) of ASTER data for subaerial topography and multibeam sonar data for submarine bathymetry. Spatial variations in sediment fluxes from onshore erosion were assessed using a variety of methods, namely: long‐term sediment flux from Pleistocene uplift rates, decadal sediment flux from landslide occurrences and published long‐term exhumation rates from ¹⁰Be cosmogenic nuclide concentrations. Submarine channels associated with rivers delivering larger sediment fluxes have broad channels, high relief and smooth concave‐upward longitudinal profiles. Conversely, submarine channels that lie offshore small‐flux rivers have straight longitudinal profiles, low relief and steep gradients. Where river catchments supply a greater sediment flux offshore, shelves tend to be wider (ca. 400 m) and submarine channels have gentler gradients. In contrast, where catchments supply less sediment flux, shelves are narrow (250–300 m) and offshore channel gradients are steeper. The variation of submarine morphology with tectonic uplift rate was also studied, but we find that, unlike onshore terrains where tectonics is commonly an important factor influencing channel morphology, in the submarine landscapes, sediment flux appears to dominate here.     

OSL dating of glacier extent during the Last Glacial and the Kanas Lake basin formation in Kanas River valley, Altai Mountains, China

The Kanas River originates on the southern slope of Youyi Peak, the largest center of modern glaciers in Altai Mountains, China. Three sets of moraines and associated glacial sediments are well preserved near the Kanas Lake outlet, recording a complex history and landscape evolution during the Last Glacial. Dating the moraines allows the temporal and spatial glacier shift and climate during the Last Glacial to be determined, and then constrains when and how the Kanas Lake basin was formed. Dating of the glacial tills was undertaken by utilizing the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) method. Results date four samples from the three sets of moraines to 28.0, 34.4, 38.1, and 49.9 ka and one sample from outwash sediment to 6.8 ka. The Kanas Lake basin is a downfaulted basin and was eroded by glacier before 28.0 ka, and the glacial moraines blocked the glacier-melt water after the glacier retreat, which made the present-day Kanas Lake eventually form at least before 6.8 ka BP. In Altai Mountains, the glacier advance was more extensive in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 than MIS 2, probably because the mid-latitude westerlies shifted northward and/or intensified during the MIS 3, resulting in a more positive glacier mass balance. Nevertheless, the Siberian High dominated the Altai Mountains in MIS 2, resulting in a relative decrease in precipitation.     

Glacial and Fluvial Deposits in the Aragón Valley,Central‐Western Pyrenees: Chronology of the Pyrenean Late Pleistocene Glaciers

The Aragón Valley glacier (Central Western Pyrenees) has been studied since the late nineteenth century and has become one of the best areas in the Pyrenees to study the occurrence of Pleistocene glaciations and the relationships between moraines and fluvial terraces. New morphological studies and absolute ages for moraines and fluvial terraces in the Aragón Valley allow a correlation with other Pyrenean glaciers and provide solid chronologies about the asynchroneity between global last glacial maximum (LGM) and the maximum ice extent (MIE). Six frontal arcs and three lateral morainic ridges were identified in the Villanúa basin terminal glacial complex. The main moraines (M1 and M2) correspond to two glacial stages (oxygen isotopic stages MIS 6 and MIS 4), dated at 171 ± 22 ka and 68 ± 7 ka, respectively. From a topographical point of view, moraine M1 appears to be linked to the 60 m fluvioglacial terrace, dated in a tributary of the Aragón River at 263 ± 21 ka. The difference in age between M1 moraine and the 60 m fluvioglacial terrace suggests that the latter belongs to an earlier glacial stage (MIS 8). Moraine M2 was clearly linked to the fluvioglacial 20 m terrace. Other minor internal moraines were related to the 7–8 m terrace. The dates obtained for the last glacial cycle (20–18 ka) are similar to other chronologies for Mediterranean mountains, and confirm the occurrence of an early MIE in the Central Pyrenees that does not coincide with the global LGM.     

Glacial and palaeoenvironmental history of the Cape Chelyuskin area, Arctic Russia

Quaternary glacial stratigraphy and relative sea-level changes reveal at least two glacial expansions over the Chelyuskin Peninsula, bordering the Kara Sea at about 77°N in the Russian Arctic, as indicated from tills interbedded with marine sediments, exposed in stratigraphic superposition, and from raised-beach sequences mapped to altitudes of at least up to ca. 80 m a.s.l. Chronological control is provided by accelerator mass spectrometry ¹⁴C dating, electron-spin resonance and optically stimulated luminescence geochronology. Major glaciations, followed by deglaciation and marine inundation, occurred during marine oxygen isotope stages 6–5e (MIS 6–5e) and stages MIS 5d–5c. These glacial sediments overlie marine sediments of Pliocene age, which are draped by fluvial sediment of a pre-Saalian age, thereby forming palaeovalley/basin fills in the post-Cretaceous topography. Till fabrics and glacial tectonics record expansions of local ice caps exclusively, suggesting wet-based ice cap advance, followed by cold-based regional ice-sheet expansion. Local ice caps over highland sites along the perimeter of the shallow Kara Sea, including the Byrranga Mountains and the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, appear to have repeatedly fostered initiation of a large Kara Sea ice sheet, with the exception of the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2), when Kara Sea ice neither impacted the Chelyuskin Peninsula nor Severnaya Zemlya, and barely touched the northern coastal areas of the Taymyr Peninsula.     

Neogene tectonostratigraphic history of the southern Neuquén basin (39°–40°30′S,Argentina): implications for foreland basin evolution

Although the Neuquén basin in Argentina forms a key transitional domain between the south‐central Andes and the Patagonian Andes, its Cenozoic history is poorly documented. We focus on the sedimentologic and tectonic evolution of the southern part of this basin, at 39–40°30′S, based on study of 14 sedimentary sections. We provide evidence that this basin underwent alternating erosion and deposition of reworked volcaniclastic material in continental and fluvial settings during the Neogene. In particular, basement uplift of the Sañico Massif, due to Late Miocene–Pliocene intensification of tectonic activity, led to sediment partitioning in the basin. During this interval, sedimentation was restricted to the internal domain and the Collon Cura basin evolved towards an endorheic intermontane basin. From stratigraphic interpretation, this basin remained isolated 7–11 Myr. Nevertheless, ephemeral gateways seem to have existed, because we observe a thin succession downstream of the Sañico Massif contemporaneous with the Collon Cura basin‐fill sequence. Comparisons of stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental and tectonic features of the southern Neuquén basin with other foreland basins of South America allow us to classify it as a broken foreland with the development of an intermontane basin from Late Miocene to Late Pliocene. This implies a thick‐skinned structural style for this basin, with reactivation of basement faults responsible for exhumation of the Sañico Massif. Comparison of several broken forelands of South America allows us to propose two categories of intermontane basins according to their structural setting: subsiding or uplifted basins, which has strong implications on their excavation histories.