黄土高原南部全新世古土壤的沉积序列

Optically stimulated luminescence （OSL） dating for polymlneral fine-grained loess samples, collected in Laoguantai （LGT） section on the south of the Chinese Loess Plateau, was made by application of single-aliquot regenerative-dose （SAR） protocol. A ＇Double-SAW procedure in which aliquots are subjected to both infrared （IR） and blue stimulations was used and two sets of equivalent dose （De） determinations were produced and assumed to relate predominantly to feldspathic and quartz fine grain populations respectively, The OSL ages estimated from IRSL signals are smaller than those estimated from [post-IR] OSL signals due to the anomalous fading of feldspar IR signals, based on fading experiment, The young ages of the samples near ground surface may be originated from the post-depositional disturbance by the intensifying humanity＇s cultivation since 3.0 ka BP in the Guanzhong Basin, south of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Based on OSL dating, as well as field observations and stratigraphic correlation, we determine the chronology of the LGT Ioess-paleosol sequence. In combination with climate proxy records, it is indicated that aeolian loess deposition and pedogenesis underwent polyphase changes during the Holocene, likely to have been driven by shifts in the East Asian monsoon. This suggests that aeolian loess deposition is episodic and highly variable, with contributions from non-aeolian processes such as alluvial deposition found in the area.     

风成沉积石英绿光释光测年的单片技术

运用再生法进行单片技术测年所面临的主要问题是感量变化。论文探讨了石英绿光释光测年中对感量变化进行校正的方法,然后运用单片技术对沙漠黄土边界带风成沉积沙样进行等效剂量测定。结果表明,单片技术是石英绿光释光测年的理想手段。     

The storage of bed material in mountain stream channels as assessed using Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating

A detailed understanding of channel forming and maintenance processes in mountain streams requires some measurement and/or prediction of bed load transport and sediment mobility. Traditional field based measurements of such processes are problematic because of the high formative discharges characteristic of such streams. The application of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating is proposed here as a new way of determining actual residency times of fine sediments and consequently validating selected predictions for the entrainment of sediment in these streams. Model predictions of sediment mobility for selected step-pool and plane-bed channels in a mountain catchment in south eastern Australia are initially calculated using equations of hydraulic competence and the one-dimensional HEC-RAS model. Results indicate that floods exceeding bankfull with recurrence intervals up to 13 years are competent to mobilise the maximum overlying surface grain sizes at both sites. OSL minimum age model results from 7 samples of well bleached quartz in the fine matrix particles indicate general agreement with selected competence equations. The apparent long (100–1400 y) burial age of most of the mineral quartz, however, suggests that competent flows are not able to flush all subsurface fine-bed material. The depth of maximum bed load exchange (flushing) was limited to ≤ twice the depth of the overlying D₉₀ grain size. Application of OSL in this study provides important insight into the nature of storage and flushing of matrix material in mountain streams.     

Characteristics of freshly deposited sand and finer sediments along an island-braided, gravel-bed river: The roles of water, wind and trees

Over the past two decades there has been a growing interest in the geomorphological mosaic along large floodplain rivers where channel dynamics are seen to drive habitat-patch creation and turnover and to contribute to high biological diversity. This has required a new perspective on fluvial geomorphology that focuses on biological scales of space and time. This study examines the spatial pattern of surface fine sediment accumulations along a reach of a large gravel-bed river, the Tagliamento River in NE Italy; an area with a moist Mediterranean climate and seasonal flow regime. The study investigates changes in sediment characteristics during the summer low-flow period between April and September. Focussing on five areas representing a gradient from open, bar-braided to wooded island-braided morphologies, the paper demonstrates the importance of riparian vegetation and aeolian–fluvial interactions.Significant contrasts in particle size distributions and organic content of freshly deposited sand and finer sediments were found between sampling areas, geomorphological settings, and sampling dates. In particular, wooded floodplain and established islands supported consistently finer sediment deposits than both open bar surfaces and the lee of pioneer islands, and in September significantly finer sediments were also found in deposits located in the lee of pioneer islands than on open bar surfaces. Overall, the September samples had a greater variability in particle size characteristics than those obtained from the same sites in April, with a general coarsening of the D₅ (φ) (i.e., the coarse tail of the particle size distribution). Also in September, crusts of fine sediment (30 μm < D₅₀ < 64 μm) had formed on the surface of some of the open bar and pioneer island deposits within the more open sampling areas along the study reach. These crusts possessed similar particle size characteristics to aeolian crusts found in more arid environments. They were significantly finer than April samples and September subcrust samples obtained from the same sites and had similar particle size characteristics to some samples taken from wooded floodplain, established island surfaces and the lee of pioneer islands that were not crusted.Local climatological and river level data confirm significant wind and rainfall events during a period of consistently low river levels between the April and September sampling periods. These support deflation, deposition and rain wash of finer sediment during the summer, with windblown sediments being deposited on bar surfaces and in the lee of pioneer islands where wood and young trees provide foci for accelerated sedimentation and island growth as well as on marginal floodplains and established islands. We conclude that along braided rivers in moist settings but with a distinct dry season, aeolian reworking of sediment deposits may have a more important role in driving habitat dynamics than previously considered.     

Malariological and sociological significance of ‘tanka’ and ‘beri’ in the Thar Desert, Western Rajasthan, India

Both ‘tanka’ and ‘beri’, the well-like structures made for storing drinking water fetched from distant places or superficially charged from the runoff water of the monsoon rains, are considered integral components of rural communities in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan State in north-western India.A. stephensi, the confirmed malaria vector in desert regions, breeds in these structures predominantly.     

Luminescence geochronology for sediments from Lake El’gygytgyn,northeast Siberia,Russia: constraining the timing of paleoenvironmental events for the past 200 ka

This study focused on the luminescence dating of sediments from Lake El’gygytgyn, a meteorite impact crater 100 km north of the Arctic Circle in northeast Siberia, formed 3.58 Ma ago. The sediment is principally eolian deposited in to a lake with nearly permanently ice. The fine-grained polymineral and quartz extracts taken from nine distinct levels from the upper 12.3 m of sediment core PG1351 were dated by infrared stimulated (IRSL) and green stimulated luminescence (GSL) using multiple aliquot additive dose procedures. The veracity of these ages is evaluated by comparing to an age model for the core derived from magnetic excursions and from correlation of variations of the magnetic susceptibility record to similar magnitude variations in δ ¹⁸O in the Greenland Ice core record. The IRSL ages from the upper 9 m of core correspond well with the independent age control for the past ca. 200 ka. However, sediments deeper in the core at 12.3 m with an inferred age of ca. 250 ka age yield a saturated IRSL response and therefore a non-finite OSL age. The youngest sediment dated from 0.70 m depth yielded the IRSL age of ca. 11.5 ka, older than the corresponding age of 9.3–8.8 ka, indicating a discrepancy in dating the youngest sediments in the upper 1 m of core. This study confirms the utility of IRSL by the multiple aliquot additive dose method to date sediments <200 ka old from eastern Siberia. This is the sixth in a series of eleven papers published in this special issue dedicated to initial studies of El’gygytgyn Crater Lake and its catchment in NE Russia. Julie Brigham-Grette, Martin Melles, Pavel Minyuk were guest editors of this special issue.     

Influence of soil texture on the binding energies of fine mineral dust particles potentially released by wind erosion

Models of the two aeolian processes (saltation and sandblasting) that lead to emission of fine dust particles (PM20) by wind erosion in arid and semi-arid areas have been combined to form the so-called ‘Dust Production Model’ (DPM). In this model, the size dependent binding energies of PM20 embedded within the wind-erodible loose soil aggregates or in the soil surface itself are key input parameters. Indeed, their values condition at the same time the intensity of emissions and their initial size distribution. Previous comparisons of vertical mass fluxes measured on-field with the model predictions suggest that these energies might be relatively independent of soil texture and also probably composition. Because this would greatly facilitate application of the DPM at regional or global scale, the objective of this work is to check experimentally the veracity of this result. The strategy that has been designed for this has involved selecting four natural soil samples collected in various source areas of the world and covering a wide range of textures and compositions. Then, these soil samples have been used to perform carefully controlled wind erosion simulations in a wind tunnel. During the experiments, which were carried out at different wind speeds with each soil, the horizontal flux (F_h) of saltating soil aggregates has been monitored. At the same time, number concentrations (C_i) of PM20 released by the sandblasting process were recorded in the 6 size classes of an optical size analyzer. Thus, the efficiency of the sandblasting process (defined as the ratio of C_i to F_h) could be determined for each of these size classes. Analysis of the results obtained in similar saltation conditions shows that for the four tested soils, and within the range of contents in clay and other components favoring aggregation (mostly organic matter and carbonates), the influence of soil composition and texture on binding energies of the PM20 particles within soil aggregates is at best a second order effect that can be neglected in large scale modeling of wind erosion by the DPM.     

Smith Canyon dune field, Washington, U.S.A: relation to glacial outburst floods, the Mazama eruption, and Holocene paleoclimate

Sedimentary deposits from the Smith Canyon dune field, south-central Columbia Basin, Washington, U.S.A. document climatically-influenced Late Pleistocene and Holocene aeolian and fluvial deposition in a region impacted by glacial outburst floods and tephra falls. The depositional history is summarized by five environmentally distinctive and climatically sensitive sedimentary units (temporal limits estimated): Unit 1 (c. 15·5–8 ka), pedogenically altered glacial outburst flood and minor aeolian silt and clay; Unit 2 (c. 8–6·9 ka), fluvial and minor aeolian sand; Unit 3 (c. 6·9–6·8 ka), flood-induced fluvial sand with gravel-sized tephra clasts; Unit 4 (c. 6·8–3·9 ka), aeolian dune sand; Unit 5 (c. 3·9 ka to present), pedogenically altered, stabilized dune sand. Estimated age ranges are based on stratigraphic position, tephrochronology, and correlation with temporally constrained strata from elsewhere in the region.     

Watching the East: Constructions of ‘otherness’ in TV representations of East Germany

Coming from a socio-cultural geography perspective this paper sets out to question the ‘essentiality’ of East/West German differences, often said to persist in Germany despite (re)unification, by analysing the way in which they are socially constructed in German television reports and films today. Particular emphasis is placed upon the social and spatial positioning of the TV producers, of those represented, and of the audience. It is suggested that television representations such as those analysed in the paper effect a marginalization of East Germans and East Germany that can be partially resisted on the basis of contradictions ‘within’ and ‘outside’ filmic texts.     

Influence of shrubs on soil characteristics and their function in Sahelian agro-ecosystems in semi-arid Niger

Soil beneath shrubs form ‘fertile islands’ in fallow sites and millet fields in semi-arid Niger. To gain more information about this phenomena different shrub species in fallow sites following a gradient from 350–650 mm precipitation were examined. For each shrub two different areas were distinguished: an area under the canopy of the shrubs and an area in the nearby open land. Soil samples were taken from a depth of 0–10 cm and analysed for C_org, N_total, P_Bray, pH(H₂O), exchangeable cations, effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC) and soil texture. Significantly higher concentrations between 38–51% for C, N, P and 22% on ECEC for K⁺were found in the soil under the shrubs. The pH showed only slight but significant differences, whereas Al³⁺and H⁺rates on ECEC under the shrubs were increased by 44–55%. For Guiera senegalensis, the most common shrub of the studied area, enrichment ratios of most soil properties increased relatively more with increasing aridity. In general, enrichment ratios decreased with the age of the fallows, whereas concentrations showed no clear evolution. The chemical composition of the shrub litter seems to influence the degree of soil enrichment. The main step of fertile island formation takes place during the cultivation period by trapping wind-blown sediment. This work shows that shrubs are of vital importance for the accumulation of nutrients and maintenance of soil fertility within agro-ecosystems of Niger.     

Terrestrial Laser Scanning of grain roughness in a gravel-bed river

This paper demonstrates the application of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) to determine the full population of grain roughness in gravel-bed rivers. The technique has the potential to completely replace the need for complex, time-consuming manual sampling methods. Using TLS, a total of 3.8 million data points (mean spacing 0.01 m) were retrieved from a gravel bar surface at Lambley on the River South Tyne, UK. Grain roughness was extracted through determination of twice the local standard deviation (2σ_z) of all the elevations in a 0.15 m radius moving window over the data cloud. 2σ_z values were then designated to each node on a 5 cm regular grid, allowing fine resolution DEMs to be produced, where the elevation is equivalent to the grain roughness height. Comparisons are made between TLS-derived grain roughness and grid-by-number sampling for eight 2 m² patches on the bar surface. Strong relationships exist between percentiles from the population of 2σ_z heights with measured a-, b-, and c-axes, with the closest matches appearing for the c-axis. Although strong relationships exist between TLS-derived grain roughness (2σ_z), variations in the degree of burial, packing and imbrication, results in very different slope and intercept exponents. This highlights that conventional roughness measurement using gravel axis length should be used with caution as measured axes do not necessarily represent the actual extent to which the grain protrudes into the flow. The sampling error inherent in conventional sampling is also highlighted through undertaking Monte Carlo simulation on a population of 2000 clasts measured using the grid-by-number method and comparing this with the TLS-derived population of grain roughness heights. Underestimates of up to − 23% and overestimates of up to + 50% were found to occur when considering the D₈₄, and − 20% and overestimates of up to + 36% were found to occur when considering the D_50.     

Effects of body mass and temperature on standard metabolic rate of the herbivorous desert lizardUromastyx philbyi

The standard metabolic rate ofUromastyx philbyiwas measured at 20–40 °C, using constant pressure manometric respirometers. Standard metabolic rate was mass-dependent. Values for the mass exponent ‘b’ ranged from 0·75 at 20 °C to 0·82 at 40 °C. Standard metabolic rate increased as temperature increased with high Q₁₀values at low temperatures (20–25 °C). Low standard metabolic rates in this species are probably an adaptation to herbivory in hot desert environments.     

Lake-Sediment Records of Recent Environmental Change on Svalbard: Results of Diatom Analysis

Surface sediments from 23 lakes on Svalbard were analysed for diatoms. About 182 taxa were found but samples generally have a low richness, with the majority of sites dominated by benthic genera such as Fragilaria, Navicula, and Achnanthes. Centric Cyclotella species occur at only three sites. Modern relationships between diatom abundance and water chemistry and other environmental variables were explored numerically and a preliminary transfer function for pH was developed. Lakes fell into three groups on the basis of their diatom assemblages: (1) high pH, high cation, high conductivity sites characterised by Amphora libyca, (2) shallow sites with relatively high nutrient values characterised by Fragilaria species, and (3) more acid and dilute sites with high amounts of snow cover in the catchments characterised by small Achnanthes species and Navicula digitulus. Five sediment cores representing the recent past were also analysed for diatoms. Three shallow sites were dominated by Fragilaria species throughout the period represented by the cores and no shifts in inferred pH were found. At two deeper sites (Arresjøen, Birgervatnet) major assemblage shifts are found which are unrelated to independent evidence for atmospheric contamination. Early (ca. 1200 AD) changes found at both sites are possibly related to the onset of the ‘Little Ice Age’. Later changes are neither synchronous nor similar in nature and might be best explained as individual responses to the recovery from the ‘Little Ice Age’ and subsequent climatic warming.     

基于释光测年的福建晋江海岸沙丘粒度记录的风沙活动

采用OSL测年技术对福建晋江海岸沙丘剖面(SHA) 进行加密采样测年和粒度分析,初步确定了研究区近1000a 以来海岸沙丘发育的主要时段,以OSL测年值为基础,在统一时间标尺上综合对比东亚季风变化序列和福建沿海地区台风登陆记录,探讨了控制研究区海岸沙丘发育的主要因素.研究表明：(1) SHA沙丘表现为典型的海岸风成砂特征,海岸沙丘沉积后受风力侵蚀和后期化学风化作用的影响,粒径变粗,分选性变差,各粒级组分和粒度参数特征发生较大变化;(2) 近1000a 以来晋江海岸带海岸沙丘发育可划分为3 个时期,分别为AD1050~1300、AD1470~1600、AD1720~1950,尤其是小冰期(LIA),海岸风沙活动强烈,海岸沙丘发育盛行;(3) 近千年来区域降水量、海平面和台风强度变化与研究区海岸沙丘发育之间的关系尚不明确,而冬季风强度对海岸沙丘发育的影响明显,即海岸风沙活动期主要对应冬季风较强时期,但近50 年来海岸风沙活动较弱除了主要受冬季风减弱影响外,主要与人类经济活动所造成的地表覆被条件发生变化有关.     

Geologically Constrained Probabilistic Mapping of Gold Potential, Baguio District, Philippines

Binary predictor patterns of geological features are integrated based on a probabilistic approach known as weights of evidence modeling to predict gold potential. In weights of evidence modeling, the log _e of the posterior odds of a mineral occurrence in a unit cell is obtained by adding a weight, W ⁺ or W ^– for presence of absence of a binary predictor pattern, to the log _e of the prior probability. The weights are calculated as log _e ratios of conditional probabilities. The contrast, C = W ⁺ – W ^–, provides a measure of the spatial association between the occurrences and the binary predictor patterns. Addition of weights of the input binary predictor patterns results in an integrated map of posterior probabilities representing gold potential. Combining the input binary predictor patterns assumes that they are conditionally independent from one another with respect to occurrences.     

Effect of day length during plant development and caryopsis maturation on flowering and germination, in addition to temperature during dry storage and light during wetting, ofSchismus arabicus(Poaceae) in the Negev Desert, Israel

Schismus arabicusis a common annual with an ‘escape’ strategy of caryopsis dispersal and ‘opportunistic’ strategy of germination. It inhabits the Negev and Saharo-Arabian and Irano-Turanian phytogeographical regions. It displays a quantitative long-day response for flowering and a day length response in caryopses germinability. Germination in the dark was much higher than in light. The longer the period of light, from 0·5 h to continuous light, the lower the percentage of germination. The low percentage of germination, which is also regulated by temperature during dry storage, is important for the survival ofS. arabicusunder the unpredictable distribution and small amounts of rain in its extreme desert habitats.     

Influence of averaging interval on shear velocity estimates for aeolian transport modeling

Recent investigations of aeolian transport have focused on increasingly short time scales because of growing recognition that wind unsteadiness is a major factor in the dynamics of sediment transport. However, the statistical reliability of shear velocity (u_*) estimates becomes increasingly uncertain as averaging interval is decreased. This study provides an empirical assessment of the influence of averaging interval on the reliability of u_* estimates. The data consist of 15-min wind-speed profiles (1 Hz sampling) collected at four coastal sites. Each profile was subdivided into progressively shorter fixed-length time intervals, and estimates of u_* and the 95% confidence interval for u_* were determined for each time-block using standard statistical techniques.The logarithmic model accurately represents the measured wind-speed profiles, even with relatively brief averaging intervals. Mean r² values remain robust down to block lengths as short as 10–20 s, typically retaining better than 98% of the r² value found for the full-length data sets. Fewer than 2% of the individual 10-s blocks had r² values less than 0.9. However, mean confidence intervals typically expanded by 70–80% of the full-record value as block length decreased from 900 to 10 s. For highly log-linear profiles, this amounted to an absolute increase from about ±8% to only ±14% of u_*, so that the additional information gained through the use of shorter averaging intervals may outweigh the increase in statistical uncertainty. Nevertheless, given that rates of aeolian transport are generally modeled as a function of u_*³, this increase in uncertainty may be significant for transport modeling. Thus, very short averaging intervals should be used with caution when predicting aeolian sediment flux. It is proposed that transport modeling should incorporate the shear velocity confidence interval as an indicator of the potential error associated with this source of uncertainty.     

Temporal patterns of arid-humid transitions in the south-eastern Arabian Peninsula based on optical dating

The Rub Al Khali aeolian system of the Arabian Peninsula is the world's largest erg. While the region is presently hyper-arid, evidence for multiple past humid periods has been documented in previous studies. Radiocarbon dating of lacustrine, travertine and palaeogroundwater deposits suggests that the climate was humid at 10–6 and 35–25 ka. These phases have been associated with summer rainfall increases occurring in tandem with an intensification and northward migration of the monsoon system during Northern hemisphere precessional maxima. Published optical dating studies have focused on preserved sand dune and aeolianite deposits to establish ages for the intervening arid phases. Here we present a summary of this work and additional optical dating results for samples of aeolian sediment from a deep drill core, which provides insights into the style of barchan dune accretion in the Liwa region of the United Arab Emirates. The large dune accreted rapidly during the mid-late Holocene. The results suggest that the transitions from humid to arid conditions and resulting accumulation of aeolian sediment in the form of large bedforms occurred abruptly at around 6 ka. Further aeolian sedimentation has not been constant since that time, with initial gradual dune growth followed by rapid vertical accretion, and possible termination of accumulation around c. 2 ka.     

闽粤沿海老红砂的热释光测年

采用再生热释光法对来自福建和广东沿海地区的39个老红砂样品进行了测年,其年龄约在0.9~6.8万年之间,表明闽粤沿海的老红砂是晚更新世中、晚期形成的风成沉积。     

Physicochemical, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics of lacustrine sediments of the Konya Basin, Turkey, and their significance in relation to climatic change

Physicochemical, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics of 279 highly calcareous lacustrine sediment samples obtained from a 30 m drilling core in the western part of the Great Konya Basin, Turkey were studied. The sediments have a predominance of silt and clay fractions with a median diameter of 3–5 μm. Vertical changes of the amounts of water soluble components, gypsum, carbonates, and non-salt minerals such as quartz, feldspars, and layer silicates in the sediments suggest that there were climatic changes in the Konya Basin. The dominant clay mineral is smectite followed by kaolinite, illite, and palygorskite. The oxygen isotopic (δ¹⁸O) ratios of six quartz samples from the Konya sediments, a terra rossa soil beside Lake Bey ehir gölü and paleosols at the foot of Mt. Erciyes Da ranged from +18.1 to +20.6‰. The dominant clay minerals and δ¹⁸O ratios suggest that part of quartz and coexisting layer silicates is of long-range transported and/or local aeolian dust origin from arid and semi-arid regions such as North Africa, Israel, and the surroundings. The relatively high deposition rate might be due to aeolian dust input and/or the sediment input introduced by the rivers such as the Çar amba river from the Toros (Taurus) mountains. The vertical distributions of electro-conductivity, amounts of water soluble and non-salt components, and the gypsum content of the sediments suggest that gypsum-rich layers were formed under shallow, saline waters, possibly associated with warm to hot and dry environments such as the Last Interglacial epoch and the Early Holocene. The sediments characterized by relatively high amounts of non-salt sediments, in which gypsum did not accumulate, could be deeper water phases formed under the cold and/or wet environments such as the Glacial epochs.