A new Middle Pleistocene interglacial record from Denmark: Chronostratigraphic correlation,palaeovegetation and fire dynamics

Previously only three terrestrial interglacial periods were known from southern Scandinavia, all of which could be relatively easily correlated within the central European stratigraphical framework. Here, we present a new interglacial–interstadial pollen, plant macrofossil and charcoal record from Trelde Klint, Denmark, and analyse its biostratigraphy, correlation with other European records, vegetation development, fire dynamics and absolute dating. Except for a slight truncation of the early part of the record, the pollen stratigraphy exhibits a full interglacial succession, including temperate trees (Quercus, Ulmus and Tilia) during its mesocratic stage. Macrofossil analysis allowed identification to species level for Quercus robur, Picea abies and two mosses. Conifers (Pinus and Picea) dominate the pollen record of the interglacial sequence, and the occurrence of Larix pollen in the top part of the interglacial record as well as in the interstadial sediments is especially indicative of this interglacial. The overall diversity of tree genera is rather low. These biostratigraphical features suggest that Trelde Klint is unique among Danish records, but it is similar to records from northern Germany. Numerical analyses (REVEALS and DCA) indicate that forests during the temperate stage were dense and that vegetation openness increased only towards the end of the interglacial, accompanied by increased fire occurrence. A short interstadial sequence with a dominance of Pinus and Betula and the presence of Larix is present above the interglacial deposit. We argue that lack of attention to differences in fire regimes may hamper understanding of between‐site correlations of interglacial pollen records. OSL dating, using a novel feldspar technique, yields an average age of 350±20 ka for the sandy sediments above the interglacial layers at Trelde Klint, suggesting that the whole interglacial–interstadial succession belongs to Marine Isotope Stage 11.     

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of quartzite cobbles from the Tapada do Montinho archaeological site (east‐central Portugal)

The burial age of an alluvially deposited cobble pavement at the Tapada do Montinho archaeological site (east‐central Portugal) is investigated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Measurements on the cobbles (quartzite clasts) were carried out on intact slices and large aliquots (～8 mm) of quartz grains (63–300 μm), both recovered from the outer 1.5‐mm surface of the cobbles. The recycling ratio, recuperation and dose‐recovery tests show that the single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose (SAR) protocol is applicable to both rock slices and quartz grains; both have similar luminescence characteristics. The variation in the natural OSL signal with depth below the cobble surface using intact slices from two different cobbles shows that both were bleached to a depth of at least ～2 mm before deposition. A model of the variation of dose with depth fitted to data from one of the cobbles gives a burial age of ～19 ka and also predicts the dose‐depth variation at the time of deposition. Ages based on rock slices suggest that one cobble surface, and the inner parts of two other cobbles experienced a resetting event at ～45 ka, consistent with the age control. However, the surfaces of the other cobbles all record light‐exposure events in the range 26 to 14 ka, suggesting that some of the cobbles were exposed to daylight perhaps more than once in this period. Given the shallow burial depth and unexpectedly young ages of the surrounding and overlying finer‐grained sediment, it is suggested that phases of light exposure following surficial erosion are probably responsible for this underestimate. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that we can identify and quantify four events (two light exposures of different durations and two sequential burial periods) in the dose record contained within a single clast, and this suggests that the luminescence dating of rock surfaces may prove, in the future, to be at least as important as sand/silt sediment dating.     

Propeller scars on and known home range of two orca (Orcinus orca) in New Zealand waters

Two orca (Orcinus orca, Linnaeus, 1758), photo‐identified as part of an ongoing study in New Zealand waters, have a series of deep scars in their dorsal lumbar‐caudal regions which suggests they were caused by propellers. One of the animals, first noted to have the scars in 1982, is considerably smaller than an adult of similar age. The known home range of these orca are presented. A third orca hit by a boat is presumed dead.     

Two Tephra Layers Bracketing Late Holocene Paleoecological Changes in Northern Germany

Paleoecological records from two Holocene peat bogs in northern Germany are linked by two microscopic volcanic ash layers, correlated by petrology and geochemistry to explosive volcanism on Iceland. The younger “Microlite tephra” cannot be correlated to any known eruption, while the older tephra layer is identified as a deposit of the Hekla 3 eruption. The tephra layers are dated by an age–depth regression of accelerator mass spectrometry ¹⁴C ages that have been calibrated and combined in probability distributions. This procedure gives an age of 730–664 cal yr B.C. for the “Microlite tephra” event and 1087–1006 cal yr B.C. for the Hekla 3 event. Accordingly, the tephra layers were deposited during the late Bronze Age. At this time, human settlement slowly increased pressure on the environment, as indicated by changes in woodland pollen composition at the two bogs. The tephra-marker horizons further show that the palynologically defined transition from the Subboreal to the Subatlantic Period is synchronous in the investigated area. However, the macroscopic visible marker in peat, the change from fibrous to sapric peat, the “Schwarztorf-Weißtorf-Kontakt,” is asynchronous. Bog vegetation did not immediately react in unison to a climatic change at this pollen zone boundary; instead, the timing of vegetation change depended on the location within the bog.     

Brussels, a truncated metropolis

This paper describes and analyses the geographical development and the governmental, budget and administrative structure of Brussels. It defines the place Brussels occupies among the cities of Europe and assesses the value of its Regional Development Plan. Brussels appears to be highly successful in international inter-city competition, but it also appears to be unable to develop a strategy for dealing with the problems of the divided city it has become in the late-20th century. Key factors in explaining this paradox are a discrepancy between the political delimitation of the Brussels Capital Region (a member state of the federal state of Belgium) and the geographical urban region, and the administrative fragmentation of the Brussels Capital Region. These factors are strongly related to the reform of the Belgian state and the forces behind this reform. In the absence of a strategy based on solidarity within the metropolitan community, one has to fear for the development towards a repressive city. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Uncertainties in hydrocarbon charge prediction

Computer simulations allow the prediction of hydrocarbon volumes, composition and charge timing in undrilled petroleum prospects. Whereas different models may give different hydrocarbon charge predictions, it has now become evident that a dominant cause of erroneous predictions is the poor quality of input data. The main culprit for prediction errors is the uncertainty in the initial hydrogen index (H/C) of the source rock. A 10% uncertainty in the H/C may lead to 50% error in the predicted hydrocarbon volumes, and associated gas–oil ratio. Similarly, uncertainties in the maximum burial temperature and the kinetics of hydrocarbon generation may lead to 20–50% error. Despite this, charge modelling can have great value for the ranking of prospects in the same area with comparable geological histories.     

Laboratory measurements of uniform longshore currents

Experiments on uniform longshore currents in a wave basin are described. The measurements were performed in a basin with a pumped recirculation through openings in the wave guides. Minimal return flows in the offshore region of the basin are found to be accompanied with longshore currents which are virtually uniform alongshore. Three-dimensional longshore current velocity distributions were measured with much attention to quality control. Detailed experimental results are presented for different wave fields, two beach slopes and two beach roughnesses.     

Turbulence and zooplankton production: insights from PROVESS

Zooplankton are directly influenced by turbulence in both a passive and an active manner. Passively, zooplankton are at the mercy of turbulence in how it affects their vertical mixing, encounter rate, detection abilities and feeding current efficiency. Many zooplankton species, however, are actively able to mitigate the effects of turbulence by modifying their behaviour, e.g. vertical migration, prey switching and habituation to hydromechanical stimuli. Both theoretical treatments of these processes and field observations from the northern North Sea are examined. Field observations show that some copepod species actively migrate to avoid high turbulence levels in surface waters. Furthermore, observations show a negative relationship between turbulence and zooplankton ingestion rates. This supports the paradigm of a dome-shaped response for zooplankton production with environmental turbulence. A theoretical treatment shows that the reaction distance, R, for an ambush-feeding copepod feeding on swimming organisms follows R ∝ ^−1/6 where is the turbulent dissipation rate, a result that shows close agreement with previously reported experimental results.