A morphometric analysis of tunnel valleys in the eastern North Sea based on 3D seismic data

A 1250 km² 3D seismic volume is used to provide a detailed spatial and geometrical analysis of fifteen Pleistocene tunnel valleys in the Danish North Sea. All the valleys are buried; they are up to 39 km long, 3–4 km wide and up to 350 m deep. The valleys are part of a vast tunnel valley province covering an area of some 0.5 million km² of the formerly glaciated lowland areas of North West Europe. The valleys consist of non‐branching, non‐anastomosing troughs; they exhibit strongly undulating bottom profiles with numerous sub‐basins and thresholds, and are characterised by adverse end slopes. Cross‐cutting relationships and theoretical considerations suggest the occurrence of seven major episodes of valley incision attributed to ice marginal oscillations within a few glacials. Calculations considering the valley end gradients and theoretical ice‐surface profiles suggest that the valleys were formed by pressurised subglacial meltwater erosion. Given a range of theoretical ice‐surface profiles, the adverse end slopes are well beyond the supercooling threshold, which suggests that the water was not in thermal equilibrium with the basal ice and that flow was concentrated in substantial conduits with sufficient mass and flux to maintain water temperature well above the freezing point. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeoecology of two lake basins from Disko,West Greenland

The macrofossils, lithology and chronology of two lake basins on Disko in central West Greenland have been investigated. Both lakes were isolated from the sea in the mid-Holocene as a result of relative land uplift. A marine-brackish-limnic sequence was recovered from the Qivittut Lake. The marine fauna is unusually diverse, whereas the brackish water fauna consists only of few species. Immediately after isolation the lake passed through a short-lived eutrophic phase, after which stable, mesotrophic conditions were established. From the second lake basin, the Fortunebay Lake, only limnic sediments were recovered. This lake record demonstrates that rather stable conditions have persisted since mid-Holocene times. Both lakes show anomalously high accumulation rates.     

Holocene climate changes in southern Greenland: evidence from lake sediments

A Holocene lake sediment record is presented from Lake N14 situated on Angissoq Island 15 km off the main coast of southern Greenland. The palaeoclimatic development has been interpreted on the basis of flux and percentage content of biogenic silica, clastic material, organic material and sulphur as well as sedimentation rate, moss content and magnetic susceptibility. A total of 43 radiocarbon dates has ensured a reliable chronology. It is argued that varying sediment composition mainly reflects changing precipitation. By analogy with the present meteorological conditions in southern Greenland, Holocene climate development is inferred. Between 11 550 and 9300 cal. yr BP temperature and precipitation increase markedly, but this period is climatically unstable. From 9300 yr BP conditions become more stable and a Holocene climatic optimum, characterised by warm and humid conditions, is observed from 8000 to 5000 cal. yr BP. From 4700 cal. yr BP the first signs of a climatic deterioration are observed, and from 3700 cal. yr BP the climate has become more dry and cold. Superimposed on the climatic long‐term trend is climate variability on a centennial time‐scale that increases in amplitude after 3700 cal. yr BP. A climatic scenario related to the strength and position of the Greenland high‐pressure cell and the Iceland low‐pressure cell is proposed to explain the Holocene centennial climate variability. A comparison of the Lake N14 record with a terrestrial as well as a marine record from the eastern North Atlantic Ocean suggests that the centennial climate variability was uniform over large areas at certain times. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tertiary tectonic evolution along the Arne-Elin Trend in the Danish Central Trough

Tertiary sequence boundaries are mapped on reflection seismic sections in the northern part of the Danish Central Trough, North Sea. The geometry of the sequence boundaries and the isopach maps of the sequences are used as indicators of differential subsidence. The Tertiary tectonic evolution is subdivided into: (i) Late Palaeocene and Early Oligocene episodes of inversion along the NNW–SSE striking Arne–Elin Trend (ii) Early Oligocene to Pliocene episodes of differential subsidence across pre-Tertiary fault trends. The observed differential subsidence and inversion is related to pre-Tertiary faults and fault trends, and dating of the sequences shows that the tectonic phases were contemporaneous with tectonic events in NW Europe. It is suggested that the differential subsidence-inversion is controlled by reactivation of pre-Tertiary faults/fault-trends by block movements due to an interaction of the Alpine collision and the opening of the Atlantic.     

Solution of the transport equations using a moving coordinate system

A convection-diffusion equation arises from the conservation equations in miscible and immiscible flooding, thermal recovery, and water movement through desiccated soil. When the convection term dominates the diffusion term, the equations are very difficult to solve numerically. Owing to the hyperbolic character assumed for dominating convection, inaccurate, oscillating solutions result. A new solution technique minimizes the oscillations. The differential equation is transformed into a moving coordinate system which eliminates the convection term but makes the boundary location change in time. We illustrate the new method on two one-dimensional problems: the linear convection-diffusion equation and a non-linear diffusion type equation governing water movement through desiccated soil. Transforming the linear convection diffusion equation into a moving coordinate system gives a diffusion equation with time dependent boundary conditions. We apply orthogonal collocation on finite elements with a Crank-Nicholson time discretization. Comparisons are made to schemes using fixed coordinate systems. The equation describing movement of water in dry soil is a highly non-linear diffusion-type equation with coefficients varying over six orders of magnitude. We solve the equation in a coordinate system moving with a time-dependent velocity, which is determined by the location of the largest gradient of the solution. The finite difference technique with a variable grid size is applied, and a modified Crank-Nicholson technique is used for the temporal discretization. Comparisons are made to an exact solution obtained by similarity transformation, and with an ordinary finite difference scheme on a fixed coordinate system.