Holocene climate forcings and lacustrine regime shifts in the Indian summer monsoon realm

Extreme climate events have been identified both in meteorological and long-term proxy records from the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) realm. However, the potential of palaeoclimate data for understanding mechanisms triggering climate extremes over long time scales has not been fully exploited. A distinction between proxies indicating climate change, environment, and ecosystem shift is crucial for enabling a comparison with forcing mechanisms (e.g. El-Niño Southern Oscillation). In this study we decouple these factors using data analysis techniques [multiplex recurrence network (MRN) and principal component analyses (PCA)] on multiproxy data from two lakes located in different climate regions – Lonar Lake (ISM dominated) and the high-altitude Tso Moriri Lake (ISM and westerlies influenced). Our results indicate that (i) MRN analysis, an indicator of changing environmental conditions, is associated with droughts in regions with a single climate driver but provides ambiguous results in regions with multiple climate/environmental drivers; (ii) the lacustrine ecosystem was ‘less sensitive’ to forcings during the early Holocene wetter periods; (iii) archives in climate zones with a single climate driver were most sensitive to regime shifts; (iv) data analyses are successful in identifying the timing of onset of climate change, and distinguishing between extrinsic and intrinsic (lacustrine) regime shifts by comparison with forcing mechanisms. Our results enable development of conceptual models to explain links between forcings and regional climate change that can be tested in climate models to provide an improved understanding of the ISM dynamics and their impact on ecosystems. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suitable gravity interpolation technique for large data gaps in Africa

Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica - The gravity database for the IAG African Geoid Project contains significantly large data gaps. These large data gaps affect the interpolation precision of the...     

Role of Subsurface Brines in Salt Balance: The Case Study of the Caspian Sea and Kara Bogaz Bay

The water level of the Caspian Sea fluctuated significantly during recent history, without consensus for the cause. The varied chemistry of the Caspian, Kara Bogaz and sediment a interstitial waters provides a further insight. Element concentrations and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the interstitial waters were compared to those of Caspian and Kara Bogaz open waters, and of acid-leached extractable components. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of the interstitial waters are explained by addition of subterranean waters similar to nearby spring waters. These subterranean waters yield chemical characteristics such as a Cl/SO₄, ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, Ca/Sr and K/Rb ratios of respectively 80, 0.7086, 250 and 1,800. However, their addition does not explain the large difference in the K/Rb ratio of the Caspian and Kara Bogaz waters, respectively at 7,630 and 17,550, which implies also a leaching of salt deposits by the upward migrating subterranean waters. The sediments of the southern Caspian basin, with low Na, Cl and SO₄ in their interstitial waters, deposited apparently in an anoxic environment. The related chemical changes in the waters are also indicative of a recent change in the hydrologic regime, possibly induced by a changing morphology of the drainage basin.     

Direct terrestrial-marine correlation demonstrates surprisingly late onset of the last interglacial in central Europe

An interdisciplinary study of a small sedimentary basin at Neumark Nord 2 (NN2), Germany, has yielded a high-resolution record of the palaeomagnetic Blake Event, which we are able to place at the early part of the last interglacial pollen sequence documented from the same section. We use this data to calculate the duration of this stratigraphically important event at 3400 ± 350 yr. More importantly, the Neumark Nord 2 data enables precise terrestrial-marine correlation for the Eemian stage in central Europe. This shows a remarkably large time lag of ca. 5000 yr between the MIS 5e ‘peak’ in the marine record and the start of the last interglacial in this region.     

Trophic interactions of the pelagic ciliate Stentor spp. in North Patagonian lakes

The zooplankton of oligotrophic lakes in North Patagonia is often dominated by mixotrophic ciliates, particularly Stentor amethystinus and Stentor araucanus. Therefore, we tested whether Stentor spp. (i) is an important food for juvenile endemic (Cheirodon australe, Galaxias maculatus, Odontesthes mauleanum, Percichthys trucha) and introduced (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fish species, and (ii) represents a remarkable grazer of bacteria. Ingestion rates of fish estimated by disappearance of Stentor in feeding experiments ranged between 8 (G. maculatus) and 53 (C. australe) ciliates per fish and day, and assimilation rates measured by using radioactively labelled Stentor ranged between 3 (P. trucha) and 52 (C. australe) ciliates per fish and day. However, although we detected the consumption of Stentor by fish, the daily consumption amounted to at most 0.2% of the fish biomass which can not cover the energy requirement of the fish. Furthermore, the daily consumption was equivalent to a maximum of 1.6% of the Stentor standing stock so that fish predation does not seem to be an important mortality factor for the ciliates. The clearance rate of Stentor sp. on natural bacteria was on average 3.8 μl cil⁻¹ h⁻¹. The daily ingestion (mean 3.9 ng C cil⁻¹ d⁻¹) was about 3.5% of the individual biomass of Stentor sp. Therefore, bacteria ingestion might explain a ciliate growth rate of appr. 1% d⁻¹, which was about 17% of the photosynthesis of endosymbiotic algae. The maximum density of Stentor sp. in the lake could ingest about 1 μg C L⁻¹ d⁻¹ bacteria which is only 3% of average bacterial production. Thus, grazing by Stentor sp. does not seem to be a main loss factor for the bacteria.     

Estuaries of the northeastern United States: Habitat and land use signatures

Geographic signatures are physical, chemical, biotic, and human-induced characteristics or processes that help define similar or unique features of estuaries along latitudinal or geographic gradients. Geomorphologically, estuaries of the northeastern U.S., from the Hudson River estuary and northward along the Gulf of Maine shoreline, are highly diverse because of a complex bedrock geology and glacial history. Back-barrier estuaries and lagoons occur within the northeast region, but the domiant type is the drowned-river valley, often with rocky shores. Tidal range and mean depth of northeast estuaries are generally greater when compared to estuaries of the more southern U.S. Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico. Because of small estuarine drainage basins, low riverine flows, a bedrock substrate, and dense forest cover, sediment loads in northeast estuaries are generally quite low and water clarity is high. Tidal marshes, seagrass meadows, intertidal mudflats, and rocky shores represent major habitat types that fringe northeast estuaries, supporting commercially-important fauna, forage nekton and benthos, and coastal bird communities, while also serving as links between deeper estuarine waters and habitats through detritus-based pathways. Regarding land use and water quality trends, portions of the northeast have a history of over a century of intense urbanization as reflected in increased total nitrogen and total phosphorus loadings to estuaries, with wastewater treatment facilities and atmospheric deposition being major sources. Agricultural inputs are relatively minor throughout the northeast, with relative importance increasing for coastal plain estuaries. Identifying geographic signatures provides an objective means for comparing the structure, function, and processes of estuaries along latitudinal gradients.     

Magnetostratigraphic results from the eastern Arctic Ocean: AMS 14C ages and relative palaeointensity data of the Mono Lake and Laschamp geomagnetic reversal excursions

A new high-resolution magnetostratigraphic record from the eastern Arctic Ocean has yielded further evidence for the existence of the Laschamp excursion (37–35  ka), the Mono Lake excursion (27–25.5  ka) and possibly another very short excursion (22  ka) inferred from steep negative inclinations. Ages are based on nine AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) ¹⁴C dates, oxygen isotope stratigraphy and correlation with ODP site 983. Estimates of relative palaeointensity variations for the time interval from 80 to 10  ka have revealed that the documented geomagnetic excursions are linked to large fluctuations of the relative palaeointensity. The lowest values were obtained for the two excursions and the normal–reversed (N–R) and reversed–normal (R–N) transitions of the Laschamp polarity excursion, which itself is characterized by a slight increase of relative palaeointensity during its reversed state. The results are in general agreement with palaeointensity studies from other regions, indicating that these fluctuations could be global phenomena and that the geomagnetic field of the Brunhes Chron was very variable in amplitude as well as in geometry. The new result is one of the rare records comprising large directional as well as large relative palaeointensity variations.     

A watershed nitrogen and phosphorus balance: The upper Potomac River basin

Nitrogen and phosphorus mass balances were estimated for the portion of the Potomac River basin watershed located above Washington, D.C. The total nitrogen (N) balance included seven input tource terms, six sinks, and one “change-in-storage” term, but was simplified to five input terms and three output terms. The phosphorus (P) balance had four input and three output terms. The estimated balances are based on watershed data from seven information sources. Major sources of nitrogen are amimal waste and atmospheric deposition. The major sources of phosphorus are animal waste and fertilizer. The major sink, for nitrogen is combined denitrification, volatilization, and change-in-storage. The major sink for phosphorus is change-in-storage. River exports of N and P were 17% and 8%, respectively, of the total N and P inputs. Over 60% of the N and P were volatilized or stored. The major input and output terms on the budget are estimated from direct measurements, but the change-in-storage term is calculated by difference. The factors regulating retention and storage processes are discussed and research needs are identified.