Magnetic mineralogy of the sediments in Lake Ådran, eastern Sweden, and an interpretation of early Holocene water level changes

A number of magnetic parameters have been measured on samples from a master sequence in Lake Adran, eastern Sweden. Based on the results, frequency dependent magnetic susceptibility, high isothermal rem-anence magnetization and different magnetic ratios have been calculated. The results from the master sequence have also been compared with magnetically analysed soil samples from the lake catchment. The results of the magnetic analyses show that the sediments in Lake Ådran originate from two sources, one regional and one local. The different sources can be related to water level changes during the Ancylus and Litorina stages. Sediments originating from the regional source are characterized by high ferrimagnetic to antiferromagnetic ratios (high S-ratios) and are assumed to have been deposited when the water level was well above the threshold. Sediments derived from the catchment, having lower S-ratios, are assumed to have been deposited when the basin was cut off from the regional water circulation. On the basis of the magnetic results, combined with pollen and diatom analyses, tentative water level changes for the Lake Adran basin are compiled.     

The Late Weichselian sea level history of the Kullen Peninsula in northwest Skåne, southern Sweden

The Kullen Peninsula in northwest Skåne, at the time of the Weichselian deglaciation an island surrounded by the Kattegat Sea, is the earliest known deglaciated area in Sweden. Sediment stratigraphic and mineral magnetic properties, combined with radiocarbon dating, were used to determine and date the isolation of present-day lake basins from the sea. Significant environmental changes, which reflect the isolations, are supported by previously published palaeoecological data and cannot be related to climate changes. Basins situated above the marine limit (ML) have short (in the order of centimetres) minerogenic sequences that are magnetically characterized by low concentrations of detrital magnetite. In contrast, the pre-isolation sediments in basins below the ML, especially those deposited in sheltered positions in the landscape, have thick sequences (in the order of metres) of authigenic greigite-bearing sediments. Age determinations of the isolation level are based on the AMS radiocarbon dating of terrestrial plant macrofossil remains and previously published pollen stratigraphical investigations. Supported by the upper level of a sandy beach deposit preserved on the generally steep till covered slopes, the marine limit can be determined to 88–89 m a.s.l., which developed at the regional deglaciation c. 17000 calendar years ago. The results indicate that the deglaciation shoreline level remained fairly constant, relative to the sea level, for c. 1000 years and was followed by a gentle regression. The presented shoreline displacement curve from the Kullen Peninsula extends c. 1000 calendar years further back in time than any previously published records from the Swedish west coast.     

Maximum extent of the Eurasian ice sheets in the Barents and Kara Sea region during the Weichselian

Based on field investigations in northern Russia and interpretation of offshore seismic data, we have made a preliminary reconstruction of the maximum ice-sheet extent in the Barents and Kara Sea region during the Early/Middle Weichselian and the Late Weichselian. Our investigations indicate that the Barents and Kara ice sheets attained their maximum Weichselian positions in northern Russia prior to 50 000 yr BP, whereas the northeastern flank of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet advanced to a maximum position shortly after 17 000 calendar years ago. During the Late Weichselian (25 000-10 000 yr BP), much of the Russian Arctic remained ice-free. According to our reconstruction, the extent of the ice sheets in the Barents and Kara Sea region during the Late Weichselian glacial maximum was less than half that of the maximum model which, up to now, has been widely used as a boundary condition for testing and refining General Circulation Models (GCMs). Preliminary numerical-modelling experiments predict Late Weichselian ice sheets which are larger than the ice extent implied for the Kara Sea region from dated geological evidence, suggesting very low precipitation.     

VARIABILITY IN THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF IN SITU SUBGLACIAL MELTWATERS

Meltwaters collected from boreholes drilled to the base of the Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland have chemical compositions that can be classified into three main groups. The first group is dilute, whereas the second group is similar to, though generally less concentrated in major ions, than contemporaneous bulk glacial runoff. The third group is more concentrated than any observed bulk runoff, including periods of flow recession. Waters of the first group are believed to represent supraglacial meltwater and ice melted during drilling. Limited solutes may be derived from interactions with debris in the borehole. The spatial pattern of borehole water levels and borehole water column stratification, combined with the chemical composition of the different groups, suggest that the second group represent samples of subglacial waters that exchange with channel water on a diurnal basis, and that the third group represent samples of water draining through a ‘distributed’ subglacial hydraulic system. High NO⁻₃ concentrations in the third group suggest that snowmelt may provide a significant proportion of the waters and that the residence time of the waters at the bed in this particular section of the distributed system is of the order of a few months. The high NO⁻₃ concentrations also suggest that some snowmelt is routed along different subglacial flowpaths to those used by icemelt. The average SO²⁻₄: (HCO⁻₃ + SO²⁻₄) ratio of the third group of meltwaters is 0.3, suggesting that sulphide oxidation and carbonate dissolution (which gives rise to a ratio of 0.5) cannot provide all the HCO⁻₃ to solution. Hence, carbonate hydrolysis may be occurring before sulphide oxidation, or there may be subglacial sources of CO₂, perhaps arising from microbial oxidation of organic C in bedrock, air bubbles in glacier ice or pockets of air trapped in subglacial cavities. The channel marginal zone is identified as an area that may influence the composition of bulk meltwater during periods of recession flow and low diurnal discharge regimes. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spheroidal dolomites in a Visean karst system – bacterial Induced origin?

Spheroidal dolomite crystals occur in the karstified top of a Dinantian dolomite sequence in eastern Belgium. The spheroidal dolomite crystals are best developed at the base of the karst system. The dolomite crystals are characterized by a spherulitic or dumb-bell inclusion pattern, and are overgrown by dolomite cements with a rhombohedral outline. They are considered to be bacterially related precipitates based on, (1) textural similarities with documented bacteriogenic precipitates, (2) the presence of ‘bacterial’microspheres and framboidal pyrite embedded within the dolomite, and (3) their general geological setting. The geochemical characteristics of the dolomites and associated minerals support a bacterial origin. The ubiquity of framboidal pyrite, depleted in ³⁴S (δ³⁴S=— 22.4 to — 25.5%oCDT), testifies to a period of bacterial sulphate reduction. The isotopic composition of the spheroidal dolomites (δ¹³C=— 2.4 to - 3.2%oPDB and δ¹⁸O=— 3.8 to - 3.4%oPDB) suggest a contribution from oxidized organic carbon produced during bacterial sulphate reduction. Sulphate reduction may also result in a concomitant ¹⁸O depletion if the system is nearly closed. It is however, evident from the sulphur isotopic composition of associated framboidal pyrite that the system was fairly open. The ¹⁸O depletion of the spheroidal dolomite crystals (δ¹⁸O=— 3.8 to — 3.4%oPDB) and their occurrence adjacent to, and within karst cavities suggests a mixing zone origin, with a significant proportion of freshwater in it. The rhombohedral cement-overgrowths have calculated δ¹⁸O values in the range of 0 to +5.3%oPDB, which reflect precipitation from normal to slightly evaporated contemporaneous seawater.     

Assessment of dispersive pressure as a beach placer mechanism

The concept of sediment sorting extending from the Bagnold constitutive relationship for sediment under shear is examined in the context of beach placer formation. The traditional interpretation of shear sorting is found to be inconsistent with data from new granular flow experiments. A binary mixture satisfying the shear equivalence relationship displayed pronounced segregation during shear. This observation is contrary to shear sorting as applied in the literature where no such segregation for this pairing of mineral species is expected. Further experiments minimizing the potential of grain percolation of smaller grains or kinetic sieving also demonstrated sorting patterns inconsistent with the existing shear sorting interpretation. Consequently, the shear sorting process, as currently formulated, may not be an appropriate means to describe beach placer formation. Kinetic sieving appears to be a more likely mechanism in this context, enhanced by the shearing and dilation of the granular‐fluid flow.     

Weichselian geology and palaeoenvironmental history of the central Taymyr Peninsula, Siberia, indicating no glaciation during the last global glacial maximum

The Taymyr Peninsula constitutes the eastern delimitation of a possible Kara Sea basin ice sheet. The existence of such an ice sheet during the last global glacial maximum (LGM), i.e. during the Late Weichselian/Upper Zyryansk, is favoured by some Russian scientists. However, a growing number of studies point towards a more minimalistic view concerning the areal extent of Late Weichselian/Upper Zyryansk Siberian glaciation. Investigations carried out by us along the central Byrranga Mountains and in the Taymyr Lake basin south thereof, reject the possibility of a Late Weichselian/Upper Zyryansk glaciation of this area. Our conclusion is based on the following: Dating of a continuous lacustrine sediment sequence at Cape Sabler on the Taymyr Lake shows that it spans at least the period 39-17 ka BP. Even younger ages have been reported, suggesting that this lacustrine environment prevailed until shortly before the Holocene. The distribution of these sediments indicates the existence of a paleo-Taymyr lake reaching c. 60 m above present sea level. A reconnaissance of the central part of the Byrranga Mountains gave no evidence of any more recent glacial coverage. The only evidence of glaciation - an indirect one - is deltaic sequences around 100-120 m a.s.l., suggesting glacio-isostatic depression and a large input of glacial meltwater from the north. However, ¹⁴C and ESR datings of these marine sediments suggest that they are of Early Weichselian/Lower Zyryansk or older age. As they are not covered by till and show no glaciotectonic disturbances, they support our opinion that there was no Late Weichselian/Lower Zyryansk glaciation in this area. We thus suggest that the Taymyr Peninsula was most probably glaciated during the early part of the last glacial cycle (when there was only small- to medium-scale glaciation in Scandinavia), but not glaciated during the later part of that cycle (which had the maximum ice-sheet coverage over north-western Europe). This fits a climatic scenario suggesting that the Taymyr area, like most of Siberia, would come into precipitation shadow during times with large-scale ice-sheet coverage of Scandinavia and the rest of north-western Europe.