Atlantis

Ohne ZusammenfassungVorgetragen auf der Versammlung der Geologischen Vereinigung zu Frankfurt a. M. am 7. Januar 1939.     

Early human impact in the forest ecotone of southern High Asia (Hindu Kush, Himalaya)

The vegetation of the treeline ecotone of the southern declivity of arid High Asia (Hindu Kush, northern areas of Pakistan; Himalaya, northern central Nepal) is dominated by hedgehog-like open dwarf shrublands of thorny cushions. Since climatically sensitive ecotones are always also sensitive to human impact, the question arises whether the current lack of forests is a result of the Subboreal climate decline or of human impact. Due to inadequate knowledge of the pollen flora and of ecological indicator values of the plants, pollen analyses in High Asia have mainly been limited to the regional verification of globally known climatic impulses. However, the role of human impact on regional vegetation patterns has been widely neglected. We postulate that today's open dwarf shrublands replace woodlands and forests. Isolated vigorous juniper trees and successful reforestation appear to confirm our hypothesis. An abrupt decline of Pinus forests before 5700 and 5400 ka cal yr BP can be demonstrated. As the first indicator pollen of human impact appeared at both sites synchronous with the forest pollen decline, we infer human impact to be a more decisive cause for this environment change superimposing the effects of a climatic deterioration. The forests were displaced by open dwarf shrublands.     

Luminescence dating of historical fluvial deposits from the Danube and Ebro

The validity of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) has been tested on known‐age (historical) fluvial deposits along the rivers Danube (Austria) and Ebro (Spain). As partial bleaching of the OSL signal prior to deposition can interfere with correct age estimates, different approaches to extracting the dose accumulated during burial are compared. Using the finite mixture model gave OSL ages that are internally as well as stratigraphically consistent and in agreement with independent age control. According to these results, fluvial deposition at the Danube River study site can be attributed to different periods ranging from Bronze Age to the 18th century A.D. Fluvial deposits of Roman age and of the late 17th or early 18th century A.D. were found at the Ebro River study site. This is consistent with the morphological subdivision of the valleys and encourages further investigation of the fluvial and archaeological history of the study areas using OSL. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Geophysical investigation of a sinkhole in the northern Harz foreland (North Germany)

The creek Jerstedter Bach is part of the Ringelheimer Mulde along the northern rim of the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany, a trough structure comprising steeply dipping limestones. The limestones are well karstified and drain parts of the region efficiently via sub-surface flow. As the entire region is intensively used by agriculture, contamination of the fast-flowing karst aquifer is a potential problem. During 2006, a small sinkhole (Windmühlenweg) developed alongside the Jerstedter Bach close to the city of Goslar. The sinkhole enlarged rapidly, with a small cave within the gravel cover diverting part of the creek to the subsurface karst catchment. Geophysical methods (gravimetry, geoelectrics) were used around the sinkhole to determine its extent and possible evolution. A negative Bouguer anomaly was found over the sinkhole, indicating more voids further downstream. The geoelectric survey helped to identify the old meandering course of the small river, which was straightened during the cultural land reform in the twentieth century.     

A procedure to identify natural arsenic sources,applied in an affected area in North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

The aim of the study was to identify the geogenic source for elevated arsenic (As) concentrations recently discovered in soils of the Heubach plain, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Therefore, a catalogue of conditions that an As source has to fulfil in order to be considered as geogenic was formulated, including the source’s linkage to the sink, its mineralogy, As total content, As mobilization potential, groundwater redox conditions and As output. Accordingly, mineralogical, geo- and hydrochemical investigations were carried out, including X-ray diffractometry, microscopy, ICP-OES and AAS analysis and a sequential extraction procedure. Paleo bog iron ores (PBIOs) of Tertiary age, occurring within unconsolidated sands (Haltern-layers, Santonian–Lower Campanian), and glauconitic marlstones (Dülmen-layers, Lower Campanian) were examined. Results indicate that output from the PBIOs is responsible for the elevated As levels. Accounting their diverse mineralogy, five types of PBIOs were defined. Type-dependent, they at least partly fulfil all of the formulated requirements. The relations and behaviour of As sources and sinks in space and time could be clarified for the area of interest. The approach presented in this paper may offer a tool for identifying natural As sources worldwide.     

Dating of soil layers in a young floodplain using iron oxide crystallinity

Dating of fluvial deposits is essential for a more quantitative understanding of landscape evolution and soil development in floodplain environments. We collected soil layers in defined depth intervals down to 60 cm along a substrate age gradient in a floodplain of the Danube River near Vienna, Austria. Depth profiles of fallout ¹³⁷Cs were used to assess short-term sedimentation, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was used to attribute sediment deposits to time periods between the early last millennium BC and the 18th century AD. In the studied soils, the ratio of oxalate- to dithionite-extractable iron (Fe_o/Fe_d), which indicates the degree of iron oxide crystallinity, progressively decreased from ratios greater than 0.5 to values less than 0.2 with increasing soil age and proved to be a reliable indicator of soil maturity. We linked the observed Fe_o/Fe_d ratios to the radiometric and OSL ages in a chronofunction, which allows to approximately date soil layers that lack an independent age control. The soil ages calculated with this chronofunction accurately reflected their geomorphological position, resulted in consistent age trends with depth, and highlighted the active morphodynamics of the studied floodplain. The chronofunction was further validated by dating a soil profile near the studied chronosequence that contained an archaeological find dated to the La Tène period (5th to 1st century BC).     

应用AMSR-E 89GHz遥感数据反演北极多年冰密集度

被动微波辐射计AMSR-E在89GHz频段的空间分辨率几乎是其它低频段的2倍。到目前为止,已经有成熟的算法采用AMSR-E 89GHz频段的数据来反演整体海冰的密集度,而本文根据89GHz频段亮温数据针对一年冰、多年冰以及无冰水面的不同特性,提出了一种反演多年冰密集度的方法(AC)。计算了2007年北极的整体海冰和多年冰密集度,并与NASA TEAM算法(NT)的结果作了比较。对于整体海冰密集度,两种算法反演的结果基本一致。从日平均上来看,AC算法得到的整体海冰覆盖面积只比NT算法多25万km2。但是对于多年冰的反演结果,AC算法得到的结果比NT的结果要多出146万km2,冬季差别尤其大。造成这种差别的原因可能是AC算法对于北极表面气温的变化比较敏感。另外,AC算法计算得到2007年最大海冰覆盖面积为1400万km2,最小海冰覆盖面积为400万km2,这与其它研究结果一致。