Changes in European precipitation seasonality and in drought frequencies revealed by a four-century-long tree-ring isotopic record from Brittany, western France

A new paleoclimatic reconstruction for western France is obtained from tree-ring cellulose stable isotopes. Living trees from Rennes Forest and beams from two ancient buildings in Rennes city have been combined to cover the past four centuries with a gap from 1730 to 1750. The cellulose ¹³C reflects the progressive changes in atmospheric CO₂ isotopic composition. The combined ¹³C and ¹⁸O measurements are used to propose a reconstruction of interannual fluctuations in local summer temperature and water stress. At the decadal time scale, the reconstructed water stress profile exhibits a significant similarity with the historical wine harvest dates, an indicator of warm and dry growth seasons, as well as with the summer central England and central Alps instrumental temperature records and climate model results. Combined with instrumental precipitation records from Paris, these reconstructions suggest a dramatic and widespread change in the seasonality of the precipitation at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with drier winters and wetter summers, which may have contributed to the Alpine glacier decline at the end of the Little Ice Age. The tree-ring isotope records also show a relationship with large-scale North Atlantic circulation changes and the interannual variability is modified between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (7–8 year periodicities) and the seventeenth century (11–14 year periodicities). By classifying 20-year-long subsets of the reconstructed climatic parameters, we estimate that a decadal mean summer warming of 0.8±0.1°C induced extreme dry years to be 2.2±0.7 times more frequent.     

A catalogue and finding list of galactic novae

A catalogue of galactic novae and an atlas of finding charts are under preparation and will be published in 1984. The status of the project is described.Paper presented at the Lembang-Bamberg IAU Colloquium No. 80 on Double Stars: Physical Properties and Generic Relations, held at Bandung, Indonesia, 3–7 June, 1983.     

Comparison of cell- and vertex-centered discretization methods for flow in a two-dimensional discrete-fracture–matrix system

Simulations of flow for a discrete-fracture model in fractured porous rocks have gradually become more practical, as a consequence of increased computer power and improved simulation and characterization techniques. Discrete-fracture models can be formulated in a lower-dimensional framework, where the fractures are modeled in a lower dimension than the matrix, or in an equi-dimensional form, where the fractures and the matrix have the same dimension.     

Distribution of forms of sulfur in peats from saline environments in the Florida Everglades

Although there is published information on the mechanism of sedimentary pyrite formation resulting from bacterial reduction of sulfate, little is known about the distribution of forms of sulfur, including organic, in peats. In order to increase understanding of the geochemistry of sulfur in coals, we have determined distributions of forms of sulfur in five cores of saline peat and one of brackish peat, all from areas near the Shark River and Whitewater Bay in the coastal swamps of south Florida. All concentrations vary widely with depth. Total sulfur concentrations range up to 6% of dry solids. Minor amounts of sulfur are present as H₂S, S⁰, SO₄²⁻, and acid-soluble sulfide, but the principal forms are usually pyritic and organic. The ratio, organic/pyritic, is highly variable, but at a majority of levels in a profile is considerably greater than unity. It is inferred that topochemical factors are important in determining the distribution of sulfur forms in any element of volume.     

Accretion and exhumation at a Variscan active margin, recorded in the Saxothuringian flysch

The Saxothuringian flysch basin, on the north flank of the Central European Variscides, was fed and eventually overthrust by the northwestern, active margin of the Tepla-Barrandian terrane. Clast spectra, mineral composition and isotopic ages of detrital mica and zircon have been analyzed in order to constrain accretion and exhumation of rocks in the orogenic wedge. The earliest clastic sediments preserved are of early Famennian age (ca. 370?Ma). They are exposed immediately to the NW of the suture, and belong to the par-autochthon of the foreland. Besides ultramafic (?ophiolite) material, these rocks contain clasts derived from Early Paleozoic continental slope sediments, originally deposited at the NW margin of the Saxothuringian basin. These findings, together with the paleogeographic position of the Famennian clastics debris on the northwestern passive margin, indicate that the Saxothuringian narrow ocean had been closed by that time. Microprobe analyses of detrital hornblendes suggest derivation from the “Randamphibolit” unit, now present in the middle part of the Saxothuringian allochthon (Münchberg nappes). Detrital zircons of metamorphic rocks formed a little earlier (ca. 380?Ma) indicate rapid recycling at the tectonic front. The middle part of the flysch sequence (ca. early to middle Viséan), both in the par-autochthon and in the allochthon, contains abundant clasts of Paleozoic rocks derived from the northwestern slope and rise, together with debris of Cadomian basement, 500-Ma granitoids and 380?Ma (early Variscan) crystalline rocks. All of these source rocks were still available in the youngest part of the flysch (c. middle to late Viséan), but some clasts record, in addition, accretion of the northwestern shelf. Our findings permit deduction of minimum rates of tectonic shortening well in excess of 10–30?mm per year, and rates of exhumation of ca. 3?mm/a, and possibly more.     

Biostratigraphy,sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Tournaisian–Viséan transitional strata in South China (Guangxi)

The biostratigraphy and sedimentological evolution of the Tournaisian–Viséan (T–V) transitional strata in South China (Guangxi) have been investigated. The sediments were deposited on a carbonate platform and in slope and basinal environments. In the T–V transitional strata, six foraminiferal associations have been distinguished which allow correlation between the shallow and deep water deposits. A careful examination of the evolutionary stages of the foraminifer Eoparastaffella provides a more accurate criterion for the definition of the T–V boundary, but does not significantly modify the historical one. The distinction of two morphotypes is based on the elevation of the last whorl and the peripheral outline. Tournaisian specimens of Eoparastaffella have a well rounded periphery (morphotype 1) contrasting with the subangular periphery of younger Viséan specimens (morphotype 2). A coefficient can be deduced from simple biometric measurements for more precisely defining the T–V boundary. The sequence stratigraphy of the T–V strata in South China has been reconstructed by combining biostratigraphical and sedimentological data. It allowed the correlation of the T–V transitional strata between the platform area and the slope and basinal locations. Late Tournaisian strata were deposited during a highstand systems tract. Near the end of the Tournaisian, a major drop in relative sea-level led to the development of an unconformity in the platform area. Lowstand deposits formed during latest Tournaisian time in the basin where a detailed biostratigraphic framework has been devised. Sediments deposited during the ensuing transgressive systems tract overlie the late Tournaisian highstand sediments in the platform area and the latest Tournaisian lowstand deposits in the basin. A major drop in relative sea-level near the end of the Tournaisian has been recognized worldwide. Therefore, the possibility of using the sequence stratigraphy of the T–V strata in South China for worldwide correlations should be investigated. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of the Holocene climate evolution in Northern Africa: The termination of the African Humid Period

The Holocene climate evolution in Northern Africa is studied in a 9000-yr-long transient simulation with a coupled atmosphere–ocean–vegetation model forced by changes in insolation and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The model simulates in the monsoonal domains a significant decrease in precipitation under influence of the orbitally forced reduction in summer insolation. In the Western Sahara region, the simulated mid-Holocene transition from humid to arid conditions (the termination of the African Humid Period) is highly non-linear with the occurrence of centennial-scale climate fluctuations due to the biogeophysical feedback between precipitation and vegetation cover. This result is in agreement with proxy data from the Western Sahara region. The other monsoonal regions experience a more gradual climate evolution that linearly follows the insolation forcing, which appears in disagreement with available lake level records.     

A model of lunar evolution

There have been many models describing the evolution of our sister planet. As information from the intensive exploration by the Apollo program has accumulated, more constraints on these models have emerged. We specifically consider a hypothesis in which there is a present day asthenosphere, a heat flow between 24 and 32 ergs cm⁻² s⁻¹ and a crust which developed early in the Moon's history by melting of the outer 100 to 200 km. We have also introduced a constraint which keeps the deep interior below the Curie point of iron for the first 1 to 1.5 b.y. so that it is able to carry the memory of an early field which magnetized the cold interior. The magnetized mare basalts and breccias cooled in this field from above the Curie point of iron (≈800°C.) and acquired a thermoremanent magnetization. While fully recognizing that some of these constraints are subject to other interpretations, it is nevertheless instructive to consider the thermal history that follows from such a model. First, the initial temperature must be high enough to cause melting in the outer 100–200 km, while the interior temperature must be cool enough to be below the Curie point of iron. Second, the crust in this model cools off so rapidly that the mare basalts could not be developed as late as indicated in lunar history. Rather we propose that the mare basalts result from local remelting associated with giant impacts. Third, the Moon's deep interior must have warmed up enough to erase the memory of the ancient magnetic field from the deep interior and to develop the asthenosphere which has been detected seismically. Fourth, if this asthenosphere is real, the viscosity of the Moon as a function of temperature must be high enough to have prevented convective cooling until the temperature increased to a value near the solidus temperature. At this temperature, the Moon would then likely cool by convection in the solid state. It is, therefore, a consequence of this model that solid body convection tool place late in lunar history. This may well have contributed to the lunar center of figure and center of mass offset, to the low order terms in its gravity field and to, its disequilibrium moment of inertia differences.