Holocene pisoliths and encrustations associated with spring-fed surface pools, Pastos Grandes, Bolivia

Calcite pisoliths, with diameters ranging from 1 to 200 mm, are forming now on the surface of a playa (salar) in the Andean Altiplano (4500 m above MSL) of Bolivia. They are associated with active or recently active hot springs (20-75°C) which flow onto the playa surface. Encrustations of pieces of an older caliche-type crust, of pisoliths, of indurated mud and of older concretions are also found as well as series of small (1-3 cm high) sinter terraces (rimstone dams). Arborescent concretions and overgrowths are common and they are reminiscent of drip-stone textures. Water analyses demonstrate that calcite supersaturation (about twenty times) occurs mainly through CO₂ loss, with photosynthesis by algae and degassing the main removal mechanisms. The two available analyses indicate slight evaporation and a calcium loss between spring and pool of 2.3 mmol per litre of water. It is thought that the hot springs pick up much of their solute load from the playa sediments. The closest analogues to these deposits have been reported from caves (cave pearls and concretions). Although the depositional processes may be similar, the environment on an evaporitic playa surface is quite different. The geological implications for this newly observed pisolith environment may be considerable.     

Thermobarometric data from a fossil zircon partial annealing zone in high pressure–low temperature rocks of eastern and central Crete, Greece

A fossil partial annealing zone of fission tracks in zircon is described from high pressure–low temperature (HP–LT) rocks of the Phyllite–Quartzite Unit (PQ) on the island of Crete, Greece. Correlation of regional trends in fission track age populations with independent thermobarometric and microstructural data, and with new experimental annealing results, allows a calibration of this low temperature thermochronological method to a degree hitherto not available from other field examples.The zircon fission track (FT) ages of samples from the PQ across Crete range from original detrital signature through reduced to completely reset. The annealing is the result of a single heating period related to the HP–LT metamorphism with near-peak temperatures lasting for only a few million years some time between 24±1 and 20±1 Ma. In eastern Crete, where rocks have experienced temperatures of 300±50 °C and pressures of 0.8±0.3 GPa, zircon FT ages range from 414±24 to 145±10 Ma. Ages above 300 Ma occur mostly near the east coast of the island in rocks which have not been heated to above ca. 280 °C and probably represent a pre-Variscan source. Track lengths are already indicative of a substantial annealing at this temperature. Most of the zircon FT ages from eastern Crete scatter within error around the stratigraphic age. Samples with apparent zircon FT ages significantly younger than the depositional age are only observed in areas where temperatures exceeded ca. 320 °C. Towards the west, a sudden decrease to very young ages ranging from 17±2 to 18±1 Ma reflects a complete resetting at ca. 350 °C. Short tracks, however, are still observed. Throughout the central and western part of the island, ages are consistently below 22 Ma. Thermobarometric data for this area indicate maximum temperatures of 400±50 °C and pressures of 1±0.3 GPa. Only samples from western Crete, which have been exposed to 400±50 °C, show exclusively long tracks. Consequently, the high temperature limit of the zircon partial annealing zone (ZPAZ) appears to be between 350 and 400 °C.A significant influence of elevated confining pressure on the stability of fission tracks in zircon is ruled out by the results of annealing experiments at 0.5 GPa and at different temperatures, which fit the curves previously obtained by other authors at ambient pressure.     

SUMMER TEMPERATURE VARIABILITY IN CENTRAL SCANDINAVIA DURING THE LAST 3600 YEARS

ABSTRACT. A Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) tree-ring width chronology from Jämtland, in the central Scandinavian Mountains, built from living and sub-fossil wood, covering the period 1632 BC to AD 2002, with a minor gap during AD 887–907, is presented. This is the first multi-millennial tree-ring chronology from the central parts of Fennoscandia. Pine growth in this tree line environment is mainly limited by summer temperatures, and hence the record can be viewed as a temperature proxy. Using the regional curve standardization (RCS) technique, pine-growth variability on short and long time scales was retained and subsequently summer (June–August) temperatures were reconstructed yielding information on temperature variability during the last 3600 years. Several periods with anomalously warm or cold summers were found: 450–550 BC (warm), AD 300–400 (cold), AD 900–1000 (the Medieval Warm Period, warm) and AD 1550–1900 (Little Ice Age, cold). The coldest period was encountered in the fourth century AD and the warmest period 450 to 550 BC. However, the magnitude of these anomalies is uncertain since the replication of trees in the Jämtland record is low during those periods. The twentieth century warming does not stand out as an anomalous feature in the last 3600 years. Two multi-millennial tree-ring chronologies from Swedish and Finnish Lapland, which have previously been used as summer temperature proxies, agree well with the Jämtland record, indicating that the latter is a good proxy of local, but also regional, summer temperature variability.     

Numerical modelling of burial and temperature history as an approach for an alternative interpretation of the Bramsche anomaly, Lower Saxony Basin

The Lower Saxony Basin, Germany, is one of the several sedimentary basins within the Central European Basin system. In its southwestern part, anomalously high maturity of organic matter has been observed to reach 4.5% VRr in Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks in an area which coincides with a magnetic and a positive gravimetric anomaly. This anomaly was often interpreted as the consequence of a deep-seated igneous intrusion, the so-called Bramsche Massif. However, results obtained from calibrated numerical modelling are not in accordance with this scenario. Instead, a burial by approximately 4 km of now-eroded Cretaceous rocks was revealed to be the probable cause for the anomaly. Data and modelling results from six boreholes and two pseudo-wells support this view.     

Amino acid ratios in Quaternary molluscs and foraminifera from western Norway: correlation, geochronology and paleotemperature estimates

Isoleucine epimerization (alle/Ue) ratios in the pelecypod Mya truncata and benthic foraminifer Cibicides lobalulus from emerged marine units in western Norway allow construction of a regional relative chronostratigraphy for the Ecmian and Weichselian. Two in situ interglacial sections are considered correlative by the similar biostratigraphy and alle/Ile ratios in C. lobalulus. Overlying sediments at the two sites are of both marine and glacial origin. Neither site contains a complete Weichselian record, but allelic ratios, lithostratigraphy and fauna! changes suggest at least four stadial and three interstadial events occurred along the western Norwegian coast during Early and Middle Weichselian time. Kinetic data defining the relationship between the isoleucine epimerization rate constant and temperature for the species studied allow the estimation of paleotemperatures for samples of known age. Accepting published age estimates for the Eemian interglacial beds, the average Weichselian temperature in western Norway is calculated to have been ca. 4°C below the average Holocene temperature, whereas the last interglacial was 1 to 2°C warmer that the Holocene. The limited temperature depression over this region during the Weichselian implies that coastal western Norway was ice-covered only about 30% of this period, and that Atlantic water, although not necessarily in a warm surface current as today, entered the Norwegian Sea during much of marine isotope stage 5 and intermittently during stage 3. Interpolated amino acid ages date interstadial events at ca. 94 ka, 78 ka and 52 ka, B.P., whereas glacial events are dated ca. 103 ka and bracketed by limiting dates between 78 and 89 ka, between 52 and 63 ka and less than 36 ka B.P.     

环渤海湿地沉积物球囊霉素相关土壤蛋白分布特征及其对湿地土壤风化的影响

【研究目的】球囊霉素作为丛枝菌根真菌（AMF）分泌的一种难降解土壤蛋白,广泛分布于陆地生态系统中,是长期碳贮的重要组成。当前鲜有研究涉及其在滨海湿地中的分布。基于此,本文对中国环渤海主要滨海湿地表层沉积物中球囊霉素相关土壤蛋白（GRSP）的空间分布进行表征,探讨不同湿地生境下GRSP分布及其对沉积物风化的指示意义。【研究方法】本文选取辽河三角洲、北大港和黄河三角洲湿地作为研究区,对166个表层样（0~5 cm）和4个柱状样（0~35 cm）的GRSP、粒度以及常量元素进行测定,并计算化学蚀变系数（CIA）。【研究结果】研究区GRSP在空间上的动态变化受植被类型影响显著,范围在0.06~11.31 mg/g,均值为（2.35±0.16） mg/g;沉积物以粉砂质砂和砂为主,CIA值分布范围为44.79~69.59,部分区域达到中等化学风化;CIA与GRSP呈显著相关（R=~0.49,p<0.01）,总体上CIA随GRSP的增加呈现先增加后减少的趋势。【结论】GRSP在滨海湿地沉积物中的分布受到生境差异性的影响,其与CIA的相关性表征AMF及其代谢产物在地质体风化过程中发挥了潜在的生态功能。创新点：揭示了球囊霉素相关土壤蛋白与地质过程的互馈作用;阐明了丛枝菌根真菌潜在的生态功能。     

The European research project on reed die-back and progression (EUREED)

Reeds (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel) are dying back at a fast rate in sizeable areas of Europe, with significant impacts on important wetland functions (biodiversity, stability of river and lake margins, water quality) and local economy. EUREED is a European strategic fundamental research initiative that aims at analyzing the mechanisms which control the growth dynamics and stability of reed-dominated ecosystems, at modelling and predicting how the ecosystem is disturbed by human activities and climate change, and at developing remedial management options. Expected achievements include (i) assessment of the functional role of reed-dominated ecotones as nutrient accumulators and transformers and as sources for atmospheric greenhouse gases, (ii) an ecosystem model capable of predicting future changes in ecosystem functioning in relation to climatic conditions, trophic status and water table management, (iii) assessment of genetic diversity of reed populations and its relation to die-back, and (iv) development of management tools, including preventative and restorative measures in relation to die-back. The project is carried out by research groups with complimentary skills and expertise from nine European countries. A reference study site is selected in each country as the basis for the field studies. The reference sites cover boreal-mediterranean and oceanic-continental climatic gradients, and the observational and experimental studies at these sites will permit interpolation between sites and extrapolation of results to the European scale.     

Physical characterization of aerosol particles during nucleation events

Particle concentrations and size distributions have been measured from different heights inside and above a boreal forest during three BIOFOR campaigns (14 April–22 May 1998, 27 July–21 August 1998 and 20 March–24 April 1999) in Hyytiälä, Finland. Typically, the shape of the background distribution inside the forest exhibited 2 dominant modes: a fine or Aitken mode with a geometric number mean diameter of 44 nm and a mean concentration of 1160 cm⁻³ and an accumulation mode with mean diameter of 154 nm and a mean concentration of 830 cm⁻³. A coarse mode was also present, extending up to sizes of 20 μm having a number concentration of 1.2 cm⁻³, volume mean diameter of 2.0 μm and a geometric standard deviation of 1.9. Aerosol humidity was lower than 50% during the measurements. Particle production was observed on many days, typically occurring in the late morning. Under these periods of new particle production, a nucleation mode was observed to form at diameter of the order of 3 nm and, on most occasions, this mode was observed to grow into Aitken mode sizes over the course of a day. Total concentrations ranged from 410–45 000 cm⁻³, the highest concentrations occurring on particle production days. A clear gradient was observed between particle concentrations encountered below the forest canopy and those above, with significantly lower concentrations occurring within the canopy. Above the canopy, a slight gradient was observed between 18 m and 67 m, with at maximum 5% higher concentration observed at 67 m during the strongest concentration increases.     

Håndværk og mindre industri i centrale byområder

Andersen, Hans T. & Engelstoft, Sten: Håndværk og mindre industri i centrale byområder. Geografisk Tidsskrift 83, 35–42, May 1, 1983.

The paper attempts to elucidate problems related to small manufacturing industries in central urban areas. The last 10 years' development within this type of industry in two medium-sized Danish towns is demonstrated, and their general conditions are analysed.