ON THE FISSURE DEPOSITS OF CHINGHSINGHSIEN(井陘县) WITH REMARKS ON THE CENOZOIC GEOLOGY OF THE SAME AREA

In August 1933, the writers of the present paper were sent by the Geological Survey to Chinghsinghsien along the Chengtai Railway, on the Hopei and Shansi border, to examine the long known but not sufficiently surveyed     

ON SOME NEOLITHIC (AND POSSIBLY PALAEOLITHIC) FINDS IN MONGOLIA,SINKIANG AND WEST CHINA

In the course of the past two years,when they were in the field with theThird American (1930) and the Haardt-Citroen (1931) Central Asiatic Expedi-tions,the authors of the present note had opportunities for making a series ofarchaeological observations over an extensive area.It seems interesting to report     

Petrogenesis of sediments in the absence of chemical weathering: effects of abrasion and sorting on bulk composition and mineralogy

Comminution in the glaciers that debouch into Guys Bight Basin, followed by selective sorting in the fluvial system, has had little effect on the bulk composition, or on the mineralogy, of the basin sands and muds. Most striking are the feldspar contents, and the feldspar-quartz ratios in sands and muds, both of which remain similar to those of average bedrock. The feldspar contents of sands and muds range from 48 to 52% feldspar whereas average bedrock contains 51·7% feldspar. Feldspar-quartz ratios average 1·58:1 in bedrock and 1·54:1, 1·66:1 and 1·69:1 in the medium to coarse sands, fine sands and muds, respectively, indicating minimal feldspar enrichment in the fine-grained sediments. In the absence of appreciable chemical weathering, extreme abrasion followed by hydraulic sorting has not produced mature sediments such as quartz arenites and clay-mineral-rich muds. There is, however, some chemical differentiation. Preferential accumulation of mafic minerals in fine sands and muds is reflected in bulk compositions by higher abundances of MgO, FeO and TiO₂, and in the mineralogy by enrichment of biotite in the fine grades. Bulk compositional studies focused solely on muds and mudstones will result in an overestimate of the mafic contribution from source rocks. This work shows that bulk compositional studies of sediments and sedimentary rocks should include all available granulometric grades.     

A new lead mine in the northern Pennines

Plans by Durham County Council, owners of the Killhope Lead Mining Centre in Weardale, to open parts of the oroginal underground workings of Park Level Mine to visitors were frustrated when exploration of the mine revealed the seriously collapsed state of the workings. This disappointment has now been turned to advantage by the building of a new, 'artificial', specially constructed mine on the site, planned to be geologically consistent with the original mine. The new mine was recently officially opened by Tony Blair MP.     

The effects of source lithology, transport, deposition and sampling scale on the composition of southern California sand

The Transverse Ranges of southern California represent an uplifted and variably dissected Mesozoic magmatic arc, and Mesozoic to Holocene sedimentary and volcanic strata deposited in convergent and transform tectonic settings. Modern sand within part of the Western Transverse Ranges represents: first-order sampling scale of the Santa Monica and the San Gabriel Mountains; second-order sampling scale of the Santa Clara River draining both mountain ranges; and third-order sampling scale of the beach system between the mouth of the Santa Clara River and the eastern Santa Monica Mountains, and turbidite sand of the Hueneme-Mugu submarine fan. Source lithology includes plutonic and metamorphic rocks of the San Gabriel Mountains, and sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Santa Monica Mountains. First-order sands have large compositional variability. Sand from local coastal drainage of the Santa Monica Mountains ranges from basaltic feldspatholithic to quartzofeldspathic. Sand of the San Gabriel Mountains local drainages has three distinct petrofacies, ranging from metamorphiclastic feldspatholithic to mixed metamorphi/plutoniclastic and plutoniclastic quartzofeldspathic. Second-order sand is represented by the main channel of the Santa Clara River; the sand has an abrupt downstream compositional change, from feldspathic to quartzofeldspathic. Third-order sand (beaches and deep-sea turbidite samples) of the Santa Monica Basin is quartzofeldspathic. Beach sand is more quartz-rich than is Santa Clara river sand, whereas turbidite sand is more feldspar-rich than is beach sand. Deep-sea sand has intermediate composition with respect to second-order samples of the Santa Clara River and third-order samples of the beach system, suggesting that (1) the Santa Clara River is the main source of sediments to the marine environment; and (2) local entry points from canyons located near local drainages may generate turbidity currents during exceptional flood conditions. Petrologic data of modern sand of the study area are highly variable at first- and second-order scale, whereas third-order sand is homogenized. The homogenized composition of deep-marine sand is similar to the composition of most ancient sandstone derived primarily from the Mesozoic dissected magmatic arc of southern California. This study of the Western Transverse Ranges illustrates the effects of source lithology, transport, depositional environment, and sampling scale on sand composition of a complex system, which provides insights regarding actualistic petrofacies models.     

Using palaeoenvironmental DNA to reconstruct past environments: progress and prospects

Palaeoenvironmental DNA (PalEnDNA) is defined as ancient DNA (aDNA) originating from disseminated genetic material within palaeoenvironmental samples. Sources of PalEnDNA include marine and lake sediments, peat, loess, till, ice, permafrost, palaeosols, coprolites, preserved gut contents, dental calculus, tephras, and soils as well as deposits in caves/rockshelters and at archaeological sites. PalEnDNA analysis provides a relatively new tool for Quaternary and archaeological sciences and its applications have included palaeoenvironmental and palaeodietary reconstructions, testing hypotheses regarding megafaunal extinctions, human–environment interactions, taxonomic studies, and studies of DNA damage. Because PalEnDNA samples comprise markedly different materials, and represent wide‐ranging depositional and taphonomic contexts, various issues must be addressed to achieve robust, reproducible findings. Such issues include climatic and temporal limitations, the biological origin and state (free versus bound) of PalEnDNA, stratigraphic reliability, sterile sampling, ability to distinguish modern from aDNA signals, DNA damage and PCR amplification, DNA extraction methods, and taxonomic resolution. In this review, we provide a non‐specialist introduction to the use of PalEnDNA for Quaternary and archaeological researchers, assess attributes and limitations of this palaeoenvironmental tool, and discuss future prospects of using PalEnDNA to reconstruct past environments.     

四川歌乐山哺乳动物群

四川歌乐山洞穴沉积中之哺乳动物化石,为除万县之洞穴沉积以外最丰富之‘剑齿象—熊猫动物群’之材料。其中包括三十五属,共四十一种分属於八目内,中有新属新种二及新种八。分析此化石地点所代表者均属一动物群,仅第五十一地点有较古老型之动物之存在。若与华南各地如四川万县,广西武呜,云南富民,江苏丹阳及江西乐平之洞穴沉积中之化相比较可知俱为同一时期之动物。其主要之代表竹鼠,豪猪,熊,虎,剑齿象,貘,犀,猪等统之‘剑齿象—熊猫动物群’。此动物群与北京附近周口店之洞穴沉积为同一时期者。王林(G.H.R.von Koenigswald)及寇鲁伯(E.H.Colbert)称此动物群为“中国—马来动物群”与时代更老之下更新统之“印度—马来动物群”不同。但动物之发源与迁移常来往频烦,殊不限于一个方向之移入或迁出。故某一动物群之是否原生常就其中所具代表性之动物移入成份之多寡而决定之。歌乐山之动物群,亦即‘剑齿象—熊猫动物群’为一原生华南之动物群,受华北,印度及爪哇三方面动物移入之混合组成。其中以华北移入之份子较多,但此种参加之份子不足以影响此动物群之原生性。如标准之北方动物,兔,骆驼,马及羚羊等在此并无发现。而原生南方之剑齿象,熊猫,貘...     

TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS DURING THE LAST CENTURY AT HIGH ELEVATION SITES

Differential temperature changes with altitude can shed light on the relative importance of natural versus anthropogenic climatic change. There has been heightened interest in this subject recently due to the finding that high-elevation tropical glaciers have been retreating and that significant melting from even the highest alpine regions has occurred in some areas during the past 20 years or so, as recorded in ice core records, which do not reveal any similar period during previous centuries to millennia. In this paper we find evidence for appreciable differences in mean temperature changes with elevation during the last several decades of instrumental records. The signal appears to be more closely related to increases in daily minimum temperature than changes in the daily maximum. The changes in surface temperature vary spatially, with Europe (particularly western Europe), and parts of Asia displaying the strongest high altitude warming during the period of record. High-elevation climate records of long standing taken at a number of mountain tops throughout the world, but primarily in Europe, are available from a number of countries. In some cases, meteorological observations at these unique mountain sites have been discontinued for a variety of reasons, usually budgetary. It is hoped that the papers published in this special issue of Climatic Change can contribute to a reassessment of the value of continuing climate measurements at these mountain observatories by the appropriate entities, so that we may continue to have access to climate information from the tops of the world.