Mountain-derived versus shelf-based glaciations on the western Taymyr Peninsula, Siberia

The early Russian researchers working in central Siberia seem to have preferred scenarios in which glaciations, in accordance with the classical glaciological concept, originated in the mountains. However, during the last 30 years or so the interest in the glacial history of the region has concentrated on ice sheets spreading from the Kara Sea shelf. There, they could have originated from ice caps formed on areas that, for eustatic reasons, became dry land during global glacial maximum periods, or from grounded ice shelves. Such ice sheets have been shown to repeatedly inundate much of the Taymyr Peninsula from the north-west. However, work on westernmost Taymyr has now also documented glaciations coming from inland. On at least two occasions, with the latest one dated to the Saale glaciation (marine isotope stage 6 [MIS 6]), warm-based, bedrock-sculpturing glaciers originating in the Byrranga Mountains, and in the hills west of the range, expanded westwards, and at least once did such glaciers, after moving 50–60 km or more over the present land areas, cross today's Kara Sea coastline. The last major glaciation affecting south-western Taymyr did, however, come from the Kara Sea shelf. According to optically stimulated luminescence dates, this was during the Early or Middle Weichselian (MIS 5 or 4), and was most probably not later than 70 Kya. South-western Taymyr was not extensively glaciated during the last global glacial maximum ca. 20 Kya, although local cold-based ice caps may have existed.     

The Preboreal oscillation around the Nordic Seas: terrestrial and lacustrine responses

The occurrence of an early Preboreal climatic cooling/oscillation (PBO) in lacustrine and glacial records from northwest Europe, Iceland and Greenland is reviewed and documented. The often subtle response of the proxy records to this oscillation, in combination with its short duration, make it difficult to detect. Owing to its chronostratigraphic position between the 10000–9900 and 9600–9500 ¹⁴C plateaux (c. 11300–11150 calendar yr BP) it is also difficult to ¹⁴C date with precision. We find that the vegetation response to the PBO varies between sites and regions. In contrast to the pioneer vegetation in Iceland and southern Sweden, the expanding birch–pine forest in Germany–Denmark was more susceptible to deteriorating growing conditions. The combined lacustrine, tree-ring and glacial records imply that the PBO was characterised by cool and humid conditions throughout northwestern and central Europe. This is documented by vegetation changes, decreased aquatic production, increased soil erosion, increased ²H and ¹³C content in tree-rings, readvances or stillstands of the ice sheet in Norway and Finland, and ingression of brackish water into the Baltic. Icelandic proxy records from lake sediments and glacial moraines imply cooler conditions than during the previous Preboreal period, but not as extreme as during the Younger Dryas. Greenland records suggest that the early Preboreal was characterised by ice readvances, as an effect of cool climate and increased precipitation (in relation to the Younger Dryas). It was not until the end of the PBO that climate was warm enough to melt the land-based ice sheet. This Preboreal oscillation, found on both sides of the Nordic Seas, is interpreted as an effect of increased freshwater forcing on the thermohaline circulation in the Nordic Seas, which is implied by a simultaneous and distinct rise in the atmospheric ¹⁴C/¹²C ratio. A slow-down of the thermohaline circulation may temporarily have pushed the Polar Front further south. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accumulation of Copper and Zinc in Danish Agricultural Soils in Intensive Pig Production Areas

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 105(2):15–22, 2005

The change of Cu and Zn concentrations in Danish agricultural soils was studied in areas with intensive pig production. Cu and Zn are found in pig manure as the metals are added to pig feed as growth promoters. The changes in concentrations of total and 0.02 MEDTA extractable Cu and Zn in soils from 1986 to 1998 were determined from samples taken at two depths (0–25 cm and 25–50 cm) from 73 sites. Pig manure and mineral fertilizer was added to 60 sites whereas fertilizer only was used on 13 sites. During the survey period soil Cu concentrations increased in both depths but mostly in the sites where pig manure was added. Furthermore, the results indicated that some plant-available Cu and Zn were transported from the topsoil to the subsoil. No significant change in soil Zn concentration was found although a slight reduction was observed. Comparing soil metal concentrations observed in 1998 to the total pig manure application in a 12-year period, it was observed that application of manure caused an accumulation of Cu and of Zn in the upper 50 cm soil. The accumulation rates correspond to the Cu and Zn concentrations in the pig manure.     

Upper Devonian tetrapod palaeoecology in the light of new discoveries in East Greenland

For the first time, new material of one of the world's oldest known tetrapods, Acanthostega, has been studied in its sedimentological context. The reported evidence suggests that Acanthostega was primarily aquatic and inhabited active fluvial channels in fluvial-dominated environments.     

A distribution function based bandwidth selection method for kernel quantile estimation

The key problem in nonparametric frequency analysis of flood and droughts is the estimation of the bandwidth parameter which defines the degree of smoothing. Most of the proposed bandwidth estimators have been based on the density function rather than the cumulative distribution function or the quantile that are the primary interest in frequency analysis. We propose a new bandwidth estimator derived from properties of quantile estimators. The estimator builds on work by Altman and Léger (1995). The estimator is compared to the well-known method of least squares cross-validation (LSCV) using synthetic data generated from various parametric distributions used in hydrologic frequency analysis. Simulations suggest that our estimator performs at least as well as, and in many cases better than, the method of LSCV. In particular, the use of the proposed plug-in estimator reduces bias in the estimation as compared to LSCV. When applied to data sets containing observations with identical values, typically the result of rounding or truncation, the LSCV and most other techniques generally underestimates the bandwidth. The proposed technique performs very well in such situations.     

The Tilling in a Village in Southern India

Raagaard, Svend, 1973: The Tilling in a Village in Souther India. Geoarafisk Tidsskrift 73: 66–81. Kabenhavn, juni 1, 1974

This study was carried out in a village in the southeastern part of the Karnataka state (former Mysore) near Bangalore, India. The primary purpose was to find the average energy developed by the draught-animals during the tilling process as well as the variations in this energy from time to time.     

全球寒武-奥陶系界线划分对比的标志和纽带——中国北方小阳桥剖面的启示

根据对中国小阳桥剖面高精度生物、层序、化学和磁性地层学综合研究的新成果及其与绿岬全球界线层型剖面(GSSP)的详细对比,进一步厘定了加拿大绿岬"金钉子"剖面所定义的奥陶系底界划分与对比的标志,并指出:(1)与所定义的全球标准奥陶系底界相当的界线位于小阳桥剖面块状叠层石灰岩之上19.9 m处的薄层纹层灰岩中(BD-24层...     

全球奥陶系底界的“金钉子”问题及我国特马豆克阶(Tremadocian)的划分与对比

对全球寒武系与奥陶系界线层型剖面和点位(GSSP)——西纽芬兰绿岬(Green Point)剖面和我国吉林白山(原浑江)大阳岔小洋桥原全球寒武系与奥陶系界线候选剖面的对比研究表明,绿岬"金钉子"剖面所指定的界线生物标志——波动古大西洋牙形石(Iapetognathus fluctivagus)并不存在于所指定的界线生物层和点位上,而且在分布和分类上是均存在争议的物种,更遗憾的是,所展示的大部分牙形石和笔石标本图片以及碳氧同位素异常数据也并非来自该"金钉子"剖面,因而完全违背了选择金钉子剖面的原则和要求,有必要进行重新的评估。小洋桥寒武系与奥陶系界线剖面交通方便、环境优美,寒武系与奥陶系界线地层系由一套深水且未变质的黑色、黄绿色页岩与灰色薄层瘤状灰岩所构成的韵律沉积组成,并保存了完整的具有广泛代表性牙形石和笔石序列,在详细研究的34 m界线间隔中,自下而上保存了完整的Cambrostodus、Codylodus proavus、C.intermedius、C.lindstromi和C.angulatus等5牙形石生物带,在C.intermedius带上部至C.angulatus带之间,还依次出现3层笔石,归属于重新厘定的Rhabdinopora parabola和Anisograptus matanensis等2个笔石带,此外还有大量三叶虫和介形类化石共生,结合高精度同位素地球化学的研究,笔者等建议,以全球广泛分布的牙形石C.intermedius的首现,取代Iapetognathus fluctivagus,作为寒武系与奥陶系界线划分对比的标志,其层位与原来所指定的界线层几乎一致或接近,界线之上所记录的最大碳同位素异常和首次出现的最早的浮游正笔石——R.parabola(含R.praeparabola),可作为该界线划分的辅助标志。     

Quaternary of Norden

The Nordic countries have experienced multiple glaciations and intervening interglacials during the last ca. 2.5-3 million years. Although evidence from Greenland and Iceland shows that ice sheets started to expand some time before 3 Ma, little is known about the glaciations and intervening interglacials older than the last Glacial Maximum due to repeated phases of glacial erosion and reworking. The extensive Saalian glaciation （c. 140 ka BP） contributed to high sea levels in Greenland and in the Baltic area during the early part of the last interglacial （Eemian）. Temperatures were about 5 ℃ higher during the Eemian than they are today and the Greenland ice sheet was reduced to about half of its present size, causing globally higher sea levels than we have today. Ice extent in Fennoscandia was restricted during early Weichselian stadials, but middle Weichselian ice advances in Scandinavia reached as far as Denmark. During the Last Glacial Maximum, large ice sheets were present in all Nordic countries and coalesced with neighboring ice sheets. Deglaciation commenced around 17-15 ka BP in most areas and was promoted by rapidly rising global sea level and glacial isostasy. The Younger Dryas cold event（c. 12.6-11.5 ka BP） is seen as a short-term re-advance, still-stand or fluctuation of land-based ice sheet margins. Around 7-9 ka BP ice sheets had disappeared or had attained their present size. While uplift is still going on in some regions, others are subject to submergence. The different stages of development of the Baltic Sea are an example of how the intricare interplay between glacial eustasy and isostasy influences sedimentation, basin size and drainage patterns.