Reconstructing palaeotemperatures for the Early and Middle Pleistocene using the mutual climatic range method based on plant fossils

A new approach is proposed to obtain quantitative temperature reconstructions from Early and Middle Pleistocene pollen and megafloral records. Utilizing the indicator species concept pioneered by Iversen (1944, Geologiska Föreningen Förhandlingar Stockholm 66, 463–483), the new methodology overcomes the problem of non-analogue plant communities by only taking into account the presence/absence of taxa rather than their relative abundances. Based on the present day thermal tolerances of the taxa from a fossil assemblage, the temperature interval in which all taxa from this assemblage can coexist is determined. A databank containing the climate tolerances of 85 taxa from European pollen records was established. To increase the temperature resolution of the method, procedures were developed to assess the most likely intervals for the actual temperatures within the calculated common thermospheres and the routine evaluation of the mean temperatures of the warmest and coldest months (MTW and MTC). After calibrating the approach on modern assemblages, it was applied to Tiglian and Holsteinian pollen sequences from Lieth (northern Germany) and Lac du Bourget (northern French Alps). For both records the method yields detailed temperature reconstructions of temperate and cold episodes. During the coldest episode of the Lieth section, the MTC may have been as low as −16°C. Corresponding MTW values range from 14.5 to 21°C, thus testifying to a strong continentality at that time. During the warmest period reconstructed for the Lieth section, the MTC was similar to the value as measured in the area today (1.5°C), whereas the MTW was probably higher than at present (20.1°C). For the coldest interval from the Lac du Bourget pollen sequence, the reconstructed MTC values reach a minimum of −15°C. Corresponding MTW values range from 15 to 22°C, again implying a strong continentality. For the warmest period our approach yields MTC values between −2 and 2°C and MTW values between 16.5 and 22°C. For both records, the resolution for the MTW and MTC reaches 1.5 and 2.5°C, respectively.     

Plate and intraplate processes of Hercynian Europe during the late paleozoic

It is speculated that until Late Carboniferous time the region of Hercynian Europe was occupied by an elongated island arc system underlain by a segment of continental crust. In the Upper Carboniferous, two subduction zones are assumed to have extended from the north and south beneath Hercynian Europe. An extensive zone of hot, partially molten upper mantle lay above and between these, and diapiric uprise of portions of this material led to separation of mafic magmas, widespread partial melting in the lower and middle crust, high temperature-low pressure metamorphism in crustal rocks, and regional uplift and extension of the crust, as indicated by intermontane troughs and their associated volcanic rocks.In Visean to Westphalian time Hercynian Europe collided with both the large neighbouring plates North America-Europe and Africa. During these diachronous collisions and owing to reduced rigidity of the relatively hot island arc crust, the irregular continental margins of the larger and thicker continental plates induced oroclinal bending of Hercynian Europe. After the collision processes had been terminated, processes of upper mantle activity continued, causing further crustal uplift and even, enhanced crustal extension for several tens of million years into the Lower Permian. Decline of the upper mantle activity beneath Hercynian Europe is indicated by crustal subsidence and formation of a peneplain in Permian time followed by the Upper Permian transgression of both the Zechstein sea and the Tethys sea which mark the end of the Hercynian geodynamic cycle.     

Stress induced time dependent behavior of clayey soils

It is shown that time compression curve obtained from one-dimensional consolidation curve in the laboratory may include six phases. These are initial compression, first primary compression, transition from first primary compression to second primary compression, second primary compression, and transition from second primary compression to creep and lastly creep. This paper attempts to identify the quantitative beginnings and characteristics of these phases. A mathematical characteristic of all the soils that follow primary consolidation as per Terzaghi’s one dimensional consolidation theory is derived. It is known as the constant of primary consolidation. It is used to study the beginning of secondary consolidation and its effects on primary consolidation. Another characteristic of soils for creep and total absence of primary compression is derived. Methods are suggested for the determination of coefficients of Primary and Secondary consolidations and the compression index.     

Geochemistry of Neogene quartz andesites from the Oaş and Gutâi Mountains,Eastern Carpathians (Romania): a complex magma genesis

The Neogene quartz andesites from the Oa? and Gutâi Mountains (Romania) are mid-K calc-alkaline rocks and contain plagioclase-orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene-amphibole-magnetite phenocrysts as well as quartz crystals. They are associated with a volcanic sequence ranging from basalts and basaltic andesites to dacites and rhyolites, but form a separate magma group, mostly in respect to the trace elements. Based on the geochemical data combined with inferences from complex zoning patterns in plagioclase and pyroxene, the evolution of quartz andesites is interpreted in terms of fractional crystallization, AFC and magma mixing. A parental magma deriving from a MORB- or OIB-type source modified by fluids and melts originating from sediments is envisaged.     

Paleowind velocity and paleocurrents of pluvial Lake Manly,Death Valley,USA

Pluvial lake deposits are found throughout western North America and are frequently used to reconstruct regional paleoclimate. In Death Valley, California, USA, we apply the beach particle technique (BPT) of Adams (2003), Sedimentology, 50, 565–577 and Adams (2004), Sedimentology, 51, 671–673 to Lake Manly deposits at the Beatty Junction Bar Complex (BJBC), Desolation Canyon, and Manly Terraces and calculate paleowind velocities of 14–27 m/s. These wind velocities are within the range of present-day wind velocities recorded in the surrounding area. Sedimentary structures and clast provenance at Desolation Canyon and the Manly Terraces indicate sediment transport from north to south. Lake level, based on the elevation of constructional features, indicates that the hill west of the BJBC was an island and that the BJBC spits formed during simple lake regression. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the present wind regime (velocity and direction) formed the pluvial Lake Manly features.     

Meteorologically consistent bias correction of climate time series for agricultural models

Conventional bias correction of simulated climate time series for impact models is done separately for climate variables and hence leads to inconsistencies between them. However, agricultural models mostly use several variables, and meteorological consistency is essential. The present work points out meteorological inconsistency due to quantile mapping and describes a new method of consistent bias correction by an optimization approach. Time series of hourly precipitation and global radiation from the regional model REMO5.7 (Run UBA C20/A1B_1) were corrected with site observations from the German Meteorological Service. The results urge to check conventionally corrected series for consistency before using them for multidimensional models. Here, quantile mapping resulted in underestimation of diffuse radiation at hours with precipitation. This deficit was minimized by the developed procedure.     

Synchronous uplift of the lower crust of the Ivrea Zone and of Southern Calabria and its possible consequences for the Hercynian orogeny in Southern Europe

Along the border of the Adriatic microplate, pre-Alpine granulite-facies rocks from the deepest crust are outcropping at only two places: in the Ivrea Zone of the Southern Alps and in Southern Calabria. In these two areas the main features of the present crustal structures, i.e. overlapping of large continental crustal and upper mantle segments, are interpreted as resulting from their Hercynian geodynamic evolutions.The tilted, nearly complete crustal sections in both areas display very similar lithological sequences and experienced a common geological evolution, as deduced from petrological and radiometric dates. At the end of Hercynian time (～295 m.y.), the Ivrea body and the lower crustal rocks of Southern Calabria were contemporaneously sheared off from the upper mantle and uplifted into intermediate crustal levels, where they slowly cooled during Mesozoic time. The tectonic uplift was accompanied by granitoid plutonism and andesitic to rhyolitic volcanism, which continued after the Hercynian uplift.Considering the presently similar crustal structures and the Upper Carboniferous and Permian geological evolutions along the whole Adriatic plate boundary, the Ivrea Zone and Southern Calabria are used to resolve the pre-Alpine history of the boundary zone between the Adriatic and the Central European block: the uplift of the lower crustal/upper mantle flakes of the Adriatic block was due to flat overthrusting of these flakes on the continental crust of “Central Europe”. The material of the Central European crust underthrust (subducted) thereby melted during the re-equilibration of the geotherms which had been disturbed by the subduction process; this led to an extensive calc-alkaline plutonism and volcanism of crustal origin along the Adria boundary. In this boundary region, the overlying uppermost crustal levels (“Schiefergebirgsstockwerk”) were synchronously folded (“Asturian phase”) in response to the overlapping of the deeper crustal levels. Subsequently to the orogeny, the mountain chain was eroded and molasse basins developed on the overthrust Adriatic crustal segment during the Lower Permian.In this model, the granulite-facies flakes of the Ivrea Zone and of Southern Calabria are interpreted as pre-Hercynian lower crustal segments which were thrust into the middle crust during the Hercynian orogeny, thus giving rise to wave velocity inversions in the crust. Further, it is proposed that similar geodynamic processes have played a role in the genesis of the Conrad discontinuity which is present in many parts of the Hercynian fold belt. But only in the Ivrea Zone and in Southern Calabria the crustal discontinuities formed in Hercynian time were uplifted to the surface as a result of Alpine reactivation of the Adriatic boundary zone and due to their special positions in the bends of the Alpine-Apennine-Maghrebide mountain system.According to the present knowledge of the Carboniferous paleogeography and of the orogenic evolution on both sides of the Adria sufure zone, this fault zone was located within the European continent. Its role during the Hercynian orogeny is discussed envisaging two possibilities: an A-subduction zone or a subfluence zone (in the sense of Behr and Weber).     

Relations between electrical conductivity and petrological parameters of the crust and upper mantle

Laboratory data of the electrical conductivity of rocks and minerals pertinent to the deeper crust and upper mantle and summarized. They are discussed in the context of a theory to calculate effective conductivities of materials in the state of partial melt. Most published data have been obtained by too rapid measurements, i.e. without reaching an equilibrium state of the sample. Conductivity measurements on a material similar to the composition of pyrolite are not het known, their importance is outlined. A global conductivity distribution obtained by electromagnetic induction studies is represented by a few results covering oceanic and continental areas. Till today it seems to be a doubtful venture to deduce the temperature of the upper mantle or even the existence of a partial molten asthenosphere from a global conductivity distribution. On a more local scale the correlation of electrical conductivity with temperature and state of the material seems to be more realistic. This is tentatively shown by two petrological models of the Afar depression in Ethiopia and of the midoceanic rift.