Evidence for a warm-humid climate in arid northwestern China during 40–30 ka BP

Former shorelines and sedimentary records from several lake basins in northwestern China (Xinjiang, Qinghai) give evidence for warm and humid climatic conditions during 40–30 ka BP. Further indications of this favorable climate period are derived from palaeosols from the Ili loess and from cemented calcareous layers on the terraces of the Keriya River at the southern margin of the Tarim Basin and in the Badain Jaran Desert in Inner Mongolia. At that time, annual mean temperature in the Qaidam Basin was 2 °C higher and in the western part of Inner Mongolia even 2–3 °C higher than today. Precipitation in most parts of northwestern China was between 60–300 mm greater than today. These changes were probably a consequence of an increase in ocean surface temperature and evaporation resulting from a higher radiation input at middle and low latitudes caused by changes in the Earth's precessional cycle. As a result of these orbital changes, it is suggested that the intensified westerly circulation was responsible for increased moisture over northwestern China.     

Heat flow anomalies in the Gulf of Cadiz and off Cape San Vincente,Portugal

Heat flow anomalies provide critical information in active tectonic environments. The Gulf of Cadiz and adjacent areas are affected by the plate convergence between Africa and Europe, causing widespread deformation and faulting. Active thrust faults cause lateral movement and advection of heat that produces systematic variations in surface heat flow. In December 2003 new heat flow data were collected during the research vessel Sonne cruise SO175 in the Gulf of Cadiz over two sites of recent focused research activity: (i) the Gulf of Cadiz sedimentary prism and (ii) the Marques de Pombal escarpment. Both features have also been discussed as potential source areas of the Great Lisbon earthquake and tsunami of 1755. Background heat flow at the eastern terminus of the Horseshoe abyssal plain is about 52–59 mW/m². Over the Gulf of Cadiz prism, heat flow decreases from ∼57 mW/m² to unusually low values of 45 mW/m² roughly 120 km eastward. Such low values and the heat flow trend are typical for active thrusting, supporting the idea of an east-dipping thrust fault. Slip rates are 10 ± 5 mm per year, assuming that the fault dips at 2°. A fault dipping at 5°, however, would result into slip rates of 1.5–5 mm per year, suggesting that subduction has largely ceased. Based on seismic data, the Marques de Pombal fault is interpreted as part of an active fault system located ∼100 km westward of Cape San Vincente. Heat flow over the fault is affected by refraction of heat caused by the 1 km high escarpment. Thermal models suggest that the slip rate along the fault must either be small or shear stresses acting on the fault are rather high. With respect to other fault zones, however, it is reasonable to assume that the fault's slip rate is small.     

Recently induced anoxia leading to the preservation of seasonal laminae in two NE-German lakes

The recent sediments of two lakes in the NE German lowland became seasonally laminated at different times. Anoxic bottom conditions resulted from a surplus of organic matter (OM), in the early stage indicated by irregularly laminated sediments comprising abundant iron-sulfide framboids. Their diagenetic formation predates the preservation of biochemical calcite varves. In the larger, deeper Lake Tiefer See near Klocksin, anoxia developed stepwise. A first anoxic pulse was contemporary with inflow narrowing by railway-dam construction and accumulation of OM. It was favored by a decrease of the intensity of lake circulation (turnover). Nutrients introduced from artificial fertilizer then increased the primary production (diatoms) to the point of OM surplus and seasonal laminae formation started 40 years later in 1924. In the smaller, shallower Lake Tiefer See in the Uckermark, a massive pulse of iron sulfide was centered around 1960, seven years after installation of piped field drainage into the lake. Anoxia developed rapidly with the nutrients drained from a fertilized groundwater catchment that is 10 times larger than the surface catchment, while surface erosion was reduced. Reducing bottom conditions became regular and the seasonal lamination was preserved after 1967. Morphological criteria to screen lakes for varved sediments should include reductions of natural lake inflow and catchment increase, such as by inflow of field drainage. Similar developments of increased nutrient input or intensity decrease of lake circulation may result from historical human activities but also from natural processes.     

Isotopic evidence (He,B, C) for deep fluid and mud mobilization from mud volcanoes in the Caucasus continental collision zone

The Caucasian orogenic wedge formed as a consequence of the closure of the Tethyan Ocean, and numerous fields of active mud volcanoes pepper the area adjacent to the Black and Caspian Seas. Stable isotope ratios of boron, helium, and carbon have been measured for gas, fluid and sediment samples from active mud volcanoes of Taman Peninsula and Georgia to estimate the sources and mobilization depths of the fluid phase and mud. Boron concentrations in mud volcano fluids were found to be 5–35× higher than seawater. Fluid isotope ratios vary between ¹¹B=22 and 39, while isotope ratios of the smectite- and illite-rich extruded mud are considerably depleted in heavy ¹¹B (¹¹B=–8 to +7). B contents of these muds are ~8× higher than modern marine sediments. This suggests that liquefaction prior to mud volcanism was accompanied by both B enrichment and isotope fractionation, most likely at an intermediate depth mud reservoir at 2–4 km.The hydrocarbon-generating source beds to the mud volcanoes are located at 7 to >10 km depth in the folded Maikop Formation and are of proposed Oligocene–Miocene age. The most likely mechanism is re-hydration of these shales by both hydrocarbons and a geochemically mature fluid from greater depth within the orogenic wedge. Such a deep fluid source is supported by our results from gas analyses, which imply an admixture of minor amounts (less than 1%vol) of ³He (Georgia), thermogenic ¹³C in methane as well as "ultraheavy" ¹³C in CO₂ (both Taman and Georgia). The overall results attest active local flow of geochemically different fluids along deep-seated faults penetrating the two study areas in the Caucasian orogenic wedge, with the waters as well as the gases coming from below the Maikop Formation.     

Chronology and depositional processes of the laminated sediment record from Lac d'Annecy, French Alps

A high resolution sediment record spanning the entire time since the ice retreat after the Last Glacial Maximum has been recovered from Lac d'Annecy. The main focus of this study is to develop a reliable chronology of the record and to evaluate the environmental variability during the period of Late Würmian ice retreat. Most of the record is laminated. These laminations are of different structure, composition, and thickness. On the basis of varve stratigraphy five sedimentation units were identified which correspond to particular stages in the deglaciation of the region. Except for one each facies type has been related to an annual cycle of deposition. Varve counting in combination with radiocarbon dating provides the time control of the record and dates the base of lacustrine deposits to 16,600 varve yrs BP. The beginning of the Late Glacial is marked by a shift from clastic to endogenic carbonate varves caused by the climatic warming. Clastic varves have been further subdivided into a succession of complex and standard varve types. These variations of clastic varve formation are triggered by the ice retreat and related hydrological variations in the watershed of the lake. Sedimentological, mineralogical and isotopic data help identify different sediment sources of the sub-layers. Proximal sediments originate from local carbonaceous bedrock whereas distal sediments have characteristics of the molassic complex of the outer Alps. The alternation of proximal and distal sediments in the varve sequence reflects the deglaciation of the Annecy area with a changing influence of local and regional glaciers. The melting of the Alpine ice sheet is the driving force for regional environmental changes which in turn control the sediment transport and deposition processes in Lac d'Annecy.     

On the basic structure of oceanic gravity currents

Results from numerical simulations of idealised, 2.5-dimensional Boussinesq, gravity currents on an inclined plane in a rotating frame are used to determine the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of such currents. The current is initially geostrophically adjusted. The Richardson number is varied between different experiments. The results demonstrate that the gravity current has a two-part structure consisting of: (1) the vein, the thick part that is governed by geostrophic dynamics with an Ekman layer at its bottom, and (2) a thin friction layer at the downslope side of the vein, the thin part of the gravity current. Water from the vein detrains into the friction layer via the bottom Ekman layer. A self consistent picture of the dynamics of a gravity current is obtained and some of the large-scale characteristics of a gravity current can be analytically calculated, for small Reynolds number flow, using linear Ekman layer theory. The evolution of the gravity current is shown to be governed by bottom friction. A minimal model for the vein dynamics, based on the heat equation, is derived and compares very well to the solutions of the 2.5-dimensional Boussinesq simulations. The heat equation is linear for a linear (Rayleigh) friction law and non-linear for a quadratic drag law. I demonstrate that the thickness of a gravity current cannot be modelled by a local parameterisation when bottom friction is relevant. The difference between the vein and the gravity current is of paramount importance as simplified (streamtube) models should model the dynamics of the vein rather than the dynamics of the total gravity current. In basin-wide numerical models of the ocean dynamics the friction layer has to be resolved to correctly represent gravity currents and, thus, the ocean dynamics.     

Statistical characteristics of instantaneous dense gas clouds released in an atmospheric boundary-layer wind tunnel

Wind tunnel experiments were performed to examine the behavior of suddenly released volumes of dense gas in a turbulent shear layer. Instantaneous concentrations were measured with hot-wire katherometers. Multiple replications of each cloud volume, density, and velocity combination produced statistics for plume arrival time, arrival of maximum concentration time, plume departure time, and maximum concentrations. Probability distributions and standard deviations of each plume property permit prediction of hazard risks.