Thermoluminescence dating of Dimlington Stadial deposits in eastern England

The loess component of a solifluction deposit of the Dimlington Stadial exposed at the inland site of Eppleworth in eastern England gave a thermoluminescence date of 17.5 ± 1.6 × 10³ years. The solifluction deposit is overlain by a slightly weathered till correlated with the Skipsea Till of coastal exposures. which lies between organic horizons with radiocarbon dates of 18,500–18,240 B.P. and 13,045 B.P. Although the till must have been deposited during the Dimlington Stadial (after 18,240 B.P. at Dimlington and after 17,500 B.P. at Epplcworth), it gave apparent TL dates of 42.1 ± 3.6 × 10³ years at Eppleworth and 102 ± 9 × 10³ years at Dimlington, indicating that the components of the till were not exposed to light immediately before deposition.     

Large-scale glacial thrusting and related processes in North Dakota

Large-scale thrusting by the glacial ice occurred in many parts of the Interior Plains of North Dakota, Alberta, and Saskatchewan in late Wisconsinan time. Thrust features are especially prominent in parts of North Dakota. Many of the topographic features of the glaciated landscape of North Dakota formed, either entirely or in part, by the thrusting mechanism, and many individual ice-thrust features have been recognized. The ice-thrusting process was also related to fluting by the glacier, and, as a result, drumlins and other types of fluted features are commonly closely associated with ice-thrust topography. Thrusting by the glacier was dependent primarily on groundwater conditions beneath the ice; thrusting occurred only where hydrologic conditions were appropriate. Most of the individual ice-thrust features that have been recognized are located over discrete aquifers, and the sizes and shapes of the thrust features are dependent upon the sizes and shapes of the aquifers.     

Lake shoreline development, frost weathering and rock platform erosion in an alpine periglacial environment, Jotunheimen, southern Norway

Ice-dammed lake Boverbrevatnet existed for 75–125 years in the 'Little Ice Age'. After about A.D. 1826, glacier retreat led to a fall in lake level and to exposure of the former shoreline, which includes well-developed platforms cut in metamorphic bedrock. The rock platforms, up to 5.3 m wide and backed by cliffs up to 1.55 m high, are partially covered by large angular boulders which form pavements. Accurate levelling has permitted correlation of platform fragments, overflow cols and related features of the shoreline, such as benches eroded in moraines, ice-push ridges, a perched delta, vegetation trim-lines, lichen limits and a 'lichen-kill' zone. The evolution of the lake, the chronology of deglaciation and the period of formation of the rock platforms have been dated by lichenometry, supported by ¹⁴C dating, Schmidt hammer 'R'-values and historical data. The morphology of the rock platforms, together with estimates of their rate of erosion ranging from 1.4 to 7.1 cm/year, indicate the importance of frost shattering (frost riving, frost wedging or macrogelivation) at the lake margin under a periglacial climate, while the permanence of such platforms as landscape features suggests their use in the reconstruction of former periglacial environments. A semi-quantitative model is outlined for the development of rock platforms which emphasises deep penetration of the annual freeze-thaw cycle, the movement of unfrozen lake water towards the freezing plane, and the growth of segregation ice in fissures and cracks at the interface between lake ice and bedrock. Ice-push and ice-pull processes are involved primarily as transporting agents in the formation of boulder pavements and in the removal of debris from the platforms. Analogous processes may occur on polar coasts producing coastal rock platforms.     

Burial diagenesis and crystal diminution. The origin of crystal diminution in some limestones from South Wales

ABSTRACT Carboniferous speleothem calcites in un-metamorphosed limestones from South Wales exhibit crystal diminution (degrading neomorphism) textures. These textures result from processes which have been considered only important under metamorphic conditions. The textures are interpreted as the result of recrystallization associated with dislocation processes. These processes relate to low temperature creep associated with low strain rates extended over long periods of time. The textures described here occur in unusually large crystals but similar textures have been described in limestones from deep boreholes. Dislocation processes, recovery and recrystallization are likely to be important processes operating during deep burial diagenesis.     

Low-{{delta}}18O Rhyolites from Yellowstone: Magmatic Evolution Based on Analyses of Zircons and Individual Phenocrysts

The Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field is one of the largestcenters of rhyolitic magmatism on Earth. Major caldera-formingeruptions are followed by unusual low-     

Lake Torfadalsvatn: a high resolution record of the North Atlantic ash zone I and the last glacial-interglacial environmental changes in Iceland

High resolution environmental records with a refined chronology are essential to understand, reconstruct and model the climate dynamics of the last glacial-interglacial transition. Sediments from Lake Torfadalsvatn in northern Iceland contain at least four primary volcanic tephras that belong to ash zone I in the North Atlantic deep-sea cores. We chemically define these basaltic/rhyolitic tephras and the high resolution allows us to date them to about 10,800, 10,600, 9300 and 8900 BP. This detailed tephrostratigraphy will act as a refined dating and correlation tool in the North Atlantic region and enable calibration between different absolute chronologies. The pollen stratigraphy of the sediments suggests that by 10,400 ¹⁴C years BP plant colonization of coastal north Iceland had begun. The pollen stratigraphy shows a succession of pioneer plants, from open tundra vegetation towards birch-juniper woodland, which probably also reflects a transition from a cool climate at 10,400 BP to conditions similar to today's sub-polar oceanic climate around 9200 BP. Diatom data largely concur with the climatic information from pollen, indicating gradually increasing productivity in the lake.