A stratigraphic network across the Subtropical Front in the central South Atlantic: Multi-parameter correlation of magnetic susceptibility, density, X-ray fluorescence and δO records

Computer aided multi-parameter signal correlation is used to develop a common high-precision age model for eight gravity cores from the subtropical and subantarctic South Atlantic. Since correlations between all pairs of multi-parameter sequences are used, and correlation errors between core pairs (A, B) and (B, C) are controlled by comparison with (A, C), the resulting age model is called a stratigraphic network. Precise inter-core correlation is achieved using high-resolution records of magnetic susceptibility κ, wet bulk density ρ and X-ray fluorescence scans of elemental composition. Additional δ¹⁸O records are available for two cores. The data indicate nearly undisturbed sediment series and the absence of significant hiatuses or turbidites. After establishing a high-precision common depth scale by synchronously correlating four densely measured parameters (Fe, Ca, κ, ρ), the final age model is obtained by simultaneously fitting the aligned δ¹⁸O and κ records of the stratigraphic network to orbitally tuned oxygen isotope [J. Imbrie, J. D. Hays, D. G. Martinson, A. McIntyre, A. C. Mix, J. J. Morley, N. G. Pisias, W. L. Prell, N. J. Shackleton, The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: support from a revised chronology of the marine δ¹⁸O record, in: A. Berger, J. Imbrie, J. Hays, G. Kukla, B. Saltzman (Eds.), Milankovitch and Climate: Understanding the Response to Orbital Forcing, Reidel Publishing, Dordrecht, 1984, pp. 269-305; D. Martinson, N. Pisias, J. Hays, J. Imbrie, T. C. Moore Jr., N. Shackleton, Age dating and the orbital theory of the Ice Ages: development of a high-resolution 0 to 300.000-Year chronostratigraphy, Quat. Res. 27 (1987) 1-29.] or susceptibility stacks [T. von Dobeneck, F.Schmieder, Using rock magnetic proxy records for orbital tuning and extended time series analyses into the super-and sub-Milankovitch Bands, in: G. Fischer, G. Wefer (Eds.), Use of proxies in paleoceanography: Examples from the South Atlantic, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1999), pp. 601-633.]. Besides the detection and elimination of errors in single records, the stratigraphic network approach allows to check the intrinsic consistency of the final result by comparing it to the outcome of more restricted alignment procedures. The final South Atlantic stratigraphic network covers the last 400 kyr south and the last 1200 kyr north of the Subtropical Front (STF) and provides a highly precise age model across the STF representing extremely different sedimentary regimes. This allows to detect temporal shifts of the STF by mapping δMn / Fe. It turns out that the apparent STF movements by about 200 km are not directly related to marine oxygen isotope stages.     

Aeolian sediment transport on a human‐altered foredune

Changes in wind speed and sediment transport are evaluated at a gap and adjacent crest of a 2 to 3 m high, 40 m wide foredune built by sand fences and vegetation plantings on a wide, nourished fine sand beach at Ocean City, New Jersey. Anemometer masts, cylindrical sand traps and erosion pins were placed on the beach and dune during two obliquely onshore wind events in February and March 2003. Results reveal that: (1) changes in the alongshore continuity of the beach and dune system can act as boundaries to aeolian transport when winds blow at an angle to the shoreline; (2) oblique winds blowing across poorly vegetated patches in the dune increase the potential for creating an irregular crest elevation; (3) transport rates and deflation rates can be greater within the foredune than on the beach, if the dune surface is poorly vegetated and the beach has not had time to dry following tidal inundation; (4) frozen ground does not prevent surface deflation; and (5) remnant sand fences and fresh storm wrack have great local but temporary effect on transport rates. Temporal and spatial differences due to sand fences and wrack, changes in sediment availability due to time‐dependent differences in surface moisture and frozen ground, combined with complex topography and patchy vegetation make it difficult to specify cause–effect relationships. Effects of individual roughness elements on the beach and dune on wind flow and sediment transport can be quantified at specific locations at the event scale, but extrapolation of each event to longer temporal and spatial scales remains qualitative. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Phenomenology of the Lense-Thirring effect in the Solar System: Measurement of frame-dragging with laser ranged satellites

In this paper we respond to the criticisms of “Phenomenology of the Lense-Thirring effect in the Solar System” by Iorio et al. about the general relativistic phenomena of gravitomagnetism and frame-dragging. The claims of the paper by Iorio et al. are not reproducible in any of our independent analyses.     

南海南部巽他陆架氧同位素3期粘土矿物记录及其古环境意义

南海南部低海平面时期巽他陆架陆源碎屑的物源区变化,对于研究海陆变迁过程古环境演化具有重要意义.选择巽他陆架外缘对海平面变化影响非常敏感的氧同位素3期岩心记录（18282-2孔）,开展高分辨率陆源碎屑粘土矿物分析,以期获得海平面变化影响下的物源区演化历史.研究结果显示,在氧同位素3期44.5~36.0 cal ka BP期间,巽他陆架外缘含有较高的蒙脱石（29%~44%）与中等含量的高岭石（21%~27%）、伊利石（19%~27%）和绿泥石（14%~20%）.物源区分析表明,这个时期的蒙脱石主要由苏门答腊岛和泰国中部河流提供,高岭石主要由马来半岛、苏门答腊岛和婆罗洲西部河流提供,而伊利石和绿泥石主要由湄公河提供.在此期间,海平面长时间位于-80 m以下,巽他出露陆架上发育的大型古河流（北巽他河、古昭披耶河及古湄公河）可将来自周边物源区的陆源碎屑物质直接输送到陆架外缘.研究岩心的蒙脱石/（伊利石+绿泥石）比值与海平面变化具有良好的对应关系:当海平面下降时,蒙脱石/（伊利石+绿泥石）比值增大;反之亦然.这一现象表明海平面变化是影响巽他陆架外缘氧同位素3期沉积环境演化的最重要因素,即海平面升降引起的海陆格局变化,特别是古岸线的迁移可显著影响古河流与研究站位间的搬运距离,从而导致周边物源区对陆架外缘的陆源碎屑物质相对贡献量发生变化.      

The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 – a worst case

The heat waves of 2003 in Western Europe and 2010 in Russia, commonly labelled as rare climatic anomalies outside of previous experience, are often taken as harbingers of more frequent extremes in the global warming-influenced future. However, a recent reconstruction of spring–summer temperatures for WE resulted in the likelihood of significantly higher temperatures in 1540. In order to check the plausibility of this result we investigated the severity of the 1540 drought by putting forward the argument of the known soil desiccation-temperature feedback. Based on more than 300 first-hand documentary weather report sources originating from an area of 2 to 3 million km², we show that Europe was affected by an unprecedented 11-month-long Megadrought. The estimated number of precipitation days and precipitation amount for Central and Western Europe in 1540 is significantly lower than the 100-year minima of the instrumental measurement period for spring, summer and autumn. This result is supported by independent documentary evidence about extremely low river flows and Europe-wide wild-, forest- and settlement fires. We found that an event of this severity cannot be simulated by state-of-the-art climate models.     

Structural controls on groundwater flow in a fractured bedrock aquifer underlying an agricultural region of northwestern New Brunswick,Canada

A hydrogeological study was conducted in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada, to improve the predictability of fracture-dominated groundwater flow within folded bedrock composed of fine-grained turbidites. Borehole televiewer logging and outcrop mapping, integrated with hydraulic packer tests revealed enhanced hydraulic conductivity associated with northeasterly striking bedding-plane fractures formed during folding and flexural slip. These fractures impart azimuthal anisotropy to the aquifer because of moderately dipping fold limbs. High-angle fractures form a well-developed non-stratabound network, comprising two open fracture sets striking NNE parallel to the current direction of principal stress, and WNW parallel to the direction of principal stress that dominated during the Acadian orogeny. The subset of fractures showing significant oxidation, deemed most important to the groundwater flow system, is dominated by bedding-plane and high-angle fractures striking near-parallel to the maximum principal stress direction, resulting in extensional opening and enhanced hydraulic conductivities. An equivalent porous media model, incorporating anisotropy and varying hydraulic conductivity with depth, indicates that horizontal flow dominates the aquifer with relatively minor exchange between different model layers. These findings have implications for understanding flow directions in the Black Brook Watershed and elsewhere in the Matapédia Basin where fractures formed under similar stress conditions.     

Vertical displacement rates in the Upper Rhine Graben area derived from precise leveling

The recent vertical displacement field of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG) located in the tri-national region between Germany, France and Switzerland is investigated using repeatedly measured leveling data. We estimate vertical displacement rates at leveling benchmarks by applying a kinematic network adjustment on more than 40,000 height differences measured by German, French and Swiss surveying agencies. Focusing on an optimal solution for the adjusted rates in the URG area also historical data (measured before 1900) are used, significantly increasing the time span of available measurements and the number of transnational connections between the three countries. To account for inhomogeneities apparent in the database, we apply an iterative variance component estimation within the adjustment procedure, particularly revealing more realistic information on the accuracy of the estimated rates. A special focus within our analysis is put on the statistical testing of gross errors in the observations and model-related errors at benchmarks with non-linear movement. As some of the estimated vertical rates behave significantly different compared to the vertical rates of adjacent benchmarks, a filtering of outliers is applied after the adjustment procedure. The resulting map of linear height changes in an area of 280 km in N–S and 230 km in E–W direction provides detailed insight into the recent vertical displacements of the URG and neighboring regions. In the German part of the study area, it was possible for the first time to consistently constrain an average subsidence rate of 0.5 mm/a ( \(\pm \) 0.2 mm/a) of the Graben interior w.r.t. the Black Forest. In addition to the tectonic displacements, some man-induced surface movements, e.g., caused by oil and groundwater extraction, are observed and discussed.