Buried palaeosols of the Nevado de Toluca: an alternative record of Late Quaternary environmental change in central Mexico

Buried palaeosols of central Mexico, not previously analysed from a palaeopedological standpoint, have helped to develop a reliable regional model of Late Quaternary climatic change. This paper focuses upon morphological and micromorphological properties, particle‐size distribution, and extractable Fe, Al and Si of seven palaeosols (named PT1–PT7) in the vicinity of the Nevado de Toluca volcano. The characteristics of Andic Cambisol PT1, similar to those of modern soils in semi‐arid environments, indicate a drier climate in the first half of the Holocene. Humic Andosols PT2–PT4 are analogous to modern volcanic soils of humid forest environments. They show evidence that a moist palaeoclimate prevailed during marine oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 2 and 3. Luvisols PT5 and PT6, which are assumed to have formed at the end of marine OIS 5 to marine OIS 4, also indicate humid conditions. We attribute the differences between Andosols PT2–PT4 and Luvisols PT5–PT7 to variations in the duration in the pedogenesis rather than to changes in palaeoclimate. Micromorphological features of Andosol to Luvisol transition confirm that these soils form an evolutionary sequence. Being for the most part consistent with lacustrine records, the palaeosol properties do not reflect the episodes of ‘drier climate’ during the Last Glacial Maximum, however, as shown by diatom and palynological data from lake sediments. Mesoclimate variations and/or incompleteness of ‘soil memory’, reflecting mostly periods of humid pedogenesis, probably provide the reason for this disagreement. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mineral-fluid equilibria in the system CaO–MgO–SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>–H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O–CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>–NaCl and the record of reactive fluid flow in contact metamorphic aureoles

Phase equilibria in the system CaO–MgO–SiO₂–CO₂–H₂O–NaCl are calculated to illustrate phase relations in metacarbonates over a wide-range of P–T–X[H₂O–CO₂–NaCl] conditions. Calculations are performed using the equation of state of Duan et al. (Geochim Cosmochim Acta 59:2869–2882, 1995) for H₂O–CO₂–NaCl fluids and the internally consistent data set of Gottschalk (Eur J Mineral 9:175–223, 1997) for thermodynamic properties of solids. Results are presented in isothermal-isobarical plots showing stable mineral assemblages as a function of fluid composition. It is shown that in contact-metamorphic P–T regimes the presence of very small concentrations of NaCl in the fluid causes almost all decarbonation reactions to proceed within the two fluid solvus of the H₂O–CO₂–NaCl system. Substantial flow of magma-derived fluids into marbles has been documented for many contact aureoles by shifts in stable isotope geochemistry of the host rocks and by the progress of volatile-producing mineral reactions controlled by fluid compositions. Time-integrated fluid fluxes have been estimated by combining fluid advection/dispersion models with the spatial arrangement of mineral reactions and isotopic resetting. All existing models assume that minerals react in the presence of a single phase H₂O–CO₂ fluid and do not allow for the effect that fluid immiscibility has on the flow patterns. It is shown that fluids emanating from calc-alkaline melts that crystallize at shallow depths are brines. Their salinity may vary depending mainly on pressure and fraction of crystallized melt. Infiltration-driven decarbonation reactions in the host rocks inevitably proceed at the boundaries of the two fluid solvus where the produced CO₂ is immiscible and may separate from the brine as a low salinity, low density H₂O–CO₂ fluid. Most parameters of fluid–rock interaction in contact aureoles that are derived from progress of mineral reactions and stable isotope resetting are probably incorrect because fluid phase separation is disregarded.     

Split-step complex Padé-Fourier depth migration

We present a split-step complex Padé-Fourier migration method based on the one-way wave equation. The downward-continuation operator is split into two downward-continuation operators: one operator is a phase-shift operator and the other operator is a finite-difference operator. A complex treatment of the propagation operator is applied to mitigate inaccuracies and instabilities due to evanescent waves. It produces high-quality images of complex structures with fewer numerical artefacts than those obtained using a real approximation of a square-root operator in the one-way wave equation. Tests on zero-offset data from the SEG/EAGE salt data show that the method improves the image quality at the cost of an additional 10 per cent computational time compared to the conventional Fourier finite-difference method.     

Holocene environmental changes and development of Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

The lithology, radiocarbon chronology, granulometry, geochemistry and distribution of diatoms were investigated in three sediment cores from fresh-water Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica. Our paleolimnological data provide a record of Holocene environmental changes for this region. In the early Holocene (prior to 9.0 ± 0.5 kyr BP), warm climate conditions caused intensive melting of either the floating glacier ice mass or glaciers in the immediate lake surroundings, leading to the accumulation of terrigenous clastic sediments and limiting biogenic production in the lake. From ca. 9.0 ± 0.5 to 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, highly biogenic sediments dominated by benthic mosses formed, indicating more distal glaciers or snowfields. A relatively cold and dry climate during this period caused weaker lake-water circulation and, likely, occurrence of lake ice conditions were more severe than present. The distribution of marine diatoms in the cores shows that, sometime between 8 and 5 kyr BP, limited amounts of marine water episodically penetrated to the lake, requiring a relative sea-level rise exceeding 10–11 m. During the last ca. 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, sedimentation of mainly biogenic matter with a dominance of laminated microbial mats occurred in the lake under warm climatic conditions, interrupted by relative coolings: the first one around 2 kyr BP and then shortly before recent time. Between ca. 5.5 and 4 kyr BP, the drainage of numerous ice-dammed lakes took place in the southern Bunger Hills and, as a result, drier landscapes have existed here from about 4 kyr BP.     

Evidence for pole switching in the magnetic cataclysmic variable BY Camelopardalis

An analysis of X-ray and optical light curves of the magnetic cataclysmic variable (MCV) BY Cam is presented. This system is one of three MCVs in which the spin period of the white dwarf and the binary orbital period differ by ∼1 per cent. As such these 'BY Cam' stars are important objects with which to probe the field structure of the magnetic white dwarf and ultimately the nature of synchronization of AM Her binaries. We confirm asynchronous rotation of the magnetic white dwarf with respect to the binary. We find evidence that the accretion stream accretes directly on to the white dwarf as in AM Her systems, but further, the stream impacts on to different magnetic poles over the course of the beat period. We present evidence that the optical and hard X-ray light curves modulate in phase, but together they are out of phase with the soft X-ray light curve. We confirm the spin down of the white dwarf which is expected to lead to the synchronization of the spin and orbital periods of BY Cam.     

Millennium scale environment changes of the Okhotsk Sea during last 80 kyr and their phase relationship with global climate changes

The paper presents the records of several paleoproductivity proxies (PP) (biogenic opal and Ba (Si_bio, Ba_bio), organic carbon (C_org) and carbonate Ca_carb, chlorin and benthic foraminifera abundance (BFA)) in sediments of the Okhotsk Sea for the last 80 kyr with a resolution of ∼100–300 years. The sediment age model was based on the AMS ¹⁴C data, records of benthic foraminifera δ¹⁸O, paleointensity of the Earth’s geomagnetic field and magnetic susceptibility. PP values demonstrate series of severe prolonged productivity drops in the Okhotsk Sea followed by a sharp increase during the last glaciation. On the basis of quantitative estimations of the paleoproductivity in the Okhotsk Sea during the cold MIS 2 and warm Holocene (Gorbarenko and Goldberg, 2005), it is suggested that the millennium scale relationship in productivity-climate changes of this basin was similar: an increase in the sea’s productivity was related with regional climate warming and vice-versa. The PP records of productivity/climate oscillations in the Okhotsk Sea during MIS 2–4 occurred contemporaneously with the North Atlantic cold Heinrich events (HE) and Greenland Dansgaard-Oyeshger interstadial (DOI). Observed successions of prolonged climate cooling events followed by rapid, abrupt warming are similar to climate and environmental oscillations in the N. Atlantic and Greenland, that confirms the millennium-scale climate changes synchronicities in the Northern Hemisphere including the far NW Pacific, the hydrology and climate conditions of which are close to those of the Okhotsk Sea. Synchronism of the N. Hemisphere severe cooling (including the Okhotsk Sea) with the Antarctic warming suggests that mechanisms of the “seesaw” effect (Blunier and Brook, 2001) in the low latitude heat redistribution between high latitudes of both hemispheres were more complicated than direct NADW formation forcing and encompasses the global atmospheric reorganization. Within the PP used a closer connection in the Okhotsk Sea millennium oscillations was observed for the C_org, BFA and chlorin; Ba_bio increases more closely to DOI. Si_bio variability does not show any evident correlation with productivity changes.     

Remote acoustic sensing methods for studies in oceanology

In this paper, the lines of investigation on a problem of the development of remote acoustic sensing methods in oceanology are formulated. This paper summarizes the results of investigations into the possibilities for monitoring temperature and flow fields in shallow seas. In the discussed experiments, the instrumentation being constituents of the complex for longduration remote monitoring of marine medium climatic variability and that of the acoustic tomography of shallow sea dynamic processes is used. The acoustic instruments were located on the POI FEB RAS acousto-hydrophy sical polygon (Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy o f Sciences) near the Gamov Peninsula. Acoustic receiving and transmitting systems operating with multiplex phase-manipulated signals (of M-codes) at frequency range 250-2500 Hz form the basis for this complex.     

日本海百年来沉积速率及粒度指示意义

对日本海中部、北部和西部四个深水多管沉积岩芯中的210Pb活度和沉积物粒度进行分析。结果显示百年以来大和海脊、日本海北部和西部陆坡沉积物以粉砂和黏土质粉砂为主。在日本海北部和大和海脊表层沉积物存在显著的生物扰动现象,而在西部陆坡不存在。基于恒定供给速率(CRS)模式建立了4个岩芯的年代框架,并计算了沉积速率。日本海现代平均沉积速率介于0.19~0.42 cm/a,最低值出现在大和海脊。4个岩芯中沉积物平均粒径呈现不同的分布模式,但是在1940年和1980年,沉积物粒度分布模式同时发生了改变,这可能与百年以来北太平洋十年涛动(PDO)及东亚夏季风震荡有关。