Last glacial ice‐rafted debris off southwestern Europe: the role of the British–Irish Ice Sheet

Ice‐rafted debris (IRD) seeded into the ocean from Northern Hemisphere ice sheets is found in ocean cores along the southwestern European margin through the last glacial period. It is known that the origin of this IRD, especially off Iberia, can vary between North America and western Europe during short‐lived episodes of greatly enhanced iceberg flux, known as Heinrich events, although in most Heinrich events the IRD has a North American source. During the longer times of much lower IRD fluxes between Heinrich events, use of an intermediate complexity climate model, coupled to an iceberg dynamic and thermodynamic model, shows that background levels of IRD most likely originate from western Europe, particularly the British–Irish Ice Sheet. Combining modelling with palaeoceanographic evidence supports reconstructions of a short‐lived, but substantial, Celtic and Irish Sea Ice Stream around 23 ka. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

四川盆地奥陶系岩相古地理与勘探潜力

在前人研究基础上,依托露头和钻井资料,以沉积相分析为核心,结合四川盆地构造演化,采用单因素分析多因素综合法,以"组"为单元编制了奥陶纪岩相古地理图。奥陶纪四川盆地及邻区总体呈现西高东低的古地理格局,自西向东发育滨岸相、混积潮坪相、局限台地相、开阔台地相和斜坡相—盆地相。从岩相古地理视角对成藏条件的分析表明:奥陶系五峰组沉积期四川盆地主体属于局限海环境,发育了一套优质烃源岩,此外,与奥陶系临近的上覆志留系龙马溪组和下伏寒武系筇竹寺组烃源岩在有断层沟通的情况下可提供有效气源;奥陶系碳酸盐岩总体致密,白云石化、表生溶蚀和裂缝的存在是储层形成的关键因素,对应发育了桐梓组—红花园组颗粒滩白云岩储层、岩溶储层和宝塔组裂缝储层等三类储层;奥陶系发育下部(下生上储)和上部(上生下储)两套成藏组合,具有较好的勘探潜力。     

Calcium Carbonate and Phosphate Reference Materials for Monitoring Bulk and Microanalytical Determination of Sr Isotopes

In situ laser ablation analyses rely on the microanalytical homogeneity of reference materials (RMs) and a similar matrix and mass fraction between unknown samples and RMs to obtain reliable results. Suitable carbonate and phosphate RMs for determination of Sr isotope ratios in such materials are limited. Thus, we determined ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of several carbonate (JCt‐1, JCp‐1, MACS‐1, MACS‐3) and phosphate (MAPS‐4, MAPS‐5, NIST SRM 1400, NIST SRM 1486) international RMs using dissolved samples and two different multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometers (MC‐ICP‐MS). Our Sr isotope data are in agreement with published data and have an improved measurement precision for some RMs. For MACS‐1, we present the first ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr value. We tested the suitability of these materials for microanalytical analyses by LA‐MC‐ICP‐MS, with two different laser ablation systems: a conventional nanosecond laser and a state‐of‐the‐art femtosecond laser. We investigated the RMs micro‐homogeneity and compared the data with our solution data. Both laser ablation systems yielded identical ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios within uncertainty to the solution data for RMs with low interferences of REEs. Therefore, these carbonate and phosphate RMs can be used to achieve accurate and precise results for in situ Sr isotope investigations by LA‐MC‐ICP‐MS of similar materials.     

Reservoir ages in Baltic Sea sediment—a case study of an isolation sequence from the Litorina Sea stage

In order to quantify the reservoir age in Baltic Sea sediment, one sedimentary sequence from an isostatically isolated basin was subject to high-resolution AMS radiocarbon dates. Diatom analysis confirmed deposition during the Litorina Sea stage and later, in a freshwater lake. Macrofossils from well preserved seeds and other remnants from terrestrial plants were used for AMS datings. It is assumed that these fragile plant remains are not redeposited or affected by internal ages. The ages obtained from the macrofossils range from 6460±125 to 5580±75 ¹⁴C yr BP. By comparing these radiocarbon ages with those obtained by bulk sediment dates, it was obvious that the bulk samples were affected by reservoir ages, resulting in too old ages. The reservoir ages varied within the sediment column; during the most saline phase, the reservoir age was approximately 750 yr, shortly after the isolation ca 400 yr and in the freshwater lake, the age differences between the two series were neglectable.     

Palaeogeographic Changes at Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula,Ukraine, during the Mid‐ and Late‐Holocene

This project has reconstructed the palaeogeographic and environmental evolution of Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula, Ukraine, during the mid‐ and late‐Holocene. This record has been evaluated in association with a regional archaeological data set to explore human–environment interactions over this period. The results show major changes in the palaeogeographic setting of Lake Chokrak since the 3rd millennium B.C., when the postglacial marine transgression had started to fill the study area. Microfaunal analyses reveal the long persistence of an open marine embayment that only became separated from the Sea of Azov when a sand barrier developed during the late 2nd millennium B.C. When colonizing the Black Sea region after the 8th century B.C., the Greek settlers erected a fortification with a small settlement on a promontory that was by then a peninsula‐like headland extending into the lake. The colonists abandoned their settlement at the end of the 1st millennium B.C. when the depth of the surrounding lake decreased from 1.5 m to less than 1 m. Today, Lake Chokrak dries up completely during summer. A detailed relative sea level (RSL) curve for the northern coast of Kerch has been established. Sea level reached its highest position at the present day. Since the 3rd millennium B.C., sea level continuously rose, without any of the previously postulated regression/transgression cycles. The RSL curve indicates differential subsidence rates within short distances in relatively stable areas, exceeding 40 cm per 1000 years. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Foraging by Two Estuarine Fishes, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fundulus heteroclitus</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fundulus majalis</Emphasis>, on Juvenile Asian Shore Crabs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hemigrapsus sanguineus</Emphasis>) in Western Long Island Sound

The Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, is a recent and particularly successful introduction to the east coast of the USA. Little research has been done on the utilization of Asian shore crabs for food by native species, a potential form of biocontrol. Over a 4-year period, we examined the gut contents of cogeners, Fundulus heteroclitus and Fundulus majalis, collected from two embayments in western Long Island Sound for the presence of juvenile H. sanguineus. Frequency (percent) of occurrence of food items in the guts of both species varied over year and study site. Asian shore crabs were consumed more often by F. heteroclitus than by F. majalis, but predation pressure by both species was low. Only 13% of F. heteroclitus and 7.7% of F. majalis found with food in their guts had ingested Asian shore crab remains. Of those, 1/3 had consumed whole crabs; the rest had only autotomized appendages in their guts. The mean carapace width of juvenile Asian shore crabs ingested by F. heteroclitus was 3.59 ± 2.22 mm (N = 33). Results of our study on killifish predation support the hypothesis that H. sanguienus abundance is partly explained by reduced impact of native predators (i.e., the “enemy release hypothesis”). Predation pressure of other potential enemies on both planktonic and benthic stages of the Asian shore crab must be investigated, however, to understand the full impact of predation on H. sanguineus population dynamics.     

The “schizohaline” environment: Its sedimentary and diagenetic fabrics as exemplified by Late Paleozoic rocks of Bear Island,Svalbard

Environments characterized by fluctuating hypersaline to fresh-water conditions are defined as “schizohaline” and examples are given of situations in which “schizohaline” environments can arise. Fabrics diagnostic for the occurrence of both hyper- and hyposalinity have been recorded in Late Paleozoic rocks from Bear Island (74°30′N, 19°E): evaporite nodules, length-slow chalcedony and very finely crystalline penecontemporaneous dolomite are considered as indicators of hypersaline conditions while euhedral limpid dolomite crystals, coarse poikilitic sparry calcite and microspar calcite are thought to have originated under the hyposaline regime. Zoned dolomite crystals and euhedral crystals of authigenic mega-quartz replacing sulphates have also been recorded in the same rocks; their diagnostic importance for the schizohaline environment is, however, uncertain.Internal structural pores of some crinoid and bryozoan skeletal grains of biosparites from Bear Island are either empty or infilled with very finely crystalline dolomite. Expulsion of Mg²⁺ ions from the magnesian-calcite skeletons and either: (1) “poisoning” of the micro-environment of the pores; or (2) formation of stagnant “micro-sabkha” conditions in the pores are proposed as an explanation for these phenomena.     

Isochronous fluvial systems in Miocene deposits of Northern Pakistan

A Palacomagnetic isochron dated at about 8.1 Myr BP and detailed lithostratigraph of a 40 m interval exposed along strike for 40 km establish the depositional patterns of two contemporaneous, interfingering fluvial systems in the upper part of the Meddle Siwalik sequence. The two systems, referred to as the buff and blue-grey, differ in unit shape, lithofacies, bedding sequence, palaeocurrent direction and sand composition. Interfingering occurs along the south-west-north-east strike of the outcrops, with the palaeodrainage directions of the two systems generally perpendicular to this line. The axis of the blue-grey system, which deposited widespread sheet sands and silts, lay toward the south west end of the study area. The more complex axis of the buff system, which deposited shoe-string sand bodies and lage volumes of silt and clay, lay toward the north-east. The source area for both systems was the rising Himalyan belt to the north and noth-east of the study area. At maximum extent the blue-grey system occupied a channel belt at least 25 km wide. Channel belt widths and depths for the buff system are 1–3 km and 3–7 m, respectively. Current directions averge 94° for blue-grey sands and 136° for buff sands. Blur-grey sands contain 20% more rock fragments and are otherwise less mature than buff sands. The buff system shows a verticla pattern of avulsion, palaeosol formation and floodplain aggradation which we attribute to autocyclic processes of parallel rivers. The blue-grey system shows phases of erosion accompaniced laterally by plaeosol formation, folowed by valley fill and overfowing of interfluve surfaces. Theis pattern may be caused by allocyclic presses affecting the source area. We interpret the blue-grey system as a major drainage from the interior Himalayas (perhaps the ancestral Indus) and the buff system as a complex of smaller drinages along the mountain front which were probably ributaries to the bluegrey syste. Vertebrate fossils including hominoid primates from the area are almost exclusively associated with lithofacies of the buff system, and this probably refects both taphonomic and palaeoecological differences between the two systems.     

Probe and SIMS investigation of clinopyroxene inclusions in chromites from the Troodos chromitites (Cyprus): Implications for dunite–chromitite genesis

Chromite ores formation is still a debated topic and, in this study, detailed analyses of major, minor elements by EMPA and Rare Earth Elements (REE) by SIMS, were performed on silicate inclusions detected in chromite grains of chromitite pods, enveloping dunites and on clinopyroxene of lherzolitic host rock of well known Trodoos chromite ores. Results show the complexity of relationships among lithologies that reflects the subtlety of genetic events and of chromite ore occurrence.Analyses of textural and chemical features have led to a better understanding of the chromite ore genetic process, that is related to a supra-subduction geodynamic setting where partial melting processes were overlapped by metasomatic events.Metasomatism, that marks the general genetic context, is characterized by the presence of a hydrated boninitic melt that favors the precipitation of chromite ores. Chromite ores, typical of ophiolite complexes and usually enveloped by dunite are, in this case, characterized by the presence of two different types of dunites whose geochemical differences are reflected by olivine mineral chemistry and by different REE patterns of analyzed clinopyroxenes. Such geochemical marks, related to different magmatic and metasomatic events, could be a main key for location of fertile or barren dunites in terms of chromite ore occurrence in the field.     

Middle-Late Jurassic syndepositional tectonics recorded in the Ligurian Briançonnais succession (Marguareis–Mongioie area,Ligurian Alps,NW Italy)

The Middle–Upper Jurassic succession of the Marguareis–Mongioie area (Ligurian Briançonnais Domain), developed in a protected shelf environment evolving into a pelagic plateau, bears clear evidence of synsedimentary tectonics such as: growth fault-related structures; neptunian dykes; marked lateral variations in stratigraphic thicknesses testifying to the juxtaposition of sectors characterized by different sedimentation and subsidence rates; discordant, anomalous stratigraphic contacts corresponding to paleoescarpments; nodular beds showing evidence of fluidification interpreted as seismites; and the occurrence of sand-sized quartz grains pointing to denudation of Permo-Triassic quartz-rich rocks. Such evidence documents an important Middle-Late Jurassic post-breakup tectonic activity, which was more effective in controlling the basin topography than the Early Jurassic syn-rift tectonic phase. Two main tectono-sedimentary stages, one occurring during the Bathonian, the other falling within the Callovian–Kimmeridgian interval, were reconstructed. The first stage can be referred to a fault-related activity occurring shortly after the initial stages of oceanic spreading of the Ligurian Tethys; the second can be genetically related to the far effects of the first rifting stage of the Bay of Biscay and the Valais basin.