A Holocene palaeomagnetic record and a geomagnetic master curve from Ireland

Magnetic analyses have been carried out on sediments collected from Lough Catherine. Northern Ireland, as part of a wider environmental study. The sediments span the whole of the Holocene. Radiocarbon and pollen dating of the palaeomagnetic signature locked in the sediments form the basis of an Irish Holocene geomagnetic master curve. The mineral magnetic characteristics of the sediments correspond with environmental changes, such as eighteenth century landscaping and the elm decline as revealed by pollen analyses. Both marginal and central sediments have been analysed. The sediments can be correlated by using either magnetic, pollen, or 14 C measurements. These three independent core correlation methods all agree extremely well with each other. A mathematical method is described which can be used to calculate continuous accumulation rates and influxes.     

Climate change in the Arctic: current and future vulnerability in two Inuit communities in Canada

Climate change is already occurring in the Arctic and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment recently concluded that future climate change could be devastating for Inuit. This paper characterises vulnerability to climate change in two Inuit communities in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, focusing on the resource harvesting sector. In both communities, Inuit have demonstrated significant adaptability in the face of current changes in climatic conditions. This adaptability is facilitated by traditional Inuit knowledge, strong social networks, flexibility in resource use, and institutional support. Changing Inuit livelihoods, however, have undermined certain aspects of adaptive capacity and have resulted in emerging vulnerabilities. Global and regional climate projections indicate that climatic conditions which currently pose risks are expected to be negatively affected by future climate change. These projections are not without precedent and analysis of current vulnerability and identification of adaptation constraints by Inuit in the two communities indicate the continued importance of traditional coping mechanisms. The ability to draw on these coping mechanisms in light of future climate change, however, will be unequal and the research indicates that young Inuit and those without access to economic resources, in particular, are vulnerable.     

The destruction of Iapetus and Tornquist's Oceans

The Cambro-Ordovician Iapetus and Tornquist's Oceans formed a Pacific-type ocean basin rimmed by volcanic island arcs and marginal basins. By the latest Ordovician to earliest Silurian this ocean basin was beginning to close, to become a Mediterranean-type ocean basin. This was caused by the collision between a microcontinent (comprising England, Wales, much of Ireland and parts of north-west Europe), called Eastern Avalonia, and the North American super-continent, Laurentia, which resulted in no oceanic crust remaining in the region of present-day central Newfoundland. Marine basins, however, persisted into the Middle Silurian. Throughout the Silurian and early Devonian, some 40–45 million years, various terranes continued to collide with the North American margin, predominantly under major left-lateral strike-slip until the remaining seaways were eliminated in the early Middle Devonian, to be replaced by terrestrial environments of the Old Red Sandstone.     

Quantitative study of the distributary braidplain of the Preboreal ice-contact Gardermoen delta complex, southeastern Norway

This raised delta structure is an ice-contact deltaic complex with a volume of c. 4.4.10⁹ m³, deposited c . 9500 yr BP in a shallow wide 'fjord' during the retreat of the Scandinavian ice cap. The delta plain lies at an altitude of 200–223 m. It aggraded c . 20 m above the contemporaneous sea level during a regional marine regression. The braidplain palaeochannel characteristics indicate a peak meltwater discharge of 7–9 10³ m³/s. Calculations based on a glacial ablation model indicate a mid-summer discharge of c . 5.5 10³ m³/s. However, the fluvial topset of the delta has an erosive base whose altitude decreases upstream and indicates stream incision by more the 6 m below the contemporaneous sea level. The deep scour is ascribed to episodic floods over the relatively short delta plain, which exceeded direct ablation-associated discharges. The depositional time-span of the delta is assessed to have been 70 years, calculated from coastal gradient and shoreline displacement curves. The average sedimentation rate of the delta is thereby inferred to have been extremely high, c . 6. 10⁷ m³/yr. The sedimentation is thought to reflect 'extreme' ice-margin conditions, where the sediment and water discharge was maximized by full-scale ablation, with simultaneous subglacial, englacial and supraglacial sediment and water supply. These conditions might further coincide with an abundant rainfall in the catchment area or the drainage of dammed waters, initiating episodic floods which eroded deep beneath sea level. As a whole, the study illustrates the hydrological conditions of proglacial sedimentation at the front of the rapidly retreating last Scandinavian ice cap.     

Quaternary coastal lithofacies,sequence development and stratigraphy in a passive margin setting,North Carolina and Virginia,USA

Lithofacies analysis is fundamental to unravelling the succession of depositional environments associated with sea‐level fluctuations. These successions and their timing are often poorly understood. This report defines lithofacies encountered within the north‐eastern North Carolina and south‐eastern Virginia Quaternary section, interprets their depositional environments, presents a model for coastal depositional sequence development in a passive margin setting and uses this understanding to develop the stratigraphy and Quaternary evolutionary history of the region. Data were obtained from numerous drill cores and outcrops. Chronology was based on age estimates acquired using optically stimulated luminescence, amino acid racemization, Uranium series and radiocarbon dating techniques. Geomorphic patterns were identified and interpreted using light detection and ranging imagery. Since lithofacies occurrence, distribution and stratigraphic patterns are different on interfluves than in palaeo‐valleys, this study focused on interfluves to obtain a record of highstand sea‐level cycles with minimal alteration by fluvial processes during subsequent lowstands. Nine primary lithofacies and four diagenetic facies were identified in outcrops and cores. The uppermost depositional sequence on interfluves exhibits an upward succession from shelly marine lithofacies to tidal estuarine lithofacies and is bounded below by a marine ravinement surface and above by the modern land surface. Older depositional sequences in the subsurface are typically bounded above and below by marine ravinement surfaces. Portions of seven depositional sequences were recognized and interpreted to represent deposition from late middle Pleistocene to present. Erosional processes associated with each successive depositional sequence removed portions of older depositional sequences. The stratigraphic record of the most recent sea‐level highstands (Marine Isotope Stage 5a and Marine Isotope Stage 3) is best preserved. Glacio‐isostatic adjustment has influenced depositional patterns so that deposits associated with late Quaternary sea‐level highstands (Marine Isotope Stages 5c, 5a and 3), which did not reach as high as present sea‐level according to equatorial eustatic records, are uplifted and emergent within the study area.     

STONE‐BANKED LOBES AS A PRODUCT OF MILD FREEZE–THAW ACTION: AN EXAMPLE FROM WESTERN TASMANIA,AUSTRALIA

This paper interprets a stone‐banked lobe on the upper western face of Mt Rufus, at an altitude of 1380 m in western Tasmania, Australia. The morphology of the deposit resembles that of a solifluction lobe. Field observations show vertical and downslope movement of pebbles, cobbles and small boulders over a single winter season. The movement is largely related to frost pull (10–15 cm) and shallow freeze–thaw processes promoting the downslope (up to 50 cm yr^–1) creep of material and the accumulation of coarse clasts at the lobe riser. The climate of Mt Rufus is strongly maritime and this is reflected in the limited duration and depth of penetration of frozen ground at this site during the 2013 winter. Despite the relatively mild climatic conditions, freeze–thaw processes are clearly the dominant geomorphic force operating at the site. These findings support observations of active stone‐banked lobes on sub‐Antarctic islands where intense freezing is absent. Both there and at Mt Rufus, movement is dominated by freeze–thaw processes operating in the upper c. 20 cm of the regolith. These are typical landforms of marginal freeze–thaw settings.