ESR dating of optically bleached quartz grains from Plio-Pleistocene to Holocene coastal dune deposits (Wilderness-Knysna area,South Africa): a comparison with luminescence

Five Plio-Pleistocene to Holocene aeolian quartz samples from the coastal dune deposits of the Wilderness-Knysna area (South Africa) previously dated by OSL were selected for ESR dating. Samples were processed following the Multiple Centre approach and using the Multiple Aliquot Additive dose method. Aluminium (Al) and Titanium (Ti) signals were systematically measured in all samples.Our study shows that ESR results obtained for Middle Pleistocene to Holocene samples may be strongly impacted by (i) the presence of a significant high frequency noise in the ESR spectra acquired for the Ti signals and (ii) the choice of the fitting function employed. In particular, if not taken into account, very noisy spectra can lead to a significant overestimation of the true ESR intensity measured for the Ti–H signal. These sources of uncertainty are however not sufficient to remove the ESR age overestimations. Consequently, our results indicate that the Al and Ti ESR signals of these quartz samples have not been fully reset during their aeolian transport.While this work contributes to improve our understanding of the ESR method applied to quartz grains, and especially of the potential and limitations of the Ti signals, it also provides additional baseline data to illustrate the existing variability among quartz samples of different origins or sedimentary context. Our results are consistent with previous studies by confirming that the Ti–H signal shows the best potential for the evaluation of low dose values (<100 Gy for these samples), whereas it becomes inappropriate for the higher dose range, and the Ti–Li–H (option D sensu Duval and Guilarte, 2015) should be used instead.Beyond the methodological outcome, this ESR dating study also provides a useful addition to the existing chronology of the aeolian deposits in this region. In particular, new (and possibly) finite numerical age results were obtained for the two oldest samples, constraining the aeolianite landward barrier dune and the coversand formations to the MIS 10-8 and Pliocene, respectively.     

Origin of a complex and spatially diverse dune-field pattern, Algodones, southeastern California

The Algodones Dune Field of southeastern California shows a complex and spatially diverse dune-field pattern that is superimposed upon a series of topographic lineations. Analysis of dune-field pattern parameters (dune crest length, crest orientation, dune spacing and defect density) derived from aerial images indicates that the dune-field pattern represents two constructional generations. Prominent compound crescentic dunes formed during the first constructional generation. A younger generation consists of a variety of simple crescentic dunes, linear dunes and zibars. Statistical differences in the pattern parameters between the dune groups within the second generation are resolved through consideration of the boundary conditions under which the dune pattern evolved, and provide explanations for: (1) diversity of dune types, (2) range in implied constructional times, (3) range in crest orientations, and (4) the anomalous nature of the population of linear dunes. The boundary conditions that have modified pattern development include orographic effects, grain size, vegetation, areal extent and antecedent conditions. Topographic lineations in the Algodones range from the Western Ramp, which defines the field margin, to subtle features masked by the pattern of dunes. Imaging of the Western Ramp using Ground Penetrating Radar shows high-angle cross-strata migrating perpendicular to the lineation trend. The most plausible hypothesis for the origin of the lineations is as dune ridges sequentially shed from adjacent Lake Cahuilla, which is the source of Algodones sands. The overall geomorphic complexity of the Algodones originates from the emplacement of the dune ridges during stages of Lake Cahuilla, the two generations of dune-field construction, and the controls exerted by boundary conditions.     

Late Holocene dune migration on the south Texas sand sheet

There are a wide variety of vegetated, eolian depositional landforms associated with the south Texas sand sheet, attesting to the past dominance of eolian processes. Mapping identified two sets of parabolic dunes elongating with winds from the southeast and the northwest. Parabolic dunes elongated by northwesterly winds are older than ca. 200 years and may be associated with eolian depositional events ca. 2700 and/or 2000 years ago. The latest dune migration event, associated with southeasterly winds occurred ca. 200 years ago and at one site is inset into northwesterly-extended parabolic dunes. This period of dune migration may be coincident with particularly severe drought identified in the tree-ring record centered at AD 1790, when the Palmer Drought Severity Index was − 4. A threshold of dune movement may have occurred ca. in the 11th, 15th and 20th centuries when there are two or more consecutive years with a Palmer Drought Severity Index of < − 4, corresponding to 30–50% reduction in precipitation. Dune systems on Coastal Plain of Texas to reactivated repeatedly due to climate variability in the past 3000 years.     

Using remote sensing to quantify aeolian transport and estimate the age of the terminal dune field Dunas Pampa Blanca in southern Peru

Aeolian dunes are widely used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. However, terminal dune fields (ergs) in the coastal desert of southern Peru – where information regarding Quaternary paleoenvironmental conditions is very limited – have until now not been used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and the time depth of their accumulation is unknown. Here, different estimates are derived to constrain the time depth recorded in the Dunas Pampa Blanca, a terminal dune field in coastal southern Peru. Dune field age is calculated using the volume of the Dunas Pampa Blanca and (i) recent aeolian transport rate in migrating transverse dunes feeding the Dunas Pampa Blanca (derived from digital processing of sequential Landsat and Quickbird images) and (ii) limitations posed by recent fluvial sediment supply to the source of aeolian transport. The resulting maximum age estimate of 70 ± 8 ka (from aeolian transport) compares with a minimum age estimate of 4–75 ka (from sediment supply). However, a minimum age estimate of 110–450 ka is deduced from the tectonic and topographic evolution of the region. This discrepancy contradicts the hypothesis of late Quaternary stability in the Peruvian coastal desert and indicates that recent conditions of aeolian sediment supply and transport are not representative for the late Quaternary.     

Instant luminescence chronologies? High resolution luminescence profiles using a portable luminescence reader

Establishing a robust chronology is fundamental to most palaeoenvironmental studies. However, the number and positioning of dated points is critical. Using a portable luminescence reader, it is possible to rapidly generate high resolution down core relative age profiles. Profiles of portable luminescence data from two coastal dunes were evaluated and compared with the results of particle size analysis, stratigraphy, and an independent historical chronology. Results show that, even in young samples, portable luminescence data is dominated by an age related signal which in homogeneous sediment need not be corrected for moisture, feldspar content changes or grain size. Profiles therefore provide relative chronologies from which accumulation phases can be established, and from which better targeted sampling and comparison to other sites could be undertaken. Even though they do not provide instant absolute chronologies, field-based portable luminescence profiling of Late Quaternary sites hold much potential to improve the resultant chronologies.     

禹门口南黄河东岸沙丘初步研究

在禹门口南山西省河津、万荣县境内黄河阶地上发育了一些固定、半固定沙丘,注入黄河的汾河将这些沙丘分成了南北两部分。北部的沙丘多在海拔400m左右,高出现代黄河约35m,位于黄河的第二级阶地上,由两条南北向的沙垄和两垄之间分布的抛物线形沙丘构成特殊的景观。这些抛物线形沙丘一般高度约7~8m,背风面突出,迎风坡坡度一般为15°~20°,背风坡坡度一般大于40°。风沙堆积下伏的河流堆积物的¹⁴C年龄为26.40±0.8kaBP,表明沙丘形成于距今26ka以来。南部沙丘海拔高度近500m,高出现代黄河水面150m,覆盖于黄河第三级阶地之上。一个天然剖面揭示,第三阶地的底部为黄色中粗砂与灰绿色粉砂粘土互层,中部为灰黄色黄土,顶部为黄色风沙层。在黄土地层中可以识别出S₁古土壤和位于风沙堆积下面的可能为L₁SS₁的弱成土层。由此推断风沙堆积于距今3万a以来。黄河阶地上的沙丘是在特殊的地区和特定的时期;强大的风力、丰富的沙源和气候变干条件下形成的。虽然东岸沙丘已是固定、半固定沙丘,但沙化仍然是该地区的一个问题。由于3~4a前开始在丘前洼地栽种苹果树,破坏了下风向沙丘迎风面的植被,造成了原来已固定沙丘的活化,在沙丘顶部生成了新的小抛物线形沙丘,高度大于1 m。沙丘上裸露的树根指示表土已被侵蚀0.3 m。南部沙丘区的风蚀作用也很强,例如,万荣县裴庄乡西范村北一片柿树林的树根由于风蚀已经裸露1.2 m。     

晚更新世冰期最盛时长江中下游地区的古环境

本世纪七十年代初,关于“新的冰期何时来临”的一次国际性学术讨论会,曾惊动过国际新闻界与一些国家的政府部门,为此人们很想了解“冰期时代”的地球环境究竟是什么样子? 自七十年代后期至今,国内外出现了一系列论述距今18000年前后末次冰期盛时地球环境特征的论著。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Geography and the Third World. International Seminar, 14–18 May 1980, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia . Ishmail Ahmad and Jamaluddin Md Jahi, eds. The Growth Dilemma: Residents' Views and Local Population Change in the United States . Mark Baldassare. Sport and Place: A Geography of Sport in England, Scotland & Wales . John Bale. The Deindustrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry . Barry Bluestone and Bennett Harrison. Selected Essays 1963–1975: Carl O. Sauer . Bob Callahen, ed. Housing and Planning in the Countryside . G. Clark. Conflict, Politics and the Urban Scene . Kevin R. Cox and R. J. Johnston, eds. Thematic Maps: Their Design and Production . David J. Cuff and Mark T. Mattson. Wine: A Geographic Appreciation . Harm Jan de Blij. USSR in Maps . J. C. Dewdney. Political Geography: A Contemporary Perspective . Ramesh D. Dikshit. Rethinking Human Adaptation . Rada Dyson-Hudson and Michael A. Little, eds. Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the indiana Dunes . J. Ronald Engel. Geography of the Biosphere . A. Furley and Walter W. Newey. Disaster and Reconstruction . Robert Geipel. Glasgow: The Making of a City . Andrew Gibb. Design for Arid Regions . Giden S. Golany, ed. Urbanization and Cancer Mortality: The United States Experience, 1950–1975 . Michael R. Greenberg. Geology in the Nineteenth Century: Changing Views of a Changing World . Mott T. Greene. Colonización y Destrucción de Bosques en Panamá . Stanley Heckadon Moreno and Alberto McKay, eds. Urban Geography: A First Approach . David T. Herbert and Colin J. Thomas. The Visual and Spatial Structure of Landscapes . Tadahiko Higuchi. Climate from Tree Rings . M. K. Hughes, P. M. Kelly, J. R. Pilcher, and V. C. LaMarche, Jr., eds. The structure of Nineteenth Century Cities . James H. Johnson and Colin G. Pooley, eds. The American Planner: Biographies and Recollections . Donald A. Krueckeberg, ed. Urban Land Policy For the 1980s, the Message for State and Local Government . George Lefcoe, ed. Regional Planning: Evolution, Crisis and Prospects . Gill C. Lim, ed. Relevance and Ethics In Geography . Bruce Mitchell and Dianne Draper. China: The Geography of Development and Modernization . Clifton W. Pannell and Laurence J. C. MA. The Urban Retailing System . Robert B. Potter. Hants. Nonconventional Energy Resources . Philip R. Pryde. Caribbean Migrants: Environment and Human Survival on St. Kitts and Nevis . Bonham C. Richardson. Population and Resources . Harry Robinson. East Los Angeles: History of A Barrio . Ricardo Romo. Integrated Impact Assessment . Frederick A. Rossini and Alan L. Porter, eds. Environmental Aesthetics: Essays in Interpretation . Barry Sadler and Allen Carlson, eds. Earthwatch . Charles Sheffield. Field Techniques and Research Methods in Geography . Robert H. Stoddard. Haiti: Land of Poverty . Robert J. Tata. Weathering and Erosion: Sources and Methods in Geography . Stephen T. Trudgill. Once Beneath the Forest. Prehistoric Terracing in the Río Bec Region of the Maya Lowlands . B. L. Turner, II. The Historical Geography of Scotland since 1707 . David Turnock.     

Holocene paleoclimates of India

We present a comprehensive summary of the available palaeoclimate records from India and compare the results from different proxies. The results indicate (i) fluctuating lake levels during the early Holocene. The period of relatively higher lake levels from increased precipitation efficiency was reached only 7.2–6.0 cal kyr BP, possibly due to increased contribution from winter rainfall; (ii) the onset of aridity in NW India could have begun as early as 5.3 cal kyr BP. Subsequently, there were multiple wet events but of shorter duration and smaller magnitude than during the mid Holocene; (iii) there is evidence of several short term climate events in the proxy record. However, in the absence of a rigorous chronological framework a detailed regional correlation is not possible at this stage. Finally, a comparison between marine and terrestrial records indicates that episodes of strongest and weakest monsoon winds were not always associated with wettest and driest episodes respectively in the NW Indian lakes.