Benthic foraminifers in upper Quaternary sediments of the southern Bering Sea: Distribution and paleoceanographic interpretations

Composition and distribution of benthic foraminifers, being coupled with isotopic-geochemical data on Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments from the southern Bering Sea (Core GC-11; 53°31′ N, 178°51′E, water depth 3060 m), demonstrate variations in bottom water properties during the last 54 kyr. Their abundance increased to some extent during short periods corresponding to warm Dansgaard-Oeshger interstadials 14, 12, 8, and 2 of marine isotopic stages (MIS) 3 and 2. The first and second deglaciation phases separated by the Younger Dryas cooling episode are marked by significant abundance peaks of benthic foraminifers (an order magnitude higher than in the glacial period), although their share in community of benthic and planktonic foraminifers taken together decreases. Species typical of stable high-productivity areas gain the dominant position. A significant proportion of agglutinated species in the Holocene sediments is indicative of Ca ions deficiency that accelerates dissolution of carbonate tests up to their disappearance approximately 2.5–3 ka ago.     

Post-depositional 137Cs Mobility in the Sediments of Three Shallow Coastal Lagoons, SW England

We present ¹³⁷Cs profiles for three low lying coastal lagoons in Southwest England that show a decline in activity with sediment depth. ¹³⁷Cs inventories are lower than expected by comparison with local reference inventories despite the fact that sampling was undertaken in the deep-water zone of each lake where sediment and ¹³⁷Cs focusing would be expected. At all three locations, lake sediment ⁷Be and unsupported ²¹⁰Pb (²¹⁰Pb_un) inventories are not significantly lower than the local reference inventory. ¹³⁷Cs inventories in the study cores range from 38 to 95% of local reference inventories. The standing water level and mud: water interface at two sites are below maximum tide level and, at all three sites, salinity increases significantly in the water columns between low and high tide and in the pore waters of the underlying sediments. We suggest that the difference in hydrostatic pressure between sea level and standing water levels in the lagoons forces salt water up through the sediment column and that monovalent cations (especially Na⁺ and K⁺) replace ¹³⁷Cs on exchange sites leading to the upward migration and loss of ¹³⁷Cs. Rising sea levels may therefore contribute to remobilisation and release of ¹³⁷Cs to the aquatic environment from the sediments of coastal lagoons.     

The First Appearance of Cattle in Denmark Occurred 6000 Years Ago: An Effect of Cultural or Climate and Environmental Changes

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bones of contemporaneous Late Atlantic aurochs and early cattle in eastern Denmark are significantly different and provide information on the origin and feeding strategies of the earliest domestic cattle. The data show that the early cattle were feeding on grass right from the beginning 4000 cal. yr BC. In contrast, the youngest aurochs population primarily browsed and grazed from the dense forest floor resulting in rather negative δ¹³C values measured on bone collagen. The oldest aurochs have similar isotope values to the earlier cattle, whereas the youngest aurochs have similar values to Late Atlantic red deer from the same locality. As eastern Denmark was largely covered by forest, speculations on the origin of the grazing areas are many. The grass may have grown in openings in the forest, at the forest fringe, or more likely on the newly reclaimed coastal land areas exposed by the decreasing rate of eustatic sea‐level rise contemporaneously with isostatic uplift, during the Littorina transgressions. The stable isotope values do not indicate that leaf foddering of the early cattle was of importance.     

On global forces of nature driving the Earth’s climate. Are humans involved?

The authors identify and describe the following global forces of nature driving the Earth’s climate: (1) solar radiation as a dominant external energy supplier to the Earth, (2) outgassing as a major supplier of gases to the World Ocean and the atmosphere, and, possibly, (3) microbial activities generating and consuming atmospheric gases at the interface of lithosphere and atmosphere. The writers provide quantitative estimates of the scope and extent of their corresponding effects on the Earth’s climate. Quantitative comparison of the scope and extent of the forces of nature and anthropogenic influences on the Earth’s climate is especially important at the time of broad-scale public debates on current global warming. The writers show that the human-induced climatic changes are negligible.     

滇黔桂盆地及其邻区石炭纪至二叠纪层序地层格架及三级海平面变化的全球对比

属于被动大陆边缘裂谷盆地的滇黔桂盆地，自加里东运动之后，泥盆纪开始拉开，整个晚古生代延续发展。受同生断裂的控制，在深水盆地中发育大小不等的孤立碳酸盐台地，因而在滇黔桂盆地及其邻区形成特殊的“台-盆-丘-槽”的古地理格局。对不同古地理背景下的典型剖面进行三级层序划分并对其进行空间追索和对比，在滇黔桂盆地及其邻区的石炭纪和二叠纪地层中可以识别出12个三级层序，相当于晚古生代25个三级沉积层序(2-5Ma；SQ1至SQ25)中的SQ24至SQ25；以地层记录中的的两种相变面和两种穿时性为基本要素，可以建立研究区石炭系和二叠系的层序地层格架；层序地层格架反映了三级层序的基本特征：空间上相序的有序性和时间上环境变化的同步性。研究区的石炭系和二叠系，主要为一套碳酸盐岩地层，其中在连陆台地上发育3套煤系地层，它们分别组成石炭纪三级层序SQ15跨系的三级层序SQ19的HST以及二叠纪吴家坪期的三级层序SQ24；而且在连陆台地边缘和孤立台地上，于阳新世的茅口亚世以及乐平世的长兴期发育海绵生物礁，海绵生物礁分别构成了以下二叠系三级层序即阳新世的SQ22和SQ23以及长兴期的SQ25。3套煤系地层和两套海绵生物礁的发育，使研究区的石炭系和二叠系形成了一个与欧美地区完全不同的层序地层序列。在研究区石炭系和二叠系所识别出的12个三级层序中，石炭纪一二叠纪船山世地层可以划分出6个三级层序。这种划分与Busch等对北美相同层位的划分相似，也就是说该6个三级层序的形成时限大于10Ma；较长的形成时限可能反映了形成在联合古陆汇聚时期即全球构造相对稳定时期三级海平面变化的一个特性。因此，研究区的石炭系和二叠系所识别和划分出的12个三级层序，其数量比Ross和Ross(1985)对欧美地区石炭系和二叠系所划分出的50多个三级层序要少得多。     

Outlier detection algorithms and their performance in GOCE gravity field processing

The satellite missions CHAMP, GRACE, and GOCE mark the beginning of a new era in gravity field determination and modeling. They provide unique models of the global stationary gravity field and its variation in time. Due to inevitable measurement errors, sophisticated pre-processing steps have to be applied before further use of the satellite measurements. In the framework of the GOCE mission, this includes outlier detection, absolute calibration and validation of the SGG (satellite gravity gradiometry) measurements, and removal of temporal effects. In general, outliers are defined as observations that appear to be inconsistent with the remainder of the data set. One goal is to evaluate the effect of additive, innovative and bulk outliers on the estimates of the spherical harmonic coefficients. It can be shown that even a small number of undetected outliers (<0.2 of all data points) can have an adverse effect on the coefficient estimates. Consequently, concepts for the identification and removal of outliers have to be developed. Novel outlier detection algorithms are derived and statistical methods are presented that may be used for this purpose. The methods aim at high outlier identification rates as well as small failure rates. A combined algorithm, based on wavelets and a statistical method, shows best performance with an identification rate of about 99%. To further reduce the influence of undetected outliers, an outlier detection algorithm is implemented inside the gravity field solver (the Quick-Look Gravity Field Analysis tool was used). This results in spherical harmonic coefficient estimates that are of similar quality to those obtained without outliers in the input data.     

Global height datum unification: a new approach in gravity potential space

The problem of “global height datum unification” is solved in the gravity potential space based on: (1) high-resolution local gravity field modeling, (2) geocentric coordinates of the reference benchmark, and (3) a known value of the geoid’s potential. The high-resolution local gravity field model is derived based on a solution of the fixed-free two-boundary-value problem of the Earth’s gravity field using (a) potential difference values (from precise leveling), (b) modulus of the gravity vector (from gravimetry), (c) astronomical longitude and latitude (from geodetic astronomy and/or combination of (GNSS) Global Navigation Satellite System observations with total station measurements), (d) and satellite altimetry. Knowing the height of the reference benchmark in the national height system and its geocentric GNSS coordinates, and using the derived high-resolution local gravity field model, the gravity potential value of the zero point of the height system is computed. The difference between the derived gravity potential value of the zero point of the height system and the geoid’s potential value is computed. This potential difference gives the offset of the zero point of the height system from geoid in the “potential space”, which is transferred into “geometry space” using the transformation formula derived in this paper. The method was applied to the computation of the offset of the zero point of the Iranian height datum from the geoid’s potential value W ₀=62636855.8 m²/s². According to the geometry space computations, the height datum of Iran is 0.09 m below the geoid.     

南疆塔里木河流域生态环境近期变化的成因解释

南疆塔里木河流域的生态环境已引起社会和科技界广泛注意。本文分析了该地区生态环境近期变化的6个主要特点，并用自然和人文社会学观点解释了变化的成因，提出气候变化是该极干旱区生态环境变化中最活跃的主要自然因素及其影响方式，但在人类主要活动地区盆地主体，人类活动对生态环境变化起着决定性的作用。     

时间序列转折突变点检测的线性函数方法

根据转折突变的定义，在引入线性半截多项式的前提下，提出检测时间序列转折突变点的一种新方法。此方法不仅能找出时间序列中存在的多个转折突变点，而且使得检测到的突变点通过统计显著性检验。应用此方法对北半球1851—1990年年平均气温距平及其11年滑动平均序列，1901—1999年昆明5月降水及其11年滑动平均的降水序列分别进行了检测。发现北半球年平均气温距平在1879、1889、1939和1973年附近出现了年际转折突变，在1878、1888和1941年以及1972年出现了年代际尺度的转折突变；昆明5月雨量不存在年际转折突变点，但昆明5月雨量在1918、1966以及1978年附近出现了年代际尺度转折突变。     

运用层序不对称性分析海平面变化特征

目前研究海平面变化的方法尚不能精确确定海平面变化，对记录海平面变化的沉积体或层序物质组成及结构特点的研究尚显薄弱。在分析层序不对称性与海平面变化的关系基础，提出层序不对称系数S0，认为海平面的升降变化对浅水沉积区影响显著，其结果必然造成层序S0的增加；海平面的升降变化对沉水沉积区影响不大，层序S0较为恒定。对进行详细研究中扬子区S0分布特点，运用S0曲线计算了中扬子区海平面变化特点，并与其他方法进行对比，认为可以用S0判断水体相对深浅，分析海平面变化。