西藏札达盆地及周缘高山区第四纪冰川遗迹与冰期的初步划分和对比

札达盆地及周缘高山区的第四纪冰川遗迹分布广泛,类型齐全、发育连续.特征的冰碛及冰水堆积地貌有:冰水堆积平原或冰水堆积平台、冰碛丘陵等.挤压构造遗迹有:褶皱、断裂表皮构造、压坑、压裂构造、变形砾石等.ESR年代测定结果表明,冰碛形成的最大年龄为2.33Ma.依据冰碛、冰水堆积的特征、分布和形成年代等,区域冰川发育由老到新可划分出:7次冰期、6次间冰期、1次冰缘期、1次新冰期.该区是目前所知青藏高原第四纪冰川遗迹发现最多、保存最全和发育最连续的地区,为青藏高原地区的第四纪冰川演化研究、冰期的划分和对比、古气候古环境的研究,提供了重要的实际资料和依据.      

末次冰期以来柴达木盆地沙漠形成与演化

通过热释光测年,结合剖面岩性岩相特征、粒度等环境指标的综合分析,对柴达木盆地各地形面上古风成砂剖面进行了详细分析研究。将柴达木盆地沙漠形成与演化划分为3个阶段：21～15 kaBP的末次盛冰期是柴达木盆地大规模沙漠活动时期;15～10 kaBP的晚冰期柴达木盆地沙漠经历了多次扩展和固定缩小的波动演化;10 kaBP以来的全新世盆地沙漠经历了固定缩小和再次扩张的演化过程。自21 kaBP末次盛冰期以来,随着全球气候的波动变化,盆地沙漠虽经历了多次扩展与固定缩小的两相组合式波动演化过程,但流沙活动至今尚未完全停止过。现今盆地流沙活动是末次盛冰期以来沙漠演化过程中新近经历的又一阶段,是末次盛冰期流沙活动的承袭。     

桂林热带岩溶地貌特点及其科学价值

桂林热带岩溶地貌的特点及其科学价值是举世闻名的,甚至是世界独一无二的。本文从七个方面进行了阐述,以期桂林人、国人对之有一个粗略的认识,并尽快申请将桂林岩溶列入世界自然遗产名录。      

Cosmogenic 10Be insights into the extent and chronology of the last deglaciation in Wester Ross,northwest Scotland

Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface exposure ages for bedrock sites around Torridon and the Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, northwest Scotland, provide new insights into the Lateglacial transition. Accounting for postglacial weathering, six statistically comparable exposure ages give a late Younger Dryas (G‐1) exposure age of 11.8 ± 1.1 ka. Two further outliers are tentative pre‐Younger Dryas exposure ages of 13.4 ± 0.5 ka in Torridon, and 17.5 ± 1.2 ka in Applecross. The Younger Dryas exposure ages have compelling implications for the deglaciation of marginal Loch Lomond Stadial ice fields in Torridon and Applecross. Firstly, they conflict with predictions of restricted ice cover and rapid retreat based on modelling experiments and climate proxies, instead fitting a model of vertically extensive and prolonged ice coverage in Wester Ross. Secondly, they indicate that >2 m of erosion took place in the upper valleys of Torridon and Applecross during the Younger Dryas, implying a dominantly warm‐based glacial regime. Finally, the exposure ages have clarified that corrie (cirque) glaciers did not readvance in Wester Ross, following final deglaciation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Timing and style of Late Pleistocene glaciation in the Queer Shan,northern Hengduan Mountains in the eastern Tibetan Plateau

Glacial landforms and sediments provide evidence for the existence of two Late Pleistocene major glacial advances in the Queer Shan, northern Hengduan Mountains in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. In the current study, optically stimulated luminescence and electron spin resonance dating results reveal that the two glacial advances occurred during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in MIS 2, respectively. Geomorphic evidence shows that the glacial advance during MIS 3 was more extensive than that in MIS 2. This glacial advance is synchronous with other glaciated areas in the Himalaya and Tibet, but contrasts with global ice volumes that reached their maximum extent during the LGM. Glaciers in the Queer Shan are of the summer accumulation type and are mainly fed by precipitation from the south Asian monsoon. Palaeoclimate proxies show that during MIS 3 the south Asian monsoon strengthened and extended further north into the Tibetan Plateau to supply more precipitation as snow at high altitudes. This in turn led to positive glacier mass balances and caused glaciers to advance. However, during the LGM, despite cooler temperature than in MIS 3, the weakened south Asian monsoon and the associated reduced precipitation were not as favourable for glacier expansion as in MIS 3. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Holocene and Lateglacial relative sea‐level change in north‐west England: implications for glacial isostatic adjustment models

Relative sea‐level (RSL) change is reconstructed for central Cumbria, UK, based on litho‐ and biostratigraphical analysis from the Lateglacial to the late Holocene. The RSL curve is constrained using ten new radiocarbon‐dated sea‐level index points in addition to published data. The sea‐level curve identifies a clear Lateglacial sea‐level highstand approximately 2.3 m OD at c. 15–17 k cal a BP followed by rapid RSL fall to below ?5 m OD. RSL then rose rapidly during the early Holocene culminating in a mid‐Holocene highstand of approximately 1 m OD at c. 6 k cal a BP followed by gradual fall to the present level. These new data provide an important test for the RSL predictions from glacial isostatic adjustment models, particularly for the Lateglacial where there are very little data from the UK. The new RSL curve shows similar broad‐scale trends in RSL movement predicted by the models. However, the more recent models fail to predict the Lateglacial sea level highstand above present reconstructed by the new data presented here. Future updates to the models are needed to reduce this mismatch. This study highlights the importance for further RSL data to constrain Lateglacial sea level from sites in northern Britain. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An improved glacial isostatic adjustment model for the British Isles

The glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) of the British Isles is of interest due to the constraints that can be provided on key model parameters such as the global meltwater signal, local ice sheet history and viscoelastic earth structure. A number of recent studies have modelled relative sea‐level (RSL) data from this region to constrain model parameters. As indicated in these studies, the sensitivity of these data to both local and global parameters results in a highly non‐unique problem. This study aims to address this inherent non‐uniqueness by combining a previously published British–Irish ice model that is based on the most recent geomorphological data with a new global ice sheet model that provides an accurate prediction of eustatic sea‐level change. In addition, constraints from Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of present‐day vertical land motion are considered alongside the entirety of RSL data from both Great Britain and Ireland. A model solution is found that provides a high‐quality fit to both the RSL data and the GPS data. Within the range of earth viscosity values considered, the optimal data model fits were achieved with a relatively thin lithosphere (71 km), upper mantle viscosities in the range 4–6 × 10²⁰ Pa s and lower mantle viscosities ≥ 3 × 10²² Pa s. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Construction of an evolutionary deglaciation model for the Irish midlands based on the integration of morphostratigraphic and geophysical data analyses

Alternative, established models for the deglaciation of the midlands of Ireland are tested against an interpretation of a suite of deglacial sediments covering an area of 600 km² in the east central midland area. Interpretation of the sediments is based on geomorphological mapping, lithostratigraphic characterization of exposures and geotechnical data supported by electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and ground penetrating radar (GPR). GPR depicted small‐scale sedimentological and deformational structures within low‐conductivity soft sediments, such as cross‐bedding, planar bedding, channel‐like features and faulting planes, and revealed the internal architecture of eskers, glaciodeltas, subaqueous fans and raised bogs. ERT data permitted the detection of depth to bedrock and the lithological characterization of unconsolidated sediments. The ten sites presented were surveyed by traditional mapping methods and/or geophysical techniques. This allowed the construction of a local model of the deglaciation of the area which recognized five main stages. An ice sheet covering most of Ireland withdrew as a single body as far as the midlands. At this stage, two main directions of ice retreat are identified from the spatial distribution of meltwater/overflow channels, esker and morainic ridges, and ice‐marginal glaciolacustrine deposits. A pattern of deglacial sedimentation into an expanding ice‐marginal glacial lake is depicted. The glacial lake was dammed to the west by two ice dome fronts, one decaying to the north‐west and another to the south‐west, and by the Shannon Basin watershed to the east. Glacial lake outlets identified along the watershed and the altitude of the topset/foreset interface zone depicted in glaciodeltaic deposits allowed the identification of three lake water levels. The highest level is at 87–89 m Ordnance Datum (OD), the second lake level at 84 m OD and the third at 78 m OD. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cirque infills in the Khibiny Mountains,Kola Peninsula,Russia — palaeoglaciological interpretations and modern analogues in East Antarctica

We report here on cirque infills mapped in the Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula, Russia. Cirque infills are morainic deposits located near the headwalls of valleys and cirques. Their location and shape, often with concave margins towards the valley side, indicate that they were deposited by ice flowing up‐valley, into the mountains, rather than by local glaciers. We suggest that they formed during the last deglaciation, when Khibiny was a nunatak and Fennoscandian ice sheet lobes extended into valleys and cirques of the massif. The formation of cirque infills is probably more related to ice sheet dynamic factors, occurring when the ice margin retreated from the cirques, than to climate‐driven interruption in the ice‐marginal retreat. Glacial conditions similar to those prevalent when the Khibiny cirque infills were formed, occur today in Antarctica where the ice sheets engulf nunatak ranges. In Heimefrontfjella, Antarctica, the formation of supraglacial moraines at the head of cirques are linked to blue‐ice conditions, indicating locally low accumulation rates, a dry continental climate and sublimation dominated ablation. We suggest that these Antarctic moraines are modern analogues of cirque infills on the Kola Peninsula, and possibly, that the cirque infills may be used as palaeoenvironmental indicators. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.