东南极格罗夫山地区冰碛石碎石带中高压麻粒岩和正片麻岩的锆石年代学研究及其构造意义

东南极的格罗夫山是普里兹造山带向南极内陆的延伸部分。对格罗夫山不同碎石带中收集的高压麻粒岩和正片麻岩进行锆石U-Pb年代学研究。四个高压麻粒岩的锆石多数为变质新生锆石,仅少数保留有继承核,其年龄为2633—2502 Ma。在变质锆石中获得~570 Ma和~555—545 Ma两个阶段变质年龄,锆石微量元素特征显示为重稀土亏损,结合前人研究结果,推测这两阶段年龄分别代表了变质作用过程中的进变质和高压峰期变质年龄。两个正片麻岩的锆石普遍发育核-边结构,由一个发育振荡环带的岩浆核和均匀无环带的变质边组成。正片麻岩的原岩年龄存在差异,在样品GR14-3-4的锆石核部获得了1060±40 Ma的上交点年龄,其原岩可能来自格罗夫山东南部的冰下高地,而在样品GR14-5-4的锆石核部获得的原岩年龄为917±4 Ma,与格罗夫山基岩中的基性麻粒岩和正片麻岩的原岩年龄一致。在锆石边部获得的变质年龄较为一致,为~530 Ma,与以前在高压麻粒岩中获得的退变质年龄相当。本次研究确认了高压麻粒岩在格罗夫山地区不同碎石带中分布的广泛性,表明其可能普遍存在于格罗夫山冰下高地之中。同时也进一步证明格罗夫山冰下高地并没有受到格林维尔期构造热事件的影响,而是只经历了泛非期的单相变质构造旋回。     

Did large ice caps persist on low ground in north‐west Scotland during the Lateglacial Interstade?

Recent research based primarily on exposure ages of boulders on moraines has suggested that extensive ice masses persisted in fjords and across low ground in north‐west Scotland throughout the Lateglacial Interstade (≈ Greenland Interstade 1, ca. 14.7–12.9 ka), and that glacier ice was much more extensive in this area during the Older Dryas chronozone (ca. 14.0 ka) than during the Younger Dryas Stade (ca. 12.9–11.7 ka). We have recalibrated the same exposure age data using locally derived ¹⁰Be production rates. This increases the original mean ages by 6.5–12%, implying moraine deposition between ca. 14.3 and ca. 15.1 ka, and we infer a most probable age of ca. 14.7 ka based on palaeoclimatic considerations. The internal consistency of the ages implies that the dated moraines represent a single readvance of the ice margin (the Wester Ross Readvance). Pollen–stratigraphic evidence from a Lateglacial site at Loch Droma on the present drainage divide demonstrates deglaciation before ca. 14.0 ka, and therefore implies extensive deglaciation of all low ground and fjords in this area during the first half of the interstade (ca. 14.7–14.0 ka). This inference appears consistent with Lateglacial radiocarbon dates for shells recovered from glacimarine sediments and a dated tephra layer. Our revised chronology conflicts with earlier proposals that substantial dynamic ice caps persisted in Scotland between 14 and 13 ka, that large active glaciers probably survived throughout the Lateglacial Interstade and that ice extent was greater during the Older Dryas period than during the Younger Dryas Stade. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seafloor glacial features reveal the extent and decay of the last British Ice Sheet,east of Scotland

Three‐dimensional (3D) seismic datasets, 2D seismic reflection profiles and shallow cores provide insights into the geometry and composition of glacial features on the continental shelf, offshore eastern Scotland (58° N, 1–2° W). The relic features are related to the activity of the last British Ice Sheet (BIS) in the Outer Moray Firth. A landsystem assemblage consisting of four types of subglacial and ice marginal morphology is mapped at the seafloor. The assemblage comprises: (i) large seabed banks (interpreted as end moraines), coeval with the Bosies Bank moraine; (ii) morainic ridges (hummocky, push and end moraine) formed beneath, and at the margins of the ice sheet; (iii) an incised valley (a subglacial meltwater channel), recording meltwater drainage beneath former ice sheets; and (iv) elongate ridges and grooves (subglacial bedforms) overprinted by transverse ridges (grounding line moraines). The bedforms suggest that fast‐flowing grounded ice advanced eastward of the previously proposed terminus of the offshore Late Weichselian BIS, increasing the size and extent of the ice sheet beyond traditional limits. Complex moraine formation at the margins of less active ice characterised subsequent retreat, with periodic stillstands and readvances. Observations are consistent with interpretations of a dynamic and oscillating ice margin during BIS deglaciation, and with an extensive ice sheet in the North Sea basin at the Last Glacial Maximum. Final ice margin retreat was rapid, manifested in stagnant ice topography, which aided preservation of the landsystem record. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Zealand xenophyophores: Upper bathyal distribution,photographs of growth position,and a new species

Xenophyophores are a group of giant, but extremely fragile, rhizopod protozoans generally found at lower bathyal or abyssal depths. Recent dredge samples and photographs suggest that there is a largely endemic fauna of xenophyophores with anastomosing branches living at upper bathyal depths around New Zealand. Their distribution may be related to the layer of Antarctic Intermediate water that bathes the upper slope of the New Zealand Plateau.

Photographs of the seafloor at depths of 800–1300 m on the Lord Howe Rise show hemispherical masses, 5 cm across, of which the majority appear to be Syringammina tasmanensis Lewis, 1966 and at least one specimen may be Reticulammina lamellata Tendal, 1972. The photographs indicate that these species live on the seabed, not beneath it, that they are probably filter feeders and that they can reach a density of about one specimen per square metre.

A new species, Reticulammina maini, is described from the continental slope east of Auckland. A key to the New Zealand species of xenophyophore is presented.     

Submarine push moraine formation during the early Fennoscandian Ice Sheet deglaciation

The glacial history in the topographically confined paleo-ice stream drainage route of Vestfjorden, North Norway, was analysed based on bathymetric data, high-resolution seismology and ¹⁴C AMS-dated gravity cores. The inner part of the fjord is characterised by axial-parallel mega-scale lineations whereas the outer part is dominated by two marginal morainal bank systems. The Værøy (inner) and Røst (outer) marginal moraine systems comprise several transverse, zigzag-shaped ridges. Seismic records show thrusted and folded sediment blocks within the ridges. The landforms are inferred to reflect basal processes and the transition from warm-based (inner fjord) to cold-based (outer fjord) conditions, i.e. fast flow followed by basal freeze-on, sediment deformation and morainal bank formation. The moraines formed during the final part of two paleo-ice sheet re-advances. ¹⁴C AMS dating indicates a maximum age of 13.7 ¹⁴C ka BP (16.2 cal ka BP) for the Røst system whereas the Værøy system is inferred to be slightly older than 12.5 ¹⁴C ka BP (14.5 cal ka BP). This demonstrates that the northern part of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet behaved in a much more dynamic way during the early deglaciation than previously assumed.     

A study of fluted moraines in the Torridon area,NW Scotland

A study of certain small-scale fluted moraines, all less than 4m high but up to 400m long, in the Torridon area has shown that they are subglacial features composed of a clast-rich till, and formed in the Loch Lomond Stadial beneath ice with a maximum depth of 100-200m. The evidence from lithological analysis of till samples from the fluted moraines suggests that they were formed by subglacial deformation of a pre-existing till with little in the way of net down-glacier movement of the material.     

Morphology, distribution and formation of relict marginal moraines in the Swedish mountains

Relict marginal moraines are commonly used landforms in palaeoglaciological reconstructions. In the Swedish mountains, a large number of relict marginal moraines of variable morphology and origin occur. In this study, we have mapped 234 relict marginal moraines distributed all along the Swedish mountains and classified them into four morphological classes: cirque‐and‐valley moraines, valley‐side moraines, complex moraines and cross‐valley moraines. Of these, 46 moraines have been reclassified or are here mapped for the first time. A vast majority of the relict moraines are shown to have formed during deglaciation of an ice‐sheet, rather than by local mountain glaciers as suggested in earlier studies. The relict marginal moraines generally indicate that deglaciation throughout the mountains was characterised by a retreating ice‐sheet, successively damming glacial lakes, and downwasting around mountains. The general lack of moraines indicating valley and cirque glaciers during deglaciation suggests that climatic conditions were unfavourable for local glaciation during the last phase of the Weichselian. This interpretation contrasts with some earlier studies that have reconstructed the formation of local glaciers in the higher parts of the Swedish mountains during deglaciation.     

Glacial activity and paraglacial landsliding in the Devensian Lateglacial: evidence from Craig Cerrig-gleisiad and Fan Dringarth,Fforest Fawr (Brecon Beacons), South Wales

The tongue-shaped mass of debris and associated ridges on the cirque floor below Craig Cerrig-gleisiad, Brecon Beacons National Park is important and controversial because it has been attributed to more than one glacier advance during the Late Devensian. A new origin is proposed involving landslide development from the collapse of part of the western headwall followed by a single phase of glacier development in the Loch Lomond Stadial (Younger Dryas), which reworked the landslide sediments. Evidence for this landslide, which provides useful criteria for differentiating moraines formed by small glaciers from landslides, lies in tension cracks, backward-tilted blocks and bedrock joints dipping out of the western headwall, together with lateral levées, upstanding termini and angular clasts with only occasional, indistinct striae on the tongue-shaped mass, which is interpreted as a flowslide. Glacier reworking of debris in the upper part of the Cwm Cerrig-gleisiad landslide is indicated by subparallel ridges rising to 20 m above the cirque floor containing abraded clasts (16-32% striated). This interpretation is supported by a comparison with the morphological and sedimentary characteristics of a neighbouring landslide at Fan Dringarth, where no glacier developed in the Loch Lomond Stadial. The existence of paraglacial landsliding has significant palaeoenvironmental implications leading to: (1) erroneously large estimates of equilibrium line depression ($Δ$ELA) in the Loch Lomond Stadial; (2) consequent underestimates of summer palaeotemperatures and/or overestimates of the contribution of wind-drifted snow to glacier accumulation; and (3) larger moraines than usual and overestimation of the efficacy of glacial erosion because of antecedent processes.