LAST GLACIATION AND MAXIMUM GLACIATION IN THE QINGHAI-XIZANG (TIBET) PLATEAU: A CONTROVERSY TO M. KUHLE,S ICE SHEET HYPOTHESIS

Since the late 1950's, many Chinese scientists have explored the remains of the Quaternary glaciation in the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau and its surrounding mountains. In the main, 3-4 glaciations have been recognized. The largest one occurred in the Late Middle Pleistocene with piedmont glaciers, ice caps and trellis valley glaciers in many high peak regions. But here is no evidence of a unified ice sheet covering the whole plateau as described by M. Kuhle. Due to the further uplifting of the Himalayas and Qinghai-Xizang Plateau the climate became progressively drier, diminishing the extension of glaciers during the Late Pleistocene. The elevation of the snow line during the Last Glaciation was about 4,000 m on the south, east and northeast edges of the plateau and ascended to 5500 m on the hinder northwest of the plateau. The thermal effect of the big plateau massif, the sharp increase of aridity from the southeast rim to the northwest inland area and the abrupt decrease of precipitation during the     

澜沧江云南德钦古水一带第四纪堰塞湖的沉积特征及其环境意义

在云南省西北部德钦县古水一带深切的澜沧江河谷中,发现了一套第四纪湖相沉积物,以纹层状粘土、粉砂质粘土和粉砂的互层组合为特征,构成了第三和第四级阶地的基座.笔者对该湖相剖面进行了U系、孢粉和若干地球化学指标的分析测试,并以这些结果讨论了古湖的形成时代和成因,以及古湖堆积时期的古植被和古气候.剖面顶部、中部和中下部粘土的U系法年龄测定结果分别为52.3±3.4 ka、64.2±5.6 ka和81.9±6.5 ka,说明古水古湖形成于晚更新世早中期的末次间冰期晚期和末次冰期的早冰阶与间冰阶早期,很可能是大型冰川(如下游的明永冰川等)或巨量的冰水沉积物堰塞了澜沧江河谷而造成的结果.     

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.     

马鞍山的古冰川地貌

马鞍山是四川盆地西南边缘第一高山。此山存在第四纪冰川地貌。它是我国东部一处典型的古冰川地貌，时代属末次冰期与新冰期。     

Fifty-thousand-year vegetation and climate history of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivian Amazon

Pollen and charcoal records from two large, shallow lakes reveal that throughout most of the past 50,000 yr Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, in northeastern lowland Bolivia (southwestern Amazon Basin), was predominantly covered by savannas and seasonally dry semideciduous forests. Lowered atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, in combination with a longer dry season, caused expansion of dry forests and savannas during the last glacial period, especially at the last glacial maximum. These ecosystems persisted until the mid-Holocene, although they underwent significant species reassortment. Forest communities containing a mixture of evergreen and semideciduous species began to expand between 6000 and 3000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. Humid evergreen rain forests expanded to cover most of the area within the past 2000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., coincident with a reduction in fire frequencies. Comparisons between modern pollen spectra and vegetation reveal that the Moraceae-dominated rain forest pollen spectra likely have a regional source area at least 2-3 km beyond the lake shore, whereas the grass- and sedge-dominated savanna pollen spectra likely have a predominantly local source area. The Holocene vegetation changes are consistent with independent paleoprecipitation records from the Bolivian Altiplano and paleovegetation records from other parts of southwestern Amazonia. The progressive expansion in rain forests through the Holocene can be largely attributed to enhanced convective activity over Amazonia, due to greater seasonality of insolation in the Southern Hemisphere tropics driven by the precession cycle according to the Milankovitch Astronomical Theory.     

Younger Dryas glaciolacustrine rhythmites and cirque glacier variations at Kråkenes, western Norway: depositional processes and climate

Kråkenes faces the open sea on the west coast of Norway. During the Younger Dryas a cirque glacier deposited a large outer and a smaller inner moraine in a cirque at the site and melt-water entered a small lake depositing glaciolacustrine sediments. The glaciolacustrine succession can be divided into three sub-units corresponding to the advance, the still-stand and the retreat phases of the glacier. The sediment succession contains both varves and other types of rhythmites, the latter being mainly deposited as turbidity underflows caused by localized slumping events. Lee-side accumulation of snow by wind and avalanching into the cirque was crucial to form and maintain the cirque glacier once summer temperatures were low enough. At maximum, the glacier likely was in equilibrium with climate. The initial retreat from the maximum position might have been triggered by fall-out of volcanic ash from Iceland, but the continued retreat was due to increased ablation season temperatures. The most rapid change in climate at the Younger Dryas/Preboreal transition occurred after the cirque glacier had melted away completely.     

云南东北部拱王山末次冰期

1 Introduction The Gongwang mountains constitute one of the few high m ountains of irrefutable late Pleistocene glaciation in eastern China. This area is one of the m ost extensively studied Quaternary geologicallocationsin eastern China and the interpret…     

莲沱砂岩——南华大冰期前气候转冷的沉积记录

湖北宜昌地区出露的莲沱组中上部细屑岩的化学蚀变指数(CLA)介于60～70之间,表明是在寒冷干燥的气候条件下沉积的。比较莲沱组与板溪群中下部沉积岩的主化学成分和 CIA 值表明,板溪群源区遭受过强烈的化学风化,相应的古气候是温暖湿润的,而莲沱组源区化学风化弱,可见两者形成时的古气候环境明显不同。根据 CIA 值推测,地层层序上莲沱组位于板溪群的中上部,莲沱砂岩的 CIA 研究表明南华大冰期前全球气候已经从温暖湿润转变为寒冷干燥,CIA 值继续降低预示着全球性的冰期到表,不久就发生了"雪球地球"事件。     

白垩纪快速气候变化研究新进展——温室世界中的冰川证据

白垩纪被认为是两极无冰的典型温室气候时期,但近年来对于白垩纪存在短暂冰川甚至是极地冰盖的猜想引起了越来越多的关注。根据前人提出的冰川或气候变冷证据,如冰川遗迹、全球海平面快速下降事件以及δ18O正偏事件等,总结了白垩纪可能存在冰川的时期,包括Berriasian Valanginian之间、Valanginian晚期、Barremiana期、Aptian Albian之交、Albian Cenomanian之交、Cenomanian中期和末期、Turonian中期、Coniacian中期、Santonian早期、Campanian晚期、Campanian Maastrichtian之交和Maastrichtian末期等。对这些证据的有效性进行详细的讨论,同时也对白垩纪冰川的可能成因进行探讨。笔者认为,白垩纪即便存在冰川,也是小规模、短暂地存在,因此,精确的年代学约束是进行白垩纪冰川研究的前提;米兰科维奇旋回控制下的气候波动是白垩纪形成短暂冰川的可能成因。     

云南省东北部拱王山第四纪冰川遗迹研究

云南省东北部的拱王山海拔３１００ｍ以上的山地发生过第四纪冰川作用，典型的冰川遗迹集中分布在轿子山峰附近和妖精塘－牛洞坪两个地区，遗存的冰川地貌主要有冰斗，冰蚀岩盆和侧碛堤。根据冰川地貌的组合特征，以及它们生成的先后顺序，将拱王山第四纪冰川作用划分为末次冰期的倒数第二期冰期。