帕米尔高原东部塔合曼大型滑坡体的 10Be测年

塔合曼滑坡体是发育在新疆帕米尔高原东部1895年塔什库尔干7级地震区北端的一个大型滑坡体,总体呈"舌"形,由崩塌区、滑坡区和堆积区三部分组成,在滑坡区和堆积区分别形成了平行与垂直于滑坡体滑动方向的滑坡体台阶。本文介绍了该滑坡体的基本特征并采用宇宙成因核素测年技术对其形成年代进行了测定,简要论述了该测年技术的基本原理、野外采样原则及样品前处理过程。采自滑坡体不同部位的6个片麻岩巨砾样品的 10Be暴露年龄结果非常一致,表明该滑坡体发生在 6.8±0.2ka,同时也表明了 10Be暴露测年是研究大型滑坡的有效测年手段。结合该滑坡体被慕士塔格断层断错并形成断层陡坎、滑坡体内发育的冲沟规模以及巨砾表面较厚的岩石漆,我们认为该滑坡体并非1895年地震的产物。     

Cosmogenic nuclide burial dating at Penhill Farm: An Earlier Stone Age Acheulean locality in the lower Sundays River Valley,South Africa

Penhill Farm is an Earlier Stone Age (ESA) Acheulean archaeological site located within the southeastern Cape coastal region of South Africa. Although ESA artifacts have been known for this region since the 1950s, limited archaeological work and an inability to date the terrace context sites have prevented understanding the technological progression from the ESA to Middle Stone Age (MSA) and their placement within the Stone Age chronology of South Africa. Here we use cosmogenic ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be to reveal a two-stage depositional history for a stone tool assemblage recovered from a debris flow deposit, with artifacts dating to ca. 1.1 Ma (million years) incorporated into a debris flow dating to ca. 0.6 Ma, thereby constraining the Penhill Farm Acheulean occupation to the Early Pleistocene.     

Chlorine-36 and C chronology support a limited last glacial maximum across central chukotka, northeastern Siberia, and no Beringian ice sheet

The Pekulney Mountains and adjacent Tanyurer River valley are key regions for examining the nature of glaciation across much of northeast Russia. Twelve new cosmogenic isotope ages and 14 new radiocarbon ages in concert with morphometric analyses and terrace stratigraphy constrain the timing of glaciation in this region of central Chukotka. The Sartan Glaciation (Last Glacial Maximum) was limited in extent in the Pekulney Mountains and dates to 20,000 yr ago. Cosmogenic isotope ages > 30,000 yr as well as non-finite radiocarbon ages imply an estimated age no younger than the Zyryan Glaciation (early Wisconsinan) for large sets of moraines found in the central Tanyurer Valley. Slope angles on these loess-mantled ridges are less than a few degrees and crest widths are an order of magnitude greater than those found on the younger Sartan moraines. The most extensive moraines in the lower Tanyurer Valley are most subdued implying an even older, probable middle Pleistocene age. This research provides direct field evidence against Grosswald’s Beringian ice-sheet hypothesis.     

Cosmogenic production as a background in searching for rare physics processes

We revisit calculations of the cosmogenic production rates for several long-lived isotopes that are potential sources of background in searching for rare physics processes such as the detection of dark matter and neutrinoless double-beta decay. Using updated cosmic-ray neutron flux measurements, we use TALYS 1.0 to investigate the cosmogenic activation of stable isotopes of several detector targets and find that the cosmogenic isotopes produced inside the target materials and cryostat can result in large backgrounds for dark matter searches and neutrinoless double-beta decay. We use previously published low-background HPGe data to constrain the production of ³H on the surface and the upper limit is consistent with our calculation. We note that cosmogenic production of several isotopes in various targets can generate potential backgrounds for dark matter detection and neutrinoless double-beta decay with a massive detector, thus great care should be taken to limit and/or deal with the cosmogenic activation of the targets.     

Accuracy of cosmogenic ages for moraines

Analyses of all published cosmogenic exposure ages for moraine boulders show an average age range of 38% between the oldest and youngest boulders from each moraine. This range conflicts with the common assumption that ages of surface boulders are the same as the age of the landform. The wide spread in boulder ages is caused by erosion of the moraine surface and consequent exhumation of fresh boulders. A diffusion model of surface degradation explains the age range and shows that a randomly sampled small set of boulders (n = 3-7) will always yield a lower age limit for the moraine. The model indicates that for identical dating accuracy, six to seven boulders are needed from old and tall moraines (40,000-100,000 yr, 50-100 m initial height) but only one to four boulders from small moraines (20,000-100,000 yr, 10-20 m). By following these guidelines the oldest obtained boulder age will be ≥90% of the moraine age (95% probability). This result is only weakly sensitive to a broad range of soil erosion rates. Our analysis of published boulder ages indicates that <3% of all moraine boulders have prior exposure, and 85% of these boulders predate the dated moraine.     

Rapid incision of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon – insights from channel profiles,local incision rates,and modeling of lithologic controls

The Colorado River system in southern Utah and northern Arizona is continuing to adjust to the baselevel fall responsible for the carving of the Grand Canyon. Estimates of bedrock incision rates in this area vary widely, hinting at the transient state of the Colorado and its tributaries. In conjunction with these data, we use longitudinal profiles of the Colorado and tributaries between Marble Canyon and Cataract Canyon to investigate the incision history of the Colorado in this region. We find that almost all of the tributaries in this region steepen as they enter the Colorado River. The consistent presence of oversteepened reaches with similar elevation drops in the lower section of these channels, and their coincidence within a corridor of high local relief along the Colorado, suggest that the tributaries are steepening in response to an episode of increased incision rate on the mainstem. This analysis makes testable predictions about spatial variations in incision rates; these predictions are consistent with existing rate estimates and can be used to guide further studies. We also present cosmogenic nuclide data from the Henry Mountains of southern Utah. We measured in situ ¹⁰Be concentrations on four gravel‐covered strath surfaces elevated from 1 m to 110 m above Trachyte Creek. The surfaces yield exposure ages that range from approximately 2·5 ka to 267 ka and suggest incision rates that vary between 350 and 600 m/my. These incision rates are similar to other rates determined within the high‐relief corridor. Available data thus support the interpretation that tributaries of the Colorado River upstream of the Grand Canyon are responding to a recent pulse of rapid incision on the Colorado. Numerical modeling of detachment‐limited bedrock incision suggests that this incision pulse is likely related to the upstream‐dipping lithologic boundary at the northern edge of the Kaibab upwarp. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

东南极冰盖上新世大规模退缩事件

笔者近年对东南极内陆格罗夫山(Grove Mountains)开展了上新世以来冰盖表面波动的综合研究,运用冰川地质、地貌、土壤、沉积岩、孢粉组合及宇宙核素等各种方法手段,提出东南极大冰盖形成以后并非稳定演化至今,而在上新世早期时发生过大规模退缩,其前缘至少曾经退缩到格罗夫山地区,距现今冰盖边缘约400 km。之后,冰盖又迅速膨胀,到距今2.3 Ma时,冰面至少超过现今高度约400 m。以后冰面缓慢平稳下降,至1.6 Ma时,东南极冰盖进入第四纪振荡期,但重新上升的冰面再也没有超过现今高度的100 m以上。东南极冰盖大规模消融事件在全球尺度上也有所响应,例如北半球大冰盖形成,青藏高原整体剧烈隆升,塔里木盆地黄土出现等。这类行星尺度的气候变化可能与直布罗陀海峡关闭与地中海盐化事件,巴拿马地峡关闭等大地构造事件有关。     

Moraine pebbles and boulders yield indistinguishable Be ages: A case study from Colorado, USA

Cosmogenic exposure dating of moraines during the last two decades has vastly improved knowledge on the timing of glaciation worldwide. Due to a variety of geologic complications, such as moraine degradation, snow cover, bedrock erosion and isotopic inheritance, samples from multiple large boulders (>1–2 m) often lead to the most accurate moraine age assignments. However, in many cases, large boulders are not available on moraines of interest. Here, I test the suitability of pebble collections from moraine crest surfaces as a sample type for exposure dating. Twenty-two ¹⁰Be ages from two Pleistocene lateral moraine crests in Pine Creek valley in the upper Arkansas River basin, Colorado, were calculated from both pebble and boulder samples. Ten ¹⁰Be ages from a single-crested Bull Lake lateral moraine range between 3 and 72 ka, with no statistical difference between pebble (n = 5) and boulder (n = 5) ages. The lack of a cluster of ¹⁰Be ages suggests that moraine degradation has led to anomalously young exposure ages. Twelve ¹⁰Be ages from a single-crested Pinedale lateral moraine have a bimodal age distribution; one mode is 22.0 ± 1.4 ka (three boulders, two pebble collections), the other is 15.2 ± 0.9 ka (two boulders, five pebble collections). The interpretation of the two age modes is that two glacier maxima of similar extent were attained during the late Pleistocene. Regardless of moraine age interpretations, that ¹⁰Be ages from pebble collections and boulders are indistinguishable on moraines of two different ages, and in two different age modes of the Pinedale moraine, suggests that pebble collections from moraine crests may serve as a suitable sample type in some settings.     

The Keylong Serai rock avalanche, NW Indian Himalaya: geomorphology and palaeoseismic implications

This paper describes the geomorphology of rock avalanche deposits that resulted from a major mountain slope failure at Keylong Serai on the north slope of the Indian High Himalaya, an area of high altitude desert. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be exposure ages of the widespread deposits indicate their formation 7,510 ± 110 years BP. Proxy records for this region of the Himalaya imply a similar dry climatic regime to the present day at this time, suggesting that precipitation was an unlikely trigger for this rock avalanche. An alternative mechanism associated with rock-wall stress relaxation is also unlikely, given the earlier timing of deglaciation in this area. Given the enormous volume of debris generated by this event, the most likely trigger for this mountain collapse and resultant rock avalanche is high ground acceleration during a great earthquake (M > 8). It is proposed that rock avalanches can be used to extend the limited palaeoseismic record and improve information on the recurrence interval of great earthquakes within the Himalaya arc.     

Cosmogenic Be inferred lake-level changes in Sumxi Co basin, Western Tibet

Most Tibetan lakes are surrounded by conspicuous regressive shorelines attesting to high-water levels in the past. Concentrations of the in situ produced cosmogenic radionuclide ¹⁰Be in bedrock from the three highest terraces surrounding Sumxi Co, situated in Western Kunlun, indicate that the highest lake-level appeared before 10,000–11,500 yr, and most likely between 11,000 and 12,800 yr. Younger ages for the two lower terraces imply regression of Sumxi Co during the early-mid Holocene. The concurrency of the highest lake-level with orbitally induced maximum northern hemisphere summer insolation suggests that the increase in water supply to Sumxi Co was most likely associated with increased recharge from melting glaciers. We conclude that the enhanced Indian monsoon during the early Holocene did not penetrate the Tibetan plateau and affect the northwestern part of Tibet significantly.