Late Quaternary climatic events and sea-level changes recorded by turbidite activity, Dakar Canyon, NW Africa

The relationship of sea-level changes and short-term climatic changes with turbidite deposition is poorly documented, although the mechanisms of gravity-driven sediment transport in submarine canyons during sea-level changes have been reported from many regions. This study focuses on the activity of the Dakar Canyon off southern Senegal in response to major glacial/interglacial sea-level shifts and variability in the NW-African continental climate. The sedimentary record from the canyon allows us to determine the timing of turbidite events and, on the basis of XRF-scanning element data, we have identified the climate signal at a sub-millennial time scale from the surrounding hemipelagic sediments. Over the late Quaternary the highest frequency in turbidite activity in the Dakar Canyon is confined to major climatic terminations when remobilisation of sediments from the shelf was triggered by the eustatic sea-level rise. However, episodic turbidite events coincide with the timing of Heinrich events in the North Atlantic. During these times continental climate has changed rapidly, with evidence for higher dust supply over NW Africa which has fed turbidity currents. Increased aridity and enhanced wind strength in the southern Saharan-Sahelian zone may have provided a source for this dust.     

Late Weichselian fluvio‐aeolian sands and coversands of the type locality Grubbenvorst (southern Netherlands): sedimentary environments,climate record and age

The Weichselian Late Pleniglacial and Lateglacial aeolian stratigraphy (Older Coversand I, Beuningen Gravel Bed, Older Coversand II, Younger Coversand I, Usselo Soil, Younger Coversand II) in the southern Netherlands has been reinvestigated in its type locality (Grubbenvorst). Sedimentary environments have been reconstructed and related to their climatic evolution based on periglacial structures. In addition, 22 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages have been determined that provide an absolute chronology for the climatic evolution and environmental changes of the coversand area. From this work it appears that, prior to 25 ka fluvial deposition by the Maas dominated. After 25 ka fluvial activity reduced and deposition occurred in a fluvio‐aeolian environment with continuous permafrost (Older Coversand I). This depositional phase was dated between 25.2 ± 2.0 and 17.2 ± 1.2 ka. The upward increase of aeolian activity and cryogenic structures in this unit is related to an increase of climatic aridity and a decrease in sedimentation rate during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The Beuningen Gravel Bed, that results from deflation with polar desert conditions and that represents a stratigraphic marker in northwestern Europe, was bracketed between 17.2 ± 1.2 and 15.3 ± 1.0 ka. Based on this age result a correlation with Heinrich event H1 is suggested. Permafrost degradation occurred at the end of this period. Optical ages for the Older Coversand II unit directly overlying the Beuningen Gravel Bed range from 15.3 ± 1.0 ka at the base to 12.7 ± 0.9 ka at the top. Thus this regionally important Older Coversand II unit started at the end of the Late Pleniglacial and continued throughout the early Lateglacial. Its formation after the Late Pleniglacial (LP) maximum cold and its preservation are related to rapid climatic warming around 14.7 ka cal. BP. The Allerød age of the Usselo Soil was confirmed by the optical ages. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeoenvironmental forcing during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in central-western Portugal

Geoarchaeological analysis of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic record preserved in cave, rock-shelter and open-air sites in the northern sector of the Meso-Cenozoic of the Western Iberian Peninsula margin (Portugal) reveals several disconformities (erosive unconformities), hiatuses and surface stabilization phases. A recurrent disconformity, dated to ca. 29,500-32,000 cal yr BP, in the time range of Heinrich event 3, must correspond to a main erosive event related to the impacts of climate change on the landscape, including a reduction in vegetation cover and altered precipitation patterns, with the consequent accelerated down-cutting by stream systems, slope reactivation and endokarstic reorganisation, causing the erosion of sediments and soils accumulated in cave, rock-shelter and open-air sites. These processes create a preservation bias that may explain why Early Upper Palaeolithic finds in primary deposition context remains exceptional in the carbonate areas of central-western Portugal, and possibly elsewhere in the other places of Iberia. The impact of such site formation processes must therefore be duly considered in interpretations of the current patchy and scarce archaeological record of the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in south-western Iberia.     

East Asian Winter Monsoon record from the environmental sensitive grain size component of QF Old Red Sand, Haitan Island, China

The "Old Red Sand" is widely distributed along the coast of Fujian Province, China. Most studies have been carried out from aspects of the origin, age and laterization of the "Old Red Sand", but this paper focused on reconstructing the history of the Asian Winter Monsoon change. On the basis of granulometric analysis of high-resolution samples, we have obtained environmental sensitive grain size component (ESGSC) from the Qingfeng (QF) profile by using the grain size-standard deviation method, which proves that the selected ESGSC is an important climate proxy. The mean grain size of this ESGSC could be used to reconstruct the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM) intensity. As such, the history of the EAWM change since 44.0 ka reconstructed here reveals three main phases based on chronology dates of previous researches: (1) 44.0-25.5 ka B.P., the EAWM is relatively weak but increases gradually with fluctuations; (2) 25.5-15.5 ka B.P., relatively strong with high frequency fluctuations; (3) 15.5-7.1 ka B.P., with a weaker winter monsoon, but during 11-10 ka B.P. is remarkably enhanced. The EAWM recorded by mean grain size of the two neighboring sections have a better repeatability, so the millennial scales oscillation should be a reliable signal of the EAWM intensity. The climate recorded by ESGSC of the QF "Old Red Sand" compared to δ 18 O of Hulu Cave stalagmites and Greenland GISP2 ice cores shows a good consistency, especially in detail, the YD event and four Heinrich events are all recorded, but the signal of D-O cycles was relatively weak.     

Dawson tephra,a widespread 29-ka marker bed,in a marine core from Patton Seamount off the Alaska Peninsula and its potential marine–terrestrial correlation

A tephra layer with normal grading in the sub-bottom depth interval 119–122 cm in marine core SO202-27-6 was collected on Patton Seamount in the northeast North Pacific Ocean. Based on the geochemistry of volcanic glass shards determined by a wavelength dispersive electron probe micro-analyser and an X-ray fluorescence analyser, this layer is correlated to the Dawson tephra, a widespread late Pleistocene time marker tephra in Alaska and the Yukon. The age of the Dawson tephra in the core is 29.03 ± 0.178 ka (1 sigma) based on a published age model. The Dawson tephra is revealed to have been deposited in the transition from marine isotope stage 3 to 2, i.e. the last stage of Heinrich Stadial 3 derived from the ice-rafted debris signal. According to the correlation between Greenland (NGRIP ice core) and this core, the Dawson tephra occupies the record immediately before inter stadial 4 in the δ¹⁸O stratigraphy of NGRIP. The Dawson tephra on Patton Seamount includes lithic fragments, which suggests that it was deposited not only by fall-out but also in part via another mechanism, such as icebergs from the Cordilleran ice sheet or seasonal sea ice.     

福建东部海坛岛老红砂敏感粒度组分对东亚冬季风演变的响应

本文在福建东部海坛岛青峰老红砂剖面年代学框架基础上,通过2.5 cm等间距高密度采样进行粒度分析,采用粒级-标准偏差方法提取敏感粒度组分,并证明敏感粒度组分平均粒径可作为东亚季风的强弱变化的替代指标,据此建立了约44.0 ka以来青峰剖面老红砂记录的冬季风演变序列。结果显示,约44.0 ka以来东亚冬季风经历了3个演变阶段：①44.0~25.5 ka BP东亚冬季风较弱, 呈现在波动中逐步增强趋势;②25.5~15.5 ka BP为东亚冬季风最强盛期,并呈现高频波动特点,东亚冬季风在21.8 ka BP前后达到鼎盛期;③15.5~7.1ka BP为冬季风减弱期,但在11~10 ka BP前后,冬季风突然显著增强。相邻剖面平均粒径记录的冬季风演变阶段也具有较好的重复性。对比发现,青峰剖面老红砂敏感粒度组分的气候记录与长江下游葫芦洞石笋δ18O和格陵兰GISP2冰芯δ18O记录之间有较好的吻合,尤其对新仙女木事件和4次H事件三者都有记录,但青峰剖面对D-O旋回记录信号不明显。     

天津市农业生态价值测算及其贡献分析(英文)

农业不仅具有经济价值,同时还具有非经济价值,而估算农业的非经济价值成为学术界研究的热点。本文把农业的价值分为生产产品价值和生态价值,并采用具有权威性的生态价值测算思想,即Costanza等于1997年提出的方法作为估算农业生态价值的方法依据,同时,由于该项研究也受到了不少严厉的批评,如由于某些数据存在着较大偏差,导致对耕地生态价值的估计过低,对湿地的生态价值估计又偏高等。因此,进一步借鉴谢高地等于2003年针对Costanza等的不足,在参考其可靠的部分成果的同时,基于对我国200位生态学者的问卷调查,制定出我国生态系统生态服务价值的当量因子表。以此表为基础,结合天津市实际形成适用的生态价值测算方法,采用官方统计数据实际测算了天津市农业生态价值。结果发现2012年天津市农业生态价值的现实值为1112.01亿元,是当年农业经济价值375.60亿元的3倍。     

Intense reducing conditions during the last deglaciation and Heinrich events (H1, H2, H3) in sediments from the oxygen minimum zone off Goa,eastern Arabian Sea

Two sediment cores, ABP-32/GC-01R and ABP-32/GC-03 were collected at a water depth of 642 m and 1086 m off Goa from the present day Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) of eastern Arabian Sea (EAS) cover time span of last 18 ka and 32 ka respectively were analysed for multi-proxy redox-sensitive elements to understand the variation in the redox conditions and factors responsible for its development.Redox-sensitive elements concentration and their normalized ratios (Mn/Al, U/Th, Mo/Al and Ce/Ce*) suggest that sediment core ABP-32/GC-01R is under more reducing conditions due to its location within the centre of OMZ compared to core ABP-32/GC-03 which is at the base of OMZ. Sediments from the EAS are of non-euxinic environments where dissolved sulfide is present but restricted to the sediment pore-waters. Lack of significant correlation (r=< 0.1) of organic carbon with U and Mo suggest that productivity may not have control on the development of reducing conditions. The lowest Mn/Al ratio, strong negative Ce/Ce* anomaly and remarkable enrichment of U/Th and Mo/Al ratios during the last deglaciation, and Heinrich events (H1, H2, H3) indicate intense reducing conditions probably due to poor ventilation by oxygen depleted bottom waters from Subantarctic Mode Waters (SAMW) - Antarctic Intermediate waters (AAIW). There is a distinct lathanide fractionation in the sediment cores where, La_(n)/Yb_(n) ratio is <1, ≈1 and >1 during the last 10 ka (Holocene), 14–10 ka (includes-Younger Dryas and Bǿlling-Allerǿd), 18–14 ka (last deglaciation) and Heinrich events suggesting less reducing, terrigenous dominated and intense reducing condition respectively.     

Last glacial fire regime variability in western France inferred from microcharcoal preserved in core MD04-2845, Bay of Biscay

High resolution multiproxy analysis (microcharcoal, pollen, organic carbon, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (s), ice rafted debris) of the deep-sea record MD04-2845 (Bay of Biscay) provides new insights for understanding mechanisms of fire regime variability of the last glacial period in western France. Fire regime of western France closely follows Dansgaard–Oeschger climatic variability and presents the same pattern than that of southwestern Iberia, namely low fire regime associated with open vegetation during stadials including Heinrich events, and high fire regime associated with open forest during interstadials. This supports a regional climatic control on fire regime for western Europe through fuel availability for the last glacial period. Additionally, each of Heinrich events 6, 5 and 4 is characterised by three episodes of fire regime, with a high regime bracketed by lower fire regime episodes, related to vegetational succession and complex environmental condition changes.