浙江全新世海滩岩的综合研究

浙江全新世海滩岩是目前公认的中国最北的海滩岩，对它的研究在古气候、古环境、古海面变化等方面都具有重要意义。笔者对浙江海滩岩进行了综合研究，提示其古动物学、岩石学、矿物学、元素地球化学、氧碳稳定同位素和＾１４Ｃ测年等特征，从中提取了古气候、古环境信息。研究表明，浙江海滩岩由８个岩石类型组成。     

长白山天池火山全新世大喷发挥发性气体释放量的分析和估算

火山喷发是地球上一种壮观的自然景象 ,火山喷发的同时一般都喷出气体 ,火山爆炸式喷发时巨量的气体被喷入空中 ,对全球气候造成较大影响。长白山天池火山于全新世发生过两次较大的爆炸式喷发 ,根据本文的分析和估算 ,后一次即天池火山公元 1199～ 12 0 1年的那次大喷发 ,逃逸到空中的挥发气体含量分别为 :CO2 约 (0 .31～ 1.5 6 )× 10 8t,S(主要是 H2 S和 SO2 )约 1.96× 10 7t,F2 约 7.86× 10 6 t,Cl2 约 (0 .78～ 6 .2 4)× 10 7t,对全球气候曾产生过重要影响     

An Overview of Paleo-AO/NAO Studies

The discovery of decadal variability of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the introduction of Arctic oscillation (AO) concept have initiated a series of paleo-AO/NAO related studies since the mid-to-late 1990s. The progress and new findings of paleo-AO/NAO works after that time were comprehensively reviewed. The new results from the observations and modelings at four key timescales were summarized in detail: ①the reconstructions of the AO/NAO annual index over the past millennium; ②the debate on AO/NAO’s trend since early Holocene; ③the weakening of AO/NAO’s amplitude during the Last Glacial Maximum; and ④the anomalous positive phase of AO/NAO during the Last Interglacial. In addition, the possible mechanism for different timescales of AO/NAO is also summarized. Furthermore, the distinction between AO/NAO’ was mean state and amplitude, which were not explicitly separated in previous studies, were comprehensively discussed. Considering the current uncertainties related to paleo-AO/NAO studies, we encourage the community to search for more proxies having longer-than-10,000-year length with annual resolution around AO/NAO highly correlated regions. Another, we encourage long-term transient modeling on AO/NAO can be performed in order to improve our understanding of the dynamics and interaction between AO/NAO’s high-frequency variability and the climatological background, so as to further improve AO/NAO’s predictability on global warming context.     

23,000 yr of vegetation history of the Upper Lerma, a tropical high-altitude basin in Central Mexico

Pollen analysis on a 9.54-m sediment core from lake Chignahuapan in the upper Lerma basin, the highest intermontane basin in Central Mexico (2570 m asl), documents vegetation and limnological changes over the past ∼23,000 ¹⁴C yr. The core was drilled near the archaeological site of Santa Cruz Atizapán, a site with a long history of human occupation, abandoned at the end of the Epiclassic period (ca. 900 AD). Six radiocarbon AMS dates and two well-dated volcanic events, the Upper Toluca Pumice with an age of 11,600 ¹⁴C yr B.P. and the Tres Cruces Tephra of 8500 ¹⁴C yr B.P., provide the chronological framework for the lacustrine sequence. From ca. 23,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. to ca. 11,600 ¹⁴C yr B.P. the plant communities were woodlands and grasslands based on the pollen data. The glacial advances MII-1 and MII-2 correlate with abundant non-arboreal pollen, mainly grasses, from ca. 21,000 to 16,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., and at ca. 12,600 ¹⁴C yr B.P. During the late Pleistocene, lake Chignahuapan was a shallow freshwater lake with a phase of lower level between 19,000 and 16,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. After 10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., tree cover in the area increased, and a more variable lake level is documented. Late Holocene (ca. 3100 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) deforestation was concurrent with human population expansion at the beginning of the Formative period (1500 B.C.). Agriculture and manipulation of the lacustrine environment by human lakeshore populations appear at 1200 ¹⁴C yr B.P. (550 A.D.) with the appearance of Zea mays pollen and abundant charcoal particles.     

东北地区以泥炭为信息载体的全新世气候变迁研究进展

泥炭作为一种地质信息载体,在全球环境变化研究中起着越来越重要的作用.我国东北地区地处全球变化的敏感区,泥炭地研究的意义更为显著.笔者针对近年来东北地区泥炭地研究的多种成果,对该区全新世以来泥炭沉积和区域气候变迁历史进行了系统分析.得出:①东北地区泥炭有三次沉积高峰,分别始于早全新世、中全新世与晚全新世初期;②该区10000a以来大体上经历了冷湿-温暖适宜-凉湿-温暖偏干-冷干-寒冷略湿-变暖这样一个气候变迁过程.     

A dinoflagellate cyst record of Holocene climate and hydrological changes along the southeastern Swedish Baltic coast

A high-resolution, well-dated dinoflagellate cyst record from a lagoon of the southeastern Swedish Baltic Sea reveals climate and hydrological changes during the Holocene. Marine dinoflagellate cysts occurred initially at about 8600 cal yr BP, indicating the onset of the Littorina transgression in the southeastern Swedish lowland associated with global sea level rise, and thus the opening of the Danish straits. Both the species diversity and the total accumulation rates of dinoflagellate cysts continued to increase by 7000 cal yr BP and then decreased progressively. This pattern reveals the first-order change in local sea level as a function of ice-volume-equivalent sea level rise versus isostatic land uplift. Superimposed upon this local sea level trend, well-defined fluctuations of the total accumulation rates of dinoflagellate cysts occurred on quasi-1000- and 500-yr frequency bands particularly between 7500 and 4000 cal yr BP, when the connection between the Baltic basin and the North Atlantic was broader. A close correlation of the total accumulation rates of dinoflagellate cysts with GISP2 ice core sea-salt ions suggests that fluctuations of Baltic surface conditions during the middle Holocene might have been regulated by quasi-periodic variations of the prevailing southwesterly winds, most likely through a system similar to the dipole oscillation of the modern North Atlantic atmosphere.     

Postglacial stratigraphic evolution of a current-influenced sandy shelf: offshore Kujukuri strandplain,central Japan

Sandy shelf sediments are important elements of clastic sedimentary systems because of their wide distribution in the geological record and their significance as hydrocarbon reservoirs. Although many studies have investigated shelf sediments influenced by waves or tidal currents, little is known about shelf sediments influenced by oceanic currents, particularly their lithofacies characteristics and stratigraphic evolution. This study investigated the stratigraphic evolution of shelf sediments off the Kujukuri strandplain facing the Pacific Ocean, which is influenced by the strong Kuroshio Current. Sediment cores were obtained from six locations on the Kujukuri shelf (34 to 124 m water depth) using a vibrocorer. The dominant lithofacies is mud-free sand with low-angle cross-lamination associated with alternating beds of finer and coarser sand with cross-lamination. These display depositional processes influenced by storm waves and the Kuroshio Current, respectively. This finding is consistent with the previously presented modern and historical observations of the Kuroshio Current and estimates of the storm-wave base. Radiocarbon dates show that the sediment succession formed during the last transgressive and highstand stages after 13·1 ka. The depositional processes during the stages represent a transition from storm waves with abundant sediment supply to both storm waves and the Kuroshio Current with sediment starvation mainly due to its trapping in the strandplain. Comparison to other Holocene–Modern shelf systems suggests that the sandy shelf successions are strongly influenced by oceanic currents under conditions of limited riverine input and open coastal geometry. The resultant sand-dominated succession is characterized by reversal of the proximal to distal grain-size trend compared to the fining for most other recognized wave/storm-dominated shelf successions. This is because of seaward increase in the influence of the Kuroshio Current. Thus, shelf deposits are naturally complex, and these may be further complicated by the additional influence of oceanic currents above the usual wave-dominated and tide-dominated end members.     

Taxonomic analysis of the Quaternary archaeofauna found at The Lapa do Santo site,Lagoa Santa region,Brazil

The Lapa do Santo archaeological site, located in the Lagoa Santa region, Brazil, represents an important hunter-gatherer occupation dated from the Early and Middle Holocene. Prior studies of archaeofauna dating to this period are few and most of them only provide basic faunal identification with limited information on taphonomic processes. The main goal of this study is to identify the archaeofauna, record the taphonomic processes, and make inferences about its natural (interpreted as the death of the animal in the rockshelter area due to natural causes or due to predation) or anthropic origins. No extinct species (including megamastofauna) were identified. Taxonomic analysis indicated that most faunal remains consist of taxa that may be of mixed origin (natural or anthropic), such as microvertebrates and carnivorous mammals. The Cervidae are the main vertebrate family found in the studied material and these are likely the result of hunting. The Cervidae Ozotoceros support the presence of a fauna that is typical of savannah environments, although the assemblage contains mostly generalist fauna that can thrive in a variety of environments. Very few remains showed clear evidence for taphonomic processes related to human interaction, such as burnt bones.     

Diatoms and ostracods as mid-Holocene palaeoenvironmental indicators,North Stromatolite Lake,Coorong National Park,South Australia ∗

The Holocene carbonate sequence of perennial North Stromatolite Lake, located adjacent to the Coorong Lagoon near Salt Creek, South Australia, includes a prominent sapropelic unit (7 – 12% total organic carbon), in places more than 2 m thick, that was sampled for the purpose of radiocarbon dating and documenting its diatom and ostracod biostratigraphy. The recovered ostracods were also subjected to carbon and oxygen isotopic analysis. The bulk organic matter at the base of the sapropel yielded an uncalibrated ¹⁴C age of 6080 ± 60 y BP. Diatoms, where preserved, are almost exclusively benthic. Stratigraphic variation of the proportions of key indicator species in diatom assemblages records a marked oscillation between oligosaline and eusaline conditions in the hypolimnion during deposition of the sapropel. Ostracod carbon isotope data indicate that the lake at this time was eutrophic, thereby enriching the dissolved inorganic carbon of the hypolimnion in ¹³C. However, the observed secular variation in δ¹³C implies a mid-sapropel drop in productivity, caused by a freshening of the lake. Ostracod δ¹⁸O values display an overall increase through the sapropel consistent with the rising salinity of the hypolimnion. The existence of a flourishing benthic ostracod community, together with the valve ornamentation of Osticythere baragwanathi, indicates that the bottom waters were well oxygenated. Thus, anoxia was not a prerequisite for sapropel accumulation. The biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy of the sapropel concur in suggesting a lack of climatic uniformity during its deposition, a period of ～1200 years. This study therefore highlights the potential of diatoms and ostracods in shallow perennial alkaline lakes along the Coorong coastal plain as proxies for short-term (10² – 10³ years) Holocene palaeoenvironmental change in southeastern Australia.     

Tropical cyclone activity and western North Atlantic stratification over the last millennium: a comparative review with viable connections

Tropical cyclones (TC) are recognized to modify the thermal structure of the upper ocean through the process of vertical mixing. Assessing the role this mixing plays in the overall stratification of the upper ocean is difficult, due to the relatively short and incomplete instrumental record. Proxy records for both TC landfalls and oceanographic stratification are preserved within the geological record and provide insight for how past changes in TC‐induced mixing have potentially affected water column structure prior to the instrumental record. Here we provide the first comparison between previously published paleo‐reconstructions of vertical ocean density and tropical cyclone activity from the western North Atlantic. A prominent lull in TC activity has been observed prior to approximately 1700 CE that extends back several centuries. This interval of low TC activity is shown to be concurrent with the timing of increased ocean stratification near Great Bahama Bank, potentially due in part to reduced TC‐induced mixing. To test whether this relationship is feasible, we present numerical results from a coarse‐resolution ocean general circulation model experiment isolating the effect of TC surface wind forcing on the upper ocean. An anomaly of roughly 0.12 kg m^?3 in vertical stratification occurs above and below the mixed layer for model runs with and without TC mixing. This anomaly is roughly 25% of the entire paleo‐density signal observed just prior to 1700 CE. These results suggest that TC mixing alone cannot completely explain the density anomaly observed prior to 1700 CE, but support TC variability as an important contributor to enhancing oceanic stratification during this interval. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.