The role of iron and sulfur in the visual appearance of lake sediment varves

Easily discernible sediment varves (annual laminations) may be formed in temperate zone lakes, and reflect seasonal changes in the composition of the accumulating material derived from the lake and its catchment (minerogenic and organic material). The appearance of varves may also be influenced by chemical processes. We assessed the role of iron (Fe) and sulfur (S) in the appearance of varves in sediments from Lake Nylandssjön in northern Sweden. We surveyed Fe in the lake water and established whether there is internal transport of Fe within the sediment. We used a unique collection of seven stored freeze cores of varved sediment from the lake, collected from 1979 to 2004. This suite of cores made it possible to follow long-term changes in Fe and S in the sediment caused by processes that occur in the lake bottom when the sediment is ageing. We compared Fe and S concentrations using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) in specific years in the different cores. No diagenetic front was found in the sediment and the data do not suggest that there is substantial vertical transport of Fe and S in the sediment. We also modeled Fe and S based on thermodynamic, limnological, and sediment data from the lake. The model was limited to the five components H⁺, e^?, Fe³⁺, SO₄ ^2?, H₂CO₃ and included the formation of solid phases such as Fe(OH)₃ (amorphous), FeOOH (aged, microcrystalline), FeS and FeCO₃. Modeling showed that there are pe (redox) ranges within which either FeS or Fe(OH)₃/FeOOH is the only solid phase present and there are pe ranges within which the two solid phases co-exist, which supports the hypothesis that blackish and grey-brownish layers that occur in the varves were formed at the time of deposition. This creates new possibilities for deciphering high-temporal-resolution environmental information from varves.     

基于元胞自动机民勤绿洲湖区荒漠化演化预测

民勤湖区是民勤绿洲中生态环境最为恶劣的地区,土地荒漠化问题十分突出。以民勤绿洲湖区为例,解译1992年、1998年、2002年和2006年TM卫星影像,分析其荒漠化动态变化情况,利用ArcObjects模块结合地理元胞自动机理论构造荒漠化动态模拟模型,通过对比2006年的预测数据与实际数据,对模型进行参数调整和预测检验。预测结果表明,模型预测的准确性达到90%。最后对2012年该区土地利用状况做出预测,进而对荒漠化的发展趋势进行预测分析。     

巢湖凌家滩遗址古人类活动的地理环境特征

通过对巢湖凌家滩文化遗址的野外勘查、采样和室内磁化率、烧失量、化学元素及光释光年代分析,结合巢湖湖泊岩芯记录的中全新世环境特征、研究区较高分辨率遥感影像和文物考古成果,综合研究表明:古凌家滩人生活于中全新世气候适宜期,其文化的发展和繁荣处在气候由温暖湿润向温和略干转换的过渡阶段;晚更新世末期堆积形成的地面(OSL年代11.6 ±1.0 ka B.P.)是古凌家滩人生活的地貌面,本区古地貌面海拔以及拔河高度与现今不同,这与该区新构造运动沉降和气候-水文因素作用有关;中全新世温暖湿润的气候条件下,太湖山南麓台地被进一步切割为山前长条形岗地与河流相间的地貌形态,遗址所在的长岗岗地是东、西、南三面临水的"半岛"环境,河川相连,便于水运交通、渔猎和水稻种植。     

The Stanley unconformity in Lake Huron basin: evidence for a climate-driven closed lowstand about 7900 <Superscript>14</Superscript>C BP,with similar implications for the Chippewa lowstand in Lake Michigan basin

J.L. Hough in 1962 recognized an erosional unconformity in the upper section of early postglacial lake sediments in northwestern Lake Huron. Low-level Lake Stanley was defined at 70 m below present water surface on the basis of this observation, and was inferred to follow the Main Algonquin highstand and Post-Algonquin lake phases about 10 ¹⁴C ka, a seminal contribution to the understanding of Great Lakes history. Lake Stanley was thought to have overflowed from the Huron basin through the Georgian Bay basin and the glacio-isostatically depressed North Bay outlet to Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers. For this overflow to have occurred, Hough assumed that post-Algonquin glacial rebound was delayed until after the Lake Stanley phase. A re-examination of sediment stratigraphy in northwestern Lake Huron using seismic reflection and new core data corroborates the sedimentological evidence of Hough’s Stanley unconformity, but not its inferred chronology or the level of the associated lowstand. Erosion of previously deposited sediment, causing the gap in the sediment sequence down to 70 m present depth, is attributed to wave erosion in the shoreface of the Lake Stanley lowstand. Allowing for non-deposition of muddy sediment in the upper 20 m approximately of water depth as occurs in the present Great Lakes, the inferred water level of the Stanley lowstand is repositioned at 50 m below present in northwestern Lake Huron. The age of this lowstand is about 7.9 ± 0.3¹⁴C ka, determined from the inferred ¹⁴C age of the unconformity by radiocarbon-dated geomagnetic secular variation in six new cores. This relatively young age shows that the lowstand defined by Hough’s Stanley unconformity is the late Lake Stanley phase of the northern Huron basin, youngest of three lowstands following the Algonquin lake phases. Reconstruction of uplift histories for lake level and outlets shows that late Lake Stanley was about 25–30 m below the North Bay outlet, and about 10 m below the sill of the Huron basin. The late Stanley lowstand was hydrologically closed, consistent with independent evidence for dry regional climate at this time. A similar analysis of the Chippewa unconformity shows that the Lake Michigan basin also hosted a hydrologically closed lowstand, late Lake Chippewa. This phase of closed lowstands is new to the geological history of the Great Lakes. This is the ninth in a series of ten papers published in this special issue of Journal of Paleolimnology. These papers were presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the International Association for Great Lakes Research (2004), held at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. P.F. Karrow and C.F.M Lewis were guest editors of this special issue.     

粒度和元素证据指示的居延海1.5kaBP来环境演化

居延海是黑河的终端湖, 在最近3 000 a来已由原来面积 800 km2逐渐萎缩而最终干涸, 同时其周边环境也发生了巨大的变化.东居延海(索果诺尔)湖相沉积的粒度和元素资料研究结果表明: 明清以前湖泊的变化主要受气候变化的影响, 温暖时期, 气候偏湿, 入湖水量增多, 湖泊面积扩大, 流域化学风化作用增强; 寒冷时期, 气候偏干, 入湖水量减小, 湖泊萎缩, 流域化学风化作用减弱.明清之后特别是近40 a来, 由于黑河上中游地区大规模的土地开发及水资源利用, 入湖水量不断减小, 甚至河流断流, 最终导致了目前居延海的干涸.     

冰碛湖溃决灾害研究进展

近年来随着全球气候变暖和冰川退缩,冰碛湖溃决灾害受到了广泛的关注,对冰碛湖溃决洪水/泥石流灾害的研究也取得较大进展,经历了由野外观测到遥感手段与野外观测相结合、由定性半定量到定量、由经验估算到基于物理过程建模模拟的发展过程.从冰碛湖的识别与变化监测入手,综述了冰碛湖的溃决诱因与溃决机制、溃决风险评价指标体系、溃决洪水/泥石流的模拟以及溃决风险减缓措施等方面的研究进展与现状,展望了当前的研究工作的发展趋势,为进一步研究冰碛湖溃决洪水/泥石流灾害奠定基础.     

艾比湖面积变化及对生态环境影响

艾比湖在中更新世为鼎盛期,湖面积曾达3000 km²,贮水量700×10⁸m³,为良好的淡水湖.由于地壳运动和气候的暖干变化,湖面萎缩,到20世纪50年代初湖面积降至1070 km².自20世纪50年代以来,由于大规模的水土开发,灌区人口、灌溉面积和引水量大幅度增加,入湖水量急剧减少.从20世纪50年代至80年末,灌区人口增加了59.3×104人,灌区面积增加了16.43×104km²之多,净耗水量增加了8.13×10⁸m³左右.湖面积一度降至499 km²(1987年),湖水矿化度达100 g·L^-1左右.湖泊的萎缩,导致生态环境的劣变,表现为沙漠化程度加速,浮尘和沙暴天气增加,人畜受害,也导致野生动物的数量减少.20世纪80年代后,由于气候暖湿转型效应,降水和河川径流量有所增加.尤其是大力推广先进节水灌溉技术和退耕还林以及培育生态林等措施,使得入湖水量大幅度增加,特别是2001-2005年的5 a间,年均入湖水量达7.7×10⁸m³,比1989年增加了76%,湖水面积维持在800~950 km²左右.目前生态环境已有所恢复和改观,荒漠植被得到一定程度的修复,沙尘天气明显减少,已有野生动物出没其间.     

内蒙古黄旗海不同粒级湖泊沉积物Rb、Sr组成与环境变化

内蒙古黄旗海湖泊沉积物剖面层次结构清晰完整,通过对该剖面全样、77 μm~20 μm和小于20 μm三个不同粒级Rb、Sr含量和磁化率的系统测定,结果表明,湖泊沉积物中小于20 μm粒级成分的Rb、Sr含量和Rb/Sr值变化阶段明显,Rb/Sr值与磁化率分布曲线十分吻合,因此,小于20 μm粒级成分的Rb/Sr值与磁化率包含更加真实的古气候环境信息。Rb/Sr值反映了风化的强度,因而可以作为指示夏季风环流强度的代用指标。黄旗海湖泊沉积物的地球化学Rb、Sr元素含量和Rb/Sr值以及磁化率值波动特征具有深刻的环境演变背景,由此揭示的环境特征在一定程度上反映了全新世气候千百年尺度的波动变化,与全球气候波动有关。     

Diamictic sediments within high Arctic lake sediment cores: evidence for lake ice rafting along the lateral glacial margin

Sediment cores from six small lake basins in the Canadian high Arctic reveal a gravel‐rich (≤30% by weight) to gravel‐poor (≥2%) diamict facies underlying massive, post‐glacial, clayey silt. Ten other lakes contain a second diamict facies within what are interpreted to be glaciolacustrine sedimentary assemblages. The sedimentology, clast fabrics and fossil remains (diatoms, ostracodes and chironomid head capsules) within both diamict facies suggest that these deposits are not tills. Clast fabrics yielded low S₁ (0·41–0·57) and high S₃ (0·09–0·22) eigenvalues, placing them within the range of ice‐rafted diamictons and glacigenic sediment flows. The high percentage of clast dip angles >45° (15–61%), random clast azimuth and lower diamict contacts conformable to underlying current‐bedded sediment favours an origin as a rain‐out or settling deposit. Samples of the matrix and scrapings of clasts from the diamicts revealed a diatom assemblage dominated by littoral and planktonic forms, such as are found in the littoral regions of the lakes today. This contrasts sharply with the assemblages within the overlying clayey silt, in which benthic forms predominate. Clasts are thus interpreted to have been rafted from the littoral areas of the lake. The process proposed to explain this is rafting by the lake ice cover in a glacial‐marginal environment. Early season meltwater, impounded along the lateral margin of retreating cold‐based glaciers, would buoyantly lift the lake ice cover and any adfrozen lake sediment. Higher lake levels and increased areal extent of seasonal freeze‐on between the lake ice cover and the lake bed would allow the redeposition of littoral sediments to the benthic regions through greater lateral shifting of the ice cover as it broke up. Incision by meltwater streams into the lateral glacial margins would later isolate the lake, allowing seasonal warming of lake water, enough to support the growth and maturation of the ostracode and chironomid species found as fossils within the diamicts.     

Water chemistry of Lake Quilotoa (Ecuador) and assessment of natural hazards

A geochemical survey carried out in November 1993 revealed that Lake Quilotoa was composed by a thin (14 m) oxic epilimnion overlying a 200 m-thick anoxic hypolimnion. Dissolved CO₂ concentrations reached 1000 mg/kg in the lower stratum. Loss of CO₂ from epilimnetic waters, followed by calcite precipitation and a consequent lowering in density, was the apparent cause of the stratification.The Cl, SO₄ and HCO₃ contents of Lake Quilotoa are intermediate between those of acid–SO₄–Cl Crater lakes and those of neutral-HCO₃ Crater lakes, indicating that Lake Quilotoa has a ‘memory’ of the inflow and absorption of HC1- and S-bearing volcanic (magmatic) gases. The Mg/Ca ratios of the lake waters are governed by dissolution of local volcanic rocks or magmas, but K/Na ratios were likely modified by precipitation of alunite, a typical mineral in acid–SO₄–Cl Crater lakes.The constant concentrations of several conservative chemical species from lake surface to lake bottom suggest that physical, chemical and biological processes did not have enough time, after the last overturn, to cause significant changes in the contents of these chemical species. This lapse of time might be relatively large, but it cannot be established on the basis of available data. Besides, the lake may not be close to steady state. Mixing of Lake Quilotoa waters could presently be triggered by either cooling epilimnetic waters by 4°C or providing heat to hypolimnetic waters or by seismic activity.Although Quilotoa lake contains a huge amount of dissolved CO₂ (3×10¹¹ g), at present the risk of a dangerous limnic eruption seems to be nil even though some gas exsolution might occur if deep lake waters were brought to the surface. Carbon dioxide could build up to higher levels in deep waters than at present without any volcanic re-awakening, due to either a large inflow of relatively cool CO₂-rich gases, or possibly a long interval between overturns. Periodical geochemical surveys of Lake Quilotoa are, therefore, recommended.