A primitive odobenine walrus of Early Pliocene age from Japan

Abstract The well preserved cranium of Protodobenus japonicus, a new genus and species of odobenine walrus, is from the lower part of the Tamugigawa Formation at Ooshima-mura, Higashi Kubiki-gun, Niigata Prefecture, central Japan. The lower part of the formation that yielded P. japonicus is Early Pliocene, dating approximately from 5.0 to 4.9 Ma. The skull of P. japonicus is generally shaped like that of the modern walrus, Odobenus rosmarus (Linnaeus, 1758), but is much more primitive, especially in the dentition. Protodobenus japonicus is derived from the Imagotariinae. It is similar to such primitive fossil walruses as Prorosmarus alleni from the Western Atlantic and Aivukus cedrosensis from Baja California, and has some similarities as well as significant differences from them. Protodobenus japonicus could have evolved directly into Odobenus in the North Pacific Ocean, and could have dispersed directly to the Arctic Ocean. This is contrary to the scenario proposed by Repenning and Tedford, in which primitive odobenids, like Aivukus cedrosensis, migrated to the Atlantic Ocean through the Central American Seaway and returned to the North Pacific Ocean as O rosmarus via the Arctic about 0.6 Ma. Regarding the first lower premolar of the living walrus, Fay concluded after studying fetal O. rosmarus that the first premolar (P₁) of the mandible is absent, and that the lower tooth row consists of: C₁ P₂, P₃, P₄. Protodobenus japonicus has in its mandible I _1-2 C₁ P₂, P₃, P₄, and this is the primitive pinniped formula. Pinnipeds typically lose the molars, not the anterior premolars, and the present author believes that the correct tooth formula for O rosmarus is C₁ P₁, P₂, P₃. Its skull, palate, and mandible suggest that P. japonicus had morphology pre-adapted to an early stage of benthic suction feeding, but it probably was unable to rely on that method of feeding. The discovery of P. japonicus demonstrates that the odobenine lineage (true walruses) goes back in time at least 5 Ma. Other more aberrant odobenine walruses, such as Aivukus and Prorosmarus, and pseudo-walruses of the subfamily Dusignathinae, are more distantly removed from the lineage leading to living walruses than has previously been suspected.     

湖南晚奥陶世五峰期的古地理

湖南晚奥陶世的沉积,由于受区域构造控制,其沉积类型计有地台型(湘西)北区);过渡型(湘中区);地槽型(湘南区)等三种。它们以江南列岛和白马山—龙山东西向构造带为分界线。五峰早期除了江华汝城隆起和江南列岛外均接受海侵,海水自北向南逐渐加深。在湘南沉积了巨厚的砂页岩复理石建造。在湘中、湘西北区沉积厚度逐渐变薄。生物群在湘南,湘中为纯笔石相,湘西北为以笔石为主有三叶虫和腕足类等构成的混合相。五峰晚期湖南境内大部分抬升为陆,仅在东安县苏水冲和桃源县九溪等地形成滞流海盆。     

新的引潮位完全展开

Doodson进行引潮位展开时的原始数据采自Brown及Newcomb表,其黄赤交角系采用1900年1月1日之值。目前Brown系数已重新计算,黄赤交角每世纪相对变化5×10^{-4;地球轨道偏心率每世纪相对变化25×10-4。由此引起的潮波振幅长趋势变化已可辨别,这就是所谓潮波振幅的时间依赖问题。作者采用EJC表及2000.0年的黄赤交角和地球轨道偏心率数值,重新用计算机演绎了引潮位展开式,解决了时间依赖问题。文中给出了属于J2000.0系统的引潮位完全展开表。}     

北京周口店地区Ⅳ阶地砾石层的发现及其意义

周口店河谷地区发现古宽谷地形及其相关的沉积物——Ⅳ阶地砾石层。砾石层形成于早更新世,是地表槽状流水作用的结果,命名为“捐兵湾组”。此地层的发现完善了周口店地区晚新生代地层系统,为重建北京猿人先期的古地理环境提供了科学依据。     

宜溧地区花岗岩类岩石谱系单位的划分

宜溧地区中生代侵入体经地面调查和对比分析,依据花岗岩类岩石谱系单位划分原则,可划分为2个超单元(序列)、7个单元以及1个独立侵入体和2类脉岩.戴埠序列岩石化学特征为钙碱质,平桥序列为弱碱质,反映两个序列岩浆有着明显的差异,组合变异图进一步表明两序列的岩浆演化机理不同,是不连续和彼此独立存在.戴埠序列为轻稀土富集型,平桥序列属于重稀土富集型,应归属A型花岗岩系列.     

赣东北晚二叠和晚三叠煤的微量元素对比研究

通过对赣东北晚二叠世和晚三叠世煤的微量元素对比研究，阐述了这两种类型煤中常量和微量元素的含量和赋存特征。通过煤质特征，矿物学和元素的组相关性分析，概括了引起这两种类型煤常量和微量元素之间差弄的地质原因。     

Petrographic and geochemical evidence for the formation of primary, bacterially induced lacustrine dolomite: La Roda 'white earth' (Pliocene, central Spain)

Upper Pliocene dolomites (‘white earth’) from La Roda, Spain, offer a good opportunity to evaluate the process of dolomite formation in lakes. The relatively young nature of the deposits could allow a link between dolomites precipitated in modern lake systems and those present in older lacustrine formations. The La Roda Mg‐carbonates (dolomite unit) occur as a 3·5‐ to 4‐m‐thick package of poorly indurated, white, massive dolomite beds with interbedded thin deposits of porous carbonate displaying root and desiccation traces as well as local lenticular gypsum moulds. The massive dolomite beds consist mainly of loosely packed 1‐ to 2‐μm‐sized aggregates of dolomite crystals exhibiting poorly developed faces, which usually results in a subrounded morphology of the crystals. Minute rhombs of dolomite are sparse within the aggregates. Both knobbly textures and clumps of spherical bodies covering the crystal surfaces indicate that bacteria were involved in the formation of the dolomites. In addition, aggregates of euhedral dolomite crystals are usually present in some more clayey (sepiolite) interbeds. The thin porous carbonate (mostly dolomite) beds exhibit both euhedral and subrounded, bacterially induced dolomite crystals. The carbonate is mainly Ca‐dolomite (51–54 mol% CaCO₃), showing a low degree of ordering (degree of ordering ranges from 0·27 to 0·48). Calcite is present as a subordinate mineral in some samples. Sr, Mn and Fe contents show very low correlation coefficients with Mg/Ca ratios, whereas SiO₂ and K contents are highly correlated. δ¹⁸O‐ and δ¹³C‐values in dolomites range from ?3·07‰ to 5·40‰ PDB (mean=0·06, σ=1·75) and from ?6·34‰ to ?0·39‰ PDB (mean=?3·55, σ=1·33) respectively. Samples containing significant amounts of both dolomite and calcite do not in general show significant enrichment or depletion in ¹⁸O and ¹³C between the two minerals. The correlation coefficient between δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C for dolomite is extremely low and negative (r=?0·05), whereas it is higher and positive (r=0·47) for calcite. The lacustrine dolomite deposit from La Roda is interpreted mainly as a result of primary precipitation of dolomite in a shallow, hydrologically closed perennial lake. The lake was supplied by highly saturated HCO₃^?/CO₃^2? groundwater that leached dolomitic Mesozoic formations. Precipitation of dolomite from alkaline lake waters took place under a semi‐arid to arid climate. However, according to our isotopic data, strong evaporative conditions were not required for the formation of the La Roda dolomite. A significant contribution by bacteria to the formation of the dolomites is assumed in view of both petrographic and geochemical evidence.     

Astronomical calibration of the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary: Consequences for magnetic remanence acquisition in marine carbonates and the Asian loess sequences

We have compiled 19 records from marine carbonate cores in which the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary (MBB) has been reasonably well constrained within the astronomically forced stratigraphic framework using oxygen isotopes. By correlation of the δ¹⁸O data to a timescale based on astronomical forcing, we estimate astronomical ages for each of the MBB horizons. In all but one record the MBB occurs within Stage 19.

Most magnetostratigraphic sections in Asian Loess place the MBB within a loess interval. Since loess deposition is presumed to be associated with glacial intervals, loess horizons should correspond to even-numbered oxygen isotope stages. A glacial age for the MBB is at odds with the results presented here, which firmly place the MBB within interglacial Stage 19. Inconsistency among the many loess sections and between the loess and the marine records suggests that the magnetic interpretation of loess sections may be more complicated than hitherto supposed.

The mean of the Stage 19 age estimates for the MBB is 777.9 ± 1.8 (N = 18). Inclusion of the single Stage 20 age results in a mean of 778.8 ± 2.5 (N = 19). The astronomical age estimate of the MBB compares favorably with an (unweighted) mean of 778.2 ± 3.5 (N = 10) from a compilation of ⁴⁰Ar/39^Ar results of transitional lava flows. Combining the two independent data sets yields a grand mean of 778.0 ± 1.7 (N = 28).

The new compilation shows virtually no trend in placement of the MBB within isotope Stage 19 as a function of sediment accumulation rate. We interpret this to mean that the average depth of remanence acquisition is within a few centimeters of the sediment-water interface.

Separating the cores into two geographic regions (an Indo-Pacific-Caribbean [IPC] Group and an Atlantic Group) results in a significant difference in the position of the mid-point of the reversal with respect to the astronomical time scale. The data presented here suggest a difference of several thousand years between the two regions. This observation could be caused by systematic differences between the two regions in sedimentation rate within the interval of interest, systematic differences in remanence acquisition, or by genuine differences in the timing of the directional changes between the two regions.     

上新世末～更新世初西太平洋变冷事件及其古气候意义

依据深海沉积中浮游有孔虫化石群落，采用时间面与时间系列分析及目标转换函数方法，再造西太平洋近2.6Ma以来表层水温历史。结果表明，上新世末～更新世初，西太平洋曾经历一大幅度、不可逆性质的温降。变冷事件集中发生于2.4～1.0MaB.P.间，主要体现在亚热带水团，冬、夏降温幅度达7～8℃和2-3℃，热带水团相对稳定。西太平洋温度场巨变表明其在北半球冰川发展过程中的正、负反馈作用，并由此奠定了中、晚更新世冰期旋回的全球气候模式。     

利用灵山洞钟乳石中流体包裹体研究更新世古环境

流体包裹体在喀斯特溶洞化学沉积物中广泛分布,这些在化学沉积过程中所形成的流体包裹体蕴藏着大量的古环境演化和气候变迁的重要信息。通过采集杭州灵山洞中更新世形成的钟乳石样品,对不同纹圈中流体包裹体进行测定,研究流体包裹体的特征,利用不混溶气-水包裹体中最大密度判别和计算方法确定六个纹圈中精确的形成温度和压力;根据气-水-岩化学反应平衡热力学方法,计算出 CO_2成分浓度和古地下水中 pH 值及钟乳石样品形成过程中的 CaCO_3饱和度等。揭示了杭州地区更新纪古环境演化规律。