青土湖地区9500a BP以来的环境变化研究

通过对青土湖地区ZY剖面的代用指标分析,研究了该区9500aBP以来的气候环境变化.在9500～6700aBP期间,剖面为风成砂沉积,平均粒径、磁化率、碳酸盐含量和C/N代用指标值均出现了的最低值,代表了湖泊干涸状态下强烈的风力搬运堆积,反映为一种暖干的古气候环境;6700～5800aBP期间,为碳酸盐粉砂质粘土沉积,代用指标的值均为高值,指示高水位、暖湿的古气候环境;5800～2700aBP为碳酸盐粉砂沉积,代用指标的值均表现为中等,代表了低水位状态下的碳酸盐沉积,反映夏季风减弱,区域降水量减少;2700～1100aBP期间为沼泽沉积,此时湖泊水量变化是以人为因素为主还是自然因素为主,需要进一步研究.     

云南大理洱海东缘早全新世软粘土的工程特性研究

云南大理洱海周缘分布着厚层的早全新世软粘土, 大量原状样品的工程性质测试结果表明, 洱海东缘早全新世软粘土具有高含水量、孔隙比高、压缩性强、强度低、高塑性等工程特性, 其中表层软土超固结现象明显。通过对软土的物理力学指标统计分析表明, 洱海东缘软粘土的力学指标的变异系数较大, 而物理性质指标变异系数很小; 多个物理指标之间及物理指标与力学指标之间存在明显的相关性。对洱海东缘软粘土各类工程特性指标之间相互关系的认识, 不仅有助于揭示软粘土的工程性质及其形成机理, 而且可以指导软粘土工程问题处理措施的合理选择。      

Early Devonian synorogenic alluvial-fan deposits of the Maccullochs Range,western New South Wales

The Early Devonian, Maccullochs Range beds (new) of the Winduck Interval largely comprise non-marine fine-grained sheet-flood-deposited sandstones which lie in the southeast sector of the Darling Basin Conjugate Fault System. Deposition of the >2.5 km-thick sequence occurred on the Wilcannia, Towers and Coolabah Bore alluvial fans, that were sourced largely from lightly indurated sandstone caps overlying a large basement high lying north of the Darling River Lineament, and also from west of Maccullochs Range (Coolabah Bore Fan). Four lithofacies are recognised. Lithofacies 1, massive sandstone, is proximal and was deposited from hyperconcentrated sheet floods. The more distal lithofacies 2 is partly massive, partly laminated and partly affected by soft sediment slumping during its deposition. It contains 1.3 – 3.5 m-thick sheet-flood successions that rarely show cross-bedding. Lithofacies 3 and 4 are minor: lithofacies 3, stream-flood deposited, comprises coarse-grained, pebbly sandstone and lithofacies 4, transient playa lake deposits that are locally intercalated with lithofacies 2. In lithofacies 2, thick massive fine-grained sandstone is commonly overlain by laminated sandstone that was deformed when soft. Incised channel deposits in lithofacies 2 deposits are rare and palaeosols were not discovered. Permanency of the positions of two of the alluvial fans, and by inference their feeder streams, remained unchanged for ～9 million years. The fans overlie probable floodplain deposits observed in a quarry in the easternmost part of the study area. Marine fossils are very minor in the range—the brachiopod Howellella jaqueti at one locality indicates an Early Devonian age for one of the brief marine incursions into what was normally an alluvial-fan environment. Very brief marine incursions elsewhere in the group are deduced from the presence of very rare fossil gastropods.     

Strong historical earthquakes in the northwestern Issyk Kul’ basin (northern Tien Shan)

The northern Tien Shan is the northern front of the Himalayan mountain belt, which resulted from the collision between the Indian and Eurasian Plates. This region encompasses the most active seismic zones of the orogen, which generated the strongest (M > 8) earthquakes. Since there are scarcely any written accounts, the only way to trace back strong earthquakes is the paleoseismologic method. Since 1984 we have been studying the northwestern Issyk Kul’ basin, where there are differently directed anticlines, which constitute the Kungei meganticline. Here, several active tectonic structures (faults, folds) are located, whose development was accompanied by strong earthquakes. Our field studies of 2008 in the Iiri-Taldybulak Valley, along the adyrs (foothills) of the Kungei-Ala-Too Range, revealed two unknown historical earthquakes. The first one, which occurred along the southern rupture in the late 7th century A.D., gave rise to a seismic scarp; the latter broke through the river floodplain and a tash-koro (ancient settlement). The second one, which occurred along the northern rupture in the late 9th century A.D., increased the height of the seismic scarp, existing on the Early Holocene and older terraces. Note that this region already records a strong seismic event around 500 A.D. Archeologic data have revealed one more strong earthquake, which took place in the 14th century A.D. Note that the above-mentioned strong seismic events are coeval with the decline of the nomadic cultures (Wusun, Turkic, Mogul) in the northern Tien Shan and Zhetysu (Semirech’e).     

巴尔喀什湖水量平衡研究

巴尔喀什-阿拉湖流域是中亚地区重要和独特的景观生态系统,巴尔喀什湖是该区域的核心,其水位变化作为巴尔喀什湖流域生态系统及其保护的主要指标,向来备受世人关注.研究巴尔喀什湖水量平衡,对合理确定巴尔喀什湖生态系统保护目标及保护措施,具有十分重要的理论与现实意义.在明晰巴尔喀什湖水系、水位影响因素的基础上,构建了巴尔喀什湖水...     

Age and paleoclimatic significance of late Holocene lakes in the Carson Sink, NV, USA

New dating in the Carson Sink at the termini of the Humboldt and Carson rivers in the Great Basin of the western United States indicates that lakes reached elevations of 1204 and 1198 m between 915 and 652 and between 1519 and 1308 cal yr B.P., respectively. These dates confirm Morrison's original interpretation (Lake Lahontan: Geology of the Southern Carson Desert, Professional Paper 40, U.S. Geol. Survey, 1964) that these shorelines are late Holocene features, rather than late Pleistocene as interpreted by later researchers. Paleohydrologic modeling suggests that discharge into the Carson Sink must have been increased by a factor of about four, and maintained for decades, to account for the 1204-m lake stand. The hydrologic effects of diversions of the Walker River to the Carson Sink were probably not sufficient, by themselves, to account for the late Holocene lake-level rises. The decadal-long period of increased runoff represented by the 1204-m lake is also reflected in other lake records and in tree ring records from the western United States.     

High-Resolution Records of the Holocene Paleoenvironmental Variation Reflected by Carbonate and Its Isotopic Compositions in Bosten Lake and Response to Glacial Activities

Abstract: The Early Holocene paleoclimate in Bosten Lake on the northern margin of the Tarim Basin, southern Xinjiang, is reconstructed through an analysis of a 953 cm long core (BSTC2000) taken from Bosten Lake. Multiple proxies of this core, including the mineral components of carbonate, carbonate content, stable isotopic compositions of carbonate, Ca/Sr, TOC and C/N and C/S of organic matter, are used to reconstruct the climatic change since 8500 a B.P. The chronology model is made by nine AMS 14C ages of leaves, seeds and organic matter contained in two parallel cores. The climate was cold and wet during 8500 to 8100 a B.P. Temperature increased from 8100 to 6400 a B.P., the climate was warm and humid, and the lake expanded. The lake level was highest during this stage. Then from 6400 to 5100 a B.P., the climate became cold and the lake level decreased slightly. During the late mid-Holocene, the climate was hot and dry from 5100 to 3100 a B.P., but there was a short cold period during 4400 to 3800 a B.P. At this temporal interval, a mass of ice and snow melting water supplied the lake at the early time and made the lake level rise. The second highest lake level stage occurred during 5200 to 3800 a B.P. The climate was cool and wet during 3100 to 2200 a B.P., when the lake expanded with decreasing evaporation. The lake had the last short-term high level during 3100 to 2800 a B.P. After this short high lake level period, the lake shrank because of the long-term lower temperature and reduced water supply. From 2200 to 1200 a B.P., the climate was hot and dry, and the lake shrank greatly. Although the temperature decreased somewhat from 1200 a B.P. to the present, the climate was warm and dry. The lake level began to rise a little again, but it did not reach the river bed altitude of the Konqi River, an outflow river of the Bosten Lake.     

Paleoenvironmental records of water level and climatic changes from the middle to late Holocene at a Lake Erie coastal wetland, Ontario, Canada

Pollen and diatom assemblages, and peat stratigraphies, from a coastal wetland on the northern shore of Lake Erie were used to analyze water level and climatic changes since the middle Holocene and their effects on wetland plant communities. Peat deposition began 4700 cal yr B.P. during the Nipissing II transgression, which was driven by isostatic rebound. At that time, a diatom-rich wild rice marsh existed at the site. Water level dropped at the end of the Nipissing rise at least 2 m within 200 yr, leading to the development of shallower-water plant communities and an environment too dry for most diatoms to persist. The sharp decline in water level was probably driven primarily by outlet incision, but climate likely played some role. The paleoecological records provide evidence for post-Nipissing century-scale transgressions occurring around 2300, 1160, 700 and 450 cal yr B.P. The chronology for these transgressions correlates with other studies from the region and implies climatic forcing. Peat inception in shallow sloughs across part of the study area around 700 cal yr B.P. coincides with the Little Ice Age. These records, considered alongside others from the region, suggest that the Little Ice Age may have resulted in a wetter climate across the eastern Great Lakes region.     

A late quaternary record of eolian silt deposition in a maar lake, St. Michael Island, western Alaska

Recent stratigraphic studies in central Alaska have yielded the unexpected finding that there is little evidence for full-glacial (late Wisconsin) loess deposition. Because the loess record of western Alaska is poorly exposed and not well known, we analyzed a core from Zagoskin Lake, a maar lake on St. Michael Island, to determine if a full-glacial eolian record could be found in that region. Particle size and geochemical data indicate that the mineral fraction of the lake sediments is not derived from the local basalt and is probably eolian. Silt deposition took place from at least the latter part of the mid-Wisconsin interstadial period through the Holocene, based on radiocarbon dating. Based on the locations of likely loess sources, eolian silt in western Alaska was probably deflated by northeasterly winds from glaciofluvial sediments. If last-glacial winds that deposited loess were indeed from the northeast, this reconstruction is in conflict with a model-derived reconstruction of paleowinds in Alaska. Mass accumulation rates in Zagoskin Lake were higher during the Pleistocene than during the Holocene. In addition, more eolian sediment is recorded in the lake sediments than as loess on the adjacent landscape. The thinner loess record on land may be due to the sparse, herb tundra vegetation that dominated the landscape in full-glacial time. Herb tundra would have been an inefficient loess trap compared to forest or even shrub tundra due to its low roughness height. The lack of abundant, full-glacial, eolian silt deposition in the loess stratigraphic record of central Alaska may be due, therefore, to a mimimal ability of the landscape to trap loess, rather than a lack of available eolian sediment.