Late Quaternary sea‐level change and evolution of Belfast Lough,Northern Ireland: new offshore evidence and implications for sea‐level reconstruction

The interplay of eustatic and isostatic factors causes complex relative sea‐level (RSL) histories, particularly in paraglacial settings. In this context the past record of RSL is important in understanding ice‐sheet history, earth rheology and resulting glacio‐isostatic adjustment. Field data to develop sea‐level reconstructions are often limited to shallow depths and uncertainty exists as to the veracity of modelled sea‐level curves. We use seismic stratigraphy, 39 vibrocores and 26 radiocarbon dates to investigate the deglacial history of Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland, and reconstruct past RSL. A typical sequence of till, glacimarine and Holocene sediments is preserved. Two sea‐level lowstands (both max. ?40 m) are recorded at c. 13.5 and 11.5k cal a bp . Each is followed by a rapid transgression and subsequent periods of RSL stability. The first transgression coincides temporally with a late stage of Meltwater Pulse 1a and the RSL stability occurred between c. 13.0 and c. 12.2k cal a bp (Younger Dryas). The second still/slowstand occurred between c. 10.3 and c. 11.5k cal a bp . Our data provide constraints on the direction and timing of RSL change during deglaciation. Application of the Depth of Closure concept adds an error term to sea‐level reconstructions based on seismic stratigraphic reconstructions.     

吉林省浑江市荒沟山区花岗岩成因类型探讨

本文根据吉林省浑江市荒沟山区中生代花岗岩的岩石学、地球化学及同位素地质学研究，论述了该区花岗岩的成因类型，即老秃顶子岩体、梨树沟岩体、草山岩体均为同熔型。     

Coastal Massachusetts pond development: edaphic,climatic, and sea level impacts since deglaciation

Kettle ponds in the Cape Cod National Seashore in southeastern Massachusetts differ in their evolution due to depth of the original ice block, the clay content of outwash in their drainage basins, and their siting in relation to geomorphic changes caused by sea-level rise, barrier beach formation, and saltmarsh development. Stratigraphic records of microfossil, carbon isotope, and sediment changes also document late-glacial and Holocene climatic changes.The ponds are separated into 3 groups, each of which follow different development scenarios. Group I ponds date from the late-glacial. They formed in clay-rich outwash, have perched aquifers and continuous lake sediment deposition. The earliest pollen and macrofossil assemblages in Group I pond sediments suggest tundra and spruce-willow parklands before 12 000 yr B.P., boreal forest between 12 000 and 10 500 yr B.P., bog/heath initiation and expansion during the Younger Dryas between 11 000 and 10 000 yr B.P., northern conifer forest between 10 500 and 9500 yr B.P., and establishment of the Cape oak and pitch pine barrens vegetation after 9500 yr B.P. Sedimentation rate changes suggest lowered freshwater levels between 9000 and 5000 yr B.P. caused by decreased precipitation on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Lake sediment deposition began in the middle Holocene in Group II ponds which formed in clay-poor outwash. These ponds date from about 6000-5000 yr B.P. In these ponds sediment deposition began as sea level rose and the freshwater lens intersected the dry basins. The basal radiocarbon dates of these ponds and stable carbon isotope analyses of the pond sediments suggest a sea-level curve for Cape Cod Bay. Holocene topographic changes in upland and the landscape surrounding the ponds is reconstructed for this coastal area.Group III ponds in the late Holocene landscape of the Provincelands dunes originated as interdunal bogs about 1000 yr B.P. and became ponds more recently as water-levels increased. Peat formation in the Provincelands reflects climatic changes evident on both sides of the Atlantic region.This is the 8th in a series of papers published in this special AMQUA issue. These papers were presented at the 1994 meeting of the American Quaternary Association held 19–22 June, 1994, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Dr Linda C. K. Shane served as guest editor for these papers.     

Post-collisional transition from calc-alkaline to alkaline magmatism during transcurrent deformation in the southernmost Dom Feliciano Belt (Braziliano–Pan-African, Uruguay)

In the southernmost Dom Feliciano Belt of Uruguay, highly fractionated calc-alkaline granites, mildly alkaline granites, shoshonitic volcanics, and peralkaline intrusions and volcanics are spatially and temporal associated with the evolution of shear zones. Four representative magmatic unites of this diverse association were petrographic and geochemically investigated: the Solís de Mataojo Complex, a medium to high K2O calc-alkaline granite with signature typical of mature continental arcs and post-collisional settings; the Maldonado granite, highly fractionated calc-alkaline to alkaline, with characteristics that are transitional between both types of series; the Pan de Azúcar Pluton, with characteristics typical of post-collisional alkaline granites and the Las Flores shoshonitic basalts.

Geochemistry and geotectonic setting point out that slab breakoff was most likely the mechanism associated with the generation of high-K calc-alkaline magmas (Solís de Mataojo and Maldonado) shortly after collision. Extension associated to the formation of molassic basins and emplacement of dolerites and basalt flows with shoshonitic affinity (Las Flores) 15and finally a shift to magmas with alkaline signatures (Pan de Azúcar) simultaneous with a second transpressional phase were probably linked with lithospheric thinning through delamination. This evolution took place between 615 and 575 Ma, according to available data. Contrary to previous proposals, which considered this magmatism to represent the root of a continental magmatic arc, a post-collisional environment, transitional from orogenic to anorogenic, during transcurrent deformation is proposed.     

Younger Dryas to mid-Holocene environmental history of the lowlands of NW Transylvania, Romania

Pollen, micro-charcoal and total carbon analyses on sediments from the Turbuta palaeolake, in the Transylvanian Basin of NW Romania, reveal Younger Dryas to mid-Holocene environmental changes. The chronostratigraphy relies on AMS ¹⁴C measurements on organic matter and U/Th TIMS datings of snail shells. Results indicate the presence of Pinus and Betula open woodlands with small populations of Picea, Ulmus, Alnus and Salix before 12,000 cal yr BP. A fairly abrupt replacement of Pinus and Betula by Ulmus-dominated woodlands at ca. 11,900 cal. yr BP likely represents competition effects of vegetation driven by climate warming at the onset of the Holocene. By 11,000 cal yr BP, the woodlands were increasingly diverse and dense with the expansion of Quercus, Fraxinus and Tilia, the establishment of Corylus and the decline of upland herbaceous and shrubs taxa. The marked expansion of Quercus accompanied by Tilia between 10,500 and 8000 cal yr BP could be the result of low effective moisture associated with both low elevation of the site and with regional change towards a drier climate. At 10,000 cal yr BP, Corylus spread across the region, and by 8000 cal yr BP it replaced Quercus as a dominant forest constituent, with only little representation of Picea abies. Carpinus became established around 5500 cal yr BP, but it was only a minor constituent in local woodlands until ca. 5000 cal yr BP. Results from this study also indicate that the woodlands in the lowlands of Turbuta were never closed.     

Ordovician igneous and metamorphic units in southeastern Puna: New U–Pb and Sm–Nd data and implications for the evolution of northwestern Argentina

New field, petrological, geochemical, and geochronological data (U–Pb and Sm–Nd) for Ordovician rock units in the southeastern Puna, NW Argentina, indicate two lithostratigraphic units at the eastern–northeastern border of salar Centenario: (1) a bimodal volcanosedimentary sequence affected by low- to medium-grade metamorphism, comprising metasediments associated with basic and felsic metavolcanic rocks, dated 485 ± 5 Ma, and (2) a plutonic unit composed of syenogranites to quartz-rich leucogranites with U–Pb zircon ages between 462 ± 7 and 475 ± 5 Ma. Felsic metavolcanic and plutonic rocks are peraluminous and show similar geochemical differentiation trends. They also have similar Sm–Nd isotopic compositions (T_DM model ages of 1.54–1.78 Ga; ε_Nd(T) values ranging from −3.2 to −7.5) that suggest a common origin and derivation of the original magmas from older (Meso-Paleoproterozoic?) continental crust. Mafic rocks show ε_Nd(T) ranging from +2.3 to +2.5, indicating a depleted mantle source. The data presented here, combined with those in the literature, suggest Ordovician magmatism mainly recycles preexisting crust with minor additions of juvenile mantle-derived material.     

First cosmogenic 10Be age constraint on the timing of Younger Dryas glaciation and ice cap thickness,western Scottish Highlands

We use cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface exposure age techniques at a locality close to Rannoch Moor, western Scottish Highlands, in order to establish the age and chronology of its most recent glaciation. Glacial erratics and an in situ bedrock quartz vein sampled from this site—the summit of Beinn Inverveigh—have yielded zero‐erosion exposure ages of 12.9 ± 1.5 ka to 11.6 ± 1.0 ka, implying complete ice cover of the mountain during the Younger Dryas, or Loch Lomond Stadial. These results fit closely with published ¹⁴C dates that bracket the maximum (lateral) extent of ice cap outlet glaciers, and are the first internally consistent ages to specifically address this period of glaciation in Scotland. Furthermore, the dates imply that previous palaeoglaciological reconstructions for this area may have underestimated both the thickness of the former ice cap and, by implication, its volume. © British Geological Survey/Natural Environment Research Council copyright 2007. Reproduced with the permission of BGS/NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recent Developments in the Analysis of the Black Mat Layer and Cosmic Impact at 12.8 ka

Recent analyses of sediment samples from “black mat” sites in South America and Europe support previous interpretations of an ET impact event that reversed the Late Glacial demise of LGM ice during the Bølling Allerød warming, resulting in a resurgence of ice termed the Younger Dryas (YD) cooling episode. The breakup or impact of a cosmic vehicle at the YD boundary coincides with the onset of a 1‐kyr long interval of glacial resurgence, one of the most studied events of the Late Pleistocene. New analytical databases reveal a corpus of data indicating that the cosmic impact was a real event, most possibly a cosmic airburst from Earth's encounter with the Taurid Complex comet or unknown asteroid, an event that led to cosmic fragments exploding interhemispherically over widely dispersed areas, including the northern Andes of Venezuela and the Alps on the Italian/French frontier. While the databases in the two areas differ somewhat, the overall interpretation is that microtextural evidence in weathering rinds and in sands of associated paleosols and glaciofluvial deposits carry undeniable attributes of melted glassy carbon and Fe spherules, planar deformation features, shock‐melted and contorted quartz, occasional transition and platinum metals, and brecciated and impacted minerals of diverse lithologies. In concert with other black mat localities in the Western USA, the Netherlands, coastal France, Syria, Central Asia, Peru, Argentina and Mexico, it appears that a widespread cosmic impact by an asteroid or comet is responsible for deposition of the black mat at the onset of the YD glacial event. Whether or not the impact caused a 1‐kyr interval of glacial climate depends upon whether or not the Earth had multiple centuries‐long episodic encounters with the Taurid Complex or asteroid remnants; impact‐related changes in microclimates sustained climatic forcing sufficient to maintain positive mass balances in the reformed ice; and/or inertia in the Atlantic thermohaline circulation system persisted for 1 kyr.     

Age,composition, and source of continental arc- and syn-collision granites of the Neoproterozoic Sergipano Belt,Southern Borborema Province,Brazil

The Sergipano belt is the outcome of collision between the Pernambuco-Alagoas Domain (Massif) and the São Francisco Craton during Neoproterozoic assembly of West Gondwana. Although the understanding of the Sergipano belt evolution has improved significantly, the timing of emplacement, geochemistry and tectonic setting of granitic bodies in the belt is poorly known. We recognized two granite age groups: 630–618 Ma granites in the Canindé, Poço Redondo and Macururé domains, and 590–570 Ma granites in the Macururé metasedimentary domain. U–Pb SHRIMP zircon ages for granites of first age group indicated ages of 631 ± 4 Ma for the Sítios Novos granite, 623 ± 7 Ma for the Poço Redondo granite, 619 ± 3.3 Ma for the Lajedinho monzodiorite, and 618 ± 3 Ma for the Queimada Grande granodiorite. These granitoids are dominantly high-K calc-alkaline, magnesian, metaluminous, mafic enclave-rich (Queimada Grande and Lajedinho), or with abundant inherited zircon grains (Poço Redondo and Sitios Novos). Geochemical and isotope data allow us to propose that Sítios Novos and Poço Redondo granites are product of partial melting of Poço Redondo migmatites. Sr-Nd isotopes of the Queimada Grande granodiorite and Lajedinho monzodiorite suggest that their parental magma may have originated by mixing between a juvenile mafic source and a crustal component that could be the Poço Redondo migmatites or the Macururé metasediments. Other 630–618 Ma granites in the belt are the mafic enclave-rich Coronel João Sá granodiorite and the Camará tonalite in the Macururé sedimentary domain. These granites have similar geochemical and isotopic characteristics as the Lajedinho and Queimada Grande granitoids. We infer for the Camará tonalite and Coronel João Sá granodiorite that their parental magmas have had contributions from mafic lower crust and felsic upper crust, most probably from underthrust São Francisco Craton, or Pernambuco-Alagoas Domain. The younger 590–570 Ma granite group is confined to the Macururé metasedimentary domain. Although these granites do not show typical features of S-type granites, their U–Pb age, field relationships, geochemical and Sr-Nd data suggest that their parental magmas have originated from high degree melting of the Macururé micaschists. Field observations support a model in which the Macururé domain, limited by the Belo Monte-Jeremoabo and São Miguel do Aleixo shear zones, behaved as a ductile channel flow for magma migration and emplacement during the Neoproterozoic, very much like the channel flow model proposed for emplacement of leucogranites in the Himalayas.