The quaternary glacial history of the Lahul Himalaya,northern India

This paper presents the first glacial chronology for the Lahul Himalaya, Northern India. The oldest glaciation, the Chandra Glacial Stage, is represented by glacially eroded benches at altitudes greater than 4300 m above sea-level. This glaciation was probably of a broad valley type. The second glaciation, the Batal Glacial Stage, is represented by highly weathered and dissected lateral moraines, which are present along the Chandra valley and some of its tributaries. This was an extensive valley glaciation. The third major glaciation, the Kulti Glacial Stage, is represented by well-preserved moraines in the main tributary valleys of the Chandra valley. This represents a less extensive valley glaciation. Two minor glacial advances, the Sonapani I and II, are represented by small sharp-crested moraines, which are within a few hundred metres or few kilometres of the present-day glaciers. The change in style and extent of glaciation is attributed to an increase in aridity throughout the Quaternary, due either to global climatic change or uplift of the Pir Panjal mountains to the south of Lahul, which restricted the northward penetration of the south Asian summer monsoon. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Full-glacial — late-glacial palaeoclimate of the Southern Andes: evidence from pollen,beetle and glacial records

Palaeoecological studies carried out in the Chilean Lake District and Chilotan Archipelago (41°–43°S) record full-glacial and late-glacial pollen assemblages beginning just after 21000 and beetle assemblages after 18000, both sets extending until 10000 ¹⁴C yr BP. Pollen records indicate that Subantarctic Parkland, the vegetation of the early millennia of record, changed after about 14000 yr BP to become open woodland and later North Patagonian Evergreen Forest. Assemblages of plants and beetles, responding more or less in unison to a strong rise in temperature (≥ 6°C), behaved in accord at around 14000 until 13000–12500 yr BP, the beetle fauna displaying a marked increase in obligate forest types. During full-glacial conditions (17400–16100 and 15300 and 14400 yr BP) and in the late-glacial interval (after about 13000 yr BP), however, climate evidently coerced populations dissimilarly, the pollen sequence showing an increase in plant taxa indicative of colder climate, whereas the beetle fauna underwent little or no variation. Contrasting climate modes implied by plants and beetles may be attributed to differential responses to apparent low-order temperature changes (≤ 2–3°C).     

Ancient and modern cold-climate aeolian sand deposition: A review

Although partly active aeolian sand sheets and dunes cover large areas in the zones of (dis)continuous permafrost, little precise information is available about the influence of cold-climate conditions on modern aeolian processes. This means that palaeoenvironmental reconstructions in the stabilised, mainly Late Pleistocene dune fields and cover sand regions in the ‘sand belts’ of the European Lowlands and the Northern Great Plains of the USA and Canada, are necessarily still based on ancient evidence. Cold-climate wind deposits are typically derived from areas of abundant sediment supply like unvegetated flood plains, glacial outwash plains, till plains and lake shores. The common parabolic and transverse dune forms resemble those observed in temperate regions. Although a variety of periglacial features has been identified in Late Pleistocene dune and cover sands none of them indicate that permafrost is crucial to aeolian activity. Specific structures in aeolian strata permit tentative interpretation of the moisture content of depositional sand surfaces, the nature of annual sedimentation cycles and the processes by which strata were deposited and/or contorted. But surprisingly little is known about the role of vegetation in the process of sand accumulation. Dunes are most informative with respect to reconstructions of past wind regimes, which offer important data for verification of palaeoclimatic simulations.     

A well‐established Early–Middle Pleistocene marine sequence on south‐east Zakynthos island,western Greece: Magneto‐biostratigraphic constraints and palaeoclimatic implications

The chronostratigraphy of a long, onshore Early–Middle Pleistocene marine sedimentary sequence on the south‐east part of Zakynthos island, Greece, is presented. Correlation of the succession with the isotope record of Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 reveals the combined influence of tectonics and eustacy in this area. The sequence is divided into three formations by two main unconformities that apparently relate to sea‐level lowstands associated with two major northern hemisphere glaciations, those of marine isotope stages (MIS) 22 and 12. The Zakynthos sequence in many ways is comparable with the Italian Valle di Manche section. Magnetostratigraphic and rock magnetic analyses, supported by biostratigraphy, document the position of the Matuyama/Brunhes Chron boundary (0.77 Ma), the top and base of the Jaramillo Subchron (0.99–1.07 Ma), the Cobb Mountain Subchron (1.173–1.185 Ma) and the top of the Olduvai Subchron (1.78 Ma). The underlying strata are constrained exclusively by detailed nannofossil biostratigraphy extending at least to the lowermost Pleistocene at around 2.54 Ma and therefore certainly incorporating the base of the Olduvai Subchron (1.95 Ma) and possibly the Gauss/Matuyama Chron boundary (2.58 Ma). In addition, a remarkable increase in sedimentation rate (from 3.2 and 28 cm ka^?1 to 167 cm ka^?1) and hence resolution above the Matuyama/Brunhes boundary (Middle Pleistocene) reveals one short‐lived magnetic excursion, possibly 17a (0.66 Ma), within the normal polarity Brunhes Chron. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recent sedimentation in a high arctic lake, northern Ellesmere Island, Canada

A multiple core study was conducted on laminated minerogenic sediments from Lake C2, Northern Ellesmere Island, Canadian High Arctic. Lateral persistence, distal thinning, variation in grain size of these laminations as well as present-day processes of highly seasonal sediment transfer into the lake basin suggest that clastic varves have been formed. Sedimentation rates based on ²¹⁰Pb dating agree well with sedimentation rates based on lamination counts giving further evidence that laminations are annual. Errors in varve counting were reduced from 12% to < 2% using the multi-core approach of cross-correlating all records. Varved sediments are occasionally interrupted by thick coarse-grained layers, which are interpreted as deposits of turbidity currents and may be related to extremely high discharge events and slope failures of the delta front. Micro-laminated sediments spanning the last two centuries were studied in detail. Suspension settling is the dominant process of deposition depending upon stream discharge which is controlled by nival melt and summer temperatures. Application of varve chronology thus allows to use lamination thickness measurements as source of high resolution proxy data for palaeoclimatic reconstruction.This is the fifth in a series of papers published in this issue on the Taconite Inlet Lakes Project. These papers were collected by Dr R. S. Bradley.     

福建省中部沿海地区十二万年来的古气候

根据福建中部沿海地区有关钻孔或露头第四系孢粉样的研究,将该区距今12万年以来的古气候划分为七个气候期:(1)温暖湿润的琅岐期,距今12.0—7.0万年;(2)冷干的前福州期,距今7.0—4.1万年;(3)前期凉爽,后期温湿的福州期,距今4.1—2.0万年;(4)冷干的后福州期,距今2.0—1.2万年;(5)稍温干的前长乐期,距今1.2—0.8万年;(6)暖热湿润的长乐期,距今0.8—0.3万年;(7)稍温湿的后长乐期,距今0.3万年至现在。福建省中部沿海地区晚更新世下限距今约12万年,全新世下限距今约1.2万年。     

青藏高原北部新生代湖相碳酸盐岩碳氧同位素特征及古环境意义

对青藏高原北部地区新生代陆相地层中湖相碳酸盐岩进行了系统采样分析，以碳氧同位素作为古环境和古气候变化的替代指标,试图从古湖泊演化的角度，阐明高原新生代早期环境演变历史和过程。研究结果表明，该区所有分析样品中生物碎屑灰岩类样品的δ¹⁸O和δ¹³C显示最低值，反映它们沉积在一个水体滞留时间短的开放性淡水湖泊系统中。泥晶灰岩类样品的δ¹⁸O和δ¹³C之间具有正相关关系，表明它们发育在蒸发作用明显的封闭性咸水湖泊体系中，而叠层石灰岩类明显富集13C可能与微生物活动有关。从始新世到渐新世至中新世，湖相碳酸盐岩δ¹⁸O值具有逐渐增大的趋势，δ¹³C则由古近纪的负值变为新近纪的正值，反映该区古湖泊系统经历了一个由开放到封闭的过程，预示古近纪到新近纪之交高原古气候格局发生了重大变革。     

新疆玛纳斯湖沉积物氧同位素记录的古气候信息探讨──与青海湖和色林错比较

内陆封闭湖泊自生碳酸盐氧同位素组成与大气降水同位素组成、空气相对湿度和地面气温这三个参数相关。我国季风带的青海湖与色林错的δ~(18)O曲线非常相似,说明古气候变化受相同因素驱动。在10500～9500aB．P．的末次冰期向全新世的过渡期,这两个湖泊的δ~(18)O值大幅度下降,这是夏季风雨水的低δ~(18)O值的缘故。属于西风带的玛纳斯湖和季风带的青海湖的δ~(18)O曲线基本上是对称的。大约9500～4000aB．P,图形由对称转变为相似,据此推论当时夏季风的影响范围可能达到新疆北部。     

The Loch Lomond Readvance on north Arran,Scotland: glacier reconstruction and palaeoclimatic implications

Geomorphological mapping of northern Arran provides evidence for two advances of locally nourished glaciers, the younger being attributable to the Loch Lomond Stade (LLS) of ca. 12.9–11.5 k yr BP, primarily through the mutually exclusive relationship between glacial limits and Lateglacial periglacial features. The age of the earlier advance is unknown. Inferred LLS glacier cover comprised two small icefields and eight small corrie or valley glaciers and totalled 11.1 km². ELAs reconstructed using area–altitude balance ratio methods range from 268 m to 631 m for individual glaciers, with an area‐weighted mean ELA of 371 m. ELAs of individual glaciers are strongly related to snow‐contributing areas. The area‐weighted mean ELA is consistent with a north–south decline in LLS ELAs along the west coast of Great Britain. This decline has an average latitudinal gradient of 70 m 100 km^?1, equivalent to a mean southwards ablation‐season temperature increase of ca. 0.42°C 100 km^?1. Mean June–August temperatures at the regional climatic ELA, estimated from chironomid assemblages in SE Scotland, lay between 5.7 ± 0.1°C and 4.1 ± 0.2°C. Empirical relationships between temperature and precipitation at modern glacier ELAs indicate equivalent mean annual precipitation at the ELA lay between 2002 ± 490 mm and 2615 ± 449 mm. These figures suggest that stadial precipitation on Arran fell within a range between +8% and ?33% of present mean annual precipitation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.