Quaternary Climate and Environment in the Lop Nur, Xinjiang

Since the middle Early Pleistocene (1.20 Ma B.P.), the desert steppe climate and environment have predominated in the Lop Nur area, Xinjiang, characterized by warm humid epochs interrupted by dry cold intervals. The grain-size and magnetic susceptibility curves record 30 climatic oscillations, each with a ca. 40 ka cycle, in the area since 1.2 Ma B.P., which reflects the controlling effects exerted by the astronomic factor on the environment. The Quaternary sedimentary environment in the Lop Nur gradually changed from a fresh lake through a brackish lake to a saline lake, showing a spiral evolution, and finally it evolved into a playa.     

黑龙江鸡东盆地中中新世湖盆演变和植被变化研究

黑龙江鸡东盆地是受古、新近纪敦密断裂带作用而形成的断陷含煤盆地。依据该盆地91-205钻孔永庆组的岩性变化特点和盆地构造演化阶段,识别和阐述了中中新世湖盆发育的3个阶段,即早期湖泊形成发展阶段、中期湖泊扩张最大阶段和晚期湖泊收缩衰退阶段,并揭示湖泊阶段性发展的旋回性特征。根据孢粉资料,恢复湖盆各个不同发育阶段的古植被面貌,重建当时的古气候。结果表明植被经历了北亚热带含常绿阔叶成分的落叶阔叶林、暖温带—北亚热带落叶阔叶林以及含亚高山针叶树种的暖温带—北亚热带落叶阔叶林阶段,鸡东盆地中中新世湖泊的演变和植被更替存在着潜在的关联。     

泌阳断陷下第三系核三上段高频层序中米兰柯维奇天文旋回信息

古气候是影响陆相层序发育的一个重要因素,其周期性变化是源于天文旋回的驱动力（即米兰柯维奇假说）。米兰柯维奇天文旋回包括偏心率旋回、倾斜率旋回和岁差旋回,这几个轨道参数所驱动的古气候变迁,分别形成了周期为１０万年（或４０万年）、４万年及２万年的高频层序,即小层序组、小层序及小层单元,研究结果表明,泌阳断陷湖盆的高频层序是由地球轨道旋回所驱动的古气候周期性变迁所形成的。     

Late-glacial climatic oscillations as recorded in Swiss lake sediments

Regional pollen assemblage zones for the late-glacial period of the Swiss Plateau are introduced and defined. They include four major zones (Artemisia, Juniperus—Hippophaë, Betula, Pinus PAZ) with several subzones. Pollen and oxygen-isotope analyses on lacustrine sediments from several lakes in the area reveal four distinct phases of climatic oscillation in the time period of 13 000-9500 yr BP. The first oscillation, termed the Aegelsee fluctuation, occurs shortly before 12 000 yr BP and varve counts suggest its duration was ca. 100 yr. It is characterised by a short decrease in the oxygen isotopes as well as a short increase in NAP associated with a depression in birch pollen values. The second oscillation, which occurs in the δ¹⁸O record shortly before the deposition of the Laacher See Tephra (ca. 11 000 yr BP), is termed the Gerzensee fluctuation. It occurs during a pine-dominated phase and its vegetational effects cannot be determined palynologically. The most prominent regressive phase is the Younger Dryas biozone (ca. 10 700-10 000 yr BP) characterised by an increase in heliophilous NAP and low δ¹⁸O values. The Younger Dryas biozone can often be subdivided palynologically into two parts: a first part rich in grasses and juniper and a second part with higher Filipendula and birch values. During the Preboreal biozone another distinct oscillation is evidenced only in the oxygen isotope ratios. Comparison of the Swiss oxygen isotope profiles with the Greenland Dye 3 record suggests that not only the three major shifts in the δ¹⁸O curves but also the minor ones are closely comparable, suggesting some common climatic control.     

Climatic changes in areas adjacent to the North Atlantic during the last glacial-interglacial transition (14-9 ka BP): A contribution to IGCP-253

This paper presents a summary of the evidence for climatic changes during the last glacial-interglacial transition (14-9 ka BP) in land areas adjacent to the North Atlantic. It is a synthesis of the results of the 12 regional summaries compiled by contributors to the North Atlantic Seaboard Programme of IGCP-253 that are published separately in this issue of Journal of Quaternary Science. Eighteen palaeotemperature curves are compared and arranged in three transects, one from southern Europe to Spitsbergen, a second from Ireland to Poland, and the third from southern New England to the Labrador-Baffin Shelf area. Ten maps are presented that summarise the synoptic climatic conditions of the region in 500-year time periods. The purpose of the exercise is to examine the extent to which any emerging patterns support the Ruddiman and Mclntyre model of large-scale shifts in the position of the oceanice Polar Front during the last glacial-interglacial transition. Some broad agreement emerges, although the influence of oceanic changes is diminished in areas that lay in close proximity to the Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets. Attention is drawn to limitations in the compilations and to the potential for improved models in the future.     

Holocene millennial/centennial‐scale multiproxy cyclicity in temperate eastern Australian estuary sediments

We have undertaken a comparative study of down‐core variation in multiproxy palaeoclimate data (magnetic susceptibility, calcium carbonate content and total organic carbon) from two coastal water bodies (Myall and Tuggerah Lakes) in temperate eastern Australia to identify local, regional and global‐forcing factors within Holocene estuarine sediments. The two lakes lie within the same temperate climate zone adjacent to the Tasman Sea, but are not part of the same catchment and drain different geological provinces. One is essentially a freshwater coastal lake whereas the other is a brackish back‐barrier lagoon. Despite these differences, data from two sites in each of the two lakes have allowed us to investigate and compare cyclicity in otherwise uniform, single facies sediments within the frequency range of 200–2000 years, limited by the sedimentation rate within the lakes and our sample requirements. We have auto‐ and cross‐correlated strong periodicities at ～360 years, ～500–530 years, ～270–290 years, 420–450 years and ～210 years, and subordinate periods of ～650 years, 1200–1400 years and ～1800 years. Our thesis is that climate is the only regionally available mechanism available to control common millennial and centennial scale cyclicity in these sediments, given the geographical and other differences. However, regional climate may not be the dominant effect at any single time and either location. Within the range of frequency spectral peaks we have identified, several fall within known long‐term periodical fluctuations of sun spot activity; however, feedback loops associated with short‐term orbital variation, such as Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles, and the relationship between these and palaeo‐ENSO variation, are also possible contributors. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Climate change at the monsoon/Westerly boundary in Northern Mexico

Northern Mexico lies close to the present day boundary between mid-latitude (Westerly) and tropical (monsoonal) sources of moisture. Studies from the adjacent southwest USA have shown major changes in lake levels and vegetation distributions over the late Quaternary which have been interpreted in terms of significant variations in the relative strengths and positions of these climate systems. Palaeoclimatic data from this area have, however, left a number of unresolved questions which can only be answered by extending work into northern Mexico, closer to the major source of summer (monsoonal) rain, the Gulf of Mexico. Studies of palaeolake sediments from a series of hydrologically closed lake basins across a range of altitudes (1280 to 2200 m a.s.l.) in northern Chihuahua are in progress using geochemical, mineral magnetic, diatom and plant microfossil analyses. Preliminary results are presented from the Alta Babícora and Encinillas basins. The sites provide records of lacustrine deposition between >11000 and about 2500 yr BP. The diatom record from Babíora provides clear evidence for a deep water lake in this basin in the late glacial which persisted into the early Holocene. A dry episode coinciding with the timing of the Younger Dryas is recorded in Alta Babícora. Conditions wetter than present are indicated up to at least 7000 yr BP.     

格尔木河流域河流地貌演化的研究进展

位于柴达木盆地南缘的格尔木河发源于东昆仑山脉,末端注入盆地中东部的察尔汗盐湖,是该盐湖最主要的补给河流,极大地影响着该盐湖的成盐演化过程。格尔木河的主要支流——昆仑河和雪水河都是由冰川融水形成,因此,该流域内的冰川进退对河流径流量变化和谷地填充地层物源有着重要影响。该河流域内主要的填充地层为昆仑河砾岩(河流相)、纳赤台沟组(冲洪积相)和三岔河组(河湖相)。在三岔河组之上,发育了四/五级阶地,除最高的T₅之外,其他均为以三岔河组为基底的内叠基座阶地。根据前人的研究,昆仑河砾岩沉积的年代为1269至1042 ka(ESR年龄);纳赤台沟组堆积于482至642 ka之间(ESR和TL年龄);三岔河组形成于355-95 ka(ESR和U系年龄)、90-16 ka(OSL年龄),T₅-T₁阶地基本形成于16- 4.6 ka之间。由于采用的测年方法不同,不同学者对三岔河组的形成时代存在争议,对阶地的划分也有所不同(四级或五级阶地)。但是对T₅-T₁阶地形成时代有较一致的观点,即末次冰消期和全新世早中期。对于格尔木河河流地貌过程的驱动因素,目前尚存在争论,大部分学者认为是气候变化驱动了该区域河流地貌的形成,但也有学者认为构造活动是主导因素。     

长江中下游地区7500—5000aB.P.气候变化序列的初步研究

孢粉分析方法可以比较客观地反映古植被类型,而各植被类型只能在一定的气候指标范围内生长。本文根据这一基本原理,利用现代植被生长的基本气候指标和有关气象资料,对长江中下游地区7500—5000aB.P.的孢粉资料进行处理、转化,从而得出这一阶段每500年一个时间段的气候变化序列。研究结果表明,研究区在7500—5000aB.P.时间内,年平均温度偏暖于今日-0.1—1.5℃,最高温出现在6500—6000aB.P.,气温高于现在1.5℃。     

南极乔治王岛早第三纪古气候

根据植物化石证据,在早第三纪早、中期,南极乔治王岛地区曾出现过温暖、潮湿的气候,作者认为,当时南半球各板块的相对位置以及由此而引起的洋流的变化,很可能是造成这种温暖气候的主要原因。