Micropalaeontological record of Holocene estuarine and marine stages in the Corgo do Porto rivulet (Mira River, SW Portugal)

The Corgo do Porto is a small tributary of the Mira River, outleting 3.5 km upstream of its mouth. The valley is flat-floored due to terrigenous siltation and forms an alluvial plain reclaimed for agriculture/aquaculture. These conditions were quite distinct in the recent past because of extensive marine flooding of this area during the high-rate positive eustatism that followed the Last Glacial Maximum. The Holocene sedimentary column registers changes imposed by several forcing factors, mainly the climate-driven sea-level rise. As part of a multidisciplinary study, the sedimentological and micropalaeontological (benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils) contents of a core taken from this infill were analyzed, and five different stages were distinguished within its environmental evolution: Stage A (prior to 10,000 cal yrs BP) consists of muddy, matrix-supported sand with abundant pebbles, barren of microfossils, and free of carbonates and organic matter that represents a fluvial environment contemporaneous of a low sea level. Between 10,000 and circa 4000 cal yrs BP the sediment is made of homogeneous mud, with bioclasts and organic matter. However, the assemblages of foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton allowed the identification of several environmental stages, defining a cycle of increasing–decreasing marine influence inside the valley: brackish and brackish-marine sedimentation (Stage B), full-marine sedimentation (Stage C) and a return to brackish-marine sedimentation (Stage D). The final part of the core is barren of microfossils (Stage E) and it represents the modern sedimentation in the area with an accreting alluvial plain. This Holocene sedimentary sequence reflects an evolutionary succession that closely agrees with the palaeoenvironmental model previously presented by the authors elsewhere for the south-western Portuguese coast, where a change in the rate of sea-level rise has been recorded at around 5500 cal yrs BP when a very effective sandy barrier formed and isolated restricted brackish to fresh-water lagoonal environments from the open sea.     

Micropaleontological record of Holocene estuarine stages in the Bahía Blanca estuary,Argentina

Holocene paleoenvironmental changes have been interpreted on the basis of benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils recovered in samples from Napostá Grande Stream, Bahía Blanca estuary, southern Buenos Aires Province. Samples are fine sands and clay sediments from a Holocene outcrop and were studied with quantitative techniques. The benthic foraminiferal assemblage is dominated by Ammonia parkinsoniana, Ammonia tepida, Bolivina pseudoplicata, Bolivina striatula, Bolivina sp., Buccella peruviana, and Elphidium spp. The calcareous nannofossil assemblage recovered is a typical cold-water association, dominated by Calcidiscus leptoporus, Coccolithus pelagicus, Emiliana huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica. A dendrogram classification by cluster analysis was made for each microfossil group. The results of these analyses were coincident, showing a liaison between changes in the assemblages of benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils. Those results, jointly with the sedimentological information, lead to the identification of three different paleoenvironments along the Napostá N1 site. The lower part of the succession represents an estuarine environment with larger marine connection. The middle part represents a gradual passage to a more restricted estuarine environment, and the upper part represents the establishment of the modern continental fresh-water environment.     

Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary palaeogeography of the Western Carpathians (Slovakia) and the Eastern Alps (Austria): implications from heavy mineral data

The Late Cretaceous Brezová and Myjava Groups of the Western Carpathians in Slovakia and formations of the Gosau Group of the Northern Calcareous Alps in Lower Austria comprise similar successions of alluvial/shallow marine deposits overlain by deep water hemipelagic sediments and turbidites. In both areas the heavy mineral spectra of Late Cretaceous sediments contain significant amounts of detrital chrome spinel. In the Early Tertiary the amount of garnet increases. Cluster analysis and correspondence analysis of Coniacian/Santonian and Campanian/Early Maastrichtian heavy mineral data indicate strong similarities between the Gosau deposits of the Lunz Nappe of the north-eastern part of the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Brezova Group of the Western Carpathians. Similar source areas and a similar palaeogeographical position at the northern active margin of the Adriatic/Austroalpine plate are therefore suggested for the two tectonic units.Basin subsidence mechanisms within the Late Cretaceous of the Northern Calcareous Alps are correlated with the Western Carpathians. Subsidence during the Campanian-Maastrichtian is interpreted as a consequence of subduction tectonic erosion along the active northern margin of the Adriatic/Austroalpine plate. Analogous facies and heavy mineral associations from deep water sandstones of the Manin Unit and the Klape Unit indicate accretion of parts of the Pieniny Klippen Belt during the Late Cretaceous along the Adriatic/Austroalpine margin.     

To the problem of the Oligocene-Miocene boundary position in the northern Caucasus (in support of the Caucasian regional stage)

Stratigraphic position of the Oligocene-Miocene (Paleogene-Neogene) boundary in the northern Caucasus and, in this connection, of the Alkun Formation and the Caucasian regional stage in geological sections of Maikop deposits, primarily in those of the Belaya and Kuban rivers, is considered. Arguments in support of the Caucasian regional stage are presented and necessity of distinguishing the Karadzhalganian regional stage is called in question. Stratigraphic implications of the Alkun Formation, the regional reference horizon traceable in many sections of the northern Caucasus, are discussed. It is substantiated based on nannoplankton, dinocysts, foraminifers, and distinctive lithological features of deposits that the Oligocene-Miocene boundary is confined to the Alkun Formation at the Belaya River.     

Berriasian drowning of the Plassen carbonate platform at the type-locality and its bearing on the early Eoalpine orogenic dynamics in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria)

The Plassen carbonate platform (Kimmeridgian to Early Berriasian) developed above the Callovian to Tithonian carbonate clastic radiolaritic flysch basins of the Northern Calcareous Alps during a tectonically active period in a convergent regime. Remnants of the drowning sequence of the Plassen Formation have been discovered at Mount Plassen in the Austrian Salzkammergut. It is represented by calpionellid-radiolaria wacke- to packstones that, due to the occurrence of Calpionellopsis oblonga (Cadisch), are of Late Berriasian age (oblonga Subzone). Thus, the Plassen Formation at its type-locality shows the most complete profile presently known, documenting the carbonate platform evolution from the initial shallowing upward evolution in the Kimmeridgian until the final Berriasian drowning. The shift from neritic to pelagic sedimentation took place during Berriasian times. A siliciclastic-influenced drowning sequence sealed the highly differentiated Plassen carbonate platform. The former interpretation of a Late Jurassic carbonate platform formed under conditions of tectonic quiescence cannot be confirmed. The onset, evolution and drowning of the Plassen carbonate platform took place at an active continental margin. The tectonic evolution of the Northern Calcareous Alps during the Kimmeridgian to Berriasian time span and the reasons for the final drowning of the Plassen carbonate platform are to be seen in connection with further tectonic shortening after the closure of the Tethys Ocean.     

Model experimental research on uplift single pile in calcareous sand of South China Sea

Vertical uplift static loading tests of single model pile were conducted in the in-lab calcareous sand and quartz sand by emulating practical condition of full-size piles in site. The settlement, lateral deflection, axial force, and friction distribution of the pile are analyzed for each physical test. The pile behaviors in calcareous sand and quartz sand are compared. From the test results, it can be found that the pile top displacement of uplift pile in calcareous sand can be divided into two stages: the pile–sand synchronous stage and pile–sand asynchronous (relative displacement) stage. Data from uplift tests show that the heave of calcareous sand around pile top is very small, which is resulted from the mutually restraint of surface particle. The mutual restriction of surface particle leads to “bottleneck effect” and strengthens ultimate side friction of upper pile segment. In addition, the shear dilatancy and particle breakage of calcareous sand lead to the upper harden and the lower soften of side friction, respectively. Cases of calcareous sand and quartz sand show different responses to pile forming methods, which due to the sands’ different characteristics of particle breakage when compressed as well as plastic deformation under loading–unloading conditions.     

Distribution of calcareous dinoflagellates from the Maastrichtian to early Miocene of DSDP Site 357 (Rio Grande Rise, western South Atlantic Ocean)

 The evolution of calcareous dinoflagellate communities has been investigated for the latest Cretaceous to earliest Neogene interval of the mid-latitude South Atlantic. In doing so, the response of calcareous dinoflagellates to Cenozoic climatic change has been addressed for the first time. Trends in species composition and distribution patterns of wall types indicate significant changes which correlate with major palaeoenvironmental modifications. A first major shift concerning the relative abundance of species and wall types occurred across the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary. The associations remained stable during the entire Paleocene and Eocene. Only in the late Eocene did a dramatic decrease in temperature cause a slight diversification. A second major shift in the abundance patterns occurred across the Eocene–Oligocene boundary. The early Miocene warming is possibly reflected in the distinct increase in relative abundance of one species. The assemblages of calcareous dinoflagellates evidently react to major climatic changes during the Cenozoic. These poorly investigated organisms may thus provide an important contribution to the understanding of earth's palaeoclimatic evolution. Received: 9 November 1998 / Accepted: 4 April 1999     

Reconstruction of palaeoceanographic conditions in the South Atlantic Ocean at the last two Terminations based on calcareous dinoflagellate cysts

 Despite the increasing interest in the South Atlantic Ocean as a key area of the heat exchange between the southern and the northern hemisphere, information about its palaeoceanographic conditions during transitions from glacial to interglacial stages, the so-called Terminations, are not well understood. Herein we attempt to increase this information by studying the calcareous dinoflagellate cysts and the shells of Thoracosphaera heimii (calcareous cysts) of five Late Quaternary South Atlantic Ocean cores. Extremely high accumulation rates of calcareous cysts at the Terminations might be due to a combined effect of increased cyst production and better preservation as result of calm, oligotrophic conditions in the upper water layers. Low relative abundance of Sphaerodinella albatrosiana compared with Sphaerodinella tuberosa in the Cape Basin may be the result of the relatively colder environmental conditions in this region compared with the equatorial Atlantic Ocean with high relative abundance of S. albatrosiana. Furthermore, the predominance of S. tuberosa during glacials and interglacials at the observed site of the western Atlantic Ocean reflects decreased salinity in the upper water layer. Received: 9 November 1998 / Accepted: 26 October 1999     

Sequence and isotope stratigraphy of Late Triassic distal periplatform limestones from the Northern Calcareous Alps (Kälberstein Quarry, Berchtesgaden Hallstatt Zone)

Received: 24 September 1998 / Accepted: 14 November 1999     

喀斯特地区代表性土壤中铜的形态研究

在贵州省贵阳市附近喀斯特区选择两种典型的土壤进行采样,并对土样中各种形态的铜进行测试。结果显示在喀斯特地区石灰土中铜的氧化锰结合态铜、无定形氧化铁结合态铜和紧结合有机态铜要比黄壤中相应形态的铜更为活跃,石灰土中可交换态铜为1. 520mg /kg; 而黄壤中铜的可交换态铜、碳酸盐结合态铜、松结合有机态铜和晶型氧化铁结合态铜比石灰土的活跃,可交换态铜可达5. 458mg /kg。