An Early Holocene Palaeoenvironmental Record from Two Mile Lake,South‐Western Australia

This research is part of an integrated study investigating the Cainozoic development of the Proteaceae in south‐western Australia and this study documents the pollen and geochemical record from Two Mile Lake, south‐western Australia, to determine the environment of this area during the late Quaternary. The vegetation record from Two Mile Lake is consistently dominated by Casuarina and Chenopodiaceae species, with a variety of other pollen types. Geochemical analysis indicates that the environment was low in magnetic minerals, organics, carbonates, nitrogen and phosphorus. Geochemical and palynological results indicate that the vegetation and environment of south‐western Australia were unresponsive and/or unaffected by climatic changes of the early Holocene. The sedimentation rates are unclear and represent an important constraint to this study. It is possible that there was either rapid sedimentation in this area during the early Holocene and/or a lack of environmental change as a result of complex environmental processes.     

Tracking Holocene environmental changes in an alpine lake sediment core: application of regional diatom calibration, geochemistry, and pollen

Diatom abundances in the surface sediment samples of 41 mountain lakes in the central Austrian Alps (Niedere Tauern) were related to environmental variables using multi-variate techniques. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed that the pH, date of autumn mixing (A _mix), mean August water temperature (T _Aug), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and relative water depth (Z _rel) made significant contributions to explain the diatom assemblage variation in the lakes of the training set. A weighted averaging partial least square regression and calibration model was used to establish Di-pH (R ² _boot= 0.72, RMSEP_boot= 0.131), and a thermistor measurements-based PLS model for A _mix (R ² _boot= 0.71, RMSEP_boot= 0.006 log₁₀ Julian days). The latter showed a better prediction than T _Aug, and was used in terms of climate change. These transfer functions, together with analyses of loss on ignition (LOI), the total carbon/nitrogen (C/N)-ratios, and selected pollen, were applied to an early to mid-Holocene (11.5–4 cal. ky BP) sediment core section from an Austrian Alpine treeline lake on crystalline bedrock. Additionally, passive sample scores in the CCA of the diatom training set were used to show trends in the variables DOC and Z _rel. During the early Holocene, diatoms indicative of increased pH, extended warm summers, and low water levels dominated. Between 10.2 and 7.6 cal. ky BP it was followed by diatom assemblages that indicated an increase in lake water depth and an earlier A _mix. The multi-proxy data suggest that the A _mix decline is the result of a series of snow-rich summer cool and wet climate fluctuations, which were divided by climate warming at ∼9 cal. ky BP. Increased A _mix, LOI and DOC, and the correspondent decline in the C/N-ratios, show subsequent climate warming between 7.3 and 6 cal. ky BP. The long-term trend in Di-pH indicates the impact of catchment-related processes during the early-Holocene, that were superimposed by climate.     

内蒙古霍各乞铜多金属矿床的含矿建造及矿床成因分析

内蒙古霍各乞矿床是狼山地区著名的大型铜多金属矿床,含矿建造层序依次为中元古界陆缘裂谷拉斑玄武岩系→矿化热水沉积岩系→陆源碎屑岩系。拉斑玄武岩及基性侵入岩大部分变质为绿泥石片岩,但局部残留基性火山岩和辉长岩类变余结构构造,局部达到斜长角闪岩相,且w(Na2O)>w(K2O)。变余辉长岩的稀土总量较低,且轻、重稀土基本没有分异,黑云绿泥片岩的稀土总量较高,其配分曲线呈轻稀土富集、重稀土亏损型。黑云绿泥片岩中B、F、K、Ti、Zn、Rb、Sn、Nb、Ag、Ba、Pb、U相对富集,Cu、Pb、Zn富集系数高于变余辉长岩,表明绿泥石片岩具有热液蚀变的特征。含矿岩段条带状石英岩、透辉透闪石岩的稀土总量偏低,轻、重稀土有明显分异,并表现为特征的正Eu异常。除矿化富集外,微量元素Be、B、F、Rb、Ag、Ba、Th、U也有明显富集,表现了热水富集成因的特征。矿床矿化受岩性层控制的特征明显,并且在一定的构造部位富集,具有热液叠加改造的特征。硫同位素变化范围大,多表现为正值,硫化物δ34S值的大小排序为黄铁矿>磁黄铁矿>黄铜矿>方铅矿、闪锌矿。矿床成因分析表明霍各乞多金属矿床为热水沉积块状硫化物矿化叠加变质热液改造富集而形成的矿床。     

东营凹陷沙河街组湖相烃源岩的组合特征

古近系沙河街组是东营凹陷最重要的成藏组合。在前人研究基础上 ,系统采集该组 6 0 0余块烃源岩样品和 30个油田 186个原油样品 ,分别进行了多项有机地球化学测试。结合其沉积序列和地球化学分析结果 ,将沙河街组烃源岩划分为咸水湖相 (沙四段上部 )、半咸水深湖相 (沙三段下部 )和淡水湖相 -三角洲 (沙三段中部 )三种成因类型 ,它们分别对应欠充填、平衡充填和过充填的湖泊类型 ,代表了陆相断陷盆地烃源岩三种最基本的成因模式 ;并发现沙河街组烃源岩存在强烈的非均质性 ,尤其在平衡充填过程中表现更为突出 ,这种非均质性与湖平面的升降变化密切相关 ,据此提出了波动湖相沉积。通过深入的油 -源对比工作 ,确立了咸水湖相和半咸水深湖相烃源岩为东营凹陷的主力源岩。还探讨了有机质的赋存状态和油气运移方式 ,指出咸水湖相烃源岩形成的油气以侧向运移为主 ,形成的油气藏分布在盆地的边缘 ;半咸水深湖相烃源岩形成的油气以垂向运移为主 ,形成的油气藏主要分布在盆地的中心 ,油藏类型主要为隐蔽性油气藏     

论扬子地区上奥陶统五峰组观音桥段的深海成因

通过对沉积速率与现代深海沉积速率的比较及古生态学、生物古地理学、海平面变化以及沉积特征综合的分析 ,认为观音桥段形成于深海环境中 ,且属深海等深流沉积。奥陶 -志留系之交广泛发生的高频火山事件可能是生物灭绝的主要和直接原因 ,而火山事件、铱和碳同位素异常事件与志留纪初期缺氧事件在奥陶 -志留系之交的耦合作用可能是 H irnantia- Dalmanitina动物群的灭绝的主要原因。     

Paléoclimat des Petites Antilles depuis 4000 ans BP : l'enregistrement de la lagune de Grand-Case à Saint-Martin

A 2.5-m-thick sequence of lake sediments at the Étang de Grand-Case, Saint Martin (French West Indies) is studied here. Significant hydrological budget fluctuations allows distinction of three main climatic periods: (1) an overall dry period (4200 BP–2300 BP), characterised by carbonated mud, gypsum and storm sand layers; (2) a wet phase (2300 BP–1150 BP) dominated by organic mud; and (3) a more complex phase (1150 BP to present), with detrital inputs due to human activities. Comparison with other regional high-resolution records shows that similar climate modifications typify the whole Mesoamerican and Caribbean area. The climatic phenomena that are implicated in the variations of both precipitation and hurricane frequency over the Lesser Antilles are due to the latitudinal displacement of the inter-tropical convergence zone. These data give new support to the hypothesis of the existence of a correlation between peopling phases and climate variations in the Caribbean as previously proposed by some archaeologists. To cite this article: P. Bertran et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Holocene annual mean temperature changes in Estonia and their relationship to solar insolation and atmospheric circulation patterns

We reconstructed annual mean temperature (T_ann) trends from three radiocarbon-dated Holocene pollen stratigraphies from lake sediments in Estonia, northern Europe. The reconstructions were carried out using a North-European pollen-climate calibration model based on weighted averaging partial least-squares regression. The cross-validated prediction error of the model is 0.89°C and the coefficient of determination between observed modern T_ann values and those predicted by the model is 0.88. In the reconstruction, the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM) is distinguishable at 8000-4500 cal yr B.P., with the expansion of thermophilous tree species and T_ann on average 2.5°C higher than at present. The pollen-stratigraphical data reflect progressively warmer and drier summers during the HTM. Analogously with the modern decadal-scale climatic variability in North Europe, we interpret this as an indication of increasing climatic continentality due to the intensification of anticyclonic circulation and meridional air flow. Post-HTM cooling started abruptly at around 4500 cal yr B.P. All three reconstructions show a transient (ca. 300 years) cooling of 1.5-2.0°C at 8600-8000 cal yr B.P. We tentatively correlate this cold event with the North-Atlantic “8.2 ka event” at 8400-8000 cal yr B.P. Provided that the 8.2 ka event was caused by freshening of the North-Atlantic surface water, our data provide evidence of the climatic and vegetational responsiveness of the boundary of the temperate and boreal zones to the weakening of the North-Atlantic thermohaline circulation and the zonal energy transport over Europe. No other cold events of comparable magnitude are indicated during the last 8000 years.     

Prospects for interregional correlations using Wisconsin and Holocene aridity episodes, northern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain

Luminescence dating of extensive dune fields and associated eolian sandsheets provided a chronology of recently recognized Pleistocene and early Holocene dry climate episodes in the currently humid warm temperate northern-northeastern Gulf of Mexico region. Scattered parabolic dunes and clusters of intersecting parabolic dunes, along with elongated shore-transverse and shore-parallel dunes, developed. These landforms occur in a 390-km-long and 2- to 3-km-wide, semicontinuous belt in southeast Alabama and northwestern Florida. Dune elevations reach ± 22 m. Sangamon coastal barrier sectors were the primary source of the eolian sand. Deflation was coeval with early Wisconsin to mid-Holocene marine low sea-levels and associated distant shorelines. Early Holocene dune dates were synchronous, with indications of a hypsithermal dry interval in southeast Louisiana, the Yucatan, and the south Atlantic seaboard. Overlapping with dry episodes in Yucatan and the High Plains, Texas dunes and Louisiana and Texas prairie mounds, especially in the southwest Texas coast still dominated by dry climate, suggests intervals of early to late Holocene drought. The dates provide the basis for identifying and correlating Wisconsin, early, and late Holocene climate phases between currently semiarid and humid, coastal and interior areas. They contribute to future studies, including interregional paleoclimate modeling. Although Pleistocene coastal eolian deposition coincided with glaciation in the northern interior and with cooler temperatures of a reduced Gulf of Mexico, Holocene aridity phases may have been related to major variations in the position of high-pressure cells, storm tracks, and branches of the jet stream, and even to prolonged La Niña conditions.     

A Holocene pollen record of persistent droughts from Pyramid Lake, Nevada, USA

Pollen and algae microfossils preserved in sediments from Pyramid Lake, Nevada, provide evidence for periods of persistent drought during the Holocene age. We analyzed one hundred nineteen 1-cm-thick samples for pollen and algae from a set of cores that span the past 7630 years. The early middle Holocene, 7600 to 6300 cal yr B.P., was found to be the driest period, although it included one short but intense wet phase. We suggest that Lake Tahoe was below its rim for most of this period, greatly reducing the volume and depth of Pyramid Lake. Middle Holocene aridity eased between 5000 and 3500 cal yr B.P. and climate became variable with distinct wet and dry phases. Lake Tahoe probably spilled intermittently during this time. No core was recovered that represented the period between 3500 and 2600 cal yr B.P. The past 2500 years appear to have had recurrent persistent droughts. The timing and magnitude of droughts identified in the pollen record compares favorably with previously published δ¹⁸O data from Pyramid Lake. The timing of these droughts also agrees with the ages of submerged rooted stumps in the Eastern Sierra Nevada and woodrat midden data from central Nevada. Prolonged drought episodes appear to correspond with the timing of ice drift minima (solar maxima) identified from North Atlantic marine sediments, suggesting that changes in solar irradiance may be a possible mechanism influencing century-scale drought in the western Great Basin.