Pattern of abrupt climatic fluctuation in the East Asian Monsoon during the Last Glacial: Evidence from Chinese loess records

Records of two loess sections located in mid-eastern and western margins of the East Asian Monsoon area captured 20 Dansgaard-Oescher events and six Heinrich events. All these suggested that the climate in the East Asian Monsoon area fluctuated rapidly on millennial to century timescales during the whole Last Glacial. We found that these loess-based events of rapid climate fluctuations were generally synchronous with those of GRIP records, but that there were differences between the Shagou loess section in the west and the Wangguan loess section in the east: the former was more sensitive to climate change than the latter. Compared with earlier studies on loess records covering the Last Glacial from neighboring areas, we discovered that the magnitude of Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles decreased gradually from west to east and we suggest that it resulted from the combined effect of the Westerlies and the East Asian Monsoon.     

Last glacial terrestrial vegetation record of leaf wax n-alkanols in the northern South China Sea: Contrast to scenarios from long-chain n-alkanes

Long-chain n-alkanols and n-alkanes in core sediments from the northern South China Sea (SCS) were measured to make a comparison during terrestrial vegetation reconstruction from ~42 ka to ~7 ka. The results showed that terrestrial vegetation record from long-chain n-alkanes matched well with previous studies in nearby cores, showing that more C₄ plants developed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and C₃ plants dominated in the interglacial period. However, these scenarios were not revealed by terrestrial vegetation reconstruction using long-chain n-alkanols, which showed C₃ plant expansion during the LGM. The discrepancy during the interglacial period could be attributed to the aerobic degradation of functionalized long-chain n-alkanols in the oxygen-rich bottom water, resulting in poor preservation of terrestrial vegetation signals. On the other hand, the different advantages of functionalized n-alkanols and non-functional n-alkanes to record local and distal vegetation signals, respectively, may offer a potential explanation for the contradiction during the LGM when the SCS was characterized by low-oxygen deep water. Nevertheless, large variations on n-alkyl lipid compositions in C₃/C₄ plants could play a part in modulating sedimentary long-chain n-alkanols and n-alkanes toward different vegetation signals, thereby suggesting that caution must be taken in respect to the terrestrial vegetation reconstruction using long-chain n-alkanes and long-chain n-alkanols.     

中国东部气温异常型与海表温度异常模关系的诊断

基于国家气候中心整编的160站常规观测气温资料和HADLEY中心的海表温度资料,应用最大协方差分析方法,诊断了中国东部各季节气温异常型和前期海表温度异常(SSTA)模的关系,并重点分析冬季气温与SSTA模的最佳耦合模态及海温异常对大气环流的影响。结果表明:中国东部四季气温异常型与前期海盆SSTA模的显著耦合关系表现出不同的特征。超前6个月的热带太平洋第二模和南印度洋第二模与东部地区冬季气温一致变化型耦合关系最佳。西南冷东北暖的气温异常型与超前4个月热带大西洋一致增暖模有最佳耦合关系。大气环流对与全区气温一致偏冷型对应的SSTA模的回归表现为:西伯利亚高压和阿留申低压增强,东亚大槽加深,中纬度西风加强。对与气温西南冷东北暖型对应的SSTA模的回归表现为:西伯利亚高压和阿留申低压略有增强,东亚大槽槽区附近位势升高,大槽变浅,槽线偏向西南,东部40°N以北风速加强,以南风速减弱。     

颗粒态有机物在长江口及其邻近海域的夏季分布和影响因素初析

利用气相色谱法对长江口及其邻近海域的表层颗粒态木质素(p-lignin)进行测定和分析,结合粒度、有机碳(OC%)、叶绿素a(Chl a)、碳稳定同位素(δ13C)等参数研究颗粒态有机物的夏季分布,并对其分布影响因素进行了初步分析。结果表明,悬浮颗粒物粒度组成以粘土和粉砂为主,平均粒径为7.9μm;OC%的值为0.57—7.41%,Chl a的值为0.35—3.71μg/L,δ13C的值为-25.7‰—–16.6‰,在口门外水华站位出现OC%、Chl a和δ13C的最大值,表明浮游生物的现场生产是主要贡献;紫丁香基酚类(S)、香草基酚类(V)和肉桂基酚类(C)8种木质素酚单体的含量Λ8(相对于总有机碳的含量)为0.0406—1.47mg/100mg OC;紫丁香基系列与香草基系列的质量比值(S/V)的分布范围较宽,为0.5—1.6之间,均值为0.8;肉桂基含量与香草基含量比值(C/V)的分布范围为0.02—0.2之间,均值为0.09;香草基酚类的酸醛比值[(Ad/Al)v]在0.24—2.30之间。盐度、总悬浮颗粒物(TSM)浓度是控制长江口内区与邻近海域颗粒态有机物来源与分布差异的重要控制因素,颗粒态木质素在向海输送过程中还会受到矿物组分、生物降解、浮游生物现场生产等各种因素的作用,使其组成成分和性质发生改变。木质素等参数表明最大浑浊带尽管对颗粒态有机物向海输送有改造作用,但是影响区域有限。     

Last glacial emplacement of methane-derived authigenic carbonates in the Sea of Japan constrained by diatom assemblage,carbon-14, and carbonate content

We studied diatom assemblages and CaCO₃ contents of methane-derived authigenic carbonates from the eastern margin of the Sea of Japan and assessed the formation time of these samples. Radioactive ¹⁴C date was determined in selected samples to obtain the maximum age of the time. The results of our study suggest mass formation of carbonate nodules in a glacial period within ∼40 ky, consistent with a published U/Th dating result of carbonate nodules in the study area. Diatom assemblages and contents in the carbonate nodules (abundance of ∼10⁶/g, dominance of neritic-littoral species, warm/cold water species ratio lower than ∼25) differ from the near-seafloor sediments in the study area, which have characteristics of Holocene sediments in the Sea of Japan, and suggest cementation of glacial sediments. Laminated sediments in some nodule samples are glacial sediments because laminations are records of a low sea level period in the semi-enclosed ocean. Similarity of diatom assemblages and contents in all carbonate samples is another evidence of glacial sediments in nodules. Glacial sediments with oceanic cold water species as low as Holocene sediments restricts the sediment age to before 20 cal. ky BP. Carbonate contents higher than 78 wt% suggest the cementation of poorly compacted sediments near the seafloor, and the date of carbonate cementation is, therefore, close to that of the cemented sediments. Most carbonate nodule samples in this study were formed in a glacial period and detection of ¹⁴C restricts this period to within ∼40 ky.     

The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) in PMIP2 simulations of the last glacial maximum

The increasing trend of the Southern Annular Mode （SAM） in recent decades has influenced climate change in the Southem Hemisphere （SH）.How the SAM will respond increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the future remains uncertain.Understanding the variability of the SAM in the past under a colder climate such as during the Last Glacial Maximum （LGM） might provide some understanding of the response of the SAM under a future warmer climate.We analyzed the changes in the SAM during the LGM in comparison to pre-industrial （PI） simulations using five coupled ocean-atmosphere models （CCSM,FGOALS,IPSL,MIROC,HadCM） from the second phase of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project （PMIP2）.In CCSM,MIROC,IPSL,and FGOALS,the variability of the simulated SAM appears to be reduced in the LGM compared to the PI simulations,with a decrease in the standard deviation of the SAM index.Overall,four out of the five models suggest a weaker SAM amplitude in the LGM consistent with a weaker SH polar vortex and westerly winds found in some proxy records and model analyses.The weakening of the SAM in the LGM was associated with an increase in the vertical propagation of Rossby waves in southern high latitudes.     

基于SBAS-InSAR技术的中巴公路(公格尔墓士塔格段)地质体缓慢变形识别研究

中巴公路沿线地质灾害多发,通过微小变形对于其沿线地质灾害进行早期识别是一种重要的防灾措施。本文以中巴公路公格尔山至墓士塔格山段为研究区,选用2007年7月12日至2011年1月20日获取的16景PALSAR合成孔径雷达数据,采用小基线集干涉测量技术(SBAS-InSAR,Small Baseline Subset Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar)进行了变形干涉计算,识别并分析了沿线地质体的变形情况:(1)冰川运动与冰川泥石流作为沿线最主要的地质灾害,变形相对较大,较易识别,有效PS点主要分布在前缘冰碛物部分,反映为正负大变形相间的高异常值点团,其中公格尔山与墓士塔格山山麓的冰碛物运动最为显著; (2)沿线较软弱顺坡结构岩体发育,且风化严重,稳定性较差,易形成溜石坡灾害,表现为顺坡负异常变形; (3)宽谷区PS点变形以正值和较小的负值为主,该区域主要为底部冰水堆积物,上部洪积物,冰川融水补给充足,土体水分含量较高,可能产生冻胀变形,同时也可能存在斜坡重力梯度方向的变形,二者变形合成在测量结果上表现为视线向的正异常; (4)中巴公路主要在湖盆和洪积扇上展布,推测由于不均匀分布软土的变形,使较为刚性的公路部分路段产生了下沉; (5)SBAS-InSAR的高精度变形观测覆盖范围广,对于线性工程周围地质体稳定性的识别具有很好的应用前景。     

Bayesian modelling the retreat of the Irish Sea Ice Stream

We present an 8000‐year history spanning 650 km of ice margin retreat for the largest marine‐terminating ice stream draining the former British–Irish Ice Sheet. Bayesian modelling of the geochronological data shows the ISIS expanded 34.0–25.3 ka, accelerating into the Celtic Sea to reach maximum limits 25.3–24.5 ka before a collapse with rapid marginal retreat to the northern Irish Sea Basin (ISB). This retreat was rapid and driven by climatic warming, sea‐level rise, mega‐tidal amplitudes and reactivation of meridional circulation in the North Atlantic. The retreat, though rapid, is uneven, with the stepped retreat pattern possibly a function of the passage of the ice stream between normal and adverse ice bed gradients and changing ice stream geometry. Initially, wide calving margins and adverse slopes encouraged rapid retreat (～550 m a^?1) that slowed (～100 m a^?1) at the topographic constriction and bathymetric high between southern Ireland and Wales before rates increased (～200 m a^?1) across adverse bed slopes and wider and deeper basin configuration in the northern ISB. These data point to the importance of the ice bed slope and lateral extent in predicting the longer‐term (>1000 a) patterns and rates of ice‐marginal retreat during phases of rapid collapse, which has implications for the modelling of projected rapid retreat of present‐day ice streams. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evidence for an Hesperian-aged South Circum-Polar Lake Margin Environment on Mars

A broad pitted plain and an elongated low rise occur near the south pole of Mars between a region of major cavi (Cavi Angusti) and a regionally smooth and broad valley (Argentea Planum). Viking, Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), and Odyssey data reveal a densely pitted plain covering ∼6750 km², and containing >300 irregularly shaped, steep-walled and flat-floored depressions with a mean diameter of ∼3.5 km. At the southernmost (poleward) extent of this plain are 12 north/south trending linear valleys that are characterized by theater-shaped heads abutting a major cavi within Cavi Angusti. The pitted plain, which abuts Cavi Angusti to the southwest, is separated from the floor of Argentea Planum by a smooth, elongated low rise that extends parallel to the plain for ∼200 km. These unusual features are all found within the Hesperian-aged circumpolar Dorsa Argentea Formation, which has been interpreted by some workers to be an ice-rich glacier-related deposit. We interpret the pitted plain to represent the maximum northern extent of the Angusti lobe ice deposit. The pits are analogous in morphology and distribution to terrestrial kettle holes, which form from the melting of isolated ice-blocks surrounded and partly buried by sediment, to leave hollows. The linear valleys are consistent with sapping valleys formed from the release of an elevated groundwater table, fed by meltwater lakes. On the basis of these characteristics, relationships and analogs, we interpret the marginal facies to represent an ice-sheet/lake contact environment that existed during Hesperian time.     

Late Glacial fluvial response of the Niers‐Rhine (western Germany) to climate and vegetation change

The Niers valley was part of the Rhine system that came into existence during the maximum Saalian glaciation and was abandoned at the end of the Weichselian. The aim of the study was to explain the Late Pleniglacial and Late Glacial fluvial dynamics and to explore the external forcing factors: climate change, tectonics and sea level. The sedimentary units have been investigated by large‐scale coring transects and detailed cross‐sections over abandoned channels. The temporal fluvial development has been reconstructed by means of geomorphological relationships, pollen analysis and ¹⁴C dating. The Niers‐Rhine experienced a channel pattern change from braided, via a transformational phase, to meandering in the early Late Glacial. This change in fluvial style is explained by climate amelioration at the Late Pleniglacial to Late Glacial transition (at ca. 12.5 k ¹⁴C yr BP) and climate‐related hydrological, lithological and vegetation changes. A delayed fluvial response of ca. 400 ¹⁴C yr (transitional phase) was established. The channel transformations are not related to tectonic effects and sea‐level changes. Successive river systems have similar gradients of ca. 35–40 cm km^?1. A meandering river system dominated the Allerød and Younger Dryas periods. The threshold towards braiding was not crossed during the Younger Dryas, but increased aeolian activity has been observed on the Younger Dryas point bars. The final abandonment of the Niers‐Rhine was dated shortly after the Younger Dryas to Holocene transition. Traces of Laacher See pumice have been found in the Niers valley, indicating that the Niers‐Rhine was still in use during the Younger Dryas. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.