Stratigraphic framework of late Paleozoic in northeastern China

Late Paleozoic strata in northeastern China are distributed in a zonal pattern around the old-land on the Jiamusi-Mongolia Block.They are composed of active deposits in the regular distributed tectonic lithofacies zones.This indicates that the late Paleozoic strata belong to continental margin deposits.According to the strong conformability of the sedimentary strata in the same continental margin and distinct differences among the three continental margins,three stratigraphical regions of the Jiamusi-Mongolia Stratigraphical Province are recognized along the northern,southern and eastern margins of the Jiamusi-Mongolia Block,named respectively as Xing’an Stratigraphical Region,Inner Mongolia grass--Songhua River Stratigraphical Region and Baoqing--Hunchun Stratigraphical Region.Due to the characteristics of continental margin deposits and active sediments,the strata can be correlated on the level of formation by the methods of analysing the rock association in the same stratigraphic region.Therefore,some revisions of the lithological formations of the late Paleozoic strata in northeastern China have been made,and a new chart of lithostratigraphic correlation has been proposed.Furthermore,the present stratigraphic framework is setting on the International Stratigraphic Chart on the level of stage,after comprehensive researches to lithostratigraphy,biostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy,especially the conodont biostratigraphy and isotopic ages of volcanic rocks obtained in recent years.     

西太平洋暖池核心区晚第四纪颗石藻属种变化及对环境演化的响应

对西太平洋暖池核心区KX97321-2站位380ka以来的颗石藻化石进行了属种鉴定及百分含量分析。结果显示,380ka以来Florisphaera profunda百分含量升高,对应营养跃层加深,初级生产力降低,Gephyrocapsa spp.的百分含量降低;在中布容期,Gephyrocapsa caribbeanica是优势种,是对中布容期特殊的环境条件适应演化的结果;对380ka以来F.profunda换算的初级生产力进行频谱分析,发现有100ka周期和30ka周期,而分段分析发现,0～80ka和320～380ka 2万年周期明显,中间80～320ka 4万年周期明显。     

Balkas – a new look at a common landform of the East European Plain,from a Quaternary perspective

Balkas (large Quaternary gullies) of the south‐western part of the East European Plain (and their analogues in Central and Western Europe) are considered in terms of their geomorphology, lithology, sedimentology, modern surface processes, stratigraphy and palaeogeography. Features attributed to balkas in comparison with regular gullies and small river valleys are described. Balkas are widespread elements of the modern landscape with the same characteristic gentle‐concave bottom as regular gullies, and with or without weakly incised river channels. Buried gully incisions of different ages (post‐Gelasian) with the same shape are also revealed below modern Balkas. They are infilled by characteristic balka alluvial, slope and even lacustrine‐bog deposits, in places representing compound sequences of fluvial‐aeolian sedimentation. The fluvial part reflects multiple series of ephemeral episodes of increased water and sediment supply within temporary streams. Two conspicuous series supposedly fall within the final stages of the Dnieper (late Middle Pleistocene) and Valdai (Late Pleistocene) glaciations. Different ideas concerning the increase of surface runoff and erodibility of soils that might favour active balkas under conditions of land‐ice decay and permafrost, including its degradation, are discussed. The development of balkas included relatively short phases of incision and accumulation interrupted by much longer periods of inactivity, when they were subjected to surface processes in a subaerial environment or left as a relic. However, during active phases they served as important and powerful depositories and arteries of rill–gully–balka sedimentation systems, collecting and transmitting eroded material to the river valleys. These phases are related to climatic oscillations and were to some degree independent of fluvial processes affecting the permanent streams. Most of the Middle‐Late Pleistocene balkas retained their primary features, having subsequently been incorporated into the erosional network. In contrast, some of them were totally infilled and disappeared from the landscape. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

泰山南坡沉积物特征及第四纪冰缘环境探讨

针对泰山第四纪冰川有无的争议,在泰山南坡采集沉积物样品进行分析研究。孢粉分析结果显示优势植物种群为"松属+中华卷柏+蒿属+藜科",指示的沉积环境为湿冷环境。扫描电镜观察石英颗粒表面,显示出边缘棱角清晰、具贝壳状断口和解理片的冰川环境特征。通过热释光测试得样品年龄为(30.54±2.59)kaB.P.,相当于末次冰期主冰期中的Paudorf-Stillfried间冰阶。根据泰山现代气候环境推演泰山古气候温度和降水量,得出泰山地区在末次冰期时具备了形成冰川的基本气候条件。鉴于Paudorf-Stillfried间冰阶持续的时间较短,因此初步推断该沉积物指示的古气候环境为冰缘环境。     

利用元素地球化学特征研究河北平原第四纪沉积 环境的探讨与实践

应用河北省平原区多目标区域地球化学调查获得表层和深层土壤元素含量数据,对河北平原的第四纪沉积环境进行了分区。以SiO2、Na/Rb比值、Ca/Ba比值、Rb,U,Ga和Fe,Mg,Ni,V均一化累加和等地球化学指标作为第四纪沉积环境的分区指标,共划分出山前残坡积洪冲积相、冲积扇堆积相、中部平原河道带相、古黄河泛洪相、风积相、海陆过渡相等6个沉积相及河床亚相、漫滩亚相及洼地亚相等3个沉积亚相。此项研究是多目标地球化学应用于基础地学研究的重大实践,取得了十分理想的研究效果。     

Late Quaternary marine-based Kara Sea ice sheets: a review of terrestrial stratigraphic data highlighting their formation

Reconstructions of the Late Quaternary glacial history of the Kara Sea area show repeated build-up of ice-sheet domes over the shallow epicontinental Kara Sea. Inferred ice divides were situated over the central Kara Sea, and the ice sheet repeatedly inundated the surrounding coastal areas of western Siberia. Geological fingerprinting of the Kara Sea ice sheet include end moraine zones, raised beaches, tills, glaciotectonic deformations and coarsening-upward sediment sequences, reflecting isostatic rebound cycles. This paper reviews evidence from several areas along the perimeter of the Kara Sea, suggesting that peripheral sites were critical for the initiation of the large Kara Sea ice sheet. Ice-sheet inception progressed with the formation of local ice caps that later coalesced on the adjacent shelf with globally falling sea levels, eventually merging and growing into a large ice dome.     

Rock varnish microlamination dating of late Quaternary geomorphic features in the drylands of western USA

Varnish microlamination (VML) dating is a correlative age determination technique that can be used to date and correlate various geomorphic features in deserts. In this study, we establish a generalized late Quaternary (i.e., 0–300 ka) varnish layering sequence for the drylands of western USA and tentatively correlate it with the SPECMAP oxygen isotope record. We then use this climatically correlated varnish layering sequence as a correlative dating tool to determine surface exposure ages for late Quaternary geomorphic features in the study region. VML dating of alluvial fan deposits in Death Valley of eastern California indicates that, during the mid to late Pleistocene, 5–15 ky long aggradation events occurred during either wet or dry climatic periods and that major climate shifts between glacial and interglacial conditions may be the pacemaker for alteration of major episodes of fan aggradation. During the Holocene interglacial time, however, 0.5–1 ky long brief episodes of fan deposition may be linked to short periods of relatively wet climate. VML dating of alluvial desert pavements in Death Valley and the Mojave Desert reveals that pavements can be developed rapidly (< 10 ky) during the Holocene (and probably late Pleistocene) in the arid lowlands (< 800 m msl) of these regions; but once formed, they may survive for 74–85 ky or even longer without being significantly disturbed by geomorphic processes operative at the pavement surface. Data from this study also support the currently accepted, “being born at the surface” model of desert pavement formation. VML dating of colluvial boulder deposits on the west slope of Yucca Mountain, southern Nevada, yields a minimum age of 46 ka for the emplacement of these deposits on the slope, suggesting that they were probably formed during the early phase of the last glaciation or before. These results, combined with those from our previous studies, demonstrate that VML dating has great potential to yield numerical age estimates for various late Quaternary geomorphic features in the western USA drylands.     

Stone runs in the Falkland Islands: Periglacial or tropical?

“Stone runs” is the Falklands vernacular term for openwork boulder accumulations, which include extensive blockstreams like the famous Darwin “stone-river” and associated features such as stone stripes. Since the early 20th century, they have been interpreted as the product of a suite of periglacial processes, including frost-wedging, gelifluction, frost heave, frost-sorting and snowmelt runoff. Following a literature review, the results of recent field investigations of the valley-floor blockstreams of East Falkland are presented. Access to the internal structure of these forms provides evidence for the existence of a three-fold profile, with clear vertical size gradation presenting striking similarities with an inverted weathering profile. Micromorphological analyses, SEM, XRD, thin sections and grain-size analyses lead to the hypothesis of an alternative model of stone run formation. It is suggested that the material forming the stone run profile lato sensu (including the superficial pavement) is not of periglacial origin, but derives directly from the stripping and accumulation downslope of a regolith, possibly Tertiary in age and formed under subtropical or temperate conditions. The valley-floor stone runs should, therefore, be considered as complex polygenetic landforms that may have formed according to a six-stage scenario, including in situ chemical weathering, regolith stripping by mass movements, soil formation, further regolith stripping, downslope accumulation and matrix washing-out (all phases possibly achieved by the Early Quaternary). Periglacial reworking of the stone run material would have operated at a “final” stage, i.e. during Quaternary cold stages, with boulder bioweathering and limonite-staining operating during the temperate intervals including the present one. The suggested antiquity of the Falklands blockstreams is in accordance with Caine's pioneer interpretation of Tasmania blockfields and with recent analyses and cosmogenic datings of blockfields from Scandinavia and North America.     

福州盆地埋藏晚第四纪沉积地层划分

文中以14个钻孔地层编录为基础,结合前人研究资料,初步总结了福州盆地埋藏第四纪地层的沉积特征。福州盆地沉积始于晚更新世中期(约56.5ka BP),由砾石、砂、黏土、淤泥组成,总体表现为从下至上粒度变细的沉积序列,地层岩性横向变化较大;盆地内发育3层淤泥,第1,2层淤泥发育于全新世中晚期,时代为1.44～7.86ka BP,为“长乐海侵”的产物,第3层淤泥发育于晚更新世晚期,时代约为44～20ka BP,为“福州海侵”的产物;盆地埋藏晚第四纪地层可划分为上更新统和全新统,分为4个组,从老至新分别为龙海组(Q3pl)、东山组(Qhd)、长乐组(Qhc)与江田组(Qhj)。龙海组归属上更新统,划分为3段,其余3个组归属全新统     

贵州断杉剖面长兴期晚期腕足动物群及其地质意义

贵州断杉剖面长兴阶上部发现的腕足类化石包括:Paracrurithyris pigmaea,Attenuatella mengi,Neochonetes (Huangichonetes) substrophomenoides,Spinomarginifera kueichowensis,Anidanthus mucronata,? Hustedia orbicostata,Pygmochonetes sp.,Crurithyris sp.和Martinia sp..通过对该腕足动物群的分析以及和其他地区同时期的腕足动物群的对比,认为断杉剖面腕足动物群是深水分子与浅水分子混生的动物群,同时也是暖水分子与凉水分子混生的动物群.深水分子与浅水分子混生的特征与长兴期晚期断杉剖面位于深水盆地相的边缘,并且离浅水碳酸盐岩台地较近的古地理位置一致;暖水分子与凉水分子混生暗示扬子海盆当时可能存在洋流活动.