Pollen sequence from the Chilean Lake District during the Llanquihue glaciation in marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 4–2

Pollen stratigraphy of a core taken from a fen at Fundo Nueva Braunau (40°17.49′S, 73°04.83′W), situated 2 km beyond the western border of Llanquihue‐age glacial drift, spans an age range from an estimated 60 000–70 000 BP to about 14 000 ¹⁴C yr BP (marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 4–2). The location at present is in the contact zone of Valdivian Evergreen Forest and Lowland Deciduous Beech Forest. Early and late in the pollen record, as indicated by assemblages of southern beech (Nothofagus dombeyi type) and grass (Gramineae), the site was located in Subantarctic Parkland. Intervening assemblages represent expansion of Valdivian–North Patagonian Evergreen Forest (> 49 355 to about 40 000 ¹⁴C yr BP) and North Patagonian Evergreen Forest–Subantarctic Parkland (approximately 40 000 to 30 000 ¹⁴C yr BP). Climate over the time span was under the storm regime of the Southern Westerlies and apparently uninterruptedly wet. When Subantarctic Parkland expanded, cold conditions with summer temperatures estimated at 8–9°C (7°C lower than present) resulted in episodes of glacier maxima. Climate moderated during the period of forest expansion, at which time glaciers were in a state of recession. Contrasting with the continuously wet climate of the Lake District for the period of record, climate in semi‐arid–arid, subtropical Chile underwent extended intervals of precipitation. Data from both the terrestrial and marine realm implicate the Southern Westerlies as the cause of intensified storm activity at lower latitudes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Barite concretions as evidence of pauses in sedimentation in the Marnes Bleues Formation of the Vocontian Basin (SE France)

Several intervals rich in barite nodules occur in the mid-Cretaceous marls of the Vocontian Trough (SE France). These concretions, which grew on heterogeneities in the sediment, are arranged as horizons parallel to the bedding, and are often associated with carbonate and phosphate nodules. Detailed sedimentological and stratigraphical observations suggest that they represent the consequence of short-term pauses in sedimentation during early diagenesis, but the most important occurrences of barite are below prominent discontinuities. This may be explained by the frequency of pauses in sedimentation caused by a progressive starvation, or an increase in the energy of bottom-water currents. The high number of barite occurrences on the basin margins is directly linked to the recurrence of sedimentary breaks. The geochemical data show that the host sediment corresponds to a pelagic setting, far from hydrothermal influences, but generally in a restricted, dysoxic to suboxic, depositional environment. The sulphur isotopic composition of the barite sulphate (+16 to +76‰ rel. CDT) supports the hypothesis of an early diagenetic origin of the barite nodules. Their genesis may be explained by the fixation of a diagenetic front corresponding to the penetration of a sulphate reduction zone from the seawater–sediment interface down in the sediment which is in contact with barium-rich porewaters expelled upwards as a consequence of compaction. The barium of biogenic origin, initially stored in the underlying black shale, was mobilized under strongly reducing conditions. Such fixation is normally induced by a pause or a stop in sedimentation due to starvation or renewed bottom-water circulation. Together with other concretions, the barite nodules mark condensed stratigraphic intervals and often represent major breaks. As such they shed light on variations in sedimentary activity and their importance in the sedimentology and stratigraphy of pelagic marly sequences cannot be ignored.     

滇东北镇雄西部栖霞—茅口组碳酸盐岩地球化学特征及环境意义

镇雄县安家坝一带中二叠统栖霞组-茅口组地层出露较好,沉积连续。以此剖面为基础,连续采集碳酸盐岩样品42个,根据其显微特征、元素相关性、元素组份含量及相关元素的比值特征,探讨了研究区碳酸盐岩沉积地球化学特征与古环境意义。研究表明(1)样品中CaO与SiO_2、MgO呈现出比较明显的负相关关系,且后两者在岩石中的含量很低,说明样品在沉积和成岩过程中受陆源物质影响或改造的程度较小。(2)通过对元素含量以及相关元素比值的垂向分布特征分析,如Sr/Ba、MgO/CaO和V/V+Ni等,对不同沉积阶段进行了古水深和古氧相等方面的研究,数据表明茅口组沉积环境相比栖霞组具有较明显的差异。     

贵州盘县新民地区关岭组中三叠世盘县动物群产出层段碳酸盐岩微相分析和古环境恢复

通过野外观察和显微镜下碳酸盐岩薄片微相分析,以颗粒类型、颗粒基质含量对比、沉积组构、化石生物组合、化石埋藏学特征作为主要微相类型的划分依据,贵州中三叠世盘县动物群产出地层78-91层及上覆地层92层和下伏地层77层共识别出10种微相类型,在垂向上归纳为三种向上变浅的沉积相序列：开阔台地、局限台地、潮道环境。按照水深及水...     

Acraman – Bunyeroo impact event (Ediacaran), South Australia,and environmental consequences: twenty-five years on

Multidisciplinary research during the past 25 years has established that the Acraman impact structure in the 1.59 Ga Gawler Range Volcanics on the Gawler Craton, and an ejecta horizon found 240?–?540 km from Acraman in the ??580 Ma Bunyeroo Formation in the Adelaide Fold Belt and Dey Dey Mudstone in the Officer Basin, record a Late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) event of major environmental importance. Research since 1995 has verified Acraman as a complex impact structure that has undergone as much as 3?–?5 km of denudation and which originally had a transient cavity up to 40 km in diameter and a final structural rim possibly 85?–?90 km in diameter. The estimated impact energy of 5.2?×?10⁶ Mt (TNT) for Acraman exceeds the threshold of 10⁶ Mt nominally set for global catastrophe, and the impact probably caused a severe perturbation of the Ediacaran environment. The occurrence of the impact at a low palaeolatitude (12.5 +?7.1/???6.1°) may have magnified the environmental effects by perturbing the atmosphere in both hemispheres. These findings are consistent with independent data from the Ediacaran palynology of Australia and from isotope and biomarker chemostratigraphy that the Acraman impact induced major biotic change. Future research should seek geological, isotopic and biological imprints of the Acraman?–?Bunyeroo impact event across Australia and on other continents.     

青藏高原晚新生代磁性地层研究

本文较详细的论述了青藏高原晚新生代晚期的２０多个地层剖面或钻孔的磁性地层极性期,得出了一批地层年代数据。如昆仑山口羌塘组为３．１ＭａＢＰ－０．６５ＭａＢＰ,在该组中发现的三趾马化石为２．０８ＭａＢＰ,定日县贡巴组为２．３ＭａＢＰ－１．９ＭａＢＰ;札达盆地札达组和香孜组为６．１５ＭａＢＰ－３．４ＭａＢＰ,３．４ＭａＢＰ－１．２５ＭａＢＰ;理塘甲洼组为１．２４ＭａＢＰ－０．４３ＭａＢＰ,还得出吉隆三跖     

Rock glaciers in the northern Japanese Alps: palaeoenvironmental implications since the Late Glacial

In order to determine the palaeoclimatic and palaeo‐permafrost conditions in the northern Japanese Alps in central Japan, the ages of rock glaciers were investigated by relative age dating techniques such as weathering‐rind thickness and Schmidt hammer measurements. The results of the relative age dating suggest that the formation of the investigated rock glaciers may have started during the early phase of the Late Glacial or around the onset of the Holocene. The lower limit of current discontinuous permafrost in the northern Japanese Alps, which is indicated by the terminus of the lowest active/inactive rock glacier, lies at 2530 m a.s.l., while that of discontinuous permafrost during the Late Glacial or early phase of the Holocene, which is indicated by the terminus of the lowest relict rock glacier, lies at 2220 m a.s.l. Therefore, the lower limit of discontinuous permafrost during these periods would have been at least about 300 m lower than that of the current discontinuous permafrost. Climatic and geomorphological conditions during the Late Glacial led to a change in the environment from a glacial environment to a periglacial (permafrost) environment in the current alpine zone of the northern Japanese Alps. A large number of cirques were deglaciated and several of them were occupied by active rock glaciers around the onset of the Holocene. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The upper pleistocene loess of southern Tunisia: A statement

On the Matmata Plateau, the sedimentological characteristics of the peri-desert loess and the interbedded palaeosols (particle-size distribution; chemical and mineralogical composition of major components; trace elements; clay mineral assemblage; heavy mineral assemblage; SEM-examined surficial textures of the quartz and palygorskite grains) show notable homogeneity: they also indicate its allochthonous origins (the main sedimentary source being the Great Eastern Erg), its transport as an aeolian suspension sediment prior to deposition, and moderate pedogenesis acting during deposition. The emplacement of the loess was synchronous with a ‘pluvial’ steppe palaeoenvironment moister than at present, as shown by ¹⁸O and ¹³C data. The palaeosols point to a weak pedogenesis and colluvial and alluvial reworking that were contemporary with the aeolian deposition. ¹⁴C radiometric dating suggests a main period of pluvial dust-fall/loess deposition in the Upper Pleistocene (until 10 000 yr BP) and a shorter one in the Middle Holocene.     

黄河中游新近系红粘土粒度特征及其古环境——以陕西府谷老高川为例

黄河中游新近系红粘土粒度分布表现出明显的三峰分布,说明它是由多种成因组份构成,而且每种成因组份对整体的贡献率也不同。其粒度组成主要是以粉土粒级(5~50 μm)为主,而250 μm以上的颗粒少见。除小于1 μm和小于2 μm粒级含量变化相对稳定外,其余粒级均表现出旋回起伏的特征。大于63 μm和大于30 μm及中值曲线变幅较大,说明当时冬季风比较盛行,而且变化强度比较大;而小于2 μm粒级曲线变化相对稳定,说明当时夏季风很弱,而且没有太大变化。粒度曲线与野外岩性所得结论相一致,说明当时气候总体上是以干冷为背景,但也有干冷与暖湿的交替。野外岩性上表现为粘土层与钙结核层相互交替,粒度曲线上表现为峰谷旋回起伏的变化,同时也有古生物证据与岩石学证据相佐证。     

Reconstruction of the old cultural surface of a Bronze Age Settlement – An example for a multi-methodological interaction of Soil Science and Archaeology in Southern Germany

During the excavation of a Late Bronze Age settlement at Mintraching (near Regensburg, Germany) the on-site pedological and geomorphological settings were studied in order to collect data regarding the palaeopedological and geomorphological conditions of the settlement area, as well as to elaborate further on the former Bronze Age surface. Pedological and geophysical field methods in combination with laboratory analyses were used in close proximity to the archaeological excavation site. Studies about the terrace stratigraphy of the river Danube and associated soil profiles provided data to determine the altitude of the ancient surface. This assisted in calculating the altitude of the former surface of the highest prehistoric building found in Bavaria to date. Since Bronze Age, a minimum amount of 80 - 100 cm soil loss referring to the original Holocene surface could be calculated. Furthermore, the accumulation history of black sediments distributed nearby is described. The black sediments, which are rich in organic matter, accumulated in an old palaeo channel close to the settlement since the Neolithic period. The deposits are not the remnants of a Tschernosem soil as previously thought. Erosion and deposition of the black material give an indication of anthropogenic activities like clearing and farming in the close vicinity of the former settlement area which was located next to an old water filled channel.