Recognition of strong seasonality and climatic cyclicity in an ancient,fluvially dominated,tidally influenced point bar: Middle McMurray Formation,Lower Steepbank River,north‐eastern Alberta,Canada

Inclined heterolithic stratification in the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation, exposed along the Steepbank River in north‐eastern Alberta, Canada, accumulated on point bars of a 30 to 40 m deep continental‐scale river in the fluvial–marine transition. This inclined heterolithic stratification consists of two alternating lithologies, sand and fine‐grained beds. Sand beds were deposited rapidly by unidirectional currents and contain little or no bioturbation. Fine‐grained beds contain rare tidal structures, and are intensely bioturbated by low‐diversity ichnofossil assemblages. The alternations between the sand and fine‐grained beds are probably caused by strong variations in fluvial discharge; that are believed to be seasonal (probably annual) in duration. The sand beds accumulated during river floods, under fluvially dominated conditions when the water was fresh, whereas the fine‐grained beds accumulated during the late stages of the river flood and deposition continued under tidally influenced brackish‐water conditions during times of low‐river flow (i.e. the interflood periods). These changes reflect the annual migration in the positions of the tidal and salinity limits within the fluvial–marine transition that result from changes in river discharge. Sand and fine‐grained beds are cyclically organized in the studied outcrops forming metre‐scale cycles. A single metre‐scale cycle is defined by a sharp base, an upward decrease in sand‐bed thickness and upward increases in the preservation of fine‐grained beds and the intensity of bioturbation. Metre‐scale cycles are interpreted to be the product of a longer term (decadal) cyclicity in fluvial discharge, probably caused by fluctuations in ocean or solar dynamics. The volumetric dominance of river‐flood deposits within the succession suggests that accumulation occurred in a relatively landward position within the fluvial–marine transition. This study shows that careful observation can reveal much about the interplay of processes within the fluvial–marine transition, which in turn provides a powerful tool for determining the palaeo‐environmental location of a deposit within the fluvial–marine transition.     

临夏盆地三千万年来沉积物粒度特征及其构造意义*

本文通过对临夏盆地长达30m.y.的连续沉积(临夏群)共计779个样品的粒度特征分析,划分出七大完整的沉积旋回。粒度曲线明显地表示出青藏高原的强烈隆升始于距今3.4Ma前。该文还初步确定出青藏高原地区两次夷平过程最终结束的年代。     

Extensive degradation and fractionation of organic matter during subsurface weathering

Organic carbon, sulphur, ¹³C_org, iron, manganese and calcium have been measured across a subsurface-weathering front in Pliocene sediments in southern Sicily. The results show an almost quantitative removal of C_org and sulphur and an increase in iron and manganese oxides over the weathering front, accompanied with a significant shift of the ¹³C_org to lower values. These data are among the first to support the rapid, extensive weathering of sedimentary organic matter and sulphur, a basic assumption made in global biogeochemical models on a Phanerozoic timescale.     

Cumulative demand of the earthquake ground motions in the near source

In this paper the effects of near‐fault earthquakes are investigated through the study of parameters related to both input energy and plastic cycles demand. Based on the results of two different regression analyses performed with 128 near‐fault and 122 far‐field registrations, respectively, the Cosenza and Manfredi adimensional Id index was found to be the best seismological parameter correlated to the number n and amplitude m of plastic cycles in the vicinity of the source as well as far from it. Analytical formulations for n,m and for the equivalent number of plastic cycles neq are proposed for near‐fault and far‐field regions. The study of Id and neq shows the tendency of such parameters to increase as the distance increases. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A 180,000-year pollen record from Owens Lake, CA: terrestrial vegetation change on orbital scales

Pollen from the upper 90 m of core OL-92 from Owens Lake is a climatically sensitive record of vegetation change that indicates shifts in the plant associations representing warm and cold desertscrub, pinyon–juniper woodland, and pine–fir forest during the past 180,000 years. These changes are synchronized with glacial–interglacial cycles. During glacial and stadial climates, juniper woodland expanded downslope and replaced warm desert shrubs while upper montane and subalpine forests in the arid Inyo Mountains also expanded, and those in the Sierra Nevada were displaced by the ice cap and periglacial conditions. Conversely, during interglacial and interstadial climates, warm desert plants expanded their range in the lowlands, juniper and sagebrush retreated upslope, and montane and subalpine forests expanded in the Sierra Nevada. The reconstructed vegetation history demonstrates a regional climatic response, and the congruence of the pollen sequence with marine and ice cap oxygen isotope stratigraphies suggests a link between regional vegetation and global climate change at orbital scales.     

The fundamental role of giant comets in earth history

We discuss some fundamental aspects of Earth history as predicted by what has come to be called coherent rather than stochastic catastrophism. The latter essentially seeks to provide an understanding of terrestrial evolution in terms of occasional kilometre-plus impactors from the asteroid belt whereas the former recognises a far more complex extraterrestrial regime arising from the streams of sub-kilometre and kilometre-plus debris due to the disintegration of successive giant comets in sub-Jovian orbits. Periodicities of 15 Myr during the later Phanerozoic (i.e. 250 to 0 Myr BP) and 200 yr during the Holocene (i.e. 10,000 to 0 yr 1313) are likely fundamental signatures in the terrestrial record relating to the action of past and present giant cornets respectively.     

Denitrification in the Arabian Sea: A 3D ecosystem modelling study

A three-dimensional hydrodynamic-ecosystem model was used to examine the factors determining the spatio-temporal distribution of denitrification in the Arabian Sea. The ecosystem model includes carbon and nitrogen as currencies, cycling of organic matter via detritus and dissolved organic matter, and both remineralization and denitrification as sinks for material exported below the euphotic zone. Model results captured the marked seasonality in plankton dynamics of the region, with characteristic blooms of chlorophyll in the coastal upwelling regions and central Arabian Sea during the southwest monsoon, and also in the northern Arabian Sea during the northeast monsoon as the mixed layer shoals. Predicted denitrification was 26.2 Tg N yr⁻¹,the greatest seasonal contribution being during the northeast monsoon when primary production is co-located with the zone of anoxia. Detritus was the primary organic substrate consumed in denitrification (97%), with a small (3%) contribution by dissolved organic matter. Denitrification in the oxygen minimum zone was predicted to be fuelled almost entirely by organic matter supplied by particles sinking vertically from the euphotic zone above (0.73 mmol N m⁻² d⁻¹) rather than from lateral transport of organic matter from elsewhere in the Arabian Sea (less than 0.01 mmol N m⁻² d⁻¹). Analysis of the carbon budget in the zone of denitrification (north of 10°N and east of 55°E) indicates that the modelled vertical export flux of detritus, which is similar in magnitude to estimates from field data based on the ²³⁴Th method, is sufficient to account for measured bacterial production below the euphotic zone in the Arabian Sea.     

Climatological annual cycles of nutrients and chlorophyll in the North Sea

A large amount of nutrient and chlorophyll data from the North Sea were compiled and organised in a research data base to produce annual cycles on a relatively fine spatial resolution of 1° in each horizontal direction. The data originate from many different sources and were partly provided by the ECOMOD data base of the Institut fur Meereskunde in Hamburg and partly by ICES in Copenhagen to cover the time range from 1950 to 1994. While the annual cycles of nutrients and chlorophyll derived for the continental coastal zone are representative for the decade 1984–1993 only, those for the remaining parts of the North Sea may be considered climatological annual cycles based on data from more than four decades. The composite data set of climatological annual cycles of medians and their climatological ranges is well suited to serve for validational and forcing purposes for ecosystem models of the North Sea, which have a resolution larger than or equal to 1° in both longitude and latitude. The annual cycles of the macronutrients and chlorophyll presented here for 1° × 1° squares in the North Sea show especially that sufficient observational data exist to provide initial, forcing and validational data for the simulations with the 130-box setup (ND130) of the ecosystem model ERSEM. The annual cycles presented give a clear picture for the whole of the North Sea. The highest concentrations occur at the continental coasts as a result of continued river input, which is added to the ongoing atmospheric input over the North Sea. Also, from the Atlantic Ocean water with relatively high nutrient concentrations enters the North Sea via the northern boundary. In the productive areas on and around the Dogger Bank nutrient concentrations are lower than in the other parts of the North Sea, even in winter. The areas with seasonal stratification have very different annual cycles in the upper (0–30 m) and lower layers (30 m-bottom). The shallow boxes are fully mixed and exhibit a relatively fast increase of nutrient concentrations caused by summer regeneration of nutrients.