Geological perspectives on the Monte Verde archeological site in Chile and pre-Clovis coastal migration in the Americas

Discovery of the Monte Verde archeological site in Chile overturned the previous consensus that the first Americans into the New World from Asia were the makers of Clovis projectile points, and rejuvenated the hypothesis that migration through the Americas occurred largely on portions of the Pacific continental shelf exposed by Pleistocene drawdown in eustatic sea level. The postulate of travel along a paleoshoreline now hidden underwater is an attractive means to posit pre-Clovis human movement southward from Beringia to Chile without leaving traces of migration onshore. Geologic analyses of the Pleistocene paleoenvironment at Monte Verde and of the morphology of the potential migration route along the continental shelf raise questions that have not been fully addressed. The periglacial setting of Monte Verde may call its antiquity into question and the narrowness of the Pacific continental shelf of the Americas makes it unlikely that people could travel the length of the Americas without impacting ground still onshore and no farther inland than Monte Verde itself. Geological perspectives on Monte Verde and coastal migration jointly suggest that the Clovis-first hypothesis for peopling the New World may have been abandoned prematurely.     

末次盛冰期以来长江下关-栖霞山段下切深度及沉积旋回

选择长江下关-栖霞山段作为研究河段,搜集了南京长江大桥、四桥附近的76个钻孔资料.根据地质钻孔资料,绘制南京长江大桥和长江四桥附近长江古河槽地质剖面.在拟建长江四桥附近的4个钻孔采集了沉积物样品,在-59.33 m深度上河床相沉积物的年代为(14 682±110)a BP,据此判断位于该沉积层下部的上一期沉积旋回应形成...     

末次冰盛期以来塔里木盆地绿洲演化研究进展与问题

塔里木盆地绿洲是中亚干旱区历史时期和现代人类生产和生活的重要场所,也是古丝绸之路和现代丝绸之路经济带的重要节点。对此区域绿洲沉积记录进行研究,可以了解绿洲演化过程,从而进一步对绿洲演化的机制进行分析。由于塔里木盆地周边绿洲人类活动剧烈,导致连续完整的绿洲沉积记录较为缺乏;而且此区域环境变化敏感复杂,沉积记录存在‘同期异相’等特性,限制了对绿洲演化过程和影响机制的探讨。因此,对塔里木盆地绿洲沉积物与绿洲演化过程研究进行系统总结非常必要。通过梳理目前对绿洲和绿洲沉积物的分类与定义,认为除了地貌与沉积相,还需结合表征绿洲沉积阶段的指标体系才能更好地厘清绿洲演化过程。筛选了记录塔里木盆地末次冰盛期以来的24篇绿洲沉积序列的文献,对文献中232个绿洲沉积发育年代和其中的120个河湖相沉积发育年代数据分别进行概率密度统计。总体来看,绿洲沉积与河湖相沉积发育年龄具有较好的一致性,暗示绿洲发育与盆地内部水文过程密切相关。同时,6 ka之前,绿洲发育概率密度与古里雅冰芯δ¹⁸O记录的温度具有相同变化趋势,盆地周边高山地区冰川融水可能是绿洲发育的主控因素;6 ka之后,绿洲发育与天山鹿角湾黄土-古土壤序列记录的湿度变化较为一致,绿洲发育可能主要响应于山地降水变化。进一步对塔里木盆地不同区域绿洲发育概率与古环境演化记录进行对比,发现不同区域绿洲发育与古环境记录存在着不一致性。在未来研究中,应该对塔里木盆地各区域大范围不连续的绿洲沉积进行集成研究,构建区域绿洲演化过程和年代框架,在此基础上对控制各区域绿洲发育的因素进行深入探讨。     

Glacial and paraglacial history of the Troutbeck Valley,Cumbria, UK: integrating airborne LiDAR,multibeam bathymetry,and geological field mapping

High resolution airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and multibeam bathymetry data, supplemented by geomorphological and geological field mapping are used to derive the glacial and post-glacial history of Troutbeck Valley (English Lake District) at a catchment scale. The results inform wider regional and ice sheet wide glacial reconstructions and demonstrate the effectiveness of an integrated approach combining geomorphological and sedimentological signatures with remote sensing. The holistic catchment approach is used to reconstruct palaeo-ice flow and behaviour of a small part of the last British and Irish Ice Sheet, identifying a series of depositional environments that accompanied both ice advance, ice retreat and post-glacial deposition within the Lake District. Drumlins are mapped in the lower catchment and show multiple regional (wider-extent) ice flow events and a sedimentology consistent with deposition by lodgement processes during the Main Late Devensian Stadial. Other subglacial deposits include till sequences formed under variable basal conditions beneath an advancing ice mass. Retreat features include a suite of recessional moraines formed by still-stands or small readvances of an outlet glacier. Following deglaciation, major sediment redistribution led to formation of a large fan delta via paraglacial and post-glacial fluvial sedimentation. This study indicates that an integrated approach, using geomorphology, sedimentology and remote sensing on a catchment scale, is capable of deriving a more in-depth understanding of regional ice sheet reconstructions and highlights the complexity of palaeo-ice sheet dynamics at a range of spatial scales.     

Carbon and oxygen stable isotope compositions of late Pleistocene mammal teeth from dolines of Ajoie (Northwestern Switzerland)

Fossils of megaherbivores from eight late Pleistocene ¹⁴C- and OSL-dated doline infillings of Ajoie (NW Switzerland) were discovered along the Transjurane highway in the Swiss Jura. Carbon and oxygen analyses of enamel were performed on forty-six teeth of large mammals (Equus germanicus, Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta antiquitatis, and Bison priscus), coming from one doline in Boncourt (~ 80 ka, marine oxygen isotope stage MIS5a) and seven in Courtedoux (51–27 ka, late MIS3), in order to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions of the region. Similar enamel δ¹³C values for both periods, ranging from − 14.5 to − 9.2‰, indicate that the megaherbivores lived in a C₃ plant-dominated environment. Enamel δ¹⁸O_PO4 values range from 10.9 to 16.3‰ with a mean of 13.5 ± 1.0‰ (n = 46). Mean air temperatures (MATs) were inferred using species-specific δ¹⁸O_PO4–δ¹⁸O_H2O-calibrations for modern mammals and a present-day precipitation δ¹⁸O_H2O-MAT relation for Switzerland. Similar average MATs of 6.6 ± 3.6°C for the deposits dated to ~ 80 ka and 6.5 ± 3.3°C for those dated to the interval 51–27 ka were estimated. This suggests that these mammals in the Ajoie area lived in mild periods of the late Pleistocene with MATs only about 2.5°C lower than modern-day temperatures.     

Pollen‐based biome reconstructions for Colombia at 3000, 6000, 9000, 12 000, 15 000 and 18 000 14C yr ago: Late Quaternary tropical vegetation dynamics

Colombian biomes are reconstructed at 45 sites from the modern period extending to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The basis for our reconstruction is pollen data assigned to plant functional types and biomes at six 3000‐yr intervals. A reconstruction of modern biomes is used to check the treatment of the modern pollen data set against a map of potential vegetation. This allows the biomes reconstructed at past periods to be assessed relative to the modern situation. This process also provides a check on the a priori assignment of pollen taxa to plant functional types and biomes. For the majority of the sites, the pollen data accurately reflect the potential vegetation, even though much of the original vegetation has been transformed by agricultural practices. At 18 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, a generally cool and dry environment is reflected in biome, assignments of cold mixed forests, cool evergreen forests and cool grassland–shrub; the latter extending to lower altitudes than presently recorded. This signal is strongly recorded at 15 000 and 12 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, the vegetation at these times also reflecting a relatively cool and dry environment. At 9000 ¹⁴C yr BP there is a shift to biomes thought to result from slightly cooler environmental conditions. This trend is reversed by 6000 ¹⁴C yr BP; most sites, within a range of different environmental settings, recording a shift to more xeric biome types. There is an expansion of steppe and cool mixed‐forest biomes, replacing tropical dry forest and cool grassland–shrub biomes, respectively. These changes in biome assignments from the modern situation can be interpreted as a biotic response to mid‐Holocene climatic aridity. At 3000 ¹⁴C yr BP the shift is mainly to biomes characteristic of slightly more mesic environmental conditions. There are a number of sites that do not change biome assignment relative to the modern reconstruction, although the affinities that these sites have to a specific biome do change. These ‘anomalies’ are interpreted on a site‐by‐site basis. Spatially constant, but differential response of the vegetation to climatic shifts are related to changes in moisture sources and the importance of edaphic controls on the vegetation. The Late Quaternary reconstruction of large‐scale vegetation dynamics in Colombia allows an understanding of the environmental controls on these to be developed. In particular, shifts in the character of the main climatic systems that influence Colombian vegetation are described. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hirnantian (Late Ordovician) δ13C HICE excursion in a North Gondwanan (NE Spain) periglacial setting and its relationship to glacioeustatic fluctuations

In the Iberian Chains of northeastern Spain, the Hirnantian Orea Shale comprises three erosive glaciogenic unconformities punctuating two transgressive glaciomarine sequences. These sequences represent ice retreat episodes of grounded ice on a North Gondwanan region of 50–60°S of estimated palaeolatitude. In contrast, the same formation recorded in the Hesperian Chains repeated episodes of extensional tectonic activity: diamictites were associated with slope-related debris flows and slumps commonly interrupted by truncating discontinuities.An analysis of δ¹³C_org in the Orea Shale has revealed that the lower Orea sequence displays isotopically light baseline values (∼ −27‰) punctuated by minor (2–3‰) shifts. In distal parts, the upper sequence is characterised by a rapid rise in δ¹³C_org values, which mark a positive excursion, in the range of 2.5‰ to 7‰ over 40 cm of thickness. The stratigraphic gap involved in the intra-Orea erosive unconformity appears to be greater both in proximal exposures and slope-related (Hesperian) areas, where the chemostratigraphic shift was not recorded. Upsection in the three studied sections, the δ¹³C values display upsection a sharp return to baseline values of −26‰ to −28‰.The Hirnantian strata of the Iberian and Hesperian Chains have recorded three major correlatable events: (i) a the karstic surface that caps upper Katian limestones and reflects the maximum glacial extension; (ii) a single δ¹³C_org positive peak of ∼6‰ that is recognisable in distal ramp settings, marking the beginning of the second ice retreat episode and probably representing the late Hirnantian HICE shift; and (iii) the erosive unconformity marked by the progradation of the Los Puertos shoreline complexes.     

A case for a downwasting mountain glacier during Termination I,Verçenik valley,northeastern Turkey

Field evidence of palaeoglacial records in the Verçenik valley in the Eastern Black Sea Mountains was examined and 19 samples for surface exposure dating with cosmogenic ¹⁰Be were collected with the aim of increasing knowledge on the amplitude and frequency of palaeoglacier advances in Anatolia. Glacial erosional features were mapped and the flow directions of the palaeoglaciers were determined. The Verçenik palaeoglacier advanced before 26.1 k ± 1.2 k yr. The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) advance continued until 18.8 k ±1.0 k yr. The Verçenik palaeoglacier collapsed during Termination I. After 17.7 k ± 0.8 k yr there was no more ice in the main valley. The Verçenik palaeoglacier most probably then separated into five small glaciers that were restricted to the tributary valleys. Among these, the Hem?in palaeoglacier completed its recession around 15.7 k ± 0.8 k yr. On the basis of glacial erosion features, a Lateglacial glacier advance can be identified. Evidence of the Little Ice Age advance appears to be absent. The results from this valley system seem to be consistent with the first results from the adjacent Kavron valley and with the Anatolian LGM palaeoclimate, the sea surface temperature minima in the western Mediterranean, the deposition of red clay layers in the Black Sea and deposition of the Heinrich‐1 layer in the North Atlantic. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.