青藏高原东北部甘加盆地古梯田地层与年代初探

梯田是人类几千年来利用和改造自然能力的象征,在人类社会发展中发挥了重要的作用。甘加盆地位于青藏高原东北部甘肃省夏河县,盆地内的丘陵、山麓地带分布大面积的层状梯形景观,疑似弃耕的古代梯田。本文在实地考察的基础上,基于卫星遥感资料,通过GIS手段分析发现古梯田面积为42.2 km²（约63000亩）,主要分布在盆地内央曲河及其支流两侧海拔2936~3326 m间的山坡上。通过对3个古梯田剖面样品的磁化率、总有机碳/氮（TOC、TN）含量、孢粉、粒度等环境代用指标分析,同时对比具有准确年代控制的自然剖面磁化率与粒度。研究结果显示：梯田开垦于晚全新世（距今3000 a）古土壤,梯田剖面顶部25~35 cm不同于自然剖面而呈均一化的指标证实了耕作层的存在（距今约1000 a以下层位）;但耕作层之上TOC、TN含量的增多,以及梯田剖面与自然剖面整体一致的指标变化趋势说明了梯田被短期利用后长期废弃;结合历史文献资料推断夏河古梯田是在北宋“弓箭手屯田”制度（1074—1125年）下开垦的;气候重建资料显示该时段温度较高、降水增加,整体有益于农业生产。本文提供了过去人类社会适应气候变化的典型案例。     

Towards a climate event stratigraphy for New Zealand over the past 30 000 years (NZ‐INTIMATE project)

It is widely recognised that the acquisition of high‐resolution palaeoclimate records from southern mid‐latitude sites is essential for establishing a coherent picture of inter‐hemispheric climate change and for better understanding of the role of Antarctic climate dynamics in the global climate system. New Zealand is considered to be a sensitive monitor of climate change because it is one of a few sizeable landmasses in the Southern Hemisphere westerly circulation zone, a critical transition zone between subtropical and Antarctic influences. New Zealand has mountainous axial ranges that amplify the climate signals and, consequently, the environmental gradients are highly sensitive to subtle changes in atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Since 1995, INTIMATE has, through a series of international workshops, sought ways to improve procedures for establishing the precise ages of climate events, and to correlate them with high precision, for the last 30 000 calendar years. The NZ‐INTIMATE project commenced in late 2003, and has involved virtually the entire New Zealand palaeoclimate community. Its aim is to develop an event stratigraphy for the New Zealand region over the past 30 000 years, and to reconcile these events against the established climatostratigraphy of the last glacial cycle which has largely been developed from Northern Hemisphere records (e.g. Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Termination I, Younger Dryas). An initial outcome of NZ‐INTIMATE has been the identification of a series of well‐dated, high‐resolution onshore and offshore proxy records from a variety of latitudes and elevations on a common calendar timescale from 30 000 cal. yr BP to the present day. High‐resolution records for the last glacial coldest period (LGCP) (including the LGM sensu stricto) and last glacial–interglacial transition (LGIT) from Auckland maars, Kaipo and Otamangakau wetlands on eastern and central North Island, marine core MD97‐2121 east of southern North Island, speleothems on northwest South Island, Okarito wetland on southwestern South Island, are presented. Discontinuous (fragmentary) records comprising compilations of glacial sequences, fluvial sequences, loess accumulation, and aeolian quartz accumulation in an andesitic terrain are described. Comparisons with ice‐core records from Antarctica (EPICA Dome C) and Greenland (GISP2) are discussed. A major advantage immediately evident from these records apart from the speleothem record, is that they are linked precisely by one or more tephra layers. Based on these New Zealand terrestrial and marine records, a reasonably coherent, regionally applicable, sequence of climatically linked stratigraphic events over the past 30 000 cal. yr is emerging. Three major climate events are recognised: (1) LGCP beginning at ca. 28 000 cal. yr BP, ending at Termination I, ca. 18 000 cal. yr BP, and including a warmer and more variable phase between ca. 27 000 and 21 000 cal. yr BP, (2) LGIT between ca. 18 000 and 11 600 cal. yr BP, including a Lateglacial warm period from ca. 14 800 to 13 500 cal. yr BP and a Lateglacial climate reversal between ca. 13 500 and 11 600 cal. yr BP, and (3) Holocene interglacial conditions, with two phases of greatest warmth between ca. 11 600 and 10 800 cal. yr BP and from ca. 6 800 to 6 500 cal. yr BP. Some key boundaries coincide with volcanic tephras. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Luminescence chronology of the Sankosh river terraces in the Assam- Bhutan foothills of the Himalayas: Implications to climate and tectonics

Himalaya is an active fold and thrust belt formed due to continent-continent collision between the Eurasian and Indian plates. It comprises a 3000 km long chain of mountains that span ∼1000 km across, with major boundary thrusts viz., Main Central Thrust (MCT), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT). MFT is marked as mountain front and is the most active thrust; however, evidence of tectonic activity along MCT and MBT also exists.Tectonic activity along MFT created uplifted terraces which now serve as geomorphic archives of past tectonic events. The present study focussed on a glacial-fed river Sankosh that originates in northern Bhutan, and crosses MCT, MBT and MFT before joining the Brahmaputra River in Assam. Due to tectonic uplift, the river shows a deflection at MFT, incising and thus forming four levels of strath terraces. Luminescence chronology, geomorphic studies and analysis of satellite images suggest four levels of terraces T4 (highest level, 195 m asl), T3, T2 and T1 (lowest level, 120 m asl).The quartz was found insensitive for luminescence dating, and thus fading corrected Infra-Red Stimulated Luminescence (IRSL) ages on feldspar minerals were measured that provided ages of 143-77 ka (T4), 65-36 ka (T2) and 35-14 ka (T1), respectively. The T3 terrace was present only on the right bank of the river and could not be accessed. These ages accord with other studies at the Chalsa and Malbazar, North Bengal (west of the study area) and this regional disposition of similar ages suggest that these formed during glacial-interglacial periods. The strath terraces indicate a time-averaged tectonic uplift with a 0.5 mm/year rate over the past 150 ka.     

祁连山北麓祁青地区河流阶地沉积特征及成因

对祁连山北麓祁青地区河流阶地进行野外测量和调查,获得了北大河、朱陇关河、小柳沟河阶地的拔河高度、结构、发育及沉积特征等资料。探讨了祁青地区河流阶地类型,为进一步研究北祁连河流阶地的发育成因及对古气候的沉积响应提供了科学依据。分析得出该地区河流阶地发育有基座阶地T4,堆积阶地T3、T2、T1,其年龄分别为70.00、30.00、10.78、5.77 ka BP。结合古构造运动、古气候环境以及对阶地沉积特征的观察,认为基座阶地T4主要受白杨河运动形成,而堆积阶地T3、T2、T1主要受气候变化的影响。     

长江三峡阶地的成因机制

根据对长江三峡阶地堆积物进行的野外调查与室内分析发现三峡阶地的成因具有以下特点:构成阶地上部的河漫滩相堆积、中部的冲积砾石层与作为阶地基座的基岩平台是在不同时期形成的;阶地上部河漫滩相堆积是在中全新世气候温暖、长江三峡高水位条件下形成的.因此,长江三峡阶地是在构造上升的基础上由于气候及长江三峡流量及水位变化而形成的,并非一定是间歇性构造上升的标志.     

Implications of new Quaternary uplift models for correlation between the Middle and Upper Thames terrace sequences, UK

Modelling of uplift histories in the Upper and Middle Thames valleys has revealed an important difference, in the form of additional early post-Anglian uplift in the Middle Thames, attributed to an Anglian (~ 440 ka) glacio-isostatic effect. Terraces in the Upper Thames around Oxford seem unaffected by glacio-isostasy and their heights show regional uplift of ~ 35–40 m since the Anglian. The result of the glacio-isostasy is that Anglian terraces are significantly higher above the valley floor in the Middle Thames (up to 55 m) than in the Upper Thames. Recognition of this displacement of Middle Thames terraces has solved long-standing problems of correlation between this area and the Upper Thames: the pre-Anglian (Cromerian Complex) age of the Sugworth Channel deposits, indicated by biostratigraphy, is no longer a difficulty, whereas the Hanborough Terrace is now thought to be of Anglian age, albeit incorporating pre-Anglian faunal remains and perhaps with a significant early post-Anglian component. These findings have implications for the understanding of the effects of Middle Pleistocene glacio-isostasy and of landscape evolution on the periphery of glaciated regions.     

Climatic implications of correlated Upper Pleistocene glacial and fluvial deposits on the Cinca and Gállego Rivers (NE Spain) based on OSL dating and soil stratigraphy

We correlate Upper Pleistocene glacial and fluvial deposits of the Cinca and Gállego River valleys (south central Pyrenees and Ebro basin, Spain) using geomorphic position, luminescence dates, and time-related trends in soil development. The ages obtained from glacial deposits indicate glacial periods at 85 ± 5 ka, 64 ± 11 ka, and 36 ± 3 ka (from glacial till) and 20 ± 3 ka (from loess). The fluvial drainage system, fed by glaciers in the headwaters, developed extensive terrace systems in the Cinca River valley at 178 ± 21 ka, 97 ± 16 ka, 61 ± 4 ka, 47 ± 4 ka, and 11 ± 1 ka, and in the Gállego River valley at 151 ± 11 ka, 68 ± 7 ka, and 45 ± 3 ka. The times of maximum geomorphic activity related to cold phases coincide with Late Pleistocene marine isotope stages and Heinrich events. The maximum extent of glaciers during the last glacial occurred at 64 ± 11 ka, and the terraces correlated with this glacial phase are the most extensive in both the Cinca (61 ± 4 ka) and Gállego (68 ± 7 ka) valleys, indicating a strong increase in fluvial discharge and availability of sediments related to the transition to deglaciation. The global Last Glacial Maximum is scarcely represented in the south central Pyrenees owing to dominantly dry conditions at that time. Precipitation must be controlled by the position of the Iberian Peninsula with respect to the North Atlantic atmospheric circulation system. The glacial systems and the associated fluvial dynamic seem sensitive to 1) global climate changes controlled by insolation, 2) North Atlantic thermohaline circulation influenced by freshwater pulses into the North Atlantic, and 3) anomalies in atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic controlling precipitation on the Iberian Peninsula. Our scenario of glacial and fluvial evolution during the Late Pleistocene in northern Spain could be extrapolated to other glaciated mountainous areas in southern Europe.     

Field reconnaissance of the Anti-Atlas coastline, Morocco: Fluvial and marine evidence for Late Cenozoic uplift

The available evidence regarding the disposition and chronology of Pliocene–Pleistocene fluvial terraces, coastal rock flats, raised beaches and lacustrine sediments adjoining the Anti-Atlas coastline of Morocco has been reviewed and supplemented by additional information from our own field reconnaissance. It is thus suggested that the study region has experienced uplift by  130 m since the Mid-Pliocene climatic optimum ( 3.1 Ma), by  90 m since the latest Pliocene ( 2 Ma), and by  45 m since the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution ( 0.9 Ma). Each of these phases of uplift correlates with a phase of global climate change known independently, and it is thus inferred that the observed uplift is being driven by climate through mechanisms such as erosional isostasy and the associated induced lower-crustal flow. Numerical modelling of the observed uplift history indicates that the mobile lower-crustal layer in the study region is  9 km thick, with a temperature at its base of  500 °C. The base of this mobile layer is inferred to be at  24 km depth, the deepest crust consisting of a layer of mafic underplating that does not flow under ambient conditions. The principal landform in the study region, the coastal rock platform at  60 m a.s.l., thus formed during a succession of interglacial marine highstands in the late Early Pleistocene when uplift rates were low. Although control on the ages of young sediments and landforms is currently extremely limited, being dependent on regional correlation schemes rather than on absolute dating, the study region fits the pattern, emerging worldwide, that climate change is driving the systematic growth of topographic relief evident during the Late Cenozoic.     

Towards a budget approach to Pleistocene terraces: preliminary studies using the River Exe in South West England, UK

This paper presents a first approach to using a sediment budget methodology for paired terrace staircase sediments in SW England. Although a budget approach has become firmly established in Holocene fluvial studies, it has not been used in Pleistocene sequences due to the problems of temporal resolution, catchment changes and downstream loss from the system. However, this paper uses a budget approach in a paired non-glaciated basin, primarily as a method of interrogating the terrace record concerning the degree of reworking and new sediment input required to produce the reconstructed terrace sequences. In order to apply a budget approach a number of assumptions have to be made and these are justified in the paper. The results suggest that the Exe system can most parsimoniously be explained principally by the reworking of a Middle Pleistocene floodplain system with relatively little input of new resistant clasts required and a cascade-type model in geomorphological terms. Whilst this maybe partially a result of the specific geology of the catchment, it is likely to be representative of many Pleistocene terrace systems in NW Europe due to their litho-tectonic similarities. This cascade-type model of terrace formation has archaeological implications and sets the context for the Palaeolithic terrace record in the UK. Future work will involve the testing of this and similar budget models using a combination of landscape modelling and chronometric dating.