巴里坤湖全新世环境演变的初步研究

新疆巴里坤湖ZK0024孔湖相沉积经多种手段同步分析表明自全新世以来,当湖区古气候多次出现不同程度的冷湿与暖干交替变化时,反映巴里坤湖发育史上经历了多次水位扩张期与收缩期的演变过程,此时山区则表现为全新世以来几次冰期与间冰期的进退变化,三者均呈现有规律的同周期变化,构成巴里坤全新世环境演变统一发展的整体。     

全新世中后期开封西郊黄泛沉积序列的孢粉记录

历史时期以来,黄河在开封市附近多次泛滥形成了相对完整的沉积序列。选取开封市西郊25 m岩芯（ZK_jm）为研究对象,通过孢粉分析,结合地层沉积旋回和历史文献资料,探讨了全新世中后期以来大洪水事件的孢粉记录。结果表明：黄泛地层中的孢粉含量及其组成很好地记录了大洪水事件,洪水沉积期的木本植物花粉含量高于其间断期,而人工禾本科花粉含量低于间断期。每个粒度旋回基本上都有与之对应的孢粉亚带,且其上下界限的吻合度较高,表明孢粉可作为划分沉积旋回的代用指标。岩芯孢粉亚带的数目（12个）多于粒度旋回数目（9个）,孢粉组合特征可以识别出规模较小的洪水或者一次洪水事件出现的多个短期洪水间歇期所形成的沉积,孢粉指标划分沉积旋回的精度高于粒度指标。     

曲江断裂南东段全新世滑动速率

高精度SPOT卫星影像和野外地质调查表明,曲江断裂南东段断错山前冲沟及河流Ⅰ级和Ⅱ级阶地,在探槽中见到断裂断错全新世地层,是一条右旋走滑的全新世活动断裂,兼有逆冲性质,断裂的最新活动是1970年通海7.8级地震。对曲江断裂典型走滑断错地貌进行研究,曲江断裂南东段在五街一带水平滑动速率为(3.36±0.1)mm/a,白林山一带水平滑动速率为(3.21±0.3)mm/a。     

浙江北湖桥岩芯记录的早-中全新世环境演变

通过对浙江余杭北湖桥钻孔(简称BHQ孔)沉积物中总有机碳(TOC)和碳同位素(δ13C_org)的分析,结合碳氮比(C/N)、粒度参数、年代和孢粉资料,探讨了研究区域早中全新世期间气候演变规律。结果表明,BHQ孔所在区域早中全新世期间,环境变化可以划分为3段:①11.4~8.7 ka B.P.,δ13C_org在-27.24‰~-23.4‰范围内波动升高,TOC含量(0.19%~0.69%)呈显著增加趋势,指示气候由冷干逐渐转向温湿。②8.7~8.0 ka B.P.,TOC含量偏低,δ13C_org(-24.91‰~-22.93‰)较为偏正,指示气候呈冷干-温湿-温干。③8.0~4.2 ka B.P.,TOC含量(0.18%~2.18%)和δ13C_org(-26.33‰~-19.09‰)变化频繁且幅度较大,但整体上TOC含量偏高,δ13C_org偏负,指示该段时期内气候总体呈暖湿特征,且存在不同尺度的冷暖波动。其中在8.0~5.7 ka B.P.期间,TOC含量(0.43%~2.18%)明显偏高,δ13C_org(-25.79‰~-23.15‰)明显偏负,指示气候温暖湿润,对应于区域全新世大暖期;此外本段时期内还记录到5.5 ka B.P.和4.2 ka B.P.两次冷事件。由此表明湖沼相沉积物TOC及δ13C_org可以记录降水量和温度的变化状况,能有效指示古气候的变化规律,同时研究结果初步揭示了浙北地区早中全新世期间气候演变特点。     

Evidence for Pleistocene wet aeolian dune and interdune accumulation,S. Pedro da Maceda,north‐west Portugal

Outcrops and cored/counter‐flushed boreholes in the coastal area between Espinho and Aveiro (north‐west Portugal) were investigated to reconstruct the changing patterns of sedimentation during the Late Pleistocene–Holocene. To obtain a common comparison basis, the grain‐size data from outcrop and borehole samples were analysed. The outcrops and the cored parts of the boreholes were dated by radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence. The results show that, on top of pebble‐rich beds of fluvial origin, a wet aeolian dune and interdune environment was active during the later part of the Pleistocene, turning to dry aeolian at the transition to the Holocene. The data indicate also that aeolian accumulation was controlled by vegetation changes (climate) and groundwater table fluctuations. During the Holocene, a podzol formed on the Pleistocene dunes and extensive vegetation precluded major aeolian accumulations. Remobilization of sand started again because of human deforestation and – last but not least – the Little Ice Age.     

Patterns of faunal extinction and paleoclimatic change from mid-Holocene mammoth and polar bear remains, Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Qagnaxˆ Cave, a lava tube cave on St. Paul Island in the Pribilofs, has recently produced a mid-Holocene vertebrate faunal assemblage including woolly mammoth, polar bear, caribou, and Arctic fox. Several dates on the mammoth remains converge on 5700 ¹⁴C yr BP. These dates, ~ 2300 yr younger than mammoth dates previously published from the Pribilof Islands, make these the youngest remains of proboscideans, and of non-extinct Quaternary megafauna, recovered from North America. Persistence of mammoths on the Pribilofs is most parsimoniously explained by the isolation of the Pribilofs and the lack of human presence in pre-Russian contact times, but an additional factor may have been the local existence of high-quality forage in the form of grasses enriched by nutrients derived from local Holocene tephras. This interpretation is reinforced by stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values obtained from the mammoth remains. The endpoint of mammoth survival in the Pribilofs is unknown, but maybe coterminous with the arrival of polar bears whose remains in the cave date to the Neoglacial cold period of ~ 4500 to 3500 ¹⁴C yr BP. The polar bear record corroborates a widespread cooling of the Bering Sea region at that time.     

Two millennia of glacier advances from southern Iceland dated by tephrochronology

Two glaciers at Eyjafjallajökull, south Iceland, provide a record of multiple episodes of glacier advance since the Sub-Atlantic period, ca. 2000 yr ago. A combination of tephrochronology and lichenometry was applied to date ice-marginal moraines, tills and meltwater deposits. Two glacier advances occurred before the 3rd century AD, others in the 9th and 12th centuries bracketing the Medieval Warm Period, and five groups of advances occurred between AD 1700 and 1930, within the Little Ice Age. The advances of Eyjafjallajökull before the Norse settlement (ca. AD 870) were synchronous with other glacier advances identified in Iceland. In contrast, medieval glacier advances between the 9th and 13th centuries are firmly identified for the first time in Iceland. This challenges the view of a prolonged Medieval Warm Period and supports fragmentary historical data that indicate significant medieval episodes of cooler and wetter conditions in Iceland. An extended and more detailed glacier chronology of the mid- and late Little Ice Age is established, which demonstrates that some small outlet glaciers achieved their Little Ice Age maxima around AD 1700. While Little Ice Age advances across Iceland appear to synchronous, the timing of the maximum differs between glacier type and region.     

50,000 years of vegetation and climate history on the Colorado Plateau, Utah and Arizona, USA

Sixty packrat middens were collected in Canyonlands and Grand Canyon National Parks, and these series include sites north of areas that produced previous detailed series from the Colorado Plateau. The exceptionally long time series obtained from each of three sites (> 48,000 ¹⁴C yr BP to present) include some of the oldest middens yet discovered. Most middens contain a typical late-Wisconsinan glaciation mixture of mesic and xeric taxa, evidence that plant species responded to climate change by range adjustments of elevational distribution based on individual criteria. Differences in elevational range from today for trees and shrubs ranged from no apparent change to as much as 1200 m difference. The oldest middens from Canyonlands NP, however, differ in containing strictly xeric assemblages, including middens incorporating needles of Arizona single-leaf pinyon, far north of its current distribution. Similar-aged middens from the eastern end of Grand Canyon NP contain plants more typical of glacial climates, but also contain fossils of one-seed juniper near its current northern limit in Arizona. Holocene middens reveal the development of modern vegetation assemblages on the Colorado Plateau, recording departures of mesic taxa from low elevation sites, and the arrival of modern dominant components much later.     

Burial of organic carbon and carbonate on inner shelf of the northern South China Sea during the postglacial period

Two vibrocores from the inner shelf off Hong Kong are investigated to compare the contents of organic and inorganic carbon in postglacial sediments. The compositions of organic elements and carbonate are highly variable in the core sediments, but overall drop within the compositional ranges of modern seabed sediments in the Zhujiang estuarine and its shelf area. The Holocene sediments in the inner shelf have never been subject to subaerial exposure and the organic matter and carbonate can be preserved well. The burial of carbon in river-dominated shelf environments is highly dependent on the river flux with time. Nevertheless, it is difficult to establish a simple relationship between carbon burial in sediments in relation to climatic changes of basin-wide scale due to complex controls of production, transport and deposition of organic matter and carbonate. Our study suggests that the organic carbon to nitrogen ratio can not reliably identify the sources of depositional organic matters because of selective decomposition of organic matter components during humification and sedimentation. Caution is therefore needed in using organic elemental compositions as indicators of organic matter sources and paleoenvironmental changes in the East Asian continental shelves where intense river-sea interaction and variable carbon flux in geologic record occur.     

Variation of the Lake Khanka level in the late Holocene,primorye

New data on the evolution of Lake Khanka and the formation of onshore bars at its western coast in the late Holocene are discussed in the paper. The late Subatlantic age of the bars and climatic conditions of their formation have been established. In the middle Holocene (SA II), the climate was warm and Lake Khanka was in the transgressive phase. Its level was 0.8–1 m higher than at present. At the end of the Subatlantic period (SA III), when the climatic conditions were cooler, regression of the lake began and continues up to now. The spore-pollen samples of different genesis taken near the studied section were examined for the more reliable interpretation of paleoclimatic events.