Late Pleistocene hydroclimatic variabilities in arid north-west China: geochemical evidence from Balikun Lake,eastern Tienshan,China

Reconstructing the environmental and hydrological response to millennial-scale fluctuations of climate-sensitive areas of mid-latitudes is crucial to understanding the Late Pleistocene climate in terrestrial inland regions. We use sedimentological and geochemical proxies (e.g. lithology, gain size, loss-on-ignition, soluble salts, X-ray fluorescence elements) from Balikun Lake in the eastern Tienshan Mountains, to elucidate variations in sedimentation, water chemistry and watershed weathering intensity of the Late Pleistocene interval (~20−60 ka). The record documents high-frequency oscillations and alternating hydrological patterns on (multi-) millennial timescales. Balikun Lake changes from nearly fresh to brackish and finally to hypersaline conditions during MIS3. The warm and wet climate during the early MIS3 facilitated regional vegetation and bioproductivity. Halite sedimentation took place from the middle to late MIS3, indicating a gradual drying trend. This reduced the lake area and vegetation cover, as well as weakened the chemical weathering rates of the watershed. These new interpretations challenge the idea of climate amelioration with the highest lake level and wettest conditions prevailing in the arid areas of north-west China during the late MIS3, indicating a possible westerlies-dominated Late Pleistocene climate in these areas. The evolution of the palaeohydrological regime and climate change in the Balikun Basin correlated well with the millennial-scale high-latitude Atlantic climate superimposed on the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation.     

Speleothem-based chronology and environmental context of deposits from the Mishin Kamik Cave,NW Bulgaria – A contribution to the archaeological study of the Late Pleistocene human occupation in the Balkans

The Balkan Peninsula represents one of the most important human pathways into and out of Europe during the Pleistocene. Mishin Kamik cave, located in the karst region of Western Stara Planina, has a rich faunal content and shows promising features indicating a human occupation site with the discovery of potential bone artefacts and an intriguing accumulation of bear skulls and bones. Petrographic study and U-series dating of a stalagmite and other calcite deposits in the cave provide an absolute chronological frame for the detrital infillings and their archaeological content and inform the environmental and climatic context of the cave evolution. Most detrital deposits in the cave were probably deposited before Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 and the cave morphology and sedimentary deposits display current morphologies since ~135 ka. Consequently, the palaeontological and archaeological findings are older than ~135 ka. Calcite dated on and under the accumulation of bear skulls and bones suggests deposition during MIS 7. A first depositional contextualization of the bone accumulation does not allow us to discriminate between a natural or anthropogenic origin. The study emphasizes the added value of speleothem studies in archaeological sites and particularly in bringing a well-constrained chronological and environmental framework.     

Reconstruction of subglacial depositional conditions based on the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility: an example from Dębe (central Poland)

The analysis of low-field anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) was used to reconstruct the subglacial deposition conditions during the Main Stadial of the Odranian Glaciation (MIS 6) in till deposits from a site in Dębe (central Poland). Based on the AMS parameters, six till beds were identified (intervals 1–6). The declination of the maximum magnetic susceptibility axis (k₁) indicates that the ice sheet was moving in from the northwest. The obtained results confirm the thesis about the preferred direction of ice-sheet transgression during the Odranian Glaciation (MIS 6) in this part of Poland. This interpretation is also confirmed by data obtained from measurements of the long axis of clasts, which agree with the orientation of k₁. Based on the AMS results, a significant part of the profile was deformed through simple shear and direct interaction of the ice sheet with the underlying sediment (beds 2–5). The lowest part of the till (bed 6) may have been deposited on a southeast-trending slope or post-depositional deformed by uneven loading of the ice cover. The upper part of the profile (especially in interval 1) could be deposited with an impact of pore water.     

The monsoon imprint during the ‘atypical’ MIS 13 as seen through north and equatorial Indian Ocean records

Previous studies have suggested that Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 13, recognized as atypical in many paleoclimate records, is marked by the development of anomalously strong summer monsoons in the northern tropical areas. To test this hypothesis, we performed a multi-proxy study on three marine records from the tropical Indian Ocean in order to reconstruct and analyse changes in the summer Indian monsoon winds and precipitations during MIS 13. Our data confirm the existence of a low-salinity event during MIS 13 in the equatorial Indian Ocean but we argue that this event should not be considered as “atypical”. Taking only into account a smaller precession does not make it possible to explain such precipitation episode. However, when considering also the larger obliquity in a more complete orbitally driven monsoon “model,” one can successfully explain this event. In addition, our data suggest that intense summer monsoon winds, although not atypical in strength, prevailed during MIS 13 in the western Arabian Sea. These strong monsoon winds, transporting important moisture, together with the effect of insolation and Eurasian ice sheet, are likely one of the factors responsible for the intense monsoon precipitation signal recorded in China loess, as suggested by model simulations.     

冲绳海槽MIS6期以来底栖有孔虫碳氧同位素特征及其古海洋指示意义

基于AMS ¹⁴C年龄和底栖有孔虫氧同位素建立的地层年代框架,重点探讨了冲绳海槽中北部CSHC-15孔MIS6期以来(约200 ka)底栖有孔虫δ¹³C特征及其古海洋指示意义。结果显示,冰期-间冰期表层初级生产力和有机质通量的变化是导致底栖有孔虫δ¹³C值在MIS4和MIS6期负偏而在MIS1、MIS3和MIS5期正偏的主要原因。MIS2期的底栖有孔虫δ¹³C正偏,指示了NPIW侵入冲绳海槽,导致通风性加强,底层水呈弱氧化状态。甲烷渗漏引发的甲烷厌氧氧化作用(AOM)是导致CSHC-15孔底栖有孔虫在MIS4期碳同位素大幅负偏的原因。     

Late Quaternary climate-driven environmental change in the Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica, multi-proxy evidence from a lake sediment core

Little is known about the response of terrestrial East Antarctica to climate changes during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Here we present a continuous sediment record from a lake in the Larsemann Hills, situated on a peninsula believed to have been ice-free for at least 40,000 yr. A mutli-proxy data set including geochronology, diatoms, pigments and carbonate stable isotopes indicates warmer and wetter conditions than present in the early part of the record. We interpret this as Marine Isotope Stage 5e after application of a chronological age-depth model and similar ice core evidence. Dry and cold conditions are inferred during the last glacial, with lake-level minima, floristic changes towards a shallow water algal community, and a greater biological receipt of ultraviolet radiation. During the Last Glacial Maximum and Termination I the lake was perennially ice-covered, with minimal snowmelt in the catchment. After ca. 10,500 cal yr B.P., the lake became seasonally moated or ice-free during summer. Despite a low accumulation rate, the sediments document some Holocene environmental changes including neoglacial cooling after ca. 2450 cal yr B.P., and a gradual increase in aridity and salinity to the present.     

中国航磁异常管理信息系统开发与建设

航磁异常管理信息系统是采用GIS可视化技术及数据库技术在MAPGIS软件系统平台上建立的信息管理系统，它能够完成航磁异常的可视化检索、统计、属性编辑和图形显示，并实现检索结构数据的自动成图。首次建立的航磁异常信息数据库整理录入完成中国国土资源航空物探遥感中心资料室保存的20世纪80年代以前全国大部分少、市、自治区的1万多份航磁查证异常登记表和检查卡片的相关信息：航磁异常属性记录约11350条、地检异常属性记录约12870条、见矿异常属性记录约1120条，扫描及矢量化地检异常图件约7270份。本系统通过建立异常属性数据库与航磁地检异常矢量图文件、全国省级航磁数据库文件、全国航磁测量工作程度图及全国1：50万数字地理底图数据库之间合理的逻辑关系，实现了多种信息基于GIS平台与技术的统一管理和应用。     

海域使用管理信息系统的建立

通过分析海域使用管理信息系统的需求与现状，提出了建立海域管理信息系统的方案。根据数据量和共享需求，可建立两种海域管理系统：基于单机的系统和基于网络的系统。对两种系统进行了比较，利用GIS、关系型数据库和编程工具实现了该方案。     

喜马拉雅山脉东段空布岗峰东麓的第四纪冰川作用序列及其初步的年代学约束

野外调查表明, 喜马拉雅山脉东段的空布岗峰东麓晚第四纪期间至少发育了4套冰碛物. 初步的U系和热释光(TL)测年结果表明, 该区最早的冰川作用出现在MIS6(深海氧同位素阶段)之前, 并可能是该区规模最大的一次冰川作用过程. 最近一次显著的冰川作用出现在倒数第二次冰期, 其时代约为160.9～109.0 ka BP或略早, 大致对应MIS6, 其中至少包含了两个阶段. 最近的两次冰川作用分别发生于末次冰期和全新世期间, 其中包含了多个次一级的冰川波动.     

中国东海和南黄海沿海平原MIS 3晚期海侵层的动力模拟研究

Abundant evidences of higher sea levels from Jiangsu and Fujian coasts have proved a marine transgression event during 30–40 ka BP, suggesting that there was a stage with high sea level and a warm climate when ice sheets shrank in the Northern Hemisphere. The duration of 30–40 ka BP spanned a period in the late Marine Isotope Stage 3(MIS 3) and was in nature an interstadial epoch during the Last Glacial period of the Quaternary. Different from the glacial period with a cold climate, this marine transgression considered as a penultimate higher sea level during the Quaternary remains a puzzle that why the evidence is contrary to the Quaternary glacial theory. It is important to understand sea level rise for these areas sensitively responding to the global changes in the future. To recognize the key issues on sea level changes, the eustatic sea level(H_S) was defined as the glaciation-climateforced sea levels, and the relative sea level change(H_R) was defined as that a sea level record was preserved in sediment that experienced multiple secondary actions of land and sea effects. On the basis as defined above, we constructed multi-level models of climate-driven glacio-eustatic changes and land-sea systems. By integrating data sets from eight borehole cores and prescribing the boundary conditions, we simulated the changes of HS and HR in the East China Sea and southern Yellow Sea areas in the late MIS 3. The marine transgression strata from the borehole core data was identified at ca. 30 m below present sea level as a result of the collective influence of ice melting water, neotectonic subsidence, sediment compaction and terrestrial sediment filling since ca. 35 ka ago,whereas the simulated relative sea-levels turned out to be –26.3––29.9 m a.s.l. The small error involved in the simulation results of ±(2.5–4.5) m demonstrated the credibility of the results. Our results indicated that sea level change in the late MIS 3 was dominated by glacial effects, in which the eustatic sea-level was between –19.2––22.1m a.s.l. The study sheds light on the nature of sea-level changes along the east coast of China in the late MIS 3 and contributes to understanding the characteristics of marine transgression under the effects of multiple complex land-sea interactions.