Millennial- to centennial-scale climate periodicities and forcing mechanisms in the westernmost Mediterranean for the past 20,000 yr

Cyclostratigraphic analysis conducted on a continuous high-resolution marine record from the western most Mediterranean reveals well-identified paleoclimate cycles for the last 20,000 yr. The detrital proxies used (Si/Al, Ti/Al, Zr/Al, Mg/Al, K/Al, Rb/Al) are related to different sediment-transport mechanisms, including eolian dust and fluvial runoff, which involve fluctuations in the atmosphere–hydrosphere systems. These fluctuations are accompanied by changes in marine productivity (supported by Ba/Al) and bottom-water redox conditions (Cu/Al, V/Al, Zn/Al, Fe/Al, Mn/Al, U/Th). Spectral analysis conducted using the Lomb–Scargle periodogram and the achieved significance level implemented with the permutation test allowed us to establish major periodicities at 1300, 1515, 2000, and 5000 yr, and secondary peaks at 650, 1087, and 3000 yr. Some of these cycles also agree with those previously described in the North Atlantic Ocean and circum-Mediterranean records. The periodicities obtained at 2000 and 5000 yr support a global connection with records distributed at high, mid, and low latitudes associated with solar activity, monsoonal regime and orbital forcing. The 1300- and 1515-yr cycles appear to be linked with North Atlantic climate variability and the African monsoon system. Thus, the analyzed record provides evidence of climate cycles and plausible forcing mechanisms coupled with ocean–atmosphere fluctuations.     

青藏高原共和盆地14.5calkaBP以来粘土矿物响应的气候变化模式

对青藏高原北缘共和盆地沙珠玉河的尾闾湖达连海钻孔沉积柱(40.92 m)进行了~(14)C年代测定(10个控制点)和粘土矿物分析(按20cm/70 a间隔的分辨率)。沉积柱底部年龄为14.5 cal ka BP。根据沉积柱粘土矿物的类型、组合、比率指标综合分析,重建了共和盆地14.5 cal ka BP以来气候环境的演化历史。冰消期(14.5~10.0 cal ka BP)盆地气候总体特征表现为干冷,盆地物理风化强:早中全新世(10.0~5.0 cal ka BP)气候表现为温湿,盆地化学风化为主,气候最宜期发生在中全新世的6.0 cal ka BP前后;晚全新世(5.0~0.0 cal ka BP)气候表现为干冷,盆地物理风化盛行。末次冰消期以来,共和盆地粘土矿物记录的气候环境变化阶段与高原其它湖泊指标记录的阶段基本一致。共和盆地粘土矿物记录的气候环境兼有西风、季风模式的特征。     

Climatic changes since the last deglaciation inferred from a lacustrine sedimentary sequence in the eastern Nanling Mountains,south China

Two sediment cores recovered from Dahu Swamp, which is located in eastern Nanling Mountains in south China, were selected for investigation of palaeoclimatic changes. Multi‐proxy records of the two cores including lithological variation, organic carbon isotope ratio, dry bulk density, organic matter content, magnetic susceptibility, humification degree, median grain size and geochemical proxies reveal that during the last deglaciation three drier phases correspond to the Oldest, Older and Younger Dryas cooling events, and the intercalated two wetter phases synchronise with the Bølling and Allerød warming events. The Holocene Optimum, which was resulted from a strengthening of the East Asian (EA) summer monsoon, occurred in the early and mid Holocene (ca. 10–6 cal. ka BP). In the mid and late Holocene (ca. 6–3 cal. ka BP), a prevailing dry climate suggested a weakening of the EA summer monsoon. The general trend of Holocene climatic changes in this study agrees with the 25° N summer solar insolation, suggesting that orbitally induced insolation may have played an important role in the Holocene climate in the study region. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeoecological constraints on late Glacial and Holocene ice retreat in the Southern Andes (53°S)

Late Glacial to Holocene ice retreat was investigated along a 120 km long fjord system, reaching from Gran Campo Nevado (GCN) to Seno Skyring in the southernmost Andes (53°S). The aim was to improve the knowledge on regional and global control on glacier recession with special emphasis on latitudinal shifting of the westerlies. The timing of ice retreat was derived from peat and sediment cores, using mineralogical and chemical characteristics, and pollen as proxies. Stratigraphy was based on ¹⁴C-AMS ages and tephrochronology. The ice retreat of the Seno Skyring Glacier lobe is marked by an ice rafted debris layer which was formed around 18,300 to 17,500 cal. yr B.P. Subsequently, fast glacier retreat occurred until around 15,000 to 14,000 cal. yr B.P. during which around 84% of Skyring Glacier were lost. This fast recession was probably also triggered by an increase of the Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) from 200 to 300 m. Subsequently, the ice surface was lowered below the ELA in an area that previously made up more than 50% of the accumulation area. Much slower retreat and glacier fluctuations of limited extent in the fjord channel system northeast of GCN occurred between around 14,000 to 11,000 cal. yr B.P. during both the Antarctic Cold Reversal and the Younger Dryas. This slow down of retreat indicates a decline in the general warming trend and/or increased precipitation, due to a southward migration of the westerlies. After around 11,000 cal. yr B.P. pollen distribution shows evolved Magellanic Rainforest and similar climate as at present, which lasted throughout most of the Holocene. Only Late Neoglacial moraine systems were formed in the period 1220–1460 AD, and subsequently in the 1620s AD, and between 1870 and 1910 AD. The results indicate that the Gran Campo Nevado ice cap has reacted more sensitive and partly distinct to climate change, compared to the Patagonian Ice Field.     

Pollen analyses off Senegal: Evolution of the coastal palaeoenvironment during the last deglaciation

Pollen and dinoflagellate cysts from marine sediments in core A180-48 (15°19′N, 18°06′W; 2450 m water depth; 530 cm length) are used to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions of nearshore tropical west Africa during the last deglaciation. High concentrations and influxes of pollen and dinoflagellate cysts between 11 000 and 10 000 yr BP are interpreted as reflecting an increase in continental trade-wind circulation and related coastal upwelling at 15°N latitude. The sea-surface temperature difference between glacial and interglacial times was not as strong as previously suggested. Together with local (fresh) ground-water input, this smaller temperature difference may explain the persistence of the Rhizophora mangrove and Guinean gallery forests near the shore until their massive extension during the early Holocene humid maximum around 9500 yr BP. Pollen data from the core are compared with data from Rosilda N110-Z, from the continental shelf at the same latitude.     

末次冰消期以来白令海盆的冰筏碎屑事件与古海洋学演变记录

通过对白令海盆中部BR02岩芯高分辨率的颜色、粒度和元素地球化学地层的研究发现:(1)该岩芯较为完整地记录了末次盛冰期结束以来(约16.3 ka BP)的多期冰筏碎屑事件,包括H1、OD、YD和北方2期,其中以H1和YD最为显著,反映了末次冰消期以来该地区海冰/冰山以及区域性冰川的消长变化;(2)BR02岩芯上部17—25 cm段出现富Mn、富Ba的氧化型沉积,说明在全新世高海面时期,白令海与北太平洋、北冰洋之间的水体交换达到极点,白令海环流加强,海盆底层水含氧状况明显改善,并引发海洋生产力增加;(3)CaO、Na2O、Sr、Zr及Na2O/K2O比值的分布说明,海盆冰筏碎屑主要来自富碳酸盐的育空河流域,其次为阿拉斯加半岛和阿留申群岛等火山岩区;岩芯上部Na2O/K2O比值的递增暗示10 ka BP以来与火山物质输运有关的北太平洋入流(阿拉斯加流)可能增加。     

Assessing the Stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation of the Past, Present, and Future

This paper is a review of the recent development of researches on the stability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation （AMOC）. In particular, we will review recent studies that attempt to best assess the stability of the AMOC in the past, present, and future by using a stability indicator related to the freshwater transport by the AMOC. These studies further illustrate a potentially systematic bias in the state-of-the-art atmosphere-ocean generM circulation models （AOCCMs）, in which the AMOCs seem to be over-stabilized relative to that in the real world. This common model bias in the AMOC stability is contributed, partly, to a common tropical bias associated with the double intertropical convergence zone （ITCZ） in most state-of-the- art AOGCMs, casting doubts on future projection of abrupt climate changes in these climate models.     

The Amazon River headstream area in the Cordillera Chila,Peru: hydrographic,hydrological and glaciological conditions

Abstract

The source of the world's largest river has fascinated scientists and adventurers for a long time. Extensive studies have been undertaken in the unexplored Llogueta River valley, Cordillera Chila, to identify the main stream of the Amazon River. Analysis of the Lloqueta River network and measurements of its hydrographic and hydrometric characteristics are presented in this study. On the basis of the acquired data, the northern hillside of the Cordillera Chila massif, concretely the basins of four mountainous courses—the Carhuasanta, Apacheta, Ccaccansa and Sillanque rivers—should be regarded as the headwaters territory of the Amazon River. Factors influencing the river system—glaciers and soils—were examined for each catchment. Glacier retreat in the last 50 years has left perennial snowfields only in the highest part of the study area, resulting in modification of the headwater runoff regimes. Preliminary results are afforded by the continual automatic water-level monitoring of the Lloqueta River since June 2008. Our investigations have determined that all types of soil in the area could be classified into two main categories: hydromorphic soils or poorly developed cryic soils.

Citation Janský, B., Engel, Z., Kocum, J., ?efrna, L. & ?esák, J. (2011) The Amazon River headstream area in the Cordillera Chila, Peru: hydrographical, hydrological and glaciological conditions. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(1), 138–151.     

Precise dating of abrupt shifts in the Asian Monsoon during the last deglaciation based on stalagmite data from Yamen Cave, Guizhou Province, China

Based on 33 U/Th dates and 1020 oxygen isotopic data from stalagmite Y1 from Yamen Cave, Guizhou Province, China, a record of the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) was established. The record covers the last deglaciation and the early Holocene (from 16.2 to 7.3 ka BP) with an average oxygen isotope resolution of 9 years. The main millennial-scale deglacial events first identified in Greenland (Greenland Interstadial Events: GIS 1e through GIS 1a) and later in China are clearly present in the Y1 record. By analogy to earlier work, we refer to these as Chinese Interstadials (CIS): CIS A.1e to CIS A.1a. The onset of these events in Y1 δ18O records are nominally dated at: 14750±50, 14100±60, 13870±80, 13370±80, and 12990±80 a BP. The end of CIS A.1a or the beginning of the Younger Dryas (YD) event is nominally at 12850±50 a BP and the end of the YD dates to 11500±40 a BP. The δ18O values shift by close to 3‰ during the transition into the Bφlling-Allerφd (BA, the onset of CIS A.1e) and at the end of the YD. Comparisons of Y1 to previously published early Holocene records show no significant phase differences. Thus, the East Asia Monsoon and the Indian Monsoon do not appear to have been out of phase during this interval. The Y1 record confirms earlier work that suggested that solar insolation and North Atlantic climate both affect the Asian Monsoon.