Holocene pine tree-line evolution in the Swedish Scandes: Recent tree-line rise and climate change in a long-term perspective

This article focuses on the Holocene tree line (Pinus sylvestris) and climate change in the Swedish Scandes. A composite of three previously independently published data sets of megafossil tree remains (trunks, stumps and roots) from sites above today's tree line is analysed. Calibration of ages, adjustment for glacio-isostatic land uplift and a larger sample provide new and more conclusive insights. The tree-line altitude peaked about 11 200 cal. yr BP, 425 m higher than the position about a century ago, when it was at its Holocene low. At the millennial-centennial scale, tree-line retraction has been a smooth process, following a linear trend, which largely conforms to the Milankovitch model of orbital forcing of summer temperature evolution. Shorter excursions from this trend cannot be ruled out, as these are beyond the resolution of the analytical approach. During the earliest Holocene, summers may have been about 2.5°C warmer than by the late-19th century. Projection of the 20th-century maximum tree-line rise by 150-190 m upon the entire Holocene tree-line chronology indicates that present-day tree lines may be higher than ever during the past 5000 or even 7000 years. Indirectly, this might reflect an anomalous modern climatic regime for which there is supporting evidence from retreating mountain glaciers and recent evolution of the alpine plant cover and its zonation patterns. With this background, the evolution of the tree-line ecotone in the case of continued warming is considered. Pine is likely to regain the dominant position held in the early Holocene. Its tree line may shift at least 400 m above its present position. Small outlier stands of mountain birch will establish in sheltered, moderately snow-rich habitats high above the new pine tree line, but an overall alpine character of the landscape will prevail above the tree line of pine. Exotic tree species, mainly belonging to the genus Pinus may profit from a new climatic regime and establish in the tree-line ecotone.     

THE WATER RESOURCES OF THE RIO GRANDE DE TARCOLES BASIN,COSTA RICA

ABSTRACT

Standard hydrological methods have been used to evaluate the water balance of a Central American river basin located in Costa Rica, for the purpose of appraising its water resources potential.

Estimates are made of the present utilization of water by each major sectorial user, and a comparison of demand and supply is presented that enables the determination of the degree of present utilisation of water resources.     

REPRESENTATION OF SPECTRA BY CONTINUOUS FUNCTIONS

A general framework for manipulating spectra as functions in traditional multivariate methods such asPCA and PLS is described.The functional representation is very convenient for compression,ensuringsmoothness and continuity.There are two fundamentally different types of representations:(a)byfunctions and(b)by function coefficients.The use of coefficients is the most practical way of analysis.     

Deglaciation of western Central Norway

The glacier movements and corresponding ice margins in Central Norway during Younger Dryas and Preboreal are reconstructed. Scattered, older marginal deposits are difficult to correlate. Raised beach features indicate that the deep fjords became ice-free at an early stage due to calving. In Møre og Romsdal county the glacier front lay at the fjord heads during Younger Dryas, with extensive local glaciation in the intervening mountain areas, and a limit of glaciation 500–600 m lower than the present. In certain places local moraines older than Younger Dryas have been preserved. Autochthonous block fields are widespread in the mountains of Møre og Romsdal. The lower limit of block fields lies at c. 500 m above sea level on the outermost coast and rises to c. 1500 m above sea level in the interior fjord country. No erratics, striation or lateral moraines from the inland ice have been found above this limit. Its gradient, which in outer fjord districts is about 1%, seems to indicate the ice surface at the last maximum of Weichsel glaciation.     

Non-analogous tree flora in the Scandes Mountains, Sweden, during the early Holocene - macrofossil evidence of rapid geographic spread and response to palaeoclimate

Early-Holocene occurrences of broad-leaved temperate tree species at a site now within the subalpine belt of the Swedish Scandes are reported and analysed. Macrofossil remains (fruits and leaves) of Alnus glutinosa, Corylus avellana, Quercus robur and Ulmu.s glahra were recovered in a peat deposit far beyond and above their modern distributional limits. A previous nearby finding of Tilia cantata adds to this group of Hemiboreal lowland species, the regional presence of which in high-elevation northern Scandinavia has gone entirely unrecognized by pollen stratigraphical studies. Radiocarbon dates (AMS) range between 8500 and 8000 BP, indicating early and rapid spread, closely following the ice recession. Maximum tree species richness and distributional limits (latitude and altitude) were attained during the earliest part of the Holocene. In a regional perspective, the temperate trees coexisted with a dominant boreal (cold-climate) element, viz. Pinus sylvestris, Bclulu pubescens ssp. tortuosa, Betula pendula, Alnus incana, Picea ahies and Larix sibirica, which are all identified and dated from macrofossils. This climatically seemingly incompatible assemblage is without modern analogues. Presumably, this diverse tree flora owed its existence to a unique (Holocene perspective) climatic regime, ultimately forced by the Milankovitch cycles of insolation. The results strengthen previous palaeoclimatic inferences based on past tree-limit positions (Pinus sylvestris) and imply that Holocene summer warmth peaked fairly soon after the regional deglaciation, practically concurrently with the solar radiation maximum. Important questions are raised concerning several palynologically derived postulates within general palaeobiogeography. For example, rates of geographic tree spread are not necessarily individualistic, despite fundamentally different dispersal modes. The emergent efficiency of dispersal suggests that distribution patterns relate to climate and soil factors rather than time. Dispersal steps may have been fairly large, and the resultant geographic spread was epidemic, resulting in a sparse pattern of outlying stands, rather than sequentially following certain routes in the landscape. Rapid geographic expansion is likely to have been relatively unrestrained by physical barriers, e.g. mountain ranges, seas and large lakes. Even in Central Europe, close to the ice margin, there may have been more trees during the latest glaciation than previously realized.     

豫西嵩县前范岭石英脉型钼矿床地质特征及辉钼矿Re-Os同位素年龄

位于熊耳山-外方山地区的前范岭钼矿是东秦岭地区新近发现的石英脉型钼矿床之一。赋矿围岩为古元古界熊耳群安山质火山岩类。矿体主要以含辉钼矿石英脉产出,矿石类型以石英脉型为主。金属矿物以辉钼矿和黄铁矿为主,脉石矿物以石英为主,其次为方解石、萤石等。围岩蚀变类型有硅化、钾长石化、青磐岩化等。对6件辉钼矿样品进行Re-Os同位素测年所获得的模式年龄为233.3±3.3～248.2±3.5Ma,等时线年龄为239±13Ma,表明矿床形成于中三叠世。矿床的成矿作用发生于华北与扬子两个板块碰撞对接的晚期阶段。区域上整体的挤压造成了局部的剪切和伸展环境,这种环境为控矿断裂的形成和成矿流体的运移提供了有利条件。嵩县境内现已发现的多处脉型钼矿床很可能形成于同一时期(三叠纪),它们构成了熊耳山与外方山之间的嵩县脉型钼矿田。     

Sedimentological and ichnological signatures of changes in wave,river and tidal influence along a Neogene tropical deltaic shoreline

Analysis of Neogene cores from the Eastern Venezuela Basin along 65 km of a west–east trending shoreline allows characterization of the sedimentological and ichnological signatures of wave, river and tidal processes. The area displays deltas prograding northward from the Guyana Shield. Twenty‐three facies are defined and grouped into four categories (wave‐influenced, river‐influenced, tide‐influenced and basinal). Wave‐dominated deltaic deposits occur mostly in the Tácata Field. The delta plain was characterized by tide‐influenced distributary channels separated by interdistributary bays. Fluvial discharge in the delta front and prodelta was repeatedly interrupted by storm‐wave reworking and suspended sediment fallout. Delta‐front and prodelta deposits contain some ichnotaxa that typically do not occur in brackish water (for example, Chondrites and Phycosiphon). Amalgamated storm deposits are unburrowed or contain vertical Ophiomorpha. Lateral (especially on the updrift side) to the river mouths, waves caused nearly continuous accretion of the associated strandplains. These deposits are the most intensely bioturbated, and are dominated by the estenohaline echinoid‐generated ichnogenus Scolicia. River‐dominated deltaic deposits are present in the Santa Bárbara, Mulata, Carito and El Furrial Fields. Low‐sinuosity rivers characterized the alluvial plain, whereas the subaerial delta plain was occupied by higher‐sinuosity rivers. The subaqueous delta plain includes distributary channels and tide‐influenced interdistributary bays. Further seaward, successions are characterized by terminal distributary‐channel and distributary mouth‐bar deposits, as well as by delta‐front and prodelta deposits showing evidence of sediment gravity‐flow and fluid‐mud emplacement. Delta‐front and prodelta deposits are unbioturbated to sparsely bioturbated, suggesting extreme stress, mostly as a result of high fluvial discharge and generation of sediment gravity flows. Tidal influence is restricted to interdistributary bays, lagoons and some distributary channels. From an ichnological perspective, and in order of decreasing stress levels, four main depositional settings are identified: river‐dominated deltas, tide‐influenced delta plains, wave‐dominated deltas and wave‐dominated strandplain–offshore complexes.     

极隙区Pc3频段脉动的传播特性

南极中山站和戴维斯站 (不变磁纬 74.5°S)白天中午位于磁层极隙区 ,夜间位于极盖区或极光带的极向边沿。两站均安装了完全相同的感应式磁力计。选择两站 1 997年 3月和 1 996年 6、9、1 2月的数据 ,运用快速傅立叶变换和波形检查方法选择 Pc3频段脉动事件 ,然后用信号互谱技术进行统计分析 ,结果如下 :在中山站 -戴维斯站 ,Pc3频段脉动主要出现于白天中午 /磁中午和磁午夜附近 ;白天 ,Pc3频段脉动振幅、出现率和出现的时间范围均有一定的季节变化 ,冬季最小 ,但在夜间 ,Pc3频段脉动没有这种变化 ;夜间 ,Pc3频段脉动振幅比在白天大许多 ;Pc3频段脉动传播方向 ,白天主要向西 ,夜间不太规则。这些可能反映了电离层电导率和日侧电离层电流系统对 Pc3频段脉动的影响。     

The Wilhelmøya Formation (Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic) at Bohemanflya, Spitsbergen

An 18.5 m thick shale sequence of Norian-Rhaetian age is described from the Bohemanfiya-Syltoppen area (north of Isfjorden, central Spitsbergen). Lithological, petrographical and palynological analyses show that the sequence represents a marginal development of the lower part of the Wilhelmeya Formation. The depositional history at the Triassic-Jurassic transition is discussed in the light of this new evidence. The Wilhelmøya Formation was probably deposited during a weak marine transgression over an area of low relief. Low sediment supply and current and wave reworking of the sediments characterized the depositional conditions.