Compositional variations in calciturbidites due to sea-level fluctuations,late Quaternary,Bahamas

Piston cores in Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas, revealed an alternating sequence of periplatform ooze and bankderived turbidites of the past 5 glacial and interglacial periods. By using the point-count method we have analyzed the composition of the turbidite sediment. Variations in the bank-derived fraction are clearly linked to the glacial-interglacial cycles. Nonskeletal components (pellets; ooids; grapestones) are most abundant in interglacial turbidites, while skeletal components (calcareous algae; peneroplids and reef builders) dominate in glacial turbidites. We attribute this pattern to the exposure and flooding of the surrounding carbonate platforms during Late Quaternary sea-level cycles. Because nonskeletal sediment is produced in the interior of the platforms, its growth and subsequent export to the flanks are at a maximum when the banks are flooded, i.e. during interglacial periods. During glacials, skeletal grains dominate because the banks are exposed and carbonate production is limited to a narrow belt of skeletal sands and fringing reefs. The resulting compositional signal appeared to have a good correlation with aragonite variations in the periplatform ooze between the turbidites. Further, compositional variation parallels the change in turbidite frequency described earlier (»highstand bundling«). Frequency and composition of turbidites are both unaffected by diagenesis and therefore provide an excellent monitor of sealevel fluctuations.

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Zusammenfassung In Kolbenlotkernen aus der Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas, bestehen die jüngsten fünf Glaziale und Interglaziale aus einer Wechselfolge von Periplattform-Schlamm und Turbiditen mit Flachwasser-Material. Die Zusammensetzung der neritischen Kornfraktion in den Turbiditen wurde durch Punktzählung ermittelt. Sie schwankt deutlich im Verlauf eines glazialen Zyklus. Abiogene Komponenten (Pellets, Ooide, Traubenklumpen) dominieren in den interglazialen Turbiditen, während Biogene (Kalkalgen, peneroplide Foraminiferen und Riffbildner) in glazialen Turbiditen vorherrschen. Wir erklären diese Schwankungen mit dem Auftauchen und Überfluten der Bahama Bänke während der jungquartären Schwankungen des Meeresspiegels. Die abiogenen Komponenten werden auf der Innenseite der Plattformen gebildet. Ihre Produktion und Export zu den Plattformflanken erreichen daher ein Maximum während der interglazialen Hochstände des Meeres. In den Glazialen dominieren biogene Komponenten, weil die Plattformen trocken liegen und die Karbonat-Produktion auf einen schmalen Streifen von Saumriffen und Biogensanden beschränkt ist.Die Zusammensetzung der Turbidite variiert im gleichen Rhythmus wie der Aragonitgehalt der zwischengeschalteten Periplattform-Schlamme. Überdies korreliert die Zusammensetzung gut mit der Häufigkeitsverteilung der Turbidite. Während der Interglaziale sind Turbidite häufiger als während der Glaziale (»Hochstand-Bündel«). Häufigkeitsverteilung und Zusammensetzung der Turbidite zusammen ergeben ein gutes, durch Diagenese nicht verwischbares Abbild der Schwankungen des Meeresspiegels.

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Résumé Dans le »Tongue of the Ocean« (Bahamas), des sondages à piston effectués dans les sédiments des cinq dernières périodes glaciaires et interglaciaires montrent une alternance de turbidites et de boues déposées en périphérie de plate-forme. La composition de la fraction néritique des turbidites, dé terminée par la méthode du compteur de points, montre une relation claire avec les cycles glaciaires. Les composants abiogènes (pellets, ooïdes, grapestones) dominent dans les turbidites interglaciaires, tandis que les composants biogènes (algues calcaires, foraminifères de type pénéroplide et organismes constructeurs) sont prépondérants dans les turbidites glaciaires. Nous attribuons cette répartition aux émersions et submersions successives du banc des Bahamas, consécutives aux variations du niveau de la mer au Quaternaire récent. Comme les composants abiogènes ont été formés sur la partie interne de la plate-forme, leur développement et leur transport vers les flancs étaient maximaux lorsque le banc était submergé, au cours des périodes interglaci aires. Par contre, les composants biogènes dominaient pendant les épisodes glaciaires, où la plate-forme était exondée et où la production de carbonate était restreinte à une zone étroite de récifs frangeants et de sables biogènes. Ces variations dans la composition des turbidites présentent une bonne corrélation avec la teneur en anhydrite des boues de périphérie de plate-forme intercalées entre les turbidites. Il existe également une bonne corrélation avec la fréquence des turbidites, plus élevée pendant les interglaciaires. La fréquence et la composition des turbidites ne sont pas affectées par la diagenèse et constituent donc un excellent témoin des fluctuations du niveau de la mer.

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Basal Waitemata Group lithofacies: rapid subsidence in an early Miocene interarc basin, New Zealand

The abrupt transition from coastal and shallow shelf sediments to bathyal sediments provides a record of rapid subsidence and deepening of the early Miocene Waitemata basin. Basal shallow marine strata (Kawau Subgroup) accumulated upon a highly dissected surface that overlies deformed Mesozoic metagreywacke. The early Miocene coast was characterized by an embayed and cliffed shoreline with numerous sea stacks and islands. Kawau Subgroup lithofacies, which include pocket beach, shallow shelf and base-of-cliff talus deposits, reflect rapidly changing coastline configuration and water depths as the rugged bedrock surface was buried. The response to continued rapid subsidence and transgression in Waitemata basin was a decrease in the supply of coarse clastic sediment. Beach gravels were locally displaced to greater water depths by avalanching down steep bedrock slopes. The first bathyal turbidite facies, which abruptly overlie the shallow-water Kawau Subgroup, include locally derived sediment gravity flows commonly ponded by remnant bedrock submarine highs. When this local supply of sediment had been exhausted, coarse sediment starvation ensued and bathyal muds accumulated. With the resumption of sediment supply and gradual burial of submarine bedrock relief, submarine fans coalesced and increased in lateral extent. Subsidence of the Waitemata basin to bathyal depths is thought to have occurred in less than a million years. From the above hypothesis, a general model of sedimentation is proposed.     

Palaeoecological study on the Holocene valley development of the River Main, southern Germany

Tree-ring studies carried out on subfossil oak trunk deposits within the Holocene valley fills of the River Main can reconstruct phases of increased fluvial activities. These phases have been dated on the base of two absolutely tree-ring dated chronologies and in addition by ¹¹C-datings of eleven floating tree-ring scries of subfossil oaks.
Geological-pedological investigations reveal an alternation between increased and reduced fluvial activity during the Holocene.
Periods of increased gravel redeposition are dated by dendrochronology, and by ¹⁴C and cultural findings. Increased fluvial activity becomes more frequent towards Modern Times with culminations in the Middle Atlantic, the Subboreal, the Iron-Roman Age, the Main Middle Ages till earliest Modern Times, and in the last century.
On the sequence of Holocene river deposits there developed specific soil types as indicators for the age of the river deposits since the Last Glacial.
Among other palaeoecological results an important finding is the correlation between tree-ring width, flood-loam sedimentation, and soil development.     

Upper Triassic (Norian) cephalopod limestones of the Hallstatt-type, Oman

Norian crinoidal/brachiopod limestones and cephalopod limestones of the Hallstatt-type occur as blocks in a Hettangian(?) calcareous breccia of the Haliw Formation in the Oman Mountains. Crinoidal and brachiopod packstones, up to 12 m thick, prevail in the lower part of the sequence and were deposited on a substrate of Norian forereef breccia. The overlying cephalopod wackestones, up to 4.9 m thick, have a basal white bed followed by red limestones with abundant planar and scalloped, corroded surfaces and local stromatolites. Upward, red, nodular wackestones and, finally, slumped grey wackestones follow. The analysis of geopetal fabrics in orientated samples shows that bedding of these facies is, in fact, inclined bedding. Inclinations varied between 15 and 29°. In addition, the restored dip directions demonstrate rotation, indicating deposition on a gliding block. The preferred orientation of orthoconic cephalopods and imbrication of discoidal ammonoids coincide with the dip direction measured from geopetal fabrics. Such features, generally interpreted as current-induced, are here interpreted as gravity-induced. The overall mud-supported rock fabric thus indicates deposition under very low-energy conditions. The common mud-supported texture of the rocks contrasts with evidence for current activity found in the scalloped surfaces and shell lags, particularly in the crinoidal/brachiopod facies and the lower, stratigraphically condensed, cephalopod limestones. This indicates that deposition of lime mud alternated with periods of elevated current strength. A comparison of the Hallstatt-type limestones and current-influenced sediments on the northern slope of the Little Bahama Bank suggests that condensed sequences of the Hallstatt-type are restricted to relatively shallow depths with strong fluctuation of contour-following currents undersaturated with respect to aragonite along carbonate shelf margins facing the open ocean. On steep slopes, sediment bypassing may be an additional factor for stratigraphic condensation.     

Geomorphic evolution of the Tongue of the Ocean and the Providence Channels,Bahamas

During their early history the Tongue of the Ocean and the Providence Channels were broad, relatively shallow basins flanked by growing carbonate banks. As the Blake-Bahama platform subsided, sedimentation kept pace with subsidence on the banks, but not in these flat-bottomed troughs, thus increasing the relief. At the outer end of the troughs the Blake-Bahama escarpment, bounding the platform on the east, dropped steeply to the abyssal plain. Sediment gravity flows coursing down this escarpment began to erode a valley headward into the flat-bottom ancestral Northeast Providence Channel. As the relief between the banks and the troughs increased, the flows increased in vigor, and some of them were able to move down the troughs and into the headwardly eroding central valley. The rate of headward erosion thus increased, with the result that still more flows found their way into the valley. The head of this valley is now off central Andros Island, about 225 km from its point of origin, and headward erosion is continuing.Study of bathymetric charts, observations made during sixteen dives in the Tongue of the Ocean using the submersible DSRV “Alvin”, and analogies with subaerial geomorphic processes and their products contributed to the development of this model. The model is consistent with available stratigraphic information.It is emphasized that the morphology of the Tongue of the Ocean and the Providence Channels cannot be explained as the result of a single unidirectional process, such as upbuilding alone or erosion alone. Both have occurred and both are still occurring. Upbuilding predominated early in the history of the Bahamas; it is responsible for the high walls. Erosion began later and has been accelerating through time. It is responsible for the central valley.     

Jurassic strike slip versus subduction in the Eastern Alps

Late Jurassic formations of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) contain ample evidence of synsedimentary tectonics in the form of elongate basins filled with turbidites, debris flows and slumps. Clasts are derived from the Mesozoic of the NCA; they commonly measure tens of metres in diameter and occasionally form kilometre-size bodies. These sedimentologic observations and the presumed evidence of Late Jurassic high-pressure metamorphism recently led to the hypothesis of a south-dipping Jurassic subduction zone with accretionary wedge in the southern parts of the NCA. We present new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates from the location of the postulated high-pressure metamorphism that bracket the age of this crystallization not earlier than 114–120 Ma. The event is therefore part of the well-documented mid-Cretaceous metamorphism of the Austro-alpine domain. Thus, there is currently no evidence of Late Jurassic high-pressure metamorphism to support the subduction hypothesis. The sediment record of the Late Jurassic deformation in the NCA, including the formation of local thrust sheets, is no conclusive evidence for subduction. All these phenomena are perfectly compatible with synsedimentary strike-slip tectonics. Large strike-slip fault zones with restraining and releasing bends and associated flower structures and pull-apart basins are a perfectly viable alternative to the subduction model for the Late Jurassic history of the NCA. However, in contrast to the Eastern Alps transect, where arguments for a Jurassic subduction are missing, a glaucophane bearing Jurassic high-pressure metamorphism in the Meliatic realm of the West Carpathians is well documented. There, the high-pressure/low-temperature slices occur between the Gemeric unit and the Silica nappe system (including the Aggtelek-Rudabanya units), which corresponds in facies with the Juvavic units in the southern part of the NCA. To solve the contrasting palaeogeographic reconstructions we propose that the upper Jurassic left lateral strike-slip system proposed here for the Eastern Alps continued eastwards and caused the eastward displacement of the Silica units into the Meliatic accretionary wedge.     

Diurnal Variations of Atmospheric Hydrogen Peroxide Concentrations in Saxony (Germany)

During a 3-year study, gaseous hydrogenperoxide (H₂O₂) concentrations were measuredas part of the SANA project at the Melpitz FieldResearch Station and in the city of Leipzig. Typicaldaily mean H₂O₂ mixing ratios on sunny dayswere 0.15 to 0.25 ppbv with maximum values of 0.3 to0.5 ppbv at Melpitz, and 0.3 to 0.6 ppbv with maximumvalues of 0.4 to 1.0 ppbv in Leipzig. Over the entireperiod of the project the maximum hourly mean valueswere 2.1 ppbv and 5.3 ppbv in Melpitz and Leipzig,respectively. The data were not complete enough to show a trend.Linear regression analysis shows, that ozone(O₃), temperature and solar radiation arepositively correlated with H₂O₂, whereasnitrogen oxides (NO_x), carbon monoxide (CO) andrelative humidity are negatively correlated. Negativecorrelation between H₂O₂ and CO is caused byjoint occurrence of CO with NO_x in exhaust gases.Negative correlation between H₂O₂ andrelative humidity is not necessarily in contradictionto the accelerating effect of water vapour onH₂O₂ formation. The strong positivecorrelation of H₂O₂ with the dew pointdifference however seems to better reflect theinfluence of water vapour. Multiple linear regression analysis (MLRA) of thecomponents measured, indicates the great influence of CO on the formation of H₂O₂ in the gasphase.     

Identifying causes of ground-penetrating radar reflections using time-domain reflectometry and sedimentological analyses

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical technique widely used to study the shallow subsurface and identify various sediment features that reflect electromagnetic waves. However, little is known about the exact cause of GPR reflections because few studies have coupled wave theory to petrophysical data. In this study, a 100- and 200-MHz GPR survey was conducted on aeolian deposits in a quarry. Time-domain reflectometry (TDR) was used to obtain detailed information on the product of relative permittivity (ɛ_r) and relative magnetic permeability (μ_r), which mainly controls the GPR contrast parameter in the subsurface. Combining TDR data and lacquer peels from the quarry wall allowed the identification of various relationships between sediment characteristics and ɛ_rμ_r. Synthetic radar traces, constructed using the TDR logs and sedimentological data from the lacquer peels, were compared with the actual GPR sections. Numerous peaks in ɛ_rμ_r, which are superimposed on a baseline value of 4 for dry sand, are caused by potential GPR reflectors. These increases in ɛ_rμ_r coincide with the presence of either organic material, having a higher water content and relative permittivity than the surrounding sediment, or iron oxide bands, enhancing relative magnetic permeability and causing water to stagnate on top of them. Sedimentary structures, as reflected in textural change, only result in possible GPR reflections when the volumetric water content exceeds 0·055. The synthetic radar traces provide an improved insight into the behaviour of radar waves and show that GPR results may be ambiguous because of multiples and interference.     

A Review of: “Applications of Spatial Data Structures: Computer Graphics,Image Processing,and GIS”. By H. SAMET. (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company,Inc, 1989.) [Pp. xv + 507; figures,tables, appendix,references, name and credit index,subject index.] Price US $49.95. ISBN 020150300 X (hardback).

The introduction of automated generalisation procedures in map production systems requires that generalisation systems are capable of processing large amounts of map data in acceptable time and that cartographic quality is similar to traditional map products. With respect to these requirements, we examine two complementary approaches that should improve generalisation systems currently in use by national topographic mapping agencies. Our focus is particularly on self‐evaluating systems, taking as an example those systems that build on the multi‐agent paradigm. The first approach aims to improve the cartographic quality by utilising cartographic expert knowledge relating to spatial context. More specifically, we introduce expert rules for the selection of generalisation operations based on a classification of buildings into five urban structure types, including inner city, urban, suburban, rural, and industrial and commercial areas. The second approach aims to utilise machine learning techniques to extract heuristics that allow us to reduce the search space and hence the time in which a good cartographical solution is reached. Both approaches are tested individually and in combination for the generalisation of buildings from map scale 1:5000 to the target map scale of 1:25 000. Our experiments show improvements in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. We provide evidence that both approaches complement each other and that a combination of expert and machine learnt rules give better results than the individual approaches. Both approaches are sufficiently general to be applicable to other forms of self‐evaluating, constraint‐based systems than multi‐agent systems, and to other feature classes than buildings. Problems have been identified resulting from difficulties to formalise cartographic quality by means of constraints for the control of the generalisation process.