从山羊寨哺乳动物化石看柳江盆地洞穴堆积的时代与环境

山羊寨洞穴堆积是河北省秦皇岛“柳江盆地地质遗迹自然保护区”众多溶洞的洞穴堆积之一，其中含有大量的哺乳动物化石。经发掘整理与鉴定，采用生物地层学和哺乳动物生活习性对比分析方法，确定其时代为Qp^2.3，晚于辽宁营口“金牛山下组动物群”，早于河北“迁安爪村动物群”和内蒙古“萨拉乌苏动物群”，其特征反映了中国华北与东北过渡地带中更新世晚期至晚更新世早期的哺乳动物面貌，并反映出当时区内森林、森林草原、草原和水域条件等生态环境的多次时空变化。如此众多哺乳动物化石的发现增加了保护区遗迹资源的多样性和保护价值；为该区洞穴堆积的时代与沉积环境研究提供了依据；改变了区内洞穴堆积仅为中更新世地层的认识。     

A 2000‐year lipid biomarker record preserved in a stalagmite from north‐west Scotland

Previous studies on lipid biomarkers preserved in Chinese stalagmites have indicated that ratios of low‐molecular‐weight (LMW) to high‐molecular‐weight (HMW) n‐alkanes, n‐alkan‐2‐ones, n‐alkanols and n‐alkanoic acids can be used as an index of vegetation versus microbial organic matter input to the system and, by extension, a marker of climatic changes, with increases in the proportion of LMW compounds coinciding with colder periods. Here we test whether this hypothesis is equally applicable to a different geographical region (north‐west Scotland), by examining a stalagmite record of the past 200 years, and a wider range of lipid markers. We also test the applicability of other lipid proxies in this context, including the use of n‐alkane ratios, to interpret vegetation changes, and unsaturated alkanoic acid ratios as climatic indicators. The results show that lipid proxies preserved in stalagmites, and especially those related to vegetation, are potentially extremely useful in palaeoenvironmental research. Of particular value is the use of C₂₇/C₃₁ n‐alkane ratios as a proxy for vegetation change, clearly indicating variations between herbaceous and arboreal cover. This proxy has now been successfully applied to samples from diverse environments, and can be considered sufficiently robust to be of use in analysing future stalagmite records. It will be of particular value in areas where reliable pollen records are not available, as is often the case with deeper cave deposits. However, the division between LMW and HMW aliphatic compounds is not a clear‐cut case of microbial versus plant activity, with the changes in LMW compounds relating more closely to those in their HMW analogues than in specific bacterial biomarkers. The use of unsaturated alkanoic acid ratios here gives conflicting results, with the observed variation through time depending on the isomer measured. The discrepancies between the findings of this study and previous work are likely to be due to the varying controls on the lipids (original organic matter input, and compound degradation), which in turn will be affected by whether the main climatic limiting factor on the soil is temperature or precipitation. This suggests that lipid proxies preserved in stalagmites must be interpreted with care, particularly in the case of bacterial compounds which may be derived from within the cave or from the soil. However, many of these issues can be resolved by the use of multi‐proxy studies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

'Sediment'–cement relationships in a Pleistocene speleothem from Italy: a possible analogue for 'replacement' cements and Archaeolithoporella in ancient reefs

Ancient carbonate buildups may contain extraordinarily large amounts of early diagenetic precipitates. In some, host rock lamination may be traced into inclusion bands within the 'cement' crystals, suggesting that the crystals are replacive. By analogy with a Pleistocene speleothem from the Sorrento Peninsula, however, these relationships can be explained differently. In the speleothem, large, repeatedly split and dendritic calcite crystals occur within a laminated carbonate. Lamination consists of sub-mm alternations of micrite and microspar. Micritic laminae pass laterally into inclusion-rich growth bands in the dendritic calcite crystals, and have replaced an aragonitic cement, whereas the microspar laminae were primary calcite cements. Three types of inclusion-rich bands occur in the dendrite crystals: (1) with aragonite relicts, (2) 'ribbon calcite' and (3) with oriented micropores. When aragonite precipitated, the calcite dendrite branches were unable to keep growing as single crystals and split into crystallites (separated by micropores, some forming ribbon calcite), whereas during episodes of calcite lamina precipitation, the larger crystals were regenerated by crystallite coalescence. Calcite crystals are primary: they did not replace a micritic precursor. By analogy with the Italian speleothem, some ancient reefal sparry carbonates may not be replacements of earlier laminated sediments, but may have grown concurrently with them. It is also probable that some ancient laminated sediments were instead sea-floor precipitates, and that stromatolites containing cross-cutting crystal fabrics, and the alternating micrite-microspar laminae typical of Archaeolithoporella , could be largely abiotic crystal growths.     

Integrating Stalagmite, Vertebrate, and Pollen Sequences to Investigate Holocene Vegetation and Climate Change in the Southern Midwestern United States

Speleothem carbon and oxygen isotopic records from Onondaga Cave, south-central Missouri, and Beckham Creek Cave, north-central Arkansas, are compared with the Cupola Pond and Oldfield Swamp pollen series from southeastern Missouri and the Rodgers Shelter and Modoc Shelter vertebrate biostratigraphic sequences from central Missouri and southwestern Illinois. Similar, and roughly contemporaneous, shifts between deciduous forest and steppe indicators throughout the Holocene are revealed in each database. These independent proxies record steppe conditions between approximately 9000 and 1500 cal yr B.P. A shift toward lighter speleothem carbon may reflect a change from warm and dry to cool and dry conditions between 4500 and 3000 yr B.P. The sensitive response of speleothem δ¹³C to changes in vegetation emphasizes their importance as paleoclimate records in an area containing few other millenial-scale climate proxies.     

辽宁本溪晶花洞碳酸钙沉积物颜色多样性分析

辽宁本溪晶花洞发育于中奥陶统马家沟组(O2m)中厚层白云质灰岩中,洞内碳酸钙沉积物具有白色、黄色、肉红色、浅蓝色和黑褐色等多种原生色彩。在洞穴考察的基础上,通过对围岩和洞穴碳酸钙沉积物X荧光分析以及显微镜薄片鉴定,认为洞穴中白色的次生化学沉积物主要由质纯的CaCO3形成;浅蓝色、黑褐色的形成则多由沉积物含有铜、锶和锰、锌所致;而黄色、红色则为不同环境下铁、锰等变价元素所产生。      

岩溶洞穴次生碳酸盐沉积铀及其同位素组成古气候环境研究进展

洞穴沉积铀含量及其同位素初始234U/238U[（234U/238U)0]变化均与过去气候环境变化关系密切。文章分别对石笋中U含量和(234U/238U)0的气候意义进行统计分析发现,多数研究认为洞穴沉积U含量和(234U/238U)0可能指示土壤湿度和有效降水变化。然而,不管是对洞穴沉积的U含量还是(234U/238U)0,其气候环境意义解读还存在两种观点。但无论如何,这些研究成果都显示了洞穴沉积的U含量和(234U/238U)0是研究过去气候环境变化的重要替代指标。在未来的研究中,除了土壤环境和过程,还应关注U来源的相对贡献变化和其他微量元素与U元素的关系。这一指标可能在对东亚地区的大气粉尘活动和冬季风演化、地表生物量的变化研究等方面发挥重要作用。      

Constraining Holocene sea levels using U‐Th ages of phreatic overgrowths on speleothems from coastal caves in Mallorca (Western Mediterranean)

Phreatic overgrowths on speleothems (POS) are carbonate formations deposited at the water table of caves in unique karstic coastal settings having morphologies that can be directly related to sea level at the time of formation. The U‐Th ages of calcite and aragonite overgrowths collected from the modern water table in coastal caves on Mallorca (Cova de Cala Varques A and Cova des Pas de Vallgornera) were determined using high‐precision MC‐ICPMS techniques. U‐Th ages indicate that phreatic carbonate deposition occurred between ca 2·8 and at least 0·6 ka BP and are in accord with an archeologically estimated age of 3·7–3·0 ka BP for a drowned prehistoric construction at a depth of 1 m below current sea level in a cave from the same area. Speleothem δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O and chemical composition of cave pools provide supportive evidence that POS reflect mixing between seawater and brackish water table. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Acetic Acid‐Based Extraction Protocol for the Recovery of U,Th and Pb from Calcium Carbonates for U‐(Th)‐Pb Geochronology

A new method for the simultaneous recovery of U, Th and Pb from ca. 0.5 g calcium carbonate samples for the purpose of U‐(Th)‐Pb geochronometry is presented. The protocol employs ion‐exchange chromatography. Standard anion exchange resin (AG 1‐X8 100–200 mesh) was used as the static phase, and 90% acetic acid was used as the mobile phase to elute the unwanted matrix components; dilute nitric acid was used to elute the U, Th and Pb. Blanks of 1.8 pg Th, 6.4 pg Pb and 8.4 pg U were obtained. The protocol was evaluated by determining the isotopic composition of U‐Th‐Pb separates obtained from an in‐house reference material (prepared from a natural speleothem) by MC‐ICP‐MS. An independently dated speleothem was also reanalysed. Based on these tests, the extraction protocol had an acceptable blank and produced a Pb separate sufficiently free of matrix‐induced instrumental biases to be appropriate for U‐Th‐Pb chronology.     

Evidence of palaeoseismicity in a flowstone of the Observatoire cave (Monaco)

Abstract

Monaco is a medium seismicity zone. The Observatoire cave, a well decorated show cave, is a good place for palaeoseismicity studies. On the floor of the cave it is possible to observe a great number of collapsed sodastraws. The breakages are attributed to the 1887 Ligurian earthquake. A borehole in a flowstone shows several levels of collapses that may indicate ancient earthquakes. © Elsevier, Paris     

岩溶洞穴沉积物的地震记录浅析

洞穴沉积物不仅具有旅游开发价值,而且蕴含了丰富的古气候环境信息,同时也是地震信息的存储器,是研究地震遗迹的良好材料。近10多年,在西南地区开展洞穴资源调研、古气候环境研究期间,观察到一些洞穴沉积物的特殊坍塌现象,以及2008年5月12日四川汶川8级地震中岩溶洞穴沉积物发生破裂、坍塌等现象,认为它们与地震密切相关。本文利用洞穴沉积物中保存或记录的新、老地震印迹、铀系测年数据等,来恢复史前的地震事件和史载资料未记录的地震事件,并对地震事件发生的时间、强度进行对比等。洞穴沉积物中记录的地震印迹可为研究地震历史提供对比证据,填补历史丢失的地震记录, 并能对未来地震的监测以及预报提供一个新的视角。