Rapid vegetation change during the early Holocene in the Faroe Islands detected in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

High‐resolution pollen, plant macrofossil and sedimentary analyses from early Holocene lacustrine sediments on the Faroe Islands have detected a significant vegetation perturbation suggesting a rapid change in climate between ca. 10 380 cal. yr BP and the Saksunarvatn ash (10 240±60 cal. yr BP). This episode may be synchronous with the decline in δ¹⁸O values in the Greenland ice‐cores. It also correlates with a short, cold event detected in marine cores from the North Atlantic that has been ascribed to a weakening of thermohaline circulation associated with the sudden drainage of Lake Agassiz into the northwest Atlantic, or, alternatively, a period with distinctly decreased solar forcing. The vegetation sequence begins at ca. 10 500 cal. yr BP with a succession from tundra to shrub‐tundra and increasing lake productivity. Rapid population increases of aquatic plants suggest high summer temperatures between 10 450 and 10 380 cal. yr BP. High pollen percentages, concentrations and influx of Betula, Juniperus and Salix together with macrofossil leaves indicate shrub growth around the site during the initial phases of vegetation colonisation. Unstable conditions followed ca. 10 380 cal. yr BP that changed both the upland vegetation and the aquatic plant communities. A decrease in percentage values of shrub pollen is recorded, with replacement of both aquatics and herbaceous plants by pioneer plant communities. An increase in total pollen accumulation rates not seen in the concentration data suggests increased sediment delivery. The catchment changes are consistent with less seasonal, moister conditions. Subsequent climatic amelioration reinitiated a warmth‐driven succession and catchment stabilisation, but retained high precipitation levels influencing the composition of the post‐event communities. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

北黄海长山群岛海域沉积环境初步研究

本文在获取１９８９－１９９３年黄海北部长山群岛海域沉积物大量数据基础上，借助沉积物粒度分析（Ｑ型），揭示出该海域具有在“岛屿效应”影响下的４种环境能量类型，分析了与其适应的环岛沉积环境及其分布特征。     

Aragonite cycles: diagenesis caught in the act

Organic biomarker and nannofossil assemblages are used in combination with sedimentary petrology to identify the role of diagenesis for the formation of a rhythmic calcareous succession. A record from the Early Pliocene of the Maldives (Ocean Drilling Program, ODP Leg 115) is presented containing precession and eccentricity cycles expressed as variable aragonite content. Additional sub‐Milankovitch cycles are caused by rhythmic precipitation of calcite cement in the lower part of the interval. Comparison with palaeo‐productivity indicators (nannofossils, chlorin, total organic carbon) suggests that cementation occurs preferentially in intervals characterized by increasing or decreasing productivity. The coupled variability in productivity and carbonate diagenesis is attributed to the effect of organic matter degradation in the sediment. The observed combination of primary and diagenetic factors hampers the interpretation of the cyclicity on Milankovitch and sub‐Milankovitch scales. Diagenetically stable proxies for palaeo‐productivity, such as nannofossil assemblage data, were used to distinguish between palaeoclimate and diagenetic influences.     

Geochemistry of recent hydrothermal systems of Mendeleev Volcano （Kuril Islands） and surrounding waters

On the Kuril Islands there are 85 volcanoes, 39 of which are active. Hot springs and mud pots are wide spread in this area and have significant inputs on the chemical composition of the surrounding surface waters and environment. We present results of trace elements as well as data on H, O, S, and He isotope ratios for hydrothermal systems of the Mendeleev Volcano （Kunashir Island） and surrounding surface waters. Water and gas samples were taken from springs and holes as well as creeks and the Lesnaya River. Among the thermal water types, three main groups can be distinguished. The first group includes the waters, in which SO4^- ion predominant. The water temperature on the surface reaches 97℃, and TDS varies from a few g/L to 7 g/L. These waters are acid to superacid with pH values ranging 0.6 to 2.3. The second group is sodium-chloride waters. A maximum TDS is 14.2 g/L. The waters are neutral or alkaline; pH varies from 6.9 to 8.2. The third group is the sodium-chloride-sulfate-bicarbonate water. The Stolbovskie springs, located in the periphery of the Mendeleev Volcano are representative of this type. The pH of these waters is close to neutral. TDS is 1.9 g/L. They are rather the derivatives of sodium-chloride waters arisen from dilution of them by subsurface waters. The Kuslyi Creek and Lesnaya River are located near the Mendeleev Volcano. The most acid springs discharge into the Kislyi Creek as a result pH of this creek being 2.5, and contents of most elements rather high. For example, the contents of dissolved solids of Si, Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, in waters of the Kislaya Creek are 22.1, 8.1, 6.2, 1.29, and 0.28 mg/L, and correspondently. The water of the Lesnaya River, （Before the Kislyi Creek, pH is about 8 with TDS 102 mg/L, but after the Kuslyi Creek, pH decreases and the concentrations of chemical elements increase. Debit of the Kislayi Creek in summer season is about 370 L/sec. It means that every day only this small creek inputs in the Lesnay River about 706 kg of Si;     

Sub-wavebase cross-bedded grainstones on a distally steepened carbonate ramp, Upper Miocene, Menorca, Spain

Cross‐bedded grainstones on carbonate ramps and shelves are commonly related to the locus of major wave energy absorption such as shorelines, shoals or shelf breaks. In contrast, on the Early Tortonian carbonate platform of Menorca (Balearic Islands), coarse‐grained, cross‐bedded grainstones are found at a distance from the palaeoshoreline where they were deposited below the wavebase. Excellent exposures along continuous outcrops on the sea cliffs of Menorca reveal the depositional profile and three‐dimensional distribution of the different facies belts of the Tortonian ramp depositional system. Basinward from the palaeoshoreline, fan deltas and beach deposits pass into 5‐km‐wide gently dipping bioturbated dolopackstone (inner and middle ramp), then into 12–20°‐dipping dolograinstone/rudstone clinobeds (ramp slope) and, finally, into subhorizontal fine‐grained basinal dolowackestone to dolopackstone (outer ramp). In this Miocene example, coarse‐grained grainstones exist in five different settings other than beach deposits: (1) on the middle ramp, where cross‐bedded grainstones were deposited by currents roughly parallel to the shoreline at 40–70 m estimated water depth and are interbedded with gently dipping bioturbated dolomitized packstones; (2) on the upper slope, where clinobeds are composed mostly of in situ rhodoliths and red‐algae fragments; (3) on the lower slope, as small‐scale bedforms (small three‐dimensional subaqueous dunes) migrating parallel to the slope; (4) at the transition between the lower slope and the outer ramp, where mollusc‐rich and rhodolithic rudstones and grainstones, interbedded in dolomitized laminated wackestones containing abundant planktonic foraminifera, infill slide/slump scars as upslope‐backstepping bodies (backsets); (5) at the toe of the slope, where coarse skeletal grainstones indicate bedform migration parallel to the platform margin, induced by currents at more than 150 m estimated water depth. This Late Miocene example also illustrates how changes in intrabasinal environmental conditions (nutrients and/or temperature) may produce changes in stratal patterns and facies architecture if they affect the biological system. Two depositional sequences compose the Miocene platform on Menorca, where a reef‐rimmed platform prograded onto an earlier distally steepened ramp. The transition from the ramp to the reef‐rimmed platform was effected by an increase in accommodation space caused by ecological changes, promoting a shift from a grain‐ to a framework‐producing biota.     

ARE ISLANDERS INSULAR? A PERSONAL VIEW*

ABSTRACT. I use my personal experience as an islander doing fieldwork among islanders in the West Indies to explore the meaning of “insularity.” I then expand on that personal experience by drawing on literary sources, particularly Homer's the Odyssey and Herman Melville's Moby Dick, both of which express an island worldview. The island worldview is contrasted and compared with the continental worldview on the basis of differing modes of navigation and cartography and differing modes of orientation as defined by cognitive psychologists.     

Seismic hazard assessment in the Ionian Islands based on observed macroseismic intensities

Catalogues of actual observed intensities are constructed for three towns in the Ionian Islands. They are used for seismic hazard assessment and the results are compared with those obtained by standard approaches; that is, by statistics applied to the data computed from epicentral parameters. The results show that seismic hazard is better assessed using observed rather than computed data, but preparation of the local catalogue presents non-trivial difficulties.     

东海渔山列岛浅海岩礁区大型消费者食源及营养级分析

采用碳氮稳定性同位素技术分析了东海渔山列岛浅海岩礁区生物的碳氮稳定性同位素比值,研究了浅海岩礁区14种初级生产者、61种消费者的营养级。结果表明,东海渔山列岛浅海岩礁区消费者的营养级(TL)变化范围为2.000—4.760,推断东海渔山列岛浅海岩礁区生物有4个营养级;初级生产者δ~(15)N值变化范围为2.75‰—6.85‰,消费者δ~(15)N值变化范围为4.57‰—13.39‰;通过对不同生物δ~(15)N值的比较发现,各类别生物间的δ~(15)N值差异高度显著(P0.01),短滨螺(Littorina brevicula)的δ~(15)N值最低(4.57‰),中国花鲈(Lateolabrax maculatum)和黑鲷(Acanthopagrus schlegelii)的δ~(15)N值最大,分别为11.87‰和13.39‰;单因素方差分析(One-Way ANOVA)表明4类食源间δ~(15)N和δ~(13)C值差异高度显著(P0.01);食源分析表明,鱼类的贡献范围(0.00%—7.09%)最小,初级生产者的贡献范围(27.05%—57.99%)最大;比较发现不同海域同一种生物体内富集的15N量也存在差异,这也从一个侧面反映出不同海域间生物的群落结构和稳定性存在差异。