The lacustrine sedimentary records of coal-burning atmospheric pollution

With the acceleration of industrialization, coal- burning atmospheric pollution is getting more and more serious in many regions in China. However, there are only about ten odd years literature records about pollution in some large and mid-sized cities, where the atmosphere has perhaps been polluted for several decades, and therefore it is difficult to know the process and characteristic of pollution, and diffi-cult to evaluate its damage to environment. Lacustrine sediment, a natural record w…     

Multiple controls on the paleoenvironment of the Early Cambrian marine black shales in the Sichuan Basin,SW China: Geochemical and organic carbon isotopic evidence

In order to understand the paleoenvironment of the Early Cambrian black shale deposition in the western part of the Yangtze Block, geochemical and organic carbon isotopic studies have been performed on two wells that have drilled through the Qiongzhusi Formation in the central and southeastern parts of Sichuan Basin. It shows that the lowest part of the Qiongzhusi Formation has high TOC abundance, while the middle and upper parts display relative low TOC content. Redox-sensitive element (Mo) and trace elemental redox indices (e.g., Ni/Co, V/Cr, U/Th and V/(V + Ni)) suggest that the high-TOC layers were deposited under anoxic conditions, whereas the low-TOC layers under relatively dysoxic/oxic conditions. The relationship of the enrichment factors of Mo and U further shows a transition from suboxic low-TOC layers to euxinic high-TOC layers. On the basis of the Mo-TOC relationship, the Qiongzhusi Formation black shales were deposited in a basin under moderately restricted conditions. Organic carbon isotopes display temporal variations in the Qiongzhusi Formation, with a positive excursion of δ¹³C_org values in the lower part and a continuous positive shift in the middle and upper parts. All these geochemical and isotopic criteria indicate a paleoenvironmental change from bottom anoxic to middle and upper dysoxic/oxic conditions for the Qiongzhusi Formation black shales. The correlation of organic carbon isotopic data for the Lower Cambrian black shales in different regions of the Yangtze Block shows consistent positive excursion of δ¹³C_org values in the lower part for each section. This excursion can be ascribed to the widespread Early Cambrian transgression in the Yangtze Block, under which black shales were deposited.     

青藏高原东北部甘加盆地古梯田地层与年代初探

梯田是人类几千年来利用和改造自然能力的象征,在人类社会发展中发挥了重要的作用。甘加盆地位于青藏高原东北部甘肃省夏河县,盆地内的丘陵、山麓地带分布大面积的层状梯形景观,疑似弃耕的古代梯田。本文在实地考察的基础上,基于卫星遥感资料,通过GIS手段分析发现古梯田面积为42.2 km²（约63000亩）,主要分布在盆地内央曲河及其支流两侧海拔2936~3326 m间的山坡上。通过对3个古梯田剖面样品的磁化率、总有机碳/氮（TOC、TN）含量、孢粉、粒度等环境代用指标分析,同时对比具有准确年代控制的自然剖面磁化率与粒度。研究结果显示：梯田开垦于晚全新世（距今3000 a）古土壤,梯田剖面顶部25~35 cm不同于自然剖面而呈均一化的指标证实了耕作层的存在（距今约1000 a以下层位）;但耕作层之上TOC、TN含量的增多,以及梯田剖面与自然剖面整体一致的指标变化趋势说明了梯田被短期利用后长期废弃;结合历史文献资料推断夏河古梯田是在北宋“弓箭手屯田”制度（1074—1125年）下开垦的;气候重建资料显示该时段温度较高、降水增加,整体有益于农业生产。本文提供了过去人类社会适应气候变化的典型案例。     

Mesoproterozoic Lakhanda Lagerstätte, Siberia: Paleoecology and taphonomy of the microbiota

The preservation of the organic-walled microbiota of the Lakhanda Lagerstätte in the Kumakha mudstone succession of the late Mesoproterozoic Lakhanda Group (Uchur-Maya region, southeast Siberia) is a result of unusually favorable paleoecologic, taphonomic, and diagenetic conditions. Well known for its marked taxonomic diversity and exquisite preservation, the biota inhabited a warm, shallow, epicontinental basin rich in nutrients into which were dispersed clay minerals, from weathering of continental crust, and minor amounts of volcanic detritus. The fossils were preserved by compression in fine-grained smectite–illite–kaolinite mudstones deposited in a sulfur-deficient disoxic and anoxic environment. Subsequently, the long-term (1 Ga) tectonic stability of the southeast margin of the Siberian platform has provided an exceptional environment for the preservation of the microfossil assemblage without significant diagenetic alteration. Conclusions drawn here from studies of the paleoecology, taphonomy, and diagenesis of the Lakhanda Lagerstätte may provide a globally useful model in the search for additional evidence of the Precambrian rise to dominance of eukaryotes in the Earth's biosphere.     

云南属都湖近百年环境演变的湖泊沉积记录与器测资料对比研究

通过对属都湖湖心钻取的短岩芯Esdr1进行放射性核素137Cs和常规的元素分析,利用137Cs建立精确的年代标尺,开展地球化学记录环境演变与器测资料的对比研究。器测资料表明,近50年来,该地区主要的气候变化特征:1958～1983年,气候偏冷湿;1983～2002年,气候逐渐暖干化,这些气候波动特征被沉积岩芯忠实记录。研究表明属都湖沉积物地球化学代用指标指示的气候演化特征与器测资料可很好的对比印证,属都湖沉积岩芯完整的记录了区域气候变化的信息     

大气污染的湖泊响应及其代用标志

通过洱海和阳宗海大气污染的湖泊响应、代用标志提取和原因分析以及地表水酸化理论和自然酸性湖泊的对比研究,揭示湖水总矿化度和S04^2—的同步异常增大是湖泊早期受酸沉降危害的标志．保存于沉积记录中的磁化率、非磁滞剩磁和介形类、硅藻的数值和种群、密度等变化,可灵敏地揭示湖泊受大气污染的起点、过程和环境影响,可作为酸沉降较重湖区的代用标志．     

Application of Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraether Lipids in Paleoenvironment Reconstruction of Loess Deposits: A Review of Recent Progresses

The Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs) occur ubiquitously in a wide range of environments, such as loess, peat, lake, soil, and ocean, which vary compositionally in response to environmental changes, and provide a series of biomarker proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. This paper introduced the structures and biological sources of GDGTs, and reviewed the recent progresses of the application of the GDGTs proxies in the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of loess deposits. The main progresses include: \mathrm{①} The GDGTs proxies have been widely used in reconstructing the climate changes in loess deposits, and have established the temperature changes of last 800 ka for the Chinese Loess Plateau; \mathrm{②}Temperature variations in Chinese Loess Plateau displayed significant correlation with the Northern Hemisphere insolation, which may be also regulated by the surface vegetation conditions; and \mathrm{③} In the Chinese Loess Plateau, the increase in monsoon precipitation during the last deglaciation significantly lagged behind the rise of temperature. However, problems still exist in the current studies. For instance, the GDGTs-based temperature is likely overestimated, probably reflecting the temperature of warm season, and relationships between GDGT indices and climate factors are still unclear. In the future, the development of new proxies and more accurate regional calibrations based on the separation of 6- methyl GDGTs are expected to provide more reliable paleoenvironmental information, and will provide essential evidence for the evolution of hydrothermal pattern and mechanisms behind climate changes in different regions.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987111000855

During the last decades, several integrated studies of Tethyan Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary sections from different countries were published with the objective to indicate problems for the selection of biological, chemical or physical markers suitable for identification of the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary e the only system boundary within the Phanerozoic still not fixed by GSSP. Drawing the boundary between the Jurassic and Cretaceous systems is a matter of global scale discussions. The problem of proposing possible J/K boundary stratotypes results from lack of a global index fossils, global sea level drop, paleogeographic changes causing development of isolated facies areas, as well as from the effect of Late Cimmerian Orogeny. This contribution summarizes and comments data on J/K boundary interval obtained from several important Tethyan sections and shows still existing problems and discrepancies in its determination.     

Very high-frequency and seasonal cave atmosphere PCO2 variability: Implications for stalagmite growth and oxygen isotope-based paleoclimate records

Cave air P_CO2 at two Irish sites varied dramatically on daily to seasonal timescales, potentially affecting the timing of calcite deposition and consequently climate proxy records derived from stalagmites collected at the same sites. Temperature-dependent biochemical processes in the soil control CO₂ production, resulting in high summer P_CO2 values and low winter values at both sites. Large Large-amplitude, high-frequency variations superimposed on this seasonal cycle reflect cave air circulation. Here we model stalagmite growth rates, which are controlled partly by CO₂ degassing rates from drip water, by considering both the seasonal and high-frequency cave air P_CO2 variations. Modeled hourly growth rates for stalagmite CC-Bil from Crag Cave in SW Ireland reach maxima in late December (0.063 μm h^− 1) and minima in late June/early July (0.033 μm h^− 1). For well-mixed ‘diffuse flow’ cave drips such as those that feed CC-Bil, high summer cave air P_CO2 depresses summer calcite deposition, while low winter P_CO2 promotes degassing and enhances deposition rates. In stalagmites fed by well-mixed drips lacking seasonal variations in δ¹⁸O, integrated annual stalagmite calcite δ¹⁸O is unaffected; however, seasonality in cave air P_CO2 may influence non-conservative geochemical climate proxies (e.g., δ¹³C, Sr/Ca). Stalagmites fed by ‘seasonal’ drips whose hydrochemical properties vary in response to seasonality may have higher growth rates in summer because soil air P_CO2 may increase relative to cave air P_CO2 due to higher soil temperatures. This in turn may bias stalagmite calcite δ¹⁸O records towards isotopically heavier summer drip water δ¹⁸O values, resulting in elevated calcite δ¹⁸O values compared to the ‘equilibrium’ values predicted by calcite–water isotope fractionation equations. Interpretations of stalagmite-based paleoclimate proxies should therefore consider the consequences of cave air P_CO2 variability and the resulting intra-annual variability in calcite deposition rates.     

Geochemical changes across the Ordovician-Silurian transition on the Yangtze Platform,South China

The trace element and rare earth element (REE) variations across the Ordovician-Silurian succession are presented from two outcrop sections on the Yangtze Platform: the Nanbazi section, Guizhou Province, deposited in a shallow platform interior setting, and the Wangjiawan section, Hubei Province, deposited in a deeper basinal environment. Geochemical analysis of closely spaced samples through three intervals, the Wufeng, Guanyinqiao and Longmaxi, revealed vast palaeoceanographic changes. Some geochemical proxies, including Th/U, Ni/Co, V/Cr, and V/(V+Ni) ratios, together with sedimentary facies and biotic data, indicate that an anoxic condition on the most of the Yangtze Platform during the Wufeng and Longmaxi intervals, but an oxic condition during the Guanyinqiao time. The shift of the anoxic to the oxic environment during the Guanyinqiao time coincided with a global sea-level lowstand, in parallel with the global glaciation. The Longmaxian anoxic environment was a result of a global sea-level rise, which may be synchronized with a mainly catastrophic event in the latest Ordovician. Although the two sections generally show similar variation patterns of trace and REE concentrations and some element ratios, a minor difference occurs between the Wangjiawan and Nanbazi sections, likely reflecting a difference in depositional setting during the accumulation. Such an oceanic oxygen-level variation may add a useful constraint to the current arguments on the cause and consequence of the latest Ordovician mass extinction. Supported by National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2005CB422101)