Boreas最新文献

In the lacustrine succession F4-F5 of the Fucino Basin, central Italy, 20 visible tephra layers were identified in the time interval 250–315 ka (Marine Isotope Stages 8–9). Fifteen of them contained suitable material to explore their volcanic sources. Among these tephra some well-known eruptions and eruptive sequences of the Roman and Roccamonfina volcanoes were identified, such as the Tufo Giallo di Sacrofano and the Lower White Trachytic Tuff, respectively. Furthermore, the sediment succession documents a more complex eruptive history of the Sabatini, Vulsini, Colli Albani and Roccamonfina volcanic complexes during the investigated period, as inferred from previously undescribed tephra deposits. Single-crystal-fusion ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of two of the inspected tephra layers combined with two already published tephra ages provided the basis for a Bayesian age-depth model. The modelled tephra ages allow chronological constraining of so-far undefined eruptions of the Sabatini (272.5±4.7, 281.8±4.7, 308.5±2.8, 312.8±2.1 ka), the Vulsini (311.7±2.3, 311.9±2.3 ka) and the Colli Albani (301.0±3.6 ka) volcanic districts. Two tephra layers of an undefined volcanic source from the Roman volcanoes have modelled ages of 309.5±2.7 and 310.5±2.6 ka. The new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and modelled ages were further used for a reassessment of the timing of already known and dated eruptive units, such as the Tufo Giallo di Sacrofano (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar: 289.3±4.8 ka). Tephra tentatively correlated with the Valle Santa Maria, Case Pisello and the White Trachytic Tuff Unit E3 or Unit F offer modelled ages for these eruptions of 296.6±3.9, 301.8±3.5 and 303.6±3.4 ka, respectively. The results complete the tephrostratigraphical investigations of the c. 425 ka old F4-F5 record, extend the Mediterranean tephrostratigraphical framework and provide a significant contribution for improving knowledge on Italian volcanic explosive activity.

The Baltic Ice Stream, a large fast-flowing sector of the last Fennoscandian Ice Sheet that occupied the present-day Baltic Sea basin, was first conceptualized in the earliest days of glacial geological research in Scandinavia. Landform and sedimentological evidence from the terrestrial margins support the concept and numerical ice-sheet models demonstrate its existence and possible evolution. However, with evidence for the Baltic Ice Stream thus far limited to the terrestrial periphery, its true form, scale, function, and role in deglaciation have proven enigmatic. Here we present geomorphological evidence directly from the Baltic seabed that confirms the existence of and sheds light on the behaviour of the Baltic Ice Stream. Based on an extensive collection of high-, moderate- and low-resolution bathymetric terrain models covering a large proportion of the Baltic Sea floor, and complemented by LiDAR-data for the Baltic islands, we have identified and mapped >20 000 individual subglacial bedforms, meltwater landforms and grounding line landforms. We reconstruct a six-stage sequence of ice flow and retreat, finding that streaming was persistent in the Baltic but that pathways were variable in extent, timing and duration: different sectors of the Baltic exhibit asynchronous streaming and out-of-phase grounding line changes. During deglaciation, grounding line re-advances occurred in both the southwestern and the northern Baltic Proper, and, while abundant iceberg ploughmarks attest to calving as a significant ice loss mechanism, lobate margins suggest supply to the Baltic catchment was consistently high. Our reconstruction is limited by a fragmentary geomorphic record. Here we put forward a first hypothesis for how the Baltic Ice Stream evolved, and hope it stimulates new geomorphic, stratigraphical and core data collection to extend the landform record, provide insights into subglacial and grounding line processes, and constrain the chronology for Baltic Ice Stream flow and retreat.

Current debate on the status and character of the Anthropocene is focussed on whether this interval of geological time should be designated as a formal unit of epoch/series rank in the International Chronostratigraphic Chart/Geological Time Scale, or whether it is more appropriate for it to be considered as an informal ‘event’ comparable in significance with other major transformative events in deeper geological time. The case for formalizing the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphical unit with a base at approximately 1950 CE is being developed by the Anthropocene Working Group of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. Here we outline the alternative position and explain why the time-transgressive nature of human impact on global environmental systems that is reflected in the recent stratigraphical record means that the Anthropocene is better seen not as a series/epoch with a fixed lower boundary, but rather as an unfolding, transforming and intensifying geological event.

Tsunami deposits around the North Sea basin are needed to assess the long-term hazard of tsunamis. Here, we present sedimentary evidence of the youngest tsunami on the Shetland Islands from Loch Flugarth, a coastal lake on northern Mainland. Three gravity cores show organic-rich background sedimentation with many sub-centimetre-scale sand layers, reflecting recurring storm overwash and a sediment source limited to the active beach and uppermost subtidal zone. A basal 13-cm-thick sand layer, dated to 426–787 cal. a CE based on ¹⁴C, ¹³⁷Cs and Bayesian age–depth modelling, was found in all cores. High-resolution grain-size analysis identified four normally graded or massive sublayers with inversely graded traction carpets at the base of two sublayers. A thin organic-rich ‘mud’ drape and a ‘mud’ cap cover the two uppermost sublayers, which also contain small rip-up clasts. Grain-size distributions show a difference between the basal sand layer and the coarser and better sorted storm layers above. Multivariate statistical analysis of X-ray fluorescence core scanning data also distinguishes both sand units: Zr, Fe and Ti dominate the thick basal sand, while the thin storm layers are high in K and Si. Enriched Zr and Ti in the basal sand layer, in combination with increased magnetic susceptibility, may be related to higher heavy mineral content reflecting an additional marine sediment source below the storm-wave base that is activated by a tsunami. Based on reinterpretation of chronological data from two different published sites and the chronostratigraphy of the present study, the tsunami seems to date to c. 1400 cal. a BP. Although the source of the tsunami remains unclear, the lack of evidence for this event outside of the Shetland Islands suggests that it had a local source and was smaller than the older Storegga tsunami (8.15 cal. ka BP), which affected most of the North Sea basin.

In the highest tributaries of the Upper Garonne Basin, Central Pyrenees, cirques up to 2600 m a.s.l. were already deglaciated by 15–14 ka. The long-term deglaciation during Termination-1 (T-1) was interrupted by glacial advances within the cirques during the Bølling–Allerød (B-A) interstadial and the Younger Dryas stadial. The cirques preserve a variety of glacial and periglacial landforms whose chronologies are poorly known. This study is focused on the Lòcampo cirque (42°38′06″N and 0°59′10″E), Upper Garonne Basin, where a detailed geomorphological map and ¹⁰Be terrestrial cosmic ray exposure (CRE) dating allowed us to constrain the chrono-sequence between the glacial and periglacial domains. In the small Lòcampo cirque, a glacier formed a cirque moraine between 2200 and 2300 m a.s.l., which surrounds a relict rock glacier encompassing several transversal ridges. Additionally, longitudinal ridges typically observed in debris-covered glaciers are preserved between the moraine and the rock glacier. The eight-sample data set of CRE ages indicates the formation of the cirque moraine during the second half of the B-A, by 13.2±1.1 ka. Exposure ages from the rock glacier boulders show a range between 13.6±0.9 and 11.9±0.7 ka, which did not allow its formation to be chronologically constrained. Therefore, the environmental evolution following the moraine stabilization could follow the formation of a debris-covered glacier at the bottom of the Lòcampo cirque, with the subsequent formation of the rock glacier. After the rock glacier formation, its front rapidly ceased at 13.6±0.9 ka, while the upper ridges gradually stabilized until it became definitively relict at 11.9±0.7 ka or afterwards. These results show evidence of the complex glacial to periglacial transition that needs more robust chronological data sets to better understand the role of climate forcing and local topography during the deglaciation in mid-latitude mountain environments.

The presence of a late Quaternary ice sheet/ice shelf over the East Siberian Sea has been proposed in several papers. Here, we further document its duration/resilience based on the sedimentary, bulk mineralogical, and geochemical (organic matter content and its stable isotopic composition, U-Th series) properties of a core raised from the southernmost Mendeleev Ridge. The chronostratigraphy of the studied core was mainly built from the ²³⁰Th excess (²³⁰Th_xs) distribution and decay downcore. At the core-top, peaking ²³⁰Th_xs values during the early MIS 3 and mid-MIS 1 encompassing an MIS 2 hiatus were observed. As documented in several papers, these peaks suggest seasonally open ice conditions over proximal continental shelves. Below, the interval spanning MIS 4 and possibly MIS 5d records major ice-rafting events illustrated by overall high coarse-fraction contents. Underlying MIS 5e, down to MIS 11, the sediment depicts relatively low sand (1.7±2.5 dw%), high clay (33.5±4.7 dw%), and very low organic carbon (0.10±0.06 dw%) contents, and low δ¹³C_org values (−24.3±0.9‰). This section is interpreted as recording fine sediment transport by deep currents and/or meltwater plumes below a resilient ice cover, only interrupted by a few short-duration events. These events include (i) detrital carbonate pulses assigned to deglacial events along the NW Laurentide Ice Sheet margin (Termination (T) III), and (ii) intervals with some planktonic foraminifer occurrences, likely relating to their advection from open areas of the Arctic Ocean (MIS 5e, 9 and 11). All Terminations, but TII and the early MIS 3, show peaking Mn/Al values linked to the submergence of Arctic shelves under a rising sea level. We conclude that the resilient ice cover, likely an ice shelf, has been present over the southern Mendeleev Ridge during most of the interval after the Mid-Pleistocene Transition and was favoured by the low summer insolation of the MIS 14 to 10 interval.

Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP) Site 548 was cored in 1984 at a water depth of 1256 m on the Goban Spur, offshore southwest Ireland. Coring retrieved a ~100-m-thick Pleistocene contourite sequence. This study uses planktonic foraminiferal assemblage and benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope analyses to establish an age model for the upper 40 m of this core. This site's multidisciplinary analyses of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages, lithic grains, facies and calcium carbonate concentration reveal a 250 000-year record of the North Atlantic polar front variability and British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) history. The sequence is characterized by alternations of ice rafted debris (IRD) laden pelagic mud facies with calcium carbonate-rich silty sand contourite facies that track glacial/interglacial cycles. The polar front migrated southward across the area several times during glacial maxima and stadial periods, while warmer Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) flowed northward across the region during interglacial and interstadial periods depositing contourites. Lithic analyses reveal a complex history of IRD deposition associated with iceberg calving from the Laurentide Ice Sheet and northwest European ice sheets, mainly the BIIS. Comparison between the Goban Spur (DSDP Site 548) and the Celtic Margin (MD03-2692) and central North Atlantic Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1308 suggests differences between the ‘non-Laurentide Ice Sheet’ Heinrich Events (HE) 6 and 3 at the Goban Spur, with IRD from the BIIS being prominent during HE 6 and IRD from other European ice sheets north of the BIIS likely being more dominant during HE 3. The nature of lithics in IRD-rich horizons during Terminations 3, 3A, 2 and 1 suggests significant iceberg calving episodes preceding BIIS retreat during the onset of interstadial intervals.

The organic matter content of marine sediments is often used to infer past changes in ocean conditions. However, the organic carbon pool preserved in coastal sediments is a complex mixture derived from different sources and may not reflect in situ processes. In this study, we combine taxonomic identification of reworked palynomorphs with pyrolysis organic geochemistry and reflected-light organic petrographic microscopy to investigate the provenance, composition and preservation of organic matter in a marine sediment core retrieved from the NE Greenland shelf. Our study reveals continuous yet variable input of land-derived organic carbon to the marine environment throughout the late Younger Dryas–Holocene, with the highest input of inert carbon in the late Younger Dryas. Although the sediments contain some recent marine palynomorphs, there is no other evidence of fresh marine organic carbon. In contrast, our results indicate that these shelf sediments represent a significant sink of recycled organic carbon. The results of pyrolysis geochemistry revealed that ~90% of the total organic carbon in the sediments is inert. The organic petrography analyses revealed that >70–84% of the organic carbon in the sediment core is terrigenous. Reworked dinoflagellate cysts showed a continuous provenance of Cretaceous land-derived material, most likely from the nearby Clavering Island. Our study points to the importance of constraining the organic matter origin, composition and preservation in marine sediments to achieve more accurate palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on organic proxies.

The Namur area in Belgium is useful to study brown (Ursus arctos) and cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) as the assemblage contains little temporal and no geographical variation. Here, we aim to assess ontogenetic allometry within cave bears, as well as ecomorphological differences between adult brown bears (n = 9), adult cave bears (n = 5) and juvenile cave bears (n = 3). Landmarks for 3D digitization of the mandible were chosen based on the taphonomical damage of the specimens. Extant brown bears and extinct Pleistocene brown and cave bears were digitized with a Microscribe G2. Generalized Procrustes superimposition was performed on the coordinates. Allometry was studied using regression analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to assess ecomorphological differences between the groups. 61% of the shape variance within juvenile and adult cave bears was predicted by size (n = 8, p < 0.01). The juvenile cave bears have relatively deep horizontal rami. In adult cave bears, the horizontal ramus is much narrower dorsoventrally. Juvenile cave bears have a small masseteric fossa and a short coronoid process, whereas both are larger, relative to mandible size, in adult cave bears. This made juvenile cave bears likely less effective masticators than fully grown cave bears. In the PCA, principal component (PC) 1 accounts for 45.0% of the total variance and PC2 accounts for 27.6%. Fossil U. arctos from Namur fall within the 95% confidence interval of modern North American U. arctos on both PCs, but are more similar to cave bears than the average extant brown bear. From the similarity of fossil and modern brown bears, it can be deduced that the diet of fossil brown bears was probably also within the range of their modern North American conspecifics, although they might have been more efficient at masticating plant matter.

Holocene relative shore-level changes and development of the Ģipka palaeolagoon in the western Gulf of Riga are reconstructed using multiproxy analyses by combining litho-, biostratigraphical and chronological data with remote sensing and geophysical data. The results show the development of the Ģipka basin from the Ancylus Lake/Initial Litorina Sea coastal zone (before c. 9.1 cal. ka BP) to coastal fen (c. 9.1 to 8.4 cal. ka BP) and gradual development of the Litorina Sea lagoon (c. 8.4 to 4.8 cal. ka BP) and its transition to a freshwater coastal lake (c. 4.8 to 4.6 cal. ka BP), fen (c. 4.6 to 4.2 cal. ka BP), and river floodplain (since c. 4.2 cal. ka BP). The highest shorelines of the Ancylus Lake and Litorina Sea were mapped at an elevation of 12–11 and 9 m a.s.l., respectively. A new relative shore level (RSL) curve for the western Gulf of Riga was constructed based on RSL data from the Ģipka area and from nearby Ruhnu Island studied earlier. The reconstruction shows that the beginning of the last marine transgression in the western Gulf of Riga started at c. 8.4 cal. ka BP, and concurred with the 1.9 m RSL rise event recorded from the North Sea basin. Diatom analysis results indicate the existence of the Ģipka lagoon between c. 7.7 and 4.8 cal. ka BP, with the highest salinity c. 6.1 cal. ka BP. During the existence of the brackish lagoon, settlement sites of the Neolithic hunter–gatherer groups existed on the shores of the lagoon in the period c. 6.0 to 5.0 cal. ka BP.