38 resultados para paleoclimate
Resumo:
Because of the high resolution, stalagmite laminae can play an important role in the paleoclimate reconstructions. However, few investigations for the formation mechanisms of stalagmite lamilae have been done. Based on two-year observation on calcite growth rate at the drip sites, three-year monitoring of hydrodynamics, physics and chemistry of drip waters at different drip sites and the surrounding environments inside and outside the Beijing Shihua Cave, the seasonal variations of calcite growth rate are revealed and the results can be concluded as follows: 1. The drip waters inside the Cave are mostly sourced from the summer rain, and its minimal response-time to the atmospheric precipitation is less than one day. There are three types of response relationships between the precipitation and the drip rate variations: rapid response type, time-lag response type and stable response type. For rapid response type, the drip discharge is recharged through the flow routes along intensive fractures and interconnectivities; for time-lag response type, the drip discharge is recharged by double-porosity system composed of a high conductivity, low storage capability conduit network and a low-conductivity high-storage capability rock matrix under variable boundary conditions; for stable response type, the drip discharge is mainly recharged by seepage flow and base flow. 2. The observation shows that, inside the Cave, the growth rate of calcite is generally lower in rainy seasons and higher in dry seasons. During the rainy seasons, the drip water is characterized by a lower pH value, higher [Ca2+], [Mg2+], [SO42-] and electrical conductivity (EC) values. According to the calculations of saturation index of calcite (SIc), pCO2 of the drip water, as well as the synthetical analysis of other possible factors, the calcite growth rate is found to be principally influenced by the drip water saturation index of calcite (SIc). And the drip rate and pCO2 in the drip water and in the cave air play the secondly important roles in this process. The recharge mode of heavy rainfall events in the rainy seasons should probably be the main driving force that controls the physicochemical properties and calcite sediment of the drip waters. The abrupt decrease of sedimentary rate and the sharp peak of DOC in drip water in the rainy season probably forms the thin opaque (luminescent under ultraviolet radiation) layers observed in the stalagmites, whereas the relatively higher sedimentary rate in the dry seasons may be responsible for the thicker bright layers. The investigation elucidated here preliminarily reveals the formation mechanism of the stalagmite laminae in Beijing Shihua Cave.
Resumo:
Livingston Island, the second island of South Shetland Island, constains Mesozoic-Cenozoic basement, Mesozoic-Cenozoic volcanic sequences, plutonic intrusions and post-subduction volcanic rocks, which document the history and evolution of an important part of the South Shetland Islands magmatic arc. The sedimentary sequence is named the Miers Bluff Formation (MBF) and is interpreted as turbidite since the first geological study on South Shetland Islands, and is interpreted as turbidite. It base and top are not exposed, but a thickness of more than 3000m has been suggested and seems plausible. The turbidite is overlain by Mid - Cretaceous volcanic rocks and intruded by Eocene tonalites. The age of the Miers Bluff Formation is poorly constrained Late Carboniferous -Early Triassic. Sedimentary Environment, tectonic setting and forming age of sedimentary rocks of the Miers Bluff Formation were discussed by means of the methods of sedimentology, petrography and geochemistry, combinig with the study of trace fossils and microfossil plants. The following conclusions are obstained. A sedimentary geological section of Johnsons Dock is made by outside measuring and watching, and then according the section, the geological map near the Spanish Antarctic station was mapped. Four pebbly mudstone layers are first distinguished, which thickness is about 10m. The pebbly mudstone is the typical rock of debris flow, and the depostional environment of pebbly mudstone may be the channel of mid fan of submarine fan. The sedimentsry structural characteristics and size analysis of sandstones show the typical sedimentary feature of turbidity flow and the Miers Bluff Formation is a deep-water turbidite (include some gravity-flow sediments). The materials of palaeocurrents suggest the continental slope dip to southeast, and indicate the provenance of turbidity sediment in the northwest area. By facies analysis, six main facies which include seven subfacies were recognized, which are formed in mid-fan and lower-fan of submarine, meanwhile, the sedimentary features of each facies and subfacies are summarized. The study of clastic composition, major elements, trace elements and rare earth elements indicates the forming setting of the Miers Bluff Formaton is active continental margin and continental island arc and the provenance is dissected magmatic arc which main composition is felsic gneiss. Many trace fossils of the whole succession were found in the turbidites of the Miers Bluff Formation. All these trace fossils are deep sea ichnofossils. There are fifteen ichnogenus, sixteen ichnospecies. Moreover, a new trace fossil was found and a new ichnogenus and new ichnospecies was proposed - Paleaichnus antarctics ichnogen, et ichnosp, nov.. Except the new ichnogenus and ichnospecies, others had been found in deep-sea flysch turbidites. Some are in mudstone and are preserved in the cast convex of overlying sandstone sole, they formed before turbidity flows occurred and belong to the high-different Graphoglyptida of fiysch mudstone. Others as Fucusopsis and Neonereites are preserved in sandstones and stand for trace assemblages after turbidity sedimentation. These trace fossils are typical members of abyssal "Nereites" ichnofacies, and provide for the depositional environment of the Miers Bluff Formation. Fairly diverse microfossil plants have been recovered from the Miers Bluff Formation, Livingston Island, including spores, pollen, acritarchs, wood fragments and cuticles. Containing a total of about 45 species (forms) of miospores, the palynofiora is quantitatively characterized by the dominance of non-striate bisaccate pollen, but spores of pteridophytes and pollen of gymnosperms are proportionate in diversity. It is somewhat comparable to the subzone C+D of the Alisporites zone of Antarctica, and the upper Craterisporites rotundus zone and the lower Polycingulatisporites crenulatus zone of Australia, suggesting a Late Triassic (possibly Norian-Rhaetian) age, as also evidenced by the sporadic occurrence of Aratrisporites and probable Classopollis as well as the complete absence of bisaccate Striatiti. The parent vegetation and paleoclimate are preliminarily deduced. At last, the paper prooses the provenance of sedimentary rocks of the Miers Bluff Formation locates in the east part to the southern Chile(or Southern South American). In the Triassic period, contrasting with New Zealand, Australia and South American of the Pacific margin of Gondwanaland, the Miers Bluff Formation is deposited in the fore-arc basin or back-arc basin of magmatic arc.
Resumo:
In this study, 172 mollusk assemblages from the Weinan loess section in the southeast of Loess Plateau, China, were identified quantitatively at relative high resolution. The results show: 1) the history and processes of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes in Weinan since the last 70 ka; 2) the characteristics of climatic changes during the period of the last glacial maximum (LGM); 3) the spatial pattern of paleoclimate variations at the south and middle parts of the Loess Plateau during the LGM period; 4) the timing of the last deglaciation and the return event of rapid climate change during the last deglaciation. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) 172 mollusk samples taken from the uppermost 9 m deposits cover the past 70 ka, which were sampled at the internals of 5 cm for S_0, 3 cm for L_(1-1) and L_(1-2), and 10 cm for L_(1-3), L_(1-4) and L_(1-5). Author analyzed quantitatively all individuals including broken pieces of snail shells, percentages of 15 species identified from 172 samples. Three main groups were determined according to the ecological requirement of each taxon. Based on the variations of three ecological groups and typical ecological species, The author intended to reconstruct the history of and processes of climate and environment since the last 70 ka in the Weinan region. The climate and environment in this region experienced the following changes: relative warm and humid stage from 67.5-20.3 cal. ka B.P., a period of forest-steppe or steppe developed; cold and arid stage from 20.3-15.5 cal. ka B.P., a dry steppe period, later wetter and colder; cold and humid period once time from 15.5 to 12.3 cal. ka B.P., a typical steppe or forest-steppe stage; cold and humid again from 12.3 cal. ka B.P. to 8.2 cal. ka B.P., a tropical steppe stage; warm and humid climate, a forest-steppe developed. 2) The climate during the period of the last glacial maximum (LGM) in Weinan was characterized by a general cold-humid condition, represented by occurrence of a number of the cool-humidiphilous mollusk species such as Gastocopta amigerella and Vallonia cf. pulchella in the section. 3) Comparison of the variations in abundance of Puncture orphana at Weinan with those at Luochuan and Changwu sections suggests that the summer monsoon intensity influenced differently at the three regions during the LGM period. The Weinan was weaker summer monsoon impact during all the period, the Luochuan was influenced occasionally, and Changwu was only a very short time affected, which indicated it might be located at the western margin of the summer monsoon influence during that period. 4) The ratio of thermo-humidiphilous mollusk group to cold-aridiphilous one shows an increase tendency at about 15 cal. ka B.P., reflecting the climate warming after the deglaciation in Weinan, which is approximately corresponding to the timing of warming period of the last deglaciation, found in the East Atlantic Ocean, the South China Sea and the Loess Plateau (indicated by the phytolith study). 5) A remarkable decrease in the number of thermo-humidiphilous and cool-humidiphilous mollusk species from 12.7 - 11.6 cal. ka B.P. indicates a cooling in climate and might be the reflection of the Younger Dryas event in Weinan. 6) Variations in the ratios of thermo-humidiphilous mollusk species to cold-aridiphilous ones reflect the climate instability in Holocene. There were four warm-humid periods (10-8.1 cal. ka B.P., 6.9-6.1 cal. ka B.P., 5.2-2.6cal. ka B.P., 1.6cal. ka B.P. to the present ) and three relative cold-arid periods (8.1-6.9 cal. ka B.P., 6.1-5.2 cal. ka B.P., 2.6-1.6 cal. ka B.P.), showing about a 1,000 year climatic oscillation.
Resumo:
The concentrations of K~+,Na~+,Ca~(2+),Mg~(2+),F~-,Cl~-,NO_3~-,SO_4~(2-) and HCO_3~- in Lantian, Binxian, Ningxian, Qingyang, Mubo and Jiyuan loess sections by last interglacial on China Loess Plateau and its conductance are determinated. The results are: According to the average ions concentration in different sections, the soluble salts in south sections are mainly transported from land dusts which fall with rain, but the most salts in north sections are released from minerals by soil formation. The spatial changes of dominating soluble salts ,gypsum in south sections and Glauber'salt and fluorite in north sections, indicates the different arid degrees on Loess Plateau. The north sections are more arid than south, so that the diffluent ions become the main component in soluble salts. The salts enriched in Stage2 and 4, the arid and cold paleoclimate period, in south loess sections because that the soluble ions were swept by water, although they sedimented in warm period. On north Loess Plateau, as evaporation became the determinative factor on salts sediment, the soluble matter enriched in Stage 1,3 and 5, the warm and humid paleoclimate period. According to the conductance of different oxygen isotope period in loess sections, on Stage 1 and 5, the salts enrichment were charged by temperature and participate at the same time, so its concentrations are high on central Loess Plateau; on Stage2,3 and 4, the salts concentrations in south sections are higher than north because their weak movement. The diffluent ions are not sensitive to climate changes on China Loess Plateau, but Ca~(2+), Mg~(2+), NO_3~-SO_4~(2-) are sensitive.
Resumo:
Three eolian deposit formations, including Quaternary loess (QL, Liu et al.3 1985), Hipparion red earth (HRE, also called red clay, Liu et al., 1985) and Miocene loess (ML, Guo et al., 2002) constitute a set of unique paleoclimatic archives in northern China dated back to at least 22Ma ago. The Miocene loess is a recently discovered loess-soil sequence. Detailed investigation has been made on its origin, chronology and paleoclimatic significance (Guo et al., 2002), but further work is still needed to obtain detailed paleoclimate information, and mechanical links behind paleoclimatic changes. In this study, grain size analysis of QL, HRE and ML has been conducted on two sections: Qinan and Xifeng. The objective is focused on comparison of the grain size distribution characteristics (GSDC) among different eolian deposit formations, and reconstruction of the Asian monsoon circulation in the past 22 Ma. Results show that GDSC of ML resembles that of QL and HRE, and GDSC of ML is especially similar to HRE. Both ML and HRE contain a significant proportion of fine fraction, however, QL has a large amount of coarse sediments. This is mainly due to that the wind system transported aeolian dust was weaker in the late Tertiary than that in the Quaternary. Grain size difference between loess and paleosol in ML is much smaller than that in QL, indicating that the climatic fluctuations during the late Tertiary were much smaller than that happened in the Quaternary The grain size records of the past 22 Ma reveal several evolution phases of the Asia winter monsoon. -2.7 Ma BP is the most important boundary in the process of the winter monsoon evolution: the wind strength have significantly enhanced since 2.7 Ma ago. During a period between -22.0 and -3.6 Ma, three periods with relatively stronger winter monsoon are recorded in the QA-I section, between 21.2 and 19.9, and 16.0 and 13.3, and 8.7 to 6.9 Ma, respectively. From 3.6 to 2.7, the winter monsoon was enhanced gradually. In the Miocene time, the intensified winter monsoon phases (between 21.2 and 19.9, and 16.0 and 13.3, and 8.7 and 6.9 Ma) seemed to have a close relationship with the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and/or the ongoing global cooling, but the forcing mechanism behind the Asia winter monsoon evolution need to be further investigated. During the Pliocene-Pleistocene time, the Asia winter monsoon strengthened at 3.6 and 2.7Ma ago are in good agreement with the ongoing global cooling and the Arctic ice sheet development. In the mean time, much evidence suggests that an intense uplift of the Tibetan Plateau occurred at ~3.6 Ma, which is synchronous with a major increase in Asia winter monsoon. Therefore, two major factors may be invoked to explain the winter monsoon enhancement: Arctic ice sheet development and Tibetan uplift. We propose that changes in location and intensity of the Siberian-Mongolian high that were caused by the Tibetan uplift and Arctic ice sheet development might be an important factor for Asian winter monsoon evolution in the Pliocene-Pleistocene.
Resumo:
The Nihewan Basin is a key area for research into human occupation at high northern latitudes in northeast Asia after the initial expansion of early humans out of Africa. Well-developed late Cenozoic lacustrine deposit sequence in this basin offers a unique opportunity to address this issue. In this thesis, detailed magnetostratigraphic investigation coupled with mineral magnetism was conducted on the Donggutuo and Cenjiawan sections in the eastern basin, where lacustrine deposits sequences containing the Donggutuo, Maliang and Cenjiawan Paleolithic sites are well developed. The sequences are mainly composed of grayish-white clays, grayish-green clayey silts, grayish-yellow silts and fine-grained brown sands, which have recorded reliable polarity variations of geomagnetic field.Characteristics of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility show that the sediments have preserved typical original magnetic fabric for sediments, indicating that the strata were developed in a low-energy lake environment and were never perturbed by tectonic stress since deposition. High-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements (x-T) of representative specimens and demagnetization experiments indicate that the dominant magnetic mineral and remanent carrier at the two sections is magnetite. In addition, hematite and possibly minor maghemite exists in some portions of the sequences. The majority of the samples have relatively simple demagnetization behaviors. After removal of soft magnetic components, the stable characteristic remanent magnetizations (ChRMs) are isolated, which can represent the original remanences.The Donggutuo section mainly records the Brunhes chron, the Matuyama chron and the Jaramillo subchron. The Maliang stone artifact layer occurs just below the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary; and the Donggutuo artifact layer, just below the Jaramillo onset. Accordingly, the Maliang and Donggutuo sites can be dated at about 0.78 Ma and 1.1 Ma, respectively. The Cenjiawan section has recorded a portion of the Matuyama chron. After correlations with the magnetic polarity sequence of the Majuangou section adjacent to this section, the Cenjiawan stone artifact layer is determined below the Jaramillo onset, with an estimated age of 1.1 Ma.To establish the magnetic stratigraphy framework for the lacustrine sediments in the eastern Nihewan Basin, this thesis draws on the magnetic polarity sequences of the Donggutuo and Cenjiawan sections as well as previously obtained results from the Majuangou, Haojiatai, Xiaochangliang and Donggou sections for magnetostratigraphic correlations. The accumulation of the lacustrine sequences at the east margin of the basin commenced from about 2.0 Ma. These sequences record not only the coarse magnetostratigraphy of the Brunhes normal chron and the middle to late Matuyama reverse chron (that is, the Jaramillo and Olduvai subchrons) but also some of the fine structure (that is, the Kamikatsura, Santa Rosa, Punaruu and Cobb Mountain geomagnetic events). The development of the Nihewan paleolake experienced at least twice large expansion periods, split by a large-scale shrinking event in the middle period of the paleolake development. The accumulation of the lacustrine strata was controlled by fault activities.After temporal control for the Donggutuo, Maliang and Cenjiawan Paleolithic sites were established, the three sites along with other well-dated Paleolithic/hominin sites of the Early Pleistocene in North China were combined to construct a chronological sequence of early human occupation in northeastern Asia. Furthermore, after incorporation of paleoclimate changes retrieved from Chinese loess/paleosol sequences and marine sediments, it could be possibly proposed that human groups of the Early Pleistocene in North China might have survived repeated warm/humid interglacials and cold/dry glacials, which were paced by earth orbital variations of the Eastern paleomonsoon.
Resumo:
Landslides are widely distributed along the main stream banks of the Three Gorges Reservoir area. Especially with the acceleration of the human economic activities in the recent 30 years, the occurrence of landslide hazards in the local area trends to be more serious. Because of the special geological, topographic and climatic conditions of the Three Gorges areas, many Paleo-landslides are found along the gentle slope terrain of the population relocation sites. Under the natural condition, the Paleo-landslides usually keep stable. The Paleo-landslides might revive while they are influenced under the strong rainfall, water storage and migration engineering disturbance. Therefore, the prediction and prevention of landslide hazards have become the important problem involving with the safety of migration engineering of the Three Gorges Reservoir area.The past research on the landslides of the Three Gorges area is mainly concentrated on the stability analysis of individual landslide, and importance was little attached to the knowledge on the geological environment background of the formation of regional landslides. So, the relationship between distribution and evolution of landslides and globe dynamic processes was very scarce in the past research. With further study, it becomes difficult to explain the reasons for the magnitude and frequency of major geological hazards in terms of single endogenic or exogenic processes. It is possible to resolve the causes of major landslides in the Three Gorges area through the systematic research of regional tectonics and river evolution history.In present paper, based on the view of coupling of earth's endogenic and exogenic processes, the author researches the temporal and spacial distribution and formation evolution of major landslides(Volume^lOOX 104m3) in the Three Gorges Reservoir area through integration of first-hand sources statistics, .geological evolution history, isotope dating and numerical simulation method etc. And considering the main formation factors of landslides (topography, geology and rainfall condition), the author discusses the occurrence probability and prediction model of rainfall induced landslides.The distribution and magnitude of Paleo-landslides in the Three Gorges area is mainly controlled by lithology, geological structure, bank slope shape and geostress field etc. The major Paleo-landslides are concentrated on the periods 2.7-15.0 X 104aB.R, which conrresponds to the warm and wettest Paleoclimate stages. In the same time, the Three Gorges area experiences with the quickest crust uplift phase since 15.0X 104aB.P. It is indicated that the dynamic factor of polyphase major Paleo-landslides is the coupling processes of neotectonic movement and Quaternary climate changes. Based on the numerical simulation results of the formation evolution of Baota landslide, the quick crust uplift makes the deep river incision and the geostress relief causes the rock body of banks flexible. Under the strong rainfall condition, the pore-water pressure resulted from rain penetration and high flood level can have the shear strength of weak structural plane decrease to a great degree. Therefore, the bank slope is easy to slide at the slope bottom where shear stress concentrates. Finally, it forms the composite draught-traction type landslide of dip stratified rocks.The susceptibility idea for the rainfall induced landslide is put forward in this paper and the degree of susceptibility is graded in terms of the topography and geological conditions of landslides. Base on the integration with geological environment factors and rainfall condition, the author gives a new probabilistic prediction model for rainfall induced landslides. As an example from Chongqing City of the Three Gorges area, selecting the 5 factors of topography, lithology combination, slope shape, rock structure and hydrogeology and 21 kinds of status as prediction variables, the susceptibility zonation is carried out by information methods. The prediction criterion of landslides is established by two factors: the maximum 24 hour rainfall and the antecedent effective precipitation of 15 days. The new prediction model is possible to actualize the real-time regional landslide prediction and improve accuracy of landslide forecast.
Resumo:
Chinese eolian deposits are especially suitable for the studies of paleoclimatic changes, environmental magnetism and remanence acquisition mechanisms. In the past two decades, many studies have documented their magnetic properties. However, some important problems, such as the origin of magnetic minerals, the mechanisms for enhancing magnetic susceptibility and the lock-in effect, remain debatable. Therefore, it is essential to detail the rock-magnetic properties of the eolian deposits. This study shows thermomagnetic analyses, petrographic measurements and soil chemistry methods can be combined to obtain a better understanding of the sequence of magnetic mineral alterations during thermal treatment and of the pedogenic mechanism responsible for the susceptibility enhancement. This helps to further develop the interpretation of paleoclimate records in the Holocene eolian deposits along a NW-SE transect of the loess plateau. A partial heating/cooling method and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were performed on representative samples of the present-day loess, in order to investigate mineralogical changes during thermal treatment. The temperature-dependent susceptibility (TDS) and XRD results show complex alteration of magnetic phases during heating and cooling. The 300 ℃ susceptibility hump in heating curves might be due to the production of maghemite from less magnetic lepidocrocite during heating. Goethite is transformed into hematite when heating to above 300 ℃. The susceptibility decrease from 300 ℃ to 450 ℃ can be interpreted as the conversion of maghemite to hematite. This thermal instability makes it possible to quantatively estimate the maghemite contribution to the pedogenically-enhanced susceptibility in loess or paleosols. Minor occurrence of thermally-stable maghemite in the present-day loess is possible; nevertheless, the TDS measurements show that the degree of the thermally-induced alteration is closely related to pedogenesis. The TDS measurement and XRD analysis results demonstrate that although magnetite and hematite both exist in the Holocene loess eolian deposits and their modern source area, magnetite is the predominant contributor to magnetic susceptibility. Both magnetite and hematite are the primary carriers of the remanent magnetization. Fine-grained maghemite, mainly produced by pedogenesis, is significantly responsible for enhancement of the magnetic susceptibility in the Chinese loess and paleosols. Since the degree of oxidation of magnetite grains depends on climate, the presence of maghemite has paleoclimatic significance, and variations in climate could be reflected as variations in the amount of low-temperature oxidation. If that is the case, the TDS curves can be used to compare the effects of climate at different sampling sites. The TDS results along the studied NW-SE transect suggest that stronger pedogenesis results in higher content of maghemite and greater susceptibility decrease during thermal treatment. This behavior seems to indicate that the final product of pedogenic magnetite in Chinese loess and paleosols is maghemite, which makes significant contributions to the enhanced magnetic susceptibility of Chinese eolian deposits. It is interesting to note that the 510 ℃ Hopkinson/alteration peak is larger in the present-day loess than in the black loam for each section. Obiviously, the Hopkinson/alteration peak of the Holocene eolian deposits is closely related to the degree of pedogenesis, which is a function of climate, and thus the peak itself could be a useful climate indicator. There are three effects that may be important in producing this trend. First, low-temperature oxidation preferentially affects the finer single-domain magnetites responsible for the Hopkinson peak, which is therefore suppressed in the more oxidized loams. Second, the possible production of uniaxial magnetite with shape anisotropy can also lead to a relatively muted Hopkinson peak. There is, additionally, a third alternative, and the one preferred here, that the natural alteration processes involved in pedogenic susceptibility enhancement have probably depleted the supply of iron-bearing precursor phases, so that less new magnetite is formed on heating. In summary, the TDS method is very reliable and highly sensitive in detecting magnetic phase changes in eolian deposits during thermal treatment, which are closely related to pedogenic processes. Thus, the studied NW-SE transect clearly exhibits paleoclimatically-induced mineral- and rock-magnetic variations. It is suggested that TDS can be used as a new method for the analysis of pedogenesis and climatic change.