Validated sample ages from 823 EPD sites

The number of well-dated pollen diagrams in Europe has increased considerably over the last 30 years and many of them have been submitted to the European Pollen Database (EPD). This allows for the construction of increasingly precise maps of Holocene vegetation change across the continent. Chronological information in the EPD has been expressed in uncalibrated radiocarbon years, and most chronologies to date are based on this time scale. Here we present new chronologies for most of the datasets stored in the EPD based on calibrated radiocarbon years. Age information associated with pollen diagrams is often derived from the pollen stratigraphy itself or from other sedimentological information. We reviewed these chronological tie points and assigned uncertainties to them. The steps taken to generate the new chronologies are described and the rationale for a new classification system for age uncertainties is introduced. The resulting chronologies are fit for most continental-scale questions. They may not provide the best age model for particular sites, but may be viewed as general purpose chronologies. Taxonomic particularities of the data stored in the EPD are explained. An example is given of how the database can be queried to select samples with appropriate age control as well as the suitable taxonomic level to answer a specific research question.

(Table 1) Organic geochemistry of ODP Hole 134-832B and Site 134-833

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 134 was located in the central part of the New Hebrides Island Arc, in the Southwest Pacific. Here the d'Entrecasteaux Zone of ridges, the North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge and South d'Entrecasteaux Chain, is colliding with the arc. The region has a Neogene history of subduction polarity reversal, ridge-arc collision, and back-arc spreading. The reasons for drilling in this region included the following: (1) to determine the differences in the style and time scale of deformation associated with the two ridge-like features (a fairly continuous ridge and an irregularly topographic seamount chain) that are colliding with the central New Hebrides Island Arc; (2) to document the evolution of the magmatic arc in relation to the collision process and possible Neogene reversal of subduction; and (3) to understand the process of dewatering of a small accretionary wedge associated with ridge collision and subduction. Seven sites were occupied during the leg, five (Sites 827-831) were located in the d'Entrecasteaux Zone where collision is active. Three sites (Sites 827, 828, and 829) were located where the North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge is colliding, whereas two sites (Sites 830 and 831) were located in the South d'Entrecasteaux Chain collision zone. Sites 828 (on North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge) and 831 (on Bougainville Guyot) were located on the Pacific Plate, whereas all other sites were located on a microplate of the North Fiji Basin. Two sites (Sites 832 and 831) were located in the intra-arc North Aoba Basin. Results of Leg 134 drilling showed that forearc deformation associated with the North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge and South d'Entrecasteaux Chain collision is distinct and different. The d'Entrecasteaux Zone is an Eocene subduction/obduction complex with a distinct submerged island arc. Collision and subduction of the North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge results in off scraping of ridge material and plating of the forearc with thrust sheets (flakes) as well as distinct forearc uplift. Some offscraped sedimentary rocks and surficial volcanic basement rocks of the North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge are being underplated to the New Hebrides Island forearc. In contrast, the South d'Entrecasteaux Chain is a serrated feature resulting in intermittent collision and subduction of seamounts. The collision of the Bougainville Guyot has indented the forearc and appears to be causing shortening through thrust faulting. In addition, we found that the Quaternary relative convergence rate between the New Hebrides Island Arc at the latitude of Espiritu Santo Island is as high as 14 to 16 cm/yr. The northward migration rate of the d'Entrecasteaux Zone was found the be ~2 to 4 cm/yr based on the newly determined Quaternary relative convergence rate. Using these rates we established the timing of initial d'Entrecasteaux Zone collision with the arc at ~3 Ma at the latitude of Epi Island and fixed the impact of the North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge upon Espiritu Santo Island at early Pleistocene (between 1.89 and 1.58 Ma). Dewatering is occurring in the North d'Entrecasteaux Ridge accretionary wedge, and the wedge is dryer than other previously studied accretionary wedges, such as Barbados. This could be the result of less sediment being subducted at the New Hebrides compared to the Barbados.

(Table 1) Paleomagnetic of ODP Site 136-842

Paleomagnetic studies on sediments recovered during Leg 136 have yielded a polarity reversal sequence that can be compared with the global magnetic reversal time scale to establish a sedimentation rate for Hole 842B. This sedimentation rate is substantially higher than that normally observed in the central Pacific basin probably as a result of the contribution of volcanic ash to the normal pelagic sources of sediment. The basalt samples from the oceanic crust at Site 843 have been used to determine a paleolatitude of 10.2°S for the 110±2 m.y.-old crust from this site. Detailed studies of the polarity transitions yielded few intermediate directions, but these few records provide support for the "Americas" transitional path observed at other continental and marine sites in Europe and North America.

A low-latitude Upper Pleistocene oxygen isotope stack

Below oxygen isotope stage 16, the orbitally derived time-scale developed by Shackleton et al. (1990) from ODP site 677 in the equatorial Pacific differs significantly from previous ones (e.g. Kominz and Pisias, 1979 doi:10.1126/science.204.4389.171; Morley and Hays, 1981 doi:10.1016/0012-821X(81)90034-0, Imbrie et al. 1984), yielding estimated ages for the last Earth magnetic reversals that are 5-7% older than the K/Ar values (Mankinen and Dalrymple, 1979 doi:10.1029/JB084iB02p00615; Berggren et al., 1985; Harland and Armstrong, 1989) but are in good agreement with recent Ar/Ar dating (Baksi et al., 1991; 1992 doi:10.1126/science.256.5055.356; Spell and McDougall, 1992 doi:10.1029/92GL01125). These results suggest that in the lower Brunhes and upper Matuyama chronozones most deep-sea climatic records retrieved so far apparently missed or misinterpreted several oscillations predicted by the astronomical theory of climate. To test this hypothesis, we studied a high-resolution oxygen isotope record from giant piston core MD900963 (Maldives area, tropical Indian Ocean) in which precession-related oscillations in delta18O are particularly well expressed, owing to the superimposition of a local salinity signal on the global ice volume signal (Rostek et al., 1993 doi:10.1038/364319a0). Three additional precession-related cycles are observed in oxygen isotope stages 17 and 18 of core MD900963, compared to the SPECMAP composite curves (Imbrie et al., 1984; Prell et al., 1986 doi:10.1029/PA001i002p00137), and stage 21 clearly presents three precession oscillations, as predicted by Shackleton et al. (1990). The precession peaks found in the delta18O record from core MD900963 are in excellent agreement with climatic oscillations predicted by the astronomical theory of climate. Our delta18O record therefore permits the development of an accurate astronomical time-scale. Based on our age model, the Brunhes-Matuyama reversal is dated at 775 +/- 10 ka, in good agreement with the age estimate of 780 ka obtained by Shackleton et al. (1990) and recent radiochronological Ar/Ar datings on lavas (Baksi et al., 1991; 1992; Spell and McDougall, 1992). We developed a new low-latitude, Upper Pleistocene delta18O reference record by stacking and tuning the delta18O records from core MD900963 and site 677 to orbital forcing functions.

Chemistry of particles from the Toba ash layer

Two cores from the southern South China Sea contain discrete ash layers that mainly consist of rhyolithic glass shards. On the basis of the SPECMAP time scale, the ash layers were dated to ca. 74 ka, the age of the youngest Toba eruption in northern Sumatra. This link is supported by the chemical composition of the glass, which is distinct from volcanic glass supplied from the Philippines and the northern South China Sea, but is almost identical with the chemistry of the Toba ash. The youngest Toba ash layers in the South China Sea expand the previously known ash-fall zone over more than 1800 km to the east. The dispersal of ashes from Sumatra in both western and eastern directions indicates two contrasting wind directions and suggests that (1) the Toba eruption probably happened during the Southeast Asian summer monsoon season, and (2) the volume of erupted magma was larger than previously interpreted.

Regulación de la hidratación y la turgencia foliares por mecanismos evitadores del estrés, y resistencia a déficit hídrico en vid

El transporte del agua en las plantas es impulsado por diferencias de energía libre entre el suelo y la atmósfera, y está regulado por mecanismos biológicos evitadores, como el cierre estomático. La hidratación y la turgencia foliares resultan del equilibrio entre ΨL del apoplasto, el potencial osmótico del simplasto y la elasticidad de los tejidos. Sobre esta base se conjeturó que las interacciones de los mecanismos evitadores del estrés hídrico de la planta tienen un rol clave en la definición de su resistencia a déficit hídrico. Para probar esta hipótesis se construyó un modelo mecanístico basado en las leyes del flujo de savia de Van de Honert, de difusión de Fick, de elasticidad de Hooke, la ecuación de Gardner para el flujo del agua en la rizósfera y el modelo de conductancia estomática (gs) de Buckley. Mediante el modelo se demostró teóricamente que la hidratación y la turgencia foliares dependen de la oferta de agua edáfica (representada por el potencial hídrico del suelo) y de la demanda evaporativa de la atmósfera (representada por la radiación absorbida, la temperatura del aire, la velocidad del viento y el déficit de presión de vapor de la atmósfera). También que los mecanismos evitadores del estrés hídrico -i.e., conductancia hidráulica de la planta, conductancia estomática, elasticidad del tejido y potencial osmótico a turgencia máxima- son todos necesarios para determinar la hidratación y la turgencia foliares. El modelo también demostró que la conductancia hidráulica suelo-hoja (kL) depende de la fracción de agua edáfica transpirable (FTSW) con un patrón de decaimiento sigmoide, a medida que el suelo se seca. Esto implica que las variables que dependen en parte de kL (i.e., gs, transpiración, fotosíntesis y superficie foliar) también dependen de FTSW con el mismo patrón. El modelo se probó experimentalmente a distintos niveles de humedad edáfica (desde déficit hídrico nulo, hasta severo) en cinco variedades de vid y mostró un poder predictivo superior al 90%. En todas las variedades las gs se asociaron linealmente con las kL observadas, al considerar todas las situaciones de déficit hídrico en conjunto, si bien la pendiente de estas relaciones fueron distintas en cada variedad. La contrastación experimental mostró que, en una escala de tiempo de varios meses, las variedades más evitadoras -i.e., Grenache y Cereza- mantuvieron mayor kL, ajuste osmótico y rigidez de los tejidos y una menor pendiente de la relación de gs vs. kL, que las variedades menos evitadoras -i.e., Malbec y Syrah-. La menor pendiente de la relación entre gs y kL, en las variedades más evitadoras, estuvo asociada a una mayor cantidad de estomas, en relación con la cantidad de células epidérmicas. Los variedades más evitadoras bajo déficit hídrico moderado -i.e., con una fracción de agua edáfica transpirable entre 0,6 y 0,4- tuvieron mayor superficie foliar y produjeron más biomasa, favoreciendo raíces profundas y densas, y ahorrando agua. Chardonnay mantuvo una alta hidratación y turgencia a expensas de un alto gasto de agua debido a que privilegiaba una alta kL por sobre el ajuste estomático, por lo que no podría considerarse en forma estricta como muy evitadora.

Physical properties and accumulation rates in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

The European Programme for Ice Coring in Antarctica includes a comprehensive pre-site survey on the inland ice plateau of Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The German glaciological programme during the 1997/98 field season was carried out along a 1200 km traverse on Amundsenisen and involved sampling the snow cover in pits and by shallow firn cores. This paper focuses on the accumulation studies. The cores were dated by dielectric-profiling and continuous-flow analysis. Distinct volcanogenic peaks and seasonal signals in the profiles served to establish a depth time-scale. The eruptions of Krakatoa, Tambora, an unknown volcano, Kuwae and El Chichon are well-documented in the ice. Variations of the accumulation rates over different times were inferred from the depth time-scales. A composite record of accumulation rates for the last 200 years was produced by stacking 12 annually resolved records. According to this, accumulation rates decreased in the 19th century and increased in the 20th century. The recent values are by no means extraordinary, as they do not exceed the values at the beginning of the 19th century. Variations in accumulation rates are most probably linked to temperature variations indicated in d18O records from Amundsenisen.

Late Miocene-early Pliocene stable isotope record of benthic foraminifera from ODP Site 177-1088 in the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic

Benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records for the past 11 Myr from a recently drilled site in the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic (Site 1088, Ocean Drilling Program Leg 177, 41°S, 15°E, 2082 m water depth) provide, for the first time, a continuous long-term perspective on deep water distribution patterns and Southern Ocean climate change from the late Miocene through the early Pliocene. I have compiled published late Miocene through Pliocene stable isotope records to place the new South Atlantic record in a global framework. Carbon isotope gradients between the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Pacific indicate that a nutrient-depleted watermass, probably of North Atlantic origin, reached the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic after 6.6 Ma. By 6.0 Ma the relative proportion of the northern-provenance watermass was similar to today and by the early Pliocene it had increased to greater than the modern proportion suggesting that thermohaline overturn in the Atlantic was relatively strong prior to the early Pliocene interval of inferred climatic warmth. Site 1088 oxygen isotope values display a two-step increase between ~7.4 Ma and 6.9 Ma, a trend that parallels a published delta18O record of a site on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. This is perhaps best explained by a gradual cooling of watermasses that were sinking in the Southern Ocean. I speculate that relatively strong thermohaline overturn at rates comparable to the present day interglacial interval during the latest Miocene may have provided the initial conditions for early Pliocene climatic warmth. The impact of an emerging Central American Seaway on Atlantic-Pacific Ocean upper water exchange may have been felt in the North Atlantic beginning in the latest Miocene between 6.6 and 6.0 Ma, which would be ~1.5 Myr earlier than previously thought.

Pollen profiles from 8 sediment cores from the Degersee, Southern Germany

The discovery of a neolithic pile field in the shallow water near the eastern shore of the Degersee confirmed earlier palynological and sedimentological studies stating that early man was active in the region since more than 6000 years. The already available off-site data were freshly assessed, completed by additional data from old and new cores and the interpretations revised. A common time scale for the off-site data and the on-site data was obtained by AMS dating of terrestrial macro remains of the neolithic section of off-site core De_I+De_H. The ages can thus be parallelled with AMS ages of construction timber on-site. Pollen analyses from all cores provide a further time scale. The continuously and densely sampled pollen profile of the profundal zone embracing the entire Late glacial and Holocene serves as a reference. From the Boreal onwards the relative ages are transformed by AMS ages and varve counts into calibrated and absolute. A transect cored close to the neolithic pile field across the lake marl-platform demonstrates its geological architecture in the shallow water since the Lateglacial. Studies of the microfabric of thin sections of drilled cores and of box cores from the excavations demonstrate that neolithic settlements now at 2-3,5 m water depth had been erected on lake marl freshly fallen dry, thus indicating earlier lake levels dropped by 1.5-2 m. The neolithic section of the highly resolved off-site profile in the lake=s profundal zone has laminated and calcareous zones alternating with massive ones. Assemblages of diatoms and concentrations of trace elements changing simultaneously characterise the calcareous sections as deposits of low lake levels that lasted between some 40 and more than 300 years. The ages of discovered lake shore dwellings fall into calcareous segments with low lake levels. From the end of the Upper Atlantic period (F VII) appear Secondary Forest Cycles in the beech forest, a man-made sequence of repeated vegetational development with an identical pattern: With a decrease of beech pollen appear pollen of grasses, herbs and cultural indicators. These are suppressed by the light demanding hazel and birch, those again by ash, and finally by the shade demanding beech forming a new pollen peak. Seven main Forest Cycles are identified In the upper Neolithic period each comprising some 250, 450 or 800 years. They are subdivided into subcycles that can be broken down by very dense sampling in even shorter cycles of decadal length. Farming settlers have caused minor patchy clearances of the beech-mixed-forest with the use of fire. The phases of clearance coincide with peaks of charcoal and low stands of the lake levels. The Secondary Forest Cycles and the continuous occurrence of charcoal prove a continued occupation of the region. Together with the repeated restoration of the beech climax forest they point to pulsating occupation probably associated with dynamic demography. The synchronism of the many palynological, sedimentological and archaeological data point to an external forcing as the climate that affects comprehensively all these proxies. The fluctuations of the activity of the sun as manifested in the residual d14C go largely along with the proxies. The initial clearances at the begin of the forest cycles are linked to low lake levels and negative values of d14C that point to dry and warm phases of a more continental climate type. The subcycles exist independent from climatic changes, indicating that early man acted largely independent from external forces.

Rock-magnetic proxies from a sediment profile of Aike Lake

The sedimentary archive from Laguna Potrok Aike is the only continuous record reaching back to the last Glacial period in continental southeastern Patagonia. Located in the path of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds and in the source region of dust deposited in Antarctica during Glacial periods, southern Patagonia is a vantage point to reconstruct past changes in aeolian activity. Here we use high-resolution rock-magnetic and physical grain size data from site 2 of the International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Potrok Aike maar lake Sediment Archive Drilling prOject (PASADO) in order to develop magnetic proxies of dust and wind intensity at 52°S since 51,200 cal BP. Rock-magnetic analysis indicate the magnetic mineral assemblage is dominated by detrital magnetite. Based on the estimated flux of magnetite to the lake and comparison with distal dust records from the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, kLF is interpreted as a dust indicator in the dust source of southern Patagonia at the millennial time scale, when ferrimagnetic grain size and coercivity influence is minimal. Comparison to physical grain-size data indicates that the median destructive field of isothermal remanent magnetisation (MDFIRM) mostly reflects medium to coarse magnetite bearing silts typically transported by winds for short-term suspension. Comparison with wind-intensity proxies from the Southern Hemisphere during the last Glacial period and with regional records from Patagonia since the last deglaciation including marine, lacustrine and peat bog sediments as well as speleothems reveals similar variability with MDFIRM up to the centennial time scale. MDFIRM is interpreted as a wind-intensity proxy independent of moisture changes for southeastern Patagonia, with stronger winds capable of transporting coarser magnetite bearing silts to the lake.

Cenozoic magnetostratigraphy of ODP holes 113-689B and 113-690B

A detailed paleomagnetic study was carried out on biosiliceous and calcareous sediments drilled on Maud Rise, Antarctica, during ODP Leg 113. High-quality APC sections were retrieved in the upper 220 m of Holes 689B and 690B. Average deposition rates range from 3 to 15 m/m.y. A close (25 cm) paleomagnetic sample spacing provided a medium-resolution magnetostratigraphic sequence for the Paleogene and Neogene. Paleomagnetic samples were demagnetized stepwise by alternating fields, and characteristic remanent magnetization directions were derived from detailed vector and difference vector component analysis. A magnetochronologic framework has been established for the first time for the Southern Ocean sedimentary sequences spanning Paleocene to Oligocene and middle Miocene to early Pliocene times. Biosiliceous and calcareous microfossil stratigraphies were used to constrain magnetostratigraphic age assignments. Although average sedimentation rates were rather low, nearly complete sections of the geomagnetic polarity time scale (e.g., Chrons C5 and C5A) could be correlated with the inferred polarity pattern. Miocene and Pliocene records are marked by a high number of hiatuses mainly identified by diatom biostratigraphy. Good paleomagnetic correlation between the two holes is afforded in particular in the middle to upper Miocene. Oligocene magnetostratigraphy reveals a high-quality paleomagnetic record with a mostly complete Oligocene section in Hole 689B at ~5 m/m.y. deposition rate. Hole 690B exhibits higher deposition rates (7-12 m/m.y.), although two hiatuses are present. Early and late Eocene sedimentary sequences could be analyzed in both holes, but in Hole 689B middle Eocene chrons were disrupted by hiatuses and only incomplete polarity intervals C21 and C24 were encountered. Highest resolution (14 m/m.y.) was achieved in Hole 690B in a complete early Eocene and late Paleocene sequence from Chrons C23 to C26, with a number of short polarity intervals detected within Chrons C24 and C25.

Site characteristics, and major and trace element composition of sediment cores sampled around the Windmill Islands in 1998

To establish a natural background and its temporal and spatial variability for the area around Casey Station in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica, the authors studied major and trace element concentrations and the distribution of organic matter in marine and lacustrine sediments. A wide range of natural variability in trace metal concentrations was identified between sites and within a time scale of 9 ka (e.g., Ni 5-37 mg/kg, Cu 20-190 mg/kg, Zn 50-300 mg/kg, Pb 4.5- 34 mg/kg). TOC concentrations are as high as 3 wt.% at the marine sites and 20 wt.% at the lacustrine sites, and indicate highly productive ecosystems. These data provide a background upon which the extent of human impact can be established, and existing data indicate negligible levels of disturbance. Geochemical and lithological data for a lacustrine sediment core from Beall Lake confirm earlier interpretation of recent climatic changes based on diatom distribution, and the onset of deglaciation in the northern part of the Windmill Islands between 8.6 and 8.0 ka BP. The results demonstrate that geochemical and lithological data can not only be used to define natural background values, but also to assess long-term climatic changes of a specific environment. Other sites, however, preserve a completely different sedimentary record. Therefore, inferred climatic record, and differences between sites, can be ascribed to differences in elevation, distance from the shore, water depth, and local catchment features. The extreme level of spatial variability seems to be a feature of Antarctic coastal areas, and demonstrates that results obtained from a specific site cannot be easily generalized to a larger area.