simulation of braided river elevation model time series with multiple point statistics abstract a new method is proposed to generate successive topographies in a braided river system indeed braided river morphology models are a key factor influencing river aquifer interactions and have repercussions in ecosystems flood risk or water management it is essentially based on multivariate multiple point statistics simulations and digital elevation models as training data sets on the one hand airborne photography and lidar acquired at successive time steps have contributed to a better understanding of the geomorphological processes although the available data are sparse over time and river scales on the other hand geostatistics provide simulation tools for multiple and continuous variables which allow the exploration of the uncertainty of many assumption scenarios illustration of the approach demonstrates the ability of multiple point statistics to produce realistic topographies from the information provided by digital elevation models at two time steps

insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years new values for the astronomical parameters of the earth s orbit and rotation eccentricity obliquity and precession are proposed for paleoclimatic research related to the late miocene the pliocene and the quaternary they have been obtained from a numerical solution of the lagrangian system of the planetary point masses and from an analytical solution of the poisson equations of the earth moon system the analytical expansion allows the direct determination of the main frequencies with their phase and amplitude numerical and analytical comparisons with the former astronomical solution ber78 are performed so that the accuracy and the interval of time over which the new solution is valid can be estimated the corresponding insolation values have also been computed this analysis leads to the conclusion that the new values are expected to be reliable over the last 5 ma in the time domain and at least over the last 10 ma in the frequency domain

linear and non linear response of late neogene glacial cycles to obliquity forcing and implications for the milankovitch theory constraints are given for the geometry and time lags of the prominent obliquity paced glacial stages 100 98 and 96 which mark a major phase in northern hemisphere nh glaciations during the late pliocene 2 56 2 4 ma ago for this purpose a high resolution benthic 18o record was constructed from the astronomically tuned mediterranean odp site 967 and decomposed into an ice volume and an annual nh 40 80 n temperature component using an inverse modelling approach our results indicate that the dominant 41 ky component in 18o lags obliquity by 6 5 0 6 ky which approximates late pleistocene estimates maximum minimum ice volume growth occurred in phase with obliquity minima maxima which invoked low high total summer energy conditions that reduced increased ice sheet ablation sea level dropped 60 70 m during full glacial conditions similar to late pleistocene ice core and marine 18o records our late pliocene 18o record reveals significant power at 28 ky which appear to be bound to the major glacial terminations we argue that this beat most likely reflects the sum frequency of the 41 ky prime and its multiples of 82 and 123 ky supporting the theory that the late neogene glacial cycles are primarily determined by the linear and non linear response mechanisms of the ice sheets to the obliquity forcing evidence for such a scenario may come from the alignment between the devils hole 18o chronology and the sum of the filtered linear and non linear obliquity related components of late pleistocene climate records suggesting that the 28 ky beat is intrinsic to the climate system or at least an important constituent of the annual high latitude nh temperature changes that have set the stage for the geometry of the glacial interglacial variability throughout the course of the pliocene and pleistocene

cyclostratigraphy and orbital tuning of the terrestrial upper santonian lower danian in songliao basin northeastern china abstract the songke 1 north sk 1n borehole recovered a continuous 1541 66 m late santonian early danian terrestrial succession in songliao basin sb northeastern china it provides a unique record for improving our understanding of continental paleoclimate and ecological system in cretaceous greenhouse world here we use thorium th logging data as a paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic proxy to conduct a detailed cyclostratigraphic study on the sk 1n core power spectra evolutionary fast fourier transformation and wavelet analysis all reveal significant decameter to meter scale sedimentary cycles in the nenjiang k 2 n sifangtai k 2 s and mingshui k 2 m formations the ratios of cycle wavelengths in these stratigraphic units are 20 5 2 1 and are interpreted as milankovitch cycles of 405 kyr and 100 kyr eccentricity 38 4 kyr obliquity and 20 kyr precession cycles respectively an astronomical time scale ats is established by tuning filtered 405 kyr eccentricity cycles to a target curve of the astronomical solution la2010d based on the magnetostratigraphic time framework of the sk 1n borehole this ats provides precise numerical ages for stratigraphic boundaries biozones geological and geophysical events and serves as a basis for correlation of strata and events between marine and terrestrial systems the cretaceous paleogene k pg campanian maastrichtian santonian campanian boundaries are estimated at core depths of 318 m 752 8 m and 1751 1 m respectively a 3 8 myr long hiatus between the nenjiang k 2 n and sifangtai k 2 s formations occurs from 76 1 to 79 9 million years ago the ages and durations of magnetochrons c33r to c30n are precisely estimated and provide new constraints on the late cretaceous geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts and south atlantic sea floor spreading rates

reconciling astrochronological and 40ar 39ar ages for the matuyama brunhes boundary and late matuyama chron when five matuyama brunhes m b boundary records from the north atlantic are placed on isotope age models produced by correlation of the 18o record directly or indirectly to an ice volume model the m b boundary lies consistently at the young end of marine isotope stage 19 with a mean age for the midpoint of the reversal of 773 1 ka standard deviation 0 4 kyr 7 kyr younger than the presently accepted astrochronological age for this polarity reversal 780 781 ka two recently proposed revisions of the age of the 40ar 39ar fish canyon sanidine fcs standard to 28 201 0 046 ma and 28 305 0 036 ma would adjust 40ar 39ar ages applicable to the m b boundary and other reversals and excursions back to 1 2 ma to ages older than the new astrochronological ages by 8 24 kyr the variables used to construct the ice volume models cannot account for the discrepancy the fcs standard age that best fits the astrochronological ages is 27 93 ma which is within the uncertainty associated with the commonly used value of 28 02 0 16 ma but younger than the recently proposed fcs ages the edc2 and edc3 age models in the dome c antarctic ice core yield ages of 771 7 ka and 766 4 ka respectively for the 10be flux peak that denotes the paleointensity minimum at the reversal boundary implying that the edc2 rather than edc3 age model is consistent with the observations from marine sediments at least close to the m b boundary

stratigraphy and spatial and temporal paleoclimatic trends in southeastern eastern european loess paleosol sequences abstract the loess paleosol sections batajnica stari slankamen serbia mircea voda romania and stary kaydaky ukraine are presently located in areas of different types of steppe and are highly sensitive for recording climatic changes a stratigraphy for these three southeastern eastern european sections is presented based on pedostratigraphy and correlation of recently obtained susceptibility records with susceptibility data of other sections of the area koriten mostistea vyazivok of the chinese loess plateau and with the benthic 18o record of odp 677 six pedocomplexes were studied at the serbian and romanian sections and five at the ukrainian section the oldest are related to marine isotope stage mis 17 batajnica stari slankamen and mircea voda and mis 13 15 stary kaydaky some points concerning the existing loess chronostratigraphies of bulgaria ukraine and china are discussed comparative study of the profiles allows the tracing of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes in southeastern eastern europe in time and space reconstruction of paleoprecipitation based on susceptibility rainfall relationships and calculations of sedimentation rates are evaluated

a refined astronomically calibrated 40ar 39ar age for fish canyon sanidine abstract intercalibration between the astronomical and radio isotopic dating methods provides a means to improving accuracy and reducing uncertainty of an integrated multi chronometer geologic timescale here we report a high precision 40 ar 39 ar age for the fish canyon sanidine fcs neutron fluence monitor by multi collector noble gas mass spectrometry through cross calibration with a1 tephra sanidines a1ts of the direct astronomically tuned faneromeni section crete the astronomically intercalibrated 40 ar 39 ar age of fcs of 28 172 0 028 ma 2 external errors is within the uncertainty of but more precise 0 10 than the previous 40 ar 39 ar age determined by intercalibration with astronomically tuned tephras from the melilla basin morocco using this proposed age for fcs combined with measurements using the a1ts as the neutron fluence monitor a weighted mean bishop tuff 40 ar 39 ar sanidine age of 0 7674 0 0022 ma 2 external errors is indistinguishable from the id tims u pb zircon age 0 7671 0 0019 ma the consistency between the astronomically calibrated 40 ar 39 ar sanidine age and u pb zircon age for this quaternary unit suggests that agreement between these two radio isotopic dating techniques is now achievable at better than 0 3 2 in the youngest part of geologic time

soil moisture fluctuations recorded in saharan dust deposits on lanzarote canary islands over the last 180 ka abstract aeolian sediments trapped in volcanically dammed valleys on lanzarote canary islands were investigated in order to reveal environmental changes over the last 180 ka clay content and frequency dependent magnetic susceptibility were used as proxies for pedogenesis and palaeo soil moisture during the last 180 ka these proxies showed a general pattern of enhanced soil moisture during glacials and stadials and more arid conditions during interglacials and interstadials comparisons of these results with proxies from regional palaeoclimate studies identified a positive correlation with proxies of trade wind strength off northwest africa and inverse correlations with both sea surface temperatures in the northeast atlantic and the extent of mediterranean vegetation possible causes for the observed pattern include a glacial enhancement of precipitation from westerly cyclones a change in relative humidity due to fluctuating air temperatures and an occasional influence of the african summer monsoon although it is not yet possible to clearly differentiate among these factors it is clear that the first two factors must have been primarily dominant these results represent the first quasi continuous terrestrial data testifying to environmental changes in the northwest african coastal area for the last 180 ka and complement the abundant data derived from marine cores of the region high latitude dynamics had a major influence in this area and were intermediated by north atlantic sea surface temperatures a possible negative correlation can also be observed with the orbital obliquity cycle with a 10 ka time lag which is similar to the lag recorded from north atlantic sea surface temperatures

morphological perspective on the sedimentary characteristics of a coarse braided reach tagliamento river ne italy abstract in order to understand heterogeneity distribution of hydraulic properties many studies have proposed models of coarse braided river deposits however they often focus either on the surface near surface or on ancient deposit analysis furthermore the link between morphological surface and sedimentological outcrops information has not been fully explored yet this publication aims to characterize the morphodynamics of a braided gravel bed reach of the tagliamento river ne italy and to assess its relationship with the subsurface heterogeneity the morphological analysis is based on a lidar derived dem aerial and satellite photographs from 1998 to 2011 as well as field observations a water stage time series allows the morphological changes to be related to the discharge dynamics the sedimentological knowledge on coarse braided deposits was mainly gained from the observation of analog pleistocene coarse deposits in switzerland the main geomorphological elements are identified in terms of their topographic signature and genesis setting apart the trichotomy water vegetation bar the braidplain is characterized by higher lying zones with dentritic gully drainage networks and active zones where most of the morphology reworking occurs furthermore two morphologies mark the active zones a low discharge morphology low discharge incisions and channels slip face lobes etc superimposed on a high discharge morphology gravel sheets scours etc each morphological element is related to a depositional i e sedimentological element whose preservation potential in the subsurface is assessed as a function of the river bed aggradation dynamic the settings that impact the subsurface flow in terms of fast pathway and connectivity are addressed

using two and three dimensional georadar methods to characterize glaciofluvial architecture abstract the threat of pollution in the shallow subsurface has led to an increasing need to understand how complex heterogeneities in gravel aquifers influence groundwater transport to characterize these heterogeneities we have conducted extensive two dimensional 2 d and three dimensional 3 d ground penetrating radar gpr or georadar surveys in two quarries within the rhine valley of northeastern switzerland the quarries comprised gravel and sand deposited in a proglacial braided river system that followed the maximum wurm stage glaciation after the surveys the terrace walls beneath the two study sites were photographed as they were being excavated by combining information extracted from the 2 and 3 d georadar images with the outcrop photographs it was possible to correlate georadar facies with the various glaciofluvial architectural elements the dominant elements were scour pools formed at or near the confluences of two stream channels and horizontally bedded and massive gravel sheets deposited during moderate to high water flow conditions and exposed during low flow conditions architectural elements were generally elongated parallel to the mean flow directions of the ancient river system variations in the strike of their long axes reflected lateral and vertical changes in the local flow direction time slices showed structural trends not evident on 2 d georadar images and photographs data interpretation was quicker more complete and less ambiguous when georadar facies analyses were based on a combination of georadar vertical profiles and time slices than when based on georadar vertical profiles alone

extended orbitally forced palaeoclimatic records from the equatorial atlantic ceara rise abstract we extend existing high resolution oligocene miocene proxy records from ocean drilling program odp leg 154 the extended record spans the time interval from 17 86 to 26 5 ma the data are age calibrated against a new astronomical solution that affords a re evaluation of the intricate interaction between orbital milankovitch forcing of the climate and ocean system and the fidelity with which this forcing is recorded in oxygen and carbon stable isotope measurements from benthic foraminifera and associated lithological proxy records of magnetic susceptibility colour reflectance and the measured sand fraction our records show a very strong continual imprint of the earth s obliquity cycle modulate in amplitude every 41 ka a very strong eccentricity signal in the carbon isotope records and a strong but probably local imprint of climatic precession on the coarse fraction and magnetic susceptibility records our data allowed us to evaluate how the interaction of long multi million year beats in the earth s eccentricity and obliquity are implicated in the waxing and waning of ice sheets presumably on antarctica our refined age model confirms the revised age of the oligocene miocene boundary previously established by analysis of the lithological data and allows a strong correlation with the geomagnetic time scale by comparison with data from odp site 1090 southern ocean

plio pleistocene climate evolution trends and transitions in glacial cycle dynamics abstract we describe the evolution of climate system dynamics by examining the climate response to changes in obliquity and precession over the last 5 3 myr in particular we examine changes in the shape of glacial cycles and the power of obliquity and precession response in benthic 18 o when the exponential trend in 18 o variance is removed its spectral power exhibits strong proportional responses to amplitude modulations in orbital forcing over most of the plio pleistocene precession responses correlate with modulations in forcing for the last 5 myr but 41 kyr response is sensitive to obliquity modulation only before 1 4 myr where responses are sensitive to modulations in forcing we demonstrate that glacial cycles are orbitally forced rather than being self sustained or paced by orbital changes the shapes of glacial cycles have several nonlinear properties which may be indicative of glacial interglacial differences in climate sensitivity or response time the saw tooth asymmetry of glacial cycles first appears shortly after the onset of major northern hemisphere glaciation and the relative duration of interglacial stages decreases at 1 4 myr collectively trends in the shape of glacial cycles and the sensitivity of 18 o to obliquity and precession are suggestive of major transitions in climate dynamics at approximately 2 5 and 1 4 myr but show no significant change associated with the appearance of strong 100 kyr cycles during the mid pleistocene transition

astronomical frequencies for pre quaternary palaeoclimate studies the sensitivity of the earth s orbital frequencies involved in the astronomical theory of palaeoclimates to the earth moon distance and consequently to the length of the day and to the dynamical ellipticity of the earth has been investigated for the last billion years the shortening of the earth moon distance and of the length of the day back in time induces a shortening of the fundamental astronomical periods for the obliquity and the precession a shortening which is larger for the longer periods these periods of precession and obliquity influenced by the changing earth moon distance length of the day and dynamical ellipticity of the earth have been recomputed for the last 440 million years

new insights into upper mow variability over the last 150kyr from iodp 339 site u1386 in the gulf of cadiz the upper mediterranean outflow water mow paleo oceanographic history in the gulf of cadiz is poorly constrained due to the lack of high resolution records that pre date the last glaciation existing proxy records concentrate on mow variability along the middle slope of the gulf of cadiz here we present a continuous high resolution benthic foraminifera 18o record from the upper mow core at iodp expedition 339 site u1386 in the gulf of cadiz of the past 150 000 years based on 18o grain size and zr al variability comparison of our results with existing mediterranean sea md01 2472 md95 2043 open ocean lr04 and gulf of cadiz md99 2339 records we have gathered new insights into the evolution of the upper mow core on glacial interglacial timescales the influence of the upper mow at site u1386 was strongest during mis 5 and mis 1 similar 18o variability can be seen in the levantine intermediate water liw originating from the levantine basin of the eastern mediterranean sea we found clear indication for a vertical shift of the mow from the upper to the middle slope of the gulf of cadiz during sea level lowstands coinciding with mis 4 and mis 2 but also during mis 3 additionally our results indicate an increased upper mow flow correlated with heinrich events 7 to 10 and the younger dryas and also inversely relate to precession forced monsoonal freshwater inputs into the eastern mediterranean in the context of sapropel formation we could not find conclusive evidence of the proposed mow shutdown in our data

response of the north african summer monsoon to precession and obliquity forcings in the ec earth gcm we investigate for the first time the response of the north african summer monsoon to separate precession and obliquity forcings using a high resolution state of the art coupled general circulation model ec earth our aim is to better understand the mechanisms underlying the astronomical forcing of this low latitude climate system in detail the north african monsoon is strengthened when northern hemisphere summer insolation is higher as is the case in the minimum precession and maximum obliquity experiments in these experiments the low surface pressure areas over the sahara are intensified and located farther north and the meridional pressure gradient is further enhanced by a stronger south atlantic high pressure area as a result the southwesterly monsoon winds are stronger and bring more moisture into the monsoon region from both the northern and southern tropical atlantic the monsoon winds precipitation and convection also extend farther north into north africa the precession induced changes are much larger than those induced by obliquity but the latter are remarkable because obliquity induced changes in summer insolation over the tropics are nearly zero our results provide a different explanation than previously proposed for mechanisms underlying the precession and especially obliquity related signals in paleoclimate proxy records of the north african monsoon the ec earth experiments reveal that instead of higher latitude mechanisms increased moisture transport from both the northern and southern tropical atlantic is responsible for the precession and obliquity signals in the north african monsoon this increased moisture transport results from both increased insolation and an increased tropical insolation gradient

a pseudo genetic model of coarse braided river deposits a new method is proposed to produce three dimensional facies models of braided river aquifers based on analog data the algorithm consists of two steps the first step involves building the main geological units the production of the principal inner structures of the aquifer is achieved by stacking multiple point statistics simulations of successive topographies thus mimicking the major successive flooding events responsible for the erosion and deposition of sediments the second step of the algorithm consists of generating fine scale heterogeneity within the main geological units these smaller scale structures are generated by mimicking the trough filling process occurring in braided rivers the imitation of the physical processes relies on the local topography and on a local approximation of the flow this produces realistic cross stratified sediments comparable to what can be observed in outcrops the three main input parameters of the algorithm offer control over the proportions the continuity and the dimensions of the deposits calibration of these parameters does not require invasive field measurements and can rely partly on analog data

middle to late miocene oxygen isotope stratigraphy of odp site 1085 se atlantic new constrains on miocene climate variability and sea level fluctuations abstract the middle miocene 18o increase represents a fundamental change in earth s climate system due to a major expansion and permanent establishment of the east antarctic ice sheet accompanied by some effect of deepwater cooling the long term cooling trend in the middle to late miocene was superimposed by several punctuated periods of glaciations mi events characterized by oxygen isotopic shifts that have been related to the waxing and waning of the antarctic ice sheet and bottom water cooling here we present a high resolution benthic stable oxygen isotope record from odp site 1085 located at the southwestern african continental margin that provides a detailed chronology for the middle to late miocene 13 9 7 3 ma climate transition in the eastern south atlantic a composite fe intensity record obtained by xrf core scanning odp sites 1085 and 1087 was used to construct an astronomically calibrated chronology based on orbital tuning the oxygen isotope data exhibit four distinct 18o excursions which have astronomical ages of 13 8 13 2 11 7 and 10 4 ma and correspond to the mi3 mi4 mi5 and mi6 events a global climate record was extracted from the oxygen isotopic composition both long and short term variabilities in the climate record are discussed in terms of sea level and deep water temperature changes the oxygen isotope data support a causal link between sequence boundaries traced from the shelf and glacioeustatic changes due to ice sheet growth spectral analysis of the benthic 18o record shows strong power in the 400 kyr and 100 kyr bands documenting a paleoceanographic response to eccentricity modulated variations in precession a spectral peak around 180 kyr might be related to the asymmetry of the obliquity cycle indicating that the response of the dominantly unipolar antarctic ice sheet to obliquity induced variations probably controlled the middle to late miocene climate system maxima in the 18o record interpreted as glacial periods correspond to minima in 100 kyr eccentricity cycle and minima in the 174 kyr obliquity modulation strong middle to late miocene glacial events are associated with 400 kyr eccentricity minima and obliquity modulation minima thus fluctuations in the amplitude of obliquity and eccentricity seem to be the driving force for the middle to late miocene climate variability

frequency variations of the earth s obliquity and the 100 kyr ice age cycles variations in the earth s orbital parameters modulate the seasonal distribution of solar radiation and thereby induce changes in the earth s climate1 periodicities in the geological climate record with cycles of 100 41 and 23 kyr have been linked with changes in eccentricity obliquity and precession of the equinoxes respectively2 3 but although the eccentricity does vary with a 100 kyr period the effect on the incoming solar radiation is rather weak relative to the signals from obliquity and precession variations the 100 kyr signal in the climate record should therefore be of negligible intensity yet it is observed instead to dominate the record internal nonlinear processes within the climate system have been proposed to account for this fact4 14 in contrast i show here that variations in the frequency of the obliquity cycle can give rise to strong 100 kyr forcing of climate

absorption and scattering in ground penetrating radar analysis of the bishop tuff 1 ground penetrating radar gpr signals are attenuated by both absorption and scattering we performed low frequency 100 mhz gpr surveys at the volcanic tableland of the bishop california tuff to evaluate the factors that control gpr depth of investigation and to develop insight into the capabilities of such radars for mars the subsurface reflection character was very different for two different commercial systems used together they revealed both internal welding contacts in the tuff and an abundance of discrete scatterers attenuation coefficients were computed from profiles that showed distributed scattering the semilogarithmic signal decay is directly analogous to seismic coda the absorption intrinsic loss was determined to be 1 db m from low frequency vertical electric soundings the residual attenuation that is the attenuation in the absence of absorption is attributed to scattering scattering attenuation of 1 db m at 25 50 mhz corresponds to mean free paths as short as 4 m a fraction of the two way propagation distances of 20 40 m therefore the bishop tuff is formally a strong scatterer to gpr the mean free path is also comparable to the subsurface radar wavelength in this case maximizing scattering loss the scatterers themselves likely originate as welding heterogeneities contrasts in dielectric constant due to density differences may be supplemented by moisture variations on mars scattering is likely to contribute significant losses to gpr signals in all but the most uniform materials and unfrozen thin films of water in the lower cryosphere could influence both absorption and scattering

obliquity forcing of quaternary glaciation and environmental changes in ne siberia abstract reconstructing quaternary glacial and environmental changes in the vast high northern latitudes of siberia is essential for a better understanding of global past climate variability and its potential solar forcings two sediment outcrops in the dyanushka valley in the southwestern foreland of the verkhoyansk mountains northeast siberia were investigated using a multi proxy approach lithostratigraphy geochemistry palynology and radiocarbon and irsl dating three piedmont glaciations reached the outcrop sites the glacial advances are dated to 140 119 92 and 78 53 ka and thus within dating uncertainties correspond to obliquity minima during marine isotope stages mis 6 5d and 4 this chronology corroborates and refines previous studies that have documented the successively more restricted glacial extents in siberia during the course of the last glacial cycle the observed glaciation pattern is out of phase with global ice volume estimates and probably indicates a strong aridisation trend additionally the results show that the geochemical and mineralogical composition of the sediments contains information about provenance sediments originating from the verkhoyansk mountains are generally enriched in tio2 mgo p2o5 fe2o3 cr illite and chlorite whereas sediments derived from the lena river contain more expandable clay minerals ba sr alkane patterns as biomarker proxies turn out to be particularly valuable where poor preservation of pollen is an issue and generally speaking vegetation reconstruction helps distinguishing between warm versus cold mode sediments

insolation changes caused by combination of amplitude and frequency modulation of the obliquity a forcing function is derived from the insolation signal with a bipolar pulse modulation train that is a function of earth s obliquity from this obliquity forced insolation there is a calculated variation of about 9 in the energy flux at the top of the atmosphere pulsations in the incoming solar radiation induced by the amplitude frequency coupling effect of the obliquity correlate well with continental biogenic silica data and the marine oxygen isotope record the theory lends a new perspective to the physical mechanism involving climate change studies particularly it provides a physical explanation of the 100 kyr cycle in glaciation which is distinct from the commonly considered variations in orbital eccentricity

time scale evaluation and the quantification of obliquity forcing abstract the geologic time scale serves as an essential instrument for reconstructing earth history astrochronology linking regular sedimentary alternations to theoretical quasi periodic astronomical rhythms often provides the highest resolution age models for strata that underlie the time scale although various methods for testing astronomically tuned time scales exist they often present challenges such as the problem of circularity here we introduce an approach to extract a reliable obliquity envelope from astronomically tuned data avoiding the effects of frequency modulations that can artificially introduce astronomical beats this approach includes 1 the application of a broad obliquity filter followed by 2 a hilbert transform and 3 a low pass filter of the amplitude envelope to 4 test the significance of correlation between amplitude envelope and astronomical solution these data amplitudes provide a robust means to evaluate the climate response to obliquity forcing and more specifically to test the significance of correlation with the theoretical astronomical solution in a manner similar to the phase randomized surrogate approach previously introduced for the evaluation of precession tuning synthetic astronomical ice sheet models and several quaternary climate proxy records where obliquity can be a dominant component of astronomically driven climate variability are used to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method and yield new insight into climate system evolution

geologic constraints on the chaotic diffusion of the solar system the correlation of earth s orbital parameters with climatic variations has been used to generate astronomically calibrated geologic time scales of high accuracy however because of the chaotic behavior of the solar system two initially close calculations of earth s orbit diverge exponentially and have a large uncertainty beyond several million years in the past this chaotic behavior is related to a combination of angles in the precession motion of the orbits of earth and mars which currently is in resonance how long stays in libration critically depends on the dynamical model and initial conditions for the solar system here we show that geologic data can differentiate between astronomical solutions that do and do not exhibit a transition in since 40 ma and that sediments can thus provide a history for the evolution of we find that the chaotic transition of from libration to circulation did not occur after ca 30 ma we can thus constrain the chaotic diffusion of the solar system in the past and our results provide new and challenging constraints for astronomical models

reduction of conceptual model uncertainty using ground penetrating radar profiles field demonstration for a braided river aquifer abstract hydrogeological flow and transport strongly depend on the connectivity of subsurface properties uncertainty concerning the underlying geological setting due to a lack of field data and prior knowledge calls for an evaluation of alternative geological conceptual models to reduce the computational costs associated with inversions parameter estimation for a given conceptual model it is beneficial to rank and discard unlikely conceptual models prior to inversion here we demonstrate an approach based on a quantitative comparison of ground penetrating radar gpr sections obtained from field data with corresponding simulation results arising from various geological scenarios the comparison is based on three global distance measures related to wavelet decomposition multiple point histograms and connectivity that capture geometrical characteristics of geophysical reflection images using field data from the tagliamento braided river system italy we demonstrate that seven out of nine considered geological scenarios can be discarded as they produce gpr sections that are incompatible with those observed in the field the retained scenarios reproduce important features such as cross stratified deposits and irregular property interfaces the most convenient distance measure of those considered is the one based on wavelet decomposition direct analysis of the distances is the most intuitive and fastest way to compare scenarios

middle to late miocene stepwise climate cooling evidence from a high resolution deep water isotope curve spanning 8 million years 1 we present high resolution 2 3 kyr benthic foraminiferal stable isotopes in a continuous well preserved sedimentary archive from the west pacific ocean ocean drilling program site 1146 which track climate evolution in unprecedented resolution over the period 12 9 to 8 4 ma we developed an astronomically tuned chronology over this interval and integrated our new records with published isotope data from the same location to reconstruct long term climate and ocean circulation development between 16 4 and 8 4 ma this extended perspective reveals that the long eccentricity 400 kyr cycle is prominently encoded in the 13c signal over most of the record reflecting long term fluctuations in the carbon cycle the 18o signal closely follows variations in short eccentricity 100 kyr and obliquity 41 kyr in particular the obliquity cycle is prominent from 14 6 to 14 1 ma and from 9 8 to 9 2 ma when high amplitude variability in obliquity is congruent with low amplitude variability in short eccentricity the 18o curve is additionally characterized by a series of incremental steps at 14 6 13 9 13 1 10 6 9 9 and 9 0 ma which we attribute to progressive deep water cooling and or glaciation episodes following the end of the miocene climatic optimum on the basis of 18o amplitudes we find that climate variability decreased substantially after 13 ma except for a remarkable warming episode at 10 8 10 7 ma at peak insolation during eccentricity maxima 100 and 400 kyr this transient warming associated with a massive negative carbon isotope shift is reminiscent of intense global warming events at eccentricity maxima during the miocene climatic optimum

cyclostratigraphy and its revolutionizing applications in the earth and planetary sciences over the past 25 yr the science of stratigraphy has evolved to include time correlative data from vastly disparate components of the earth system not least of these is the global signal afforded by cyclostratigraphy which has recorded the evolution of earth s astronomical milankovitch forcing of insolation and the paleoclimate system fossil astronomical signals are collected from cyclic sedimentary sequences by detailed sampling and study of facies geochemistry mineralogy rock magnetism color etc in step with the documentation of astronomically forced paleoclimate from ever older older geologic times innovations in computational science have provided ever longer high accuracy astronomical model targets that can be used for time scale calibration the earth s orbit is affected by motions of other planets notably the orbital perihelia of venus and jupiter which impose a dominant 405 k y eccentricity cycle on earth s orbital evolution the large mass of jupiter stabilizes this cycle over hundreds of millions of years the cyclostratigraphic record of 405 k y cycles is therefore often used to correct chronologies affected by variable sedimentation earth s shape and rotation rate are influenced by tidal dissipation and climate friction these effects affect earth s precession rate through time thus a record of earth moon evolution is also embedded in cyclostratigraphy the geochronologic value of cyclostratigraphy has been affirmed through intercalibration with high precision radioisotope dating which today has the potential to define the ages of stratigraphic horizons with 2 uncertainties at the scale of a precession cycle precession index phasing relative to that of the obliquity elucidates the seasonal nature of astronomical forcing of the paleoclimate system cyclostratigraphy contributes to our knowledge of planetary dynamics for times prior to the current ca 50 ma limit of accurate astronomical solutions and it will guide our future understanding of solar system evolution and the evidence for chaotic diffusion astronomical modeling is undergoing its own revolution with development of new numerical integrators to extend accuracy further back in time finally space exploration has revealed prominent sedimentary bedding and ice stratigraphy on the surface of mars with patterns suggestive of astronomical forcing analogous to earth

seeing red in cyclic stratigraphy spectral noise estimation for astrochronology 1 fundamental to the development of astronomical time scales is the recognition of oscillatory variability within stratigraphic data and its evaluation relative to a null noise hypothesis in this study monte carlo simulations are used to investigate the suitability of two commonly used noise hypotheses the conventional and robust ar1 approaches and the results highlight important limitations in both for cyclostratigraphic application perhaps most problematic the robust ar1 method can result in inflated confidence level estimates and excessive clumping of false positives within the low frequency portion of the spectrum especially when the underlying noise process has a high lag 1 autocorrelation given typical cyclostratigraphic records this technique will often impose significant eccentricity band variability even in the case of pure ar1 noise an alternative spectral noise estimation method is proposed to overcome these problems which simultaneously allows for departures from the ar1 assumption and obtains high statistical power that is the ability to accurately identify astronomical signals when they are present in the data we apply the method to un tuned 18o data from miocene sediments of the ceara rise indicating statistically significant spectral power at frequencies that are consistent with the published orbital interpretation of weedon et al 1997 furthermore evaluation of the frequency arrangement of the significant spatial bedding periods using the average spectral misfit method for astrochronologic testing reveals that the null hypothesis of no orbital influence can be rejected with a high degree of confidence the 99 8 confidence level

intercalibration of radioisotopic and astrochronologic time scales for the cenomanian turonian boundary interval western interior basin usa we develop an intercalibrated astrochronologic and radioisotopic time scale for the cenomanian turonian boundary ctb interval near the global stratotype section and point in colorado usa where orbitally influenced rhythmic strata host bentonites that contain sanidine and zircon suitable for 40ar 39ar and u pb dating paired 40ar 39ar and u pb ages are determined from four bentonites that span the vascoceras diartianum to pseudaspidoceras flexuosum ammonite biozones utilizing both newly collected material and legacy sanidine samples of j obradovich comparison of the 40ar 39ar and u pb results underscores the strengths and limitations of each system and supports an astronomically calibrated fish canyon sanidine standard age of 28 201 ma the radioisotopic data and published astrochronology are employed to develop a new ctb time scale using two statistical approaches 1 a simple integration that yields a ctb age of 93 89 0 14 ma 2 total radioisotopic uncertainty and 2 a bayesian intercalibration that explicitly accounts for orbital time scale uncertainty and yields a ctb age of 93 90 0 15 ma 95 credible interval total radioisotopic and orbital time scale uncertainty both approaches firmly anchor the floating orbital time scale and the bayesian technique yields astronomically recalibrated radioisotopic ages for individual bentonites with analytical uncertainties at the permil level of resolution and total uncertainties below 2 using our new results the duration between the cenomanian turonian and the cretaceous paleogene boundaries is 27 94 0 16 ma with an uncertainty of less than one half of a long eccentricity cycle

evaluating the success of astronomical tuning pitfalls of using coherence as a criterion for assessing pre pleistocene timescales the imprint of orbital variations on the geological record of climatic variability is well documented especially for the plio pleistocene there is considerable interest in developing very high resolution timescales through the cenozoic and into the mesozoic by tuning geological records to the assumed astronomical forcing since the precession signal is so highly amplitude modulated it is widely believed that high coherence between record and assumed forcing in the precession band is an indication that the timescale is probably correct because coherence is supposed to provide a measure of the degree of common amplitude modulation we show that this is misleading even a sinusoidal variation that has been tuned to an insolation record shows highly significant coherence at the 23 kyr and 19 kyr precession frequencies coherence is a good indication that the tuning has generated a consistent phase relationship but complex demodulation is a better tool for assessing the relationship between amplitude modulation in the data and in the hypothetical forcing

a new view on the driving mechanism of milankovitch glaciation cycles abstract dynamical instabilities in the glaciation and deglaciation of the ice sheets can be triggered by pulsations of the rate of change of the orbital and rotational parameters the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the milankovitch glaciation cycles are extremely sensitive to the rate of change of the obliquity frequency the first of our three contributions is a pedagogic principle of dynamical instability which provides a scientific basis for the driving mechanism of the glaciation cycles the second contribution is a clarification of the origin and climate significance of the obliquity related 100 kyr cycle in terms of nonlinear coupling between various orbital and rotational parameters finally the fluctuations in the size of the ice sheets are computed using the weertman birchfield watts model of ice sheets it is demonstrated that the growth and decay of the width of the ice sheets are in good agreement with the variations in the continental ice volume as seen in the late pleistocene 18o record

revised miocene splice astronomical tuning and calcareous plankton biochronology of odp site 926 between 5 and 14 4 ma abstract the distinctly cyclic sediments recovered during odp leg 154 played an important role in constructing the astronomical time scale and associated astro bio chronology for the miocene and in deciphering ocean climate history the accuracy of the timescale critically depends on the reliability of the shipboard splice used for the tuning and on the tuning itself new high resolution colour and magnetic susceptibility core scanning data supplemented with limited xrf data allow improvement of the stratigraphy the revised composite record results in an improved astronomical age model for odp site 926 between 5 and 14 4 ma the new age model is confirmed by results of complex amplitude demodulation of the precession and obliquity related cycle patterns different values for tidal dissipation are applied to improve the fit between the sedimentary cycle patterns and the astronomical solution due to the improved stratigraphy and tuning supported by the results of amplitude demodulation the revised time scale yields more reliable age estimates for planktic foraminiferal and calcareous nannofossil events the results of this study highlight the importance of stratigraphy for timescale construction

geological constraints on tidal dissipation and dynamical ellipticity of the earth over the past three million years the evolution of the solar system has been shown to be chaotic which limits our ability to retrace the orbital and precessional motion of the earth over more than 35 50 myr ref 2 moreover the precession obliquity and insolation parameters can also be influenced by secular variations in the tidal dissipation and dynamical ellipticity of the earth induced by glacial cyclicity and mantle convection here we determine the average values of these dissipative effects over the past three million years we have computed the optimal fit between an exceptional palaeoclimate record from the eastern mediterranean sea and a model of the astronomical and insolation history by testing a number of values for the tidal dissipation and dynamical ellipticity parameters we find that the combined effects of dynamical ellipticity and tidal dissipation were on average significantly lower over the past three million years compared to their present day values determined from artificial satellite data and lunar ranging this secular variation associated with the plio pleistocene ice load history has caused an average acceleration in the earth s rotation over the past 3 myr which needs to be considered in the construction of astronomical timescales and in research into the stationarity of phase relations in the ocean climate system through time

northern hemisphere glaciation and the evolution of plio pleistocene climate noise 1 deterministic orbital controls on climate variability are commonly inferred to dominate across timescales of 104 106 years although some studies have suggested that stochastic processes may be of equal or greater importance here we explicitly quantify changes in deterministic orbital processes forcing and or pacing versus stochastic climate processes during the plio pleistocene via time frequency analysis of two prominent foraminifera oxygen isotopic stacks our results indicate that development of the northern hemisphere ice sheet is paralleled by an overall amplification of both deterministic and stochastic climate energy but their relative dominance is variable the progression from a more stochastic early pliocene to a strongly deterministic late pleistocene is primarily accommodated during two transitory phases of northern hemisphere ice sheet growth this long term trend is punctuated by stochastic events which we interpret as evidence for abrupt reorganization of the climate system at the initiation and termination of the mid pleistocene transition and at the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation in addition to highlighting a complex interplay between deterministic and stochastic climate change during the plio pleistocene our results support an early onset for northern hemisphere glaciation between 3 5 and 3 7 ma and reveal some new characteristics of the orbital signal response such as the puzzling emergence of 100 ka and 400 ka cyclic climate variability during theoretical eccentricity nodes

transport modeling in heterogeneous aquifers 1 statistical description and numerical generation of gravel deposits transport of solutes in groundwater is decisively influenced by the heterogeneity of the aquifer the goal of the present work is the numerical generation of synthetic heterogeneous aquifer models based on a statistical description of heterogeneities in gravel aquifers large unweathered outcrops in several gravel pits in northeastern switzerland were investigated in this context on the basis of sedimentological observations it was possible to specify distinct sedimentary structures appearing as lenses or layers all structures have been identified in each of the investigated outcrops by inspecting and analyzing photographs of the outcrops it was possible to estimate the probability density functions pdf of the geometrical attributes of the sedimentary structures disturbed and undisturbed samples were taken from these structures to estimate the pdf of their hydraulic properties that is the hydraulic conductivity and the porosity the information obtained is used to generate distinct numerical realizations by unconditional stochastic simulation of synthetic aquifers having the same statistical properties with respect to hydraulic conductivity and porosity as the investigated deposits

long periodic variations in the earth s obliquity and their relation to third order eustatic cycles and late neogene glaciations abstract evolutive spectra of four high resolution climatic proxy records reveal that the spectral power in the obliquity frequency band increases during five well defined intervals in the last 5 3 million years these intervals correspond to periods of high amplitude variations in the tilt obliquity of the earth s axis connected with a 1 2 myr cycle and to sea level lowstands of third order eustatic cycles in the haq et al 1987 curve this implies that the development of major plio pleistocene glaciations proceeded episodically and that third order cycles are glacio eustatically controlled in at least two of these intervals sinistrally coiled neogloboquadrinids entered the mediterranean at times of glacial periods one interval starts around 2 8 ma and is characterized by the first occurrence of n atlantica s another interval begins at the plio pleistocene boundary around 1 8 ma and is characterized by the common occurrence of sinistrally coiled n pachyderma also during the late miocene third order cycles correlate well with the 1 2 myr cycle of obliquity a significant drop in the third order eustatic curve starting at the tortonian messinian boundary for instance coincides with a period of high amplitude variations in the obliquity time series connected with the 1 2 myr cycle

past hydrographic and climatic changes in the subantarctic zone of the south atlantic the pleistocene record from odp site 1090 abstract pleistocene summer sea surface temperatures ssst have been reconstructed on a composite core section recovered in the subantarctic zone of the southern ocean from planktonic foraminifers applying the modern analog technique the composite consists of core ps2489 2 and the sections recovered at odp site 1090 and documents the last 1 83 ma three distinct climatic periods can be identified that mirror the pleistocene development of the southern ocean hydrography cold climatic conditions prevailed at 43 s during glacial as well as during interglacial periods during the early pleistocene 1 83 0 87 ma indicating a northward shift of isotherms that characterize the present day polar front zone by about 7 of latitude evidence shows a strong linkage between southern ocean and low latitude climate during that interval time between the mid pleistocene revolution ca 0 9 ma and the mid brunhes event ca 0 4 ma we observe higher amplitude fluctuations in the ssst between glacial and interglacial periods corresponding to the temperature range between the present polar front and subantarctic front these climatic variations have been related to changes in the northern hemisphere ice sheets the past 0 4 ma are characterized by strong ssst variations of up to 8 c between glacials and interglacials only during the climatic optima stages 11 3 9 3 7 5 7 1 5 5 and the early holocene ssst exceeded present ssst at the core locality 10 2 c although the carbonate dissolution record exhibits high variability during the pleistocene it can be shown that ssst estimates were not significantly biased the mid brunhes dissolution cycle as well as the mid pleistocene enhanced carbonate preservation appear to belong to a global long term variability in carbonate preservation

shallow lacustrine carbonate microfacies document orbitally paced lake level history in the miocene teruel basin north east spain results are presented of a detailed carbonate petrographic study of an upper miocene lacustrine mixed carbonate siliciclastic succession in the teruel basin spain with the aim of constraining lake level variability at different stratigraphic scales regular alternations of red to green mudstone and lacustrine limestone termed the basic cycle reflect lake level variations at the metre scale in an earlier study the basic cycle was shown to be controlled by the climatic precession cycle petrographic analysis made it possible to distinguish two main carbonate microfacies groups characteristic of very shallow transient and shallow permanent lake environments respectively in addition to the basic cyclicity the microfacies analysis reveals lake level variations on a larger scale as a consequence the astronomical forcing hypothesis of the cyclicity in the cascante section is explored further a climate modelling study of orbital extremes indicates that high lake levels could relate to enhanced net winter precipitation and runoff during precession minima consistent with mediterranean geological data using this phase relationship an astronomical tuning of the cycles is established starting from astronomical ages of magnetic reversal boundaries subsequently successive basic cycles are correlated to precession minima the tuning reveals an identical number of basic cycles in the cascante section as precession related sapropel cycles in the deep marine succession at monte dei corvi italy corroborating the precessional control of the basic cycles at cascante lake level highstands in the large scale cycle identified by the microfacies analysis relate to maxima in both the ca 100 and 405kyr eccentricity cycles again consistent with mediterranean geological data subtraction of the identified astronomically related lake level variations from the palaeoenvironmental record at cascante indicates a shift to deeper and more permanent lacustrine environments in the upper half of the section the cause of this shift remains unclear but it may be linked to tectonics non astronomical climate long period astronomical cycles or autogenic processes 2008 the authors journal compilation 2008 international association of sedimentologists

time scale controversy accurate orbital calibration of the early paleogene 1 timing is crucial to understanding the causes and consequences of events in earth history the calibration of geological time relies heavily on the accuracy of radioisotopic and astronomical dating uncertainties in the computations of earth s orbital parameters and in radioisotopic dating have hampered the construction of a reliable astronomically calibrated time scale beyond 40 ma attempts to construct a robust astronomically tuned time scale for the early paleogene by integrating radioisotopic and astronomical dating are only partially consistent here using the new la2010 and la2011 orbital solutions we present the first accurate astronomically calibrated time scale for the early paleogene 47 65 ma uniquely based on astronomical tuning and thus independent of the radioisotopic determination of the fish canyon standard comparison with geological data confirms the stability of the new la2011 solution back to 54 ma subsequent anchoring of floating chronologies to the la2011 solution using the very long eccentricity nodes provides an absolute age of 55 530 0 05 ma for the onset of the paleocene eocene thermal maximum petm 54 850 0 05 ma for the early eocene ash 17 and 65 250 0 06 ma for the k pg boundary the new astrochronology presented here indicates that the intercalibration and synchronization of u pb and 40ar 39ar radioisotopic geochronology is much more challenging than previously thought

geomagnetic palaeointensities and astrochronological ages for the matuyama brunhes boundary and the boundaries of the jaramillo subchron palaeomagnetic and oxygen isotope records from odp site 983 we have measured relative geomagnetic palaeointensity proxies palaeomagnetic directions and 18 o for the 700 1100 ka interval from odp site 983 gardar drift north atlantic where mean sedimentation rates are ca 13 cm kyr 1 the age model was generated by matching the benthic 18 o data to the ice volume model and confirmed by tuning the precessional components of both signals for the matuyama brunhes boundary mbb and the boundaries of the jaramillo subchronozone the duration of the polarity reversal process defined by virtual geomagnetic polar latitudes of less than 45 is ca 5 kyr whereas the generally accepted astrochronological estimates for the boundaries of the jaramillo subchronozone lie within the polarity transitions as recorded at site 983 the astrochronological age for the matuyama brunhes polarity transition 780 ka is ca 5 kyr older than the onset of this transition at site 983 775 ka the polarity reversals lie within palaeointensity lows with abrupt recovery of palaeointensity post reversal there is no progressive sawtooth decrease in palaeointensity within the jaramillo subchronozone or between the top of the jaramillo and the mbb but rather within polarity chrons several short intervals of low palaeointensity which sometimes coincide with high amplitude secular variation orbital 100 and 41 kyr periods are present in the palaeointensity record as they are not obviously attributable to climate lithology in these records they may be a feature of the geomagnetic field itself

20 myr of eccentricity paced lacustrine cycles in the cenozoic ebro basin abstract long period orbital forcing is a crucial component of the major global climate shifts during the cenozoic as revealed in marine pelagic records a complementary regional perspective of climate change can be assessed from internally drained lake basins which are directly affected by insolation and precipitation balance the ebro basin in northeastern iberia embraces a 20 myr long continuous sedimentary record where recurrent expansions and retractions of the central lacustrine system suggest periodic shifts of water balance due to orbital oscillations in order to test climatic orbital forcing a key piece of the basin the los monegros lacustrine system has been analyzed in detail the cyclostratigraphic analysis points to orbital eccentricity as pacemaker of short to long term lacustrine sequences and reveals a correlation of maxima of the 100 kyr 400 kyr and 2 4 myr eccentricity cycles with periods of lake expansion a magnetostratigraphy based chronostratigraphy of the complete continental record allows further assessing long period orbital forcing at basin scale a view that challenges alternate scenarios where the stratigraphic architecture in foreland systems is preferably associated to tectonic processes we conclude that while the location of lacustrine depocenters reacted to the long term tectonic driven accommodation changes shorter wavelenght oscillations of lake environments still million year scale claims for a dominance of orbital forcing we suggest a decoupling between tectonic supply driven clastic sequences fed from basin margins and climatic base level driven lacustrine sequences in active settings with medium to large sediment transfer systems

orbital insolation forcing of the indian monsoon a motor for global climate changes abstract both modern and ancient indian summer monsoons are driven by transequatorial pressure differences directly coupled with the insolation difference between the northern and southern subtropical hemispheres a high resolution record of upwelling and dust flux from the western arabian sea resembles an insolation based indian summer monsoon index this index and the observed monsoonal climate variations share major elements on the orbital obliquity and precessional band with the specmap marine oxygen isotope record representing global ice volume the long term evolution of the index mirrors almost exactly the insolation changes at 65 n showing that the forcing of low latitude climate variability has a structure similar to that of the insolation forcing in the high northern latitudes moreover insolation forcing in the low latitudes directly controls atmospheric processes in the african indian and asian monsoon being responsible for a huge amount of transequatorial water vapour and therefore latent heat transport millennial scale variability of the monsoonal climate is concentrated at periodicities near 1100 1450 1750 and 2300 years these cycles are not strictly periodic but occur in bands with specific activity phases and amplitude increases during warm stages and interstadials for the 1100 and 1750 yr cycles whereas the 1450 yr cycle dominates the cold intervals