comment on formation of chenier plain of the donana marshland sw spain observations and geomorphic model by a rodriguez ramirez and c m yanez camacho marine geology 254 2008 187 196 abstract the application of the regional marine 14 c reservoir effect r to obtain an accurate calibration of conventional marine shell 14 c dates requires prior research concerning the oceanographic conditions and the r of that region rodriguez ramirez and yanez camacho a rodriguez ramirez c m yanez camacho formation of chenier plain of the donana marshland sw spain observations and geomorphic model marine geology 254 2008 187 196 and afterwards a rodriguez ramirez j a morales j borrego and e g san miguel in a reply a rodriguez ramirez j a morales j borrego e g san miguel reply to the comment on formation of chenier plain of the donana marshland sw spain observations and geomorphic model by a rodriguez ramirez and c m yanez camacho marine geology 254 2008 187 196 marine geology 263 2009 123 125 to the comment by j rodriguez vidal f ruiz and l m caceres on the paper mentioned above j rodriguez vidal f ruiz l m caceres comment on formation of chenier plain of the donana marshland sw spain observations and geomorphic model by a rodriguez ramirez c m yanez camacho marine geology 254 2008 187 196 marine geology 263 2009 120 122 use in both cases not only incorrect r values for the calibration of 14 c dates obtained from shell samples collected from the east coast of the gulf of cadiz but they also confuse the r concept with that of r t the 14 c reservoir age because the misunderstanding of these concepts by these authors and in the first case also their failure to take into account the r values obtained by us and already published from the east coast of gulf of cadiz all the calibrated dates presented either in the first paper or in the reply cannot be accepted here i present a new calibrated dataset using accurate r values and i recommend that the conclusions obtained by rodriguez ramirez and their collaborators be revised as j rodriguez vidal f ruiz and l m caceres proposed in their comment

finite element simulation of fluid flow in fractured rock media fluid dynamics models are used by the petroleum industry to model single and or multi phase flow within fractured rock formations in order to facilitate extraction of fluids such as oil and natural gas and in other areas of engineering to study groundwater flow as well as to estimate contaminant seepage and transport in this paper the numerical modelling software comsol is used to simulate air and water flow through a specimen of granite with a single vertical fracture subjected to triaxial loading conditions the intent of the model is to simulate triaxial test findings on a rock specimen with a natural fracture fluid flow is simulated at various confining and inlet pressures using the cubic law model results were in good agreement with laboratory findings pressure distribution along the fracture and across the specimen are as expected with a near linear pressure distribution along the length of the fracture a drawdown effect on pressure distribution across the specimen in the vicinity of the fracture is also observed pressure gradient was largely uniform however some localised zones of high gradient along the fracture are observed

the influence of changing orbital parameters and surface boundary conditions on climate simulations for the past 18 000 years abstract general circulation model experiments at 3000 year intervals for the past 18 000 years were made to estimate the magnitude timing and pattern of the climatic response to prescribed changes of orbital parameters date of perihelion axial tilt eccentricity and glacial age lower boundary conditions ice sheets land albedo sea ice and sea surface temperature the experiments used the community climate model ccm of the national center for atmospheric research ncar the response of monsoon circulations and tropical precipitation to the orbitally produced solar radiation changes was much larger than the response to changes of glacial age boundary conditions the continental interior of eurasia was 2 4 k warmer in summer and summer monsoon precipitation of north africa south asia was increased by 10 20 between 12 000 and 6000 yr bp before present when perihelion occurred during northern summer rather than in winter as now and the earth s axial tilt was larger than now southern hemisphe

major disturbance to aquatic ecosystems in the south island new zealand following human settlement in the late holocene lake sediment records from three lakes in the south island of new zealand were examined to determine the effects of human m ori and european impacts on the lake catchments during the late holocene major changes in lake biota occurred in the early to middle holocene 11 000 6000 cal yr bp but there were no major changes between c 6000 cal yr bp and the time of human impact intensive m ori forest clearance occurred here between c ad 1200 and 1600 which is consistent with other new zealand records catchment erosion and increased sedimentation probably occurred in all of the studied lakes but the most obvious changes occurred in lake clearwater and the m ori lakes there was evidence for gravity induced slumping of the littoral sediments in lake clearwater due to increased sediment loading and the outflow from the m ori lakes was blocked by a migrating alluvial fan the erosion of sediment and nutrients from the lake catchments led to eutrophication but increases in lake depth were just as important in two of the lakes increased water depth was caused by damming of the m ori lakes outflow by a migrating alluvial fan reduced evapotranspiration following deforestation would also have led to increased water yield in lake catchments european impacts were minor compared with the impacts of m ori deforestation and all lakes display different levels of recovery towards pre human impact conditions complete recovery is prevented by permanent changes in catchment hydrology and probable internal feedback mechanism such as wind induced sediment re suspension in the larger lakes

glacial interglacial organic carbon record from the makassar strait indonesia implications for regional changes in continental vegetation abstract recent studies convincingly show that climate in the western pacific warm pool and other equatorial tropical regions was significantly colder by 3 4 c during glacial periods prompting a reexamination of the late pleistocene paleoenvironments of these regions this study examines changes in continental vegetation during the last two deglaciations terminations i and ii using a sediment core md9821 62 recovered from the makassar strait indonesia evidence based on the lignin phenol ratios suggests that vegetation on borneo and other surrounding islands did not significantly change from tropical rainforest during the last two glacial periods relative to subsequent interglacial periods this supports the hypothesis that the winter monsoon increased in strength during glacial periods allowing indonesia to maintain high rainfall despite the cooler conditions

the orange tuff a late pleistocene tephra fall deposit emplaced by a vei 5 silicic plinian eruption in west java indonesia a vei 5 dacite eruption emplaced the orange tuff about between 34 3 cal kbp and 17 2 cal kbp gunung salak is the unit s source and the orange tuff represents the most recent such eruption from any of the volcanoes southwest of bogor indonesia the orange tuff is the region s first such documented tephra fall deposit whose characteristics and phenocryst geochemistry make it readily identifiable over at least 1250 km2 magnetite compositions and temperature and fo2 estimates inferred from fe ti oxide compositions are particularly useful for identifying the unit deposit characteristics suggest that the eruption lasted 1 11 h with mass eruption rates of 1 0 8 3 108 kg s and a column height of 31 40 km the eruption s column height and the deposit s 2 5 11 km3 volume suggest that the unit was dispersed over a much wider area than mapped the unit is a marker bed throughout its mapped distribution and has potential to be applied over a much broader area as a regional marker bed the large population and infrastructure proximal to salak suggest that the unit should be considered in hazards assessments despite its age and the lack of subsequent similar eruptions

did early man reach java during the late pliocene abstract homo erectus pithecanthropus reached java from the asian continent and became one of the oldest islanders in the world this article deals with the palaeomagnetic and 40 ar 39 ar dating of the lower lahar a layer located at the base of the fossil bearing series of the sangiran dome combined 40 ar 39 ar and palaeomagnetic data show that the deposition of the lower lahar marking the emergence of the first dryland at sangiran took place at the end and just after the olduvai subchron therefore c 1 7 million years can be considered as a maximal theoretical age for the arrival of the first hominids at sangiran

barriers and bridges early human dispersals in equatorial se asia past environments of equatorial se asia must have played a critical role in determining the timing and trajectory of early human dispersal into and through the region however very few reliable terrestrial records are available with which to contextualize human dispersal events this circumstance coupled with a sparse archaeological record and the likelihood that much of the archaeological record is now submerged means we have an incomplete understanding of the role that geography climate and environment played in shaping human pre history in this region from a review of the literature we conclude that there must have been a substantial environmental barrier resulting in a genetic separation between east and west sundaland that persisted even though a terrestrial connection was present for most of the pleistocene this barrier is likely to be a north south corridor of open non forest vegetation and its existence may have encouraged the rapid dispersal of early humans through the interior of sundaland and on to sahul we conclude that more reliable terrestrial palaeoenvironmental records are required to better understand the links between past environments and dispersal events we highlight avenues of particular research value such as focusing on eastern sumatra western southern borneo and the islands in the java sea where the purported savanna corridor most probably existed and including edaphic factors in palaeovegetation modelling

evidence for continued disturbance of upland rain forest in sumatra for the last 7000 years of an 11 000 year record abstract a pollen diagram is presented from a swamp at 1100 m altitude in the sumatran rift valley indonesia the diagram covers the last 11 000 years and shows evidence of continuous cover by tropical rain forest there are indications of continuous disturbance probably by people during the last 7000 years this has caused little change in diversity which does not support the intermediate disturbance hypothesis of connell science 199 1978 1302

geological and hydraulic characterisation of the excavation disturbed zone in the opalinus clay of the mont terri rock laboratory abstract the fracture network in the excavation disturbed zone edz of an argillaceous formation the opalinus clay in the mont terri rock laboratory in northwest switzerland is characterised using structural and hydrogeological techniques sampling of unloading fractures is done by analysing resin injected overcores taken from the edz resulting in a structural data set of fracture orientations frequencies and extent of the edz these parameters are derived in tunnel sections which were excavated by blasting pneumatic hammering and road header techniques pneumatic and hydrogeological tests are subsequently carried out to derive hydraulic parameters such as permeability and transmissivity distributions of the fracture network synthesis of the structural and hydrogeological data led to a conceptual model of the edz in the mont terri rock laboratory which is defined by a 2 m plastically deformed zone around the tunnel this plastic zone is further divided into an inner 1 m zone consisting of an air filled fracture network and an outer zone with mostly saturated and isolated fractures transmissivities in the inner zone are orders of magnitude higher than those of the undisturbed opalinus clay finally a methodology is proposed for the structural and hydrogeological characterisation of the edz this methodology is not site specific and is thus applicable at any argillaceous underground facility

cultivation and human impact at 6000 cal yr b p in tropical lowland forest at niah sarawak malaysian borneo this paper describes palynological evidence for what appears to be comparatively large scale human impact in the catchment of the sungai niah in the wet tropical lowland swamp forests of sarawak malaysian borneo close to the great cave of niah pollen associated with cleared landscapes and rice cultivation is evident in the sedimentary record from before 6000 cal yr b p human activity seems to have been associated with changes in sedimentary regime with peat dominated environments being replaced diachronously by clay dominated deposition this may reflect anthropogenic soil erosion in the catchment of the sungai niah

seismic investigation of the excavation damaged zone in opalinus clay a mini sonic borehole probe was used to investigate the excavation damaged zone edz around an underground opening in the opalinus clay in the mont terri rock laboratory in switzerland the edz could be determined by using seismic parameters as interval velocities and amplitudes of first arrivals derived from measurements in eight radial drilled boreholes the extent of the edz is about 1 m but varies between 0 6 and 2 2 m

climate people and faunal succession on java indonesia evidence from song gupuh song gupuh a partially collapsed cave in the gunung sewu limestones of east java indonesia contains over 16 m of deposits with a faunal sequence spanning some 70 ka major changes in the range of animals represented show the impact of climate change and humans the terminal pleistocene and early holocene was a period of maximum biodiversity human use of song gupuh and other cave sites in the region also intensified significantly from ca 12 ka together with a new focus on exploitation of small bodied species macaque monkeys and molluscs the first evidence for import of resources from the coast and use of bone and shell tools human activity especially after the onset of the neolithic around 2 6 ka subsequently contributed to a progressive loss of many species from the area including tapir elephant malayan bear rhino and tiger and this extinction process is continuing we conclude by discussing the biogeographical significance of song gupuh in the context of other sites in java e g punung wajak and further afield e g liang bua

engineered damage zone sealing during a water injection test at the tournemire url low permeability clay formations provide good candidate host rocks for geological disposal of radioactive waste because there is expected to be limited movement of gas or water through the formation however when constructing tunnels the stress state in the formation around the tunnel will change which can lead to damage to the formation changing the bulk hydraulic properties of the formation close to the tunnel there is the potential for this damaged zone to act as a preferential pathway for fluid flow and radionuclide transport a water injection experiment is ongoing at the tournemire underground rock laboratory to investigate the hydraulic properties of the toarcian argillite in which the laboratory is constructed water is injected into the formation at the end of a sealed borehole and moves preferentially in the damaged zone along the borehole walls the rate of water injection into the rock changed over the first year of the experiment and the causes of this change are investigated in this paper by numerical modelling the study demonstrates that the change in water injection rate into the argillite can be explained by the evolving hydraulic properties of the damaged zone around the borehole the findings of the modelling study are discussed in the context of long term radioactive waste disposal

palaeoenvironmental developments in the lake tondano area n sulawesi indonesia since 33 000 yr b p abstract geo morpho logical sedimentological and ecological developments in the lake tondano area since 33 000 yr b p and limnological changes in the moderately sized lake situated at 680 m asl in the northern part of sulawesi indonesia are discussed first the environmental setting of the lake is presented study of the regional distribution of lacustrine sediments and a detailed analysis of their sedimentary facies texture organic matter content suggest major changes in size and depth of the lake and in past sedimentation insight into the long term development of the lake sedimentation processes is highly relevant for sustainable use of the present lake analysis of diatom assemblages provides further detail of the changing aquatic settings of the lake lake levels rise quickly around 33 000 and 12 000 yr b p fall dramatically between 30 000 and 13 000 yr b p and are lowered gradually since approximately 6000 yr b p following early holocene high lake levels drainage of the lake is affected by both volcanic depositional events and regional climatic events palynological analysis is indicative of local palaeoecological settings in the lake area and regional climatic change a distinct late pleistocene phase with lower precipitation and lowered mean temperatures is inferred furthermore progressive deforestation of the tondano uplands is evident as well as diffuse anthropogenic volcanic vegetation disturbance from the early mid holocene onwards information from sedimentary facies diatom assemblages and local palaeoecology pollen are integrated to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental settings and processes in the lake area this record of environmental change as well as the pollen based record of regional vegetation and climate change corroborates other palaeoenvironmental data derived from the few terrestrial sites in the region the data attribute a greater magnitude of temperature and precipitation change in the region than is commonly deduced in studies based on marine faunal and sedimentary records the lake tondano sedimentary record is highly suitable for further analysis aimed at determining the exact timing and amplitudes of environmental change in the se asian equatorial region

holocene palaeoclimate in the northern sahara margin jefara plain northwestern libya the palaeoclimatic evolution of northwestern libya has been deduced from the study of the palustrine and aeolian sediments the holocene environmental variations have been recognized through geological and stratigraphic surveys and by pollen analysis and malacofauna content of the sediments some organic rich horizons have been dated using the radiocarbon method the data show that in general the presence of marshes is linked with the period of higher humidity which began around 9 4 ka bp and ended around 5 0 ka bp from c 5 0 ka bp up to about 4 4 ka bp there was a simultaneous presence of marshes and vegetation of arid climate as a consequence of rainfall in the mountains and or a decrease in temperatures the holocene wet period was interrupted by two arid spells dated about 8 2 and 5 5 5 4 ka bp the end of the wet phase must have been gradual the climatic events that occurred in the jefara plain seem to be well correlated with those identified in saharan africa even if the mediterranean is only

pollen stratigraphic evidence of human activity at dieng central java abstract the pollen stratigraphy of a small lake at 2000 m elevation in the dieng highlands of central java where a large hindu javanese religious center flourished from about 1250 to 700 b p indicates substantial and nearly continuous clearance of the montane forest since about 1350 b p a core to the base of organic sediments is 14 m long and has a basal date of 1340 b p a zone of abundant pollen of the weedy herb plantago major corresponds well in time with the occupation of the religious center after about 700 b p the pollen of secondary forest species shifted in composition suggesting a different pattern of vegetation use in the highlands in the mid 19th century european observers reported that the forest on the mountains at dieng was closed and mature but evidence in the pollen is lacking by the 1920s the expanding human population had stripped the landscape of trees and the first pollen of cultivated plants appears in the stratigraphy because of local protection and forest replanting trees have again increased on the steepest slopes and the pollen assemblage today differs in composition from the previous zones

recognition of santorini minoan tephra in lake sediments from golhisar golu southwest turkey by laser ablation icp ms laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms has been applied to the analysis of fine grained volcanic ash shards separated from a tephra layer deposited by the mid second millenniumbc minoan eruption of santorini or thera in holocene lake sediments from golhisar golu a small intramontane lake in southwest turkey in this study we have used minor isotopes of two major elements routinely determined by epma in tephrochronological studies as the internal standard in la icp ms analyses these are30si and57fe for fully quantitative and single internal standard multi element calibration so called semi quantitative analysis respectively the results show that the determination of trace elements by la icp ms is a quick and accurate method typical accuracies are better than 20 and precision measured as the mean rsd relative standard deviation is better than 15 for most petrogenetically significant trace elements these levels of precision actually reflect within sample heterogeneity as repeat analyses on the homogenous nist 612 glass standard show that instrument precision is typically 5 for most elements the level of accuracy and precision obtained during this study is quite acceptable in tephrochronological studies and provides us with the confidence to proceed to the analysis of single glass shards by using a modified small spot laser ablation system

late holocene evolution of the southwestern donana national park guadalquivir estuary sw spain a multivariate approach four phases are distinguished in the late holocene evolution of the southwestern donana national park sw spain based on a multidisciplinary analysis of the sediments present in drill cores in the oldest phase 2400 2500 cal yr bp a coastal lagoon the roman lacus ligustinus was recognized in the central part of this area partly closed by the donana spit and limited by fluvial levees the following phase 2400 2200 cal yr bp is characterized by high energy events which caused the breakthrough of the donana spit and the creation of new littoral strands in the inner areas in the third phase 2200 2050 cal yr bp this new outlet was closed coinciding with the progradation of the donana spit the last phase 2050 cal yr bp recent comprises three periods a an unstable period 2050 1950 cal yr bp with the deposit of cheniers over the previous levees b an infilling period with a diminution of the marine influence and c the appearance of temporary ponds between the emerged levees and cheniers

climatic variability in the southwest pacific during the last termination 20 10 kyr bp the degree to which palaeoclimatic changes in the southern hemisphere co varied with events in the high latitude northern hemisphere during the last termination is a contentious issue with conflicting evidence for the degree of teleconnection between different regions of the southern hemisphere the available hypotheses are difficult to test robustly however because there are few detailed palaeoclimatic records in the southern hemisphere here we present climatic reconstructions from the southwestern pacific a key region in the southern hemisphere because of the potentially important role it plays in global climate change the reconstructions for the period 20 10 kyr bp were obtained from five sites along a transect from southern new zealand through australia to indonesia supported by 125 calibrated c 14 ages two periods of significant climatic change can be identified across the region at around 17 and 14 2 cal kyr bp most probably associated with the onset of warming in the west pacific warm pool and the collapse of antarctic ice during meltwater pulse 1a respectively the severe geochronological constraints that inherently afflict age models based on radiocarbon dating and the lack of quantified climatic parameters make more detailed interpretations problematic however there is an urgent need to address the geochronological limitations and to develop more precise and quantified estimates of the pronounced climate variations that clearly affected this region during the last termination c 2005 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate in low latitude southern china during the last glacial maximum abstract the evolution of vegetation and climate changes in tropical regions during the last glacial maximum remains controversial a continuous high resolution terrestrial palynological data from 40 to 13 cal ka bp is recorded in sediments of huguangyan maar lake in southern china the biomization technique and pollen data are used to reconstruct the history of vegetation and climate changes during the last glacial maximum lgm the results suggest that the huguangyan area in the last glacial maximum was dominated by subtropical evergreen forest with some deciduous trees implying that the climate was drier and colder in southern china than at present grassland vegetation did not appear in this area a significant drop in temperature occurred at 18 5 cal ka bp and terminated at 15 5 cal ka bp and the annual mean temperature during the lgm was 2 3 c lower or even more than present this is in agreement with previous results from tropical low latitude regions

palynology of eastern indonesian marine piston cores a late quaternary vegetational and climatic record for australasia abstract pollen analyses of late quaternary sediments from nine marine piston cores reveal a continuous vegetation and environmental record for eastern indonesia and northern australia on the island of halmahera a montane oak forest largely replaced the tropical lowland vegetation during the last glacial period while fern cover was strongly reduced during its maximum 18 000 yr b p climate was cooler and slightly drier than today around 10 000 yr b p mangrove vegetation expanded following the rising sea level in our western new guinea record at 14 000 yr b p climate grew warmer and slightly wetter until it stabilised around 10 000 yr b p at that time the mid to upper montane forests expanded to their full altitudinal range and fern cover increased while montane oak forest grassland and woodland areas had contracted in our marine pollen records during the last glacial the climate of northern australia was distinctly drier than today grassland vegetation with sedges increased considerably at 38 000 and 24 000 yr b p replacing eucalypt forest and culminating in a maximum grassland cover at the height of the last glaciation 18 000 yr b p the rapid sea level rise allowed the expansion of mangrove forests and salt bush marshes which had become established on the large tidal flats of the drowning sahul shelf around 12 000 yr b p one piston core g6 4 extends to 300 000 yr b p and shows that glacial periods are characterized by high pollen concentrations in marine sediments recording expanding grassland vegetation during interglacial woodland and fern cover increased while pollen concentrations in the sediments were low after 190 000 yr b p a more open vegetation suggests that conditions were in general much more arid than before repeated mangrove vegetation expansions suggest major rises in sea level at around 244 000 220 000 and 130 000 yr b p

analysis of thermo hydrologic mechanical impact of repository for high level radioactive waste in clay host formation an indian reference disposal system in our study a coupled hydrologic mechanical analysis is done of the excavation damaged zone before the emplacement of nuclear waste this is followed by a coupled thermal hydrologic mechanical analysis to evaluate the impact of nuclear waste repository in porous water containing rock mass this analysis has been under taken in accordance with the indian reference disposal system the paper considers the changes in pore pressure and stresses due to excavation of disposal holes a critical study of rock mass permeability porosity thermally induced stresses strains and temperature distribution after the emplacement of nuclear spent fuels in disposal holes has also been done coupling to the mechanical constitutive equations is done via effective normal strain rates

evidence against early nineteenth century major european induced environmental impacts by illegal settlers in the new england tablelands south eastern australia abstract paleoenvironmental reconstructions from little llangothlin lagoon have been used to argue for early european impact on the eastern australian landscape in particular these studies have argued for european arrival on the new england tablelands at about 1800 ad with significant impacts including the clearance of one species of casuarina before 1820 ad and significant erosion by 1836 ad gale et al 1995 gale and pisanu 2001 gale and haworth 2002 2005 we have re cored the lagoon dated the cores using 210pb and radiocarbon and counted pollen and other proxies our 210pb results indicate that 210pb background was achieved stratigraphically later than the erosion event and we have three early holocene radiocarbon ages in the erosion event interval we conclude that the erosion event predates european settlement the 210pb results indicate much less erosion in response to european settlement than suggested by these earlier studies we also find no notable decline in casuarina in the pollen record spanning the time of initial european impact and in fact we find very little casuarina in the record instead of a casuarina dominated vegetation we conclude that the area was dominated by open eucalypt forest prior to european settlement rather than changes in the regional vegetation in the early 19th century we attribute changes in the palynoflora spanning the erosion event to changes within the lake wetland and in particular to changes in the dominance of different species of myriophyllum most likely due to water depth fluctuation this site has stood out as indicating an earlier european impact than other localities in eastern australia beyond the original limits of settlement near sydney our findings suggest that a more traditional interpretation of this site is warranted and that no very early impact is discernable

evaluating late holocene radiocarbon based chronologies by matching palaeomagnetic secular variations to geomagnetic field models an example from lake kalimpaa sulawesi indonesia palaeomagnetic and palaeoenvironmental data from indonesia and particularly from the island of sulawesi are scarce and exact dating has turned out to be a challenge in many archives from this region here we outline difficulties in radiocarbon dating of the palaeoenvironmental record from lake kalimpaa sulawesi indonesia these difficulties demand the integration of additional parameters to obtain a reliable chronology for this record thus we compare the palaeo magnetic secular variation data from this record with the cals3k 4 spherical harmonic geomag netic model of the 0 3 ka field korte constable 2011 the resulting age depth model for the lake kalimpaa sequence provides a profound basis for further multi proxy investigations on this record for the first time high resolution palaeomagnetic secular variation data continuously span ning the past 1300 years are presented for this region which complement existing records with lower temporal resolution or records missing the top most sections

climate change versus land management in the po plain northern italy during the bronze age new insights from the vp vg sequence of the terramara santa rosa di poviglio abstract the sedimentary infilling of the moat surrounding the villaggio piccolo of the terramara santa rosa di poviglio was analysed in order to obtain palaeoenvironmental inferences from sediments and pollen assemblage the high resolution stratigraphic sequence preserves evidence of the environmental changes that occurred in the po plain in northern italy during the late holocene our interdisciplinary approach permitted to study climatic and anthropic contributions to the environmental changes in this region the relationships between these changes and land use changes were investigated focussing on adaptive strategies of the terramare people during the middle and recent bronze ages 1550 1170 yr bc the terramare are archaeological remains of banked and moated villages located in the central alluvial plain of the po river the terramara of santa rosa consists of two adjoining settlements villaggio grande and villaggio piccolo the moat that separates the two parts of the site is c 23 m large and reaches a maximum depth of 4 m from the extant ground level the stratigraphic sequence vp vg exposed by archaeological excavation inside the moat was sampled for pedosedimentary thin section and pollen analyses chronology is based on archaeological evidence stratigraphic correlations and radiocarbon dating pedosedimentary features and biological records pollen of aquatics and algal remains demonstrate that shallow water probably subjected to seasonal water level oscillations has always been present in the moat in the lower units of the sequence the laminations indicate standing water while occurrence of reworked pollen testified the supply of sediments to the plain from catchment zones located in the apennine open vegetation was widespread economy was based on wood management fruit collection on the wild or from cultivated woody plants crop fields with a fairly diversified set of cereals especially increasing in variety during dryness or phases of water crisis probably grapevines were cultivated near the moat where the wet habitat was favourable to the growing of wild plants the extraordinary high resolution of this sequence makes visible the management of woods including coppicing at the middle bronze and early recent bronze ages the economy of santa rosa di poviglio should have been probably less based on animal breeding than it was in the other terramare villages already studied for pollen this research also confirms the chronological correspondence between an environment stressed by dry conditions and the collapse of the terramare civilization

a late pleistocene and holocene pollen and charcoal record from peat swamp forest lake sentarum wildlife reserve west kalimantan indonesia abstract a preliminary palynological record is presented from a peat swamp forest in the upper kapuas river basin in west kalimantan although the record is discontinuous it provides a picture of changing vegetation riverine and swamp environments and climate through parts of at least the last 30 000 years during the late pleistocene the composition of both riverine and swamp forests was different to that of the holocene temperatures were cooler especially during the last glacial maximum as indicated by the presence of components of submontane and montane vegetation the presence of charcoal demonstrates that the tropical lowland forests experienced fire through the whole of the recorded period however charcoal values generally rise through the period suggesting increased human impact through time highest burning levels and forest indicators of disturbance indicate most intensive human impact within the last 1400 years

hydrological and vegetation shifts in the wallacean region of central indonesia since the last glacial maximum abstract precipitation is the most important variable of indonesian climate yet there are substantial uncertainties about past and future hydroclimate dynamics over the region this study explores vegetation and rainfall and associated changes in atmospheric circulation during the past 26 000 years in wallacea a biogeographical area in central indonesia wedged between the sunda and sahul shelves and known for its exceptionally high rainforest biodiversity we use terrestrial plant biomarkers from sediment cores retrieved from mandar bay off west sulawesi to reconstruct changes in wallacean vegetation and climate since the last glacial maximum lgm enriched leaf wax carbon isotope 13cwax values recorded in mandar bay during the lgm together with other regional vegetation records document grassland expansion implying a regionally dry and possibly more seasonal glacial climate depleted leaf wax deuterium isotope dwax values in mandar bay during the lgm and low reconstructed precipitation isotope compositions from nearby sites reveal an intensified austral asian summer monsoon circulation and a southward shift of the mean position of the intertropical convergence zone likely due to strong southern hemisphere summer insolation and the presence of large northern hemisphere ice sheets mandar bay 13cwax was anti correlated with dwax during the lgm and the last deglaciation but was positively correlated during most of the holocene indicating time varying controls on the isotopic composition of rainfall in this region the inundation event of the sunda shelf and in particular the opening of the java sea and karimata strait between 9 4 and 11 1 thousand years ago might have provided new moisture sources for regional convection and or influenced moisture source trajectories providing the trigger for shifts in atmospheric circulation and the controls on precipitation isotope compositions from the lgm to the holocene

a high resolution record of vegetation and climate through the last glacial cycle from caledonia fen southeastern highlands of australia a blocked tributary has provided a rare site of long term sediment accumulation in montane southeastern australia this site has yielded a continuous detailed pollen record through the last ca 140 000 years and revealed marked vegetation and environmental changes at orbital to sub millennial scales radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence osl or optical ages provide some chronological control for the last ca 70 000 years most of the sediment is inorganic but with well preserved pollen that accumulated under unproductive and probably largely ice covered lake conditions the lake was surrounded by low growing plants with an alpine character exceptions include three discrete periods of high organic sedimentation in the basin and forest development in the surrounding catchment the two major periods of forest expansion are related to the last interglacial and the holocene with the third shorter period considered to represent an interstadial in the early part of marine isotope stage mis 3 the latter part of the last glacial period is characterised by abrupt sub millennial amelioration events that may relate to documented global oscillations emanating from the north atlantic there are systematic changes through the record that can be partly attributed to basin infilling but the progressive reduction and regional extinction of some plant taxa is attributed to a long term trend towards climatic drying copyright 2007 john wiley sons ltd

landscape development preceding homo erectus immigration into central java indonesia the sangiran formation lower lahar abstract the sangiran dome is the primary stratigraphic window for the solo basin a coastal feature on the pliocene pleistocene sunda subcontinent south margin in the dome the lower lahar unit llu is a lahar type debris flow overlying near shore marine sediments the event that emplaced the llu likely originated from sector collapse on a neighboring volcanic edifice freshwater mollusc fossils in the llu indicate that swamps or shallow lakes lay between the edifice and the current dome area 40ar 39ar analyses on hornblende separates from six pumice lenses suggest that the llu was deposited as early as 1 90 0 02 ma the event resulting in deposition of the llu transformed late pliocene near shore marine environments into estuarine and marsh settings shortly thereafter glacioeustatic sea level falls completed the local transition to fully terrestrial environments that attracted homo erectus to southernmost sunda in the early pleistocene

the rain forest in java through the quaternary and its relationships with humans adaptation exploitation and impact on the forest abstract relations between humans and the rain forest in java island began during the lower pleistocene but clear evidence for anthropic impact and clearance of the forest does not occur until late in the holocene after the rise of the ancient kingdoms on java at the end of 1st millennium a d the history of landscape change in java over the last 2 5 million years appears highly complex and linked to the repetitive expansion and fragmentation of the rain forest over this time these processes are now much better understood thanks to the range of palaeoenvironmental studies undertaken at various altitudes and in locations that show the dynamics of rain forest in response to variations in climatic and regional environmental change the extent of rain forest throughout the holocene appears to have been quite sensitive to small perturbations making it somewhat difficult to discriminate especially for relatively ancient holocene forest recessions between a climatic cause and one of anthropic origin clear evidence of intensive human impact on rain forest is observed late c 1500 years ago a pattern that is repeated in other parts of island southeast asia this paper will focus on the history of the landscape changes in java during the quaternary with special reference to the dynamics of rain forest structure and composition largely drawn from available pollen analyses subsequently the paleoenvironmental palaeoanthropological and archaeological records are considered to investigate the adaptive relationships between human groups and the forest through time

compound specific carbon isotope records of vegetation and hydrologic change in central sulawesi indonesia since 53 000 yr bp lake matano 2 29 1 s 121 20 e in central sulawesi the deepest and one of the largest lakes in indonesia provides an excellent opportunity to reconstruct long term hydrological and vegetation changes at the heart of the maritime continent within the tropical western pacific warm pool we measured the carbon isotopic composition of terrestrial leaf waxes 13cwax in new sediment cores from lake matano to understand regional variations in vegetation and their interactions with local and high latitude climate forcings during the past 53 kyr variations in 13cwax record the expansion and contraction of c3 versus c4 vegetation as well as changes in plants carbon and water use efficiency and by inference regional hydroclimate during marine isotope stages 1 and 3 more negative 13cwax values indicate that closed canopy c3 rainforests predominated in sulawesi reflecting a wetter less seasonal climate in contrast more positive 13cwax values record a terrestrial ecosystem with more abundant open canopy vegetation and possible expansion of c4 grasses between 29 and 14 ka bp indicating that during marine isotope stage 2 including the last glacial maximum the climate was more arid likely with increased precipitation seasonality in central sulawesi comparison of our record with other paleovegetation and paleohydrological records from sulawesi and nearby islands suggests coherent long term hydrological changes in central indonesia that appear to be sensitive to high latitude climate across glacial interglacial boundaries however variations in the amplitude of the response of vegetation to these glacial interglacial forcings highlight the importance of regional topographic control on climate and vegetation and suggest an important role for higher elevations in maintaining rainforest refugia during regionally arid time intervals when c4 savannas and grasslands expanded at lower elevations

biomass burning and oceanic primary production estimates in the sulu sea area over the last 380 kyr and the east asian monsoon dynamics abstract coccolithophorid assemblages and micro charcoal content were analysed in giant piston core md97 2141 recovered in the sulu sea philippines these proxies help to reconstruct respectively the dynamics of the oceanic primary production pp and biomass burning in that area pp in the sulu sea intensifies during the east asian winter monsoon eawm and therefore pp constitutes a proxy for eawm dynamics most of the precipitation in the sulu sea region occurs during the east asian summer monsoon easm because the intensity of biomass burning is related to dryness of the surrounding area the sedimentary micro charcoal content can be used as an inverse proxy for easm intensity our results show that the eawm intensifies during glacial times in agreement with previous studies precessional forcing appears to act directly on eawn because of the early response of pp in that frequency band the micro charcoal record exhibits complex dynamics which we attribute to the competing influence of the long term el nino southern oscillation enso like forcing and the glacial interglacial cycle on easm these influences create an unusual frequency spectrum with power around 30 kyr and 19 kyr attributed to the non linear response to the 100 kyr cycle glacial and the 23 kyr enso cycle a factor of two increase in the amplitude of the micro charcoal variability between 51 and 10 ka bp could correspond to homo sapiens biomass burning in the style of the fire stick farming of the australian aborigines we also find on precession cycles an opposite phase between easm and eawm records and an advance of 18 o and 18 o respectively by 2000 yr

geoarchaeological evidence from peru for a 5000 years b p onset of el nino for the tropical west coast of south america where el nino southern oscillation enso is most pronounced archaeological and associated paleontological deposits in northern peru revealed a major climate change at about 5000 years before the present yr b p the data implied the presence of stable warm tropical water as far south as 10 s during the early mid holocene about 8000 to 5000 yr b p these data suggest that enso did not occur for some millennia preceding 5000 yr b p when global and regional climate was warmer than today

glacial to holocene surface hydrography of the tropical eastern indian ocean quantifying the spatial and temporal sea surface temperature sst and salinity changes of the indo pacific warm pool is essential to understand the role of this region in connection with abrupt climate changes particularly during the last deglaciation in this study we reconstruct sst and seawater delta o 18 of the tropical eastern indian ocean for the past 40 000 years from two sediment cores geob 10029 4 1 degrees 30 s 100 degrees 08 e and geob 10038 4 5 degrees 56 s 103 degrees 15 e retrieved offshore sumatra our results show that annual mean ssts increased about 2 3 degrees c at 19 000 years ago and exhibited southern hemisphere like timing and pattern during the last deglaciation our sst records together with other mg ca based sst reconstructions around indonesia do not track the monsoon variation since the last glacial period as recorded by terrestrial monsoon archives however the spatial sst heterogeneity might be a result of changing monsoon intensity that shifts either the annual mean ssts or the seasonality of g ruber towards the warmer or the cooler season at different locations seawater delta o 18 reconstructions north of the equator suggest fresher surface conditions during the last glacial and track the northern high latitude climate change during the last deglaciation in contrast seawater delta o 18 records south of the equator do not show a significant difference between the last glacial period and the holocene and lack bolling allerod and younger dryas periods suggestive of additional controls on annual mean surface hydrology in this part of the indo pacific warm pool c 2010 elsevier b v all rights reserved

a biomass burning record from the west equatorial pacific over the last 360 ky methodological climatic and anthropic implications abstract to reconstruct past fire activity in the west pacific east asian region we investigate a 360 ky pelagic sedimentary record from the caroline basin in the western pacific warm pool wpwp core md97 2140 2547 m water depth in the lack of standard protocol and terminology for the determination of combustion derived products in sedimentary archives three proxies were compared with other paleoceanographic proxies oxidation resistant elemental carbon orec black carbon bc and microcharcoal the mineral caco3 and organic carbon corg records of core md97 2140 generally covary with the oxygen isotope record suggesting that glacial interglacial changes in ice volume and sea level control the preservation of caco3 and terrigeneous inputs of corg in the deep sea sediments of the caroline basin the changes in orec are primarily connected to the changes in corg record in contrast the bc and charcoal records which better reflect the input of biomass burning products are tightly connected with changes in the precession band 23 ky likely through low latitude atmospheric circulation patterns a peculiar control by the competing influence of the long term el nino southern oscillation enso like forcing and the glacial interglacial cycle on the east asian summer monsoon 30 19 11 and 6 ky periods is suggested in addition large increases in bc and charcoal are observed between ca 53 43 and 12 10 ky bp these events strikingly correspond to the main late pleistocene and early holocene periods of human colonization in the region likely suggesting an additional anthropic impact on the fire activity

sea surface temperature estimates for the tropical western pacific during the last glaciation and their implications for the pacific warm pool twenty deep sea sediment cores from the western pacific between 30 n and 30 s provide evidence of sea surface temperature sst changes throughout the tropics and subtropics glacial ssts were estimated using the modern analog technique mat applied to planktonic foraminifers and planktonic foraminiferal 18o changes we used 18o to identify the last glacial maximum the mat method differs from the traditional transfer function approach in that it utilizes a global coretop database and estimates paleotemperature by finding analogs from the modern coretop samples in addition the mat approach appears to be less susceptible than the transfer function technique to biases introduced by carbonate dissolution our results indicate that tropical ssts differed by less than 2 c from present away from the tropics 30 n and 30 s ssts were at least 3 c cooler our results differ from those of previous studies in the western pacific by using a set of well preserved high sedimentation rate cores from shallow regions the results of this study clearly indicate that a western pacific warm pool existed during the last glacial maximum lgm providing a heat and moisture source for a walker circulation cell similar to that of today we propose that a steeper lapse rate existed during the last glacial maximum and that this can explain at least part of the discrepancy between marine and terrestrial temperature estimates adjacent to new guinea for the lgm

weathering rates and carbon storage along a climosequence of soils developed from contrasting granites in northeast brazil abstract i and s type granites comprise large areas and play a key role in global soil weathering patterns i type granites are originated from melting of igneous source rocks whereas s type granites result from melting of sedimentary sources this gives rise to differences in mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the rocks the objective of this study was to address the effect of petrology and mineralogy of i and s type granites on weathering pedogenesis and total organic carbon stocks across a climosequence significant differences in morphological physical and chemical properties of soils derived from i and s type granites were observed and directly linked to petrological mineralogical and geochemical signatures of the underlying granites e g presence of more mafic minerals in the i type granite and therefore a higher clay and iron content in their derived soils in addition this higher iron content favored the hematite pathway and thus the red soil development despite the influence of the climate on weathering patterns i e higher soil development in humid areas parent material seems to play a decisive role in determining soils characteristics in the studied area the type of parent material also governed the rates of carbon accumulation in soils i type granites originated soils with higher toc stocks than soil profiles developed from s type granites this carbon accumulation is mainly due to soil chemical and physical characteristics driven by the type of granite notably soil fertility and clay content

coupled multiphase flow and elasto plastic modelling of in situ gas injection experiments in saturated claystone mont terri rock laboratory abstract understanding gas migration in host rock is one of the most important issues to consider in the final disposal of radioactive waste in deep geological formations in order to investigate gas transport in water saturated argillaceous rock constant gas pressure injection tests on the samples from the mont terri rock laboratory switzerland as well as pulse injection tests with a stepwise increasing of gas pressure were carried out during gas migration desaturation and hydraulic mechanical interaction can be observed to simulate gas migration in water saturated porous media a coupled multiphase flow and mechanical method within the fem code family opengeosys ogs was developed including the van genuchten function for the relationship between capillary pressure and water saturation the approach of mualem for the relative permeability of both gas and water phases and an elasto plastic deformation model two approaches were applied taking into consideration the permeability change by pore gas pressure and by deformation respectively both permeability approaches are based on experimental observations and allow for the significant increase in permeability when gas pressure exceeds the minimal stress the material parameters for the multiphase model are determined using the measured data from laboratory experiments under well defined test conditions with the calibrated model parameters the in situ experiment was simulated good agreement between the numerical results and the experimental data is achieved

late quaternary palaeoecology palynology and palaeolimnology of a tropical lowland swamp rawa danau west java indonesia abstract sedimentological limnological and palynological analyses of a sediment core from a lowland site in west java indonesia provide a detailed palaeoenvironmental record for the late glacial and the holocene the record suggests open vegetation under inferred drier climatic conditions for the late glacial however there is no unequivocal evidence for cooler conditions at this time the onset of the holocene coincides with a change to more humid climatic conditions with the development of a fern rich closed forest vegetation type dramatic changes in diatom community composition provide a striking record of habitat change associated with lake shallowing but this process appears to be a result of basin in filling rather than variations in precipitation evaporation balance associated with climatic fluctuations evidence for human impact on the vegetation development is restricted to the last few hundred years

basalt and rhyo dacite weathering and soil clay formation under subtropical climate in southern brazil abstract the mineralogy of highly weathered soils is dominated by kaolinite group clay minerals however in the highlands of southern brazil the subtropical climate mean annual temperature 15 c mean annual precipitation 1900 mm yr favored accumulation of organic matter and occurrence of 2 1 clay minerals the objective of this work was to compare the weathering of the two main rock types in the volcanic plateau in the rio grande do sul in southern brazil in order to consider soil fertility and sustainability in this intensively cropped area two weathering profiles were sampled on basalt and rhyo dacite at elevations ranging between 760 and 850 m a s l the soil minerals were analyzed by x ray diffraction chemical extractions and ftir spectroscopy weathering intensity was inferred from bulk chemical analyses and calculation of weathering indices chemical index of alteration cia weathering intensity scale wis and elemental mass balance mineralogy was dominated by kaolinite and crystalline iron and aluminum oxy hydroxides and 2 1 clay minerals the surface horizons contained hydroxyl al interlayered minerals originating from aluminization of smectite present in the saprolite under acidic conditions with the important accumulation of organic matter results of mass balance calculation showed extensive loss of all elements high 4si wis and cia with residual accumulation of fe and al oxy hydroxides the degree of weathering is higher on rhyo dacite compared to basalt although rhyo dacite rock is richer in sio2 given the importance of 2 1 clay minerals on soil properties e g sorption aggregation a better understanding of their formation and transformation according to geochemical conditions is a key issue in the management of these sub tropical soils

environmental change in the late pleistocene and later holocene at wanda site soroako south sulawesi indonesia abstract this paper reports the pollen analysis of an 8 m core from a mire at 445 m altitude and 2 s latitude on ultramafic soils near the western shore of lake matano south sulawesi the area is almost undisturbed by humans and the record is believed to cover about 50 75 000 yr b p with some breaks in the record a section from 17 000 to around 5500 yr b p and the last 1000 years of the record may be missing or disturbed the results show that montane forest grew around the site continuously through the late pleistocene with a maximum increase in higher altitude taxa from 35 000 to after 17 000 yr b p the time of glacial maxima elsewhere also in this period increases in grass and casuarina indicate possible drier conditions the holocene sections record lower altitude forest with increased taxonomic diversity including secondary species the results show that vegetation in the region has been sensitive to climatic change the pleistocene ecology being consistent with a temperature change of about 2 5 3 5 c with a phase up to 50 drier than present the site climate was possibly affected by shelf exposure in the gulf of bone due to lower sea levels however the tropical forest demonstrates overall long term stability in which changes in dominance may reflect minor shifts in disturbance and tree longevity a distinctive record of fine charcoal occurs throughout the deposit this shows that the forest has never been continuously fire free for a very long time the cause of the fires may be natural as no evidence for human occupation was discerned

formation of chenier plain of the donana marshland sw spain observations and geomorphic model abstract the guadalquivir estuary is one of the most important in europe it is isolated from the sea by two important littoral spits donana and la algaida its sedimentary filling occurred as a result of deltaic contributions of the guadalquivir river giving rise to marshes primarily composed of mud deposits among which a succession of sandy and shelly ridges can be found the aim of this paper is to explain the genesis and evolution of these sandy and shelly ridges clarifying what types of ridges are found and their spatial distribution identifying the processes responsible for their formation these ridges extend in the form of long strands along the estuary influencing its evolution during the late holocene the geomorphologic and lithostratigraphic features of these ridges allow them to be defined as transgressive cheniers regressive cheniers and laterally accreted ridges spits as components of the guadalquivir estuary chenier plain complex this chenier plain has the peculiarity of developing on a semi enclosed shoreline contrary to other chenier plains in the world which develop on open coasts in the guadalquivir estuary the chenier plain formation is related to two relatively higher sea level 4200 2800 yr bp and 1400 1000 yr bp during which high energy events occur storms and tsunamis that transgressed the large littoral spits the carrizosa 4000 yr bp and vetalengua 1400 1300 yr bp spits have been formed across the inlet and prograded landwards of the estuary from here several sequences of cheniers mainly transgressive cheniers associated with these events were formed these cheniers form two groups las nuevas 1100 1000 yr bp and marilopez 3000 yr bp composed mainly of shells and shell fragments these cheniers were constructed by waves which reworked the shells above estuarine levees and led to their intense landward migration thus explaining the peculiar high inland position of the cheniers

stable isotope proxy records in tropical terrestrial environments abstract the tropics refers to an area that is loosely equatorial characterized by relatively high temperatures at low altitude comparatively low seasonal contrast in temperatures and generally high or highly seasonal rainfall the stable isotopes of carbon oxygen and hydrogen are increasingly important tools of relevance to understanding trajectories and mechanisms of past environmental change in the tropics in the case of carbon this is because at the broadest level the carbon isotope composition of organic and carbon containing inorganic proxy materials formed in the tropics can be read as being derived from the balance between c3 tree and c4 grass photosynthesis hence providing a relative measure of vegetation type and indirectly climate likewise changes in the oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition of many proxy materials again at the broadest level can be read as indicative of changes in hydrological conditions and or altitude in the past this review provides an entry point into the literature relating to the use of stable isotopes as terrestrial environmental proxies for past environmental change with a focus on the measurement and interpretation of stable isotope data from the wide range of proxy materials preserved in tropical environments

a 135 000 year record of vegetational and climatic change from the bandung area west java indonesia sedimentological and palynological analyses of sediment cores from the intramontane bandung basin west java indonesia provide a first palaeoclimatic record for the indonesian region covering continuously the last 135 000 years our data on palaeosol development indicate anomalously dry conditions for the final part of the penultimate glacial period around 135 000 yr b p and very warm and humid interglacial conditions from 126 000 to 81 000 yr b p during the transition to the last glacial period around 81 000 yr b p freshwater swamp forest of the bandung plain was replaced by an open swamp vegetation dominated by grasses and sedges indicating a change to considerably drier conditions possibly related to reduced moisture uptake by the nw monsoon as a consequence of lower sea levels at the onset of glacial conditions a strong reduction in asplenium ferns from 81 000 to 74 000 yr b p suggests that drier conditions may also have occurred in the mountains of the bandung area while increased numbers indicate that from 74 000 to 47 000 yr b p it was slightly wetter again inferred depression of montane vegetation zones and reduced fern percentages suggests distinctly cooler and possibly drier climatic conditions prevailed in the bandung area from 47 000 to approximately 20 000 yr b p for the last glacial maximum 4 7 c lower temperatures are recorded

soil parent material texture and oxide contents have little effect on soil organic carbon retention in tropical highlands abstract in tropical humid conditions soil organic carbon soc concentrations have been reported to be proportional to clay clay silt and fe al oxide contents typically soil texture and mineralogy are strongly dependent on soil parent materials but it is not known if soc retention would also be affected by soil parent material such relationship if established could be useful to estimate regional soc stocks since geological maps are more numerous and often more accurate than soil maps the objective of this study was to assess the effect of parent material texture and oxide content on soc contents in tropical highlands thus samples to 1 m depth were obetained for seven soils derived from quartzite sericite schist itabirite serpentinite limestone gneiss and phyllite all soils formed under similar climate and native forest and were located on the midslope position despite wide variations in soil texture and mineralogy there were no valid correlations between soc and clay clay silt or fe al oxide concentrations similarly soc stocks did not differ significantly when computed for 0 20 0 40 and 0 100 cm layers and in all soils most soc was associated with the clay fraction we propose that such absence of effects of soil parent material texture and oxide contents on soc retention can be due to the overriding effect of altitudes of 900 1100 m a s l which resulted in higher soc stocks because of lower mean annual temperatures these trends are in contrast to those reported for tropical lowlands where the textural and mineralogical controls of soc retention were first described therefore soils on tropical highlands 900 m are likely to present similarly high soc stocks whereas soil parent material by means of soil texture mineralogy and oxide contents would affect soc retention only at lower altitudes

the palaeoenvironmental context of the palaeolithic of java a brief review abstract the earliest palaeolithic implements found in java island are older than 1 ma postdating the oldest homo erectus fossils the archaeological record subsequently documents acheulean like tools in early middle pleistocene deposits a diversity of flake tools assemblages found in late middle early upper pleistocene sites and the conspicuous development of cave occupations during the end of the pleistocene and the early holocene the environment mostly forested during the lower pleistocene underwent important changes during the setup of mid pleistocene climatic conditions then at the beginning of the upper pleistocene and at the boundary between mis 2 and 1 its reconstructions must also consider more local factors e g the repetitive effects of the tectonic and volcanic activities which had severe consequences on local climate on the palaeogeography and the vegetal formations or even isolation of faunistic and floristic groups examples presented here broach the context of ancient human settlements and adaptation from a multidisciplinary viewpoint that includes the study of the vegetal cover and the availability of lithic raw material the associated vertebrate faunas considered both as an environmental proxy and as a subsistence resource reflect the contrasts between periods of contact with the mainland increased biodiversity and periods of isolation favouring endemism and also the impact of local environmental constraints

analysis of flow path around the sealing section hg a experiment in the mont terri rock laboratory as part of the hg a experiment in the mont terri rock laboratory large scale in situ water gas injection experiments was conducted in a microtunnel this research work focuses on the numerical analysis of the experimental data and the in situ observations concerning a temporary change of the hydromechanical properties of opalinus clay during experimental operations three phases were numerically interpreted these included the generation of excavation damaged zone during tunnel excavation in which highly permeable flow paths around the tunnel have been formed the self sealing effect during water tests and the pressure evolution during a long term gas injection test a coupled two phase flow and mechanics model taking into account the strong anisotropic properties of opalinus clay was developed to interpret the measured data the hydraulic anisotropy was described by a transversely isotropic permeability tensor an elasto plastic model was established to consider both stiffness anisotropy and strength anisotropy anisotropic plasticity was studied using the microstructure tensor method

a long vegetation history from lowland irian jaya indonesia abstract this paper reports the pollen analysis of a 10 m core from a mire at 780 m altitude and 2 s latitude on ultrabasic soils on a northern coastal range of new guinea the area is almost undisturbed by humans and the record is believed to cover about 60 000 yr b p the results show that montane forest grew around the site continously through the late pleistocene with a distinct increases in higher altitude taxa from 25 000 to 10 500 yr b p the time of glacial maxima elsewhere the invasion of the site by lower altitude forest which commenced at 10 500 yr b p was reversed after a few hundred years and was not finally completed until about 7000 yr b p the results show that vegetation in the region has been sensitive to climatic change the pleistocene ecology being consistent with a temperature change of about 3 4 c times of change agree with other tropical areas even though the site climate was probably affected by changing sea levels however the tropical forest demonstrates overall long term stability in which changes in dominance may reflect minor shifts in disturbance and tree longevity a distinctive record of fine charcoal occurs after 10 900 yr b p but not at any level prior to that time this shows that the forest was continously fire free for a very long time the charcoal is probably an indication of anthropogenic disturbance which may correlate with the spread of agricultural innovation in lowland new guinea an increase in secondary species after 7000 yr b p may be a result of minor anthropogenic activity or the result of warmer conditions and shorter tree life in the lower altitude forests

glacial and deglacial climatic patterns in australia and surrounding regions from 35 000 to 10 000 years ago reconstructed from terrestrial and near shore proxy data abstract this study forms part of a wider investigation of late quaternary environments in the southern hemisphere we here review the terrestrial and near shore proxy data from australia indonesia papua new guinea png new zealand and surrounding oceans during 35 10 ka an interval spanning the lead up to the last glacial maximum lgm the lgm proper 21 2 ka and the ensuing deglaciation sites selected for detailed discussion have a continuous or near continuous sedimentary record for this time interval a stratigraphically consistent chronology and one or more sources of proxy climatic data tropical australia indonesia and png had lgm mean annual temperatures 3 7 c below present values and summer precipitation reduced by at least 30 consistent with a weaker summer monsoon and a northward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone the summer monsoon was re established in northwest australia by 14 ka precipitation in northeast australia was reduced to less than 50 of present values until warmer and wetter conditions resumed at 17 16 ka followed by a second warmer wetter phase at 15 14 ka lgm temperatures were up to 8 c lower than today in mainland southeast australia and up to 4 c cooler in tasmania winter rainfall was much reduced throughout much of southern australia although periodic extreme flood events are evident in the fluvial record glacial advances in southeast australia are dated to 32 2 5 19 1 1 6 and 16 8 1 4 ka with periglacial activity concentrated towards 23 16 ka deglaciation was rapid in the snowy mountains which were ice free by 15 8 ka minimum effective precipitation in southern australia was from 14 to 12 ka in new zealand the glacial advances date to 28 21 5 and 19 ka with the onset of major cooling at 28 ka or well before the lgm there is no convincing evidence for a younger dryas cooling event in or around new zealand but there are signs of the antarctic cold reversal in and around new zealand and off southern australia there remain unresolved discrepancies between the climates inferred from pollen and those inferred from the beetle and chironomid fauna at a number of new zealand sites one explanation may be that pollen provides a generalised regional climatic signal in contrast to the finer local resolution offered by beetles and chironomids sea surface temperatures ssts were up to 5 c cooler during the lgm with rapid warming after 20 ka to attain present values by 15 ka the increase in summer monsoonal precipitation at or before 15 ka reflects higher insolation warmer ssts and steeper thermal gradients between land and sea the postglacial increase in winter rainfall in southern australia is probably related to the southward displacement of the westerlies as ssts around antarctica became warmer and the winter pack ice and antarctic convergence zone retreated to the south

palaeoenvironmental change in tropical australasia over the last 30 000 years a synthesis by the oz intimate group the tropics are the major source of heat and moisture for the australasian region determining the tropics response over time to changes in climate forcing mechanisms such as summer insolation and the effects of relative sea level on exposed continental shelves during the last glacial period is an ongoing process of re evaluation we present a synthesis of climate proxy data from tropical australasia spanning the last 30 000 years that incorporates deep sea core coral speleothem pollen charcoal and terrestrial sedimentary records today seasonal variability is governed largely by the annual migration of the inter tropical convergence zone itcz influencing this region most strongly during the austral summer however the position of the itcz has varied through time towards the end of marine isotope stage mis 3 conditions were far wetter throughout the region becoming drier first in the south universally cooler land and sea surface temperature sst were characteristic of the last glacial maximum with drier conditions than previously although episodic wet periods are noted in the fluvial records of northern australia the deglacial period saw warming first in the coral sea and then the indonesian seas with a pause in this trend around the time of the antarctic cold reversal c 14 5 ka coincident with the flooding of the sunda shelf wetter conditions occurred first in indonesia around 17 ka and northern australia after 14 ka the early holocene saw a peak in marine sst to the northwest and northeast of australia modern vegetation was first established on indonesia then progressively south and eastward to ne australia flores and the atherton tablelands show a dry period around 11 6 ka steadily becoming wetter through the early holocene the mid late holocene was punctuated by millennial scale variability associated with the el nino southern oscillation this is evident in the marine coral speleothem and pollen records of the region

impact of phyllosilicate mineralogy on organic carbon stabilization in soils incomplete knowledge and exciting prospects abstract soil mineral phases strongly influence soil organic carbon soc dynamics clay size particles have been recognized as protecting soc from microbial decomposition among clay size minerals phyllosilicates clay minerals have been shown to efficiently protect soc there is an important variety of phyllosilicate types present in soils which have contrasting surface properties specific surface area charge density although these differing surface properties should influence their ability in protecting soc this has not been clearly established yet publications comparing the ability of the different phyllosilicates to protect soc are reviewed in this study relatively few studies dealing with the link between phyllosilicate mineralogy and soc protection exist the few existing studies have followed different methodologies and are based on various analytical techniques such that direct comparisons among them are difficult more problematic they provide different conclusions indeed if experiments conducted in suspension using pure clay phases and recent meta analyses suggest that phyllosilicate mineralogy has a significant importance for soc stabilization and soc stock response to land use change these results are not clearly corroborated by studies conducted on a reduced number of soils the recent technical developments which allow improving both quantitative and qualitative descriptions of the soil clay mineral assemblages together with nanoscale investigations of phyllosilicate om interactions offer exciting perspectives for determining more accurately the efficiency of the different phyllosilicate types in soc protection such information may provide a much clearer understanding of the impact of phyllosilicate mineralogy on soc dynamics in the coming years

changes in monsoon and ocean circulation and the vegetation cover of southwest sumatra through the last 83 000 years the record from marine core bar94 42 abstract we present the palynological record from deep sea core bar94 42 taken offshore of southwest sumatra in the indian ocean refinement of a previous age model for the core has been made using 7 additional radiocarbon ages and 29 additional oxygen isotope measurements these analyses have substantially improved the previously published chronology which has enabled revision of the results of sedimentological studies of the core the pollen and re interpreted biogenic and terrigeneous data were used to reconstruct monsoon circulation and vegetation of southwest sumatra over the last 83 000 years 83 kyr during marine isotope stage mis 5a southwest sumatra was covered by rainforest with open herbaceous swamps lining river courses and surrounding lakes the se component of the monsoon was stronger than the nw component resulting in a humid climate with a short dry season during mis 4 conditions were drier fire activity increased and the monsoon was generally weaker this latter pattern persisted until mis1 the vegetation was most open during mis 3 between 52 and 43 kyr identifying this phase as the driest of the last glacial an increase in montane trees from 52 kyr indicates the onset of cooler conditions which lasted until the transition to mis 1 at about 11 9 kyr after 43 kyr an everwet climate gradually developed as monsoonal circulation intensified and the se monsoon component became stronger during this time closed canopy rainforest became dominant regionally over southwest sumatra increased monsoonal activity during the early holocene resulted in increased precipitation river runoff sediment discharge and offshore sediment transport from the continental shelf

vegetation and climate change in west java indonesia during the last 135 000 years abstract sedimentological and palynological analyses of two sediment cores from the intramontane bandung basin java indonesia provide the first palaeoclimatic record for the indonesian region covering the last 135 000 years our data indicate anomalously dry conditions for the penultimate glacial and very warm and humid conditions during the last interglacial during the last glacial period fresh water swamp forests of the bandung plain were replaced by open swamp vegetation dominated by grasses and sedges indicating a change to considerably drier climatic conditions possibly as a consequence of lower sea levels at the onset of glacial conditions for the last glacial maximum temperatures 4 7 c lower than at present are recorded

late quaternary vegetation change in the tari basin papua new guinea the changes in late quaternary vegetation at two sites in the tari basin central highlands of new guinea are presented haeapugua basin 1650 m altitude and tugupugua basin 2300 m altitude lie within the lower montane forest belt where the climate is characterised by high relative humidity and low seasonality pollen analysis mineral magnetics carbonised particle analysis and dating by radiocarbon and thermoluminescence techniques are employed to reconstruct the vegetation and sediment history the sequences include fragmentary interglacial interstadial records from before 50 000 yr b p and a continuous record from at least 28 000 yr b p to the present the study shows that prior to 21 000 yr b p vegetation in the basin was dominated by fluctuating proportions of tree taxa indicative of a forested environment the montane forest taxon nothofagus is important throughout the record although other tree taxa including castanopsis myrtaceae dacrydium and pandanus attain dominance at different times under the influence of a range of environmental factors the creation of an open environment around 21 000 yr b p is considered to be a consequence of the arrival of humans in the region the late glacial transition between 14 500 and 8500 yr b p is a period of climatic instability with landscape and vegetation adjustments proceeding at different rates across the highlands vegetational adjustments match modern ranges by about 8500 yr b p when swamp forest developed across the sites at the lower altitude site there are indications of anthropogenic forest disturbance associated with swamp forest clearance commencing around 1700 yr b p and intensifying through to the present forest clearance is recorded only after 700 yr b p at the higher site where agriculture was probably only sustainable after the introduction of sweet potato ipomoea batatas

palynological evidence of cultural and environmental connections in sudanese nubia during the early and middle holocene abstract pollen and non pollen palynomorphs have been studied from three archaeological sites 8 b 10c 8 b 76 and 8 b 81 on sai island in the river nile and one 2 r 66 from the amara west district in northern upper nubia of the present sudan the research aimed at obtaining information on the environmental conditions and changes occurring in the area during the early and middle holocene archaeologically this is a crucial period as it saw one of the most relevant economic transitions from hunting fishing gathering to animal herding the archaeopalynological analyses are useful to reconstruct the environment and plant landscapes that supported human plant selection in this part of north africa between about 8700 and 4300 cal bc however pollen was not present everywhere because the sediments were very poor in organic content or damaged by the repeated hydration dehydration cycles determined by the nile river floodings the data obtained the most consistent from any archaeological site in this area are coherent with the regional and interregional palaeoenvironmental data the interdisciplinary studies that allowed the correct interpretation of the pollen records presented in this paper included the archaeological features and the faunal mainly gastropod and algal remains from the same sites the state of preservation of most pollen showing thinned exine and the remarkable records of the terrestrial alga fritschiella outline the seasonality of the area that has been evident in the past as in the present pollen samples included prevailing amounts of grasses and sedges that with some hygro hydrophilous taxa largely represent the riverine and wetland vegetation of the nile valley they suggest that the land use was not intensive and was not able to substantially modify the natural cover and cyclic renewal of the soils and the vegetation the interdisciplinary evidence from the sai island showing that site 8 b 76 has been continuatively occupied during the 8 2 ka bp dry phase proves the key role played by the great river on attracting humans and supplying resources even and especially during the arid oscillations of the holocene

dry climate near the western pacific warm pool pleistocene caliches of the nansha islands south china sea abstract the nansha spratly islands are located in the middle of the south china sea at about 10 n near the northwestern margin of the western pacific warm pool wpwp a borehole was drilled at an atoll at nansha and cores were taken the upper 165 4 m of the borehole consists entirely of limestone of reef facies and lagoon facies which had been influenced by extensive meteoric diagenesis petrographic and geochemical studies have identified at least four subaerial exposure surfaces ses in the pleistocene carbonate sequence these ses are thought to have resulted from global sea level changes and characterized by caliche formation when developed in limestone caliches typically form in areas where annual precipitation ranges from 500 mm up to about 1200 mm compared with 1800 2200 mm of annual rainfall of the present day nansha islands the nansha caliche therefore indicates the existence of several dry climate episodes during pleistocene sea level lowstands lower rainfall and higher evaporation during such dry conditions may explain the higher sea surface salinities reported elsewhere in the south china sea the nansha caliche may also indicate reduced extent of the wpwp and southerly shift of the intertropical convergence zone during major sea level lowstands

the sedimentary record of palaeoenvironments and sea level change in the gulf of carpentaria australia through the last glacial cycle abstract environmental evolution of the gulf of carpentaria region the world s largest tropical epicontinental seaway through the last glacial cycle has been determined from a series of six sediment cores these cores form the focus of a multi disciplinary study to elucidate sea level climate and environmental change in the region the sedimentary record reveals a series of facies including open shallow marine marginal marine estuarine lacustrine and subaerial exposure throughout the extent of the basin during this period the partial or complete closure of the central basin from marine waters results from sea level falling below the height of one or both of the sills that border the gulf the arafura sill to the west 53 m below present sea level bpsl and torres strait to the east 12 m bpsl the extent and timing of these closures and restriction of the shallow waterbody within are intrinsic to local ocean circulation available latent heat transport and the movement of people and animals between australia and new guinea whilst the occurrence of the palaeo lake carpentaria has previously been identified this study expands on the hydrological conditions of the lacustrine phases and extends the record through the last interglacial detailing the previous sea level highstand mis 5 5 and subsequent retreat when sea levels were low during the mis 6 glacial period the gulf was largely subaerially exposed and traversed by meandering rivers the mis 5 transgression 130 ka bp led to marine then alternating marine estuarine conditions through to mis 4 70 ka bp when a protracted lacustrine phase of varying salinity and depth area and including periods of near desiccation persisted until about 12 2 cal ka bp the lake expanded to near maximum size 190 000 km 2 following the intensification restoration of the australian monsoon at 14 ka bp this lake full phase was short lived as by 12 2 cal ka bp marine waters were entering the basin coincident with the progressive sea level rise fully marine conditions were restored by about 10 5 cal ka bp by westward connection to the arafura sea indian ocean whereas connections to the pacific ocean coral sea did not occur until about 8 cal ka bp

evidence of high energy events in the geological record mid holocene evolution of the southwestern donana national park sw spain abstract four phases are distinguished in the mid holocene evolution of the southwestern donana national park sw spain based on the multidisciplinary study of sediments in drill cores in the oldest phase 5500 5400 cal years bp a coastal brackish lagoon occupied the central part of the study area partly enclosed by the donana spit and limited by fluvial levees an evolution from subtidal to intertidal conditions characterized the areas located close to the inner side of the donana spit during the same phase the following phase 5400 5200 cal years bp is characterized by a high energy event tsunami which caused the breakthrough of the donana spit and the creation of new littoral strands in the inner areas in the first period of the third phase 5200 4200 cal years bp estuarine infilling was probably the dominant process with the accumulation of phyllosilicate rich clays in the lagoon bed this was followed by a renewed phase of instability 4200 4100 cal years bp indicated by the presence of fine storm lain deposits and thicker probably tsunami induced shelly deposits the last phase 4100 3700 cal years bp comprises a an infilling period with a diminution of the marine influence and b two new high energy events which caused the erosion of the donana spit and the creation of new cheniers in the last 7000 years the comparison of these results with a revision of both geological and historical records has revealed the occurrence of twenty tsunamis at least during this period in portugal and southern spain evidences of these high energy events are washover fans bioclastic coarse sized layers within salt marsh deposits or the presence of giant boulders and pebbles the determination of the recurrence period is very difficult owing to the very scarce data although our data and other authors do not discard a possible periodicity of 2000 years for a cycle of two events separated by 300 400 years

simulated changes in atmospheric dust in response to a heinrich stadial 1 heinrich stadials hs thought to be triggered by increased ice discharge in the high latitude north atlantic at glacial periods resulted in large freshwater forcing that weakened the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc these events are strongly expressed in paleoclimate records throughout the atlantic basin and much of the tropics compared to the last glacial maximum recent proxy data suggest hs were much drier and dustier in large parts of the tropics we use a global climate model coupled to a prognostic dust model to examine the response of dust to changes in climate during hs despite some significant changes in regional precipitation patterns in response to the simulated shift in the intertropical convergence zone we find that changes in winds have a larger effect on dust mobilization and deposition patterns than soil moisture or vegetation changes associated with a weaker amoc although europe was colder and drier during hs the annual mean glaciogenic dust emission rate is lower because a southward shift in the northern hemisphere jet stream leads to weaker winds and less dust mobilization the proximity of the westerly wind anomaly associated with the jet stream shift increases gustiness and dust mobilization over northwestern africa and shifts the african easterly jet southward resulting in less african dust transport and deposition over the north tropical atlantic drier conditions over the sahel region of north africa however do not lead to increased dust mobilization in our model when we perturb sahelian soil characteristics our results are in better agreement with proxies

the holocene environmental changes in southern indonesia reconstructed from highland caldera lake sediment in bali island diatom pollen geomagnetic and geochemical analyses were carried out on a 3 6 m long sediment core taken from lake buyan a highland caldera lake in central bali island to reconstruct the holocene climate changes in equatorial southern indonesia the core represents 8 thousand years sedimentation of organic diatomaceous lake mud constant inclusion of benthic diatom fossils as main components indicated that suspension and inflow of littoral materials were the main sedimentary process the core contained laminated sediments in two distinct intervals at 6 5 5 0 and 3 6 3 1 cal ky bp and multi proxy records showed generally drier climate in these sections especially at 3 6 3 1 cal ky bp lake bottom waters were more reducing condition in these laminated periods probably due to increased lake productivity by prolonged dry season and wind mixing laminae structures were made up of a layer composed of benthic diatoms and amorphous organic materials and a layer made by only planktonic diatom fossils each of which may represent rainy and dry period deposits although southern indonesia shows clear australian monsoon rainfall seasonality at present counting of layer numbers showed interannual cycles of laminae formation prolonged dry seasons could obscured the rainfall seasonality in these periods but precise depositional patterns were elusive unlaminated sections showed homogeneous sediment mixture of benthic planktonic diatoms and more volume of terrigenous materials indicating wetter climate and seasonality similar to the present time this was supported by the higher share of marsh environment pollens reflecting more stable lake level trends the dry climate from 6 5 cal ky bp was in line with the general perception of stronger enso dynamics from the mid holocene due to weaker than before boreal summer insolation but the sporadic appearances of dry periods imply the influence of regional climate forcings such as temporal migrations of inter tropical convergence zone itcz it was however possible that temporal shifts of large climate mode occurred in equatorial pacific and indian oceans wettest climate was inferred from 3 1 cal ky bp to the present and this might reflect increased importance of austral hemisphere atmospheric convection and subsequent southerly position of itcz in austral summer time

southern hemisphere westerly wind changes during the last glacial maximum paleo data synthesis changes in the strength and position of southern hemisphere westerly winds during the last glacial cycle have been invoked to explain both millennial and glacial interglacial climate fluctuations however neither paleo models nor paleodata agree on the magnitude or even the sign of the change in wind strength and latitude during the most studied glacial period the last glacial maximum lgm compared to the recent past this paper synthesizes paleo environmental data that have been used to infer changes in lgm winds data compilations are provided for changes in terrestrial moisture dust deposition sea surface temperatures and ocean fronts and ocean productivity and existing data on southern hemisphere ocean circulation changes during the lgm are summarized we find that any hypothesis of lgm wind and climate change needs to provide a plausible explanation for increased moisture on the west coast of continents cooler temperatures and higher productivity in the subantarctic zone and reductions in agulhas leakage around southern africa our comparison suggests that an overall strengthening an equatorward displacement or no change at all in winds could all be interpreted as consistent with observations if a single cause related to the southern westerlies is sought for all the evidence presented then an equatorward displacement or strengthening of the winds would be consistent with the largest proportion of the observations however other processes such as weakening or poleward shifts in winds a weakened hydrological cycle extended sea ice cover and changed buoyancy fluxes cannot be ruled out as potential explanations of observed changes in moisture surface temperature and productivity we contend that resolving the position and strength of westerly winds during the lgm remains elusive based on data reconstructions alone however we believe that these data reconstructions of environmental conditions can be used in conjunction with model simulations to identify which processes best represent westerly wind conditions during the lgm

orbital and suborbital climate variability in the sulu sea western tropical pacific 1 a detailed record of planktic 18o from a sediment core in the sulu sea located between the south china sea and the western pacific warm pool reveals that for the past 400 kyr 1 kyr 1000 years 18o variability on orbital timescales is similar to that caused by changes in ice volume alone this result indicates that in the sulu sea temperature driven changes in planktic 18o on orbital times scales were generally compensated for by the effects of sea level and changes in seasonal monsoon intensity on the local freshwater budget as well as by other changes in the tropical hydrologic cycle and their attendant effects on surface water 18o increased freshening of the western tropical pacific warm pool is reminiscent of la nina conditions however we argue that the mean tropical climate state was not more la nina like than today on broader spatial scales suborbital variability occurred in the sulu sea throughout the past 400 kyr suggesting little sensitivity to ice volume or to glacial interglacial changes in tropical hydrology variations on 4 10 kyr timescales appear to be linked to those in the north atlantic region suggesting a common forcing of that variability we suggest that sulu sea salinity variations were a response to suborbital climate variability in the north atlantic region transmitted via changes in the intensity of the east asian summer monsoon we suggest that a north atlantic origin of that tropical suborbital variability can be reconciled with weak glacial amplification in the tropics if the tropical response is nonlinear

evaluation of mineral precipitation potential in a spent nuclear fuel repository in this study the potential for mineral precipitation reactions to occur during the excavation disposal backfilling and closure of a deep geological repository for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel was evaluated with the assistance of hydrogeochemical modelling four modelling exercises corresponding to the main expectable geochemical scenarios in the excavation damaged zone edz throughout repository evolution were carried out and the times for sealing of the discontinuities owing to mineral precipitation in each of them were evaluated and discussed the simulations show that mineral precipitation reactions are thermodynamically feasible in most of the studied cases the main mineral phases potentially responsible for the hydraulic sealing of the edz are calcite and ferric oxyhydroxides being the estimated volumes occupied by the precipitation of calcite between one and three orders of magnitude larger than the volume of precipitating ferric phases the estimated times for complete sealing of the edz may vary between several hundreds to more than 1 million years the shortest sealing times less than 3 000 years are obtained for the mixture of groundwaters from the repository depth with dilute infiltration waters

late pleistocene and holocene development of the interior peat accumulating basin of tropical tasek bera peninsular malaysia the stratigraphy of holocene peat deposits from an interior lowland basin of tropical peninsular malaysia provides insight into the hydrological ecological and climatic controls on tropical peatland development interpretations about vegetation and climate dynamics including storm intensity over the past 5000 years are integrated with regional and global climatic and eustatic changes to serve as a proxy for past ecology and climate tasek bera basin tbb is a lowland dendritic basin in tropical peninsular malaysia accumulation of organic matter occurred in local lakes during the last glacial maximum lgm but widespread peat deposition did not start until 5300 bp when climatic changes led to the evolution of a wetland system peat accumulation progressively expanded with terrestrialisation of channels and subbasins to paludification of the riparian part of the lowland forest zone lithofacies can be distinguished despite the highly diverse peat and organic rich sediment composition as a result of the climatic and hydrologic changes over the past 5300 years peat accumulation rates ranging from 0 7 to 2 5 mm year are highest in pandanaceae environments and lowest in high ash swamp forests and environments dominated by cyperaceae transects of peat cores across the mire system show the stratigraphic complexities of the peat is the result of hydrological variations and thus plant successional changes ash yield shows that periods of high mineral matter input into the drainage system occurred since the mid holocene indicating rapid and cyclic changes in frequency and magnitude of runoff events and by inference storms stratigraphic analysis of peat and ash yield are tools that provide a proxy for development of holocene hydrologic events in topogenous peat deposits

lithology and soil relationships for soil modelling and mapping abstract relationships between parent material and soil are not well understood and generally only reported in qualitative form we present a classification of parent material for pedologic purposes which includes twelve lithology classes based on mineralogical and chemical composition the relationships of these lithology classes with six key soil properties soil organic carbon ph cation exchange capacity sum of bases total p and clay were examined in a case study over new south wales australia we used multiple linear regression random forest and cubist tree models based on a soil dataset of over 3200 points semi quantitative estimates are derived of change in these soil properties with a change in lithology class and an associated silica index for example a 22 relative decrease in soil organic carbon with each 10 rise in silica broadly equivalent to a change from shale to granite assuming other factors remain constant parent material covariates are essential for the effective modelling and mapping of soil properties widely available lithology data have the potential for greater use in digital soil modelling and mapping dsmm programs we compared the performance of the classified lithology data with other continuous geophysical parent material covariates such as gamma radiometrics in digital soil models and maps over nsw the lithology covariate was demonstrated to exert the greatest influence on all six soil properties coming well ahead of all geophysical parent material and other environmental covariates validation statistics demonstrated strong improvement in both model and map quality when the lithology covariate was included for example lin s concordance for the cubist sum of bases model rose from 0 46 with no parent material covariates to 0 58 with the continuous geophysical covariates to a high of 0 77 when lithology was also used the improvement was typically slightly less marked in the final digital maps than for the calibration models probably due to the lower reliability of the lithology grid derived from broad scale polygonal geological and soil data a process is suggested for the application of lithology data into dsmm programs despite the potential drawbacks of using polygonal data properly organised categorical lithology data can be a strong covariate to complement other continuous geophysical data sources in dsmm programs particularly where reliable and fine scale geological and soil data are available

post glacial evolution of the indo pacific warm pool and el nino southern oscillation recent research has revealed new insights into the temperature size and variability of the indo pacific warm pool ipwp and the nature of the el nino southern oscillation enso since the last glacial maximum lgm sea surface temperature sst reconstructions from foraminiferal mg ca alkenone and revised coral sr ca palaeothermometry agree that ssts in the ipwp during the lgm were similar to 3degreesc cooler than at present in the central portion of the ipwf the rapid post glacial rise in sst led the deglaciation by similar to 3000 years to produce near modern ssts by the early holocene in contrast further west and north post glacial shifts in ssts in the south china and sulu seas are synchronous with abrupt climate changes in the north atlantic new evidence for the nature of the little ice age in the tropics has been obtained from a 420 year record of coral sr ca and 6180 from the great barrier reef australia this indicates that ssts and salinity were higher in the 18th century than in the 20th century the results suggest that the tropical pacific played a role as a source region of water vapour during the global expansion of little ice age glaciers the onset of modern enso periodicities is identified by palaeo enso records throughout the tropical pacific region similar to 5000 years ago with an abrupt increase in enso magnitude similar to 3000 years ago individual enso events recorded by corals reveal that the precipitation response to el nino temperature anomalies was subdued in the mid holocene the apparent non linear onset of enso in the late holocene appears to reflect abruptly enhanced interaction between the southern oscillation and the pacific intertropical convergence zone comparisons of precipitation variability recorded by great barrier reef corals with enso indices for the last 350 years confirms that non stationarity of enso teleconnections is a natural characteristic of modern climate c 2003 elsevier ltd and inqua all rights reserved

the cultural antiquity of rainforests human plant associations during the mid late holocene in the interior highlands of sarawak malaysian borneo 2015 elsevier ltd and inqua rainforests are often described as the world s last virgin landscapes however hunter gatherers may have been modifying these environments for over 50 000 years despite this the antiquity of early tropical forest exploitation by hunter gathers and the transition to farming are still poorly understood today globalization drives deforestation of rainforests at an unprecedented rate the forest the lives of its present day inhabitants and the archaeological evidence for their history are unlikely to survive for much longer in their present form the cultured rainforest project an interdisciplinary project involving anthropologists archaeologists and palaeoecologists was set up in 2007 to investigate the long term and present day interactions between people and the rainforest in the kelabit highlands of central borneo so as to better understand past and present agricultural and hunter gatherer lifestyles and landscapes this paper examines the environmental evidence used to investigate initial signs of plant exploitation and the transition to agriculture as well as to understand the wider significance of past plants in a changing cultural landscape results have shown that two pronounced cultural waves of human plant interactions took place in the kelabit highlands during the late holocene although tentative marks may be present on the landscape ca 7000 6000 years ago the first pronounced wave of human plant interaction begins from at least 3000 cal bp it seems to correspond with the appearance of stone mounds and open air sites recorded in the archaeological record the sago palm eugeissona plays an important role during this period a second wave of cultural activity particularly in the last 450 years is recorded in the southern kelabit highlands and is marked by rice becoming important this may be linked to the construction of a wide range of different megaliths and earthworks due to its inferred association with wealth and status in prehistoric and historic periods it is perhaps also linked to a rise in trade between the coastal regions and highlands

links between climate and sea levels for the past three million years the oscillations between glacial and interglacial climate conditions over the past three million years have been characterized by a transfer of immense amounts of water between two of its largest reservoirs on earth the ice sheets and the oceans since the latest of these oscillations the last glacial maximum between about 30 000 and 19 000 years ago approximately 50 million cubic kilometres of ice has melted from the land based ice sheets raising global sea level by approximately 130 metres such rapid changes in sea level are part of a complex pattern of interactions between the atmosphere oceans ice sheets and solid earth all of which have different response timescales the trigger for the sea level fluctuations most probably lies with changes in insolation caused by astronomical forcing but internal feedback cycles complicate the simple model of causes and effects

theoretical and experimental validation of mining enhanced permeability for simultaneous exploitation of coal and gas simultaneous recovery of coal and methane is a promising solution for making reasonable use of energy resources and preventing gas disasters coal mining produces an effect that enhances the permeability of coal and thus paradoxically enhances the ability to collect methane hence existing knowledge about permeability enhancement needs to be improved therefore a new parameter referred to as mining enhanced permeability is proposed to characterize the evolution of permeability for coal and other rocks a theoretical expression for the new parameter is deduced from the tablet fluid model to analyze the mining enhanced permeability of coal mass quantitatively a laboratory test was conducted to simulate the stress environment of the protected layers in protected coal seam mining at the same time a field test was conducted at a working face of mine no 10 at the pingdingshan coal mining group in china the evolution of the volumetric strain and mining enhanced permeability for both protective and protected layers were analyzed quantitatively the loading induced volumetric strain and permeability enhancement in the laboratory showed improvements of 1 59 and 72 26 respectively the mining induced volumetric strain and permeability enhancement also showed improvements of 0 14 and 7 77 respectively the evolution of enhanced permeability agreed with gas flow data observed in both laboratory and in situ tests namely a higher mining enhanced permeability led to high gas flow demonstrating the plausibility of mining enhanced permeability theory based on the tablet fluid model the theory describes the impact of mining on coal permeability and quantitatively captures the evolution of coal permeability in conclusion the proposed theory provides a strong foundation for designing systems to simultaneously recover coal and gas