holocene paleosols and colluvial sediments in northeast tibet qinghai province china properties dating and paleoenvironmental implications abstract colluvial deposits consisting of silts and loams were detected in several climatologically different areas of ne tibet 3200 3700 m a s l layering distinct organic content and low content of coarse matter as well as location in the relief revealed an origin from low energy slope erosion hillwash underlying and intercalated paleosols were classified as chernozems phaeozems regosols and fluvisols fifteen radiocarbon datings predominant on charcoal from both colluvial layers and paleosols yielded ages between 8988 66 and 3512 56 uncal bp natural or anthropogenic factors could have been the triggers of the erosional processes derived it remains unclear which reason was mainly responsible due to controversial paleoclimatic and geomorphic records as well as insufficient archaeological knowledge from this region determinations of charcoal and fossil wood revealed the holocene occurrence of tree species spruce juniper for areas which nowadays have no trees or only few forest islands thus large areas of ne tibet which are at present steppes and alpine pastures were forested in the past

the late paleozoic el imperial formation western argentina glacial to post glacial transition and stratigraphic correlations with arc related basins in southwestern gondwana abstract the el imperial formation of the san rafael basin records a succession of depositional environments during the latest mississippian to earliest permian that span before during and after the glaciation of west central argentina at the base of the formation a restricted marine environment is recorded in mudstone containing marl and rippled and deformed sandstone beds this unit or sequence 1 is incised by a deltaic facies association composed of cross bedded sandstone and conglomerate that form at least 5 stacked gilbert deltas the deltaic facies association grades upward into the glacially influenced facies association made up of stratified diamictite mudstone with dropstones and massive deformed sandstone indicating deposition by wet based tidewater glaciers that calved icebergs into the basin with contributions from mass movement processes the glacially influenced facies association is overlain by mudstone and horizontally laminated and cross bedded sandstone of the post glacial open marine facies association recording post glacial transgression followed by relative sea level fall the deltaic glacially influenced and post glacial open marine facies associations comprise sequence 2 sequence 2 is incised by conglomerate of the upper fluvial member or sequence 3 the strata of the el imperial formation are correlated to those of the other arc related basins of western argentina rio blanco calingasta uspallata and tepuel a bashkirian transgression and fluvial incision in the el imperial formation correlate with events in the rio blanco and calingasta uspallata basins to the north whereas glaciation continues to the south in the tepuel basin through the early permian the deviating stratigraphic record of the tepuel basin may be the result of its higher latitudinal position during the pennsylvanian early permian and higher altitude due to either tectonic convergence of the patagonian microplate or convergence along the panthalassan margin of southwestern gondwana

palaeo moisture evolution in monsoonal central asia during the last 50 000 years abstract the late quaternary climate history of monsoonal central asia was inferred from 75 palaeoclimatic records which provide information about moisture conditions in the last 50 ka or part of this period wet conditions occurred during middle and late marine isotope stage 3 while the last glacial maximum lgm was characterized by dry climate conditions in the region a stepwise climate amelioration is suggested by the climate records following the lgm several climate signals of this period which were reported from high latitude ice core records are preserved in archives from monsoonal central asia as well during the early holocene high effective moisture was inferred from most records from the area dominated by the indian monsoon e g the tibetan plateau suggesting that holocene optimal climate conditions occurred there during this period in contrast areas which are dominated by the south east asian monsoon se monsoon and the westerlies in north western and north central china mongolia do not uniformly show an early holocene climate optimum for this area optimal conditions prevailed during the mid holocene these apparent contradictions can possibly be explained by the regional uplift and descent of air masses in the holocene during the early holocene strengthened insolation possibly caused an enhanced low level convergence over the tibetan plateau which led to the intensification of the summer monsoon the strong air uplift caused intensified precipitation and air divergence in the upper troposphere over the tibetan plateau the areas adjacent to the north therefore experienced an intensified descent of air masses and consequently increased aridity the majority of the palaeoclimatic records suggest reduced effective moisture since the late holocene in the region

reconstructing past seawater mg ca and sr ca from mid ocean ridge flank calcium carbonate veins proxies for past seawater chemistry such as mg ca and sr ca ratios provide a record of the dynamic exchanges of elements between the solid earth the atmosphere and the hydrosphere and the evolving influence of life we estimated past oceanic mg ca and sr ca ratios from suites of 1 6 to 170 million year old calcium carbonate veins that had precipitated from seawater derived fluids in ocean ridge flank basalts our data indicate that before the neogene oceanic mg ca and sr ca ratios were lower than in the modern ocean decreased ocean spreading since the cretaceous and the resulting slow reduction in ocean crustal hydrothermal exchange throughout the early tertiary may explain the recent rise in these ratios

structure and geochemistry of tethyan ophiolites and their petrogenesis in subduction rollback systems suprasubduction zone ssz ophiolites in orogenic belts represent oceanic crust generation in subduction rollback cycles during the closing stages of basins prior to terminal continental collisions mantle flow and slab rollback result in one or more episodes of arc splitting and basin opening producing a collage of protoarc and forearc oceanic lithosphere in suprasubduction zone settings the jurassic cretaceous ssz tethyan ophiolites in the eastern mediterranean region i e mirdita pindos troodos kizildag oman generally have penrose type oceanic crust and contain well developed sheeted dike complexes indicative of magmatic extension beneath narrow rift zones during their seafloor spreading evolution igneous accretion of these ssz tethyan ophiolites involved upper plate extension and advanced melting of previously depleted asthenosphere in host basins showing a progressive evolution from morb like to iat island arc tholeiite to boninitic extremely refractory protoarc assemblages however there are some distinct differences in the geochemical evolution of these tethyan ophiolites that appear to have resulted from variations in their subduction zone geodynamics whereas a major part of the kizildag and troodos lavas shows island arc affinity similar to their counterparts in the pindos and mirdita ophiolites a significant component of the oman lavas indicates morb affinity and the majority of the kizildag and oman data plot within the mantle array between n morb and e morb on the nb yb th yb discriminant diagram furthermore the troodos and oman lavas do not show any particular th enrichment in their multi element patterns suggesting that fluid melt input from subducted sediments was not that significant in generation of their magmas although all ophiolites exhibit geochemical features indicating increased subduction influence during the melt evolution of their younger extrusive sequences and dike intrusions as evidenced by their negative nd values their overall characteristic trace element patterns seem to have been strongly affected by the maturity of the subduction systems in which they developed

cretaceous seawater and hydrothermal fluid compositions recorded in abiogenic carbonates from the troodos ophiolite cyprus abstract we evaluate the potential of ophiolites as archives of paleoseawater and hydrothermal fluid compositions by analysing the chemical and isotopic composition of abiogenic carbonates precipitated from fluids within the oceanic crust of the 91 ma troodos ophiolite cyprus calculated variations in fluid mg ca sr ca and 87sr 86sr with temperature within the upper sections of the ophiolite are similar to those from drilled oceanic crust and yield literature values for late cretaceous seawater mg ca sr ca and 87sr 86sr this indicates that carbonates from ophiolites could be used to estimate the composition of ancient seawater at times before the age of the oldest preserved in situ oceanic crust whereas most carbonates recovered from in situ oceanic crust were precipitated at temperatures 44 c gradually transform cretaceous seawater into a troodos hydrothermal fluid comparison of the troodos data with a global dataset of abiogenic carbonates from in situ oceanic crust shows that the chemical pathways of low temperature fluid evolution are similar for all cretaceous sites these different sites represent varied geotectonic settings mid ocean ridge vs suprasubduction zone with different basement composition basalt basaltic andesite boninite and situated in different ocean basins atlantic pacific mediterranean tethys the similarity in the carbonate record indicates that these differences do not significantly influence seafloor weathering and hydrothermal alteration at low temperatures however abiogenic carbonates from younger oceanic crust differ from the cretaceous trends and follow different fluid evolution pathways this indicates that temporal variations in the composition of seawater may control the nature and the extent of seafloor weathering and hydrothermal alteration at low temperatures a thermodynamic model of fluid crust interaction in which modern and cretaceous seawater are heated to 200 c while an average troodos basaltic andesite is successively added under otherwise identical conditions predicts that fluid evolution and alteration of the oceanic crust were different in the cretaceous than they are today and that initial seawater chemistry affects the nature and the extent of seafloor alteration up to moderate fluid temperatures for example twice the amount of carbonate formed during alteration of the oceanic crust in the cretaceous compared to modern times indicating that the flux of co2 from the hydrosphere atmosphere system into the oceanic crust was greater in the cretaceous than it is nowadays and that it probably varied throughout geologic time

holocene climatic changes revealed by aeolian deposits from the qinghai lake area northeastern qinghai tibetan plateau and possible forcing mechanisms previous palaeoclimatic studies in the northeastern qinghai tibetan plateau netp during the holocene mainly using lake sediments have deepened our understanding of the climatic system in this remote region the timing and forcing mechanisms of climatic change in this region are still controversial however aeolian sand and silt deposits which are widely distributed in the netp can be readily dated by optically stimulated luminescence osl techniques and reveal the sensitive response of the landscape to climatic change in this study aeolian sand and loess at six sites around qinghai lake were studied to reconstruct millennial scale climatic changes during the holocene multiproxy data along with 24 osl age determinations show that low effective moisture and aeolian activity occurred at c 13 ka 10 9 1 ka and 8 9 7 8 ka periods of greater effective moisture may have occurred at 11 ka and 9 ka and there is evidence for a previously undocumented wet climate at 4 3 ka these results show that mi

linking basement carbonate vein compositions to porewater geochemistry across the eastern flank of the juan de fuca ridge odp leg 168 leg 168 of the ocean drilling program odp investigated the heat flow fluid chemistry and crustal alteration associated with ridge flank hydrothermal systems ten sites were drilled on the eastern flank of the juan de fuca ridge along an 80 km transect between 20 and 100 km east of the spreading centre recovered cores consisted of 100 500 m of sediment with shallow penetration 1 7 48 1 m into the underlying igneous basement 0 8 3 6 ma here we use the composition of calcium carbonate minerals from veins within the upper basement to reconstruct the evolving chemistry of hydrothermal fluids with increasing crustal age and sediment cover thickness we show for the first time a clear link between the alteration of the basement rocks as recorded by secondary minerals and the near basement sedimentary pore fluids which are often assumed to be representative of the basement fluids responsible for low temperature alteration of the upper crust carbonates precipitated from basement fluids that ranged in strontium isotopic composition from near modern seawater 87sr 86sr ap 0 70918 to the near basement pore fluid values at any one site 87sr 86sr ratios are independent of mineralogy with both aragonite and calcite precipitating from variably evolved fluids with the range in carbonate 87sr 86sr increasing with crustal age a parallel geochemical evolution of basement fluids and sediment porewaters is shown since 87sr 86sr ratios of near basement pore fluids decrease from 0 709013 to 0 707108 away from the ridge axis a correlation exists between 87sr 86sr ratios and delta 18o calculated fluid temperatures with more geochemically evolved carbonates having precipitated from warmer fluids basement fluid compositions calculated from carbonate sr mg fe and mn concentrations combined with suitable partition coefficients are also temperature dependent given an observed increase in basement temperature with age from 16 deg c to 64 deg c along the transect a progressive chemical development of basement fluid is demonstrated carbonate veins in volcanic basement from odp holes 504b and 896a on the costa rica rift record the same temperature compositional evolution of basement fluid as those from the juan de fuca ridge flank although these locations have different thermal histories and therefore must have experienced different temporal geochemical evolution of basement fluid basement temperature appears to be the dominant control on basement fluid composition

environmental conditions in the donggi cona lake catchment ne tibetan plateau based on factor analysis of geochemical data abstract we present a methodological approach for the characterization of spatial variations of environmental and transport conditions based on geochemical data we analyzed the geochemical characteristics of terrestrial sediments on an alluvial fan and adjacent areas in the eastern part of the donggi cona catchment the geochemical characteristics of the sediment samples were measured using x ray fluorescence spectroscopy a factor model based on nine elements sr rb zn fe mn v ti ca and k gave the best results using factor analysis our results show that factor analysis of geochemical data can explain spatial variations in the catchment even within a relatively small area with more or less constant climatological conditions the four most important factors of our model explain 68 4 of the total variance within the dataset the four factors represent a carbonate weathering and two redox condition signals respectively the spatial distribution of factor loadings points to regions with specific environmental conditions these regions show a certain carbonate input or production factor 1 specific weathering rates factor 2 or specific redox conditions factors 3 and 4 the factor loadings of the first and second factor are used to reclassify the data into four groups being dune loess lake and fluvial gravel sediments this reclassification confirms or improves the prior field classification in 70 of all cases for 23 of the samples the model gave a different interpretation the factor loadings in these cases represent the origin of the material rather than its present sediment type thereby giving valuable information about sediment provenance since the third and fourth factor seem more dependent on location they do not differentiate between different sediment types multivariate statistics of the geochemistry of terrestrial sediments i allows the subdivision of samples into different sediment types ii indicates dominant regions for weathering carbonate production and manganese washout and iii gives suggestions about the provenance of the sediments this is the first detailed study of geochemical parameters on the tibetan plateau not focusing on lake cores resulting in a spatial characterization of the local geochemistry this gives insight in the sediment transport connections between the catchment and the lake illustrating the value of terrestrial sediments as additional indicator of environmental variations

interlaboratory study for coral sr ca and other element ca ratio measurements the sr ca ratio of coral aragonite is used to reconstruct past sea surface temperature sst twenty one laboratories took part in an interlaboratory study of coral sr ca measurements results show interlaboratory bias can be significant and in the extreme case could result in a range in sst estimates of 7 c however most of the data fall within a narrower range and the porites coral reference material jcp 1 is now characterized well enough to have a certified sr ca value of 8 838 mmol mol with an expanded uncertainty of 0 089 mmol mol following international association of geoanalysts iag guidelines this uncertainty at the 95 confidence level equates to 1 5 c for sst estimates using porites so is approaching fitness for purpose the comparable median within laboratory error is 0 5 c this difference in uncertainties illustrates the interlaboratory bias component that should be reduced through the use of reference materials like the jcp 1 there are many potential sources contributing to biases in comparative methods but traces of sr in ca standards and uncertainties in reference solution composition can account for half of the combined uncertainty consensus values that fulfil the requirements to be certified values were also obtained for mg ca in jcp 1 and for sr ca and mg ca ratios in the jct 1 giant clam reference material reference values with variable fitness for purpose have also been obtained for li ca b ca ba ca and u ca in both reference materials in future studies reporting coral element ca data should also report the average value obtained for a reference material such as the jcp 1

late quaternary aeolian sedimentation in central and south eastern tibet abstract the geomorphology and the cover sediments in the central and south eastern part of the tibetan plateau provide information about climatic change luminescence dating of aeolian and colluvial silts on top of different moraine sequences provides the first indications for the timing of these sediments during the late quaternary and holocene although there is a widespread cover of aeolian mantles in tibet only a few papers have focussed on them up to now samples from silt layers on top of pleistocene moraines or solifluction debris from central and southern tibet at elevations above 4000 m asl provide early holocene ages in most sections the aeolian silt on top of the bomi moraine in southeastern tibet situated at an elevation of about 3000 m asl provides an age of 25 ka according to geomorphological investigations the bomi moraine dates from the last ice age which can be confirmed by the luminescence data moreover one sample from a silt layer in between gravel layers xainxa is also pleistocene in age according to its sedimentary and geomorphological situation in the tibetan plateau pleistocene loess mainly occurs below 4000 m asl the holocene material a more sandy silt lying above 4000 m asl however aeolian material capping the moraines provides only minimum ages for the terminal moraines the time interval between glacier retreat and the accumulation of aeolian sediments may be several thousand years the most important fact is the trapping of dust in general lakes and a denser vegetation cover are or were the main traps for the typical loess found in the mountain areas of the tibetan plateau

facies control on sandstone composition and influence of statistical methods on interpretations in the john henry member straight cliffs formation southern utah usa abstract the upper cretaceous john henry member of the straight cliffs formation preserves regressive shoreface and channel facies and transgressive lagoonal tidal inlet facies that suggest distinct modal sandstone compositions detrital modes from six sandstone facies upper shoreface lower shoreface deflected mouth bars fluvial channels tidal inlets and washover fans and their spatial and temporal variations provide additional data regarding the depositional environments and setting of the john henry member three statistical methods were utilized univariate standard deviation and confidence interval and multivariate logratio transformations to assess the compositional difference between facies using estimation of means both univariate statistical methods have some inherent problems standard deviation does not account for sample size while the confidence interval method incorporates a t test to account for only some of the uncertainty of small sample size the results of the univariate methods differ slightly and both indicate statistically distinct sandstone compositions based on facies multivariate statistics are much more robust and suggest similar trends yet display different compositional means and have inconclusive confidence fields as they incorporate all of the uncertainty associated with small sampling sizes in general sandstone compositions become more quartz rich and compositionally mature as sediment is transported from proximal fluvial environments to distal upper shoreface environments this trend reflects the degree of preferential reworking or winnowing of unstable grains prior to lithification more complicated relationships are observed as facies distributions shift through space and time sandstone compositions support a deflected wave dominated deltaic interpretation for the john henry member in this area sandstone compositions become more lithic rich from north to south corresponding to the facies distribution of upper shoreface and deflected mouth bars respectively mouth bars occur at the intersection of the fluvial channel and the coastline where sand is deflected via longshore drift to the southern portion of the field area upper shoreface facies located further away from mouth bar facies are heavily reworked by wave processes and contain more mature quartz rich modal compositions additionally high feldspathic and lithic concentrations in tidal inlet facies suggest that this facies was sourced closer to mouth bars rather than updrift upper shoreface sediments a shift in sandstone composition occurs at the end of the second transgressive regressive cycle of the john henry member throughout the rogers canyon area this compositional change is concurrent with a relatively large basinward shift in facies which suggests that it reflects the transition from regressive to transgressive facies associated with the relative sea level fall rather than a change in the main sediment source area

basin wide holocene environmental changes in the marginal area of the asian monsoon northwest china in arid regions because of spatial variability using single climate records is difficult to reconstruct the past climate change for the drainage basins holocene environmental records were collected from the upper middle and lower regions of the shiyang river drainage basin in the marginal area of the asian monsoon northwest china the main objective of this paper was to compare the records from the terminal lake and the middle and upper reaches of the basin to study the basin wide environmental changes during the early holocene the vegetation was sparse and the effective moisture was relatively low in the basin the holocene climatic optimum started between 7 0 and 8 0 cal ka bp during which the lake level reached the highest level in the terminal lake the vegetation density and the effective moisture reached the highest level during the holocene in the drainage basin from 4 7 cal ka bp the terminal lake began to shrink while the vegetation density decreased dramatically in the middle and upper regions of the drainage the effective moisture began to decrease since 3 5 cal ka bp and the arid tendency was earlier in the terminal lake than it was in the middle and upper regions of the drainage basin during the early holocene the relatively arid environment was affected by the gradually intensifying east asian monsoon and the dry westerly winds the mid holocene optimum benefited from the intensive east asian monsoon and the humid westerly winds then the east asian monsoon retreated since the late holocene in the basin the arid tendency may be related to the retracting of the east asian monsoon however the intensifying acidification after 1 5 cal ka bp may be correlated to the increasing dryness of the westerly winds

holocene environmental change inferred from the loess palaeosol sequences adjacent to the floodplain of the yellow river china abstract chinese loess deposits are generally considered to be the product of dust storms and dust falls from the central asia arid zones that were transported across china by the northwesterly continental monsoon in contrast the zhengzhou loess found southeast of the loess plateau adjacent to the floodplain of the yellow river records a different eolian regime and dust source the zhengzhou loess was investigated by field observations measurements of magnetic susceptibility particle size distribution loss on ignition caco3 and chemical contents both field observations and the laboratory results indicate that during the last glacial the zhengzhou loess was supplied by two different eolian regimes and dust sources one was from the fresh flood deposits of the yellow river driven by the northeast winds from the low lying floodplain and the other was from the dust storms and dust falls that traveled across the loess plateau driven by the northwesterly continental monsoon from the central asian arid lands the early holocene 11 500 8500 a bp was a transition during the change in eolian regime and dust source because of the weakened northwesterly monsoon along with the global climatic amelioration following the retreat of the northwesterly monsoon from the onset of the mid holocene climatic optimum at 8500 a bp dust supply from the drifting sand zone on the yellow river floodplain became dominant because of the intensified strength of the northeast winds from the bohai sea from 3100 a bp onwards climatic aridity and extensive human disturbance have resulted in intensive eolian processes causing the incursion of the drifting sand into the zhengzhou loess zone these results show that loess accumulation is more complex than traditionally assumed the origin of loess deposits elsewhere outside the loess plateau may be related to dust sources derived from alluvial sediments of major river systems

effect of paleoseawater composition on hydrothermal exchange in midocean ridges variations in the mg ca sr and so4 concentrations of paleoseawater can affect the chemical exchange between seawater and oceanic basalt in hydrothermal systems at midocean ridges mor we present a model for evaluating the nature and magnitude of these previously unappreciated effects using available estimates of paleoseawater composition over phanerozoic time as inputs and 87sr 86sr of ophiolite epidosites and epidote quartz veins as constraints the results suggest that modern hydrothermal fluids are not typical due to low ca and sr relative to mg and so4 in modern seawater at other times during the last 500 million years particularly during the cretaceous and ordovician hydrothermal fluids had more seawater derived sr and ca a prediction that is supported by sr isotope data the predicted 87sr 86sr of vent fluids varies cyclically in concert with ocean chemistry with some values much higher than the modern value of 0 7037 the seawater chemistry effects can be expressed in terms of the transfer efficiency of basaltic ca and sr to seawater in hydrothermal systems which varies by a factor of 1 6 over the phanerozoic with minima when seawater mg and so4 are low this effect provides a modest negative feedback on seawater composition and 87sr 86sr changes for the mid cretaceous the low 87sr 86sr of seawater requires either exceptionally large amounts of low temperature exchange with oceanic crust or that the weathering flux of continentally derived sr was especially small the model also has implications for mor hydrothermal systems in the precambrian when low seawater so4 could help explain low seawater 87sr 86sr

an intensity ratio calibration method for the accurate determination of mg ca and sr ca of marine carbonates by icp aes an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy icp aes method for the accurate and precise simultaneous measurement of the mg ca and sr ca content of carbonates was established while a precision of 0 3 1 standard deviation sd is easily obtainable for both mg ca and sr ca analysis a ca matrix effect complicates achieving similar levels of accuracy with conventional calibration procedures an alternative ratio calibration procedure is proposed which overcomes the ca matrix effects and ensures the accuracy of the mg ca and sr ca analysis of marine carbonates to 0 3 almost an order of magnitude better than conventional calibration methods the longer term precision is 0 1 if the batch run average values are corrected for longer term drift the method is suitable for analysis of foraminiferal calcite and coral aragonite and can easily be adjusted for the analysis of other carbonates or microsamples

calcium carbonate veins in ocean crust record a threefold increase of seawater mg ca in the past 30 million years chemical sr mg and isotopic 18o 87sr 86sr compositions of calcium carbonate veins ccv in the oceanic basement were determined to reconstruct changes in sr ca and mg ca of seawater in the cenozoic we examined ccv from 10 basement drill sites in the atlantic and pacific ranging in age between 165 and 2 3 ma six of these sites are from cold ridge flanks in basement 46 ma which provide direct information about seawater composition ccv of these young sites were dated using the sr isotopic evolution of seawater for the other sites temperature corrections were applied to correct for seawater basement exchange processes the combined data show that a period of constant low sr ca 4 46 6 22 mmol mol and mg ca 1 12 2 03 mol mol between 165 and 30 ma was followed by a steady increase in mg ca ratios by a factor of three to modern ocean composition mg ca sr ca relations suggest that variations in hydrothermal fluxes and riverine input are likely causes driving the seawater compositional changes however additional forcing may be involved in explaining the timing and magnitude of changes a plausible scenario is intensified carbonate production due to increased alkalinity input to the oceans from silicate weathering which in turn is a result of subduction zone recycling of co2 from pelagic carbonate formed after the cretaceous slow down in ocean crust production rate

high resolution studies of the oldest cultivated soils in the southern loess plateau of china abstract the holocene loess soil sequence on the chinese loess plateau constitutes an excellent record of evolution of soil formation monsoonal climate eolian dust accumulation and influences of arable farming of over 8000 years a high resolution soil profile on the zhouyuan loess tableland to the west of xi an was studied using particle size analysis measurement of magnetic susceptibility total fe toc and caco3 the results provide new insights into the roles of eolian dust deposition and human impact of cultivation on soil development in this environmentally sensitive zone several loess layers are found interbedded with cinnamon soils in the profile this has been caused by changes in rainfall and intensity of dust deposition that is forced by changes in balance between the northwest continental monsoon and southeast maritime monsoon of east asia during the holocene the processes of soil formation were interrupted several times by intensified dust fall and climatic aridity in the last 11 500 years the initial clearance of forest for arable farming occurred at ca 7500 years bp on the loess tableland it was contemporaneous with the arrival of the wetter and warmer climate of the holocene megathermal 8500 3100 years bp thereafter arable farming has been maintained during both the time of soil formation and that of intensified dust accumulation though there could be temporary cessation or reduced intensity of cultivation in the drier intervals because of lack of rainfall and soil moisture increased intensity of dust accumulation has been ongoing since ca 3100 years bp in the loess plateau a loess deposit of 40 80 cm has overlaid the multiple or single welded cinnamon soils on the flat land over the plateau

the calcium riverine and hydrothermal isotopic fluxes and the oceanic calcium mass balance calcium isotope ratios relative to seawater were studied in natural waters in order to constrain the ca isotopic flux to the oceans and to discuss the oceanic ca budget this study includes the analysis of 1 ca isotopes in continental waters at the regional scale of the upper rhine valley and 2 the determination of the 44ca values of some major rivers and hydrothermal vents the data indicate that the global 44ca variability of the studied waters with a maximal range of 1 is limited and must be linked to mass fractionation processes at the scale of a small watershed aubure vosges france the 44ca river flux changes due to the variation of the proportion of waters resulting from chemical alteration of rocks and biologically fractionated soil solutions ca isotopes could therefore be an important tool to quantify the impact of the plants and the biosphere on the river water chemistry at the regional scale of the rhine valley as well as at the global scale of world rivers the 44ca variability of river samples ranges from 0 5 to 1 without any relationship with the lithology of the watershed or the climate similarly the 44ca value of hydrothermal vents is also uniform and close to the mean value of river waters consequently the 44ca flux to the ocean should remain rather constant through time with a mean of 1 1 0 2 this value confirms that the ca budget of the present day seawater is in steady state this was not necessarily the case in the past non steady state periods should have been due to intensity variations of incoming and outcoming ca fluxes rather than to the variations in their isotopic signatures

from ocean depths to mountain tops uplift of the troodos ophiolite cyprus constrained by low temperature thermochronology and geomorphic analysis the timing and mode of uplift of the troodos ophiolite are constrained by low temperature thermochronology combined with geomorphic analysis zircon u th he and apatite fission track cooling ages in the troodos plutonic sequence are all cretaceous 83 106 ma and within error of published zircon u pb crystallization ages this indicates early cooling of the oceanic crust and termination of spreading axis magmatism at 90 ma apatite u th he ages decrease with reconstructed crustal depths from 40 ma near the top of the sheeted dike complex to 4 ma within the mantle sequence a prominent inflection point in the age versus depth curve defines the bottom of the exhumed helium partial retention zone and records the onset of rapid exhumation of the main troodos massif at 6 2 ma inverse thermal modeling supports this conclusion indicating that the timing of uplift is earlier than previously estimated the boundaries of the mantle sequence exposed in the core of the troodos structure closely overlap the boundaries of a concentric zone delineated by high local relief and higher channel steepness indices indicating differential exhumation and uplift of this area relative to its surroundings this zone also overlaps with a prominent negative bouguer gravity anomaly the timing and pattern of the troodos ophiolite uplift suggest that it is driven by serpentinite diapirism possibly triggered by miocene reactivation of subduction along the cyprean arc the worldwide ubiquity of suprasubduction zone ophiolites may thus reflect the importance of extensive serpentinization at the overthrusting mantle wedge in obduction processes

characterisation and palaeoclimate of a loess like permafrost palaeosol sequence in ne siberia abstract we studied a 15 m high loess like permafrost palaeosol sequence the tumara palaeosol sequence tps which developed on a middle pleistocene fluvio glacial terrace of the tumara river various analytical methods were applied to characterise the tps similar to typical loess palaeosol sequences e g in china europe etc pedogenetic clay formation mineral weathering and smaller grain sizes are interpreted as representing warmer and more favourable climatic conditions interglacials or interstadials soil organic matter som however reveals an unfamiliar inverse pattern high organic carbon contents c org 1 characterise the dark grey glacial palaeosols whereas lower contents c org 0 5 are found in the brown interglacial stadial palaeosols this can be explained with permafrost and water logging having inhibited som mineralisation during cold periods d l ratios of aspartic acid and lysine proved to be useful proxies for both som aging and palaeotemperature with amino acid racemization being enhanced in interglacial stadial palaeosols on the basis of the geochemical and grain size results further palaeoclimatically relevant proxies describing the palaoewind strength u ratio the mineral weathering chemical index of alteration rb k and the changing mineral input signal ba ti zr ti al were applied to the tps in combination with numeric dating results radiocarbon and luminescence and in the context of other northern hemispheric records the simple warm cold stratigraphy as derived from the palaeoenvironment climate proxies suggests that the tps represents the last 240 000 years

optical dating of dune sands in the northeastern deserts of china abstract optical dating has been used to obtain the ages of fossil stabilized sand dunes from four sections in the northeastern deserts of china our results indicate that the optically stimulated luminescence ages of the four sections correlate well even though the samples were collected from different deserts about 600 km apart our results also indicate that active dune formation in this region lasted from the last glacial maximum to about 10 ka and that the warm climate of the holocene was interrupted by a cold dry dune formation episode about 3 5 1 7 ka the holocene optimum in this region is between 10 and 3 6 ka and a later warm humid dune stabilization phase lasted from at least 1 6 to 1 0 ka the youngest age on the uppermost sand unit yielded an age of only 40 yr supporting the previous argument that the existence of modern active eolian sands in the regions with a mean annual precipitation of up to 450 mm is not mainly due to drought but to extensive land cultivation over historic time from the luminescence properties of the quartz grains it is hypothesized that the sands in most of the sections are probably derived from more than one source with a minor source of quartz having a different thermal history before deposition

tracing the chemical evolution of fluids during hydrothermal recharge constraints from anhydrite recovered in odp hole 504b a unique record of the chemical evolution of seawater during hydrothermal recharge into oceanic crust is preserved by anhydrite from the volcanic sequences and sheeted dike complex in odp hole 504b chemical and isotopic analyses 87sr 86sr 18o 34s of anhydrite constrain the changing composition of fluids due to reaction with basalt there is a general trend of decreasing 87sr 86sr of anhydrite corresponding to the minor incorporation of basaltic strontium with depth in the volcanic rocks 87sr 86sr ratios decrease rapidly with depth in the dikes to values identical to host basalt 0 7029 sr ca ratios 0 1 mmol mol suggest that recharge fluids have very low sr concentrations and fluids evolve by first precipitating sr bearing phases before extensive exchange of sr with the host basalt there is a background trend of decreasing sulfate 18o with depth from 12 13 in the lower volcanics to 7 in the lower sheeted dikes recording an increase in recharge fluid temperature from 150 to 250 c and confirming the presence of sulfate in hydrothermal fluids at elevated temperatures from the amount of anhydrite recovered from hole 504b and the amount of seawater sulfur that has been reduced to sulfide a minimum seawater recharge flux can be calculated this value is 4 25 times lower than estimates of high temperature fluid fluxes based on either thermal constraints or global chemical budgets and suggests that there is significant deficit of seawater derived sulfur in the oceanic crust only a minor proportion of the seawater that percolates into the crust near the axis is heated to high temperatures and exits as black smoker type fluids a significant proportion of the axial heat loss must be advected at 200 250 c by sulfate bearing hydrothermal solutions that egress diffusely from the crust these fluids penetrate into the dikes and exchange both heat and chemical tracers without the extensive clogging of porosity by anhydrite precipitation which would halt hydrothermal circulation for any reasonable fluid flux the heating of the major proportion of hydrothermal fluids to only moderate temperatures 250 c reconciles estimates of hydrothermal fluxes derived from thermal models and global geochemical budgets the flux of hydrothermal sulfate would be of a magnitude similar to the riverine input and oxygen isotopic exchange at 200 250 c between dissolved sulfate and recharge fluids during hydrothermal circulation provides a mechanism to continuously buffer seawater sulfate oxygen to the light isotopic composition observed

sandstone petrofacies expressions of multiphase basinal tectonics and arc magmatism permian triassic north bowen basin australia abstract modal analyses of 209 sandstone samples from the permian triassic succession of the northern bowen basin eastern australia identify two stratigraphically and compositionally distinct petrofacies the lower to mid upper permian back creek group is characterised by petrofacies a which is quartz rich q82f8l10 it was sourced primarily from cratonic basement terranes to the west where relief was subdued and the quartz content of the sandstones may also reflect some reworking in the marine realm with a consequent loss of labile grains petrofacies b is volcanolithic and characterises alluvial sediments of the upper permian blackwater and lower triassic rewan groups it was sourced from an undissected to transitional magmatic arc provenance located in the contemporary new england orogen to the east which supplied abundant pyroclastic debris to the depositional complex petrofacies b of the northern bowen basin was derived primarily from felsic volcanics compared to an intermediate association recorded for the southern basinal sector indicating significant along arc variation in volcanic style as a consequence its framework grain population is enriched in quartz and is not readily accommodated in the schemes of provenance interpretation currently in use the consistency of framework detrital modes for sandstones distributed throughout the blackwater group q24f10l66 allows the recognition of subpetrofacies b1 and shows that the volcanism associated with the magmatic arc system was remarkably uniform in character and activity during deposition of the entire group the magmatic arc delivered almost identical sedimentary debris over a period of some 9 my in the late permian relative enrichment of quartz within the early triassic rewan group q49f6l45 relative to the blackwater group discriminates subpetrofacies b2 and is attributed to a climatic change and shift in palaeotemperature at the permian triassic boundary the contact between the marine back creek group petrofacies a and the coal bearing blackwater group petrofacies b represents an abrupt switch in provenance with little or no evidence of source mixing the boundary marks the onset of volcanism and associated tectonic uplift in the northern part of the new england orogen to the east sediment from the new source prograded rapidly westwards across the basin coincident with regression direct evidence of contemporaneous volcanism is widespread in the blackwater group as shown by tuffs and tonsteins which are distributed throughout the entire late permian succession

reassessment of mid carboniferous glacial extent in southwestern gondwana rio blanco basin argentina inferred from paleo mass transport of diamictites abstract late paleozoic glacial diamictites occur in many localities in western argentina indicating that the region was strongly affected by glaciation during the mid carboniferous late serpukhovian early bashkirian in most instances these diamictites are found in steeply walled paleovalley settings in the andean precordillera this study presents new data from a locality north of the precordillera that suggests an additional distinct volume of ice existed in the region during the carboniferous the glacigenic diamictites in the rio blanco basin were ultimately emplaced as gravity flows precluding inferences of paleo ice volume fold nose orientation and soft sediment groove orientations within the diamictites indicate that the deposits were emplaced from north to south suggesting that glacial ice was most likely not sourced from the proto precordillera at this locality requiring the need for another ice center to the north of the basin diamictite facies indicates that the sediment was initially supplied to the study area by a warm based glacier

fluid circulation in the oceanic crust contrast between volcanic and plutonic regimes vein carbonates from a variety of ocean crust environments have been analyzed for sr contents and sr and oxygen isotopic compositions veins from upper crustal lithologies typically have low formation temperatures 30 times that of hot smoker vent fluids veins from the gabbro lithologies at site 735b show both high 150 c and very low 10 c formation temperatures the high temperature carbonate veins have a large basaltic component low 87sr 86sr with low ca sr and probably formed before unroofing of this deep crustal block the low temperature veins have only a minor basaltic component and formed after unroofing but within 0 10 m y of crust formation hot smoker vent fluids represent the low ca sr limit of fluids recorded by carbonate veins and thus cannot describe the totality of the seawater ocean crust ca sr exchange budget

timing and provenance of loess in the sichuan basin southwestern china abstract loess like sediments locally called the chengdu clay are widely distributed in the sichuan basin at the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau tp southwest china geomorphology sedimentology pedology grain size distributions and quartz oxygen isotopic ratios collectively demonstrate the aeolian origin of the chengdu clay and its main source area on the tp evidence also supports its transport by the westerlies and the tibetan winter monsoon the magnetostratigraphy of the huagai loess section of the chengdu clay on the highest river terrace of the anchang he river indicates that the sediments began accumulating at about 825 ka bp this suggests the establishment of a circulation system similar to the present day system related to the rapid uplift of the tp at that time

holocene loess sedimentation along the qilian shan china significance for understanding the processes and timing of loess deposition abstract we present optical ages for well preserved loess deposits along the qilian shan a 500 km long mountain belt forming the tectonically active northeastern margin of the tibetan plateau loess on tectonically controlled fill terraces along the shiyou and baiyong rivers was dated by applying the single aliquot regeneration sar technique to coarse grained 90 160 m quartz samples additional measurements on polymineralic fine grained 5 10 m samples were carried out to allow a comparison between various optical dating techniques currently in use the results demonstrate that i loess accumulation started between 13 and 11 ka b p continuing to the present ii mean loess accumulation rates range between 9 and 16 cm ka 1 and iii holocene loess is not restricted to certain sites only but is a prevalent phenomenon along the qilian shan mountain front the absence of loess deposits of late pleistocene age is a result of a combination of cold and dry climate conditions strong winds and the absence of a vegetation cover during the last glacial period only with the change to a warmer and moister climate at the onset of the holocene did a plant cover develop which acted as a dust trap thus initiating the formation of loess

evolution of the oceanic calcium cycle during the late mesozoic evidence from δ44 40ca of marine skeletal carbonates abstract the ca isotope compositions of 37 late mesozoic skeletal carbonates belemnites and brachiopods from the tethyan realm were analyzed by thermal tims and plasma mc icp ms ionization mass spectrometry a poor correlation between 44 40 ca and 18 o values of belemnites suggests only a weak temperature dependency for the ca isotope composition of belemnites likely less than 0 02 c the 44 40 ca record of belemnites was therefore used to reconstruct the ca isotope composition of paleo seawater 44 40 ca sw based on an experimentally determined fractionation factor between seawater ca and belemnite calcite cc sw of 0 9986 the inferred 44 40 ca sw record with an average stratigraphic resolution of 1 ma shows systematic temporal variation of 0 5 with the middle late jurassic 154 ma minimum of 1 4 and a subsequent general increase to the early cretaceous 124 ma maximum of 1 9 the global nature of the 44 40 ca sw record is supported by identical ca isotope compositions of coeval kimmeridgian belemnites collected from two distinct paleogeographic regions the southern new zealand and northern germany margin of the tethys ocean the observed late mesozoic 44 40 ca sw record was simulated using a simple ca isotope mass balance model and the results indicate that the variation in 44 40 ca sw record can be explained by changes in oceanic input fluxes of ca that were independent of the carbonate ion fluxes such as the hydrothermal ca flux or the release of ca to the oceans via dolomitization of marine carbonates

provenance environmental and paleogeographic controls on sandstone composition in an incised valley system the eocene la meseta formation seymour island antarctica abstract the eocene la meseta formation is the youngest exposed unit of the back arc james ross basin antarctic peninsula cropping out in seymour marambio island the formation comprises 720 m of clastic sedimentary rocks of deltaic estuarine and shallow marine origin it was subdivided into six unconformity based units valle de las focas acantilados campamento cucullaea i cucullaea ii and submeseta allomembers grouped into three main facies associations facies association i represents valley confined deposition in a progradational aggradational tide dominated and wave influenced delta front delta plain environment facies association ii includes tidal channels mixed tidal flats tidal inlets and deltas washover and beach environments facies association iii represents nonconfined tide and storm influenced nearshore environments la meseta formation sandstones are quartzofeldspathic with some hybrid arenites glauconite and carbonate bioclasts rich sandstone detrital modes are subdivided into two distinctive petrofacies the low quartz petrofacies petrofacies i q 12 interpreted to retain the original provenance signal and the high quartz petrofacies petrofacies ii q 55 and l 1 4 is clearly dominated by volcanic derived clasts it developed at times of high sea level and or during later stages of the valley fill when an energy fence at the shoreline prevented delivery of sediment from the antarctic peninsula thus enhancing the relative participation of local volcanic sources

strontium alteration in the troodos ophiolite implications for fluid fluxes and geochemical transport in mid ocean ridge hydrothermal systems new and published strontium isotope analyses from the troodos ophiolite constrain fluid solid exchange processes and the magnitude and circulation paths of the hydrothermal fluids the87sr 86sr profile reflects alteration in the recharge zone of an evolving hydrothermal system fluid rock strontium isotope exchange in the upper 1 5 km of extrusive lavas was kinetically limited and seawater derived fluids emitted from the base of this zone were buffered to87sr 86sr ratios between 0 7047 and 0 7059 in contrast over the next 1 km depth interval of sheeted dykes and the uppermost plutonics 87sr 86sr values cluster about0 7054 7 2 and fluid flow is inferred to have been pervasive with near equilibrium fluid rock exchange quartz chlorite and epidosite zones the probable pathways of the concentrated high temperature upwelling fluids have identical87sr 86sr ratios to adjacent diabase dykes on troodos a time integrated fluid flux in excess of2 9 107 kg m 2 is required to transport the strontium isotope composition of 0 7054 set in the kinetically controlled exchange zone through the 1 km of sheeted dykes and into the zones of concentrated upwelling the uniformity of the87sr 86sr ratios in the diabase sheeted dykes and high temperature epidosite and quartz chlorite rocks indicate that the strontium isotopic alteration took place during the high temperature phase of hydrothermal circulation the inferred minimum time integrated fluid flux of2 9 107 kg m 2 substantially exceeds that of 5 106 kg m 2 inferred from thermal models of high temperature circulation but is comparable with estimates of the hydrothermal flux from oceanic budgets of3he mg and87sr the high flux estimate for troodos is consistent with the ophiolite venting fluids with87sr 86sr elevated significantly above rock values which contrasts with the near morb87sr 86sr ratios of fluids from active high temperature vents at mid ocean ridges and the87sr 86sr profile in dsdp hole 504b this requires that either the modern systems are immature and there is a protracted phase of lower temperature circulation or that circulation in the troodos ophiolite differed from that in normal mid ocean ridges and oceanic strontium budgets are balanced by another source the lack of very elevated87sr 86sr values in the vent fluids precludes significant channelling in the recharge zones of the active systems

the nature origin and accumulation of loess abstract loess can be defined simply as a terrestrial clastic sediment composed predominantly of silt size particles which is formed essentially by the accumulation of wind blown dust there are three fundamental requirements for its formation 1 a sustained source of dust 2 adequate wind energy to transport the dust and 3 a suitable accumulation site most loess has been modified to some degree by local reworking bioturbation and syn depositional weathering but a process of loessification is not necessary for a dust deposit to qualify as loess the terms primary loess and secondary loess have previously been used to described wind deposited loess and redeposited loess respectively but it is more accurate to describe material reworked and redeposited by non aeolian processes as loess derived colluvium or loess derived alluvium during the quaternary loess formed in three main situations 1 mid continental shield areas beyond the limits of ice sheets periglacial loess 2 on the margins of high mountain ranges perimontane loess and 3 on the semi arid margins of some lowland deserts peridesert loess peridesert loess is relatively poorly developed partly due to the limited efficiency of silt generating mechanisms in low land deserts compared with glaciation but also important is the tendency in arid areas for dust to be dispersed over a wide area and to be rapidly reworked after deposition particularly in areas which experience frequent climatic changes the remarkably thick loess of china and central asia results from an unusual combination of conditions which has persisted for much of the last 2 3 million years namely rapid uplift of the tibetan plateau and surrounding mountain ranges high rates of sediment production and supply to adjacent basins a strong northwesterly and westerly wind regime and the existence of effective dust traps downwind of the source regions

insights from petrography mineralogy and u pb zircon geochronology into the provenance and reservoir potential of cenozoic siliciclastic depositional systems supplying the northern margin of the eastern black sea the eastern black sea is one of the few remaining underexplored hydrocarbon basins in europe reservoir quality is a key risk factor in the basin the analysis of up dip portions of oligocene to pliocene depositional systems exposed around its northern and eastern margins enable the composition and provenance of sandstones within the basin to be predicted two major sources of quartz rich sandstone are present the russian western greater caucasus which became a subaerial sediment source in the oligocene and the east european craton scythian platform these are predicted to form better quality reservoirs at shallow and moderate burial depths than their rock fragment rich counterparts due to lesser amounts of compactional porosity loss oligo miocene sandstones from the russian western greater caucasus were deposited as turbidites in the tuapse trough sandstones from the east european craton scythian platform were largely trapped within the indolo kuban basin north of the greater caucasus they only entered the eastern black sea in large volumes from latest miocene or pliocene time in the region of the kerch taman shelf at the western tip of the greater caucasus however it is possible that a precursor to this system supplied the oligocene to early miocene reservoir sandstones within the subbotina field the dziruli massif in western georgia also generated quartz rich sandstones but these are not thought to have entered the black sea

origin and age of rift related fluorite and manganese deposits from the san rafael massif argentina abstract the san rafael massif is characterized by widespread fluorite and manganese epithermal ore deposits whose origin has been under debate to the present isotopic sm nd and k ar and geochemical trace elements and ree data of fluorite and manganese ore allowed to establish the age and genesis of the deposits and to propose a regional genetic model the fluorite deposits were formed during the upper triassic lower jurassic as a result of the triassic rifting that launched a hydrothermal activity at regional scale the hydrothermal fluids had low t and high fo2 with fluorine probably derived from a mantle source and ree scavenged from the volcanics of the gondwanan choiyoi magmatic cycle upper section the manganese deposits were formed by oxidizing hydrothermal fluids that collected mn from deep sources and also leached ree from the upper section of the choiyoi magmatic cycle during two mineralization episodes one episode was linked to the rift tectonic setting that remained active up to the upper cretaceous and the other was related to an early miocene back arc extensional geodynamic setting both manganese and fluorite deposits were formed in extensional tectonic settings within an epithermal environment near the surface and can be ascribed to the general model of detachment related deposits

patterns and processes of alteration in the lavas and dykes of the troodos ophiolite cyprus alteration patterns in the lavas and dykes of the troodos ophiolite cyprus record a complex history of axial hydrothermal alteration crustal aging and subsequent uplift and emplacement of the ophiolite field mapping shows that distribution of five alteration zones each with distinct mineralogical geochemical and hydrologie characteristics is influenced by igneous stratigraphy structure and the nature and thickness of the overlying sediments paragenetic sequences of secondary minerals indicate that alteration conditions changed progressively as the crust cooled and moved off axis along spreading axes low temperatures 50 c were maintained by the rapid flow of seawater in and out of the lavas and only minimal alteration took place in contrast lower water rock ratios and higher temperatures 200 c in the dykes promoted extensive seawater rock interaction although the sharp rise in temperature between the two regimes generally coincides with the lava dyke transition late stage intrusions or hydrothermal upwelling zones locally cause high temperature alteration to extend upward into the lavas as a segment of crust moved off axis temperatures remained low in the lavas and progressively decreased from 250 to 80 c in the dykes high permeability in the uppermost lavas led to the downward migration of an oxidative alteration front whose thickness and spatial distribution was dependent upon the rate and nature of sedimentation and thus the original seafloor morphology although field relations show that alteration has a consistent vertical pattern in troodos the alteration zones are not laterally continuous and the stratigraphie depth of their boundaries varies considerably

timing and spatial distribution of loess and loess like sediments in the mountain areas of the northeastern tibetan plateau abstract most studies on landscape evolution on the tibetan plateau during the late quaternary have mainly focused on using lacustrine records however mantles of sandy silt and paleosols also provide valuable archives for reconstructing holocene paleoenvironmental change yet little is known about the distribution and timing of these late quaternary aeolian sediments to enhance understanding and knowledge of aeolian sediments in tibet and to help reconstruct the nature of late glacial through mid holocene landscape development a loess paleosol sequence the suohuduo section located at the eastern margin of the tibetan plateau at about 4000 m above sea level is examined using sedimentological geochemical and geochronological methods a chronostratigraphy is established using nine optically stimulated luminescence and one radiocarbon ages sedimentation increased during the late glacial and the early holocene with an upwards fining of sediments in the lower part of the section two mid holocene paleosols that date to about 8 5 ka to 7 ka and 5 5 ka to 4 ka reflect more humid climate conditions during the mid holocene than earlier times the upper part of the section is mainly silt which reflects a more open landscape with higher aridity since 4 to 3 ka this time these data support evidence for similar climate paleoenvironmental change in adjacent regions on the tibetan plateau

holocene geomorphological processes and soil development as indicator for environmental change around karakorum upper orkhon valley central mongolia abstract mantles of silt and sand size particles paleosols and fluvial deposits preserve valuable information on holocene environmental change these archives were used to reconstruct the landscape history in the upper orkhon valley close to the former capitals of the uighurs kharbalgasin tuur and the mongolian empire karakorum near the recent town of kharkhorin central mongolia a holistic approach involving the use of high spatial resolution geomorphological mapping sedimentological and geochemical analysis palynology and geochronology shows several phases of landscape activity and stability in the region this includes phases of fluvial erosion aeolian sedimentation and soil formation by using luminescence and radiocarbon dating phases of landscape change indicated by soil formation occurred mainly at around 6 5 6 ka pollen data and a weakly humic horizon at around 1 0 ka probably indicate enhanced moisture supply in the region and a reduction of human activity between the time of the reigns of the uighurs 8th 9th century ad and the mongols 1220 1388 ad since 3 ka especially within the last two millennia of historical time 300 b c present a more intensified human occupation in the upper orkhon valley occurred in this region this included a more densely grazing of cattle to supply the growing population demands of the uighurs and mongols this overgrazing caused an increase in erosion and the formation and deepening of fluvial gullies together with soil deflation and subsequent deposition of aeolian sediments human activity in addition to climate has been dominant in driving landscape evolution of this region since the late holocene

deep sea paleotemperature record of extreme warmth during the cretaceous oxygen isotope analyses of well preserved foraminifera from blake nose 30 n paleolatitude north atlantic and globally distributed deep sea sites provide a long term paleotemperature record for the late albian maastrichtian interval that is difficult to reconcile with the existence of significant cretaceous ice sheets given reasonable assumptions about the isotopic composition of cretaceous seawater our results suggest that middle bathyal water temperatures at blake nose increased from 12 c in the late albian through middle cenomanian to a maximum of 20 c during the latest cenomanian and earliest turonian bottom waters were again 12 c during the middle campanian and cooled to a minimum of 9 c during the maastrichtian correlative middle bathyal foraminifera from other ocean basins yield paleotemperature estimates that are very similar to those from blake nose comparison of global bottom water temperatures and latitudinal thermal gradients suggests that global climate changed from a warm greenhouse state during the late albian through late cenomanian to a hot greenhouse phase during the latest cenomanian through early campanian then to cool greenhouse conditions during the mid campanian through maastrichtian

holocene moisture evolution in arid central asia and its out of phase relationship with asian monsoon history we synthesize palaeoclimate records from the mid latitude arid asian region dominated today by the westerlies arid central asia aca to evaluate spatial and temporal patterns of moisture changes during the holocene sediment records from i i takes with reliable chronologies and robust proxies were selected to reconstruct moisture histories based on a five class ordinal wetness index with assigned scores from the driest to wettest periods at individual sites for 200 year time slices the proxies used in these records include pollen and diatom assemblages sediment lithology lake levels and geochemistry mainly isotope data the results of our synthesis show that aca as a whole experienced synchronous and coherent moisture changes during the holocene namely a dry early holocene a wetter less dry early to mid holocene and a moderately wet late holocene during the early holocene most of the lakes experienced very low water levels and even dried out before ca 8 ka 1 ka 1000cal a bp hence the effective moisture history in aca is out of phase with that in monsoonal asia as documented by numerous palaeoclimate records in monsoonal asia a strong summer monsoon and humid climate characterized the early holocene and a weakened summer monsoon and drier climate prevailed during the late holocene which were mainly controlled by changes in low latitude summer insolation in contrast we propose that the pattern of holocene effective moisture evolution in the westerly dominated aca was mainly determined by north atlantic sea surface temperatures ssts and high latitude air temperatures that affect the availability amount and transport of water vapor also topography of the tibetan plateau and adjacent asian highlands could have contributed to the intensification of dry climate in aca during the early holocene as a result of strengthening the subsidence of dry air masses associated with stronger uplift motion on the plateau by intense heating under a stronger summer insolation summer insolation might have played a key role in directly controlling moisture conditions in aca but only after the northern hemisphere ice sheets had disappeared in the mid and late holocene c 2007 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

interlaboratory comparison study of calibration standards for foraminiferal mg ca thermometry an interlaboratory study of mg ca and sr ca ratios in three commercially available carbonate reference materials bam rs3 cmsi 1767 and ecrm 752 1 was performed with the participation of 25 laboratories that determine foraminiferal mg ca ratios worldwide these reference materials containing mg ca in the range of foraminiferal calcite 0 8 mmol mol to 6 mmol mol were circulated with a dissolution protocol for analysis participants were asked to make replicate dissolutions of the powdered samples and to analyze them using the instruments and calibration standards routinely used in their laboratories statistical analysis was performed in accordance with the international standardization organization standard 5725 which is based on the analysis of variance anova technique repeatability rsdr an indicator of intralaboratory precision for mg ca determinations in solutions after centrifuging increased with decreasing mg ca ranging from 0 78 at mg ca 5 56 mmol mol to 1 15 at mg ca 0 79 mmol mol reproducibility rsdr an indicator of the interlaboratory method precision for mg ca determinations in centrifuged solutions was noticeably worse than repeatability ranging from 4 5 at mg ca 5 56 mmol mol to 8 7 at mg ca 0 79 mmol mol results of this study show that interlaboratory variability is dominated by inconsistencies among instrument calibrations and highlight the need to improve interlaboratory compatibility additionally the study confirmed the suitability of these solid standards as reference materials for foraminiferal mg ca and sr ca determinations provided that appropriate procedures are adopted to minimize and to monitor possible contamination from silicate mineral phases

source versus depositional controls on sandstone composition in a foreland basin the el imperial formation mid carboniferous lower permian san rafael basin western argentina abstract the el imperial formation mid carboniferous lower permian constitutes a progradational sandstone rich succession deposited in the san rafael foreland basin of western argentina four facies associations have been identified a basal glacial marine association a shallow marine association a deltaic association and an uppermost fluvial association sand prone deposits in the deltaic association are represented by prodelta and delta front shales and subordinate fine sandstones facies a deltaic platform wave reworked channel mouth bar sandstones facies b and fluvial dominated distributary channel sandstones facies c analysis of framework grains of sandstone samples from facies b and c shows two distinct mineral assemblages or petrofacies the quartzose petrofacies is characterized by high contents of quartz and low percentages of feldspar and lithic grains the quartzolithic petrofacies shows an increase in labile components in particular lithic fragments and a concomitant decrease in quartz the quartzolithic petrofacies shows a source signature average detrital modes of sandstones from this petrofacies are similar to those from overlying fluvial sandstones all wave reworked channel mouth bar sandstones facies b correspond compositionally to the quartzose petrofacies whereas detrital modes from the distributary channel sandstones facies c fall into the quartzolithic petrofacies this correspondence between depositional environment and petrofacies suggests a strong depositional influence on composition depositional signature abrasion mechanical breakdown by wave action in shallow marine environments accounts for the quartz rich nature and paucity of labile grains in the quartzose petrofacies

stratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental implications of pleistocene and holocene aeolian sediments in the lhasa area southern tibet china abstract along the middle and lower reaches of the kyichu river and its tributaries lhasa area southern tibet a multidisciplinary study was carried out in order to investigate the areal distribution sedimentological properties ages and palaeoenvironmental implications of aeolian deposits including intercalated palaeosols this research was initiated to investigate to what extent southern tibet is influenced by past human activity as even recent evaluations perceive the present treeless desertic environment as natural fifteen profiles were recorded at an altitude of 3540 4580 m a s l with subsequent sedimentological geochronological osl ams 14 c and palaeobotanical charcoal analyses sediment properties of both loesses and aeolian sands reveal an origin from aeolian sorting of nearby fluvial deposits the calculated ages are the oldest obtained thus far on aeolian sediments from southern and interior tibet revealing natural aeolian sedimentation before and around the last glacial maximum c 20 ka however a distinct portion of late holocene sandy aeolian sediments also occurs both the evidence for the aeolian dynamics widespread pleistocene loess and aeolian sand deposition local late holocene aeolian sand deposition modern reactivation of widespread pleistocene aeolian sands and the palaeobotanical findings late holocene vegetation change from a tree bearing to a widely treeless landscape provide evidence that the lhasa area was strongly influenced by human activity since at least the late neolithic c 4200 cal yrs bp thus the present day desertic environment might not primarily be a result of the semiarid climate or the high altitude conditions but rather of activities of the humans and their collateral effects however once established this semi natural ecosystem persisted controlled by strong grazing firewood extraction erosion and harsh edaphic conditions preventing the recovery of trees

uranium lead isotopic ages of plagiogranites from the troodos ophiolite cyprus and their tectonic significance zircon populations from two plagiogranites in the plutonic section of the troodos ophiolite yield u pb dates between 90 3 0 7 and 92 4 0 7 ma zircons from one of the two samples yield u pb dates of 90 3 0 7 and 92 1 0 7 ma this difference is greater than our analytical error and the zircons are therefore considered to be slightly discordant two fractions from another sample are internally and externally concordant and have an average date of 91 6 1 4 ma this date is adopted as the age of plagiogranite crystallization the plutonic section of the troodos ophiolite is complex in that several generations of intrusion can be identified the plagiogranites occur at the top of the intrusive section and represent fractionated residua of magma chambers related to the lower pillow lavas they are possibly slightly older than small ultramafic layered complexes that represent the final intrusive episode within the troodos ophiolite there is good agreement between our results and the ages of radiolaria which occur in umbers intercalated with the upper pillow lavas of troodos blome and irwin 1985 this shows that the 75 to 85 ma k ar dates on the lavas and sheeted dikes desmet et al 1978 delaloye and desmet 1979 delaloye et al 1980 staudigel et al 1986 represent age resetting unrelated to ophiolite formation the troodos u pb zircon ages are slightly lower than u pb zircon ages from the samail ophiolite in oman which vary between 93 5 and 97 9 ma and average 95 ma tilton et al 1981 the small difference in age between the troodos and the samail ophiolites and the geochemical similarities of basalts from both complexes to island arc volcanic rocks imply that a 3000 km axis of rift related island arcs formed between 91 and 98 ma emplacement of the ophiolites followed during the early maastrichtian

evolution of early cenozoic marine temperatures the equator to high southern latitude sea surface and vertical temperature gradients are reconstructed from oxygen isotope values of planktonic and benthic foraminifers for the following five time intervals late paleocene early eocene early middle eocene late eocene and early oligocene paleotemperatures are calculated using standard oxygen isotope temperature equations with adjustments to account for 1 variations in sea water 18o related to changes in global ice volume over time and 2 latitudinal gradients in surface water 18o these reconstructions indicate that sea surface temperatures sst of the southern oceans in the early eocene were as high as 15 c whereas temperatures during the late paleocene and early middle eocene reached maximum levels of 10 12 c by the late eocene and early oligocene high latitude sst had declined to 6 and 4 c respectively for most of the early paleogene low latitude sub tropical temperatures remained constant and well within the range of holocene temperatures 24 ndash 25 c but by the late eocene and early oligocene declined to values in the range of 18 to 22 c the late paleogene apparent decline in tropical temperatures however might be artificial because of dissolution of near surface foraminifera tests which biased sediment assemblages toward deeper dwelling foraminifera moreover according to recent plate reconstructions it appears that the majority of sites upon which the late eocene and early oligocene tropical temperatures were previously established were located either in or near regions likely to have been influenced by upwelling global deepwater temperature on average paralleled southern ocean sst for most of the paleogene we speculate based on the overall timing and character of marine sea surface temperature variation during the paleogene that some combination of both higher levels of greenhouse gases and increased heat transport was responsible for the exceptional high latitude warmth of the early eocene

hydrothermal alteration of basalt by seawater under seawater dominated conditions fresh mid ocean ridge basalt glass and diabase have been reacted with seawater at 150 300 c 500 bar and water rock mass ratios of 50 62 and 125 using experimental apparatus which allowed on line sampling of solution to monitor reaction progress these experiments characterize reaction under what we have called seawater dominated conditions of hydrothermal alteration in an experiment at 300 c basalt glass undergoing alteration removed nearly all mg2 from an amount of seawater 50 times its own mass in the process the glass was converted entirely to mixed layer smectite chlorite anhydrite and minor hematite removal of mg from seawater occurred as a mg oh 2 component incorporated into the secondary clay this produced a precipitous drop in solution ph early in the experiment accompanied by a dramatic increase in the concentrations of fe mn and zn in solution as mg removal neared completion and the glass was hydrolyzed ph rose again and heavy metal concentrations dropped at water rock ratios of 62 and 125 and 150 300 c the mineral assemblage produced was similar to that at a water rock ratio of 50 solution chemistry however contrasted with the earlier experiment in that mg concentrations in solution were greater and ph lower this caused significant leaching of heavy metals at 300 c nearly all of the na ca cu zn and co2 and most of the k ba sr and mn were leached from the silicates h2s al si and possibly co were also significantly mobilized whereas v cr and ni were not little or no seawater sulfate was reduced although submarine hot spring solutions sampled to date along mid ocean ridges clearly come from rock dominated hydrothermal systems evidence from ocean floor metabasalts and from heat flow studies indicates that seawater dominated conditions of alteration prevail at least locally both in axial hightemperature systems and in ridge flank systems at lower temperatures

timing of uplift of the troodos massif cyprus constrained by sedimentary and magnetic polarity evidence abstract plio pleistocene sediments exposed around the ophiolitic troodos massif document spectacular uplift from below sea level to a maximum height of c 2000 m sedimentation reflects a dominant control of focused tectonic uplift modified by the effects of glacio eustatic sea level change and climatic change understanding the uplift and controls on deposition has been hindered by an inadequate age model here we present a preliminary investigation of the polarity of remanent magnetizations recorded within the upper part of the pliocene succession in the pissouri and mesaoria basins and from the pleistocene marine terrace deposits that border the troodos massif when integrated with available lithostatigraphic and biostratigraphic data the main results are as follows focused uplift of the troodos massif began during the late pliocene either between 2 14 and 1 95 ma or immediately prior to 1 77 ma shallow marine ophiolite derived clastic and bioclastic sediments accumulated in both the mesaoria and pissouri basins implying that the troodos massif was uplifted as a single tectonic entity non marine deltaic and fluvial facies prograded into both of the basins during the pleistocene 1 77 ma recent marine terraces in sw and south cyprus were cut and covered by littoral sediments from

isotopic and trace element composition of volcanic glasses from the akaki canyon cyprus implications for the origin of the troodos ophiolite abstract we report major elements k rb cs sr ba sc cr ni hf ta th and ree concentrations and isotopic compositions of sr nd pb and o of carefully handpicked volcanic glasses from the akaki river section of the troodos ophiolite complex on the basis of sr and o isotopic composition and fe 2 o 3 feo ratios nine of the ten glasses analyzed are considered to be fresh even with respect to those elements that are easily affected by alteration the glasses range in composition from basaltic andesite to dacite incompatible element concentrations in the mafic compositions are low 10 chondritic and the light ree are strongly depleted however the ratios of low field strength elements k rb cs sr th to high field strength elements ta hf ti and rare earth elements are higher than those in n morb nd isotopic compositions show a very small range with e nd t 80ma varying from 6 5 to 7 5 initial 87 sr 86 sr ratios range from 0 7033 to 0 7040 pb isotope ratios have a restricted range with 206 pb 204 pb 18 60 18 70 207 pb 204 pb 15 55 15 59 and 208 pb 204 pb 38 08 38 51 the oxygen isotopic composition for fresh glasses falls within the range reported for fresh mafic mantle derived volcanics with 18 o varying from 5 4 to 6 5 all geochemical characteristics of the troodos volcanic glasses are similar to those observed in supra subduction zone volcanics but we cannot distinguish between an early stage island arc or back arc origin for the troodos ophiolite on a geochemical basis only however considering our data and previously published geologic and geochemical data we suggest that the troodos ophiolite formed in the earliest stages of island arc development

the sedimentary record of carboniferous rivers continuing influence of land plant evolution on alluvial processes and palaeozoic ecosystems abstract evidence from modern rivers and the deep time geological record attests to the fundamental importance of plant life for the construction of physical habitats within fluvial environments data from an extensive literature review and original fieldwork demonstrates that many landforms and geomorphic features of modern river systems appear in the palaeozoic stratigraphic record once terrestrial vegetation had adopted certain evolutionary advances for example stable point bars are associated with the onset of rooted plants in the siluro devonian and avulsive and anabranching fluvial systems become common at the same time as extensive arborescent vegetation in the carboniferous in this paper we demonstrate a correlation between the diversification of physical fluvial environments and the expansion of terrestrial fauna and flora with an emphasis on the culmination of these trends within carboniferous alluvial systems many extrinsic factors have been considered as possible controls on the evolutionary timelines of terrestrialization for organisms however a fundamental prerequisite for achieving terrestrial biodiversity was the variety of physical habitats especially riparian systems available for newly evolved organisms in association with abundant lowland meandering systems the widespread appearance across carboniferous alluvial plains of fixed channel and anabranching reaches created further physical landforms for colonization and would have promoted increasingly complex hyporheic flow regimes furthermore the associated increase in arborescent vegetation and supply of large woody debris to inland and coastal rivers would have created a wealth of microhabitats for continental organisms we argue that the expanding extent and diversity of physical alluvial niches during the palaeozoic is an underappreciated driver of the terrestrialization of early continental life the study of the deep time fossil and stratigraphic record also illustrates that vegetation is a fundamental prerequisite for the creation of biogeomorphic alluvial landforms and physical habitats and microhabitats

osl dating of a holocene loess paleosol sequence in the southern loess plateau china optically stimulated luminescence osl dating of polymineral fine grained loess samples collected from the southern loess plateau of china was conducted using the single aliquot regenerative dose sar protocol a double sar procedure in which aliquots are subjected to both infrared ir and blue stimulations was used and two sets of equivalent dose d e determinations were produced these doses are assumed to be predominantly related to the feldspathic and quartz fine grain populations respectively the results revealed that the osl ages estimated by infrared stimulated luminescence irsl signals and those estimated by post ir stimulated luminescence post ir osl signals disagreed specifically the ages estimated using the irsl signals were smaller than those estimated using post ir osl signals the results of an anomalous fading test of the two types of osl signals revealed that the post ir osl signals from the etched sub sample by h2sif6 and hf and the un etched sub sample did not fade significantly however the irsl signals from the un etched sub sample showed obvious signs of fading these findings indicate that the lower age estimated by irsl is due to the anomalous fading of feldspar ir signals in the polymineral fine grains for samples collected from greater than 100 cm the estimates of their osl ages using two types of luminescence signals generally agreed with their pre estimated ages especially those of the post ir osl signals however for the three samples that were collected from a depth of less than 100 cm their osl ages were remarkably underestimated possibly due to the enhanced human activity such as soil cultivation that has occurred in the region since 3000 a b p

a coupled environmental system formed at about 2 5 ma in east asia abstract the somewhat abrupt commencement of loess deposition on a large scale in north central china is palaeomagnetically measured at about 2 5 ma the formation of the dynamical conditions responsible for windblown loess processes implies a reorganization of the atmospheric circulation over eastern asia it is speculated that at that time the accelerated uplift of the tibetan plateau had reached a threshold height giving rise to the intensification and northward shift of the siberian high and deepening of the cyclone in the lee of the tibetan plateau the uplift of tibet and the resulting reorganization of atmospheric circulation at about 2 5 ma would initiate a coupled environmental system tibetan plateau inland desert loess plateau in eastern asia that could be a key system in understanding the onset of glaciation in northern hemisphere and climatic change in the quaternary the climatic shift from near continuous warm condition before 2 5 ma to frequent and chaotic fluctuations after is speculated to be triggered to a significant extent by the uplift of the tibetan plateau an orography cold surge albedo temperature feedback mechanism is developed in explaining the harsher climate over east asia during glacial time and is thought to be one of the major contributors in promoting glacial development on the globe

late quaternary landscape evolution in the kunlun mountains and qaidam basin northern tibet a framework for examining the links between glaciation lake level changes and alluvial fan formation abstract the qaidam basin in northern tibet is one of the largest hyper arid intermontane basins on earth alluvial fans pediment surfaces shorelines and a thick succession of sediments within the basin coupled with moraines and associated landforms in the adjacent high mountain catchments of the kunlun mountains record a complex history of late quaternary paleoenvironmental change and landscape evolution the region provides an ideal natural laboratory to examine the interaction between tectonics and climate within a continent continent collision zone and to quantify rates of landscape evolution as controlled by climate and the associated glacial and hydrological changes in hyper arid and adjacent high altitude environments geomorphic mapping analysis of landforms and sediments and terrestrial cosmogenic radionuclide surface exposure and optically stimulated luminescence dating serve to define the timing of formation of late quaternary landforms along the southern and northwestern margins of the qaidam basin and in the burhan budai shan of the kunlun mountains adjacent to the basin on the south these dates provide a framework that suggests links between climatic amelioration deglaciation lake desiccation and alluvial fan evolution at least three glacial advances are defined in the burham budai shan of the kunlun mountains on the northern side of this range these occurred in the penultimate glacial cycle or early in the last glacial cycle during the last glacial maximum lgm lateglacial and during the holocene on the south side of the range advances occurred during the penultimate glacial cycle mis 3 and possibly the lgm lateglacial or holocene several distinct phases of alluvial fan sedimentation are likewise defined alluvial fans formed on the southern side of the kunlun mountains prior to 200 ka ice contact alluvial fans formed during the penultimate glacial and during mis 3 extensive incised alluvial fans that form the main valley fills north of the burham budai and extend into the qaidam basin are dated to 30 ka these ages suggest that there was a period of alluvial fan aggradation and valley filling that persisted until desiccation of the large lakes in the qaidam basin post 30 ka led to base level lowering and active incision of streams into the valley fills the continued lateglacial and holocene desiccation likely led to further degradation of the valley fills ice wedge casts in the qaidam basin date to 15 ka indicating significant lateglacial climatic amelioration while holocene loess deposits north of the burham bdudai suggest that aridity has increased in the region since the early holocene from these observations we infer that the major landscape changes within high glaciated mountains and their adjacent hyper arid intermontane basins such as the kunlun mountains and qaidam basin occur rapidly over millennial timescales during periods of climatic instability

reverse osmosis contributing to metal zoning in porphyry type deposits a case study abstract representing the main source of copper in the world porphyry copper deposits have been widely studied different models have tried to explain the observed metal zoning but they did not completely explain it a permian cu mo porphyry deposit in the san rafael massif in argentina shows a similar metal zoning pattern to those described elsewhere however some particular features depart from the conventional cooling model based on data from this deposit and on theoretical background we present and discuss reverse osmosis as a complementary process which could have contributed to porphyry metal zoning during the phyllic stage the existence of potential energy gradients and the different relative rejection values for distinct ions make reverse osmosis a natural mineral concentration process at temperatures corresponding to those of porphyry phyllic halo formation and in presence of a phyllic clay membrane cu ag zn and pb would show a strong osmotic differentiation that could have led to the observed metal zoning

hydrothermal circulation through mid ocean ridge flanks fluxes of heat and magnesium thermally driven convection of seawater occurs through oceanic crust of all ages at the seafloor spreading axis on mid ocean ridge flanks and in the ocean basins at the ridge axis and on the flanks circulating seawater produces a major chemical exchange between the oceans and the crust based on heat budget constraints and the composition of hot springs between 10 and 40 of the river flux of mg can be taken up during high temperature alteration of the basaltic crust along the ridge axis most of the hydrothermal heat loss however occurs on the mid ocean ridge flanks where the temperatures are lower and the seawater flux correspondingly larger the estimated heat loss on the flanks is so large that upwelling must occur over a large fraction 5 30 of the seafloor less than 65 ma in age if temperatures are 20 c and seepage velocities are on the order of 10 to 100 cm y the circulating seawater needs to lose on average less than 1 2 of its mg content in order to solve the mg mass balance for the oceans chemical fluxes through mid ocean ridge flanks are poorly known because of the wide range of crustal conditions that prevail there and the paucity of study to date the most critical parameter for characterizing crustal conditions is temperature in basement which is a function of crustal age basement topography and sediment thickness and permeability basement temperature which can usually be inferred from heat flow and seismic reflection surveys largely determines the change in the composition of seawater circulating through basement this change can be inferred in turn from profiles of sediment porewater chemistry all sites studied to date with temperatures at the sediment basement interface 25 c have a large component of advective heat loss and show only a small 80 mg loss both types of sites may be important for chemical fluxes whether the cooler sites are important depends on how much the seawater changes in composition as it circulates through the crust only small changes are needed whether the warmer sites are important depends on how much heat is lost by advection in this type of setting the warmer sites could produce significant chemical fluxes even if they are scarce they could account for the entire river input of mg to the oceans even if they represent only 8 20 of the total advective heat loss on ridge flanks

calcium isotope δ 44 40 ca fractionation along hydrothermal pathways logatchev field mid atlantic ridge 14 45 n we investigate the logatchev hydrothermal field at the mid atlantic ridge 14 degrees 45 n to constrain the calcium isotope hydrothermal flux into the ocean during the transformation of seawater to a hydrothermal solution the ca concentration of pristine seawater ca sw increases from about 10 mm to about 32 mm in the hydrothermal fluid endmember ca hydend and thereby adopts a delta ca 44 40 hydend of 0 95 0 07 parts per thousand relative to seawater sw and a sr 87 sr 86 isotope ratio of 0 7034 4 we demonstrate that delta ca 44 40 hydend is higher than that of the bedrock at the logatchev field from mass balance calculations we deduce a delta ca 44 40 of 1 17 0 04 parts per thousand sw for the host rocks in the reaction zone and 1 45 0 057 parts per thousand sw for the isotopic composition of the entire hydrothermal cell of the logatchev field the values are isotopically lighter than the currently assumed delta ca 44 40 for bulk earth of 0 92 0 187 parts per thousand sw skulan j depaolo d j and owens t l 1997 biological control of calcium isotopic abundances in the global calcium cycle geochim cosmochim acta 61 12 2505 2510 and challenge previous assumptions of no ca isotope fractionation between hydrothermal fluid and the oceanic crust zhu p and macdougall j d 1998 calcium isotopes in the marine environment and the oceanic calcium cycle geochim cosmochim acta 62 10 1691 1698 schmitt a d chabeaux f and stille p 2003 the calcium riverine and hydrothermal isotopic fluxes and the oceanic calcium mass balance earth planet sci lett 6731 1 16 here we propose that ca isotope fractionation along the fluid flow pathway of the logatchev field occurs during the precipitation of anhydrite two anhydrite samples from the logatchev hydrothermal field show an average fractionation of about delta 44 4c ca 0 57 parts per thousand relative to their assumed parental solutions ca isotope ratios in aragonites from carbonate veins from odp drill cores indicate aragonite precipitation directly from seawater at low temperatures with an average delta ca 44 40 of 1 54 0 08 parts per thousand sw the relatively large fractionation between the aragonite precipitates and seawater in combination with their frequent abundance in weathered mafic and ultramafic rocks suggest a reconsideration of the marine ca isotope budget in particular with regard to ocean crust alteration c 2008 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

calcium isotope fractionation in calcite and aragonite abstract calcium isotope fractionation was measured on skeletal aragonite and calcite from different marine biota and on inorganic calcite precipitation temperatures ranged from 0 to 28 c calcium isotope fractionation shows a temperature dependence in accordance with previous observations 1000 ln cc 1 4 0 021 t c for calcite and 1000 ln ar 1 9 0 017 t c for aragonite within uncertainty the temperature slopes are identical for the two polymorphs however at all temperatures calcium isotopes are more fractionated in aragonite than in calcite the offset in 44 40 ca is about 0 6 the underlying mechanism for this offset may be related to the different coordination numbers and bond strengths of the calcium ions in calcite and aragonite crystals or to different ca reaction behavior at the solid liquid interface recently the observed temperature dependence of the ca isotope fractionation was explained quantitatively by the temperature control on precipitation rates of calcium carbonates in an experimental setting lemarchand et al 2004 we show that this mechanism can in principle also be applied to caco 3 precipitation in natural environments in normal marine settings following this model ca isotope fractionation in marine ca carbonates is primarily controlled by precipitation rates on the other hand the larger ca isotope fractionation of aragonite compared to calcite can not be explained by different precipitation rates the rate control model of ca isotope fractionation predicts a strong dependence of the ca isotopic composition of carbonates on ambient co 3 2 concentration while this model is in general accordance with our observations in marine carbonates cultured specimens of the planktic foraminifer orbulina universa show no dependence of ca isotope fractionation on the ambient co 3 2 concentration the latter observation implies that the carbonate chemistry in the calcifying vesicles of the foraminifer is independent from the ambient carbonate ion concentration of the surrounding water

origin of rodingite forming fluids constrained by calcium and strontium isotope ratios in the leka ophiolite complex abstract alteration of oceanic lithosphere plays an important role in the global element cycling due to its dominant abundance on the earth s surface the formation of rodingites a ca rich lithology that occurs intimately associated with ca depleted serpentinite complexes is a widespread process during strong alteration of ocean floor lithologies and may represent a key process that influences the global ca cycle stable ca and radiogenic sr isotope compositions of rodingites and associated lithologies from the leka ophiolite complex norway preserve mantle signatures and thus provide evidence that the ca and sr sources for rodingitisation are dominantly mantle derived with no detectable seawater input the difference of 0 7 in 44 40ca of different phases found in the rocks is overall consistent with inter mineral fractionation at high temperatures related to the cao bonding environment but there are also indications for isotopic disequilibria between non cogenetic mineral phases while the water required for rodingite formation may originate from seawater the dissolved ca and sr involved in the mineral reactions during rodingitisation plg ca gros clz al can be balanced at a local scale being derived from the serpentinisation of mantle peridotites cpx1 h2o al srp chlorite ca cpx2 consequently rodingites do not act as a sink for oceanic ca instead they are a sink for ca released during serpentinisation of the oceanic lithospheric mantle

the calcium isotopic composition of carbonate hardground cements a new record of changes in ocean chemistry abstract reconstructing changes in the calcium isotopic composition 44ca of the ocean over earth history has been challenging this difficulty is due to the large range of calcium isotope fractionation factors during mineral precipitation and the potential for overwriting the initial 44ca of minerals during shallow marine diagenesis we present a new 44ca record measured in carbonate hardground cements an inorganic carbonate mineral precipitate that rapidly forms at or near the sediment water interface the range in the 44ca for any particular carbonate hardground cements is between 0 05 and 0 56 in some cases the progressive increase in the 44ca during precipitation can be observed consistent with precipitation in a closed system our data show an average calcium isotope fractionation during carbonate hardground cement precipitation that is 0 57 0 27 similar to the calcium isotope fractionation factor for inorganic calcite precipitates in previous laboratory and modelling studies and closer to what is considered a kinetic end member calcium isotope fractionation than growth at equilibrium this is consistent with the rapid carbonate mineral precipitation expected for carbonate hardground cements our 44ca record over the phanerozoic is similar to other calcium bearing mineral records over the same time interval with average 44ca becoming lower going back in time by about 0 5 to 0 7 our results add further support for the evolution of seawater 44ca over time and we discuss the possible causes of these changes with suggestions for future studies

holocene geomorphic processes and landscape evolution in the lower reaches of the orkhon river northern mongolia abstract geomorphological and sedimentological investigations in the lower reaches of the orkhon river in northern mongolia provide evidence for late pleistocene terraces holocene soil development aeolian accumulation soil erosion and slope wash optically stimulated luminescence osl and radiocarbon dating of aeolian and colluvial sediments including paleosols show different sedimentation and soil formation periods luminescence data of 12 3 ka and 11 0 ka were obtained for basal sand deposits overlying slope bedrock and the pleistocene terraces of the orkhon river osl and radiocarbon data from aeolian sediments and paleosols indicated soil formation at around 11 10 ka 7 6 ka and 3 ka these periods can be associated with more humidity found in other areas of central asia as well

quaternary paleoenvironmental change on the tibetan plateau and adjacent areas western china and western mongolia abstract this paper summarises the nature of climatic change during the last glacial interglacial cycle on the tibetan plateau and adjacent areas the results are derived from inland glacier fluctuations lake level changes and dust loess records of central asia including tibet these are based on our field investigations from 1988 to 1998 and literature surveys the changing extents of different climatic controlled geomorphic landscapes and vegetation zones help to provide estimates of the magnitude of climatic change features such as ice wedge casts loess and palaeosols ela reconstruction s and palaeobotanical data are used to help reconstruct palaeoprecipitation and palaeotemperatures weathering characteristics the overlying strata and some luminescence dates indicate that there are two main glacial ice advances during the last glacial cycle these correspond to marine oxygen isotope stages ois 2 and 4 in some areas as the eastern or northern margin of the tibetan plateau remnants of older glaciations are preserved higher lake levels in the deserts of central asia and on the tibetan plateau are dated to 40 to 25 ka ois 3 and to late glacial early to mid holocene periods our work supports the view that in many areas of central asia cold phases during the last glacial correspond with the maximum extent of glaciers and the periglacial activity the last glaciation produced large alluvial fans alternating with periods of high lake stands on the tibetan plateau however at the northern margin of the plateau in the qaidam basin and in some particular desert areas in western china high lake levels occurred also during the pleistocene and are related with alluvial fans

the role of sedimentation history and lithology on fluid flow and reactions in off axis hydrothermal systems a perspective from the troodos ophiolite abstract off axis hydrothermal systems are thought to carry globally significant chemical fluxes but different ocean crust sections show widely differing extents of alteration making the quantification of these fluxes complex with the aim of better understanding the origin of this diversity in alteration extent we have studied two sections of the lava pile in the troodos ophiolite with distinct sedimentation history and volcanic architecture the akaki section is dominated by pillow lavas and the oldest sediments overlying the crust are 20 myr younger than the ophiolite here there is a 300 m thick zone at the top of the lavas that is enriched in co2 and alkali elements and has high 87sr 86sr and 7li these features indicate extensive chemical exchange with seawater in contrast to the akaki area the onophrious section is dominated by sheet flows and the oldest sediments are of the same age as the ophiolite here the co2 and alkali element enriched zone is much thinner

compared geochemical signatures and the evolution of menez gwen 37 50 n and lucky strike 37 17 n hydrothermal fluids south of the azores triple junction on the mid atlantic ridge during the diva 1 cruise in may 1994 a series of 19 dives was conducted using the french submersible nautile at the topographic highs of three volcanic segments centered at 37 17 n 37 50 n and 38 20 n respectively south of the azores triple junction atj on the mid atlantic ridge mar hydrothermal fluids were collected at the lucky strike ls hydrothermal field discovered at 37 17 n in 1993 and at a new hydrothermal site called menez gwen mgw discovered at 37 50 n during this cruise both systems are relatively shallow compared to other mar systems with seafloor depths of 1700 and 850 m respectively characteristics which make them unique among the already known sites on the mar the characteristics of the ls fluids are the same as in 1993 and include temperatures ranging from 170 c to 324 c variable chlorinities lower than seawater low hydrogen sulfide 3 0 mmol kg high ba concentrations up to 80 mol kg low metal concentrations and high gas contents and distinct chemical end members indicative of significant geographic control of the venting system in contrast the very clear mgw fluids at 37 50 n show a rather uniform exit temperature 285 c and chemical compositions with chlorinities 360 380 mmol kg lower than at ls and corresponding lower concentrations of cations h2s 1 8 mmol kg metals and silica 8 11 5 mmol kg due to the lower temperature t and pressure p of the system in the two systems fluid chemistry is strongly affected by phase separation at the low pressure conditions of these sites phase relations in the nacl h2o system dictate production of an extremely low salinity the higher salinities observed in fluids thus indicate that mixing of extremely low salinity vapor with single phase hydrothermal seawater is the dominant process controlling cl concentrations depletions and enrichments of elements in solutions are also explained by the involvement of fluid rock reactions the enrichment of ba k cs and rb in the fluids is linked to the enriched character of these elements in basalts relatively high ph and ca low li sr and metals are related to the highly altered basaltic substrate in the reaction zone low sr ca and high ca na ratios are explained by albitization within the crust the increase of degassing when approaching the azores may be related to the carbon enriched basaltic crust near the azores hot spot isotopic ratios show that co2 ch4 and helium gases have a magmatic signature compared to other deeper sites on the mar all fluids collected at ls and mgw are gas enriched except for h2s and helium whose both concentration and isotopic ratio compare well with other hydrothermal fluids the high ch4 concentration associated with unsaturated hydrocarbons and the high ch4 3he ratios also suggest a contribution of ch4 generated by serpentinization of ultramafic rocks by fischer tropsch catalysis of co2 reduction

temperature dependence of the strontium distribution coefficient in calcite an experimental study from 408 degrees to 2008 degrees c and application to natural diagenetic calcites abstract the temperature dependence of sr coprecipitation with calcite was determined experimentally in solutions with sr ca ratios and ionic strengths closely resembling marine pore fluids aragoniteto calcite and dolomite to calcite transformations were conducted over a temperature range from 40 to 200 c temperature dependence of the distribution coefficient of strontium in calcite dcsr is significant dcsr in aragonite to calcite experiments varied from 0 046 at 40 c to 0 068 at 200 c dcsr in dolomite to calcite experiments varied from 0 034 at 40 c to 0 062 at 200 c experimental values of dcsr are somewhat dependent on the precursor phase the experimental results are applied to natural diagenetic and hydrothermal calcites recovered from the sediment covered middle valley part of the juan de fuca ridge spreading center ocean drilling program holes 857c and 858d low mg calcites from hole 858d have sr contents appropriate for their present day in situ temperatures and pore water sr values in contrast high mg calcites from hole 858d that precipitated from supersaturated pore waters at inferred high growth rates have elevated sr contents relative to calculated equilibrium values the sr contents of calcites from hole 857c are close to predicted equilibrium values in some instances but are substantially different in others deviations from predicted equilibrium sr contents especially in nodules are attributed to the formation of mixed generations of carbonate precipitating with increasing burial depths and temperatures through pore waters with variable sr composition