sedimentary architecture and depositional controls of a pliocene river dominated delta in the semi isolated dacian basin black sea abstract sedimentological facies models for semi isolated basins are less well developed than those for marine environments but are critical for our understanding of both present day and ancient deltaic sediment records in restricted depositional environments this study considers an 835 m thick sedimentary succession of mid pliocene age which accumulated in the dacian basin a former embayment of the black sea detailed sedimentological and palaeontological analyses reveal a regression from distal prodelta deposits with brackish water faunas to delta top deposits with freshwater faunas sediments contain frequent hyperpycnal plumes and an enrichment in terrestrial organic material ichnofossils and in situ brackish and freshwater faunas deltaic progradation created thin sharply based sand bodies formed by multiple terminal distributary channels covering a wide depositional area the system experienced frequent delta lobe switching resulting in numerous thin parasequences parasequences are overlain by erosive reddish oxidized sand beds enriched in broken abraded brackish and freshwater shells these beds were formed after sediment starvation on top of abandoned delta lobes during each flooding event a robust magnetostratigraphic time frame allowed for comparison between the observed sedimentary cyclicity and the amplitude and frequency of astronomical forcing cycles our results indicate that parasequence frequencies are significantly higher than the number of time equivalent astronomical cycles this suggests that delta lobe switching was due to autogenic processes we consider the observed facies architecture typical for a delta prograding on a low gradient slope into a shallow brackish protected semi isolated basin furthermore in the absence of significant wave and tidal influence sediment progradation in such a protected depositional setting shaped a delta strongly river dominated

applications of organic geochemistry to paleolimnological reconstructions a summary of examples from the laurentian great lakes the organic matter content of lake sediments contains information that helps to reconstruct past environmental conditions evaluate histories of climate change and assess impacts of humans on local ecosystems the elemental isotopic and molecular compositions of organic matter buried in sediment provide evidence of the biota that have lived in a lake and its catchment area and they serve as proxies of organic matter delivery and accumulation sedimentary records from the north american great lakes provide examples of applications of organic geochemistry to paleolimnological reconstructions the records of these lakes date from retreat of the laurentide ice sheet around 12 ka include the mid holocene hypsithermal and show consequences of recent human changes low corg ntotal ratios indicate that most of the sediment organic matter in the great lakes is from algal production yet changes in biomarker molecule compositions also show that varying amounts of land plant organic matter have been delivered to the lakes elevated algal productivity that accompanies nutrient enrichments of lake waters is recorded as excursions to less negative 13c values in the organic matter of sediments that were deposited in the 1960s and 1970s increased organic carbon mass accumulation rates mirror the isotopic excursions in most parts of the great lakes accumulations of petroleum residues and pyrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments identify fluvial and eolian delivery of organic matter components to different parts of the great lakes emerging applications of multiple and novel organic geochemical proxies to paleolimnological reconstructions are promising yet some potentially important measurements remain underutilized

a coal depositional model for the durham coal measures of ne england the upper carboniferous westphalian coal measures of the durham coalfield were deposited on a broad flat deltaic plain in early westphalian a times a lower delta plain setting prevailed evolving through southward deltaic progradation into an upper delta plain by mid westphalian a detailed facies analysis of large opencast exposures supported by extensive subsurface data has shown that a hierarchy of depositional controls operated across the durham area during westphalian times i on the large scale depositional geometry was controlled by patterns of major delta progradation and switching ii on the medium scale by a combination of structurally and compactionally induced subsidence and iii on the small scale by local sedimentary processes and subsidence patterns these observations form the basis of a coal depositional model for the durham coal measures which predicts that the thickest coals are to be found in upper delta plain domains controlled by compactional subsidence and not underlain by substantial channel sandstones this model may also be applicable to other coalfields of northern england and to ancient delta plain sequences elsewhere in the world

fluvial facies model of the ganga river sediments india abstract the river ganga flows from the northwest to the southeast following the lineaments developed in response to the himalayan tectonics ganga sediments show a large number of facies developments throughout the study area from hardwar to kachhla the active channel deposits are marked by the development of large scale facies in gravel and coarse sand small scale facies comprising fine sand silt and clay are developed in inactive channel deposits and overbank deposits the depositional model shows a progressive decrease in particle size thickness of units and scale of cross bedded sets from the lower to the upper parts of sequences as well as from upstream to downstream the sedimentation of the ganga basin is seasonally and tectonically controlled

investigating experimental knapping damage on an antler hammer a pilot study using high resolution imaging and analytical techniques organic bone antler wood knapping tools were undoubtedly a component of early human tool kits since the lower palaeolithic previous studies have identified pitting and the occasional presence of embedded flint flakes as important features for recognizing archaeological bone and antler percussors however no systematic protocol of analysis has been suggested for the study of this rare archaeological material here we present qualitative and quantitative results of a preliminary analysis of an experimental knapping hammer using a novel combination of microscopy focus variation optical microscope and scanning electron microscope micro ct scanning and energy dispersive x ray spectroscopy these imaging and analytical techniques are used to characterize use damage from the manufacture of handaxes this paper highlights the strengths and weakness of each technique use wear on the working area included attritional bone loss micro striations and compaction of the outer layer of the antler matrix from repeated hitting of the beam against the sharp edge of the handaxe during knapping embedded flint flakes were also identified in the pits and grooves this combination of high resolution imaging techniques is applicable to fragile archaeological specimens including those encrusted by sediment or encased in matrix

holocene vegetation and land use changes in response to climatic changes in the forelands of the southwestern alps italy the holocene sediment of lago piccolo di avigliana piedmont italy 356 m a s l was dated by 14 c and analysed for pollen to reconstruct the vegetation history of the area the early and mid holocene pollen record shows environmental responses to centennial scale climatic changes as evidenced by independent palaeoclimatic proxies when human impact was low or negligible con tinental mixed oak forests decreased at ca 9300 bc in response to the early holocene preboreal cli matic oscillation abies alba expanded in two phases probably in response to higher moisture availability at ca 6000 and ca 4000 bc while fagus expanded later possibly in response to a cli matic change at 3300 bc during and after the bronze age five distinct phases of intensified land use were detected the near synchroneity with the land use phases detected in wetter regions in northern and southern switzerland points to a common forcing factor in spite of cultural differences increasing minerogenic input to the lake since 1000 bc coincided with late bronze iron age technical innovations and probably indicate soil erosion as a consequence of deforestation in the lake catchment the highest values for cultural indicators occurred at 700 450 and at 300 50 bc coinciding with periods of high solar activity inferred from 14 c this suggests that iron age land use was enhanced by high solar activity while re occupation of partly abandoned areas after crises in earlier periods match better with the grip stable isotope record on the basis of our data and comparison with independent palaeoclimatic proxies we suggest that precipitation variation was much more important than tem perature oscillations in driving vegetation and societal changes throughout the holocene copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

late cenozoic relief evolution under evolving climate a review abstract the present review paper is an attempt to summarize quantitative evidence of late cenozoic changes in topographic relief different meanings of the word relief as it is commonly used and detail the metrics used to quantify it we then specify methodological tools used to quantify relief change primarily low temperature thermochronometry and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides and analyze published evidence for different regions our review first shows that relief changes and rates of changes are more important at mid than high or low latitudes and appear to be insensitive to mean precipitation rates it also show that relief change is positive relief increases in most of the reported cases 80 we subsequently define two functional relationships between relief and erosion depending on the chosen definition of relief and propose a conceptual model of landscape memory we conclude following others that erosion rates depend non linearly on relief evolution itself being a function of the spatial distribution and rates of erosion the relief increases documented in this review may be to erosion rate increases during the same timescales lastly we discuss the importance of glacial and periglacial processes on late cenozoic relief and erosion rate changes and stress the importance of frost shattering and glacial erosion at mid and high latitudes

impacts of new agricultural practices on soil erosion during the bronze age in the french prealps in order to better understand the evolution of past climate human environment interactions in the north western alps during the holocene we have analysed the lipid content of two cores taken from the sediments of lake le bourget french alps by using a specific molecular biomarker of panicum miliaceum broomcorn millet previously defined and a new molecular marker of soil erosion we demonstrate that the onset of millet cultivation coincides with the onset of major soils erosion in the catchment during the middle bronze age although archaeological and archaeobotanical investigations indicate a discrete human occupation of the lakeshores at this period they also point to a regional change in agricultural practices that deeply affected soils the evolution of millet cultivation appears in strong connection with climatic variations estimated in the same cores from the variations in titanium a proxy of hydrological changes in the region social and cultural triggers cannot be discarded at this stage such an approach applied to more sedimentary archives shows high potential to unravel the temporal and spatial dynamics of human land use

new evidence for complex climate change in mis 11 from hoxne suffolk uk the climatic signal of marine isotope stage mis 11 is well documented in marine and ice sheet isotopic records and is known to comprise at least two major warm episodes with an intervening cool phase terrestrial records of mis 11 though of high resolution are often fragmentary and their chronology is poorly constrained however some notable exceptions include sequences from the maar lakes in france and tenaghi philippon in greece in the uk the hoxnian interglacial has been considered to correlate with mis 11 new investigations at hoxne suffolk provide an opportunity to re evaluate the terrestrial record of mis 11 at hoxne the type hoxnian interglacial sediments are overlain by a post hoxnian cold temperate sequence the interglacial sediments and the later temperate phase are separated by the so called arctic bed from which cold climate macroscopic plant and beetle remains have been recovered the later temperate phase was deposited during an episode of boreal woodland and is associated with the artefacts a diverse vertebrate fauna and molluscs new amino acid geochronological data and biostratigraphical considerations suggest that the post hoxnian sequence correlates with late substages of mis 11 the paper further investigates the correlation of the sequence at hoxne with the palynological sequences found elsewhere in europe and adjacent offshore areas

large fluvial systems the atane formation a fluvio deltaic example from the upper cretaceous of central west greenland abstract recognition of major river deposits are crucial to the understanding of palaeogeography and basin evolution this paper describes the geometry of 2 30 m thick fluvial sand bodies which occur in upper cretaceous strata deposited in a major river delta in central west greenland the deposits are cyclic and each cycle can be divided into four genetic facies associations which reflect deposition 1 at the delta front 2 on the delta plain 3 in fluvial channels and 4 during transgression of a delta lobe the cyclicity is attributed mainly to autocyclic shifting of delta lobes the study area is very well exposed and an advanced new photogrammetric system was used both for making accurate vertical profiles and for mapping the horizontal extent of individual sand bodies based on horizontal extent internal architecture and relationship to other facies associations the c 100 investigated sand bodies from the fluvial channel association can be divided into two important types distributary channel sand bodies are the dominant type 80 they vary in thickness from 3 m up to as much as 30 m and reflect the migration and infilling of rather narrow distributary channels that existed on a flat vegetated delta plain the relationship with the surrounding sediments as well as faint epsilon cross beds which extend right through the sand bodies indicate that the thicknesses of the sand bodies approximate the bankfull depth of the palaeochannels many small and medium sized sand bodies have very narrow cross sections and show no signs of lateral migration the preserved geometry of these sand bodies consequently represents the original channel morphology the sand bodies show an increasing degree of migration with increasing thickness and the width thickness ratio increases from c 6 for the smaller sand bodies up to c 20 for the largest the distributary channels were only moderately sinuous with an average sinuosity of 1 2 channel mouth complexes are the other type of fluvial sand bodies 20 they are 3 8 m thick and have a large lateral extent with a width thickness ratio of 50 or more they have an erosive base and occur in the top of the coarsening upward sequences made by the delta front association internal bounding surfaces suggest that these sand bodies were generated by lateral amalgamation of many small channel fills in fan shaped sub deltas at the sea ward end of distributary channels the discharge through the distributary channels has been calculated using the manning equation these calculations indicate that the river system which supplied the atane delta was very large and may well have drained most of the presently ice covered interior of greenland

mapping the human record in the british early palaeolithic evidence from the solent river system the lithic record from the solent river and its tributaries is re examined in the light of recent interpretations about the changing demography of britain during the lower and early middle palaeolithic existing models of the terrace stratigraphies in the solent and its tributary areas are reviewed and the corresponding archaeological record specifically handaxes for each terrace is assessed to provide models for the relative changes in human occupation through time the bournemouth area is studied in detail to examine the effects of quarrying and urbanisation on collection history and on the biases it introduces to the record in addition the effects of reworking of artefacts from higher into lower terraces are assessed and shown to be a significant problem although there is very little absolute dating available for the solent area a cautious interpretation of the results from these analyses would suggest a pre marine isotope stage mis 12 date for the first appearance of humans a peak in population between mis 12 and 10 and a decline in population during mis 9 and 8 owing to poor contextual data and small sample sizes it is not clear when levallois technology was introduced this record is compared and contrasted to that from the thames valley it is suggested that changes in the palaeogeography of britain in particular land connections to the continent might have contributed to differences in the archaeological records from the solent and thames regions copyright 2009 john wiley sons ltd

landscape evolution and agro sylvo pastoral activities on the gorgan plain ne iran in the last 6000 years the gorgan plain ne iran is characterized by fertile soils formed on a loess plateau and is at present primarily exploited for intensive agriculture however the timing and intensity of the human impact on the landscape in the past are still unclear a sediment core taken from the centre of the eastern gorgan plain in the kongor lake covering the major part of the holocene from 6 1 to 0 8 ka all ages are calibrated before present has been studied for pollen non pollen palynomorphs botanical macroremains insects charcoal geochemistry biomarkers and magnetism in order to provide new insights into the evolution of the landscape and to estimate the intensity of human activities the data obtained suggest a dry period between 5 9 and 3 9 ka and an increase in regional humidity afterwards with a maximum between 2 7 and 0 7 ka during the period of the persian empires achaemenid through sasanian and the islamic era the eastern part of the gorgan plain was characterized by open steppe landscapes d

holocene climate variability as reflected by mid european lake level fluctuations and its probable impact on prehistoric human settlements abstract a data set of 180 radiocarbon tree ring and archaeological dates obtained from sediment sequences of 26 lakes in the jura mountains the northern french pre alps and the swiss plateau was used to construct a holocene mid european lake level record the dates do not indicate a random distribution over the holocene but form clusters suggesting an alternation of lower and higher climatically driven lake level phases they provide evidence of a rather unstable holocene climate punctuated by 15 phases of higher lake level 11 250 11 050 10 300 10 000 9550 9150 8300 8050 7550 7250 6350 5900 5650 5200 4850 4800 4150 3950 3500 3100 2750 2350 1800 1700 1300 1100 750 650 cal bp and after 1394 ad a comparison of this mid european lake level record with the gisp2 polar circulation index pci record the north atlantic ice rafting debris ird events and the 14 c record suggests teleconnections in a complex cryosphere ocean atmosphere system correlations between the gisp2 pci the mid european lake level the north atlantic ird and the residual 14 c records suggest that changes in the solar activity played a major role in holocene climate oscillations over the north atlantic area

detecting climatic signals in an anthropogenically disturbed catchment the late holocene record from the petit lac d annecy french alps historical and documentary records from the petit lac d annecy indicate that human activities have been the dominant geomorphic process shaping the catchment during the late holocene with deforestation agriculture and artificial drainage profoundly affecting both the pace and spatial distribution of soil erosion the impact of past climatic change on the evolution of the catchment is less certain because of the lack of long term climate records for the site previous attempts to use the sediment record from the lake to investigate the role past climate change may have played were hampered by the difficulty in isolating and disentangling the climatic signal preserved within the archive because of overprinting of human activity this is a common problem in regions with a long history of human activity in the landscape in this study we use a range of novel statistical techniques including cross correlation and cross spectral analysis to assess the relative importance of climate in driving landscape dynamics the statistical analysis is carried out on an updated high resolution palaeo environmental data set from the petit lac d annecy the results of the statistical analysis indicate that regional climate phenomena such as the atlantic multidecadal oscillation are partly responsible for landscape dynamics at petit lac d annecy throughout the late holocene we find that the petit lac d annecy catchment typically requires decades or longer to respond to changes in precipitation reflecting the stochastic nature of river sediment storage and transport the use of a 4 yr integrated lake core record effectively attenuates the signal shredding effect of shorter term internally generated sediment transport processes nonetheless the lake record of climatically induced geormorphic process responses is weak compared with the pervasive impact of human activities

lacustrine delta deposits and their effects on coal mining in a surface mine in derbyshire england abstract five late carboniferous pennsylvanian coal seams and associated inter seam strata have been examined at lodge house surface mine in the east midlands coalfield of england deposition of these coal seams and their accompanying inter seam intervals occurred in an equatorial fluvio lacustrine environment in an area approximately halfway between the depocentre and the southern margins of the pennine basin controls on the onset of inter seam sedimentation and cessation of peat formation appear to have operated at two scales fourth order glacio eustatic rises exerted the dominant control over formation of peats in laterally extensive mires however fifth order and smaller scale autocyclic mechanisms specifically avulsion are believed to have accompanied splitting of other seams close to but beyond the confines of the mine a study of contrasting lacustrine delta deposits occupying two of the inter seam intervals has enabled proximal distal wave dominated and delta distributary channel sub facies to be recognised the lacustrine deltas prograded rapidly into shallow but extensive freshwater lakes and both delta lobe switching and avulsion of delta distributary channels were important mechanisms the lower lacustrine delta sequence is characterised by mud filled delta distributary channels near the top of the interval the upper sequence is dominated by wave formed structures and massive sandstone delta distributary channels which formed during a period of episodic floods and strong winds lacustrine delta deposits generally create good mining conditions but delta distributary channels can present difficulties in underground mines mud filled delta distributary channels subject to early compaction can give rise to swilleys elongate depressions resulting in thickness changes and undulation of the overlying seam when filled with strong well cemented abrasive sandstone delta distributary channel deposits can be hard to excavate at lodge house the narrow width of the delta distributary channels meant that they were not detected by drilling prior to mining thus outcrop studies should be used to complement subsurface data as they can significantly enhance our understanding of small scale features

climatic change and contemporaneous land use phases north and south of the alps 2300 bc to 800 ad fluctuations in the 14c curve and subsequent gaps of archaeological findings at 800 650 and 400 100 bc in western and central europe may indicate major climate driven land abandonment phases to address this hypothesis radiocarbon dated sediments from four lakes in switzerland were studied palynologically pollen analysis indicates contemporaneous phases of forest clearances and of intensified land use at 1450 1250 bc 650 450 bc 50 bc 100 ad and around 700 ad these land use expansions coincided with periods of warm climate as recorded by the alpine dendroclimatic and greenland oxygen isotope records our results suggest that harvest yields would have increased synchronously over wide areas of central and southern europe during periods of warm and dry climate combined interpretation of palaeoecological and archaeological findings suggests that higher food production led to increased human populations positive long term trends in pollen values of cerealia and plantago lanceolata indicate that technical innovations during the bronze and iron age e g metal ploughs scythes hay production fertilising methods gradually increased agricultural productivity the successful adoption of yield increasing advances cannot be explained by climatic determinism alone combined with archaeological evidence our results suggest that despite considerable cycles of spatial and demographic reorganisation repeated land abandonments and expansions as well as large scale migrations and population decreases human societies were able to shift to lower subsistence levels without dramatic ruptures in material culture however our data imply that human societies were not able to compensate rapidly for harvest failures when climate deteriorated agriculture in marginal areas was abandoned and spontaneous reforestations took place on abandoned land south and north of the alps only when the climate changed again to drier and warmer conditions did a new wide spread phase of forest clearances and field extensions occur allowing the reoccupation of previously abandoned areas spatial distribution of cereal cultivation and growth requirements of cerealia species suggest that increases in precipitation were far more decisive in driving crop failures over central and southern europe than temperature decreases

what is a fluvial levee abstract fluvial levees are elevated partitions between channels and floodplains because of their character and position levees may provide critical controls on and insights into geomorphic processes that determine the distribution of water and sediment within river systems few studies have analysed the character distribution sedimentology and processes that form levees in modern depositional environments characterisation of levee deposits from the mississippi river continues to form the basis for most levee interpretations from the rock record this discussion paper assesses the reliability of interpretations of levee deposits in numerous examples from the rock record and their associated inferences for river style this uncertainty reflects the lack of definitive sedimentological attributes for levee deposits their limited preservation potential and the fact that levee identification in the rock record is inhibited by the reliance on geometric descriptors or indirect associations between channel and floodplain facies given these concerns it is suggested that geomorphologists and sedimentologists need to recognise the limitations of our present knowledge of levees and work towards a more systematic understanding of these significant fluvial landforms in the full spectrum of modern and ancient river settings

depositional environments of overbank sedimentation in the lignite bearing grey clays member new evidence from middle miocene deposits of central poland abstract a detailed sedimentological study of polish lignite bearing successions has not previously been undertaken this contribution focuses on the lignite lithotypes and lake and crevasse splay lithofacies that together constitute the grey clays member this lithostratigraphic unit strictly refers to the middle miocene overbank fluvial environments in central poland it mostly consists of the first mid polish lignite seam mpls 1 in the tomislawice lignite opencast mine this lignite seam containing four lithotypes is interbedded by sandy and silty clayey lithofacies the lithotype associations are characteristic of the low lying mires representing fen or open water 2 m lakes in the mire area this is additional evidence of the relatively long lasting and slow sedimentation of these very fine grained clastics from suspension in standing lake water conversely the sandy lithofacies associations representing crevasse splays were deposited suddenly during overbank flooding crevasse splay deposits are typical of initial stages of avulsion and are moderately diverse both texturally and structurally exceptions here are slurry flow deposits that contain rip up clasts of paleosol aggregates these crevasse splay deposits provide the first evidence of the fluvial environments of the mid miocene mires backswamp in central poland and they split the currently exploited lignite seam mpls 1 in the study area thus identification and description of lithofacies and lithotypes and determination of their spatial distribution can contribute to a better understanding of the mire development of which the examined lignite seam arose

analysis of floodplain sedimentation avulsion style and channelized fluvial sandbody distribution in an upper coastal plain reservoir middle jurassic ness formation brent field uk north sea

fluvial deposits as an archive of early human activity progress during the 20 years of the fluvial archives group fluvial sedimentary archives are important repositories for lower and middle palaeolithic artefacts throughout the old world especially in europe where the beginning of their study coincided with the realisation that early humans were of great antiquity now that many river terrace sequences can be reliably dated and correlated with the globally valid marine isotope record potentially useful patterns can be recognized in the distribution of the find spots of the artefacts that constitute the large collections that were assembled during the years of manual gravel extraction this paper reviews the advances during the past two decades in knowledge of hominin occupation based on artefact occurrences in fluvial contexts in europe asia and africa as such it is an update of a comparable review in 2007 at the end of igcp project no 449 which had instigated the compilation of fluvial records from around the world during 2000 2004 under the auspices of the fluvial archives group an overarching finding is the confirmation of the well established view that in europe there is a demarcation between handaxe making in the west and flake core industries in the east although on a wider scale that pattern is undermined by the increased numbers of lower palaeolithic bifaces now recognized in east asia it is also apparent that although it seems to have appeared at different places and at different times in the later lower palaeolithic the arrival of levallois technology as a global phenomenon was similarly timed across the area occupied by middle pleistocene hominins at around 0 3 ma

lignite and carbonate deposition in middle lignite succession of the soma formation soma coalfield western turkey the middle miocene carbonate dominated units that are called the middle lignite succession of the soma formation from the soma coalfield of western turkey were analyzed and two facies associations containing eight facies were determined from the detailed measured sections of the opencast lignite mines the sedimentological stratigraphical and palaeobotanical data and regional geology indicate alluvial and or floodplain shallow freshwater carbonate lakes and lake margin environments including forest mountain swamps in the intramontane basin which was developed on the collision related basement rocks the middle lignite succession displays cyclic depositional nature consisting of alternating fine grained siliciclastic rock lignite and freshwater carbonate rock some diagenetic features and algal laminations structures in carbonate rocks as well as paleosol relics and geological evidence of the lignite forming paludal swampy conditions suggest alternating wet and dry periods in depositional system the lignite deposition occurred in wetlands that formed during deposition of the middle lignite succession in alluvial plain and shallow carbonate lake margins the paleobotanical palynological considerations sedimentological features and depositional setting of the middle lignite succession indicate a seasonal warm and semi arid or dry climate for lignite deposition the subsidence sediment supply seasonal climate topography and pre miocene carbonate basement may suggest main factors for lignite formation and preservation

sr and nd isotopes as tracers of clastic sources in lake le bourget sediment nw alps france during the little ice age palaeohydrology implications geochemical methods major elements and sr nd isotopes have been used to 1 characterize lake le bourget sediments in the french alps 2 identify the current sources of the clastic sediments and estimate the source variability over the last 600 years major element results indicate that lake le bourget sediments consist of 45 clastic component and 55 endogenic calcite in addition several individual flood levels have been identified during the little ice age lia on the basis of their higher clastic content 70 potential sources of lake le bourget clastic sediments have been investigated from sr and nd isotope compositions the sediments from the sierroz river and leysse river which are mainly derived from the mesozoic calcareous massifs are characterised by lower 87sr 86sr ratios and slightly lower nd 0 ratios than the arve river sediments which are derived from the palaeozoic mont blanc external crystalline massifs the rhone river appears to have been the main source of clastic sediments into the lake for the last 600 years as evidenced by a similar sr and nd isotopic compositions analyzed in core b16 sediments 87sr 86sr 0 719 nd 0 10 and in the sediments of the rhone river 87sr 86sr 0 719 nd 0 9 6 the isotopic signatures of flood events and background samples from core b16 in lake le bourget are also similar this indicates that prior to 1800 the inputs into the lake have remained relatively homogeneous with the proportion of clastic component mainly being a function of the palaeohydrology of the rhone river early human modification deforestation and agriculture of the lake catchment before the 1800s appears to have had little influence on the source of clastic sediments

depositional evolution of miocene coal successions in the soma coalfield western turkey abstract miocene alluvial and fluvial lacustrine deposits comprising three lignite successions lower middle and upper are exposed in the soma coalfield in western anatolia the total thickness of the coal successions is about 900 m and they rest unconformably on mesozoic carbonate and siliciclastic basement rocks several lithofacies are recognised and are arranged into 15 facies assemblages fa1 to fa15 within coal successions the lower coal succession fa1 to fa3 has been interpreted as the deposits of alluvial fan to ephemeral lacustrine and forest lower mire system resulting in a subbituminous coal which averages thickness of 20 m the freshwater carbonate dominated middle coal succession fa4 to fa7 has been interpreted as the deposits of an anastomosed river system including shallow carbonate mudflats to lake and ponds and frequently drying poor forest mires depositing lignitic coal the volcanic influenced upper coal uc succession fa8 to fa15 has been interpreted as the fluvial channel floodplain and allochthonous peat mire deposits fa8 to fa10 associated with a braided river system that was rapidly buried and eroded by volcaniclastic apron deposits fa11 to fa14 and culminated in large carbonate dominated shallow lake deposits fa15 the miocene coal successions were probably deposited in a slowly subsiding and fault controlled karst based paleovalley and lowlands of the intramontane paleomorphology that resulted from the early tertiary collision of the eurasian and anatolian plates

sediment supply on the west greenland passive margin redirection of a large pre glacial drainage system the mesozoic cenozoic separation of greenland and north america produced the small oceanic basins of the labrador sea and baffin bay connected via a complex transform system through the davis strait during rifting and partial breakup sedimentary basins formed that record the changing regional sediment supply the onshore and offshore stratigraphy of central west greenland outlines the presence of a major fluvial system that existed during the cretaceous and was later redirected in the early cenozoic by the formation of the west greenland igneous province hydrological analysis of greenland9s isostatically balanced basement topography outlines two major drainage systems that likely flowed across greenland prior to the onset of glaciation and emptied into the sisimiut basin within the davis strait offshore west greenland the course of the northern drainage system suggests that it initially flowed nw into the cretaceous palaeocene nuussuaq basin before being redirected sw around the west greenland igneous province in the mid palaeocene moreover characteristics of these two drainage systems suggest they acted as a single larger fluvial system prior to the onset of glaciation that was likely the primary source of sediment across central west greenland throughout the cretaceous and palaeogene this scenario provides a greater understanding of the west greenland margin9s late cenozoic evolution which differs from previous interpretations that hypothesize a period of considerable post rift tectonism and uplift this work highlights the importance of large pre glacial drainage systems across north atlantic passive margins and their relevance when studying post rift stratigraphy in rifted margin settings supplementary material isostatic modelling hydrological analysis and chi mapping is available at https doi org 10 6084 m9 figshare c 5050146

ancient settlement activities as important sources of nutrients p k s zn and cu in eastern mediterranean ecosystems the case of biblical tel burna israel abstract human settlement activities are connected with the accumulation of nutrients in archaeological soils we address the question of whether the large scale mapping of the elemental composition of the topsoil in contemporary rangeland can be used for the detection of ancient settlement activities using portable x ray fluorescence pxrf we mapped the elemental composition of contemporary soils over an area of 67 ha in and around the bronze and iron age settlement of tel burna identified as probably corresponding with biblical libnah ancient settlement activities substantially increased concentrations of nutrients p k s zn and cu in the contemporary topsoil owing to the deposition of biomass ashes and organic wastes increased concentrations of elements were detected 2500 years after the site was abandoned and we can therefore suppose that changes in the elemental composition of the soil caused by ancient settlement activities are irreversible on a timescale in which human societies operate ancient settlement activities increased concentrations of nutrients in contemporary soil to the same level as recent intensive fertiliser application on an adjacent arable field used for vegetable production concentrations of nutrients higher than those on the tell summit were recorded only in recent cattle resting areas with intensive deposition of cattle faeces changes in the elemental composition of the soil caused by ancient settlement activities consequently result in differential nutrient availability for contemporary vegetation affecting ecosystem functions for thousands of years using pxrf large scale mapping of the elemental composition of the topsoil layer at archaeological sites can help to identify the extent and provide basic information on the character of past human activities in the affected landscape units

facies and architectural analysis to interpret avulsion style and variability upper cretaceous blackhawk formation wasatch plateau central utah u s a abstract sequence stratigraphic models emphasize the role of external allogenic controls such as relative sea level tectonic subsidence and climate on alluvial to coastal plain stratigraphic architecture at the expense of internal autogenic behaviors such as avulsion these models are tested via sedimentologic analysis of fine grained floodplain deposits and their relationship to channelized fluvial sandbodies in a well exposed alluvial to coastal plain succession developed under progressively increasing distance from the coeval shoreline and an accompanying decrease in the rate of accommodation creation late cretaceous blackhawk formation wasatch plateau central utah u s a the studied alluvial to coastal plain succession contains fourteen lithofacies which are grouped into four associations and eight architectural elements facies associations consist of 1 channelized fluvial sandstone bodies 2 nonchannelized fluvial sandstone and siltstone bodies 3 fine grained floodplain deposits and 4 brackish floodplain deposits paleosols are immature and are classified as entisols inceptisols and histosols integrated analysis of paleosol character facies analysis and architectural element analysis indicates deposition on a rapidly aggrading floodplain that was subject to frequent crevassing and channel belt switching the character relative abundance and vertical stacking of the paleosol types architectural elements and the first three facies associations exhibit little variation stratigraphically from base to top of the blackhawk formation c 250 m or paleogeographically between the northern and southern limits of the outcrop belt c 100 km local stratigraphic architectures record three styles of avulsion representing avulsion by reoccupation avulsion by progradation and avulsion by incision avulsion style displays no consistent pattern with stratigraphic position or paleogeographic location in combination these results suggest that floodplain sedimentation and local stratigraphic architecture are dominated by autogenic avulsion the three observed avulsion mechanisms operated in apparent uniformity over a range of tectonic subsidence rates c 80 700 m ma and distances from the coeval shoreline c 0 100 km

prediction of channel connectivity and fluvial style in the flood basin successions of the upper permian rangal coal measures queensland predicting the presence and connectivity of reservoir quality facies in otherwise mud prone fluvial overbank successions is important because such sand bodies can potentially provide connectivity between larger neighboring sand bodies this article addresses minor channelized fluvial elements crevasse splay and distributary channels and attempts to predict the connectivity between such sand bodies in two interseam packages of the upper permian rangal coal measures of northeastern australia channel body percent as measured in well logs was 2 in the upper aries castor interseam and 17 in the lower castor pollux interseam well spacing were too great to allow accurate correlation of channel bodies the ob river siberia was used as a modern analog to supply planform geometric measurements of splay and distributary channels so that stochastic modeling of channel bodies was possible the resulting models demonstrated that 1 channel body connectivity is more uniform between minor distributary channels than between crevasse splay channels 2 relatively good connectivity is seen in proximal positions in splays but decreases distally from the source as channel elements diverge and 3 connectivity tends to be greater down the axis of splays with more isolated channel bodies occurring at the margins

architecture of vertically stacked fluvial deposits atane formation cretaceous nuussuaq central west greenland excellent exposures of thick multistorey fluvial deposits from the deltaic atane formation on south east nuussuaq central west greenland show the architecture of up to 100 m thick continuously aggrading fluvial depositional complexes the succession comprises vertically stacked channel belt sandstones separated by thin floodplain deposits with little to no incision between storeys architectural elements and palaeocurrent patterns of channel deposits indicate deposition in large relatively stable low sinuosity rivers probably located within an incised valley gradual transitions from channel to floodplain deposits accompanied by a gradual change from floodplain to spillover sand suggest avulsion on the floodplain as a possible mechanism for the vertically alternating channel and floodplain deposits despite its relative proximity to contemporaneous sea level ca 35 km upstream from the palaeo shoreline the depositional complex is entirely non marine the aggrading nature of the deposits suggests a continuously rising base level coupled with a high and steady sediment supply vertical alternations between floodplain and channel deposits may be forced by subtle interruptions in this balance or autocyclic mechanisms on the floodplain this study provides an example of aggrading lowstand non marine transgressive systems tract deposits

the late holocene history of gormire lake ne england and its catchment a multiproxy reconstruction of past human impact sedimentary evidence spanning the last 3500 years from cores taken from the centre of gormire lake cleveland northeast england points to two periods of deforestation and catchment erosion the first mainly late iron age romano british phase began c 200 bc and ended c ad 600 the second began c ad 1200 the time of early monastic activity and continued into the nineteenth century the chronology for the core rests on 137cs 210pb and 14c measurements and on the history of lead accumulation in the sediments the majority of the ams 14c dates are shown to be too old to varying degrees depending on the source of the organic matter in the sediments the record of vegetation change is derived from pollen analysis evidence for changes in sediment composition and source and for catchment erosion comes from magnetic measurements element analyses using xrf and organic biogeochemical analyses there is a high degree of coherence between all these lines of evidence interpretation of the magnetic record

the pre mousterian industrial complex in europe between 400 and 300 ka interpreting its origin and spatiotemporal variability abstract the author discuss data indicating that the non handaxe non acheulean tradition of small tools and core choppers was present in parts of west eurasia during the early middle pleistocene the period marked by a wide spread of acheulean in west asia and west europe and survived until 400 300 ka and perhaps later in some areas beyond the area of the maximum acheulean distribution in the danube basin and the balkans and to a limited extent north of the danube basin in central europe and in the south of russian plain and northern caucasus in eastern europe the author defines these middle pleistocene assemblages which are totally lacking true acheulean handaxes and debitage resulted from large flake or levallois knapping technologies as the pre mousterian industrial complex the assemblages of pre mousterian complex are variable due to their functional differentiation and other reasons but generally comprise the next three components 1 simple mostly primary and orthogonal and also rare unipolar and centripetal cores with short reduction sequences consisting of flaking of 1 3 flakes from one platform followed by the core rotation or discard 2 flake tools which are made mostly but not exclusively on small sized flakes with beveled platforms and include varieties of simple side scrapers denticulates notches thick end scrapers awls and convergent pieces as well as small numbers of tools with flat ventral retouch or bifacial retouched edges and 3 large sized tools are always present and include mostly unifacial choppers and more rare chopping tools and proto bifaces or pointed choppers with partial bifacial processing the author discuss that the hominids that produced lithic industries of pre mousterian complex acquired a high behavioural plasticity to settle in most uncomfortable within western eurasia forested and forest steppe environments with cold winters in central and eastern europe the hominids developed tool inventories well suited for bone and woodworking made real wooden throwing spears and composite tools with wooden hafts that are found in schoningen in contrast to the acheulean complex in west europe and west asia assemblages of pre mousterian complex do not show a transition temporally being placed now during mis 8 mis 7 between c 300 200 ka in both the regions toward the middle palaeolithic or mousterian technology in contrast to the acheulean to middle palaeolithic transition which is associated with final neanderthalization of h heidelbergensis and the origin of h neanderthalensis the assemblages of pre mousterian complex disappear with the spread of early middle paleolithic neanderthals

carbon isotope evidence for sedimentary miliacin as a tracer of panicum miliaceum broomcorn millet in the sediments of lake le bourget french alps abstract we report the determination of the carbon isotopic composition of miliacin olean 18 en 3 ol methyl ether extracted from the sediments of lake le bourget french alps it is compared with the 13 c value of miliacin extracted from panicum miliaceum broomcorn millet a c 4 plant and chionochloa sp a c 3 plant the 13 c value of sedimentary miliacin 21 5 is very close to that of miliacin extracted from bran 23 and seeds 23 5 of p miliaceum and significantly different from that of chionochloa sp 33 these results provide additional support for the use of sedimentary miliacin as a tracer of broomcorn millet a c 4 cereal cultivated since the bronze age around lake le bourget these findings illustrate the potential of this compound to reconstruct past agriculture from lake sediment archives finally considering the high abundance of miliacin in the bran of p miliaceum the compound could have been wind transported to the sediment during threshing and winnowing on the lake shore

petrology of selected carbonaceous limestones and shales in late carboniferous coal basins of atlantic canada carbonaceous limestones and shales are associated with coal in late carboniferous alluvial to coastal successions of nova scotia the units are thin 45 km they consist of micrite and or illitic and kaolinitic clay and some contain abundant bivalves ostracodes pyrite up to 11 vol and phosphatic and sideritic nodules trace fossils are scarce to absent the organic material 2 43 toc is characterised as type ii iii and is mainly of terrestrial derivation predominantly vitrinite and sporinite with lamalginite and telalginite as minor constituents vitrinite reflectance measurements indicate immaturity ro 0 5 but are lower than those of associated coals source rock and hydrocarbon recovery potentials are good to very good and the potentials of some units compare favourably with those of alginite rich carboniferous oil shales in adjacent basins the carbonaceous units were deposited in shallow lakes and or interdistributary bays with aerobic to anaerobic bottom waters at times of minimal detrial input

reservoir analog studies using multimodel photogrammetry a new tool for the petroleum industry an advanced photogrammetric method called multimodel stereo restitution is a potential new tool for the petroleum industry when outcrop investigations are necessary such as in reservoir analog studies the method is based on very simple field photography techniques allowing the geologist to use his own standard small frame camera e g 24 36 or 60 60 mm formats it can be applied to geological studies of virtually any scale and outcrop mapping is significantly improved in detail accuracy and volume the method is especially useful when investigating poorly accessible exposures on steep mountain faces and canyon walls the use of multimodel photogrammetry is illustrated by a study of upper cretaceous deltaic sediments from the atane formation of west greenland detailed vertical cross sections of all outcrops in the area are measured and in addition horizontal maps of individual sand bodies are compiled on this basis data such as width thickness ratios sinuosity and the shapes of sand bodies and paleochannels crucial in reservoir analog studies are quantified and collected further potential applications of the method in petroleum explorations are discussed true scale mapping of lithologies in large continuous exposures can be used in understanding basin evolution and in seismic modeling close range applications can be used when modeling fault geometries and in studies of individual bed forms clay laminae cemented horizons and diagenetic fronts

palaeochannels stone rolls in coal seams modern analogues from fluvial deposits of the okavango delta botswana southern africa abstract two varieties of fluvial sandstones are associated with coal seams in the permian witbank coalfield of south africa the first comprises lenticular channel fill sandstone minor conglomerate and siltstone encased entirely within the coal seam medium to coarse grained arkosic sandstones are structured by planar cross bedding and fine upwards into carbonaceous siltstone and overlying coal these palaeochannel fill deposits are 5 km wide in proximal basin areas and narrow down palaeoslope to less than 1 km in width the second variety of channel fill consists of medium to coarse grained sandstone which occurs below the floor of the coal seam these deposits form undulating ridges that occur either in sub parallel groups or as isolated shoe string type bodies at the coal floor rock contact both features are referred to as stone rolls in colliery terminology these ancient deposits are compared with active and abandoned fluvial systems from the okavango delta in botswana southern africa active channels are flanked by extensive peat swamps which effectively confine and stabilize the channel margins clastic sedimentation is therefore completely confined to the channels by the vegetation and deposition occurs by vertical aggradation recently abandoned channels in the okavango delta display a variety of well preserved bed forms which alternate with scoured depressions along the thalweg producing an undulating topography to the channel floor these features provide a modern analogue for the stone rolls in the coalfield deposits the subsequent channel abandonment vegetation encroachment and peat formation over the sand bodies would form a coal seam superimposed on the irregular surface provided channel abandonment was followed by subsidence overlying sediment deposition compaction and coalification of the peat although the okavango rivers are narrower and transport finer grained sand than their permian counterparts the mechanism of formation and style of deposition was similar for both systems

a high resolution late holocene palaeo environmental record from the central adriatic sea a multi proxy study of a holocene sediment core rf 93 30 from the western flank of the central adriatic in 77 m of water reveals a sequence of changes in terrestrial vegetation terrigenous sediment input and benthic fauna as well as evidence for variations in sea surface temperature spanning most of the last 7000 yr the chronology of sedimentation is based on several lines of evidence including ams 14c dates of foraminifera extracted from the core palaeomagnetic secular variation pollen indicators and dated tephra the temporal resolution increases towards the surface and for some of the properties measured is sub decadal for the last few centuries the main changes recorded in vegetation sedimentation and benthic foraminiferal assemblages appear to be directly related to human activity in the sediment source area which includes the po valley and the eastern flanks of the central and northern appenines the most striking episodes of deforestation and expanding human impact begin around 3600 bp late bronze age and 700 bp medieval and each leads to an acceleration in mass sedimentation and an increase in the proportion of terrigenous material reflecting the response of surface processes to widespread forest clearance and cultivation although human impact appears to be the proximal cause of these changes climatic effects may also have been important during these periods signs of stress are detectable in the benthic foram morphotype assemblages between these two periods of increased terrigeneous sedimentation there is smaller peak in sedimentation rate around 2400bp which is not associated with evidence for deforestation shifts in the balance between terrigenous and authigenic sedimentation or changes in benthic foraminifera the mineral magnetic record provides a sensitive indicator of changing sediment sources during forested periods of reduced terrigenous input it is dominated by authigenic bacterial magnetite whereas during periods of increased erosion anti ferromagetic minerals haematite and or goethite become more important as well as both paramagnetic minerals and super paramagnetic magnetite analysis of the alkenone u37k record provides an indication of possible changes in sea surface temperature during the period but it is premature to place too much reliance on these inferred changes until the indirect effects of past changes in the depth of the halocline and in circulation have been more fully evaluated the combination of methods used and the results obtained illustrate the potential value of such high resolution near shore marine sedimentary sequences for recording wide scale human impact documenting the effects of this on marine sedimentation and fauna and potentially disentangling evidence for human activities from that for past changes in climate

a chronological framework for the british quaternary based on bithynia opercula the british quaternary spanning roughly the past 2 6 million years is unmatched for the biodiversity and abundance of its fossil localities and its record of climatic contrasts however with all but the most recent deposits beyond radiocarbon range and with no readily datable volcanic rocks it has been difficult to get accurate dates for many british pleistocene deposits penkman et al have developed new analytical methods based on the intra crystalline proteins of stable biominerals in the opercula shell closure of the freshwater gastropod bithynia common in quaternary deposits they obtain confident assignments for various strata to global marine isotope stages securely placing britain s rich record of faunal and archaeological change into a broader context marine and ice core records show that the earth has experienced a succession of glacials and interglacials during the quaternary last 2 6 million years although it is often difficult to correlate fragmentary terrestrial records with specific cycles aminostratigraphy is a method potentially able to link terrestrial sequences to the marine isotope stages mis of the deep sea record1 2 we have used new methods of extraction and analysis of amino acids preserved within the calcitic opercula of the freshwater gastropod bithynia to provide the most comprehensive data set for the british pleistocene based on a single dating technique a total of 470 opercula from 74 sites spanning the entire quaternary are ranked in order of relative age based on the extent of protein degradation using aspartic acid asparagine asx glutamic acid glutamine glx serine ser alanine ala and valine val this new aminostratigraphy is consistent with the stratigraphical relationships of stratotypes sites with independent geochronology biostratigraphy and terrace stratigraphy3 4 5 6 the method corroborates the existence of four interglacial stages between the anglian mis 12 and the holocene in the terrestrial succession it establishes human occupation of britain in most interglacial stages after mis 15 but supports the notion of human absence during the last interglacial mis 5e 7 suspicions that the treeless optimum of the upton warren interstadial at isleworth pre dates mis 3 are confirmed this new aminostratigraphy provides a robust framework against which climatic biostratigraphical and archaeological models can be tested

molecular marker records of land use change abstract evidence of a changing environment in the catchment area of a small lake gormire yorkshire uk over the past 3000 years is provided by the mean carbon number of n alkanes and the ratio of lignin thermochemolysis products together with pollen analysis and bulk organic geochemistry periods of deforestation which commenced at 600 bc and ad 1200 display a significant decrease in organic carbon contents of the lake sediments which probably reflects dilution by enhanced influx of clastic material the mean carbon number of waxy c27 c31 n alkanes closely corresponds with the percentage of pollen derived from grass in the sediments a higher plant derived triterpenoid tentatively identified from its mass spectrum as 28 carboxyursen 12 enol appears exclusively in samples where tree and shrub derived pollen is dominant thermochemolysis of lignin confirms that there was a significant change in the nature of material deposited in the lake sediments from woody to grass dominated changes in both the sedimentary c n ratios and yields of lignin derived phenols suggest that deforestation events led to enhanced aquatic productivity initially through the development of reed swamp vegetation

holocene land use evolution and associated soil erosion in the french prealps inferred from lake paladru sediments and archaeological evidences a source to sink multi proxy approach has been performed within lake paladru 492 m a s l french prealps catchment and a six meter long sediment sequence retrieved from the central lacustrine basin the combination of minerogenic signal specific organic markers of autochthonous and allochthonous supply and archaeological data allows the reconstruction of a continuous record of past human disturbances over the last 10000 years the lacustrine sedimentation was dominated by autochthonous carbonates and the watershed was mostly forest covered however seven phases of higher accumulation rate soil erosion algal productivity and landscape disturbances have been identified and dated from 8400 7900 6000 4800 4500 3200 2700 2050 cal bp as well as ad 350 850 ad 1250 1850 and after ad 1970 before 5200 cal bp soil erosion is interpreted as resulting from climatic deterioration phases toward cooler and wetter conditions during the mid late holocene period erosion fluxes and landscape disturbances are always associated with prehistorical and historical human activities and amplified by climatic oscillations such changes in human land used led to increasing minerogenic supply and nutrients loading that affected lacustrine trophic levels especially during the last 1600 years in addition organic and molecular markers document previously unknown human settlements around lake paladru during the bronze and the iron ages

the acheulean from atapuerca three steps forward one step back abstract in western europe acheulean cultural evidence is well attested by ca 0 5 ma however recent work has proven that it was present earlier at the end of the early pleistocene the timing and mode of the western european acheulean needs still to be investigated and this knowledge appears to be strongly dependent upon data from sites with sufficiently well preserved archeo stratigraphical sequences and or geophysical conditions that guarantee reliable dating the karstic deposits from the sierra de atapuerca burgos spain represent one such case they contain exceptionally long and continuous archeo paleontological deposits that have yielded hominins stone tools and faunal remains from a period covering the late early pleistocene up to the holocene previous work has allowed us to reconstruct the evolution of technology on a local scale from the late early to the middle pleistocene and to situate the appearance of the acheulean more or less simultaneously in the sites of galeria gran dolina td10 and the sima de los huesos at around 0 5 ma after a hiatus of archeological evidence of approximately 300 ka these acheulean assemblages appear in association with hominin fossils that have recently been identified as early members of the neandertal lineage delving further into the description of the acheulean from atapuerca we have recently focused on the technological features that we consider to be of particular evolutionary significance and attempted to identify them in other european key sites of comparable chronologies indeed we identified some internal evolutionary trends which led us to propose that there was a local transition at atapuerca from the acheulean to the early middle paleolithic techno complexes however the chronological setting resulting from the intensive dating programs carried out in the galeria and sima de los huesos sites and especially the correlation of these dates with the ones available from gran dolina td10 confronts us with some apparent paradoxes underlining the need to reconsider the technological interpretation of the lithic technical record from atapuerca while great efforts are being made in dating and analysis at many european middle pleistocene sites as well as in establishing correlations with which to build consistent regional sequences single long continuous and accurately excavated i e over a large surface area archeological successions remain crucial to properly interpret the appearance and evolution of the acheulean throughout europe we further stress the importance of taking into account conditioning factors such as raw material availability environmental constraints and site function issues

delta plain coal deposits from the than formation of the early cretaceous saurashtra basin gujarat western india abstract the than formation of the early cretaceous saurashtra basin consists of an interbedded assemblage of sandstone claystone carbonaceous shale and coal facies small scale crossbedded and laminated mudstone siltstone sr lm facies are considered to have formed by down current migration of small scale subaqueous bedforms and overbank deposits of distributary channels the planar and trough crossbedded sandstone lithofacies sp st formed by migration of sand dunes and transverse bars in distributary channels laminated to ripple laminated siltstone f1 facies with or without coaly stringers alternate with fine clastics are suggestive of flood deposits and abandoned interchannel plain of delta distributaries the muddy carbonaceous shale fm facies represents deposition largely in low lying interchannel plains and backswamps peat coal pc facies are interpreted as in situ deposits in quiet water conditions of sedimentation across a lake the integrated results of lithofacies texture and palaeocurrent analysis suggest that than strata were deposited in a prograding major delta distributary complex in lower and upper delta plain environments

sedimentology of magmatically and structurally controlled outburst valleys along rifted volcanic margins examples from the nuussuaq basin west greenland after a period of early palaeocene faulting and uplift of the nuussuaq basin west greenland two valley systems were incised into the underlying sediments incision of the older tupaasat valley took place during a single drainage event of large water masses which resulted in catastrophic deposition the valley was cut along early palaeocene nw to se trending normal faults clearly showing that the trend and the relief of the valley were structurally controlled the valley fill is up to 120 m thick and consists of a lower part of sandstones and conglomerates deposited from catastrophic flows characterized by very high concentrations of suspended coarse grained sediment load catastrophic deposition was followed by rapid decrease in flow discharge and the establishment of a lacustrine environment within the valley characterized by the deposition of heterolithic sediments the younger paatuutkloften valley system was mainly cut into the tupaasat valley fill which was completely or nearly completely eroded away in many places the younger valley is 1 2 km wide and up to 190 m deep incision of the paatuutkloften valley probably reflected renewed tectonic activity and uplift of the basin this phase was shortly followed by rapid major subsidence the valley fill deposits comprise a uniform succession of fluvial and estuarine sandstones the valley fill is topped by shoreface sandstones which are succeeded abruptly by offshore mudstones deposited shortly before and during the initial extrusion of a thick hyaloclastite succession the paatuutkloften valley fill is attributed to a very rapid rise in relative sea level contemporary with extensive volcanism it is suggested that this sequence of events coincided with the arrival of the north atlantic mantle plume in several respects the early palaeocene valley fill deposits of the nuussuaq basin are different from idealized facies models for incised valley systems and represent very special cases of incised valleys major differences from published examples include the dominance of catastrophic deposits and indications of large changes in relative sea level of several hundreds of metres taking place rapidly in less than 1 myr these changes were governed by the rise of the north atlantic mantle plume

climatic variability in the northwestern alps france as evidenced by 600 years of terrigenous sedimentation in lake le bourget cores recovered from periglacial lake le bourget deep basin northwestern alps were investigated to examine the ine uence of the little ice age lia on terrigenous lacustrine sedimentation growing glaciers in the regional watershed induced catastrophic rhone river e oods and major undere ow deposits in the deep basin during the early e fteenth the sixteenth and the mid eighteenth centuries the lia is characterized by a decrease in deposition from intere ows from ad 1550 to 1740 and an increase in deposition from undere ows from ad 1550 to 1800 on one hand spectral analyses of the laminations in intere ow deposits reveal 4 5 years cyclicities from ad 1440 to 1550 as well as 7 8 and 13 14 years cyclicities from ad 1740 to 1870 on the other hand spectral analyses of a clay mineral ratio ree ecting undere ow deposits highlight 45 50 years cyclicities from ad 1550 to 1800 these pluriannual decadal and pluridecadal periods are typical of the north atlantic oscillation nao a nao like period in our data would be a consequence of periodical variations in rainfall and snow accumulation during late autumn and winter over lake le bourget s watershed

frequency and intensity of high altitude floods over the last 3 5 ka in northwestern french alps lake anterne in central western europe several studies have shown that colder holocene periods such as the little ice age also correspond to wet periods however in mountain areas which are highly sensitive to erosion processes and where precipitation events can be localized past evolution of hydrological activity might be more complicated to assess these past hydrological changes a paleolimnological approach was applied on a 13 4 m long sediment core taken in alpine lake anterne 2063 m asl and representing the last 3 5 ka lake sedimentation is mainly composed of ood deposits triggered by precipitation events sedimentological and geochemical analyses show that oods were more frequent during cold periods while high intensity ood events occurred preferentially during warmer periods in mild temperature conditions both ood patterns are present this underlines the complex relationship between ood hazards and climatic change in mountain areas during the warmer and or dryer times of the end of iron age and the roman period both the frequency and intensity of oods increased this is interpreted as an effect of human induced clearing for grazing activities and reveals that anthropogenic interferences must be taken into account when reconstructing climatic signals from natural archives

sequence stratigraphy of coastal alluvial plain westphalian b coal measures in northumberland and the southern north sea abstract westphalian b coastal alluvial plain coal measures of northumberland and the southern north sea are susceptible to stratigraphic base level fluctuations of various magnitudes which create a hierarchy of flooding surfaces 1 high magnitude third order maximum flooding surfaces corresponding to the anthracoceratites vanderbeckei and anthracoceras aegiranum marine bands defining the top and bottom of the succession when vast areas of the westphalian foreland basin were flooded by marine incursions 2 high frequency fluctuations promoting small scale fourth order flooding of the entire or large areas 100 s km 2 of the alluvial plain resulting in deposition of non marine bivalve beds or marine bands depending on their position on the third order base level curve and 3 small scale localised base level rises due to differential compaction and autocyclic switching of minor crevasse splays and distributary channels a regionally extensive third order tectonically induced sequence boundary is also recognised in the southern north sea slightly above the maximum stand in stratigraphic base level recorded by the vanderbeckei marine band this sequence boundary which represents the lowest point on the background eustatic base level curve between the two maximum flooding surfaces is overlain by the multilateral multistorey caister sandstone the lack of significant erosional relief beneath this channel sandstone suggests that accommodation space at this time was being created at a very low rate the succession above the caister sandstone sequence boundary up to the aegiranum marine band maximum flooding surface records an increasing rate of stratigraphic base level rise this equates to a third order transgressive systems tract or sequence set comprising a number of fourth order sequences which change upwards in response to the background low frequency rise the increasing rate of base level rise and increased accommodation space is accompanied by a change in fluvial style to more isolated channels enclosed within floodplain deposits

comparative organic petrology of interlayered sandstones siltstones mudstones and coals in the upper carboniferous ruhr basin northwest germany and their thermal history and methane generation in the coal mining ruhr area upper carboniferous rocks ca 4000 m consist of interlayered sandstones siltstones mudstones and coals they were deposited in a tropical paralic environment where alternating fluvial sedimentation occasional marine ingressions and swamp growth resulted in an irregular cyclic succession the total sedimentary package contains on an average 6 vol of organic matter about 70 vol of the organic matter occurs in coal seams the rest as dispersed organic matter in clastic rocks the organic matter is autochthonous in the coals and allochthonous in associated sandstones and siltstones it consists of about 70 vitrinite 20 inertinite and 10 liptinite the overall maceral group composition is the same for coals and dispersed organic matter this surprising similarity is caused by a nearly exclusive input of land plant derived organic matter to swamps and fluvial systems and a similar degree of preservation highest average liptinite contents of total macerals were found in unrooted mudstones highest average inertinite contents in coarse grained siltstones and highest average vitrinite percentages in sandstones

sand body orientation palaeoslope analysis and basin fill implications in the westphalian a c of great britain channel orientation and palaeoflow analyses across the british westphalian carboniferous coalfields show that three main inflow directions dominated the palaeogeography from the mid langsettian to the mid bolsovian in eastern scotland and ne england flow was mainly from the n and ne in the pennine basin of north central england flow was mainly from the w and nw whilst in south wales main flow from the sw was compatible with a westerly system that also branched to give the northerly inflows recorded in the culm basin of southwest england the depositional area included discrete tectonic depocentres notably the pennine basin which was traversed directly and tangentially by major channel belts these basins were essentially incidental to the main channel pathways but sand body characteristics vary according to basin location a new depositional model for the post rift pennine basin is proposed relating sand concentrations and connectivities to the depositional and tectonic setting the description of dominant sw to ne flow across south wales through much of the langsettian and duckmantian in contrast to the centripetal inflows previously proposed implies some similar channel depocentre relationships to those described here for the pennine basin

the early and early middle pleistocene context of human occupation and lowland glaciation in britain and northern europe abstract this paper reviews the stratigraphical and environmental contexts of early human occupation and lowland glaciation in britain and northern europe it highlights the fragmentary nature of most of the critical sequences and the inadequacy of existing stratigraphical frameworks the earliest archaeology known from nw europe has been reported from happisburgh 3 a site on the norfolk coast the flint artefacts from here were recovered from sediments previously assigned to the pastonian stage of the early pleistocene however the mammalian assemblage from happisburgh 3 differs from other local sites attributed to the pastonian indicating a younger age within the early pleistocene the sediments have reversed palaeomagnetic polarity and have palynological features inviting correlation with the leerdam interglacial in the dutch bavelian complex the interglacials of the british cromerian complex are compared and their archaeological record reviewed at most of these sites the archaeology includes hand axes associated with a mammalian assemblage containing the water vole arvicola but at pakefield suffolk a core and flake industry is associated with the ancestral mimomys savini this together with the even older record from happisburgh 3 indicates earlier periods of human occupation than previously known from nw europe at least five temperate episodes with distinct faunal assemblages are now recognized in the british early middle pleistocene but these are unlikely to equate directly with odd numbered stages of the marine isotope record this biostratigraphical framework conflicts with a new glacial stratigraphy for east anglia which proposes glaciations during mis 16 12 10 and 6 evidence is reviewed from sidestrand and trimingham where datable organic sediments occur directly beneath and above the middle pleistocene glacial succession indicating that it was emplaced entirely during the anglian glacial stage mis 12 a new stratigraphical framework is provided ranking british sites in order of relative age which is then compared with a revised scheme for the dutch late early and early middle pleistocene succession the revisions involve the relocation of the waardenburg interglacial interglacial 1 to the bavelian complex and the use of the brunhes matuyama palaeomagnetic reversal to define both the base of the dutch cromerian complex and the early middle pleistocene boundary moreover following recent re interpretation the noordbergum interglacial interglacial iv and glacial c are removed from the cromerian complex and are correlated with mis 11 and mis 12 respectively this scheme imposes greater consistency between the british and dutch successions as well as conformity with guidelines recommended by the international stratigraphic commission

seismic facies analysis of westphalian sequences of the southern north sea abstract differing seismic facies are observed from within the westphalian sequences of the southern north sea a review of published synthetic seismograms and seismic data from known coal bearing basins establishes seismic facies types and their relationships similar reflection character is recognized from westphalian sequences in the southern north sea and lithologies confirmed by borehole information probable sand silt or clastic prone upper coal measures westphalian c d stages and coal prone lower and middle coal measures westphalian a b and part c stages can be defined and mapped providing information on the regional distribution of source and reservoir rocks and stratigraphic plays it is suggested that sand prone channel complexes or clastic dominated areas within the mainly a b stages can be recognized and mapped providing information on migration pathways and stratigraphic plays

7200 years of rhone river flooding activity in lake le bourget france a high resolution sediment record of nw alps hydrology magnetic susceptibility ms was measured with high resolution 5 mm on a 9 m long 14c dated core from lake le bourget savoie france spanning the last 7200 years the strong correlation r 0 85 of the ms with the silicate borne suite of elements si al fe mg k and anti correlation with the carbonate content r 0 87 allows it to be used as a proxy for the fluctuations of the abundance of riverborne clastic fraction versus authigenic carbonates in sediment as the rhone is the only river bringing a significant amount of silicate minerals to the coring site the ms downstream is interpreted as a proxy of the rhone suspended load discharge in lake le bourget this is confirmed over the last 3000 years by the good match with the evolution of hydrological activity of the rhone as it is known through geomorphological studies of well dated archaeological sites over the last 7200 years the record is consistent with the regional record of lake water level fluctuations while the intensity of the ms

spatial and temporal distribution of sand containing basin fills in the holocene rhine meuse delta the netherlands the quantitative significance of coarse grained deposits in the overbank realm such as crevasse splay deposits has not been studied at the delta scale or at the holocene timescale such knowledge would be beneficial for understanding and explaining sediment distribution in delta plains this study addresses delta scale distribution of sand containing basin fills and their sand body proportion variability based on eight valleywide cross sections in the holocene rhine meuse delta in the netherlands we found that sand containing basin fills form 7 1 of the fluviodeltaic wedge of which splay deposits are most frequently observed midway between the delta apex and the coast organic clastic lake fills and bay head delta deposits in contrast are limited to the distal delta plain over four successive periods between 9000 and 800 cal yr bp the largest proportions of splay deposits remain at 50 150 km downstream of the upstream shifting delta apex we show that intermediate floodbasin widths between 3 1 and 3 6 km in the holocene rhine meuse delta yield the highest proportions of splay deposits high rates of base level rise and wide floodplains both facilitate the creation of accommodation which in turn provides conditions for peat forming wetlands in which organic clastic lake fills can develop the results show that sand bodies form 26 30 of sand containing basin fills this proportion is shown to be controlled by among other variables channel planform and superelevation of the trunk channel and substrate composition we conclude that potentially large volumes of nonchannel sand bodies exist in distal delta plains they constitute up to 39 of the reservoir volume in the distal rhine meuse delta and yield relatively high connectedness ratios 2011 by the university of chicago all rights reserved

percussion marks on bone surfaces as a new diagnostic of hominid behaviour since stone tool cut marks and carnivore tooth marks were first described systematically on plio pleistocene archaeological bone1 2 bone surface modification has played a prominent role in interpreting early archaeological site formation and hominid behaviour3 15 here we introduce a new class of bone surface modification which we call percussion marks percussion marks were produced during experimental breakage of marrow bones and occur as pits or grooves impressed on a bone s surface by natural protrusions on the granitic hammerstone and anvil used although percussion marks can superficially mimic carnivore tooth marks they nonetheless are closely associated with hammerstone impact notches and show consistent micromorphological features which distinguish them from tooth marks and other classes of bone surface modification given indications of prehistoric hammer stone breakage of marrow bones1 7 an awareness of percussion marks is critical for accurately identifying the biological agents of bone modification at archaeological sites and provides a new diagnostic of carcass processing by hominids

the mousterian bone retouchers of noisetier cave experimentation and identification of marks retouchers are fragments of bone used during the paleolithic to strike stone flakes in order to transform them into retouched tools our experiments show that the mark produced on retouchers differs depending on whether they were used to strike flint or quartzite our results suggest that numerous pits most often with an ovoid form characterize the retouching of quartzite flakes most of the scores produced with this material have a sinuous morphology with rough interior faces the areas with superposed traces have a pitted appearance on the other hand the retouching of flint flakes produces pits that are most often triangular in form most of the scores have a rectilinear morphology with smooth interior faces and their superposition results in the formation of hatch marks there is also a relationship between the characteristics of the mark and the relative state of freshness of the retouchers the validity of the criteria identified was confirmed by a blind test these diagnostic criteria were applied to archaeological retouchers from the mousterian site of noisetier cave the results obtained improve our knowledge of the technical behaviors of neanderthals and allow us to address questions concerning their techno economic implications

environmental responses of past and recent agropastoral activities on south greenlandic ecosystems through molecular biomarkers paleoenvironmental studies previously performed on lake igaliku revealed two agropastoral phases in south greenland the norse settlement from ad 986 to ca ad 1450 and the recent installation of sheep farmers since the 1920s to improve the knowledge of the timing and magnitude of the greenlandic agropastoral activities a lipid inventory was realized and compared with biological and geochemical data during the 12th century a major increase in deoxycholic acid doc and coprophilous fungal spores revealed a maximum of herbivores synchronously a minimum of the n c29 n c31 alkane ratio and tree and shrub pollen and a maximum of triterpenyl acetates showed a reduction in the tree and shrub cover because of grazing activities lupanone produced by angiosperms appeared simultaneously in the molecular content probably revealing an introduction of plant species by the norse as it has been the case for rumex spp no major erosion was recorded by trimethyl tetrahydrocrysenes tthcs and titanium ti fl

the quaternary uplift history of central southern england evidence from the terraces of the solent river system and nearby raised beaches abstract we have used fluvial solent river system and marine terraces to reconstruct the uplift history of central southern england in the case of the former we make the assumption that fluvial incision has been a direct response to surface uplift with its precise timing controlled by climatic forcing of fluvial activity such that height of terrace gravel above modern river is a consequence of uplift since deposition in the case of the marine sequence we take the height of interglacial raised beaches above a calculated contemporaneous sea level as a measure of uplift the calculation involving an adjustment from modern sea level using the deep oceanic oxygen isotope signal as an indication of global ice volume at the time of deposition this exercise requires some degree of dating constraint which is problematic for both environments the solent terraces have yielded little biostratigraphical evidence whereas the south coast raised beaches have either been poorly exposed in recent years or their ages have been controversial because of disputes between biostratigraphy and geochronological data we have supplemented the evidence available from these sources by using key aspects of the archaeological record as dating constraints in particular the first appearances of levallois technique a marker for mis 9 8 and of bout coupe handaxes mis 3 the first of these has been particularly useful in modelling of the middle pleistocene parts of the river terrace staircases of the solent system in undertaking this reappraisal we have noted several inconsistencies and disagreements between past correlation schemes for the terraces of the solent and its various tributaries we find that versions involving shallower downstream gradients in the main solent river are most likely to be correct and that revisions on this basis solve a number of problems in interpretation encountered previously our results show that most of this region has uplifted by 70 m since the late early pleistocene and by 150 m since the middle pliocene there being a high degree of consistency between uplift histories inferred for river terraces and marine terraces uplift rates increase gradually westward such that along the river frome at the western end of the hampshire basin 80 m of uplift since the late early pleistocene is indicated this variation is interpreted as a consequence of a regional scale variation in crustal properties about 80 m of uplift is also indicated on this timescale by raised beaches in the portsdown area and adjacent terraces of the river test and solent in the vicinity of the portsdown anticline to the north of southampton we interpret this as a consequence of 10 m of vertical slip in the past million years on the blind reverse fault beneath this anticline this dataset thus provides the first clear indication of measurable quaternary structural development in crustal basement in the onshore uk the solent has formed more than a single terrace per 100 ka milankovitch cycle leading us to attribute terraces to isotopic substages potentially improving upon the resolution available from sequences in which terraces formed once per cycle athough the first appearence of levallois technique was initially considered to date from the mis 9 8 transition based on evidence from the thames we found that there was a better modelling fit if this was taken as having occurred slightly earlier in mis 9b perhaps in association with the post mis 9e or 9c marine regression which could have permitted immigration into a previously insular britain of people versed in levallois technology

well dated fluvial sequences as templates for patterns of handaxe distribution understanding the record of acheulean activity in the thames and its correlatives the use of acheulean handaxe typology as a cultural and temporal marker has been a topic of controversy in recent decades with many archaeologists continuing to reject such an approach out of hand much of the controversy stems however from difficulties in reconciling the archaeological record from quaternary sediments with a flawed and overly simplified chronostratigraphical template with the adoption of the expanded chronology based on the marine oxygen isotope record underpinned by biostratigraphical and geochronological dating has come the recognition of a meaningful progression of artefact types such as the first appearance of levallois technique attributed to mis 9 8 over widespread parts of the old world more recently it has been established that assemblages in britain with twisted ovate handaxes in significant numbers represent mis 11 occupation while those with significant proportions of cleavers and ficron handaxes appear to be correlated with deposits formed at around the time of the mis 9 interglacial the recognition of such patterns stems largely from the well dated thames sequence it should not be confused with the previous use in the mid 20th century of archaeological typology as a crude dating indicator based on a relative refinement of tool making key means of age constraint for the thames sequence have been mammalian assemblage zones representing the last four interglacial cycles molluscan biostragraphy and amino acid racemization dating of molluscan material especially the calcitic opercula of the gastropod bithynia tentaculata thus providing a framework within which the archaeological patterns can be identified

molecular evidence for recent land use change from a swampy environment to a pond lorraine france evidence of a changing environment in the catchment area of a small pond lansquenet lorraine france during the last millennium was provided by coupling palynology data and organic ratios terrestrial to aquatic ratio tar hc the c29 vs c27 sterols c29 c27 st average chain length acl and aquatic macrophytes ratio paq the depositional and alteration conditions of organic matter om were provided by the 5 h stanols 5 sterols ratio this study shows that quite simple organic ratios clearly allow identification of the different evolution steps of a watershed from a swamp to the progressive settlement of a pond during the swampy period the c n at ca 11 1 tar hc ca 36 8 c29 c27 st ca 8 7 and paq 0 3 show a high contribution of allochthonous om associated with the presence of particular aquatic and mesohygrophilous species a woody level dated to the xiiith century reflects the period of the settlement of the pond in a more oxic environment 5 h stanol 5sterol ratio 0 2 then the progressive increase in aquatic input and the development of submerged and floating macrophytes are evidenced by low c n at 7 6 tar hc ca 2 7 c29 c27 st ca 2 and high paq ca 0 5 suggesting an increase in the water level and eutrophication of the pond a second oxic event 5 h stanols 5sterols ratio averaging 0 16 associated with extensive om degradation corresponds to the most recent dredging in 2002 and reflects an important disturbance of sediments due to pond management

synchronous holocene climatic oscillations recorded on the swiss plateau and at timberline in the alps eight synchronous pre roman cold phases were found at 9600 9200 8600 8150 7550 6900 6600 6200 5350 4900 4600 4400 3500 3200 and 2600 2350 radiocarbon years bp by reconstructing past climate at two sites on the swiss plateau and at timberline in the alps the cooling events during the early and mid holocene represent temperature values similar to today and apparently the onset of cooling events represents a deviation from today s mean annual temperature of about 1 c and is triggered at a 1000 year periodicity at wallisellen langachermoos 440 m a former oligotrophic lake near zurich the correlation between sum mertime lake levels and the seed production of the amphi atlantic aquatic plantnajas flexilis was used to reconstruct lake levels over a 3000 year period during the first part of the holocene at lake seedorf on the western swiss plateau 609 m the sedimentological palynological and macrofossil record revealed fluctuations of lake levels for the complete holocene from lago basso in the

drowning of a nearshore peat forming environment atane formation cretaceous at asuk west greenland sedimentology organic petrography and geochemistry abstract the cretaceous atane formation nuussuaq basin west greenland is dominated by non marine sandstones shales coals and delta front deposits marine incursions are frequent however and near asuk disko a coal seam is encased in shallow marine deposits notable changes in both petrography and geochemistry occur through the seam at the base and top of the seam the proportions of inertinite and liptinite increase at the expense of the huminite maceral group and within all maceral groups proportions of detrital macerals increase geochemical changes include systematic variations in toc ts n alkane acyclic isoprenoid aromatic hydrocarbon and di and triterpenoid biomarkers which include a number of rearranged hopanes and hopenes and six isomers of 28 30 bisnorhopane the variations reflect diagenetic changes related to the availability of clay as well as changes in depositional environment going from shallow marine conditions through fresh water mire back to open water conditions and to the eventual return of shallow marine conditions shown by the occurrence of delta front deposits containing ophiomorpha nodosa trace fossils c 50 cm above the top of the coal seam

palaeovalleys and protozoan assemblages in a late carboniferous cyclothem sydney basin nova scotia the early stephanian bonar cyclothem of the sydney basin nova scotia contains an erosional surface cut through coastal plain strata with economic coals and distributary channel bodies the erosion surface is interpreted as a palaeovalley 20 m deep and at least 7 km wide that marks a sequence boundary formed during relative fall in sea level the palaeovalley is filled with stacked alluvial channel bodies which become more isolated as the valley fill passes upward into red alluvial plain deposits probably laid down in an anastomosed river system in an adjacent interfluve area calcretes and red vertic palaeosols cap coastal strata assemblage analysis of agglutinated foraminifera and thecamoebians indicates that the palaeovalley was filled with freshwater sediments before an initial marine transgression flooded the alluvial surface and adjacent interfluve valley incision probably reflects glacioeustatic sea level fall however the alluvial nature of the valley deposits suggests that valley filling reflects an abundant sediment supply during lowstand and or transgressive stages and was not a direct consequence of sea level rise during the subsequent transgression phase aggradation was rapid as sediment supply apparently kept pace with rising sea level features of both channel and extra channel facies suggest that seasonality intensified during the transition from coastal plain to palaeovalley and alluvial plain deposition

middle to late holocene paleochannels and migration of the palar river tamil nadu implications of neotectonic activity abstract geomorphic tectonic and sedimentary investigations have been carried out to understand the landscape evolution of the palar river basin southern peninsular india for this purpose satellite data interpretations coupled with field investigations fluvial architecture and optically stimulated luminescence osl dating methods were adopted to infer climatic variations and neotectonic deformation that took place during the mid to late holocene period several paleochannels have been identified in the northern part of the present day palar river the distribution pattern of the palar paleochannels and its present course indicate its migration towards the south leaving behind the old palar river streams as paleochannels significant changes in the morphological characteristics channel width and river pattern in the successive paleochannels reveal evidences of channel movement by avulsion largely controlled by reactivation of pre existing lineaments and intensified ne monsoon based on osl ages two major phases of migration have been identified that occurred between 4 83 ka to 1 88 ka first phase occurred between 3 59 ka to 3 26 ka due to intensified monsoon accompanied with small scale neotectonic activity the second phase took place between 2 42 ka to 1 88 ka which occurred probably due to the rapid upstream avulsion this rapid avulsion is due to the close proximity of mpa and the reactivation of the pre existing lineaments moreover the present palar river basin exhibits evidences of neotectonic activity such as soft sediment deformation structures anomalous drainage deflections and reactivation of lineaments and faults further indicating that the palar river is still draining a tectonically active region thus neotctonics and fluctuations in the intensity of monsoon are largely responsible for sculpting the present landscape

lake bourget regional erosion patterns reconstruction reveals holocene nw european alps soil evolution and paleohydrology abstract two well dated ca holocene long sedimentary sequences from deepest parts of lake bourget provide new insights onto the evolution of erosion patterns at a regional scale in nw european alps the combination of high resolution geochemistry xrf core scanning calibrated by 150 punctual measurements and isotope geochemistry nd of the terrigenous fraction permitted the reconstruction not only of the intensity but also the type physical erosion vs chemical weathering and the location prealpine massifs vs high crystalline massifs of dominant erosion processes those data point the persistency of weak erosion fluxes from 9600 to 5500 cal bp due both to a dry climate and the growing sheltering effect of soils that rapidly progressed between 9600 and 8000 cal bp soils then reached a steady state before being destabilised around 4400 cal bp probably in response to human impact the human impact then reached a sufficient intensity to change erosion patterns at a regional scale but did not result in a significant increase of the regional terrigenous flux the following enhancement of erosion processes occurred around 2700 cal bp it was first paced by changing climatic conditions but probably reinforced by human impact during late iron age antiquity period over the long term trend the lake bourget record pinpoints an evolution of paleohydrological conditions in the alps dominated by dry conditions from 9500 to 4400 cal bp and a subsequent drift toward wetter conditions that culminated during the so called little ice age ca 1350 1900 ad in such a context the current dry conditions in european alps appear out of trend at high resolution 17 periods of enhanced hydrological activity highlight the rapid climatic changes that are typical of the holocene

fluvial channel and overbank deposits from the westphalian of the durham coalfield ne england the westphalian upper carboniferous coal measures of the durham coalfield in ne england were deposited in lower and upper delta plain environments distributary channels crossed the plain and were separated by shallow interdistributary lakes and bays detailed observation of three dimensional 3 d opencast surface mine exposures in collaboration with subsurface borehole analysis has revealed the existence of five varieties of channel deposits and two associated overbank facies within the durham coal measures major distributary channels were the major avenues of sediment transport across the coal measures plain were variably sinuous mostly 1 2 km wide and deposited elongate belts of sand mostly up to 5 km wide proximal major crevasse splay channels formed by the breaching of major channel banks during flood events were straight sand filled and up to 400 m wide minor distributary channels formed by the sustained operation of such crevasses varied from straight to highly sinuous and deposited shoestring sand mud belts up to a few hundred metres wide minor crevasse channels generally straight and up to 50 m wide were formed through bank breaching of minor and in a few cases major distributaries distal feeder channels formed down palaeocurrent extensions of minor distributaries which supplied interdistributary minor delta subsystems were generally straight and up to 200 m wide of the two types of channel overbank levee deposits recognized one comprising thinly interbedded fine grained sandstone and siltstone claystone is mostly though not exclusively associated with major distributary channels the other consisting of massive siltstones with regularly spaced thin claystone bands is uniquely developed at the margins of minor distributary channels the lower part of the westphalian a succession in the northern pennines records a change in the depositional environment upwards from a lower to upper delta plain through this transition major channel deposits show evidence of having evolved from being of dominantly low sinuosity to being more variable in morphology channel sedimentation was profoundly influenced by regular possibly seasonal variations in flow stage and sediment load

tributary distributary and other fluvial patterns what really represents the norm in the continental rock record abstract this paper evaluates the recent claim made by weissmann et al 2010 that deposits of distributive fluvial systems dfs may form the bulk of the continental fluvial record weissmann et al 2010 define dfs as a pattern of channel and floodplain deposits that radiate outward from an apex that is located where the river enters the sedimentary basin as such dfs are fan like systems on which multiple channels coexist and distribute water and sediment across the fan published criteria for the recognition of dfs weissmann et al 2010 are 1 a radial pattern of channels from the dfs apex 2 downslope decreases in channel size 3 down dfs grain size decreases and 4 a lack of lateral channel confinement however in weissmann et al 2010 and subsequent papers only the first of these criteria is applied rigorously thus allowing a variety of types of fluvial system including avulsive incised anabranching and coastal plain distributary systems to potentially be classified uncritically as dfs an ancient succession formed by dfs should preserve mostly small channel bodies with a limited range of dimensions and no outsized channel bodies channel bodies in dfs dominated successions should also decrease in size in a down palaeoslope direction and show palaeocurrent relationships indicative of radial dispersal in order for the term dfs to be applied these characteristics should also be established within stratigraphic bodies that formed coevally however very few examples have yet been published that satisfy these criteria if the claim that dfs dominate the alluvial stratigraphic record is valid then few if any sedimentary bodies formed by large channels should be preserved a review of published research demonstrates however that the alluvial stratigraphic record contains a broad diversity of fluvial network styles including abundant representatives of tributary avulsive anabranching and incised in addition to distributary types it is also clear that the deposits of large main stem rivers that are comparable to the big rivers of the modern world are abundantly preserved in the stratigraphic record an analysis of the planimetric area of modern tributary and distributary fluvial systems is presented demonstrating that tributary systems are also likely to represent a far larger proportion of the ancient sedimentary record than dfs the body of evidence presented herein from modern and ancient alluvial systems thus suggests that the hypothesis of weissmann et al 2010 should be wholly rejected dfs do not dominate the continental stratigraphic record

evolution of lower jurassic coastal plain and fan delta sediments in the beryl embayment north sea coastal plain and fan delta sediments accumulated throughout the sinemurian to late pliensbachian in the beryl embayment area north sea these sediments represent a marginal clastic fringe along the southern extension of the boreal ocean into the northern north sea two informal formations are recognized in these predominantly sandy deposits the lower formation comprises interbedded sandstones siltstones and coals of minor fluvial channel and associated coastal floodbasin marsh lake and sheetflood origin the overlying formation represents a fan delta system possibly generated as a result of footwall uplift and associated erosion this formation is dominated by probable channel sandstones with marine influenced debris flow deposits developed at a number of levels indicating an active coastal fan setting fan sediments are capped by a marine sandstone beds of which interfinger with the overlying offshore siltstones thickness variations are related to major normal faults suggesting at least a limited fault control on the deposition and distribution of facies during a time conventionally regarded as tectonically quiescent in the northern north sea there is no clear evidence for a eustatic control on sedimentation although deposition of post fan delta shallow marine siltstones may have been principally controlled by eustatic sea level rise recording the acme of the early jurassic expansion of boreal waters into the viking graben

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

the table rocks sandstone a fluvial friction dominated lobate mouth bar sandbody in the westphalian b coal measures ne england abstract westphalian b duckmantian alluvial coal measures along the northumberland coast ne england comprise coal capped coarsening upward crevasse splay sequences of shale siltstone and sandstone interbedded with a number of major distributary channel sandbodies including the table rocks sandstone lithofacies architectural analysis and outcrop geometries divide the table rocks sandstone into flaggy sandstone massive sandstone heterolithic and mudstone facies associations each comprising up to 7 lithofacies types the three sandy facies associations are characterised by lenticular bed geometries on different scales producing a hierarchy of lensoid packages and associated bounding surfaces all showing typical offset stacking patterns 1 lenses represent individual lenticular cross bed sets bounded by 1st order surfaces 2 packages of lenses called lens clusters are bounded by 2nd order surfaces and are the basic architectural building block of the sandy facies associations and 3 vertically stacked lens clusters called amalgamated lens clusters bounded by 3rd order surfaces the table rocks sandbody has a laterally extensive irregular lobate subsurface plan geometry it displays a radial palaeocurrent pattern with 180 dispersion and it forms part of a 14 m thick coarsening upward regressive sequence it is interpreted as a composite lobate crevasse splay delta system that prograded into a shallow interdistributary fresh to brackish water lake up to 14 m deep the shallow lake water fluvial input and extensive development of traction structures such as cross bedding and ripple cross lamination suggests a friction dominated delta in which the four facies associations can be interpreted in terms of discrete elements of the mouth bar environment the flaggy sandstone facies association represents the main axial part of the mouth bar system the erosively based massive sandstone facies association major subaqeous distributary channels the lithologically more variable heterolithic facies association the medial mouth bar and the mudstone facies association the distal mouth bar fringe and prodelta within this environmental setting amalgamated lens clusters are interpreted as small discrete mouth bar sand lobes whose offset imbricate stacking pattern reflects channel spacing and bifurcation the rate of channel shifting or shallow depths and lack of accommodation space thus lens clusters are interpreted as discrete growth elements of the mouth bar sand lobes and lenses as individual bedforms making up these growth elements because of the high rate of channel shifting lack of extensive erosion of the mouth bar lobes and deposition of low discharge fines the lobes retained much of their original depositional geometry thereby providing advantageous gradients for offset deposition and stacking of adjacent sand lobes although the delta complex was maintained by frequent crevassing from the feeder channel and by subsidence due to contemporaneous compaction and or local tectonism it was deeply incised on two occasions by subaqeous channels in response to high magnitude floods or falling lake level

late pleistocene fluvial sedimentary facies the dhadhar river basin western india abstract the late pleistocene fluvial succession is exposed as 18 20 m high incised vertical cliffs all along the dhadhar river basin in western india the major fluvial sedimentary facies of the late pleistocene deposits in the dhadhar river basin have preserved evidence of palaeodrainage and could provide an important link between the sub humid narmada basin in the south and the semi arid mahi basin in the north the sedimentary facies documented include overbank fines which are associated with crevasse splays fine grained overbank sediments are interpreted as having formed by sheet flow of sediments over the banks of minor distributary channels during the flood stage the overlying thinly stratified fluvial sands and silts at the top of the exposed sediment succession show a thin cap of aeolian sediments suggesting less intense aeolian activity than that observed in sabarmati mahi and orsang basins though a significant reduction in fluvial activity is suggested during the arid phase of the lgm however the river may still have been perennial assuming that it retained the larger part of the catchment

erosion under climate and human pressures an alpine lake sediment perspective we review the scientific efforts over the last decades to reconstruct erosion from continuous alpine lake sediment records we focused both on methodological issues showing the growing importance of non destructive high resolution approaches xrf core scanner as well as progresses in the understanding of processes leading to the creation of an erosion signal in lakes we distinguish continuous records from event records both provide complementary information but need to be studied with different approaches continuous regionally relevant records proved to be particularly pertinent to document regional erosion patterns throughout the holocene in particular applying the source to sink approach event based approaches demonstrated and took advantage of the strong non linearity of sediment transport in high altitude catchment areas this led to flood frequency and intensity reconstructions highlighting the influence of climate change upon flood dynamics in the mountain the combination of different record types both in terms of location high vs low elevation sedimentology high vs low terrigenous contribution and significance local vs regional is one of the main outputs of this paper it allows the establishment of comprehensive histories of nw french alps erosion but also and consequently soil dynamics and hydrological patterns throughout the holocene we also discuss the influence of glacier dynamics one of the major agents of erosion in the alps a major feature is the growing human influence upon erosion at a local scale since at least the middle of the bronze age 3500 cal bp however and according to the regional record from lake bourget only few periods of rising erosion at local scales generated a regional record that can be discriminated from wetter climatic periods among them the period between 200 bce and 400 ad appeared to be marked by a generalised rise in human triggered erosion at local scales in the northern french alps this review highlights the importance of modern high resolution and interdisciplinary studies of lake sediments in order to better understand the complex relationships between humans climate and the earth system in general we strongly argue that regional integration of data is now required to move a step further such an integration is easier with cost and time effective methods as well as after a better definition of approaches and their limits this should lead to a stronger collaboration between paleo data producers and modellers in the near future

sedimentology palaeontology and archaeology of late middle pleistocene river thames terrace deposits at purfleet essex uk middle pleistocene fluvial deposits of the corbets tey formation at purfleet essex provide evidence of an un named and previously poorly recognized interglacial thought to corrrelate with oxygen isotope stage ois 9 previous attributions of the sediments to the ipswichian last interglacial stage are refuted new investigations have yielded rich molluscan mammalian and ostracod assemblages that indicate fully temperate conditions and the distal influence of marine transgression pollen analyses suggest a previously unrecorded phase of interglacial vegetational development clast composition geomorphological evidence and the occurrence of molluscs that favour large rivers all point to deposition by the thames rather than in a minor tributary as suggested previously three separate palaeolithic industries in stratigraphical superposition are recognized at purfleet these being clactonian acheulean and levallois purfleet is therefore a key locality in the understanding of the early human occupation and exploitation of southern britain as well as for the interpretation and correlation of the terrace sequence in the thames valley

sea level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records we show that robust regressions can be established between relative sea level rsl data and benthic foraminifera oxygen isotopic ratios from the north atlantic and equatorial pacific ocean over the last climatic cycle we then apply these regressions to long benthic isotopic records retrieved at one north atlantic and one equatorial pacific site to build a composite rsl curve as well as the associated confidence interval over the last four climatic cycles our proposed reconstruction of rsl is in good agreement with the sparse rsl data available prior to the last climatic cycle we compute bottom water temperature changes at the two sites and at one southern indian ocean site taking into account potential variations in north atlantic local deep water 18o our results indicate that a last glacial maximum lgm enrichment of the ocean mean oxygen isotopic ratio of 0 95 is the lowest value compatible with unfrozen deep waters in the southern indian ocean if local deep water 18o did not increase during glacials with respect to present such a value of the lgm mean ocean isotopic enrichment would impose a maximum decrease in local bottom water 18o at the north atlantic site of 0 30 during glacials

mining geology of the pond creek seam pikeville formation middle pennsylvanian in part of the eastern kentucky coal field usa abstract the pond creek seam is one of the leading producers of coal in the eastern kentucky coal field the geologic factors that affect mining were investigated in several underground mines and categorized in terms of coal thickness coal quality and roof control the limits of mining and thick coal are defined by splitting along the margin of the coal body within the coal body local thickness variation occurs because of 1 leader coal benches filling narrow elongated depressions 2 rider coal benches coming near to or merging with the main bench 3 overthrust coal benches being included along paleochannel margins 4 cutouts occurring beneath paleochannels and 5 very hard and unusual rock partings occurring along narrow elongated trends in the study area the coal is mostly mined as a compliance product sulfur contents are less than 1 and ash yields are less than 10 local increases in sulfur occur beneath sandstones and are inferred to represent post depositional migration of fluids through porous sands into the coal run of mine quality is also affected by several mine roof conditions and trends of densely concentrated rock partings which lead to increased in and out of seam dilution and overall ash content of the mined coal roof control is largely a function of a heterolithic facies mosaic of coastal estuarine origin regional fracture trends and unloading stress related to varying mine depth beneath the surface lateral variability of roof facies is the rule in most mines the largest falls occur beneath modern valleys and parallel fractures along paleochannel margins within tidally affected stackrock and beneath rider coals shale spalling kettlebottoms and falls within other more isolated facies also occur many of the lithofacies and falls related to bedding weaknesses within or between lithofacies occur along northeast southwest trends which can be projected in advance of mining fracture related falls occur independently of lithofacies trends along northwest southeast trends especially beneath modern valleys where overburden thickness decreases sharply differentiating roof falls related to these trends can aid in predicting roof quality in advance of mining

late persistence of the acheulian in southern britain in an mis 8 interstadial evidence from harnham wiltshire this paper presents evidence of the discovery of a new middle pleistocene site in central southern england with undisturbed evidence of hominin occupation well dated to an interstadial towards the end of marine isotope stage 8 c 250 000 bp the site consists of a preserved remnant of a river terrace and its alluvial floodplain overlain by chalk rich bankside deposits all abutting a chalk bedrock riverbank it preserves an area of occupation with activity focused on the riverbank complemented by occasional activity on a palaeo landsurface developed on the surface of the alluvial floodplain lithic technology at the site consists almost entirely of handaxe manufacture allowing attribution to an acheulian industrial tradition mammalian and other palaeo environmental remains are present and associated with the occupation horizons including large mammal bones showing signs of hominin interference dating was based on osl determinations on the sediments and amino acid racemisation of molluscan remains supported by biostratigraphic indications besides being a rare instance of an undisturbed palaeolithic palaeo landscape covering several hectares the site contributes to wider quaternary research concerns over the ability of middle pleistocene hominins to tolerate colder climatic episodes in higher latitudes and over settlement history and changing lithic industrial traditions of northwest europe in relation to climate change and british peninsularity it is suggested that the harnham evidence may represent an insular population that had persisted in southern britain since mis 10 9 which became locally extinct during the glacial maximum 8 2 marking the end of mis 8

development of a lake in a subsiding basin in front of a saalian ice sheet kleszczow graben central poland abstract relative movements of the substratum in a still active graben in central poland in combination with the n s advance of pleistocene ice masses largely determined the sedimentary conditions in front of the ice sheet during one of the saalian glacial phases the vertical successions and lateral facies transitions that formed under these extreme conditions which may include a forebulge of the ice in the ice front parallel graben show an order that can be logically explained by facies shifts four lithofacies associations with a total of eleven lithofacies have been distinguished they represent a transition from a glaciofluvial to a glaciolacustrine sedimentary environment with an extraglacial anastomosing river a partly submerged alluvial fan a lake both the margin and the central part and a delta slope the completeness of this sequence is probably due to continuous subsidence in the graben area the only interruption of the logical sequence is by a homogeneous mud layer which is explained as a result of reworking of a large volume of lacustrine mud possibly as a result of slope instability but more probably triggered by an earthquake during graben activity

human impact at lago di mezzano central italy during the bronze age a multidisciplinary approach abstract the purpose of this contribution is to disentangle climate forcing and human influence in the catchment of lago di mezzano through the interfingering of data obtained by means of archaeological geomorphological sedimentological and palynological approaches a systematic archaeological survey has been undertaken and three submerged settlement areas with piles pottery and metal tools have so far been found the artifacts indicate that the site was inhabited although not continuously during the bronze age geomorphological investigations and observations in some trenches dug out on the lake shore indicate that great variations in the lake s size and strong changes in the catchment lake surface area ratio occurred during the second half of the holocene palynological micro charcoal sedimentological and geochemical analyses carried out on long cores taken from the lake centre have indicated environmental changes due to either climatic influence or human impact even if human presence in the area has been detected during the whole bronze age period the human populations caused a strong impact only in two periods centred around 3600 and 3200 cal years bp when they settled along the lake shore and around 3400 cal years bp when they caused an increase in erosion leading to the beginning of the deposition of turbidites