age and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of partially remagnetized lacustrine sedimentary rocks oligocene aktoprak basin central anatolia turkey the age and paleoenvironmental record of lacustrine deposits in the aktoprak basin of south central turkey provides information about the evolution of topography including the timing of development of an orographic rain shadow caused by uplift of the mountain ranges fringing the central anatolian plateau new magnetostratigraphy based age estimates in combination with existing biostratigraphic ages suggest that the partially remagnetized kurtulmus tepe section of the basin is chattian upper oligocene the mean carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios 18o 24 6 2 0 13c 4 9 1 1 are largely constant through the section and indicative of a subtropical open freshwater lake these isotopic values are also similar to those of the chattian mut basin to the south on the mediterranean side of the modern orographic barrier tauride mountains and indicate absence of an orographic barrier during late oligocene basin deposition post depositional partial remagnetization occurred after tilting of the basin sequence and was mineralogically controlled affecting grey carbonate rich rocks average caco3 82 whereas interlayered pink carbonate poor rocks average caco3 38 carry a primary pretilt magnetization the pink rocks are rich in clay minerals that may have reduced the permeability of these rocks that carry a primary magnetization concentrating basinal fluid flow in the carbonate rich grey layers and leading to the removal and reprecipitation of magnetic minerals the normal and reverse polarities recorded by the remagnetized rocks suggest that remagnetization occurred over a protracted period of time

non destructive pxrf of mafic stone tools abstract archaeological use of non destructive pxrf has been most systematically applied to the classification and provenancing of volcanic glass obsidian artefacts comparable work has yet to be developed for non vitreous artefacts we report results of pxrf analysis for a sample of grey to black mafic aboriginal hatchets from sydney and adjacent coastal regions to the north and south the study shows both broad and detailed classification is achievable depending on rock type and degree of elemental depletion or enrichment of the samples pxrf analysis reveals not only distinct patterns of resource use between the three regions of this study but also enables a high degree of geographic resolution in the case of the basalt artefacts of our sample we conclude that non destructive pxrf is effective for reliable characterisation of non vitreous stone artefacts that have a sufficiently complex and enriched compositional signature i e unaltered basalts with 50 of the basalt hatchets in our sample matched with spatially and geologically specific sources

periodic 18 6 year and cyclic 11 year induced drought and flood in northeastern china and some global implications abstract the general patterns of climatic evolution in china during the holocene are reviewed and following the postglacial eustatic rise of sea level and the institution of the east asian monsoon the systems and principal fluctuations are found to be concordant with those operating elsewhere in the globe china s unique wealth of written history provides an abundance of proxy data on the climatic record and that record now furnishes a basis for analysing both long term and short term fluctuations as well as sunspot behavior that together provide an insight into extraterrestrial forcing recent chinese work suggests a solar forcing but our own studies suggest rather that a lunar tidal component reinforced at times by the solar element may prove more important analysis of a drought flood index for peking beijing in northeastern china since a d 1470 supports evidence hameed et al 1983 for both periodic lunar nodal 18 6 year and solar cyclic 11 year induced drought flood in the region the nodal term exhibits bistable phasing with respect to epochs of tidal maxima for our century epochs occurred at 1917 5 1936 1 1954 7 and 1973 3 a phenomenon previously found in drought flood proxy data for south america currie 1983 india currie 1984a north america currie 1984d and africa hameed and currie 1985 currie and hameed 1985 solar cycle epochs of drought flood are tabulated for the past two centuries and compared with those from north america and africa

telluric currents and magnetic anomalies current densities of 2 5 10 4 amp m can be generated by constant groundwater migration in artesian aquifers these dc currents are sufficient to generate magnetic anomalies exceeding 200 nt in both the menindee trough australia and the karoo basin south africa telluric currents associated with ionospheric activity can be detected by variations in magnetic induction but constant offsets associated with streaming potentials and geochemical activity sp anomalies are obscured by noise consequently some regional magnetic anomalies may be wrongly attributed to variations in magnetic susceptiblity with residuals explained by remanence

sourcing ceramics with portable xrf spectrometers a comparison with inaa using mimbres pottery from the american southwest seventy five intact mimbres and jornada pottery sherds from the american southwest were analyzed by portable xrf and instrumental neutron activation analysis inaa examination of the data demonstrates that inaa and portable xrf results for elements common to both analyses can be used to construct similar compositional groups when individual compositional groups are compared to one another it is apparent that unambiguous separation of compositional groups is challenging by portable xrf given 1 the limited number of key discriminating elements that can be measured relative to inaa and 2 the relative analytical precision and accuracy of portable xrf for measurements of intact heterogeneous ceramics we conclude that sourcing intact ceramics by portable xrf is challenging and that bulk analytical measurements such as inaa remain a better approach for sourcing archaeological pottery

on bistable phasing of 18 6 year nodal induced flood in india in agreement with campbell 1983 flood area indices fai for india are interpreted as being modulated by tidal forcing at the 18 6 yr lunar nodal period there is evidence maximum flood was approximately out of phase with nodal epoch 1898 9 whereas at epochs 1917 5 1936 1 1954 7 and 1973 3 maximum flood was approximately in phase this interpretation implies that india should be experiencing widespread dryness in an interval 2 to 3 years centered at mid epoch 1982 6

non destructive provenance study of cuneiform tablets using portable x ray fluorescence pxrf abstract portable x ray fluorescence pxrf apparatus of the last generation was tested to determine its potential for routine provenance determination of clay cuneiform tablets which cannot be analyzed by classical intrusive methods a group of tablets from hattusa bogazkoy and from el amarna which were previously provenanced using optical mineralogy om and instrumental neutron activation analysis inaa was analyzed by pxrf and the results were used to establish the grouping according to their elemental concentrations these groups were compared with the previous results retrieved by om and inaa in order to confirm their validity the results corroborate the high potential of the pxrf for non destructive study of well defined closed assemblages of clay derived delicate artifacts such as cuneiform tablets bullae and fine ware pottery consequently a group of previously unexamined tablets from hattusa was analyzed by pxrf and the results are discussed with implications on future research

deterministic signals in precipitation in the northwestern united states evidence for the 18 6 year lunisolar mn signal is found in 91 out of 102 rain gauge records 89 detection ratio in the states of montana wyoming and idaho while the 10 to 11 year solar cycle sc term is detected in 67 of these time series 66 detection ratio lunar nodal 19 year mn wave trains for these three states show complex patterns with many experiencing a bistable 180 phase switch at epoch 1973 3 epochs are dates of maximum in tidal forcing at epoch 1954 7 2 5 years wyoming montana and eastern idaho experienced drought conditions by epoch 1973 3 2 5 years a wet cell of opposite polarity had invaded the eastern half of montana and parts of eastern wyoming concomitantly drought had expanded westward to include virtually all of idaho bistable 180 phase switches in climate parameters were first reported in patagonian tree ring data currie 1983 and were later found for a flood index in india currie 1984a a drought index for beijing currie and fairbridge 1985 in flooding of the nile and st lawrence rivers currie 1987a currie and o brien 1989 in air temperature and air pressure records worldwide currie 1987b and in rainfall for the northeastern united states and the corn belt currie and o brien 1989 1990

astronomical theory of the pleistocene ice ages a brief historical review abstract this paper traces the evolution of the astronomical theory of the pleistocene ice ages from its origin in the work of adhemar and croll through its quantitative transformation in the hands of milankovitch to its current renaissance emphasis is given to the interplay between climatic theory and geologic observation from 1941 when milankovitch published his final version of the theory until the early 1970s most attempts to test the theory empirically were carried out in the time domain by comparing the geologic record of climate with predicted climate curves these attempts ran into serious difficulties particularly the inaccuracy of the geologic time scale and the ambiguity of climate predictions early attempts to evaluate the theory with simple radiation balance models appeared to indicate that the climatic response to secular changes in the orbit would be too small to be observed geologically but by the mid 1970s the advent of an improved time scale for pleistocene marine deposits and the availability of long closely sampled records made it possible to arrange generalized but unambiguous tests of the theory in the frequency domain by comparing orbital and climatic spectra these results decisively confirmed the idea that orbital variations significantly influenced the earth s climate during the pleistocene but they did not tell us how this influence was exercised the emphasis of current work has therefore shifted to the identification and quantitative modeling of physical mechanisms by which the climate system responds so dramatically to the predicted rather subtle changes in radiative boundary conditions

phosphate fractionation and spatial patterning in ancient ruins a case study from yucatan abstract as time passes phosphorus p in soils tends to become more tightly bound with minerals phosphate fractionation enables the measurement of loosely versus tightly bound p archaeologists have used p fractionation as a chronometric technique older soils should have greater proportions of p tightly bound with minerals research at chunchucmil a large maya ruin in yucatan mexico has used extractable p concentrations and other lines of evidence to investigate ancient uses of space because contemporary maya villagers use the land among the chunchucmil ruins in a number of ways and because the ancient land surfaces are neither sealed nor deeply buried we used p fractionation to determine whether geochemical signatures of activities such as gardening resulted from ancient or modern inhabitants the fractionation results at chunchucmil are unusual in comparison to studies from other sites furthermore there are strong correlations between the sum of p fractions and carbonate we discuss potential explanations for these patterns in p fractionation data these explanations consider local pedology differential length of ancient occupation and localized dumping of the byproducts of maize processing to examine the chemical signatures of maize processing specifically soaking maize in lime water contemporary samples of sediments and residues from this activity were analyzed our results suggest that dumping water from maize soaking provides a potential explanation for the ancient p patterns

periodic 18 6 year and cyclic 11 year induced drought and flood in western north america analysis of 102 recent tree ring chronologies confirms earlier evidence for 18 6 year tidal drought flood induction currie 1981d 1984b and led to discovery of 11 year solar cycle induced drought flood for western north america bistable phasing in terms of geography is found with epochs of maximum in lunar nodal 18 6 year drought in western canada out of phase with those in the western united states and northern mexico the past two centuries solar drought flood induction provides one mechanism that appears to have modulated the intensity of nodal drought flood induction in the latter region most recently at epoch 1936 1 the above results were confirmed by analysis of yet more voluminous data and they led to discovery of an example of bistable phasing with respect to time in western canada during the 17th century the implications for agriculture of such phenomena which occur world wide currie 1984c are surveyed

maximum entropy spectral analysis of the geological time series of the oxygen isotope record from deep sea cores a maximum entropy spectral analysis of the geological time series of the oxygen isotope 18 for the last 782 000 years showed 98 000 years as the most prominent periodicity followed by 40 000 years of less than half the amplitude and still smaller peaks at 24 000 67 000 84 000 107 000 and 786 000 years among the astronomical parameters only eccentricity showed a similar periodicity viz 96 000 years obliquity had a prominent periodicity at 41 000 years which was reflected in the oxygen isotope series also corresponding to the bimodal precession peaks 23 000 and 19 000 years the oxygen isotope series showed a peak at 24 000 years and smaller peaks at 22 000 and 19 000 years our results compare well with those obtained bythomson 1990 with a more sophisticated method

paleomagnetism of the red lake greenstone belt northwestern ontario possible evidence for the timing of gold mineralization we report paleomagnetic results from 1 largely unaltered batholiths and 2 sheared and altered units in the archean red lake greenstone belt a major gold producing region in the uchi subprovince of northwestern ontario group 1 includes the hammell lake killala baird trout lake and little vermilion lake batholiths which were intruded between 2730 and 2700 ma ago u pb zircon group 2 includes the howey diorite the dome stock and dikes and andesites from the dickenson mine these units from the mineralized deformation zones dzs between the batholiths were sheared and hydrothermally altered in the same event that caused gold mineralization in supracrustal units the batholiths carry a stable reversed remanence rlr withd 159 i 74 k 20 95 16 n 4 units 14 sites rlr has high coercivities unblocking temperatures and remanence intensities and appears to be a primary thermal remanence dating from 2700 ma the altered units from the gold bearing dzs carry a different remanence rlg withd 180 i 57 k 23 95 3 n 3 units 6 sites rlg also has relatively high coercivities and unblocking temperatures but its magnetization intensities are 1 2 orders of magnitude lower than those of rlr opaque minerals and silicates observed in thin section are highly altered rlg is therefore believed to be a chemical or thermochemical remanence acquired 2580 ma ago during the late stages of cooling and gold mineralization seeing as rlg characterizes the shear zone rocks but is absent from unaltered rocks outside the dzs it could be used as a rapid prospecting tool in delineating areas of alteration and possible mineralization the paleopoles for rlr 2700 ma and rlg 2580 ma link with those of the shelley lake granite 2580 ma 40ar 39ar hornblende and biotite and the matachewan hearst dikes 2450 ma u pb zircon and baddeleyite the sense of motion on the late archean early proterozoic apparent polar wander path for laurentia as defined by this sequence of paleopoles is opposite to that previously accepted

chemical soil surveys at the bremer site dakota county minnesota usa measuring phosphorous content of sediment by portable xrf and icp oes abstract the bremer site lies along the shores of spring lake in southeastern minnesota and excavations in the 1950s uncovered evidence of woodland and mississippian occupation phases in 2011 a new program of systematic survey and excavation began to better understand cultural patterning and diachronic changes at the bremer site the investigations came to include microarcheaological methods including sediment micromorphology and soil chemistry no element has received more archaeological attention than p which can reflect human and animal waste organic refuse burials and ash there has been interest in integrating soil chemistry into the workflow of fieldwork and in the potential of portable analytical instruments to yield data within the timeframe of an excavation season the last few years have seen the rise and proliferation of portable xrf pxrf instruments in archaeological studies the newest generation of pxrf instruments is able to quantify p at low concentrations and our focus here is developing effective methods to do so in archaeological soils and sediments using sediments from the bremer site we evaluate two preparation techniques in order to find which one best balances analytical quality and preparation time to analyze as many specimens as possible during an excavation season it is desirable to identify adequate preparation methods as well as the smallest number of analyses needed to attain reasonable confidence levels regarding repeatability we show that to attain p values with a standard error better than 10 or 20 of the mean one or two analyses per specimen are sufficient in a majority of cases regarding reproducibility we compare the pxrf data to two independent icp oes datasets ultimately these tests aid in establishing methods that enable archaeologically significant pxrf analyses of soil p concentrations even when working far from an analytical laboratory

deterministic signals in precipitation in arkansas louisiana and mississippi evidence for a signal near 19 years is found in 51 out of 65 rain gauge records in the tri state region of arkansas louisiana and mississippi while another term with period 10 to 11 years is found in 39 instances these are identified as the 18 6 year luni solarm n and solar cycles c signals in climate variability in terms of both amplitude and phase the luni solar wave trains are highly nonstationary in particular the waves commonly change phase by 180 examples of them n ands c terms in corn yield for arkansas and missouri are presented and the implications for economic science briefly discussed

evidence for 18 6 year lunar nodal drought in western north america during the past millennium analysis of 38 tree ring chronologies yields evidence for enhanced drought conditions every 18 6 years in the north american interior for the past millennium cross spectra between a drought area index and 26 temperature records confirm the analysis of currie 1979 1981d as regards a lunar nodal mn term in these data discussion of the mn tidal constituent which appreciably modulates amplitude and phase of four main constituents m2 k1 o1 mf is presented and implications for agriculture are surveyed

the effect of fluid flow on the magnetic field in low porosity crystalline rock changes in the local geomagnetic field have been observed and documented in several seismically active areas prior to during and following earthquakes mizutani and ishido 1975 proposed that groundwater may diffuse through a hypocentral region and that the fluid flow can produce an electric potential by means of electrokinetic phenomena the resulting current flow in turn will generate a magnetic field fluid flow tests conducted on samples of westerly granite demonstrated that the diffusion of an electrolytic fluid causes a measurable magnetic field change at high fluid flow rates a magnetic field change was observed that was in agreement with theoretically predicted and numerically calculated values in addition the sign of the magnetic field changes as the fluid flow direction through the sample was reversed moreover the tests showed that the magnitude of the magnetic field change is dependent upon 1 the porosity of the rock 2 the pore wall surface area 3 the permeability of the rock and 4 zeta potential of the fluid pore wall system

lunar nodal tide and distance to the moon during the precambrian the pace of tidal evolution for the past 450 myr implies an earth moon collision some 1 500 2 000 myr bp see ref 1 an event for which there is no corroborating evidence here we present the first direct determination of the lunar distance in the precambrian we interpret a 23 3 0 3 yr periodicity preserved in a 2 500 myr bp australian banded iron formation bif 2 as reflecting the climatic influence of the lunar nodal tide which has been detected with its modern 18 6 yr periodicity in some modern climate records3 10 the lunar distance at 2 500 myr bp would then have been about 52 earth radii the implied history of precambrian tidal friction is in accord with both the more recent palaeontological evidence and the long term stability of the lunar orbit the length of the milankovitch cycles that modulate the ice ages today11 13 also evolve with the earth moon system their detection in the precambrian sedimentary record would then permit an independent determination of the lunar distance

hysteresis and susceptibility characteristics of magnetite and titanomagnetites interpretation of results from basaltic rocks abstract the hysteresis and susceptibility characteristics down to liquid nitrogen temperatures have been investigated in over one thousand basalt samples of tertiary age from the society islands norfolk island reunion mauritius france and australia the variation in these properties with temperature is similar to that observed by radhakrishnamurty synthetic samples covering grain sizes from single to multidomain grains of pure magnetite titanomagnetite and cation deficient titanomagnetites of varying composition have been investigated to determine their low temperature characteristics comparison of the results from these synthetic samples with those of natural basalts shows that the composition and domain state predominating in any given sample of basalt cannot be determined uniquely from low temperature characteristics alone however optical electron microprobe and af demagnetization characteristics can be combined with the low temperature properties to determine the predominant grain size and magnetite composition the results show that the simple classification scheme put forward by radhakrishnamurty is questionable samples showing increase in susceptibility and no change in coercivity down to liquid nitrogen temperature are not of the cation deficient type these properties appear to be those associated with titanomagnetites containing exsolved ilmenite lamellae formed during initial cooling this unique characteristic may be useful for the quick selection of samples most suitable for palaeointensity studies

lunar solar periodicities of large earthquakes in southern california large earthquakes in southern california with epicentres between 33 and 36 n have statistically significant 12 hourly lunar fortnightly and 18 6 yr periodicities smaller earthquakes in the same region do not display these periodicities a search for tidal effects associated with these periodicities shows that large earthquakes have significant correlations with the times and orientations of daily semi daily tidal stresses while the lunar fornightly term is associated with the ocean tides along the southern californian coast

palaeomagnetic correlation and dating of mineralization and intrusive events abstract in the mining district of santa eulalia chihuahua northern mexico the mineralization consisting of simple massive concentrations of lead zinc iron sulphides and oxides confined in largely unaltered cretaceous limestones has traditionally been related to several intrusive emplacement events that occurred during the tertiary however the relative age relationships of the intrusives volcanics and mineralization have proved difficult to establish in this work we report palaeomagnetic results which permit definition of the mean relative age relationships for the igneous units and their correlation with the mineralizing event the mean directions and pole positions for the intrusives mineralization and volcano sedimentary cover capping series indicate a tertiary age eocene miocene the intrusives show normal intermediate and reverse polarities suggesting several emplacement events or a long period of intrusion the direction and polarity of the remanent magnetization for the mineralization correlates with those for the felsites which occur as a complex set of sills and dykes and they are therefore penecontemporaneous with the mineralization

periodicity in tree rings from the corn belt previous tree ring studies indicated that the total area affected by drought in the western united states has rhythmically expanded and contracted over the past 300 years with a period near the 18 6 year lunar nodal and 22 year double sunspot cycles recently collected tree ring data from the u s corn belt for the years 1680 to 1980 were examined for evidence of either of these cycles on a regional scale spectral analysis indicated no periodicity in the eastern part of the corn belt but a significant 18 33 year period in the western part the period length changed from 17 60 to 20 95 years between the first 150 years and the last 151 high resolution frequency analysis showed that the structure of the 18 33 year spectral peak was complex with contributions from several frequencies near both the lunar nodal and double sunspot periods a t test of difference of means in reconstructed annual precipitation weakly corroborated a previous finding of an association between drought area and the phase of the double sunspot cycle both the high resolution frequency analysis and the t test results indicate that the periodic component of drought near 20 years is too weak and irregular to be of use in drought forecasting for the corn belt

a pxrf based chemostratigraphy and provenience system for the cooper s ferry site idaho correlating archaeological finds with their associated stratigraphic context is elementary to modern excavation methods although micro contextual approaches can provide invaluable perspectives ascribing primary depositional status and associative context has traditionally been a qualitative exercise to improve the empirical nature of this process as part of new excavations at the cooper s ferry site in western idaho we established a chemostratigraphic framework that enables us to quantitatively relate the elemental geochemistry of sediments associated with artifacts and other samples back to a master lithostratigraphic sequence we subjected a total of 151 pxrf readings from six lithostratigraphic units to multiple discriminant function analysis which led to the identification of characteristic elements to test the site s chemostratigraphic framework we collected pxrf readings from an infilled rodent burrow which visually appeared to contain mixed sediments from multiple lithostratigraphic units statistical analysis could not relate the rodent burrow s sedimentary geochemistry well to any of the known lithostratigraphic units thus marking it as potentially disturbed this methodological approach allows us to make quantitative correlations between stratigraphic units across the site and most importantly enables us to independently evaluate whether objects from any part of the site are in direct association with anomalous or regular sediments

identification of activity areas by multi element characterization of sediments from modern and archaeological house floors using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy abstract a pilot study on the chemical analysis of earthen house floors using both modern and archaeological localities was undertaken to determine the degree to which activities leave detectable chemical residues and whether these residues are preserved in archaeological contexts the goals were to develop techniques for the identification and interpretation of activity areas in archaeological structures and to determine which elements serve to distinguish activities one modern structure from oaxaca mexico and two archaeological house floors from british columbia canada and oaxaca mexico were studied soil samples were collected from floors at all three sites and analysed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy icp aes for al ba ca fe k mg mn na p sr ti and zn preliminary results show that activity areas in the modern house compound can readily be distinguished on the basis of chemical residues in soils that archaeological features are chemically distinct from natural soils and that features such as floors and hearths can be distinguished from each other and from the natural prehistoric ground surface multi element characterization by icp aes offers an advantage over traditional single element analysis by yielding more useful data for less effort expense and time

the 18 6 year period moon tidal cycle in pacific decadal oscillation reconstructed from tree rings in western north america 1 time series of pacific decadal oscillation pdo reconstructed from tree rings in western north america is found to have a statistically significant periodicity of 18 6 year period lunar nodal tidal cycle negative positive pdo tends to occur in the period of strong weak diurnal tide in the 3rd and 5th 10th 11th and 13rd year after the maximum diurnal tide mean pdo takes significant negative positive value suggesting that the aleutian low is weak strong western central north pacific in 30 50 n is warm cool and equator eastern rim of the pacific is cool warm this contributes to climate predictability with a time table from the astronomical tidal cycle

multi element soil prospection aiding geophysical and archaeological survey on an archaeological site in suburban sagalassos sw turkey in order to take full advantage of the archaeological information contained within buried archaeological sites it is important to apply an integrative approach combining complementary prospection methods in this study geochemical prospection data are combined with archaeological and geophysical survey results on an unexcavated site in suburban sagalassos sw turkey with the aim of obtaining better insights into the structural shapes and past functionalities of the area spatial and multivariate statistical analyses of the chemical data reveal anomalies of k p and zn on a location where archaeological and geophysical results suggest the presence of ceramic producing kilns these elemental enrichments are thought to result from burning wood or dung as fuel for the detected kilns in addition local anomalies of co cr fe mg mn and ni were found to reflect the working and storage of ophiolitic clays employed as a raw material for ceramic production radiocarbon dating of charcoal in a 2 5 m deep drill core in this zone provides ages between ad 120 and 350 at depths of 50 and 60 cm al as ba ca na sr ti and pb are considered geogenic elements in this study the present study supports the theory that geochemical prospection holds potential as a surveying technique as it was found that chemical data facilitate the interpretation of structures detected by geophysical and archaeological methods thereby creating an extra dimension to the interpretation of survey data the results further argue in favour of using strong acid extractions and the consideration of a large suite of elements when applying chemical soil survey as an archaeological prospection technique and highlight the importance of considering site lithology multivariate statistics proved to be invaluable in distinguishing anthropogenic from lithological soil patterns

detection of 18 6 year nodal induced drought in the patagonian andes analysis of tree ring chronologies from the patagonian andes yields evidence for the 18 6 yr lunar nodal term in drought flood the mean discrepancy between epochs of drought flood and the nodal tide since ad 1600 is 0 7 2 2 yr but the polarity of the signal is apparently bimodal from nodal epoch 1750 0 through 1898 9 drought and tide were in phase whereas prior to 1750 0 and subsequent to 1898 9 drought and tide were out of phase there is evidence also for the solar cycle drought signal in the data

redox chemical remanent magnetization a new dimension in exploration for sulfide deposits in volcanic covered areas redox chemical remanent magnetization crm results from current flow associated with a redox potential cell an active redox cell covered by later volcanics may continue in operation for a period of time sufficiently long that the current flowing in the overlying volcanics will cause or assist in the remobilization of iron the remobilization may be either in situ as an alteration of minerals or by actual migration as a ferrous hydroxide with fixation at a higher eh nearer the surface redox crm will leave a characteristic pattern as a magnetic memory in the rocks measurement of the magnetic rock properties and interpretation of resulting patterns can be used to locate the ancient redox cell redox cells in nature are usually associated with oxidizing sulfide deposits under appropriate conditions redox crm can be utilized as an indirect method for sulfide exploration field results for two porphyry sulfide deposits and a massive sulfide deposit under approximately 400 m of post mineral volcanic cover demonstrate the feasibility of this technique field tests in nonsulfide areas indicate that pervasive occurrence of false redox crm anomalies do not exist except in the presence of sulfides laboratory experiments in the simulation of the redox crm concept give support to the theory

multi element mapping of anthropogenically modified soils and sediments at the bronze to iron ages site of tel burna in the southern levant abstract human settlement activities have caused changes in soil chemical properties that might remain preserved in the soil archive for a very long time these traces might be close to irreversible on the timescale of known civilizations our study explores the potential of an extensive mapping of the multi elemental composition of soil and buried sediments by a portable xrf spectrometer using the tel burna site in the southern levant as a case study the tell dating from the 3rd to the 1st millennium bce is known as a bronze age canaanite settlement and later in the iron age as a stronghold on the historic border between the kingdom of judah and philistia we compared the results of our geochemical survey conducted on the surface layer of contemporary soil with the data acquired by the same method from the archaeological stratigraphy exposed during excavations of the site we found that handheld xrf spectrometry can reveal archaeologically meaningful patterns of the multi elemental composition of soils and sediments in the horizontal plane as well as in vertical profiles such patterns correspond to areas and loci of ancient settlement activities dated to millennia ago this methodology if used critically provides a rapid and cost effective analysis of soil chemical composition that can significantly enhance our understanding of archaeological sites in arid environments

high resolution frequency analysis of geological time series a method of high resolution frequency analysis is applied to three geological time series it is shown that the characteristic frequencies in these series are almost identical with some of the major characteristic frequencies of the earth s orbital elements and their linear combinations the analysis supports the milankovitch orbital theory of long term climatic changes

the story in the floors chemical signatures of ancient and modern maya activities at aguateca guatemala abstract soil chemical analysis has been one of the most active and promising areas among the recent innovations in household archaeology ancient inhabitants unintentionally left chemical imprints of daily activities providing important clues as to past practices and space use which are difficult to judge from artifactual data alone soil chemical testing in the maya region is particularly promising given the highly calcareous nature of the soils derived from the carbonate geology of the region as calcium ions and soil alkalinity render phosphorous iron and other metallic ions insoluble this paper reports the results of soil chemical analysis of modern and ancient residential structures at the archaeological park of aguateca guatemala an ethnoarchaeological study of the guards living quarters and archaeological data from rapidly abandoned classic period residences provided opportunities to refine an understanding of the relationship between human activities and soil chemical signatures both cases exhibited good correlations of high phosphorous concentrations in soils with food processing consumption and disposal high levels of heavy metals in the modern structures probably derived from the filing of machetes and the disposal of flashlight batteries whereas the use of mineral pigments and craft activities appear to have contributed to the concentrations of these elements in archaeological contexts

surface expression of the chicxulub crater analyses of geomorphic soil and topographic data from the northern yucatan peninsula mexico confirm that the buried chicxulub impact crater has a distinct surface expression and that carbonate sedimentation throughout the cenozoic has been influenced by the crater late tertiary sedimentation was mostly restricted to the region within the buried crater and a semicircular moat existed until at least pliocene time the topographic expression of the crater is a series of features concentric with the crater the most prominent is an approximately 83 km radius trough or moat containing sinkholes the cenote ring early tertiary surfaces rise abruptly outside the moat and form a stepped topography with an outer trough and ridge crest at radii of approximately 103 and approximately 129 km respectively two discontinuous troughs lie within the moat at radii of approximately 41 and approximately 62 km the low ridge between the inner troughs corresponds to the buried peak ring the moat corresponds to the outer edge of the crater floor demarcated by a major ring fault the outer trough and the approximately 62 km radius inner trough also mark buried ring faults the ridge crest corresponds to the topographic rim of the crater as modified by postimpact processes these interpretations support previous findings that the principal impact basin has a diameter of approximately 180 km but concentric low relief slumping extends well beyond this diameter and the eroded crater rim may extend to a diameter of approximately 260 km

an evaluation of the site specificity of soil elemental signatures for identifying and interpreting former functional areas abstract soil multi element analysis is now a routine technique employed to help answer questions about space use and function in and around archaeological sites the pattern of enhancement of certain elements including p pb ca zn and cu has been shown by numerous studies to correlate closely with the archaeological and historical record interpretation of these soil signatures however has generally been more problematic one approach to the problem has been the use of ethnographic or known sites to guide interpretation but how confidently can results from one site be extrapolated to another this study of abandoned farms tests the site specificity of soil multi element signatures of past space use through the use of discriminant models data analysis suggests that one to one comparisons of similar sites are much less accurate 38 accuracy than comparisons based on a wider range of sites 59 3 accuracy even when the latter have contrasting geology the results highlight the importance of individual anthropogenic practices during occupation and abandonment in the development of diagnostic soil geochemical signatures

parameters in the use of pxrf for archaeological site prospection a case study at the reaume fort site central minnesota abstract field portable hand held x ray fluorescence pxrf analyzers have been characterized as potentially useful for archaeological site prospection but little has been published on the parameters of their use in this manner the purpose of this study is to explore whether the variability of surface geochemistry as characterized with a pxrf analyzer corresponds with subsurface archaeological features at a site subsequently excavated and what conditions influence the success of this endeavor including feature depths soil moisture and sample processing a 520 m 2 within site area was systematically surveyed on a 2 m interval within which several types of archaeological features were excavated chimney bases wall trenches and a bonebed of faunal waste taking readings in situ and collecting samples for ex situ testing undried dried but not powdered and dried powdered the four different tests of each grid location analyzed through univariate and multivariate tests showed that the pxrf surface data does correspond with some types of subsurface features when those features are very shallow within 5 cm of surface level and are associated with clayey fills further the data from the subsurface samples provides excellent distinction of feature fills from other sediments regardless of sample preparation in situ surface survey with pxrf analyzers may however be adequate for sites with a thorough baseline geochemical database

self potential and current channelling anomalies in self potential sp are usually explained in terms of geochemical activity however there are other sources of current which cause complications in the interpretation in particular dc telluric currents can be generated outside the survey region contrasts in resistivity cause current channelling and secondary voltages can be induced by leakage the effect can be demonstrated using network theory and internal sources can be emphasized by subtraction joint surveys are required to demonstrate correlations with apparent resistivity

assessing the applicability of portable x ray fluorescence spectrometry for obsidian provenance research in the maya lowlands recent innovations in portable energy dispersive x ray fluorescence pxrf spectrometry have increased its utility for the geochemical characterization of obsidian artifacts for archaeological provenance research however concerns over the utility of pxrf instrumental analyses have been raised focused on the validity and reliability of the geochemical data produced here we adopt the framework of richard hughes on reliability validity and scale in obsidian sourcing research 1998 whereby reliability addresses instrument stability and issues of measurement while validity pertains to an instrument s ability to discern geochemical source provenance this is done in order to test the utility of pxrf instruments for archaeological provenance research k means cluster analysis was used to test the accuracy of pxrf through statistical comparison of data acquired via laboratory and portable energy dispersive xrf instruments multivariate analysis was employed to demonstrate obsidian source representation at two classic maya archaeological sites in southern belize uxbenka and ek xux and to test the validity of data obtained from a pxrf instrument in answering archaeological research questions pertaining to regional interactions between lowland maya polities results suggest that portable xrf instruments produce internally consistent results however data acquired from a pxrf instrument are not statistically equivalent to other xrf instruments this is to say that while pxrf is not a reliable technique it is valid for questions pertaining to geochemical source representation

simulation of the 14 month chandler wobble in a global climate model the agent that generates and maintains the 14 month chandler wobble of the solid earth about its rotation axis has remained unresolved for a century with first the atmosphere later earthquakes and more recently the earth s fluid core proposed as candidates here we report that surface air pressure calculated in a coupled ocean atmosphere general circulation model gcm displays a 14 7 month signal whose amplitude is similar to that found by maksimov 1960 in station data we identify it as the atmospheric chandler wobble this result indicates that changes in atmospheric mass distribution excite and maintain the wobble of the solid earth and that neither earthquakes nor the fluid core are significant contributors another result is that in the gcm the amplitude of the wobble at high latitudes is a substantial fraction of the annual cycle and thus is an important factor in climate formation as maksimov 1960 suggested

deciphering the inorganic chemical record of ancient human activity using icp ms a reconnaissance study of late classic soil floors at cancuen guatemala abstract inorganic chemical analysis of soil floors using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry icp ms was undertaken to provide information on the nature and location of past human activity in the ancient maya city of cancuen guatemala the use of icp ms to detect trace and ultra trace elemental enrichment of two excavated soil floors from the late classic period is the first study of its kind in mesoamerican archaeology geochemical background of the site was established by the analysis of palaeosols and nearby undisturbed off site soil profiles robust statistical methods used in the study clearly distinguished the level of anthropogenic enrichment across the former floors many elements measured showed only minor departures 10 20 from the site s background soil chemistry the greatest levels of elemental enrichment were detected in the rare earth elements mercury and gold the latter is of particular interest considering the consensus that gold was absent from the world of the classic period maya comparisons of the spatial pattern of mercury enrichment with lithic and archaeological data show strong linkages to past industrial and ritual activities elevated rare earth element concentrations were recorded broadly across both soil floors and are considered to be related to concentrated human occupation in antiquity

the geoarchaeological significance and spatial variability of a range of physical and chemical soil properties from a former habitation site isle of skye of the 34 major and trace elements investigated in this study enrichments of k th rb and to a lesser extent cs were associated with former habitation of the area whilst high levels of sr and to a lesser extent ca were associated with the adjacent field area this latter enrichment is thought to represent additions of shell sand and or bone and fish refuse phosphorus is a less reliable indicator of human habitation than k rb and th possibly because p enrichment may be caused by additions of animal manure as well as by human habitation of an area vanadium co zn pb ni ga sc mg cu and u all indicated negligible on site enrichment whilst cr and organic matter content were found to be depleted in the on site soils relative to the control samples consideration of the degree of variability in the soil parameters investigated has implications for the bulk or composite sampling of soils over sites of former habitation

fourier analysis of nile flood levels analysis of measured annual maximum and minimum levels of the river nile for the period ad622 1470 shows that the minima display more systematic periodicities than the maxima these include a statistically significant signal with a period of 18 4 0 4 years which is attributed to the lunar tide mn of 18 6 years which has been previously detected in precipitation records from north and south america india and china the analysis indicates the influence of a signal near 22 years also but the evidence for it is not unequivocal

evidence for 18 6 year mn signal in temperature and drought conditions in north america since ad 1800 evidence for the 18 6 year lunar nodal mn term in air temperature is found at 30 stations in eastern north america since ad 1800 the mean discrepancy in epoch between maxima in temperature and maxima in the drought area index dai for the western united states vis a vis the maxima in the mn tide is 0 9 and 0 1 yr respectively also a cluster of 9 stations in western canada yields the 18 6 yr term which is out of phase with stations in eastern north america and is indicative of a standing tidal wave in the atmosphere this suggests that enhanced drought conditions in the western united states are neither recurrent nor rhythmic on a time scale of 20 yr but rather periodic with a period of 18 6 yr finally the rocky mountain system is seen as an influence for atmospheric tidal phenomena at epochs of maximum in the mn tide as well as for maxima in the temperature records and the dai

validity of off the shelf handheld portable xrf for sourcing near eastern obsidian chip debris handheld portable xrf hhpxrf has received considerable recent attention in archaeology especially for obsidian sourcing published studies largely suggest a high potential for success hhpxrf though has been met with debate and scepticism concerns fall into three categories 1 low accuracy and precision 2 data correction schemes and calibration and 3 ignorance of fundamental xrf issues such as specimen size limits and morphology effects the result is that archaeological interpretations in hhpxrf based studies are cast into doubt should interpretations be believed if authors did not follow the perceived best practices to address such questions the validity of hhpxrf for near eastern obsidian sourcing was tested under deliberately sub optimal conditions irregular obsidian debitage near the minimum size limits was sourced with a success rate of 94 based on a rank matches to 100 based on a and b rank matches even under conditions chosen to mimic off the shelf operation

the southern cape conductive belt south africa its composition origin and tectonic significance abstract magnetometer array studies have led to the discovery and mapping of the southern cape conductive belt sccb crossing the southern tip of africa from west to southeast coasts the sccb lies just south of the namaqua natal belt of cratonic rocks remobilized about 1000 m y b p it is shown that it coincides with a zone of weakness which has been exploited by three major geosynclinal accumulations over some 600 m y relationships between the sccb and the basement geochronology geology and tectonics are considered in detail these relationships support the view that the conductive belt was formed by an accumulation of marine sediments and oceanic lithosphere at the top of a proterozoic subduction which stopped about 1000 to 800 m y b p associated with this subduction we propose a proterozoic range of andean mountains whose roots are now exposed in the namaqua natal belt later subduction further south near the present south coast is proposed to account for the intrusion between the south coast and the sccb of the cape granites in the time interval 600 500 m y b p there is some evidence for a third yet more distant subduction episode off permian gondwanaland after outlining this tectonic history the paper turns to a closer examination of the hypothesis that the southern cape conductive belt consists of partly serpentinized basalt accumulated at the top of a proterozoic subduction a large static magnetic anomaly which correlates with the sccb over most of its length is well fitted by a model which strongly supports this hypothesis bouguer gravity anomalies along western and central profiles likewise support the hypothesis a discussion follows of the process of formation of the proposed block of serpentinized marine rocks beginning with serpentinization of the crust near oceanic ridges by reaction of warm porous newly extruded basalt with seawater convecting through it the serpentinized basalt is stable at crustal temperatures and pressures and so is transported in the seafloor until it reaches a subduction where it accumulates because of its low density examples of such accumulations are cited finally it is shown that any iron in the olivine and pyroxene in the original basalt precipitates when these silicates are hydrated to serpentine as magnetite which is the dominant mineral conferring high electrical conductivity and high magnetic susceptibility on serpentinites in particular the beattie static magnetic anomaly requires in our model calculation a very high susceptibility readily attainable in basalt at 15 20 serpentinization the authors know of no other rock able to provide this high susceptibility a similar percentage of serpentinization provides the density required to model the gravity anomalies

elemental prospecting and geoarchaeology in turkey and mexico abstract understanding past human impacts on soils requires many forms of evidence including elemental chemistry human activities leave traces of different elements distinguishing activity sites since the 1990s more scholars have used a full range of analytical techniques including inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy icp aes and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy icp ms also since that time the near singular focus on phosphate as a prime indicator of human activity has broadened to include a large suite of elemental indicators aided by the emergence of many tools and techniques such as icp this paper focuses on the elemental chemistry of sediments at two archaeology sites chunchucmil mexico and kinet turkey the purpose of this study is to understand how certain elements correlate with each other and vary by space and time at different archaeology sites and as an important methodological consideration how different solvents affect icp aes analyses in other words does human activity significantly alter the elemental chemistry of a site and if so is this in a systematic way or does it vary geographically and are these chemical signatures of human activity hidden or highlighted by different icp methods we examined soil chemistry by types of geomorphic and archaeological location contexts e g floors natural deposits walls streets and by age of deposit e g hellenistic iron age to detect differences in soil chemistry signatures associated with them and for regional variations in icp methods effectiveness our analyses revealed detectable differences between natural and anthropogenic deposits site types eras and large differences between methods high amounts of lead were correlated with streets and rooms in the medieval and bronze periods in kinet turkey and natural deposits had lower levels of cadmium and mercury icp np treatments revealed higher detection levels of most elements than did icp dt treatments in chunchucmil mexico

geochemical evidence for african dust inputs to soils of western atlantic islands barbados the bahamas and florida 1 we studied soils on high purity limestones of quaternary age on the western atlantic ocean islands of barbados the florida keys and the bahamas potential soil parent materials in this region external to the carbonate substrate include volcanic ash from the island of st vincent near barbados volcanic ash from the islands of dominica and st lucia somewhat farther from barbados the fine grained component of distal loess from the lower mississippi river valley and wind transported dust from africa these four parent materials can be differentiated using trace elements sc cr th and zr and rare earth elements that have minimal mobility in the soil forming environment barbados soils have compositions that indicate a complex derivation volcanic ash from the island of st vincent appears to have been the most important influence but african dust is a significant contributor and even mississippi river valley loess may be a very minor contributor to barbados soils soils on the florida keys and islands in the bahamas appear to have developed mostly from african dust but mississippi river valley loess may be a significant contributor our results indicate that inputs of african dust are more important to the genesis of soils on islands in the western atlantic ocean than previously supposed we hypothesize that african dust may also be a major contributor to soils on other islands of the caribbean and to soils in northern south america central america mexico and the southeastern united states dust inputs to subtropical and tropical soils in this region increase both nutrient holding capacity and nutrient status and thus may be critical in sustaining vegetation

depositional environments organic carbon accumulation and solar forcing cyclicity in smackover formation lime mudstones northern gulf coast upper jurassic smackover lime mudstones a major hydrocarbon source rock in the u s gulf coast show three distinct lithofacies the basal laminated lithofacies consists of organic and siliciclastic rich lamina sets that alternate with organic poor clean carbonate lamina sets both lamina sets are composed of lamina couplets interpreted to be varves this lithofacies lacks current induced structures allochems and rip up clasts benthic and planktonic fossils are absent one organic rich lamina set and one organic poor lamina set comprise one cycle 0 5 3 cm thick the middle thin bedded lithofacies is composed of organic and siliciclastic rich carbonate beds that alternate with organic poor clean carbonate beds both bed types are internally laminated one organic rich bed and one organic poor bed comprise one cycle 2 60 cm thick the upper burrowed lithofacies is extensively bioturbated massive shows no evidence of cyclicity and contains little organic carbon sedimentologic characteristics suggest that the basal laminated lithofacies was deposited under anoxic conditions below storm wave base in a basinal environment the middle thin bedded lithofacies is copyright 1997 the american association of petroleum geologists all rights reserved 1manuscript received march 5 1996 revised manuscript received august 2 1996 final acceptance december 10 1996 2basin research institute louisiana state university baton rouge louisiana 70803 3lss international 1440 lake front circle suite 180 the woodlands texas 77380 formerly with department of geology and geophysics louisiana state university baton rouge louisiana 70803 4department of geology and geophysics louisiana state university baton rouge louisiana 70803 the study was supported by grants from the center for energy studies and the basin research institute of louisiana state university we thank h d klemme and g t moore for providing unpublished data p meyers and l m pratt reviewed an earlier version of the manuscript and offered valuable comments j wrenn kindly provided characteristics of organic matter we thank j kropog w s leblanc k lyle p o neill and b simpson for technical assistance we appreciate the helpful comments of r l folk b kirkland and c h moore critical comments by k t biddle n b harris b a prather and p d wagner significantly improved the quality of concepts presented

effects of site lithology on geochemical signatures of human occupation in archaeological house plans in the netherlands abstract this study presents the application of multi element soil analyses x ray fluorescence spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy of 1 m hcl extracts to grid samples from 3 archaeological house plans embedded in sandy clays clays and sands to assess effects of site lithology on geochemical signatures of human occupation the results indicate that this effect is significant and that each house plan is characterized by enhanced concentrations of different sets of elements copper cr sn and nd enrichments were found at all sites and thus represent elements that have no or only a weak relation with lithology depletions of fe and mn were also found to be universal indicators of human occupation in the house plans a combination of off site sampling comparison to regional element background concentrations and the use of bivariate plots al vs selected elements was successfully applied to identify anthropogenic elements verify background element concentrations and element sources and assess element distribution patterns within house plans spatial patterning of several anthropogenic elements suggest the presence of an in house barn at two sites while for another site no spatial patterning of chemical elements was observed for two sites this contrasts with earlier archaeological interpretation our results further suggest that 1 m hcl extractable elements are unreliable indicators of human occupation in clayey and especially calcareous clayey soils

human and natural impacts on fluvial and karst depressions of the maya lowlands abstract this paper begins to differentiate the major drivers and chronology of erosion and aggradation in the fluvial and fluviokarst landscapes of the southern and central maya lowlands we synthesize past research on erosion and aggradation and add new data from water soils radiocarbon dating and archaeology to study the quantity timing and causes of aggradation in regional landscape depressions geomorphic findings come from many excavations across a landscape gradient from upland valleys karst sinks and fans into the coastal plain floodplains and depressions findings from water chemistry show that sources in the uplands have low quantities of dissolved ions but water in the coastal plains has high amounts of dissolved ions often nearly saturated in calcium and sulfate we found significant geomorphic complexity in the general trends in upland karst sinks in a few instances sediments preserve late pleistocene paleosols buried 2 3 m though many more have distinct middle to late holocene paleosols buried 1 2 m after c 2300 bp maya early to late preclassic from 2300 1100 bp late preclassic to classic periods the landscape aggraded from five main mechanisms river flooding climatic instability accelerated erosion ancient maya landscape manipulation and gypsum precipitation from a rise in a water table nearly saturated in calcium and sulfate ions evidence exists for two or three high magnitude floods possibly driven by hurricanes moreover lake core and geophysical studies from the peten lakes region have shown high rates of deposition of silicate clays maya clays starting and peaking during the maya preclassic and continuing to be high through the late classic the main driver on upland karst depressions the peten lakes upland valleys and fans was accelerated soil erosion but water table rise probably driven by sea level rise was the main driver on the wetlands of the coastal plain because the aggraded sediments here are dominantly composed of gypsum precipitated from the groundwater this latter mechanism represents a little recognized mechanism of aggradation over a large region these large scale environmental changes occurred during periods of intensive ancient maya land use and climatic instability both of which may have contributed to erosion by increasing runoff despite these geomorphic changes ancient maya farmers adapted in several key cases